9 Natasha

"Mr. Xin, yesterday after everybody left the class I went there again to fetch my teacher's diary. At that time I saw the second question again solved on the green board"

"Okay…" Xin replied with confusion. For him, questions like that were not much of a problem, he solved it just after a glance at it. He was more interested in the offer that Professor Han wanted to pose before him.

"Yes, and that question was not academic. One of my friends working at the Nen Enterprises asked me to help me develop that program with him. And the first question I gave was a part of it."

Xin already had a hunch that both the questions belonged to a single program. So he solved them in such a way when both the programs are executed individually, they will work perfectly fine, without any error.

But when put together with the main program, they won't work at all. And to make it run, they either have to ask Xin for help or solve it themselves.

Professor Han continued and asked him to come to the restaurant behind the school for lunch. They will meet his friend there and discuss developing that program. He also mentioned signing a contract if Xin agrees with their conditions.

Xin understood it was more of a work-related business lunch rather than a casual lunch. He agreed to reach there on time and hung off the phone after greeting him a bye.

It was 9:30 am, and till then, his parents hadn't returned. Early in the morning, he got a message from his mom that they will be delayed due to some flight delay issues and will reach home by night.

So without any delay, Xin put on his trousers, wore his black hoodie, and went out after locking the home and giving the keys to the apartment's security guard.

Since it was a Sunday, the roads and the subways should have been filled with motorbikes, taxis, and buses. But due to the strike of the first magical wave (Saisho no Nami), roads and subways had been filled with enormous giant trees that have started growing there out of nowhere.

Some of them were wild grasses that underwent mutation and grew in size. While the others were magical trees having miraculous properties of their own.

Xin was tempted to pluck some fruits and flowers out of the trees and store them in his laptop backpack for future use. But observing the police was on patrol, and they had put on "stay away" yellow tape around, he refrained his urge and went towards the school to meet the Professor.

Though it was already past ten in the morning, the sun wasn't out, and it was pretty much of a cloudy day. Televisions, newspapers, radios, and all other broadcasting media had only one news as the headline. "The Dawn of a new era, Is it a gift or a curse?"

Many exorcists, temple heads, and religious places heads were of the opinion that the world is coming to an end, and if a second wave hits, humanity will perish in an instant. Meanwhile, scientists were in the opposing party and were claiming that the earth's ecosystem was going through a mutation, more like an evolution due to an external agent's interference, referring towards the new comet.

On his way to the restro mentioned by the Professor, he stopped at one of the convi stores to get himself a sandwich and a cold drink for his breakfast. While he was getting out of the store, a person in a blue mask, black hoodie bumped with Xin and spilled the cold drink on his clothes.

The man was in a hurry. He stood up as fast as possible to flee from there without offering an apology.

Meanwhile, Xin took his time, checked whether his laptop was alright or not, then stood up from that place after some time.

Not a single second had passed since he had stood up when a group of people dressed in black suits like bodyguards came running towards him and asked him to drop that bag and surrender. Before Xin asked them what was the matter and was their problem, they showed Xin the tip of their guns and asked him to do as told.

Xin cautiously put his backpack on the ground and raised his hands to avoid getting fired by their weapons. One of the men in a black suit appearing to be their boss was about to say something to Xin when a sound came from their rear, attracting everyone's attention.

"Idiots. You all are idiots." Shouted the young lady in annoyance.

Xin had a look at the owner of that shrill sound through the gaps between the bodyguards surrounding him and found out it was a young girl with a bob cut and violet eyes.

"Idiots, are you all blind?" she shouted again and asked her bodyguards to put down their guns.

"Even I can see from afar that the burglar bumped into him and ran away in that direction. Then how come you can't see all this from a close-by distance?"

Silence~~

Utter Silence~~~

No one dared to open their mouth and reply to her back.

"Why are you all standing here? Go and catch him, or do you want me to give you command for that?!"

Upon listening to this, some bodyguards in black went after that thief. While two of them stayed beside the beautiful girl for her protection.

Xin picked up his backpack and took another peek at the girl. Violet eyes, layered bob, cut hairs, a black crop top with white stripes, and a denim jacket over it.

The girl had a sharp pointy face and a small black mole near her mouth, giving her a striking feature on her already beautiful face.

"Oh, I am sorry for my guard's misbehavior. I am Natasha, and you are?"