Chapter 56: A Mission, Finally

Chapter 56: A Mission, Finally

I sighed. "Yes, I know."

"Good," Jonah replied, sounding satisfied with my response.

It didn't take long to reach Jonah's place.

It was a gated community. From the outside, it looked like they were definitely on the semi-luxurious side. The houses at the front were clearly mansions for millionaires or billionaires, but as we went further in, there were five-story apartment buildings on each block.

One of those buildings was Jonah's home.

"Wanna come in?" she asked while getting out of the car.

"Nah, I want to go home for now," I answered.

Suddenly, the system window popped up:

[Sub-mission (optional)

Time: 48 hours]

[Discover Jonah's secret]

[Reward: Algorithm Shovel]

[Failure: Stub your toe when you least expect it]

"Really, system? Why couldn't you have given this a second ago when she just asked me to come in?"

[Oops.]

I took a deep breath, hoping she would ask me again or say something like, "Really?" or "Please?"

But she just shut the door behind her and, through the window, said, "Well, thanks for dropping me off."

I had to make my choice, fast.

"Hey! Uh… could I get some water?" I asked politely.

Jonah chuckled. "Come on in, then."

I got out of the car, and we walked into the building together. Jonah searched through her pockets for a silver, credit card-sized key and tapped it on the display of the elevator.

In just a few seconds, the door opened to a medium-sized elevator, which automatically set the third floor as its destination.

Upon reaching her floor, Jonah unlocked the door with her key card.

She held the door open for me in a gentlemanly manner. "Guests first."

"Sure," I said, walking in without hesitation.

"Come on, at least pretend to be a gentleman," Jonah groaned, closing the door behind her.

"Do you believe men and women are equal?" I asked her.

"I see where you're going with that," she chuckled. "I was mostly raised by a single mom, so I know women are weaker than men in some areas and stronger in others, but apart from biological differences, they should have equal rights." She concluded, giving the perfect answer to the "woman's red flag detector" question.

"My bad, young lady. This toad couldn't recognize the beauty of the jade swan," I said, imitating a cringy Victorian-era voice.

Jonah laughed. "Where did you even get that from?"

"A badly translated Chinese novel," I replied with a grin.

She gave a small puff as she headed toward the kitchen area, while I claimed a spot on the couch in her living room.

While she was gone, I tried to figure out what Jonah's secret could be.

The quest only popped up after Jonah asked me to come in, which probably meant that discovering her secret had something to do with her home.

I scanned the living room, but before I could get anywhere, Jonah returned.

Of course, it didn't take long to grab a glass of water.

I drank it down in one continuous sip.

Putting the glass down, I realized that discovering a secret, without knowing anything about it, was going to be next to impossible.

So, I decided to be somewhat direct.

Let me rephrase that.

I asked, "Hey, it's just the two of us. Got any secrets to share?" I said in a flirty voice.

Past me would've been choking on embarrassment and cringe right now.

But the new me? I was barely swallowing it.

...

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