Urban System in America-Chapter 62 - 61: System Mall

Shaking his head, Rex let out a long breath, pushing the heavy cloud of thoughts to the back of his mind.

He felt as if he’d spiraled too deep, like he had opened a door that led to endless corridors, each darker than the last.

Looking out of the window, his gaze wander over the busy street.

Horns honked in the distance, people hurried past with purpose, and life ’carefree and indifferent’ kept moving forward. Watching it all, his chaotic thoughts slowly began to calm down.

He reached for his coffee, but the ceramic cup was already cold to the touch. He clicked his tongue and gave a half-hearted chuckle.

Shaking his head, just as he was about to take a sip.

With a soft chime, the system interface appeared in front of him again.

Ding!

[Congratulations to the host for unlocking the system mall.]

"Huh?"he muttered, tilting his head in confusion.

"When did I unlock it? Why don’t I remember anything?"

The system immediately responded in its usual calm tone.

[It is because the host has completed his first mission with an ’A’ evaluation, which is the activation condition for unlocking the system mall.]

Seeing this, he immediately understood, and a grin slowly tugged at the corners of his lips, instantly dispelling his earlier mood.

Anyway, unlocking the system mall was a surprise ’a pleasant one’ and he didn’t have any reason not to be happy.

Curiosity flared in his chest. He tapped on the interface, and a new menu with detailed information in appeared front of him.

__ ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

[System Mall (LV 1):

A unique feature where the host may purchase previously acquired system goods

Current slots: 1 (Randomly get a chance to buy one previously received item via sign-in)

Note:

* Refreshes daily at midnight every day.

* Mission rewards are special and have a very low chance of appearing in the system mall.

* Every Monday, get a chance to receive a guaranteed "something new."]

__

Reading this quickly, he got a general understanding of the System Mall.

But he was a bit disappointed that it only offered previously received sign-in goods—and frankly, he hadn’t received anything good yet.

Still, seeing that he could get one new object every Monday, he felt a bit better.

Closing the description tab, he looked at the main system interface. Almost everything was the same, except for a slight change in his stats.

His endurance had increased by 1 point, which made sense due to his regular exercise.

Turning his attention to the top-left corner, he found that a tiny new icon had appeared, it looked like a miniature mall.

He understood that it was the System Mall.

Clicking on it, another interface filled with square grids appeared in front of him.

But right now, except for the first one, every other grid was greyed out, which meant he hadn’t unlocked them yet.

He sighed. "Figures."

Even that one was empty right now. It seemed like it would refresh at midnight.

"By the way, system, how do I unlock more slots?"

[To unlock more slots, the host has to complete more missions and obtain a mall upgrade card.]

Of course. Missions again.

It seemed like everything was linked with missions. Sighing, he focused his attention on understanding the Mall interface.

After carefully going through the new function, he exited the system interface and leaned back.

But just as he was about to finally enjoy his cold coffee, the café door was pushed open with a soft chime.

He instinctively turned toward the sound.

And saw two tall men clad in neat suits and boots entering the café.

Their faces were stern, devoid of any emotion, their eyes scanning the room like radar, and their muscles bulged under the suits.

A waitress stepped forward to greet them but froze mid-step under their cold, piercing gaze. She instinctively took a step back, her face paling as a chill ran down her spine.

Seeing that, Rex shook his head. They couldn’t just act normally? It seemed like he had to talk to them about toning it down a bit.

Rising from his seat, he waved a hand casually in the air. "Over here."

Spotting him, they immediately toned down their cold aura and, like obedient rabbits, trotted toward him.

Seeing their instant change, the waitress didn’t expect such iron towers to behave so meekly before a young man who sat there leisurely like any ordinary customer.

Well, he was handsome, "absurdly handsome," but she really couldn’t associate these two types of people together.

Not understanding the situation, she returned to her counter, occasionally peeking in their direction.

On the other hand, Rex finally met the two tall and intimidating men.

In fact he was already familiar with them, they were his bodyguards, whom he had requested earlier, and yes—they were the same black-and-white duo.

The black one with an expressionless face was named Kaelan Stone.

The white man with a harmless smile was Victor Wolfe.

As they got closer, both immediately straightened their backs and formally saluted him.

Rex nodded and chuckled with a hint of self-mockery.

"Welcome back. I hadn’t expected to need you so soon. Anyway, it’s good to see you both again."

But neither dared to laugh. Rex was the boss of their boss, and as employees, they wouldn’t dream of laughing at him.

Seeing them so stiff, Rex understood the reason but didn’t say much. He couldn’t change their habits with just a few words.

"Anyway, sit down. Let’s have a chat."

As if receiving a military order, both nodded obediently and sat neatly on the edge of the seat opposite him.

The reason they were so tense today, so much so that even Victor, who always smiled, had a bit stern expression—was because, after going back that day, they discovered Rex was someone sent by headquarters to oversee operations.

That meant he held the most power in the company.

And the fact that he was so young and casual about it only meant one thing, he was definitely related to someone with real influence, even in the headquarters.

Once they were seated again, Rex waved at the waitress, who quickly approached albeit with nervous gait.

Turning toward Kaelan and Victor, he said,

"Order anything you like. My treat."

The waitress stood there, almost trembling with a timid expression. She really felt like she was serving someone from a famous mafia family.

Cautiously peeking at Rex, she felt that with his looks, he really could be a mafia prince.

Thinking of the mafia novels she’d read, she couldn’t help but daydream—imagining herself as a pitiful female lead whose life changed after a handsome mafia prince fell in love with her.

Of course, she would arrogantly reject him at first, breaking his heart and prompting a grand pursuit. He would shower her with gifts, cars, and houses, Seeing this, she’d reluctantly agree and eventually become the cold, high-ranking mafia queen ruling the underworld.

In just a few seconds, she had imagined countless scenarios that could outshine even the best-selling female romance novels.

Kaelan and Victor didn’t refuse and ordered their preferred coffees.

Kaelan ordered a black Americano without sugar. Victor went for a mocha, extra foam, light drizzle.

Rex nodded and said, "Give them their coffees and bring me a refill too."

But he noticed the waitress still hadn’t moved. She stood there grinning like a fool.

"Hey?" he said, waving his hand in front of her.

She didn’t budge. Amused by her reaction, Rex glanced at her nametag and said louder,

"Selena! Wake up."

With a jerk, Selena snapped back to reality. Seeing Rex looking at her so intently (at least in her mind), Her cheeks burned as she realized she’d been caught fantasizing.

"M-my apologies!" she stammered.

"It’s okay." He casually waved his hand.

Hearing this, her face flushed even more, and her eyes darted away. She felt that maybe’ just maybe’ her dream could come true today.

Seeing her like this again, Rex felt she might be a bit silly, but he didn’t think too much of it and repeated the order again.

Selena finally moved, albeit reluctantly, and kept glancing back as if waiting for her mafia prince to confess and take her away.

As for the duo, seeing their boss’s boss joking with a waitress, they pretended to look out the window before finally turning their attention back to Rex.

Of course, Rex had no idea about any of this.

Turning to the duo, he turned serious again.

"Okay, now that you’re here, let’s not beat around the bush. Same old rules, keep your distance and don’t interfere unless necessary. Understood?"

"Yes. No problem," they said in unison, already expecting it.

"Okay then, let’s have a pleasant time working together. Hopefully, you guys won’t have to actually work," he said.

Then he leaned back, voice dropping just slightly. "Now... what about the information?"

They understood immediately. Taking a black briefcase from Kaelan who had been carrying it, Victor placed it on the table and carefully opened it.

Inside was a single file of documents. Taking it out, he carefully handed it to Rex.

Rex took it calmly.

But the moment he opened it and saw the first page.

A flicker of surprise crossed his face and he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

"Interesting," he muttered.

(End of Chapter)