Evren pushed Amber’s wheelchair out of the hotel lobby. Outside, the cold rain was still falling heavily.
Seeing Amber shiver in her coat, Evren unzipped his thick, insulated delivery jacket and draped it over her shoulders. He pulled the hood over her head to shield her from the wind.
Amber looked up, surprised. Her face was pale, and her lips were trembling from the fever, but her eyes held a faint warmth.
"You don’t have to do this," she whispered. Her voice was barely audible over the sound of the rain. "You don’t even know me. Everyone else discarded me... why are you helping me?"
Evren wiped water from his forehead and kept pushing the wheelchair down the sidewalk.
"Because nobody deserves to be treated like trash," Evren said simply. "And I know what it feels like when everyone turns their back on you."
Amber stayed silent, but her hands gripped the edges of his jacket tightly around her chest.
A block away, a bright neon sign glowed through the rain: Apex Medical & Pharmacy (24-Hour Awakener Supplies).
Evren pushed the wheelchair through the automatic glass doors. The warm, clean air of the pharmacy hit them instantly.
Behind the high marble counter sat a chubby man in a white lab coat with a golden nametag that read Bexton - Lead Pharmacist.
Bexton was leaning back in his chair, scrolling through videos on his phone with a bored expression.
When the bell above the door chimed, Bexton looked up. His eyes landed on Evren’s wet delivery pants and stained sneakers, then moved to Amber in her wheelchair. A look of instant disgust crossed Bexton’s face.
"We’re closed for retail," Bexton grunted, not even bothering to stand up. "Emergency Awakener prescriptions only. No beggars allowed."
"I’m not a beggar," Evren said, pushing Amber up to the counter. "Her fever is burning up, and she’s in pain from a spinal injury. What do you have to stop a mana fever and support her back?"
Bexton scoffed, dropping his phone onto the desk. He leaned over the counter and looked closely at Amber’s pale face and limp legs. Suddenly, his eyes widened slightly in recognition.
"Wait... isn’t that Captain Amber from the Sterling Guild?" Bexton chuckled mockingly. "Ah, the famous Spinal Mana Necrosis from that SSS-Raid disaster. Everyone in the city knows her case."
Bexton crossed his arms, looking down his nose at Evren. "To stop her fever, she needs S-Rank Mana-Suppressant Serum. And for her back, she needs an anti-gravity support cushion. Do you even know how much that costs, delivery boy? That’s high-grade Awakener medicine, not aspirin. The serum alone is four hundred dollars, and the cushion is two hundred. That’s six hundred bucks total."
"I have the money," Evren said calmly. "Bring them out."
Bexton narrowed his eyes.
He looked at Evren’s cracked phone and worn-out shoes. A greedy, scheming look flashed in his eyes. He figured Evren was just some desperate idiot trying to impress a broken woman, probably using up his life savings.
Bexton stood up, walked to the back shelf, and brought out a small glass vial containing glowing blue liquid and a sleek black cushion.
But then he pulled out a dusty, yellowed box of expired vitamin supplements and slapped it on top of the pile.
"Actually, kid, prices went up five minutes ago," Bexton said, grinning slyly. "Nighttime delivery surcharge is two hundred dollars. And by pharmacy policy, you can’t buy the suppressant without this compulsory S-Rank Vita-Boost pack for another two hundred."
Bexton tapped his fingers on the marble counter. "That’s exactly one thousand dollars total. Cash or card upfront. If you can’t pay, get yourself and that wheelchair out of my shop before I call security."
Evren’s eyes narrowed.
He wasn’t stupid. He could tell Bexton was deliberately overcharging him with fake fees and trying to force a dusty, old clearance box of vitamins onto him just to rip him off.
’He thinks I’m an easy target because of what I’m wearing,’ Evren thought.
If this had happened an hour ago, Evren would have had no choice but to beg or leave.
But right now, he had exactly one thousand and forty-two dollars sitting in his bank account... and a system mission countdown ticking away.
Evren didn’t argue; he just pulled out his cracked phone, unlocked the payment app, and tapped it against the card reader on the counter.
BEEP!
The card reader chimed green.
Payment Successful: $1,000.00.
Bexton stared at the green light on the machine, his mouth hanging wide open. He looked at the receipt printing out, then looked back at Evren in utter shock.
"You... you actually paid?" Bexton stammered, his face turning red.
"Hand over the medicine," Evren replied in a cold voice.
Bexton swallowed hard, quickly sliding the glass vial and the anti-gravity cushion across the counter. He was too stunned to say another word.
Evren took the vial, unsealed the cap, and gently held it to Amber’s lips.
"Drink this," Evren said softly.
Amber looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. She knew how expensive that medicine was. Slowly, she drank the cool blue serum.
Within seconds, the deep red fever flush on her neck began to fade. Her ragged breathing slowed down, becoming steady. Evren then carefully slid the anti-gravity support cushion behind her back. The gentle magnetic field lifted the pressure off her shattered lower spine, making her let out a long, relieved sigh.
For the first time in six months, the agonizing burning pain in her back subsided. Tears welled up in the corners of Amber’s eyes as she looked up at Evren.
"Thank you..." she whispered, her voice trembling with genuine emotion.
Before Evren could reply, the translucent system screen flared brightly in front of his eyes again.
[DING!]
[Mission Complete: Spend $1,000.00 on Amber’s urgent medical care!]
[Calculating Rebate Multiplier... 10,000x Applied!]
[Rebate Reward: $10,000,000.00 Deposited To Your Account!]
[Bonus Completion Reward: S-Rank Nerve Regeneration Pill (Stage 1) Unlocked!]
Evren’s breath caught in his throat.
Before he could even process the words, the phone in his hand began to vibrate violently. A series of official bank alerts flashed across the screen in rapid succession:
Bank Alert: Direct Deposit of $10,000,000.00 received from Anonymous Overseas Investment Trust.
Bank Account Update: Account Balance exceeds $10,000,000.00. Your membership tier has been automatically upgraded to VIP Black Card Status.
Apex National Bank Notice: Your Personal Wealth Manager, Mikay, will contact you shortly.
Evren stared at his phone screen. Ten million dollars. Ten. Million. Dollars.
His hand shook slightly as he looked at the green numbers on his balance statement. It wasn’t a hallucination. The system was 100% real.
Behind the counter, the pharmacy’s high-tech payment terminal, designed to alert staff when high-tier Awakener guild leaders transacted, suddenly chimed with a loud VIP customer notice. The monitor on Bexton’s desk flashed brightly:
NOTICE: A VIP BLACK CARD HOLDER IS CURRENTLY TRANSACTING IN YOUR STORE.
Bexton looked at his computer monitor, then at Evren’s cracked phone, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. He began to sweat profusely, realizing the quiet delivery boy he had just tried to scam had more money than the entire pharmacy was worth.
"S-Sir..." Bexton gulped, his voice trembling violently. "I... I didn’t know you were a Black Card VIP... Please, about the extra charges..."
Evren didn’t even look at Bexton. He reached into his coat pocket, where a small, glowing silver pill box had quietly materialized... the Stage 1 Nerve Regeneration Pill.
Evren turned Amber’s wheelchair around and pushed her toward the exit.
"Keep the change," Evren said coldly over his shoulder. "We’re done here."