Nicole’s voice sounded from the other end of the line, “It’s the tuition fee one of my friends gave me for
teaching them martial arts.”
‘So that’s why,’ they thought.
The two nodded now that their doubts had been cleared.
Both of them agreed that Nicole had impressive martial arts skills; while receiving a diamond sounded
excessive, it was normal for her to be admired by people.
Lulu then added, “Snow and Raine have gotten it restored. Nicole, don’t be bothered by their actions.
They’re not worth your mental health.”
Nicole lifted the corner of her lips in the dark.
“Alright, I won’t.”
Nicole heard their shallow breathing beside her. The two seemed to have let go of their worries and
had fallen fast asleep.
She did not feel sleepy. After some thought, she switched on the black-colored phone.
The moment she switched on the phone, a message popped up on the screen.
Nicole opened the notification. It was a message asking her when she had the time to meet and chat.
The person had signed off the text with the initial C.
Carl is back in Mecrounia?’ she wondered.
Nicole’s expression changed slightly before reverting to a calm one.
‘Mecrounia is basically Carl’s home country; staying there would guarantee his life and safety to the
greatest extent,’ she thought. She quickly typed up a response on the phone. The person on the other
end promptly replied with an OK emoji.
Nicole didn’t respond to the message and quickly switched off the phone. She quietly lay on the bed.
She was feeling a mixture of emotions.
Perhaps it was because she had lifted a load off her chest; this time, Nicole fell asleep quickly and had
a dream.
Her dream reeked of blood. She had been kidnapped to an unknown place on a mountain and was
showing signs of dehydration.
She could actually feel her parched throat.
She heard a familiar voice coming from a faraway distance. The voice had lost whatever gentleness it
had in the past and seemed extraordinarily high-pitched.
“Rich people are too stubborn. I guess we’ll have to do something!”
“Don’t blame me, Nicki! They’re the ones who are heartless. You must go seek revenge from them if
you feel any resentment!”
Nicole felt a hard object pressed against the back of her head as he spoke. The Nicole back then was a
naive little girl, but the Nicole today was most familiar with this feeling
‘It’s the feeling of a gun pressed up against you,’ she thought.
The man sneered when he saw her not put up a fight. He slowly unlatched the safety lever on his gun
while watching the weak little prey in front of him. The sinister smile on his lips gradually grew wider.
‘She’s a mere child; I alone am more than enough to finish her off,’ he thought. She could clearly hear
the sound of the man reloading the pistol. The man’s laughter slowly faded away. It was at that moment
that Nicole shut her eyes.
She knew, things were about to go down.
‘What happened to Nicole? Why did she suddenly increase my laps to twenty-five? Can a human run
this many laps?!’he thought.
Zeke looked at Nicole, who was holding a stopwatch in the distance. At first, he would make silly faces
at her. In the end, he was so tired he could barely lift an arm.
Regardless, humans indeed have unlimited potential; Zeke managed to finish running twenty five laps.
He wiped away the sweat on his forehead with the towel on his neck.
At the same time, he looked at Nicole and asked exasperatedly between pants, “Nicole, what’s up with
you today? Why did I have to run ten extra laps?”
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