Chapter 137: The Suspicious Neighbor Next Door

Nexus Tower, Upper Section

Floor 55, Block PP, Apartment No. 70

Steam curled off Viola’s bare skin as she stepped out of the shower. Water dripped down her legs, tracing the curve of her thighs before hitting the floor. She reached for the towel but froze when her comm-device buzzed.

She narrowed her eyes, grabbed it, and flicked it on.

“Yeah?”

Her boss’s voice came through. Cold and sharp as always.

“Did you complete the mission?” he asked. “Is the boy dead?”

Viola blinked. Then chuckled under her breath, wrapping the towel around her.

“You said I have a week. Anyway, You really haven’t seen the galactic news, huh?” she said. “Or maybe you’re just choosing to ignore it.”

“What are you talking about?”

She walked to the counter, tapped on the glass interface, and pulled up a holo-screen showing Xavier’s latest stream replay—his name trending across multiple networks, millions of followers, fans going rabid.

“I’m talking about the kid becoming a fucking galactic celebrity overnight,” she said. “He’s not just Earth-famous. The entire system is watching him. Eyes from three sectors. And if he dies now? Every galactic security division will start digging. Even the Troopers might get involved. They’ll track the scent of his blood back to whoever touched him.”

A pause. Then the voice on the other end hissed, “I don’t give a damn about that. I asked you a question—can you complete the mission or not?”

Viola’s expression turned cold.

“I can kill him. I can do it tonight if I want to.”

Another pause.

“…Then why haven’t you?”

“Because unlike you,” she said, calmly brushing a few wet strands of hair behind her ear, “I value my life more than some temporary rank in your pathetic Spade Hounds syndicate.”

Silence.

“You’re leaving.”

“That’s right.” Viola leaned on the counter, her voice quiet but unshaken. “I’m done.”

“You’ll regret this, Viola,” the boss said, tone dropping low and venomous. “Once I’m finished with my current affairs, I’ll come for you myself. And I’ll make sure you die slow.”

Viola smiled.

“I’ll be waiting.”

And then she hung up.

The screen flickered off.

She let out a slow breath, still dripping, still half-naked. But now, her eyes burned with something sharper than rage—freedom.

Viola sighed as the call ended and tossed the device onto the bed.

“…Well, now I’ve done it,” she muttered, rubbing her temples. “Screwed from every damn angle.”

The Spade Hounds would be coming for her. She’d just burned their bridge with gasoline and tossed the match herself. And on the other side? Xavier. The one she was supposed to kill. The one who now had the whole galaxy watching his every move.

She was stuck in the middle. No backup. No allies.

Just herself.

She got dressed, fast but calm. Slim-fit black pants, high-collar jacket, concealed blade strapped under her sleeve. Her heartbeat had finally settled—until she opened her apartment door.

And froze.

Xavier was standing right there.

Right outside.

Viola’s pupils tightened. For a second, she forgot how to breathe.

His eyes locked with hers. Confused. But calm.

“Uh…” Xavier blinked. “Are you Viola? The Cortex Living girl who helped me with the furniture stuff?”

Viola exhaled—slow and quiet. The tension in her shoulders dropped a little. She pulled a small, polite smile.

“Oh—yeah. That’s me,” she said, tucking a strand of damp hair behind her ear. “Wow… what a surprise. Do you live here?”

“Next door.” He gestured at Apartment 69. “Didn’t expect to bump into you like this.”

He paused, then tilted his head slightly.

“…But, now that I think about it, shouldn’t you already know where I live? I gave my info for the furniture delivery, right?”

Viola gave a light, practiced laugh. “Oh, no. We don’t see any of that. All client data is masked. Even the deliveries and installations are done by drones and androids—you must’ve seen that yourself.”

Xavier nodded. “Right… yeah, makes sense.”

There was a beat of silence.

Then Viola raised a brow. “So, what are you doing outside my door? Don’t tell me you’re stalking your furniture girl now.”

Xavier smiled faintly. “Nah. Just came to apologize.”

“Apologize?”

He leaned back against the hallway wall, hands in his pockets.

“People have been showing up outside my apartment lately. Fans, media, random weirdos. And I figured the noise might bother the neighbors. So… yeah. I just wanted to say I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Viola shrugged. “Not a big deal. I usually leave early and come back late. As long as it’s quiet at night, I don’t really care.”

She hesitated. “Took the day off today though. Wasn’t feeling too great.”

Xavier looked at her for a moment, then said, “Huh. Well, considering you’re living in a place like this—five million a month rent—you must be doing pretty well at Cortex Living.”

Viola let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah… I have other ways of making money too.”

She glanced at the time and stepped past him.

“I need to go. Got a hospital appointment.”

Xavier nodded and watched her walk toward the elevator. He didn’t say anything. Just kept watching, until the doors closed behind her.

Then he let out a low breath and smirked to himself.

“She can act well…”

Because the truth was—he already knew.

He knew Viola lived next door.

He knew her background wasn’t clean.

He knew exactly what she was doing in this tower.

The moment his system had flagged her as a suspicious individual, he’d used his custom OS and glasses to break into her smart apartment systems—audio, visuals, logs. He’d seen everything. Heard everything.

The calls. The shower. The mission.

Viola was sent to kill him.

But just a few minutes ago, she’d made a choice. She gave up the mission. Quit her syndicate. Chose her own life over whatever reward they offered.

Still… Xavier hadn’t decided what to do with her yet.

But he would.

Soon.

As Xavier watched the elevator doors slide shut with Viola behind them, a soft chime echoed in his ears.

[Quest Complete: Confront the Suspicious Neighbor]

[Reward: +1 Task Progress]

[Remaining Tasks to System Upgrade: 2/10]

Xavier let out a long sigh and rolled his neck.

“Finally… one step closer,” he muttered and turned around, heading back to his apartment.

The door to PP 69 slid open silently. The lights adjusted to his presence, cool and dim. He tossed his jacket on the couch and sank into the leather chair near the window. The skyline of Nexus gleamed in the distance, like a polished machine that never slept.

Days passed. Fast.

A week later, the city hadn’t changed much, but Xavier had.

He’d completed seven more quests. Annoying ones, some stupid, some easy, one that involved an old lady and three bags of explosive tomatoes. But all of them counted.

Now, he only had one more task to go.

Just one more, and the Unlimited Money System would hit Level 6.

And with that came the real prize:

A daily transaction limit of 5 million dollars.

He had plans for that money.

And they weren’t small.

Xavier’s fame wasn’t slowing down.

Not even a little.

If anything, it was growing faster than ever. And the reason? Celestial Rift.

Every day, he logged into the VR game. And every day, the galaxy talked about him.

People expected him to ride the hype wave for a while and then vanish like every other trend. But Xavier wasn’t interested in fading away. He was farming attention like it was free money—and for him, it kind of was.

He even topped up 3 million coins in the game and started gifting random players.

Rare skins. Gear. Mounts. Titles.

One lucky noob got a god-tier weapon just because he helped Xavier clear a dungeon.

Then came the events.

He hosted PvP tournaments, world boss raids, even did Q&As inside the game where his in-game avatar sat on a throne made of golden credit cards while hundreds of players bowed in front of him. Literally.

Clips of him went viral across the Nexus Net.

“Is that the real Xavier?”

“He just gave me 100K coins for saying hi!?”

“HE ONE-SHOTTED THE GALACTIC HYDRA WTF!”

Streams blew up. Forums exploded. Memes flooded the feed.

From game nerds to influencers, everyone was talking about him. Even players who had never touched Celestial Rift were logging in just to see him. His in-game handle, [X.MoneyGod], became a brand.

Sponsors tried again to reach out.

He ignored all of them.

And that just made him even cooler.

By the end of the week, Xavier’s in-game fan club had over 2.3 million members, and Celestial Rift’s devs had started a limited-time “X.MoneyGod” loot box event without even asking his permission.

Xavier didn’t care.

He was just having fun.

And making sure the galaxy wouldn’t stop talking about him. Because he was making sure, his enemies know well who they are messing with.

Today was important for another reason too. Maximillian’s suspension had ended. Which meant the noble brat was returning to the academy. And Xavier? He was looking forward to it.

Still no word from Reva though.

She had texted him—once—three days ago. Said she fought with her father. Something about disobeying direct orders, sneaking out, and using the current Xavier vs Lucas Fiasco to cancel her engagement with Luas. Now she was grounded in her fancy vampire fortress.

But her message had been clear.

[I’m dying to drink your blood again. And maybe… other things too.]

Xavier had stared at that message for a solid minute before muting her chat. He didn’t trust her yet. Not fully.

But he didn’t forget her either.

Now, with the sun rising over Nexus, Xavier stepped out in the academy’s uniform. Lilia clung to his left arm while Lyra trailed behind them, arms crossed, silent and moody as ever.

They had breakfast together at Seraphina’s place.

The food was great, as always. Lilia smiled like the cinnamon roll she was, while Lyra argued about bacon rations with Seraphina again.

After that, Xavier hopped on his bike.

The engine purred, then roared to life.

He revved it once and sped off toward the academy.

Today was going to be fun.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep