Common Sense Altering System

That night was pure, silent hell for Ray. Every hour on the dot, as an imaginary second hand ticked in his head, that translucent red panel popped back into his view.

[-100 Alter Points]

The notification kept pinging, chipping away at the point stash he had worked so hard to save up. The old Ray, who used to strut around all casual because he felt "point-rich," was now getting totally played by his own anxiety. Cold sweat kept soaking through his clothes. Even worse, the thought of his EXP getting drained until his level plummeted to Level 0 and his System got permanently wiped made his head throb violently.

He couldn’t catch a single wink of sleep. How could he sleep when his future was getting eaten away every 60 minutes? He was locked up in a cold metal cell with no clue when he’d get out, all while his hands were cuffed and security cameras stared him down nonstop.

By noon, the heavy iron cell door finally swung open. Two guards dragged out a completely wrecked Ray. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken, and his feet dragged along the floor. He looked just like a walking corpse from a whole night of mental torture.

Ray was slammed back into the cold chair in the interrogation room. But when his lifeless gaze drifted up toward the Agent across the table, something felt off.

The Agent was no longer rocking that fierce look or the sneering smile from yesterday. Instead, the guy in the suit looked visibly rattled, sweat dripping from his forehead, nervously flipping through files with stiff movements.

"What’s wrong? Huh?" Ray muttered, his voice raspy as he caught his breath. "Surprised to see a regular guy running on zero sleep?"

Instead of snapping back, the Agent winced slightly. He rubbed his face hard and looked at Ray with a super complicated expression—a mix of sheer panic and being caught in a bind.

"Look, Ray, we’re sorry. Seriously... we truly apologize for the inconvenience," the Agent said out of nowhere, his voice dropping low.

Ray knit his brows. ’What?’ The federal agent who was barking orders and putting maximum heat on him yesterday was apologizing now?

Without saying much, the Agent slid an iPad across the table to Ray. The screen showed a breaking national news broadcast. Displayed right on it was a picture of a very familiar woman.

Ray’s eyes bugged out instantly. "Christy?!" he blurted out reflexively.

"Her real name isn’t Christy—it’s Ekaterina," the Agent cut in quickly. "She’s an international fugitive we’ve been tracking for a long time. She’s behind dozens of kidnappings and a major human organ trafficking ring."

Since Ray’s brain was running super slow from no sleep, his mouth almost slipped up and said, ’I know...’

Thankfully, his survival instincts cut him off just in time. Ray quickly swapped his exhausted look for a totally fake shocked face.

"What?! That shy girl living right next door to me?!" Ray shouted, acting like he couldn’t believe it, holding his breath to make his performance look legit.

"Yeah," the Agent continued, letting out a heavy sigh. "Turns out Ekaterina was working with a few fake federal agents. The case suddenly blew wide open because she’s also heavily suspected of being tied to a foreign espionage ring."

Ray swallowed hard, tasting pure bitterness. "So... what’s any of this got to do with me?"

"Earlier this morning, Hime Nature finally confessed," the Agent explained, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "She broke down over her mistake and admitted that the ’source of evil’ aura her roots picked up actually belonged to Ekaterina, not you."

Hearing that, Ray’s foggy brain instantly cleared up. ’Total cap!’ Ray knew damn well Hime was just full of it. She was just clout-chasing off this massive anomaly case to boost her own hype. And the second she found out a heavy-hitter criminal like Ekaterina was at the same spot, Hime flipped her story real quick to look like a hero who busted an international spy ring.

Inside his head, Ray actually felt kind of relieved. ’What a fake-ass hero... but hey, at least your lie got me off the hook!’

"So..." Ray leaned back against his sore back, staring at the Agent with tired eyes. "When do I get outta here?"

"Tomorrow morning," the Agent shot back quickly. He leaned in, giving Ray a low-key pleading look. "Please, Ray... once you walk out of here, don’t make things complicated. Don’t go dropping statements that cause a scene."

The Agent turned the tablet around, showing a social media timeline that had exploded with a massive wave of outrage from millions of netizens.

Even before this arrest, Ray was already going viral thanks to all the weird stuff on his streams. Now, getting locked up with zero solid proof triggered mass outrage online. Hashtags like #FreeRay and #JusticeForRay were sitting at number one on global trending. The public was blasting the feds for abusing their power against their favorite creator.

Turns out, his viral clout before all this became his strongest shield. The outraged public backed the federal agency into a corner, leaving them no choice but to let him go to stop the backlash.

Ray let out a long sigh, playing along like he was giving in while hiding a sly smirk. "Sure thing, Officer... I just wanna go home and sleep."

’And most importantly,’ Ray added in his head, panicking hard, ’I gotta finish my Daily Mission ASAP before my points hit rock bottom!’

Ray stared at the numbers on the red panel, his heart hammering against his chest. ’Again.’

[ -100 Alter Points ]

He did some quick math in his head. With his remaining balance, his points would hit absolute zero right as the sun hit the sky tomorrow morning. On top of that, there was a massive level gap; he was barely Level 16, while Milady—or whatever she was—was already way ahead of him. If his points ran out and he took that EXP penalty, he was totally cooked.

Ray slammed his hands on the interrogation table, his voice raspy from raw frustration. ’Let me out right now! I got urgent stuff to handle outside. You guys can’t just hold me like this!’

The Agent let out a long sigh, looking just as exhausted as Ray. "Ray, listen. There are procedures we gotta follow. You can’t just walk out until the release papers are signed. Just hold tight till tomorrow morning."

’Hold tight? My points—I mean, my reputation is gonna be totally trashed if I don’t get out right now!’ Ray almost spilled the beans about the System, but held himself back. Still, the Agent didn’t budge. He shut his folder and signaled the guards to take him back to the cell.

The next morning, Ray woke up with a brutal headache. As he opened his eyes in that cold cell, a smooth, slick female voice echoed right inside his head.

’Morning, Darling.’

Ray flinched, his eyes wide open. ’Milady?’

’Listen, there’s gonna be a press conference today,’ Milady’s voice went on, super laid-back, like she was just talking about lunch plans. ’You gotta look pathetic out there. Play the victim card. Shed a few tears, show them you’re just some innocent guy caught up in a big conspiracy.’

Ray squeezed his eyes shut, trying to brush the voice out of his head. ’What?’ He didn’t wanna do that. ’I ain’t doing that. I really got no other choice than to play the clown?’

Before Milady could even reply, the heavy metal cell door clanged open. The Agent walked in, rocking a way more formal, almost stiff vibe this time. Without saying a word, he signaled the two guards to unhook Ray’s cuffs.

Ray rubbed his scraped wrists, staring at the Agent with pure suspicion.

"Good morning, Ray," the Agent said flatly. He handed over a neatly typed sheet of paper. "This is the script you need to memorize for the press conference in a bit. You’ll be set free right after it wraps up."

Ray grabbed the paper with shaky hands. He skimmed through the lines.

’I was just a victim of circumstances... I never thought any of this would happen... I just want to go back to being a normal streamer...’

Ray scoffed, a bitter laugh almost slipping out. He crumpled the edge of the paper slightly. ’Madness.’ Turns out he really had to pull this off. Right when his points were on the brink of total ruin, he was getting forced to act like some D-list celeb caught red-handed in a cheating scandal having to do a public apology video.

"This is ridiculous," Ray muttered under his breath, glaring at the Agent. "You guys really treating me like some washed-up celeb caught in a cheap scandal, huh?"

The Agent didn’t answer, simply pointing toward the exit. "You don’t have much time, Ray. Do it right, or we’re all gonna have a way bigger problem."

Ray took a deep breath, masking his anger behind a passive wall. He had no choice. If he didn’t get out right now, he’d lose everything. Like it or not, he had to play his part in this show.

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