Filed to story: A Little Princess's Journey from Darkness to Light Novel
“Guys, am I sincere enough?”
Lilly was freaked out by the unsettling video. She threw her phone away out of fear.
Bettany heard the noise and entered the room. “Are you alright, Lilly?”
“Grandma, I’m so scared.”
Lilly had seen many ghosts and spirits. Some even came without a head. But nothing scared her as much as humans.
“There, there, Lilly. I’m here.” Bettany patted Lilly’s back to comfort her.
Lilly spoke in a shaky voice. “Why do they do that? Their apologies are scary.”
Bettany sighed. “In this world, people do all sorts of things for money. Back in my day, we worked hard to earn money. But now, you just have to go viral to become rich. And that 15 minutes of fame is addictive. It pushes people to do something extreme to get another 15 minutes of fame. The cycle continues.”
“Are they still humans?” Lilly asked softly.
Bettany didn’t have an answer to Lilly’s simple question. For views and clicks, some worked hard and strived to produce better videos. But some took shortcuts and relied on shock value. The illusion of popularity was as addictive as drugs. It polluted and twisted their minds until they became slaves to money.
“Go to sleep now,” Bettany looked at Lilly affectionately. “And no more phone for you.”
Lilly obediently surrendered her phone. After Lilly fell asleep, Bettany checked the video Lilly had just watched. When she saw its gory content, she was shocked and angry. How could they put this on the internet? She then reported the video. If she came across another similar video again, she would not hesitate to do the same.
It was a pleasant evening. Several run-down bars in the affordable housing area were filled with customers. Above the noise and commotion, there were community apartments, one of which was called Caring Suite.
On the 4th floor, a man without fingers was frantically scrolling on his phone. He was none other than Harvard. Within 30 minutes, his video had been viewed over one million times and received 70,000 likes. But just as he was about to go viral, he received a notification. His video had been taken down for violating the platform’s rules and regulations.
“Why? Why? Why?” Harvard was furious. He had censored the gory part by applying a monochrome filter. ARGH! Now, his viewership was gone!
Harvard checked other accounts. One imitator knelt on a durian husk and gained 100,000 followers. The streamer then started promoting durian. Judging from the sales he closed in the past two days, he had earned around 30 thousand dollars.
“F*ck those imitators,” cursed Harvard.
Another imitator knelt on ceramic shards and cried messily. He then started promoting all sorts of ceramic mugs, with great success.
“I did it better. I cut off my fingers!” exclaimed Harvard vehemently. “But I only have around 10,000 followers. That’s not fair.”
He felt a surge of excitement from his sudden popularity. He needed to release another video before his audience moved on to the next big thing. Suddenly, he came across a video titled “Three-timer caught red-handed!”. It was from a bystander’s point of view, and Harvard saw Lilly.
“Yes!” An idea came to his mind. Harvard saved and heavily edited the video. He then gave it a clickbaity title, “Lilly Caught Red-Handed. SHE HAD THREE BOYFRIENDS?”
That title was sure to attract viewers. And as he expected, his follower count skyrocketed. Everyone was sharing and commenting on the video. Harvard was smart enough to insert an advertisement in it. With such high viewership, he was due to receive a huge payout.
“You’re a moneymaker, Lilly,” said Harvard greedily. Inside the dim room, Harvard’s wicked grin was reflected on his laptop screen.
The next day, Harvard woke up with bloodshot eyes. The first thing he did was check his phone.
“3,268 dollars in a day? Jesus!” Harvard jumped from his bed. “3,000 a day… That’s around 100,000 dollars per month.”
So why bother working nine to five anyway? Harvard immediately submitted his resignation notice.
Someone knocked on Harvard’s door impatiently. “Harvard! When are you going to pay the rent? You owe me several months of rent already.”
Outside the room, the portly landlady, Gemma Sullivan, was tapping her feet. She mumbled to herself, “This Harvard hasn’t paid his rent for six months. He either avoids me or pretends that he isn’t home. Am I going to get my rent today?”
Harvard lived in Apartment 404. It faced the stairwell and was far away from the windows. His rent was 450 dollars per month. Six months of overdue rent amounted to 2,700 dollars in total, and factoring in the utility fees…
“You owe me 3,268 dollars in total, Harvard.”
Gemma knocked again, though she didn’t expect Harvard to respond. She knew how lazy Harvard was. And how bad he was with finances. Despite his mediocre income, he splurged it on cigarettes and video games.
Gemma sighed, just as Jean, who was on her shoulder, sneezed. All of a sudden, Gemma could hear scuffling noises from behind the door.
“Just a moment.”
The door to Apartment 404 flung open. Harvard, with his disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, groaned, “Will you get off my back? How much do you want?”
Gemma was surprised. Harvard was willing to pay up now? Today was a great day then.
“3,268 dollars in total,” replied Gemma.
Harvard was stunned to hear that number. It was exactly what he had earned yesterday. Harvard took out his phone and reluctantly wired Gemma the money. Looking at his stuffy and dim living space, he made a mental note to move out once he made more money.
Gemma scribbled something in her book. “If you’re staying, remember to pay your rent next month. You always disappear.”
Harvard rolled his eyes and slammed the door. He muttered to himself, “I’ll move into a high-end residential area once I’m rich.”
Gemma put her notebook into her grocery bag and stretched. “Done!”
As she descended the building, she saw a few elderly citizens hanging out with their grandchildren.
“Gemma, did you manage to collect the rent today?” One of them asked.
“Yes, I did.”
The senior group gasped. “Wow, what a miracle.”
“Right?” Gemma nodded enthusiastically. Noticing that the gum she had been chewing had lost its flavor, she spat it out, and it miraculously landed in a garbage can.
“Hot damn.” Gemma was bewildered.
Due to the sweetness of the chewing gum, Gemma wanted to get some water. She then entered a convenience store.
“Got your rent?” The shopkeeper asked.
“Yes.”
As water sloshed down Gemma’s throat, she looked at the bottle cap. Its message made her cough out the water she had consumed.
“Please don’t tell me it says ‘Get one bottle for free’,” said the shopkeeper anxiously.
“No…”
“Thank goodness!” The shopkeeper was relieved. “For the past few days, your luck was so insane that you always got another bottle for free.”
Gemma smiled apologetically before showing the shopkeeper the bottle cap. “It says ‘Get 10 bottles for free’.”
The shopkeeper snatched the cap from Gemma’s hand and peered at it. Gemma was right. It said “Get 10 bottles for free”.
Gemma walked towards the parking lot with a puzzled expression, carrying a box of drinks. She had been incredibly fortunate lately, as if she possessed some kind of lucky charm. Every time she bought a drink, she would receive a free one. No matter how far away the trash can was, she could always toss her trash into it effortlessly. And even when cracking open a random egg, she would always find a double yolk. Gemma put away the box of drinks and drove away.
Unbeknownst to her, the ghost Jean opened her eyes and looked at herself, covered in a golden light resembling a koi fish. Jean felt strange and tried to leave, but found herself unable to. Perplexed, she attempted to force her way out, but accidentally bumped into the steering wheel.
At that moment, a large truck came rushing uncontrollably, blaring its horn. The car screeched and swerved due to the sudden brake. Before Gemma could react, her steering wheel inexplicably turned around, narrowly avoiding a collision with the truck.
The big truck pushed several small cars out of its path before finally coming to a stop five hundred meters away.
Gemma was pale with fright and quickly pulled over to the side of the road. Passers-by were astonished by her luck. They couldn’t believe she had managed to dodge the out-of-control truck. They marveled at her unscathed car amidst the wreckage caused by the accident.
Back at her residence, something even more incredible happened. The owner of the lottery shop approached Gemma in excitement. She whispered, “Hey, Gemma! Take a look at the lottery ticket you bought last night. You won a prize! Five million dollars! I remember the numbers you chose…”
Gemma searched in her pocket and replied, “No way, it can’t be that easy to win five million. I randomly picked yesterday’s date…”
The owner looked at the ticket, slapped her thigh, and exclaimed, “That’s it! It’s yesterday’s date! 20 22 05 16 21 19 01!”
“May 16th, 2022, at 21:19! You even marked the basketball with 01!”
“Five million! Oh my god, Gemma, you’re rich!”
Gemma stared at the lottery ticket in shock. Was this for real? She couldn’t believe it. It seemed that she was truly blessed with incredible luck.
Excited, Gemma quickly changed her clothes and rushed to Yassen University, fearing she would be late. Sneaking in through the back door of the lecture theater, she arrived just in time to hear the teacher say, “Okay, half of the class is over. Let’s do the attendance check now.”
