After seeing them off, David stood leaning against the door for a few seconds before slowly sliding down to sit on the floor.
“The Moon,” “she only ever showed it to me”…
It was all a scam…
He lowered his head, wanting to bury his face in his knees.
But before he could drown in his sorrow, a hand firmly and accurately yanked him up by the ear—with enough force to pull his entire body upright.
“David!”
“Ow, ow, ow, OW—!”
David grimaced, clutching his ear as Gloria dragged him over to the sofa and shoved him down onto a seat.
“Who gave you permission to take that cyberware without asking?!” Gloria stood over him, hands on her hips, looking down at him fiercely.
“Explain yourself!”
Rubbing his reddened ear, David looked up at his mother.
Her face was filled with fury, but the layer of worry deep in her eyes couldn’t be hidden.
“You’re one to talk, Mom!”
Instead of answering, he countered, “Why did you bring something so dangerous into our home in the first place?”
If not for this cyberware, I wouldn’t have had such a heart-pounding day today…
Gloria’s expression froze for a split second.
Her voice pitched higher: “If you knew it was dangerous, how dared you install it on your own body?!”
“And another thing!”
Gloria took a deep breath, pressing him further, “What’s the deal with all that money on you?
That twenty-eight thousand eddies…”
“From selling a car,” David tried telling the truth.
Gloria was utterly astonished: “Where on earth did you get a car?”
“I stole a car to drive out, then found another one in North Watson.”
“You stole a car?!”
Gloria blew her top.
Before she could chew him out, David said helplessly, “I had no choice!
People were chasing me the whole way and blew up my car.
If I hadn’t stolen one, I’d be dead!”
“Chasing you?”
Gloria froze: “What on earth happened?!”
“They were looking for Doc, but I killed Doc, so they chased me the whole way,” David dropped another bombshell.
“!!!”
Gloria’s eyes widened in shock.
What had she just heard?!
Murder?!
Her boy could actually do something like that?!
“Why would you kill Doc?” she asked in disbelief.
“He knew I got into trouble with 6th Street and wanted to sell me out,” David explained softly.
“You got into trouble with 6th Street, too?!”
The stakes were just piling up!
Gloria’s voice grew louder and higher: “The 6th Street in Santo Domingo?!
How did you anger them?!”
“To get this cyberware installed…”
David’s voice shrank smaller and smaller: “…I stole a 6th Street motorcycle, and then accidentally wiped out all six guys under the overpass.”
Gloria’s lips trembled.
Mystery solved.
That whole incident was actually David’s doing…
Her whole body swayed, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed straight backward.
“Mom!”
Startled, David lunged forward to catch her, frantically placing her on the sofa.
Sure enough, she really couldn’t handle the truth…
“Mom, I was joking!”
He swallowed hard: “All of that was just news I saw on WNS!”
Gloria lay there, her chest heaving violently, taking several seconds to catch her breath.
She turned her head, staring intently at David for a long moment.
“Where did you really get all that money?”
David opened his mouth, the tactics that entity had used today flashing through his mind.
Borrowing prestige to intimidate.
“It belongs to a classmate of mine,” David lowered his voice, sounding a bit reluctant.
“He stole a car from his family and couldn’t sell it himself, so he asked me to flip it.
The money is his—I was just holding onto it for him.”
Gloria stared at him for several seconds, her gaze softening slightly.
That made far more sense.
Mainly, the previous version David told was way too terrifying for her to accept, whereas those rich playboys at Arasaka Academy were indeed entirely capable of pulling off a stunt like stealing a car from their parents.
“Then why did you install the cyberware?”
Her tone had lost its sharpness, replaced by deep exhaustion.
David didn’t dare look her in the eye, his fingers picking at the seam of the sofa cushion: “At school…
everyone has powerful chrome.”
Gloria fell silent for a moment.
So it was peer pressure and comparison…
She wanted to say something, opened her mouth, closed it, and finally just let out a heavy sigh.
This boy had been sensible ever since he was little, never asking for anything.
Now that he finally did, it turned out to be this sort of thing…
“David, you can’t keep this cyberware,” she explained patiently.
“It puts way too much strain on your body.”
David didn’t reply.
His mom’s concern was justified.
However, he didn’t want to lose this implant—and besides, that evil spirit would never allow this thing to be removed…
“I just got it implanted today, so it can’t be removed anytime soon,” David shrank back slightly, dodging Gloria’s reaching hand.
“Let’s talk about it later.”
“Sigh.”
Gloria pulled her hand back, leaning against the back of the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.
This single day had exhausted her more than responding to ten trauma dispatch calls.
“What about your classmate’s money?
You used over twenty thousand of it.
What are we going to do?” She rubbed her temples.
“I need to figure out a way to see if I can scramble it together…”
“No need to rush,” David interrupted, continuing to spout nonsense.
“His parents found out about him stealing the car.
Luckily, they don’t know the money is in his hands.
Now he’s begging me to hold onto it for him, terrified of blowing his cover.”
After finishing his lie, he even felt his own storytelling skills were improving.
Gloria looked at him, the worry in her eyes slowly easing a bit.
“That’s good, then.”
She added, “I’ll slowly pay this money back.
As for your classmate…
try to stall him as long as you can.”
“I will.”
David nodded, his voice softening: “From now on, I’ll shoulder these things together with you.”
He could take gigs from El Capitan now, and his chrome was powerful enough.
He was no longer that helpless student who could only sit staring blankly in front of the washing machine.
He could protect the people around him, and he could make his mom’s life easier…
Gloria froze for a moment.
Looking at David’s bruised and scratched face and his earnest gaze, she suddenly felt a sting in her nose.
She reached out, pulled David close, and wrapped her arms around him.
“You silly child…”
David’s shoulders were much broader than she had imagined.
When had that kid—whom she had to nag every single day to eat and sleep—grown up like this?
David didn’t pull away either, a wave of emotion washing over him.
Possessed by an evil spirit, whether it was a blessing or a curse remained unknown.
This might be the very last peaceful moment he would get to enjoy…
“Oh, by the way.”
Gloria suddenly released him.
Before David could react, he saw his mother bend down and haul a plastic bag out from under the table.
That bag looked extremely familiar to him.
However, so much had happened today that David couldn’t register it right away.
Until Gloria pulled a magazine out of the bag.
On the cover was fluorescent underwear, with exaggerated pink letters spelling out Playboy.
The smile on David’s face froze solid.
“My dear son…”
Gloria held the magazine up right in front of his face, her expression gentle and her tone sweet: “Could you please explain to me…
what on earth these things are?”
“Umm…”
David’s face flushed bright red in an instant.
Damn evil spirit!
I’m settling the score with you sooner or later!!