The morning sky was dark and cloudy over the big, busy city.
Seventeen-year-old Quinn Carter wiped a sticky table at Rusty’s Diner.
She smelled fresh coffee and hot, burnt toast.
She felt very tired, but she had to work hard.
Her sweet mother, Maria, was very sick with cancer.
They needed money to pay for the hospital bills.
Quinn wore her dirty work apron and an old silver necklace.
The necklace belonged to her dead father, Detective James Carter.
He was murdered five years ago, and Quinn missed him every single day.
Suddenly, the front door flew open.
“Bang!” The loud sound scared the few customers inside the diner.
Three big men walked in.
They wore scary black masks over their faces.
The first man held a heavy metal baseball bat.
The second man had a shiny knife.
The third man cracked his big knuckles.
“Give me all the money right now!” the tall man with the bat yelled.
He pointed the bat at Pops.
Pops was the sweet, old man who owned the diner.
Pops shook with fear and put his hands high in the air.
“Please do not hurt me,” Pops said with a shaky voice.
“Take the money.”
Quinn felt very angry.
She hated bullies, and she really hated people who scared her friends.
She held her father’s silver necklace tightly in her hand.
She stepped out from behind the counter.
“Leave him alone,” Quinn said in a loud, brave voice.
The tall thug laughed.
“Hey, little girl, sit down before you get hurt!” He walked over and pushed her hard against the brick wall.
Quinn hit the wall hard.
The silver necklace broke open with a sharp snap.
A tiny, glowing blue computer chip fell out of the metal pendant.
Before Quinn could even blink, the little metal chip jumped like a bug.
It poked right into the skin on her neck.
She felt a sharp, hot pinch.
Ding!
A bright blue screen popped up in the air right in front of her eyes.
[System Activated.]
[Host: Quinn Carter]
[Level: 1]
[Class: Solo Fighter]
[HP: 100/100]
[EXP: 0/100]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 12]
[Perception: 8]
[Intelligence: 10]
[New Skill Unlocked: Basic MMA (Lv.
1)]
Quinn blinked her eyes in shock.
Was she dreaming?
She did not have time to think.
The tall thug ran toward her, swinging the heavy metal bat right at her head.
[System Alert: Combat Started!]
[Enemies: 3 Street Thugs (Level 3)]
[Threat Value: Low]
Quinn felt a strange, amazing new power flow deep into her bones.
The stolen bio-chip made her muscles super strong.
“Boom!” The wooden floor shook as Quinn pushed off her back foot.
She moved like a fast blur.
The wind screamed loudly past her ears.
She ducked under the swinging bat.
Then, she dropped low to the ground and did a fast spin sweep.
Her leg hit the thug’s ankles with a loud crack.
The big man lost his balance and fell flat on his back.
He groaned in pain.
The second man with the knife got very mad.
He ran at her and threw a wild, messy punch.
Quinn used a quick shoulder roll recovery to dodge the big fist.
She planted her feet firmly on the ground.
She twisted her hips and threw a heavy uppercut.
“Bam!” Her fist hit the man’s chin super hard.
A visible shockwave exploded from the punch.
The bad guy felt a huge force break his teeth.
He flew back three steps and fell down.
He was knocked out cold.
The third man looked terrified, but he charged at her anyway.
He tried to grab her waist.
Quinn ran two quick steps up the diner wall.
She did a perfect wall run and pushed off the brick.
She spun high in the air and did a powerful tornado kick.
Her foot hit the man right in the chest.
“Crash!” He flew back and broke a wooden table into tiny pieces.
The first man stood up again.
He raised the metal bat high.
Quinn did not feel scared at all.
With a sudden burst of speed, she jumped into a high backflip.
Her heel caught the bad guy exactly under the chin.
The powerful backflip kick sent him flying into the wall.
He hit his head and fell asleep.
All three scary men lay on the floor.
They did not move at all.
[System Alert: Enemies Defeated!]
[EXP + 150]
[Ding!
You leveled up!]
[Level 2 Reached.
All Stats increased by 2!]
[Current HP: 120/120]
Quinn smiled and wiped sweat from her forehead.
She felt amazing.
“Pops, call the police right now,” she said.
“I have to go, or I will be late for my first day at my new school.”
Pops stared at her with a wide, open mouth.
“Quinn…
how did you do that?”
“I ate my vegetables,” Quinn joked softly.
She grabbed her backpack and walked out the door.
Quinn walked down the street to Harrington Academy.
It was an elite private school for super rich kids.
She won a basketball scholarship to go there.
The school looked exactly like a giant castle.
It had bright green grass, tall marble pillars, and huge glass windows.
As she walked near the front gate, a bright red sports car drove past her.
It was moving way too fast.
The car hit a big mud puddle near the sidewalk.
“Splash!” Dirty brown water flew up and hit Quinn’s clean white uniform skirt.
“Hey!
Watch out, you terrible driver!” Quinn yelled loudly.
The red car hit the brakes and stopped quickly.
The door opened.
A teenage boy stepped out.
He wore neat, expensive clothes and thick glasses.
He had messy brown hair.
He looked very rich, but he also looked very nervous.
“Oh no, I am so sorry,” the boy said softly.
He walked closer and looked at Quinn.
Suddenly, his eyes grew very wide.
He stopped talking.
He stared at her beautiful, fierce face.
His cheeks turned bright red.
He thought she was the most amazing girl he ever saw.
“I…
I am Elijah Cranston.
Let me buy you a new skirt.
Actually, let me buy you a whole new clothing store to make up for this.”
Quinn rolled her eyes.
She did not have time for silly rich boys.
“Keep your money, Elijah.
Just learn how to drive your spaceship.”
She walked away.
Elijah just stood there, smiling like a totally happy fool.
He loved her tough attitude.
He wanted to know everything about her.
Inside the huge school building, the busy hallways looked like a clean, rich hotel.
Students wore shiny gold watches and carried expensive bags.
A girl with bright blonde hair and a digital tablet walked right up to Quinn.
She smiled a big, friendly smile.
“You must be Quinn Carter,” the girl said happily.
“I am Chloe Winters.
I run the school news blog.
I know everything about everyone here.”
“Nice to meet you, Chloe,” Quinn said politely.
Suddenly, a really tall, muscular boy walked up to them.
He held an orange basketball under his huge arm.
He was Marcus Reed, the star player of the boys’ basketball team.
“Wow,” Marcus said in a deep, smooth voice.
He looked at Quinn from head to toe and smiled a very handsome smile.
“You must be the new point guard.
I am Marcus.
Listen, this school can be tough.
If anyone bothers you here, just tell me.
I will protect you.”
Quinn looked right into his dark eyes.
She stood up very straight.
“I do not need your protection, Marcus.
I protect myself.”
Marcus laughed happily.
He stepped a little closer.
He really liked her fire.
“I like that answer.
You are very different from the other boring girls here.
I am going to keep my eyes on you, Quinn.”
Just then, another boy walked by.
He had neat black hair and wore a perfect, sharp suit.
It was Noah Brooks.
He was very smart, very rich, and very mean.
He looked at Quinn with a dark, interested smile.
“Well, well.
The new scholarship girl,” Noah said softly.
He winked at her playfully.
“Let us see if you survive the real games we play here.”
Quinn ignored all three of them.
She did not come to this fancy school to date boys.
She came here to play basketball, keep her scholarship, and find clues about her dead father.
She was a solo player.
The long school day finally ended.
Quinn went back to her small, old apartment in the bad part of the city.
The apartment was completely silent.
Her sick mother was fast asleep in the bedroom.
Quinn walked gently into her own small room.
She locked the wooden door.
She looked in the mirror and touched her neck.
The spot where the tiny computer chip entered her skin was totally healed.
It looked like magic.
She reached under her bed and pulled out a dusty cardboard box.
It held her father’s old police items.
She dug deep inside the box.
She found his old, heavy black leather jacket.
She picked up the cool jacket.
She felt something hard inside the secret inner pocket.
She put her hand inside and pulled out a thick brown folder.
A red sticker on the front of the folder said: CONFIDENTIAL EVIDENCE.
DO NOT OPEN.
Quinn opened it anyway.
Inside, she saw scary pictures of crime scenes and a weird symbol drawn in dark black ink.
She also found secret papers talking about Cranston Industries.
That was Elijah’s family company!
The papers talked about a stolen, billion-dollar computer chip.
A bad mastermind named “The Gamemaster” wanted the chip to create super killers.
The papers also mentioned a crazy killer called the “Cipher Killer.”
“My dad stole the chip to hide it from them,” Quinn whispered to herself.
Her heart beat very fast.
“He hid it inside his old necklace.
And now, the chip is inside me.”
Ding!
[System Alert!]
[Hidden Quest Found: The Gamemaster’s Secret]
[Quest Details: Find the Gamemaster and avenge your father.
Do not let anyone steal your bio-chip.]
[Reward: 10,000 EXP and Rare Weapon]
Quinn closed the brown folder.
Her eyes looked very cold and very brave.
She draped her father’s oversized black leather jacket over her shoulders.
She was just a teenage girl, but now she had a super System.
She had rich boys who wanted to help her and date her.
But she did not care about romance at all.
She only cared about catching killers.
“I am going to hunt them all down,” Quinn said to the empty, quiet room.
“This is my game now.”
[Current Status]
Name: Quinn Carter
Level: 2
Class: Solo Fighter
HP: 120/120
EXP: 50/300
Strength: 12
Agility: 14
Perception: 10
Intelligence: 12
Active Quest: The Gamemaster’s Secret