Chapter 19 The Hardest Task
“I saw a board game cafe over there earlier. It was bustling with people.”
+8 Pearls
Who would have thought that even in a place like Downtown Village, where poorer communities gathered, so many people would get up early to play chess?
Don’t they need to work?
“It definitely won’t be the board game cafe. The NPC is supposed to be running a business and gambling at the same time. That means they must be someone gambling while working on the street,” Isabelle explained her reasoning to Ashen.
Ashen nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. You should focus on the street vendors. I didn’t pay much attention to them earlier.”
Ashen was genuinely kind. Isabelle thanked her before setting off to search on her own.
She wandered down half the street before spotting a group of men playing cards on the ground.
They looked like laborers, except for one man–Roy.
Beside him sat a rack of sticks.
Occasionally, he would call out to sell them, but he remained engrossed in the game, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
His demeanor perfectly matched the description of the gambler on her task card.
Isabelle hadn’t expected the NPC to be him. What kind of task will this man assign me?
Roy, naturally, noticed Isabelle too.
“Are you the NPC?” Isabelle asked, sizing him up.
Roy’s face turned cold. “No, I’m not.”
He denied it outright.
“What will it take for you to hand over the task card?” Isabelle wasn’t in the mood to waste words.
She was certain Roy was the NPC.
What baffled her was how the production team could stoop so low. Had they not paid attention to what happened last night? If they knew Roy was the kind of man who wouldn’t even spare me, his biological daughter, why would they cast him as an NPC?
The production team had their own struggles. The actor originally assigned to play the gambler NPC had canceled last minute. Roy had volunteered to step in.
After all, Roy didn’t even need makeup to look the part. His natural demeanor screamed gambler.
Roy put on a falsely innocent face. “Isabelle, you’ve got the wrong person. I’m not the NPC.”
“An NPC denying their role? Is he trying to make things harder for me because of some personal grudge?” Isabelle turned to Parker, the cameraman, with suspicion.
Even Parker looked confused. The team hadn’t planned for Roy to deny being the NPC.
Was he adding drama for attention, or was he genuinely holding a grudge? Parker wasn’t sure,
He quickly communicated with Indigo, who frowned. “Roy is clearly doing this on purpose. Tell Isabelle to confirm the NPC’s identity directly.”
“She has three chances to identify the NPC. If she guesses wrong all three times, the task will automatically fail.”
“If she guesses correctly, the task card will be unlocked.”
Parker relayed Indigo’s message to Isabelle.
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Chapter 19 The Hardest Task
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“Isabelle, are you sure this is the NPC? If you guess wrong, you’ll only have two chances left. If all three guesses are wrong, you’ll fail the task and won’t receive any funding.”
“Think carefully,” Parker added, seemingly concerned but subtly trying to shake her confidence.
Most people would have hesitated after hearing Parker’s reminder.
After all, if Roy wasn’t the NPC, wasting a guess would be risky. But Isabelle wasn’t like most people.
She was certain Roy was the gambler NPC. Roy fit the task card’s description perfectly.
“Roy is the gambler NPC,” Isabelle declared without hesitation.
“If you don’t hand over the task card, I’ll take it by force.”
She grabbed Roy’s collar without a second thought.
Her boldness left Roy stunned, and even the viewers watching the live stream were shocked, flooding the chat with
comments.
“Whoa, Isabelle is such a boss! Grabbing her dad like that?”
“This NPC is so shady. Is he refusing to cooperate because of a personal vendetta?”
“I kind of want to see Isabelle knock Roy out. He doesn’t even look like he’s acting–he’s an actual gambler!”
Roy snapped out of his daze and tried to grab Isabelle’s hand, but she was faster. She reached into his pocket and pulled out the task card.
Letting go of Roy, Isabelle watched him stumble back a few steps.
But when she read the task card’s content, Roy’s lips curled into a smug smile.
“Your task is to deliver water to the entire Maplewood Community.”
The Maplewood Community was the original upscale residential area of Downtown Village, with buildings up to eight stories high.
Many residents needed purified water daily. Each container held nearly 20 liters, making it difficult to move.
With Isabelle’s petite frame, how could she possibly complete the task?
Roy had been ecstatic when he saw the task and realized Isabelle would be the one doing it.
This little brat dared to kick me last night–now she’d suffer the consequences with the hardest task of all!
Roy didn’t bother hiding his glee, and his expression only made the viewers more suspicious about what had happened the night before.
Otherwise, why would the father–daughter pair be at such odds?
Viewers could understand if Isabelle looked down on her impoverished biological father, but Roy’s attitude toward her was something else entirely.
“My task is this hard?” Isabelle muttered, suddenly recalling Finley’s task of dressing up as Ultraman to teach kids math. By comparison, her task wasn’t looking so bad.
The live stream chat exploded with reactions.
“To be fair, Isabelle’s task is definitely the hardest.”
“Her expression right now–she’s probably wishing she had Finley’s task instead.”
“Ashen’s task seems even simpler.”
“Tiana is clearly the production team’s favorite. Her task is ridiculously easy.”
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Chapter 19 The Hardest Task
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“Taylor’s isn’t hard either, but poor Levi! He’s working at a bakery, fumbling to pack buns for customers.”
Levi’s good looks, however, attracted a steady stream of customers.
Unfortunately, many of them were overly enthusiastic middle–aged women.
“Young man, do you have a girlfriend? My daughter is gorgeous. Want me to set you up?”
“What kind of wife are you looking for? My niece is beautiful–should I introduce her to you?”
Levi was overwhelmed by the attention. While his task looked easy, it came at the cost of his personal space.
Compared to the others, Isabelle’s task was undeniably the most challenging. When Isabelle finally found the water delivery shop, even the shopkeeper doubted her.
“Are you sure you can deliver water to the entire community?”
“If I can’t finish, what else can I do? It’s my task,” Isabelle replied, showing him the task card.
The shopkeeper immediately understood but still looked her up and down. “With your small frame, if you strain your back, don’t expect me to cover your medical expenses. That won’t count as a work injury.”
“You people filming these variety shows have no shame, pushing yourselves like this to get famous.”
He stopped just short of outright calling her overconfident.
Isabelle smiled calmly. “That’s fine. If it doesn’t count here, I’m sure the production team will cover it.”
Indigo thought bitterly. Who said that? The production team definitely won’t cover it!
Originally, Indigo had envisioned the water delivery task for Levi, thinking it would make for good content. Who could have guessed the task card would end up with Isabelle?
