“What a hassle!”
Fini hadn’t expected that even after going to such great lengths to open a shop on the Upper East Side, he would still run into something like this.
As expected, New York was not a place where ordinary people could easily survive.
And, to be fair, he had only himself to blame.
If he hadn’t summoned three “Jin Ji Fried Chicken Wraps” out of thin air with his skill, he could have simply dumped the two robbers at the police station and been done with it.
Thinking back carefully, Fini felt that neither of the robbers had noticed anything unusual.
When he had used the fried chicken wraps to smack them in the face, one robber had been reaching for his gun.
His attention had been turned toward his arms, so he hadn’t seen the moment when the wraps appeared out of thin air.
The other robber had been lying on the ground and had even less chance of seeing it.
As for Skye, Fini hadn’t paid close enough attention at the time to know for certain whether she had seen anything, but that wasn’t much of a problem.
Judging from how nervous she looked now, she probably hadn’t fully recovered from the shock yet.
After letting out a somewhat depressed sigh, Fini ultimately decided to let the two robbers off.
Before doing so, however, he needed to make sure that nobody had sent them.
“Why did you come to rob our shop?”
“Because we’re broke!”
“…”
That answer left Fini speechless.
Skye, standing beside him, immediately became angry and said, “If you’re broke, why don’t you rob a bank? Why come after us?”
“We can’t beat the banks!”
That made Skye even angrier.
She couldn’t help kicking the robber.
Strictly speaking, this shop belonged to her, even though most of the money it made came from Fini.
Once Fini confirmed that the two hadn’t been sent by anyone, he felt much more at ease.
After sternly warning them about the rules in this area, he made them leave their guns behind and prepared to send them away.
“You’ll forget what happened today as soon as possible. From now on, be good people.”
Before letting them go, Fini didn’t forget to use the “Golden Dayan Art” to manipulate the two men.
Given how frightened they currently were of him, as long as nothing unexpected happened, they should basically forget everything by tomorrow.
After watching the two men disappear into the distance, the first thing Skye did was lock the shop’s front door.
Only then did she let out a long breath before hesitantly asking, “Is it really okay to just let them go?”
“No problem.”
Fini smiled and nodded.
He had already secretly taken the opportunity to get rid of the three fried chicken wraps on the ground as well as the surveillance footage.
“Fini…”
Just as Fini was wondering how he could persuade Skye not to tell her parents about what had happened today, he heard her trembling voice.
“Just now… I think I suddenly saw something appear out of thin air…”
“Th-three…”
“Three fried chicken wraps, right?”
Fini sighed and finished her sentence for her.
He stared at her thoughtfully.
Thinking about what would happen to the world in a year, as well as the problem concerning Skye herself, he finally decided to tell her the truth.
“You didn’t see wrong. And I was the one who made them.”
Skye’s already pale face became even whiter.
She first took a trembling step backward, then moved closer again and asked nervously, “Fini, y-you… are you an alien?”
I’m a pure-blooded Earthling.
You’re the one who might have some alien genes.
Fini grumbled inwardly, rolled his eyes, and said irritably, “What do you think?”
“I…I…”
Seeing Skye stammering, unable to get the words out, Fini couldn’t help sighing.
If he hadn’t already known about the circumstances of this world, perhaps his reaction to something like this wouldn’t have been much better than Skye’s.
“Relax. I’m Fini Halsey, a genuine Earthling. This is just a special ability of mine. Like this.”
Fini casually summoned a “Jin Ji Fried Chicken Wrap” and handed it to her.
Skye stupidly accepted the wrap.
She lowered her head and stared at the food in her hand, then looked back at Fini.
She opened her mouth several times, seemingly unsure what she should say.
Since she had already discovered his secret, Fini didn’t bother hiding much anymore.
“Didn’t you want to know why Brian fell over this afternoon?”
“You can consider that another one of my superpowers.”
“Superpower!?”
Skye’s eyes widened, looking like an adorable little kitten.
As a hacker, she had always felt that there weren’t many secrets in this world beyond her reach.
But at this moment, she suddenly felt as though she knew nothing at all.
“Yeah.”
Fini nodded.
He walked over to the nearby sofa and sat down, then waved at Skye, signaling her to come over.
Skye walked over and sat beside him without thinking too much.
Then she asked, “Do Mom and Dad know?”
“Right now, you’re the only one who knows.”
Fini leaned back against the soft sofa, turned his head, and looked seriously at Skye.
“Skye, now that you know, I’ll be straightforward with you. This world is dangerous. So unless you have a good reason, don’t go investigating strange things online. You’ll get yourself into trouble.”
“Are there a lot of people with superpowers like you?”
After getting past her initial fear, Skye began entering curiosity mode.
She had realized that Fini was still the same Fini as before.
She had simply discovered one more secret about him.
“And are your superpowers just making people fall over and making fried chicken wraps? Do you have any others? When did you discover them?”
Like a curious child, Skye continued asking questions before Fini could even answer.
“Do you know anyone else with superpowers?”
Hearing all these questions, Fini rubbed his aching head and thought for a moment before answering them one by one.
“I feel like there are quite a few people in this world with special abilities.”
“The abilities should probably be something people are born with. As for me, I don’t currently know anyone else with superpowers.”
After answering, Fini looked at Skye seriously and reminded her again.
“Skye, don’t think I’m joking. This world really is dangerous.”
“People like us with special abilities have never appeared in society and caused any significant impact. That undoubtedly means there’s some organization or power controlling everything behind the scenes. It could very well be the government.”
“If you don’t want me to be taken away and studied, dissected, or experimented on, you’d better help me keep this secret.”
“No way…”
Hearing what Fini said, Skye immediately looked worried.
She didn’t dare gamble on whether such a possibility existed, so she earnestly promised, “I won’t tell anyone.”
Then she seemed to remember something and hurriedly asked, “What about those two just now…?”
“It’s fine. They didn’t notice anything.”
Fini could already feel the “Golden Dayan Art” gradually taking effect.
If nothing unexpected happened, the two of them would completely forget about today’s events tomorrow and turn over a new leaf.
Seeing Fini say that everything was fine, Skye could only put her worries aside and silently pray that the two men wouldn’t tell anyone about what had happened.
The room gradually fell silent.
Skye was still somewhat worried about exposing Fini’s secret, so she didn’t continue asking questions.
Instead, she began thinking about how she could help if something went wrong.
Meanwhile, Fini’s attention had shifted to something else.
The experience bar for the skill-drawing system was actually full.
He could now begin his third skill draw!
Ah, it’s over.
It’s over.
Nobody’s reading this…
(End of Chapter)