The septillionaire's superstar system

A stupid one

Without thinking, Alvin dived after her in a bid to catch her. His left hand grabbed a hold of her clothes at the shoulder area, while his right hand grabbed the lower part of the rail.

“Two seconds.” The system added, making him more anxious.

“Done!” Alvin muttered holding the girl tightly as he gasped, breathing fast. The girl screamed and opened her eyes, noticing that someone was holding her.

She looked down and immediately screamed in terror. She was hanging mid air and immediately noticed the distance to the ground the moment she looked down.

“Don't scream. Ah! How can someone small be so heavy?” Alvin snapped and groaned in pain.

“Who are you? Let me go.” The girl shouted, struggling.

Alvin gritted his teeth with both of his hands aching terribly. Blood was already seeping out from his palm which was grasping the broken iron rail.

“If I let you go, what are you going to do? Fall to your death? And please stop struggling, are you trying to take me with you? I just escaped a horrible death. I don't want to die now. Don't struggle, so I won't fall with you.”

“Then let go! If you don't want to fall with me.”

Alvin hissed in pain.

“Are you blind or are you simply a dummy? My fingerprints are already on your clothes. If I let go, the investigation results are going to show that I pushed you down. I will end up in jail without a chance to defend myself. How is that different from death?”

“Then you should have minded your business. How does it concern you if I don't want to live anymore?” The girl shouted, her voice filled with pain.

“I'm afraid, I couldn't have minded my business and avoided getting involved, even if I wanted to. There's no way I could have ignored you and allowed you to die. Little girl, no matter what happened, believe me, it's not the end of the world. Trust me, I will help you out of the dark and let you find the light. Dying is not an option. Why should you be the one to die instead of the bastards who hurt you?”

“Shut up! You don't know anything! You don't know how I feel now. I don't blame you, I blame myself for hesitating before I jumped. The bastards who hurt me? What if I'm the bastard who does not deserve to live?”

Alvin sighed, not in the mood to argue with her.

“Betrayal, pain, depression, heartache, being bullied, humiliation, hatred, shame, name it. All those emotions are not foreign to me. In fact, they have become so familiar to me that they stuck like a second skin. No one understands that kind of emotion more than I do, because I have felt it every single day of my life for the past fifteen years.”

He paused for a while to let his words sink in and continued.

“I don't know what this is about, but I can assure you that the moment you die, you're going to regret it big time. Your ghost will suffer unimaginable torment and become a wanderer; you will lose the ability to change your reality. You can only drift around powerlessly, watching your enemies thrive. You can't attack them either because your spirit is powerless. Before you gather enough resentful energy to retaliate, they might have probably died peacefully from old age. You will suffer for eternity, all for what? But as long as you stay alive, no matter how slim the chances are, you will definitely find an opportunity to turn the situation around. As long as you have that determination in your heart, and the fire in your soul, it's not yet over until it's truly over.” Alvin shouted in an urgent voice, as if he wanted to shake some sense into the girl.

The girl's clothes suddenly tore, and it was the part Alvin was holding onto, making his heart skip multiple beats. The girl's weight had made the force of gravity increase, and the cotton clothes which were flimsy in the first place couldn't hold out under such pressure. Alvin was losing grip on the girl, and she was dangling around in an unnatural shape which weighed him down, making the other hand holding the rails to bruise and bleed even more.

The girl suddenly began to cry, her shoulders shaking in heart wrenching sobs.

“Damn it! Why are you crying, the more you shake the more I lose my grip, ah.” Alvin groaned. Two drops of blood from his bleeding palm which was holding the rails landed on the girl's face, startling her.

“What's this?” She whispered in horror.

“What do you think? My blood! The more you shake, cry and struggle, the deeper the jagged iron from the rails cut into my skin. Yet you ask what it is? What do you think it is?” He snapped, not caring for propriety anymore.

The shivering girl couldn't stop sobbing and whimpering, but she finally began to make active efforts to keep still. Alvin gritted his teeth and wrapped his legs tightly around the girl's underarms. But the effort put more strain on his hands. He ground his teeth harder.

“Raise your arm so I can grab it.”

The girl's shaky hands came up, and he quickly let go of the torn clothing he was grasping to hold her hand, making the terrified girl scream again. But before she could descend, he grabbed her arm holding her steady.

“System, is there any way you can help us crawl up. Something like a rope and straps maybe.”

“You can get them from the inventory store. However, you don't have available contribution points. But you can exchange them for ten thousand dollars from the reward money.” The system replied impassively.

“Then do it. Damn it! What are you waiting for?” Alvin groaned.

“Plus one thousand dollars for the system helping you attach the ropes to suitable surfaces.”

“Okay, damn! Ah! This thing has cut deep into my flesh, soon it might reach the bone.”

“Who are you talking to?” The girl asked hesitantly, making Alvin realize that he has been speaking out.

Before he could find an answer to the girl's question, leather straps wrapped around the both of them, making the girl's eyes widen.

“Hold the main leather strap extending from the staircase.” The system instructed. Alvin quickly let go of the rail, with his flesh tearing off in the process. He ignored the pain and quickly grabbed the leather strap. Sweat was pouring out of his body as he removed his legs from around the girl's body and kicked the wall, adjusting his position in such a way that the wall supported some of his legs’ weight and also acted as a boost.

He began the climb back to the roof, leaving a trail of blood on the leather strap while dragging the girl along. He finally made it to the other side of the rail and yanked the girl up with all the strength he could muster, causing both he and the girl to land on the floor, near a dirty water puddle caused by drifting rain.

The girl sprawled against his body with both of their hearts beating against each other.

Alvin quickly pushed her away and groaned, tearing off his top to bandage his torn palm.

“Who are you?” The girl muttered, looking up at Alvin who was still wearing a helmet.