Run, Youth

"Damn it! Athena, how do I get out of here?"

"This is the depths of your soul. You can leave whenever you wish."

William thought to himself that he was in trouble, and in the blink of an eye, the scene before him shifted back to his bedroom. He glanced at his watch; it was already 8:40. He had twenty minutes left.

"Damn it, I'm going to be late!" With no time to dawdle, William threw on his delivery uniform and rushed downstairs. He had a bicycle from the pizza shop; if he pedaled hard enough, he might still make it.

But just as he reached the ground floor, he discovered his bicycle had been stolen.

The Sixth District, where he lived, was the most chaotic part of Brooklyn. Law and order were nonexistent, gangs ran rampant, and even the police turned a blind eye.

If the rent weren't so cheap, William wouldn't choose to live in this hellhole.

He had locked his bike to a tree last night, but when he checked this morning, he saw only the lock—the bicycle itself was gone!

"Oh, shit!" William clawed at his hair, feeling like his whole world was falling apart. Not only would he be docked pay for being late, but his boss would surely scream his head off for losing the shop's bike, and he might even get fired.

For William, who was already living paycheck to paycheck, this was nothing short of a catastrophe.

Time ticked away; it was already 8:45. Even if he ran, he wouldn't make it in time.

"Athena, I need help!"

"William, the Soldier: 76 skill: Sprint has been successfully unlocked for you."

Sprint: Young man, you are faster now. You can dash rapidly for a short duration to evade fire or charge into enemy lines.

Note: Jumping while sprinting allows you to leap further.

With no time to overthink, William took off running. As he sprinted, he felt his entire body surging with power, each step providing a massive thrust. He was like an arrow released from a bow, the scenery around him blurring into a streak.

"Mommy, look, it's Captain America!" a little blonde girl pointed at the blur that was William.

The young mother immediately grabbed the girl's hand and said, "Let's stay away from him. Running that fast, he might be a thief."

Both Soldier: 76 and Captain America had undergone super-soldier enhancements, giving them physiques far beyond the average person. William knew that running with the Sprint skill would certainly be no slower than riding his bike.

"William, the Sprint skill is your beginner's bonus. Future skills will require you to acquire new heroes or complete new objectives before they can be used."

William rolled his eyes; he knew there was no such thing as a free lunch.

With one minute left until his shift, he saw the sign in the distance: Jonathan's Pizza Fast Food Restaurant.

When William reached the shop entrance, he wasn't even out of breath. He had just sprinted at incredible speed for over ten minutes; if it were the old him, he would have collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth.

It was worthy of being Soldier: 76's skill; back when he played the game, this skill was basically used for fleeing.

"William, you're late!" As soon as William pushed open the restaurant door, he was met with the stern face of his boss.

The boss's name was Jonathan, and yes, the restaurant was named after him.

Jonathan wasn't originally from Brooklyn; he was an Asian immigrant. He didn't have any major flaws, other than being a bit stingy.

William looked down at him. Why look down? Because the boss was only 1.6 meters tall, while William stood at a towering 1.8 meters. Jonathan had to tilt his head back just to look at him.

"But since you're only one minute late, I won't dock your pay this time." Jonathan's stern face instantly broke into a smile. "There are many orders today, so make sure you do your job properly."

"Thanks, Boss, I'll be careful next time." William thought, I was only one minute late, were you really going to fire me? But he kept his tone polite.

Not long after, the waiter wheeled out a cart with over a dozen pizzas. They were stacked so high they reached nearly half his height.

"You've got to be kidding me!" William couldn't help but exclaim. Even with his bike, delivering this many pizzas would be a nightmare, let alone now that it had been stolen and he had to carry them by hand.

"Work hard, William. It's a promotion day, so deliver them on time. Don't let the customers down," Jonathan said, patting William on the shoulder with a feigned sense of concern. It seemed this stingy boss had no intention of letting him off the hook.

If it were the old William, he would have been helpless; there was no way he could deliver all these in time. But the current William was different—he had the help of the Overwatch System. Even without a bike, he could deliver pizzas on foot.

Delivering pizzas with Sprint sounded simple, but it was actually quite difficult. Not to mention whether the traffic police would stop him, what if he tripped while running at super speed with all these pizzas?

William clutched the stack of pizzas tightly to his chest, ensuring they wouldn't topple. The top box was almost pressing against his chin, and he had to crane his neck just to see over it.

For the first delivery, he didn't dare run too fast. He picked the closest address and jogged there.

When the customer saw William holding a massive stack of pizzas, they were startled, wondering what was going on. I only ordered one, are these all free?

"Special event triggered, hidden quest initiated!"

"Hidden Quest: Marathon: Run 10 kilometers in Brooklyn without using any skills."

Just as William finished the first delivery, Athena's voice echoed in his mind.

Athena explained that hidden quests could only be triggered during special events. He hadn't expected that running to deliver pizzas would count as one.

The quest seemed simple, but it forbade the use of any skills, meaning William couldn't use Sprint to complete it.

However, William had no time to dwell on the quest; delivering the pizzas was the priority. After he finished the second, third, and fourth deliveries, the stack in his arms had thinned significantly. He immediately activated Sprint and bolted toward his next destination at full speed.

On the streets of Brooklyn, a blonde young man was running faster than a mobility scooter, leaving passersby stunned. Even the police on the side of the road wondered if a lion had escaped from the zoo.

Once Sprint was active, it would continuously drain William's stamina. When the stamina ran out, his speed would drop, and the skill would deactivate. He would have to wait for his stamina to recover before using it again. During those intervals, he could only jog, which conveniently allowed him to work on his quest.

Before long, he had successfully delivered ten pizzas, with only one left in his hands.

William wiped the sweat from his forehead; the results for the day were quite good. He carried the final pizza toward the last house.

As he passed through a quiet alleyway, a woman's scream rang out from not far away: "Stop the thief! He stole my bag!"

A young man wearing a mask had snatched a handbag from a middle-aged woman and was sprinting away. The woman tried to chase him but couldn't keep up. The thief ran straight toward William, shouting:

"Get out of the way! Don't block me!"