Urban Plundering: I Corrupted The System! - Chapter 291

Chapter 291: Bundles of Existential Concept Cycles
It wasn’t like Parker had Tessa as his woman—nah, that wasn’t it. But at the same time, he knew this wasn’t their first meeting—if it had happened ever. Maybe she was even a goat or like he said; a waitress or anything at all.

Maybe not exactly her, but someone—something—that was her in a different thread of time. One of his eight lives, maybe even beyond that. There were deeper truths to time, loops within loops, cycles so massive that if Parker tried explaining them even to gods, their heads might explode.

Let alone Tessa, who, frankly, couldn’t give less of a fuck.

The only reason he even thought about this was because, sooner or later, she’d be forced to dive through all these concepts of time.

Chronokinesis wasn’t just about freezing time for a dramatic entrance. It meant dipping your fingers into the bigger picture, brushing up against forces that didn’t give a fuck about logic or free will.

Eventually, she was gonna stumble onto the conditions of these concepts in ways that would make her question everything.

After regaining fragments of his memories, Parker had looked at her—really looked at her—and realized: Blacktower Hotel? That hadn’t been some random shit. The entire sequence of events leading up to that moment was too perfect.

Too precise that even with all his mighty, even with all his powers awakened, it wasn’t something he might have planned in one of his lives.

It was beyond the Prince of Existence himself—at least for now.

First, the shift at work. He wasn’t even supposed to be there that night. Last minute, someone called out. Parker got stuck with the full shift until morning. Not unheard of, but in the grand scheme of things? Not a coincidence either. Then, the system in the morning after coming from work. That didn’t just drop in his lap randomly—it landed at the exact moment it needed to—probably even the Deity who gave it to him had no control over their own actions but didn’t know they were being manipulated by the cycles of Time and Existence. And the Blackwoods?

They let him go for a whole-ass two weeks, just like that? Robert Blackwood, a man who had spent years looking for reasons to make Parker’s life hell, suddenly had zero objections? That man despised Parker.

But somehow, he just let him leave.

Helena, though now that he thinks about it—she’d felt something. Maybe not fully, but she had enough instinct to resist, even if only a little. But Robert? He got nudged along without even realizing it. And because Helena had to maintain the whole perfect housewife act in front of Parker, she didn’t fight it. Or maybe she couldn’t.

Helena had caved.

Parker leaned back against the railing, staring at the city lights in the distance before exhaling. “You ever think about how we met, Tess?”

Tessa, lounging against him, blinked up. “I mean… yeah, but mostly in the ‘damn, I really thought you were some psycho at first’ kind of way.”

Parker huffed a laugh. “Fair. But I’m not talking about just that morning. I mean… the whole setup. The weird chain of events that had to happen for us to even be in the same place, at the same time.”

She arched a brow. “Alright, Philosopher Parker, hit me with it.”

He tilted his head, eyes sharp with something deeper. “Okay. Where were you staying the night before we met?”

Tessa frowned, thinking. “Some random-ass motel. Kinda far, actually. Why?” She showed him the location of her motel on her phone, some name he didn’t have time to mention.

Parker chuckled, shaking his head. “Alright. So let’s talk about the hotels around that place before Blacktower. There’s the Silvercrest, the Grand Meridian, Eclipse Suites, Starlight Haven, and fucking—what’s that bougie one—oh yeah, the Astoria Royale. All closer. All decent. But for some reason, you—who was trying to lay low, right?—thought Blacktower was the safest spot.”

Tessa hesitated. “Okay… but that’s just preference, right?” Tessa crossed her arms, suspicious now. “You’re saying that wasn’t just me making a choice?”

Parker raised a brow. “Oh, it was a decision, alright. Just… not entirely yours.” Parker gave her a look. “I’m saying you got railroaded like a character in a shitty RPG. And it doesn’t stop there. Let’s talk about the dude that god behind you that morning.”

Tessa’s face twitched. She hated thinking about that moment.

Parker’s lips twitched. “What were the chances,” Parker continued, “that some massive weirdo would pop up right then, scare the shit out of you right after your experience that night, and push you straight in my direction? Hell, what were the chances that I was standing exactly where I needed to be for you to slap me?” He gave her a look. “Tessa. You got shoved into my path like a goddamn scripted event.”

Tessa squinted at him. “You trying to say the universe nerfed my decision-making skills just so I could crash into your life?”

Parker sighed, rubbing his temple. “I’m saying—if I sat here and mapped out every tiny thing that led to that moment, we’d be here for days.”

Tessa held up a hand. “Okay, pause. Are you saying our meeting was fate?”

Parker gave her a dry look. “I’m saying it wasn’t fucking random but .”

Atalanta, who’d been sipping her drink nearby, sighed and muttered under her breath, “This is some Cassandra and Isis shit, not mine.”

Tessa ignored Atalanta, tilting her head at Parker, her eyes narrowing slightly. “So what’s your theory? Some big cosmic love story spanning lifetimes—basically, existence did some overly complicated puzzle-piece shit just so we could meet?”

Parker smirked. “More or less.”

No need to go deeper than that. Not tonight. There were larger concepts, bigger truths, but he wasn’t about to dump an existential crisis on her when they had other shit to deal with.

Tessa exhaled, then leaned into him with an exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. “Goddamn. Existence really went through all that effort just to make me put up with your amazing ass.”

Parker chuckled, pressing a casual kiss to her hair. “And you love how time works in sync with the whole of existence.”

She rolled her eyes, but he caught the hint of a smile she was trying to fight back.

Right then, one of the lounge staff stepped into view, clearing his throat. “Everything is ready, sir.”

Parker nodded, stretching a bit before standing up. Tessa rose beside him, their arms briefly brushing, and for some reason, she didn’t move away. Neither did he.

Atalanta, still behind them, casually munched on her cookies, looking as carefree as ever—like she wasn’t about to get dragged into some ridiculous chaos just because she happened to be near Parker and Tessa tonight.

And oh, the chaos was coming.

The next few seconds?

Yeah, shit was about to go down.