She Was Still a Child

Bzzzz----

Russell rode down the deserted highway with Big Chest Girl on the back seat. The wind and sand were fierce at that speed, so she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his back.

It had to be said, girls in America were really bold!

Out here in the middle of nowhere, with no village ahead and no town behind, where one could drive for ages without seeing a single soul, Big Chest Girl wasn't even afraid that Russell might have ill intentions.

To put it bluntly, if Russell wanted to do something—say, take Big Chest Girl back to his place... ahem, invite her into his living room for tea—there definitely wouldn't be a problem.

They said big breasts meant little brains, but Russell was a man who valued substance. He wouldn't shallowly judge a woman's intelligence by her cup size. He guessed Big Chest Girl was so unguarded because she knew him.

With that in mind, Russell decided to get some information out of her. He twisted the throttle to speed up a little, then briefly tapped the skids.

Accelerate... brake... accelerate... brake... accelerate...

"..."

Did he have to be so obvious?

Realizing Russell was up to no good, Big Chest Girl was thoroughly annoyed. She snorted through gritted teeth and raised a hand to his waist.

Twist!

"Hiss!!"

"Russell, what the hell are you doing?"

So she did know him!

Russell said with a straight face, "I was thinking about where your house is. To be honest, I can't quite remember."

"Hehe, did you lose your memory, or do you think that cold joke is supposed to make me laugh?"

"I didn't lose my memory. I genuinely forgot. Listen, I'm serious. Where do you live?"

"Come on, you're just giving a girl a ride home! We live in the same town. We may not be in the same class, but we at least run into each other on the school bus all the time. Could you be a little more generous? No girl likes a guy who's this stingy."

"All right, you're right! So... where is the town we live in?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"No! I just think that if I really knew a beautiful girl like you, I'd remember it vividly instead of being like this, unable to even recall your name."

Women had zero resistance to compliments, and Big Chest Girl was no exception. She smiled. "Why are you suddenly saying that? Are you trying to pursue me?"

"Yes, beautiful girl, I want to pursue you. Nice to meet you. I'm Russell. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"

"All right, nice to meet you. I'm Ashley, Ashley Parker!"

"Ashley Parker... great name. I'd bet you have a brother named Peter."

"I do have a younger brother, but his name is Mike, not Peter Parker. Though he really does like spiders." Ashley sighed. "Can we not talk about that? I hate Mike, and I hate spiders!"

"Fine, let's change the subject. Beautiful and gracious Miss Ashley, where do you live?"

"Oh my God! Do you always start a first meeting like this?"

"Of course. We just met. If I knew where you lived without asking, wouldn't that make me a creep?"

Ashley was speechless. "You're right. That actually sounds reasonable."

Under Ashley's directions, Russell quickly found the way to Prosperity Town and successfully brought her to her doorstep. He hadn't seen Ashley clearly before, but when she got off the motorcycle, he realized her face was extremely familiar: blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and highly recognizable sexy lips... the breathtaking Black Widow from Marvel movies.

Russell secretly thought that his guess had been correct. The street race really had contained clues that could trigger a World Quest, and the "Black Widow" before him, Scarlett Johansson, was proof.

After all, she would become a top Hollywood star. Even if the seventeen- or eighteen-year-old Scarlett Johansson wasn't the protagonist now, she would definitely be connected to the plot. It couldn't possibly be Marvel; she was too young for that. It was probably one of the films she had appeared in during her youth.

This lead could be pursued further!

Ashley had no idea what Russell was thinking. His undisguised gaze made her heart race. She tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and pretended to be calm. "Russell, you're a really good rider. I thought Brett would take first place today."

Russell was considering the current world's background and replied absentmindedly, "That playboy?"

"Yes. He specifically invited me to watch the race and said his riding skills were incredible, that he would definitely take first place."

Russell came back to himself and smiled. "Then didn't I ruin someone's plans? He didn't get first place, and he didn't get the chance to take you home."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "That's a good thing for me. The moment he heard the police were coming, he ran faster than anyone. If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't even know how I was supposed to handle it."

"You didn't compete. You were just there watching the excitement. At most, the police would give you a lecture. They wouldn't do anything to you."

Russell felt no guilt about ruining someone's plan to pick up girls. He sat on the motorcycle and kept chatting with Ashley, able to tell that the girl liked him. In this world, his identity and Ashley's relationship should have been that of ordinary classmates. They usually just greeted each other when they met—acquainted but not close. But his first-place finish today had caught her attention.

No wonder teenage boys were so obsessed with extreme sports. Showing off got them attention and made them more appealing to the opposite sex!

"No, don't forget that my mom is the town sheriff. If she finds out I secretly went to watch illegal street racing, she'll ground me for the entire vacation. That would be a disaster." As if recalling some unbearable experience, Ashley sighed repeatedly. "She's always so overbearing. I'm already an adult. She has no right to interfere with my freedom."

Russell barely heard the rest. The instant Ashley mentioned that her mother was the town sheriff, a movie suddenly came to mind.

Eight Legged Freaks!

Eight Legged Freaks!

It was a sci-fi comedy monster film. The monsters were giant mutated spiders—highly aggressive, treating humans as prey, and numerous enough to satisfy every human fantasy about monsters.

Scarlett Johansson had been a supporting character in that movie, the daughter of the female sheriff protagonist. As for the male lead... Russell only remembered that he had a small mustache.

The general plot was extremely hazy in his memory. It wasn't Russell's fault; the movie was pretty old. If not for the gimmick of "eighteen-year-old Black Widow," he wouldn't even have known such an absurd movie existed.

The special effects in Eight Legged Freaks were quite good, top-tier for its time. Even now, they could crush domestic monster movies. But the plot had far too many flaws. The only reason Russell had managed to finish the entire film was because the female lead was so good-looking.

"Hey! Russell! Are you even listening to me?"

When Russell snapped back to his senses, Ashley was glaring at him with obvious displeasure. The girl crossed her arms and looked away, deeply offended by his distraction.

Girls going through their rebellious phase were all like that. They looked troublesome, but they were actually very easy to coax. Russell raised an eyebrow. "You misunderstood. I got distracted because I was thinking about something very important."

"Humph!"

"I was thinking about asking you out to dinner and a movie, but I was afraid you'd reject me, so I didn't know how to bring it up!"

The coldness on Ashley's face instantly vanished. Suppressing her excitement, she asked with a hint of shyness, "Earlier, when you said you wanted to pursue me, were you serious?"

"Of course. I'm already taking action."

Ashley smoothed her blonde hair back, pursed her lips, and took out a pen and paper from her small bag. She wrote down a string of numbers and handed it to Russell. "This is the phone number. If you can get through, I'll consider going to see a movie with you."

Russell smiled and accepted it. The phone number only had five digits, but phone numbers in America should have seven digits, or ten including the area code.

Clearly, this was the girl's test for him.

Watching Ashley return home, Russell tucked the slip of paper into his pocket and drove to a phone booth by the roadside.

Wasn't that why they said girls in love had zero intelligence? This sort of test was practically a giveaway. The phone booth's Yellow Pages listed every household's number in town, and it would be easy to find hers in alphabetical order.

"Should I call her right away, or play hard to get and leave her hanging for one night first..."

Russell rubbed his chin and ultimately decided to leave Ashley hanging for a night. First, it would make him seem sincere, as though he had called many times before finally finding the right number. Second, Ashley would toss and turn all night and be unhappy the next day. When he called to explain, he could instantly dissolve her negative emotions and deepen her favorable impression of him.

"Isn't this a little inappropriate? She's still an eighteen-year-old child..." Russell felt it was somewhat improper, a bit beneath him. But he quickly realized, "Wait, I seem to be eighteen too. I'm also a child!"

Mm, being eighteen was great!

Failure Diary

This world was fair. It was hard for a failure to become a master, and it wasn't easy for a master to become a failure either.