Regression - Second Chance At Life

Chapter 262: Weird Public Stunt

Adam drives around the city aimlessly, wondering what he should do.

Even though he has tried to busy his life by picking up a few hobbies, his ability to instantly master things has really made it hard for him to spend his time productively.

The definition of suffering from success. He could have at least spent time at work if Ellie had not closed the restaurant for the day.

”What should I do? What should I do?” He murmurs to himself when he sees a large mall in his viewpoint.

”I have money... Let’s spend some,” He says and takes a turn towards the Mall.

Central Mall, the largest and grandest mall in the country, and it’s home to thousands of brands.

People can spend an entire day inside the mall and won’t be able to cover all the stores if they want to.

Driving his car into the driveway, the guards at the gate open the gate before he is even close enough.

Rich privilege at its finest. If Adam had driven a normal-looking car, the guards wouldn’t have bothered opening the gate for him until he stopped before it.

Adam drives in without being hassled and quickly finds himself a place to park in the VIP section. The pay might be expensive, but it’s worth it as he doesn’t have to park in a congested area where the chances of dinging someone else’s car are high.

Exiting his car, Adam makes his way into the mall.

The moment the door of the inner mall slides open, all of Adam’s senses are assaulted by a plethora of things: sound, sight, and smell.

When people say it’s the grandest mall in the country, they weren’t lying.

In all of Adam’s two lives, he has never been here before. In his past, when he was young, he was an introvert who found peace inside the confines of his room, and when he grew up, but was no longer an introvert, he became a loner who once again confined himself inside the four walls of his room.

He was never the type of person who went out of his way to visit such places, places where people liked to be social, be happy, shop around, and have fun.

He was a gloomy person.

But now he is a changed man. A man who got a second chance at life, so when he sees the crowded scene before him, a smile forms on his face.

He sees strangers walking around, some alone, while others in groups, families, friends, all having fun together.

’Maybe I should have brought Isla along,’ He thinks, but doesn’t bother overthinking it as the plan to explore the mall came to his mind while driving through the city.

He knows that Isla probably has her own things to deal with right now.

So, running his finger around his collar to fix his t-shirt, Adam starts browsing around, trying to find something that could get his attention.

Luckily, being a nerd and a geek in his past life, old habits die hard, and his attention is immediately pulled towards the massive computer store.

Curious, he walks in and is greeted by the latest computer hardware.

He recalls his computer back home, and even though his past self had upgraded it a few months ago, it’s already outdated as newer and faster versions of the CPUs and GPUs seem to have been released.

Adam is not that person anymore, as he was forced out of that lifestyle, but buying the latest thing even though he doesn’t need it, and feeling good about it, is something hard to get over.

Luckily, Adam spent years and years being frugal and cheap, so he won’t splurge his money on things he doesn’t need, but he can still look.

As he walks around the computer store, he feels like a kid walking around a candy store. He didn’t expect to have such a reaction. He thought he had completely grown out of it, but it looks like it never left him.

It was all just buried deep down, all the shit that Adam was going through, and now that he no longer has all that shit piled on top of him, some of his innocent traits might be coming out.

Gaming was an innocent hobby he had, and as days go by and he continues to play some more, his love for it is coming back to him. Slowly but surely.

And as he looks at the latest hardware in the store, he can’t help but be tempted again.

’Fuck it! I have the money! Why should I restrain myself from the pleasures of the world?’ Adam thinks, contradicting his previous self-assessment about not falling prey to that capitalist slave feeling.

As he is about to pick up the latest CPU and GPU for himself, he hears some commotion from one of the corners of the store. He turns to look and sees a crowd forming around a few display computers.

As a computer store, of course, they have a few high-end computers on display and for people to use, so that they are tempted to buy one for themselves.

Wondering what the commotion’s about, Adam makes his way towards the crowd.

A bunch of guys, and from the looks of it, all are nerds, some fat, some skinny, most of them have glasses on, and one of them even smells horrible, clearly hasn’t showered for days.

And he doesn’t even have the decency to put on some deodorant before coming here.

Adam wonders how people like this are allowed to walk into this mall smelling like this.

Adam distances himself from the ones who stink. He stands next to a skinny guy who has big, round glasses and messy brown hair.

The skinny guy, noticing someone standing right next to him, turns to look at Adam, and is stunned for a second. After all, it’s not every day that an extremely handsome, tall guy stands next to him.

Guys like Adam usually like to keep their distance from guys like him.

The skinny guy gets nervous, wondering what ulterior motive Adam has for him to stand next to him.

Feeling that he is being stared at, Adam turns to look at the skinny guy and smiles politely.

”Hi, my name’s Adam.” Adam introduces himself as it’s the least he can do to not make things awkward for the poor guy.

”Umm... my name’s Bart... Short for Bartholomew,” He says, embarrassed. He never liked the way his name sounded, so he tried to shorten it, but he feels like it made it even worse. And now he doesn’t know how to introduce himself properly without feeling embarrassed.

”Nice to meet you, Bart. So tell me, what’s going on here?” Adam asks as he looks at the two people the crowd seems to have their attention on.

The two seem lost in their own world, staring at the screen with every bit of concentration they can muster while rapidly hitting the keys of the keyboard and swiping the mouse around.

A guy, below average looking, skinny fat, receding hairline, looking chopped.

Adam looks at this guy and can’t help but be reminded of his past self. This is someone who has given up on themselves, and the only way they continue to find meaning in their life is through some addiction.

For Adam... It was alcohol and porn, and from the looks of it, for this guy, it’s video games, and he might have other vices as well.

Adam can see it in this man. His skin is very pale, meaning he rarely gets any sun; his hair looks rough; he has eye bags, and dark circles under his eyes.

When Adam looks at this man, he doesn’t feel disgust. He feels anger and pity.

He wonders if, not for his regression, would he have continued being similar to this man? He doesn’t know. Luckily, he doesn’t have to; the universe blessed him with a second chance.

Adam then turns to look at the other person. A girl, hair dyed platinum blond, short, and has a nice figure, this is all he can see of her from where he is standing.

So his best option to figure out what’s going on is Bart.

”You see that girl?” Bart points at the girl whom Adam is already looking at. Adam nods his head.

”She is Chiperz, a competitive gamer and an online streamer. On occasion, she hosts these IRL challenges, where you can face her in a one-on-one match in a game of her choice, and if you manage to defeat her, you win a kiss from her,” Bary explains while sounding very excited on the last part.

Adam is stunned as he hears this.

He looks at the girl, whose face is still not visible to him. Adam can’t believe a girl would actually do something like this.

”This sounds dangerous...” Adam murmurs out loud, as this is the first thought that came to his mind.

From what Bart said, the girl is a streamer, and just from what Adam can gauge from her figure, she is an attractive woman. So this little stunt of hers will definitely attract some creeps’ attention.

”That’s why she has bodyguards to keep her safe,” Bart says, hearing Adam’s murmur.

Hearing Bart’s words, Adam begins looking around and sees a few big, scary-looking, muscular men keeping a close eye on both Chiperz and the crowd.

”So you are here to get that reward as well?” Adam asks, looking at Bart.

Bart’s face turns red as Adam puts him under the spotlight.

He decides to keep his mouth shut and not answer, as it is embarrassing to admit it.