Steven was finding it hard to come to terms with what was happening. He couldn't help but feel that the loud honking he had heard earlier had messed with his head and was now causing him to hallucinate.
Speaking of the loud, desperate honking, Steven slowly pushed himself up from the ground. A groan escaped his mouth as he instinctively held his side that had been hurting.
Now on his feet, Steven saw a beautiful white car in front of him. He looked at the car's symbol and recognized it as a luxury brand. But that wasn't what caught his attention. It was the slight dent on the side of the car.
Slowly, Steven's brain worked out what had happened, and a chill ran down his spine.
It didn't help that there was a small crowd on both sides of the road, and their gazes were directed at him and the car.
*Ah. I'm f*cked.*
Before Steven could think of how to handle the situation, the driver's door opened and a beautiful lady dressed in an elegant blue attire stepped out. Even with how mad she looked, it did nothing to lower her beauty.
"Hey, are you okay? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that. You just walked into the road. I didn't see you coming," the lady said, assessing Steven to see if he was alright.
"Yeah. No. I mean, I'm fine. I'm not hurt anywhere," Steven said.
"Really? Thank goodness. I thought I had killed someone. Please accept my most sincere apology," the lady said.
"Apology accepted," Steven said.
"Thank you so much," the lady said and sighed in relief. "But I still have to compensate you. I'm in a hurry right now though. Can I get your number so I can contact you later?"
"Actually, you don't have to worry about that. I'm fine. Please use the money to fix the damage I did to your car," Steven said, his gaze moving to the dent.
The lady followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at, then turned back to him.
"You don't have to worry about that. It's nothing serious. But compensating you is really important," she said.
"I understand your concern, but I'm really fine. You don't have to compensate me," Steven said, politely refusing. He had his reasons.
The lady saw that Steven was being adamant, and she was slightly surprised and curious. Being compensated for getting hit by a luxury car was something people would even fake an accident for, yet this young man was doing the opposite.
It made her a bit interested in him. Unfortunately, she was in a hurry at the moment. Still, she was curious to know the name of the man who had caught her interest like this.
"I understand. But if you don't mind, can I have your name at least?"
"It's Steven."
"Steven. I'm Lena."
Steven said nothing and simply nodded.
Lena nodded in return when she saw that Steven was no longer willing to talk. She turned and got back into her car.
Steven stepped out of the way and she drove off. As she drove past him, she waved.
Steven let out a heavy sigh of relief when he saw her finally drive away. He had been worried when he saw the dent on her car, thinking about how he was going to pay for damages if she had asked for compensation.
But the opposite of what he feared happened, and he was genuinely relieved. It was one of the reasons he had refused to accept compensation from her in the first place.
While he had no idea who was in the right or wrong, he preferred not to take the risk and find out. Especially given the clear signs that she was someone with money. Who knew? She might also have enough connections to make a case stick.
Now that the crisis had been averted, Steven could finally focus his attention on the cyan screen in front of him.
*Am I the only one able to see this? Strange,* he thought.
When the screen first appeared, Steven had thought he was drunk and hallucinating. But seeing that it still hadn't disappeared, he was starting to think otherwise.
Steven was curious about the screen and wanted to interact with it, but he had to get off the street first.
He crossed the road. This time, he made sure to look carefully. He had been lucky the first time. He had no desire to test his luck again.
Steven walked through the street, making his way home.
***
Ten minutes later, Steven walked into his apartment and locked the door behind him. He walked to the bed and collapsed on it, feeling mentally and physically drained.
With everything that had happened today, he could officially say this was the third worst day of his life.
He wondered if anything good could still come out of it.
Thinking about possible good things, he turned his attention to the cyan screen in his vision.
He had thought the strange thing would stop showing after he left the accident scene, but it was still there.
"I wonder what exactly it is," he muttered, focusing on the information on the screen.
[Rebate System]
[Name: Steven Craig]
[Physique: 12]
[Intelligence: 18]
[Account Balance: $247]
[Exclusive Points: 0]
***
The system screen looked strange to Steven. While he understood the words written on it, he didn't fully grasp most of the concepts.
The word 'rebate' he understood, but he had no idea what to make of the word in front of it.
He was shocked to see his name in the name section. But what shocked him even more was the account balance section, which showed the exact amount in his account.
A rush of thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for what was going on.
He had no idea what the Rebate System was or why it had his personal information, but he felt that it was something serious.
Steven didn't let his thoughts run wild. He controlled both his thoughts and emotions. He had no idea what kind of situation he was in, but he wanted to find out.
He focused his attention solely on the first box. [Rebate System].
The next moment, it expanded in his vision.
[Rebate System: You can trigger varying levels of rebate, from 1.5x to 10x, by spending money. Rebate rewards will vary depending on the amount spent.]
***
"Wait, what? Really?"