After defeating the Calamity, a bunch of subtitles suddenly popped up in front of Lin Han’s eyes.

So, is this the reward for passing the beginner’s tutorial? Lin Han pondered.

He just didn’t understand what these weird points were for…

On the other side, Monica finally snapped out of the shock of the C-Class Calamity being easily slaughtered by “herself” and turned to think about another important matter.

—How was she supposed to take back her body?

Things couldn’t stay like this forever, right?

Just as Monica was agonizing over how to send Lin Han away, she suddenly felt her body sink, or rather, the sensation of her body returned.

Huh?

Is this a way of giving my body back to me?

However, before Monica could even be happy for a single second, in the next instant, waves of piercing pain rushed from the roots of her hair all the way down to her toes, as if every inch of her body were cramping at once.

For a moment, Monica felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed hard onto the ground.

“Pain pain pain pain!!!”

Cold sweat poured down. Monica curled up, panting heavily, her vision blurred by tears. It took a good while before she barely adapted to the pain.

Struggling to raise her head, Monica found a hovering girl who had somehow appeared in the air, it was none other than the mysterious girl who had previously said something about a “contract being established.”

It was a girl wearing a black dress.

Her long white hair drifted gently in the wind and sand, the hem of her skirt untainted by a speck of dust. She hovered in mid-air just like that. Despite looking excessively petite, she inexplicably exuded an unapproachable sense of pressure.

Cute.

Beautiful.

And… no matter how you looked at it, that smile didn’t seem like it belonged to a good person.

Monica kept her face upturned, staring at her blankly for a few seconds.

Then, she pointed at the girl with a trembling hand.

“Y-y-y-y-you…”

The girl tilted her head slightly.

“Me?”

“You came out of my body?!”

“Strictly speaking, I didn’t come out of your body,” the girl crossed her arms, her tone calm. “I merely temporarily released my control over your body. We are still one entity.”

“O-one entity?”

Monica’s brain short-circuited.

She felt like she could understand every single word, but when put together, they were like the discounted nutrient fluid sold in the neighboring district, full of a highly suspicious flavor.

By the way, that kind of nutrient fluid was often used as an insecticide…

Meanwhile, the girl hovering in mid-air—Lin Han—was deep in thought.

How should he put this?

Was he now entering the NPC story dialogue phase after the beginner’s tutorial?

Why were there no dialogue option boxes?

Did this mean he had to roleplay it himself?

The degree of freedom in this game was way too high…

Lin Han thought for half a second, and the image of his little sister Jiang Wanfeng’s usual demeanor—arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and merciless with her words—surfaced in his mind.

Alright.

I choose you, Jiang Wanfeng voice pack.

The girl’s lips curled up slightly, revealing a beautiful yet somewhat wicked smile.

“What? Human, I just saved your life, and you plan to stare at your savior with such an impolite gaze?”

Monica blanked out.

“Human?”

“Mhm.”

“You… you’re not human?”

“…”

Lin Han almost couldn’t maintain the smile on his face.

Although, according to his persona’s setting, there was nothing wrong with what she said, why did it sound so weird…

Lin Han tried to get back into character.

The young girl remained suspended in mid-air, looking down at Monica from above.

“Do you think a human could take control of your body, defeat the Calamity for you, and then return your body to you completely intact?”

“Completely intact?”

Monica took a deep breath and felt the intense soreness coursing through her, as if she had been run over repeatedly by a dozen armored vehicles.

She said sincerely, “I feel that the term ‘completely intact’ might be just a tiny bit off from my current condition.”

“Isn’t being alive good enough?”

The young girl sounded entirely self-righteous.

“…”

Monica felt that made perfect sense.

As much as she wanted to retort, she was, in fact, still alive.

And if it weren’t for the girl in front of her, she would probably have been snapped in two by the Desert Goanna and become part of the wasteland’s ecological cycle.

Thinking of this, Monica supported her knees and struggled to sit up.

“Um… anyway, thank you for saving me.”

The girl raised an eyebrow.

Monica scratched her cheek.

“Even though I feel like I’m falling apart right now, and even though what just happened was really suspicious, but…”

She looked up, revealing a very bright smile.

“Director Grandma taught me to always repay a favor. So, thank you.”

Lin Han was slightly taken aback.

He had to admit, the NPCs in this game were truly impressive.

The expressions, tone, eyes, and that sense of relief and sincerity after surviving a disaster, it was almost unbelievably realistic.

If Lin Han wasn’t so sure that he was lying in a Simulation Capsule right now, he might have actually thought he had saved a living, breathing person.

So Lin Han stayed silent for a second.

Then he continued to use the Jiang Wanfeng voice pack.

“Just a thank you?”

“Huh?”

Monica blinked.

The girl looked at her with a smile.

“Human, you might not know who you are making a deal with, but I am a Devil. Don’t go thinking my help comes for free.”

“…A Devil?”

The smile froze on Monica’s face.

“Umm, I think I misheard you. What did you just say you were?”

“A Devil.”

The girl said casually.

“Phildeia. Remember my name. After all, from today onwards, you are a Devil’s Contractor.”

“…”

“……”

“………Eh?”

Monica’s voice gradually distorted.

“D-d-d-d-devil?!”

“Too slow of a reaction. Points deducted.”

“No, wait, do Devils actually exist in this world?! Wait, wait, wait! A Devil… does that mean, a Calamity? Are you a Calamity?! A Calamity capable of instantly killing a C-Class Calamity… Eh?!”

Monica was bewildered, but then finally recalled what had happened earlier.

On the verge of death, the young girl in front of her had indeed asked her a question.

Did she want to make a contract with her?

At the time, Monica’s mind was entirely consumed by the thought of taking one more bite of her egg-filled pancake, so she impulsively agreed.

Thinking back on it now…

She seemed to have sold herself.

“Um, Miss Phildeia. May I ask a question?”

“Speak.”

“What exactly are the terms of the contract?”

“I grant your wish.”

Monica breathed a sigh of relief.

That didn’t sound too bad.

“And then?”

“And then you pay me with your soul.”

The color drained from Monica’s face at a visible rate.

The girl spoke in a tone as casual as if she were discussing what to have for lunch:

“After all, I am a Devil, not some free charity. Human, you didn’t really think there was such a thing as someone fighting your battles for free in this world, did you?”

Monica clutched her head in her hands.

She was doomed.

She had sold her soul to a Devil.

What kind of third-rate horror story opening was this?

No, that’s not right. In third-rate horror stories, after making a deal with the Devil, the protagonist would at least gain money, power, beauty, immortality, or something like that.

What did she get?

She got an egg-filled pancake that hadn’t even reached her mouth yet…

The more Monica thought about it, the sadder she felt.

“So, when are you going to take my soul?”

“Well, about that…”

Looking at Monica, whose eyes were vacant and who was already wearing a detached smile of resignation, Lin Han felt he might have taken the joke a bit too far.

Although the system description did state that the Contractor needed to pay with their soul, this was just a game setting after all.

From a player’s perspective, this so-called “soul” was most likely just some sort of affection metric, binding stat, gacha currency, or character upgrade material.

Besides, that “Soul Domination” prompt the game system had just popped up only increased by 5 points, so it clearly hadn’t maxed out yet.

Thus, the young girl spoke in a slow, leisurely tone:

“Not for now.”

“For now?”

“After all, your soul is still too weak right now.”

The young girl extended a finger, as if appraising a rather unripe commodity.

“Rash, stupid, and weak. Even if I took a soul like this right now, it wouldn’t fetch a good price, would it?”

“Uuu…”

It was clearly a good thing, so why did she feel so uncomfortable… But compared to Miss Phildeia’s terrifying power, she did indeed seem too weak…

Monica lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes.

Lin Han secretly rejoiced in his heart.

For some reason, he found Monica’s pitiful appearance quite cute.

Monica was already considered a beautiful girl, and after being bullied by him, she looked even more adorable, like a small animal.

If he had to put it into words, like a golden retriever drooping its ears and tail after being scolded by its owner?

Lin Han shook his head, throwing these strange associations out of his mind.

Just as he was about to add a few more lines fitting the identity of a devil, a familiar sound suddenly rang in his ears.

“Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring!”

The sound was sudden and piercing, like a knife slashing straight through the all-too-real wasteland before him.

Lin Han froze for a moment.

An alarm clock?

Oh right.

He had set an alarm for eight-thirty.

If he didn’t get up now, he’d be late for work.

The expression of the young girl suspended in mid-air stiffened subtly.

Monica also noticed her change and asked nervously:

“What’s wrong? Miss Phildeia, are there still enemies?”

“Something more troublesome than enemies.”

The young girl said profoundly.

Monica instantly tensed her body.

“Could it be a higher-level Calamity?”

“No.”

The young girl was silent for a second, her tone solemn.

“It’s work.”

“…”

Monica: “Ah?”

Lin Han had already started looking for the option to log out of the game in his field of vision.

Fortunately, although this game was made so realistically, the logout button was quite conspicuous, unlike a certain scam of a tower-climbing game where it was removed.

Faint points of light gradually appeared around the young girl’s body.

Seeing this scene, Monica panicked completely.

“Wait, wait, wait! Miss Phildeia, are you leaving?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about me? My whole body is in pain right now!”

“Figure it out yourself. The contract doesn’t include after-sales service.”

“How could you!”

Monica cried out in grief and indignation.

“What if I encounter another Calamity on the way?”

“Then pray I get off work early.”

“???”

More and more specks of light appeared on the girl’s body, and her figure began to turn transparent.

She lowered her head slightly, looking at Monica on the ground.

“Live on, Monica.”

These words were softer than all the pretentious lines from earlier.

Yet the next second, the girl once again showed that beautiful yet wicked smile.

“After all, your body, your power, your future, and your soul, which currently isn’t worth much, are all mine now.”

“Take good care of what belongs to me.”

With that, the girl’s figure completely turned into specks of light and disappeared into the wind and sand.

The wasteland fell quiet once again.

All that remained was the massive corpse of the Desert Goanna, a bruised and battered Monica, and the dry sound of the wind blowing from afar.

Monica sat on the ground, staring blankly at the spot where the girl had vanished.

After a long time.

She slowly lowered her head and looked at her own hands.

Then she looked at the corpse of the Desert Goanna.

“So…”

“I was saved by a Devil?”

“And I signed a contract with that Devil and sold my soul?”

“And because that Devil had to go to work, she left me all alone in the wasteland?”

Monica fell into a long silence.

The wind and sand blew past.

Her blonde hair was plastered messily across her face.

A long while later, the voice of a girl questioning her very existence rang out across the wasteland.

“Why would a Devil need to go to work…”