Chapter 4
Most people came to me, wanting to team up and promising to help keep my superpower under wraps.
After all, I was the one who could spend money freely. They had to pay for food and water, just to get by.
Making money off superpowers took time, so it was way easier to simply team up with someone who was already loaded.
After weighing my options, I ended up picking a quiet girl, an animation-loving guy, and a high school kid.
I invited the old man, but he turned me down, saying he just couldn't relate to us younger folks. He ended up teaming up with a few people his own age.
In the end, I pulled Ryan into the group.
For now, as long as we kept our superpowers hidden and gambled that others would get exposed before us, we'd have a shot at surviving.
Ryan was genuinely thankful to join my team.
On the big screen, I was sitting at number two. I'd let slip some obvious stuff, so the watchers had plenty to go on.
They already knew about the gesture, the spell, the restroom breaks, and the 330 thousand bucks.
Even with all that out in the open, I still managed to snag second place. Guess I was really a genius.
The quiet girl, Shirley Leonard, was ranked first. That was impressive.
The animation-loving guy, Jeremy Quinn, was ranked 11th, and the high school kid, Matt Baker, was 16th.
As for Ryan, he was dead last at 83rd.
Anyone below him had their names in gray, not even counted in the rankings anymore. They were all wiped out after their superpowers got exposed.
"I'm Nathan Evans. Let's grab some food and find a place to crash," I said.
"Nathan, you're the man," Ryan said.
"Thanks," Jeremy replied.
"Sounds good," Shirley said.
The updated rule that stopped the watchers from interfering with our daily lives really solved a big problem for us.
Otherwise, we'd be trying to eat with a bunch of people staring at us, randomly yelling, "I bet his superpower is..."
We found ourselves a super fancy hotel and reserved a private dining room.
Getting a private room was never an issue. As long as I had the cash, anything was possible.
When it came time to order, I went full big spender mode. If it was pricey or something I'd never tried before, I wanted it on the table. I wasn't worried about the bill at all.
Shirley looked like she came from money in her old life, because she fit right in here without missing a beat.
Jeremy and Matt were just regular kids, so this kind of feast had them both wide-eyed and grinning.
Ryan was weighed down by the threat of being dead last on the screen. He barely had the appetite to eat.
"If you want to write something down, just think about it," I said, handing him a notebook and a pen.
None of us was a saint. The real reason we stuck together was simple: if someone died, at least their final message could be passed on to the real world.
Ryan was still hesitating, and nobody tried to talk him into it. We weren't close, just temporary teammates walking the same road for now. In a place like this, everyone had to look out for themselves.
Ryan just tucked the notebook away and kept eating without saying a word.
Compared to Ryan, the rest of us were way more relaxed and actually enjoying ourselves.
I even ordered a bottle of wine and raised a toast to celebrate our new little squad.
No matter how confident I was, I was not arrogant enough to think my superpower would be the last one to get exposed.
Instead of stressing out all the time, I'd rather use my abilities to enjoy life while I still could.
Making it to the end would be awesome, but even if someone smarter took me out, at least I wouldn't die hungry.
As we walked out of the hotel, everyone automatically glanced up at the big screen hanging in the sky.
The others' ranks were still the same.
Ryan had moved up to 79th.
Now, 80th was the bottom spot.
The good vibes faded fast. Three more people had vanished in just that short time.
*****
We checked into a fancy hotel.
Our team was sitting pretty on the screen, mostly because I started out loaded, so we hadn't really exposed much of our superpowers yet.
With my cash keeping us safe and seeing names vanish from the rankings putting everyone on edge, we all just quietly agreed to stop using our powers for now.
Too bad this world wasn't about to let us chill for long.
The next morning at eight, the player in 79th place got wiped out, and Ryan got bumped up to 73rd.
The world's will spoke up, [New rule: Every superpower user has to use their powers at least three times a day, or get wiped out.]