Chapter 2- Bound to be dead meat!

She checked her eardrum before answering the angry recipient, "Can you do me a favor? I have no one else to ask. Plus, I highly trust your skill, Oh Mighty antivirus developer, Suyan."

A good number of seconds passed before the woman got her reply. The whole wait, the woman wore a faint smile having heard the sounds of some giggles and soft clicks on the keyboard coming from the other line. She had already guessed 'what time of the day' she interrupted her friend.

"Surprisingly, I'm in a good mood, so I'll let this slip. But next time, don't dial this number if you don't have anything good to request." Her friend's voice reduced two octaves, a 180-degrees difference from her tone seconds ago. The driver couldn't help but be amused at her friend's sudden changes, but she kept her thoughts and tried her request.

"I'm absolutely blessed to have you. It isn't much though...", she coughed lightly before continuing,"Can you tap on the road system and give me the free roads from Kaiji Intersection to Sainkuko?..." She didn't even manage to finish her sentence before the angry voice activated again.

"Pei! Forget it! How could I expect you'll call me for a good reason?"Her eardrums pained from the deafening yell. Massaging her aching temple, she hid her annoyance with a pleading appeal.

"Come on, this is very important for the company's future", she spoke aiming to lighten her friend's mood.

"That's what you say every time! Did you forget they almost traced my IP address last time? I could be imprisoned for years!"

The woman only rolled her eyes at her friend's over dramatic excuse. Oh come on, you hacked every man's personal accounts and information, if you find them attractive and top-notch. That's supposed to be enough to earn you a seat on the jail on Monte Cristo. She wanted to voice her thoughts. However, that might be a waste of time.

"Can you give me a minute? It is about the global software company in UK, Edge! A representative flew from overseas, and he is in my office right now!" She raised her voice higher when she heard her friend was about to interrupt her explanation.

She heard nothing from the other line and presumed her friend ended the call, when suddenly a grating squeal similar to those hard-core fans would make when they see their favourite artist live. Which was absolutely annoying compared to her angry tone.

"Really? The one on the news?! Someone personally came? You...need to spoil me once you two are done! Give me a minute to tap the roadways." The other line hanged up leaving the woman in her own thoughts.

She was beyond speechless at her friend's bipolar personality even though she had known her for a long time. She couldn't really understand what triggers these changes, even with multiple observations, and so she was lazy to bother with her friend's mental illness and proceeded to enjoy the college life and her career as a Computer Engineer. She encouraged this friend of hers to do game designs, but to her disappointment her friend was totally uninterested, so instead she offered her (friend) to develop an antivirus system that would protect the game from harmful bugs swirling within the competitive computer industry.

She was happily reminiscing her past, when the discordant beeps and honks from the cars behind her dampened her mood. She looked on the empty pedestrian and the green light ahead and inquired her friend currently doing something illegal.

"I'm on lane 3, if you want to know. Are you already done?" The unpleasant sound continued until she received the information she needed. Beaming with anticipation, she started the ignition and made a left turn towards a rundown road. Her eyebrow twitched looking at the route that resembled those horror excerpts scenes of a driver on a wrong trip.

"You're not playing me, right? Or this is your way of vengeance?" She mumbled getting goosebumps from driving. There were only the posts supplying the road with light besides from the ones coming from her car.

"This is the only road available towards Sainkuko. Others seemed to be plagued by vehicles, fan girls, and accidents, which is a surprise because normally this time..." Her friend was about to continue when a romantic Chinese themed song was perceived by the device she's holding.

"What's that?" she asked momentarily frightened by the sudden sound.

"Nothing, it's just a game I was playing on my free time." Her friend replied with a guarded tone making the woman on the car arched her eyebrow.

This friend of hers showed no interest on the games she designed, thus when caught of guard by the sudden change of taste. I guessed she really had some schizophrenic issues after all. Speaking of games, what sort of miraculous thing has enchanted this bipolar?

"You didn't even bother to look or spare some of your time assessing the game my team designed, and I didn't mind it at all thinking that you don't like my field of profession, so what kind of game managed to separate you from your keyboard?" She muttered and transferred her phone to her other hand. She increased the speed, clutching the steering wheels tightly; the computer shifting system controlled the gears releasing more horsepower on the wheels. She hasn't seen a single car in sight, thus she increased her pace.

"It's unlike the games you designed. It's an otome game, a visual novel that isn't about levelling up or having cool and upgraded equipment. Just a plain romantic story line where you interact with high-profile characters called 'capture targets'." Her friend uttered and sighed dreamily. She could detect the slight disappointment in her voice.

"For someone who hates MMO games, it must be 'unique' considering it persuaded you to invest some your time." The woman chuckled delighted at her friend's action.

"Yeah, the game setting is very good. It even managed to gain the no. one spot in every game forum and...", Suyan suddenly stopped upon realizing the words she spoke. Uh.oh.

The screeching friction of a car's wheels clashing on the bumpy road came from the other line. A series of short shaky breaths were heard causing Suyan to make a nervous gulp. "Oh! Would you look at the time? It's getting late, and I haven't had my dinner y...", she was about to end the call when she heard a familiar cold voice creeping the hairs of her skin," Don't end the call. Let's have a chat about life."

At that instance, Suyan knew she was bound to be dead meat.