Chapter 148: What? Pushing for Year-End KPIs?

Chapter 148: Chapter 148: What? Pushing for Year-End KPIs?

Call him stupid, but he had a surprisingly good eye for people.

Call him smart, but he just had to go and pick a fight with the wrong person.

Many people nearby had noticed Rian Sinclair drinking alone, but one look at the liquor she was ordering made it obvious she was wealthy.

Generally speaking, rich people didn’t have low status, so naturally, no one was eager to go out of their way to ask for trouble.

But under the numbing influence of alcohol, some people suddenly felt invincible. This guy actually had the nerve to walk up and demand she drink with him. Who knew how his brain was wired to come up with such a brilliant idea?

The man’s expression was furious, his eyes full of rage as he glared at Rian Sinclair. He had just grabbed a bottle, ready to swing it down, when someone stopped him.

A sharp male voice quickly followed. "Sorry about that, gorgeous! My buddy here just got out of the psych ward and his brain isn’t working too well. Please don’t mind him!"

A skinny man held the drunkard back, snatching the bottle from his hand and dragging him away. He didn’t stop muttering under his breath, "Of all the people you could mess with, you had to pick the richest one. I was just joking earlier and you actually went for it. You’re a freaking genius, you know that?"

Seeing that the drunkard still wanted to argue, the skinny guy simply clamped a hand over his mouth to manually mute him. He couldn’t help but curse the idiot in his arms. "You still want to yell? Can you stop making a spectacle of yourself? If you offend her, you won’t know what hit you!"

The drunkard was swiftly hauled away, leaving absolutely nothing behind except for the bottle he had initially placed on the table.

Rian Sinclair called the bartender over, whispered a few words to him, and continued drinking.

Shortly after, a male voice called out. "Thanks, gorgeous! I appreciate the bottle you sent over. Otherwise, I’d probably never get to taste something this expensive in my entire life."

The speaker was the same young man who had spoken up for Rian Sinclair against the drunkard, which was why she had instructed the bartender to send a bottle their way.

The group at that table seemed to be college students out for a good time. They were completely surrounded by an aura of pure innocence, having clearly never been slapped around by the real world yet.

Rian Sinclair glanced at the raised glasses from that table and smiled, lifting her own glass in acknowledgment.

[Host, you Blue Star Humans are quite interesting.]

"Are you talking about those college students?"

[Yeah, don’t you think they’re amusing? They have quite the chivalrous, crime-fighting vibe to them.]

"You should do an online search for Veridian college students."

After a good while, the system’s mechanical, slightly bewildered voice chimed in.

[Fragile, naive, and a bit squishy. But their eyes shine with true ’wisdom.’]

Hearing the system’s voice, she didn’t say much in response. Instead, she found it rather odd that the system was being so chatty today.

"What’s wrong? Trying to hit your end-of-year KPIs?"

[No.]

Hearing this, Rian Sinclair went back to her drink. However, the system’s slightly anxious voice rang out, [Why aren’t you asking any follow-up questions?]

She paused mid-sip. "If you want to say something, just say it."

[The Chief System wants us to focus entirely on our Hosts, so it blocked our network access. Right now, other than viewing missions, I can’t interact with anything else.]

Hearing this, Rian Sinclair really couldn’t hold back a laugh. It was exactly like a modern netizen being stripped of their smartphone.

After chatting with the system for a bit, her mood gradually leveled out. Looking at the empty liquor bottles scattered haphazardly across the table, she called the bartender over to settle the tab.

Stepping out of the bar and onto the main road, she ended up having a staring contest with her sports car.

Why hadn’t she thought to bring someone along when she drove out? Now look at her—her phone was dead, she had just paid the bill with a physical card, and she couldn’t spot a power bank rental station anywhere nearby.

Her luck was truly atrocious.

Twirling her car keys, she started walking. It was the perfect opportunity to air out the smell of alcohol on her.

As for the car, she would just have someone come and drive it back tomorrow. Right now, the priority was finding a charging station to rent a power bank. She certainly didn’t have the stamina to walk all the way home.

She didn’t even know what area this random bar was in. Relying on her meager sense of direction, she chose her path entirely through guesswork.

The night breeze was a bit cool, but since it was the height of summer, it wasn’t a biting cold. Instead, it was a temperature that felt incredibly comfortable for both body and mind.

Wearing a long slip dress with a coat draped over her shoulders, Rian Sinclair strolled leisurely down the main street.

The crowds had already started to thin out at this hour, though there were still quite a few people around.

There were street vendors selling food nearby, giving off an enticing aroma. There were also stalls set up for ring toss games and balloon-shooting booths with stuffed animals as prizes.

Many parents had brought their kids out to play, young couples were woven through the crowd on dates, and whole families stood on the outskirts watching the fun. It was a bustling and lively scene.

Rian Sinclair kind of wanted to play too, but after digging through her pockets for ages, she couldn’t produce a single coin. All she had was a black card that was useless here and a dead piece-of-junk phone.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, a deep, magnetic voice suddenly spoke up. "Want to play?"

Hearing this, Rian Sinclair whipped her head around, her eyes meeting his. "Ronan Ford?"

Ronan Ford gave a slight nod. He was currently dressed in casual clothes, which was quite a departure from his usual formal attire. It stripped away some of his sternness, replacing it with an approachable warmth.

"Why are you here?" Ronan noticed the car keys Rian Sinclair was twirling in her hand. After a moment of silence, he added, "Drunk driving is illegal."

Rian Sinclair chuckled at that. "I know. That’s why I’m not driving. I just brought the keys so I can have someone else drive it back later."

Ronan nodded, standing by her side without making any move to leave. Rian Sinclair turned back to look at him. "Aren’t you going home?"

"I just got off work. I was just about to head back."

Rian Sinclair nodded at his words and didn’t say anything else. She and Ronan had only just met today; they were acquainted, but not exactly close.

Ronan pointed at the stalls ahead. "Which one do you want to play?"

Hearing his initial offer, she had thought he was just being polite, but when he actually asked, she decided not to stand on ceremony. After all, she really did want to play.

She pointed to her favorite, the ring toss. Seeing this, Ronan immediately walked over, pulled out his phone to scan the QR code, and returned with a huge stack of rings.

"You toss. I’ll hold them."

With his entire arm loaded up with rings, Ronan stood tall and straight next to Rian Sinclair.

This pose drew a lot of attention from the crowd, but Rian Sinclair didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed. Right now, her only focus was on having a good time.

She had originally planned to drink the night away, but the system’s sudden chatter had dispelled her worries. She was now in a completely relaxed, carefree state of mind.

Watching the lively scene here had genuinely made her want to join in, but sadly, she hadn’t had any money in her pockets. Yet, out of nowhere, Ronan had shown up—a free gaming buddy.

Ronan handed Rian Sinclair a few rings. She took them, stepped behind the line, and prepared to toss them at the items arranged on the ground.

After testing the weight and getting a feel for it, she found her groove.

It was actually quite simple. If you were good at physics and math, it was very easy to land a ringer. Thinking of this, Rian Sinclair recalled her high school homeroom teacher’s favorite saying.

Master math, physics, and chemistry, and you can conquer the world.

Sure enough, her old teacher hadn’t lied to her.

After she landed several rings in a row, curious onlookers began to gather around. Watching Rian Sinclair hook one prize after another, cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.

Even though she still had plenty of rings left, she didn’t intend to keep seriously aiming. She casually tossed the rest out, with most of them landing outside the prize area—a stark contrast to her earlier perfect accuracy.

The surrounding crowd quickly realized what she was doing, and the applause and excited chatter grew even louder.

But even so, she had still won quite a few plushies. Rian Sinclair looked at the massive pile of prizes she had snagged and smiled. "Looks like my skills are still sharp."