Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Its Sense of Crisis Was Getting Stronger and Stronger

Roland Larkin stared at the silver USB drive, his heart instantly sinking into despair.

His face was pale as he clenched his fists tightly.

’Why...’

He wrestled with his thoughts for a long time before breaking down in tears. "They forced me to do all of this!"

Roland Larkin finally confessed to the two crimes he had committed.

[System 009: Congratulations on completing the Level 1 mission "Find the Truth." Reward received: Deer Dictionary, one million cash, 50 points.]

The system notification and a message from Sawyer arrived at the same time, just as Renee Jennings got back to Blissborne Garden.

She finished reading the messages by a flowerbed on the ground floor, then glanced at her bank account balance: over six million.

The corners of Renee Jennings’s lips curled. ’I should go out for a nice dinner tonight,’ she mused. But when she looked up, she was surprised to see two figures, dressed in luxurious, elegant clothing, standing not far away.

They looked familiar, and a scene from a dream suddenly flashed through her mind.

’These two... are Yvonne Morgan and Zoe Morgan!’

One was the person who had taken her place, living a pampered life with the Morgan Family for twenty-three years.

The other was her biological aunt. After Renee returned to the Morgan family, her aunt had never given her the time of day. No matter how hard she tried to win her over, Zoe Morgan only had eyes for Yvonne Morgan.

"Aunt, should we go up?" Yvonne Morgan asked, affectionately holding Zoe Morgan’s arm.

"Go up for what?" Zoe Morgan thought about the information in the report and felt a deep-seated dislike for the niece she had yet to meet. "The air here is awful. Let’s go."

The two turned around, only to come face to face with the young woman they had seen in countless photographs.

Likely not expecting to run into her here, both of them looked at a loss.

Renee Jennings’s expression remained unchanged, her gaze cool and indifferent. She strode past the two on her long, slender legs, heading straight for Building Six.

Zoe Morgan stood dazed for a long moment.

"Aunt?" Yvonne Morgan called out to her several times.

Zoe Morgan snapped out of it and murmured, "Her face... it’s exactly like your grandmother’s when she was young..."

"Is that so?" Yvonne Morgan bit her lip lightly, her heart filled with resentment.

She clenched her fists, swearing an oath in her heart.

’Reborn into this life, I will never let Renee Jennings off the hook!’

**

Night fell and the city lights came on, with flashing neon signs adorning the metropolis in a dazzling display of color.

Renee Jennings took her family out for a delicious beef hot pot dinner.

Back home, Rhea Dempsey cut up a large plate of fruit and set it on the coffee table, munching on pieces while scrolling through her phone.

She came across a video and suddenly gasped, "Renee, is this you?"

Renee Jennings leaned over to look, raising an eyebrow.

The video of her riding the tiger had already made it onto her mom’s feed.

A moment later, she paused mid-bite of an orange. ’I still haven’t posted the video of the tiger brothers online!’

Renee Jennings hesitated for a moment, then deleted her original TikTok account and registered a new one.

She filled out her personal information and posted the video of the tiger brothers.

Remembering the promise she’d made to the volunteer, Renee Jennings shared the video with her via a messaging app.

Once that was done, she got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After drying her hair, Renee Jennings lay down on the sofa and picked up her phone again. She stared at the notifications on her screen, stunned for a long moment. ’Am I seeing things?’ she wondered.

She opened TikTok and saw that her notifications were all at 999+.

"What’s going on?" She opened her profile and saw that the video of the tiger brothers had already surpassed one million views.

It slowly dawned on Renee Jennings that the video of the tiger brothers had gone viral.

A small smile played on her lips. She was genuinely happy.

’Now I’ll have a good update for them next time I see them.’

Renee Jennings scrolled through the comments, amused. The smile on her face refused to fade.

There were too many comments to scroll through them all.

Renee Jennings then checked her direct messages. There were some inexplicable hate messages, some compliments, and others talking about their own furry companions.

Just then, a system notification suddenly chimed.

[System 009: New Level 1 mission triggered. Collect the wishes of two small animals. Reward: Hedgehog Dictionary. Penalty for failure: Lightning strike. Time limit: 10 hours.]

When Renee Jennings heard the ten-hour time limit, her brow furrowed.

’Why is the time limit so short? Is this a mistake?’

[System 009: Miss Jennings, the mission was issued correctly. Please complete it on time.]

Renee Jennings: "..."

She slowly sat up. ’Good thing I have more than two small animals right here at home,’ she thought, relieved.

"Blueberry, come here." Renee Jennings beckoned to her cat.

Just then, System 009 helpfully reminded her: [Miss Jennings, your own pets do not count.]

Renee Jennings: "..."

’That’s discrimination!’

Blueberry had already hopped onto her lap and was looking up at her curiously. "Renee, did you need me for something?"

Renee Jennings smiled. "It’s nothing. I just wanted to pet your head."

Blueberry blinked its big cat eyes and actively nudged its little head forward. "You may pet me."

Normally, the cat would have just turned its head away haughtily and jumped down.

But it couldn’t be helped. Its owner had more and more pets, and its sense of crisis was growing stronger by the day.

If it didn’t compete for affection, its owner might forget it existed.

After petting the cat, Renee Jennings saw the timer was now at nine hours and forty-eight minutes.

She glanced at the dark night outside, her brow furrowing slightly. She really didn’t want to go downstairs.

’I have every reason to suspect System 009 is doing this on purpose,’ Renee Jennings thought. ’It just can’t stand to see me comfortable.’

She cursed the system dozens of times in her head.

[System 009: Miss Jennings, this is a randomly triggered mission. It was not deliberately arranged by this system. Cursing this system in such a manner is impolite.]

Renee Jennings retorted confidently, "Then curse me back."

[System 009: ...]

Renee Jennings debated with herself for over ten minutes before finally resigning herself to her fate. She got off the sofa, grabbed a coat to throw on, and prepared to head downstairs.

As she stood by the door changing her shoes, she felt like System 009 was setting her up to look like a lunatic.

’Going out in the middle of the night to find pets and ask them, "What is your heart’s desire?"’

’Their owners will probably think I’m a psycho.’

’Besides, who even walks their dog at this time of night?’

Renee Jennings sighed. She felt the urge to curse System 009 again.

The next moment, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

With only one shoe on, Renee Jennings immediately pulled her phone out of her pocket.

She remembered all the people who had just sent her direct messages on TikTok, asking about their furry companions.

’So many people online have pets. I can just find two of them and ask for their wishes. Why should I run out into the cold in the middle of the night, when I might not even find any pets to begin with?’

Renee Jennings kicked off the shoe she’d put on and returned to the sofa.

She started replying to the direct messages. But when someone asked how their "fur baby" could communicate with her, she froze.

’How *can* we communicate?’

Renee Jennings called Michelle Fuller for advice. The response she got was: "Go live."

Michelle Fuller said, "That way, not only is everything out in the open, but I can also watch."

Renee Jennings replied, "The ’watching’ part is the real point, isn’t it?"

Michelle Fuller giggled. "Hehe, ever since I got Ginny, I’ve gotten really into pet channels. Hurry up and go live!"

But Renee Jennings hesitated. She wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do.

After thinking for a moment, she decided to call Henry Stark and get his opinion.