Infinite Choice System

Chapter Six

Nelson stood still with his hands loose at his side and his face carrying an empty expression. In front of him, Zack and Liu had planted themselves directly in his path, their shoulders squared and their chest puffed out like roosters.

Nelson tilted his head to reveal three more classmates behind the duo, forming a wall of cologne and borrowed confidence.

“Did you crawl in through the back kitchen, fishy Fisher?” Zack sneered, his voice loud enough to spread across the lobby. “Or did you bribe the front desk with coupons and food stamps?"

Nelson raised his eyebrow in response to Zack’s words, squinting his eyes the moment his surname was abused.

Liu laughed with a sharp barking sound. “Fishy Fisher… good one. Look at that suit, it must have cost him three months of his mother's grocery change. Shame he still smells like the slum he crawled out from…"

Due to the tension building around Nelson, he could see a few heads turning towards his general direction. The last thing he wanted at this point of his life was to attract unnecessary attention to himself, but somehow it found him.

A woman in pearls paused mid conversation. A reporter lowered his camera, sensing something worth taking photos of. The hotel staff froze, unsure whether to intervene or not.

Nelson didn't move, he thought of things to say and how to quietly wriggle out of this situation without escalating it. These people harassing him were not the reason he showed up to the hotel so there was no point in making a forest fire out of the spark.

His eyes twitched slightly as an unexpected system notification popped up in his view

[Ding!]

[New Choice's available]

[Choice A: Accept that you snuck your way in like a loser [Reward: $5,000]

[Choice B: Prove you were legitimately allowed in [Reward: $10,000]

[Choice C: Punch those men in the face and humiliate them [Reward: An automatic Nvidia stock, fully funded and profitable]

[Reward details: Stock: NVIDIA (NVDA)

Shares Owned: 1,250

Average Buy Price: $82.40

Current Price: $246.18

Market Value: $307,725.00

Total Invested: $103,000.00

Total Gain: +$204,725.00 (+198.76%)

Today's Change: +$6,875.00 (+2.29%)

Status: Strong Buy | Long-Term Growth]

Nelson's eyes blasted open at the nature of the options he had been given, Zack and Liu kept taunting him with harsh words but he paid no attention to them, he only dragged his eyes across the length of the interface.

He looked up and performed a quick head count of the people surrounding him ready to chop his head off.

The total number came to fifteen. There was no way one man could take on fifteen guys without attracting the attention of the entire hotel.

He stared at the options again, Option A was clearly the worst of the lot, Option C however was daring and would reap massive rewards that would set him for life.

However, he had a mission.

Nelson snapped out of his thoughts as Liu stepped closer and nudged him aggressively on the shoulder.

“Hey fishy Fisher, cat got your tongue? We over here talking and you ignoring, what? You too rich to respond to us ‘low lives’” the bully blasted at his face.

Nelson looked up and past Liu’s shoulder, past the sneering faces behind him as well, and his eye caught the doorman who had escorted him inside. The man in the gold trimmed uniform stood by the elevator bank, his posture straight and his face professional.

Nelson quickly raised one hand with two fingers pointing upwards.

The doorman crossed the lobby in quick, efficient steps. He made his way through the circle of death surrounding Nelson and bowed slightly before him, then turned to face the group.

“This gentleman is a verified guest," the doorman said with a voice of authority. “Invited by Mr. Derek Thompson himself. I escorted him inside the hotel myself."

Nelson watched as Zack's mouth hung open, Lui’s face cycled through three shades of red. The other guys behind them shuffled backward, suddenly finding the floor tiles very interesting.

“Thank you very much kind Sir, please direct me to the main hall of the event…” Nelson said elegantly as he arranged his suit.

The doorman gestured towards the elevator, Nelson stepped forward and the group parted like water around a stone. The silence behind him was heavier than any insult or punch he could have ever thrown.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations on the host completing Choice B]

[Reward: $10,000 has been transferred into your bank account]

Nelson watched as the system threw the reward money at him. Inwardly, he had a mouth watering reaction to the Option C of the lot, but given the circumstances, it would have been irrational to select it.

“The best choices aren't necessarily the biggest… that option would have set me up for life! Right? I don't really know much about investing and portfolios…” Nelson said to himself as he stepped into the elevator.

***

The elevator doors opened with that familiar ding, and Nelson stepped into the third floor banquet hall. His nose twitched as the aroma of gardenias and expensive champagne filled his airways.

He had never been in a setting as fancy as this ever in his life, this caused his head to turn from left to right, trying as much as possible to notice everything and everyone all at once.

The string quartet playing something slow in the far corner, crystal chandeliers hanging like frozen waterfalls, light scattered across the room in fractured patterns.

He walked gently and steadily until he spotted Derek Thompson at the center of a tight circle of guests, one arm draped around Claire's waist.

Nelson stopped walking and took a moment to admire his now ex girlfriend. To his surprise and simultaneously no surprise at all, she was looking drop dead gorgeous and he almost had a few seconds of regret for letting Derek do away with her. She wore the color of fresh blood, diamonds hung around her throat and her laugh carried high, sharp and somehow in slow motion.

Nelson took a deep breath and shook his head a bit, “What's done is done…” he muttered to himself.

Derek's other hand gestured broadly as he told some outlandish story, his audience nodding and smiling on cue.

Nelson noticed the circle didn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon as Derek didn't seem to be rounding up his story and the circle seemed really interested.

"It's really funny how everyone laughs at the comedy of a rich man even though they know what he's saying is not funny… He seems to be going nowhere for the time being, that would give me enough time to look for my target." Nelson spoke to himself as he turned on his heel.

He only took a few steps walking towards the balcony when he stopped dead in his tracks with his gaze fixated on a group of women standing near the balcony doors.

He squinted and drew his lips to a slit as he studied the woman who stood alone from the group.

She was visibly older than the college crowd by a few years, maybe twenty-three or twenty-four, her hair fell past her shoulders in dark waves, untouched by the elaborate styling the other women wore.

She held a champagne flute in one hand but wasn't drinking from it. She didn't smile or mingle, she simply observed.

With all these observations, Nelson came to the conclusion that she was definitely and unmistakenly his target.

“That was easy… almost too easy, the resemblance is uncanny too, the cheekbones and that same arrogant tilt of the chin as Derek.”

She must have gotten the sense that she was being watched because their eyes met across the room. Nelson expected this and held her gaze almost as if he was initiating a staring contest.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as a flicker of curiosity passed in her head like a fish in deep water. Then she looked away, dismissing him as she had dismissed everyone else in the room.

“Did he force you to come here," Nelson muttered as he started walking towards the balcony. "How does that work, aren't you his elder sis…”

Nelson's words hung in his throat and his stride came to a screeching halt, he let out a huge sigh of frustration and dropped his head in slight annoyance.

"Shit…"

“Well, well, well."

The voice came again from behind him, louder and theatrical. Nelson didn't need to turn to know who it was, Derek Thompson had spotted him.