161 A Gathering

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TECHNOLOGY EARTH

Beep~ Beep~

"Hello? Elle? How are you? I miss you so much, uwu..." A voice came from the other line of the phone after a couple of beeps.

"Hey Grace, I miss you more... I've been doing fine actually, tell me about yourself... how is your family?" Ella asked back.

In the meantime, she was thinking to herself, 'How should I give my friends the lollipops without them even realizing what it is... hmm.'

Since the Legal ugly had requested her to give the lollipops to her friends without clarifying what they actually are, Ella has been thinking of a solution, but until this very moment, she wasn't successful.

"How could they be with the world soon ending and all? Everyone's so dispirited and hopeless... sigh... I'm just very grateful they're not losing it like some other people outside..." Grace's disheartened response came from the other side of the line.

"Well... that's understandable..." Ella replied while thinking very hard about how to explain the matter she had truly called for.

But before she could say anything, Grace talked again, "Moreover, since they heard about our neighbor's daughter being raped by some strangers, they've become extremely sensitive about me leaving the house alone... so now, before I do anything, I have to report it to them first and receive their full permission..."

She continued, "Sigh... I'm pretty sure I was already severely depressed with the world ending in a year... but it just had to get worse and I can't even leave the house now... I'm literally stuck here."

"Well... that's pretty much the same as what I and the rest of our friends are going through right now... we're all stuck inside our own houses." After listening to her friend's complaints and grievances, feeling extremely empathetic, Ella responded. However, just after she was finished with her words, her eyes abruptly began to shine, 'Oh, that's it... I know what to do!'

Then, she added, "Grace, we can't continue like this... the world's ending in a year, which means we only have a year left... so... we should live this one year to its full extent!"

Listening to Ella's words, Grace's eyes regained a little light as she uttered, "I know what you mean... but... how should we do that?"

"Grace... like you said, I think I'm getting depressed too by just staying home all the time without having anything to do! Let's go out and have fun!" With determination, Ella expressed her intention.

"Ah... where can we go at a time like this? You know most places are extremely dangerous right now..." Grace doubtfully said.

"Let's go to a night club!" Ella stated happily.

"What? Elle, have you lost your mind? Did the apocalypse affect your IQ? That place's probably the most dangerous location for us girls right now!" Grace yelled hearing Ella's unwise suggestion.

"Hehe, of course I know it's very dangerous... I wouldn't just randomly spout nonsense without thinking about it first..." Ella proclaimed as she continued, "However, both us and the rest of our friends really need to have some fun... and the best place for that is a nightclub."

"Still... sounds pretty dangerous to me..." Grace impatiently interrupted.

"Sigh... don't interrupt me and let me finish what I'm going to say first!" A little annoyed, Ella uttered before proceeding, "Just don't worry, all of us will be very safe there... because I have my own personal bodyguards now, hehe..."

"Uh, really? You have bodyguards? How?" Filled with surprise and curiosity, Grace inquired.

"Isn't the answer to that obvious...? Because Ai hired them to protect me of course! And let me tell you, with them protecting us, I don't think anyone would be able to harm us or pose a threat to any of us since they're probably the strongest bodyguards in the whole world!" Ella explained with an excited tone.

"Is that so?? But how do you know they're that strong?" Full of doubt, Grace questioned.

"Ah, actually, that brings us to another matter which I went through some days ago..." Ella uttered.

"I'm listening... explain." Grace replied as she waited for Ella's elaboration of the situation.

"Okay... you see, some days ago... someone tried to kidnap me, and let me tell you, these people were unimaginably strong! I won't go into details... but just let me say this, if my kidnappers had faced a hundred opponents, I believe they would've been easily able to deal with those hundred enemies! However, shockingly, my bodyguards were even stronger and dealt with them instead!!!" Completely sunk in her description, Ella explained with shining eyes of admiration.

"Aii, Elle, you're exaggerating this too much... how can an ordinary human deal with a hundred opponents? And easily at that? That just doesn't make any sense... anyway, are you sure you're okay?" Still feeling very doubtful, Grace inquired worriedly.

"Hmph, Grace... am I the kind of person who would exaggerate these stuff? Forget about it... I don't care if you don't believe me... what matters right now is that they're extremely powerful and we would be totally safe, so we're all going to a nightclub!" Frustrated, Ella declared with a harrumph.

In the meantime, she wondered, 'What would she have thought if I said they had superpowers? Probably assume I've gone crazy because of the world ending right?... Good thing I didn't say that...'

"Aiii... Elle, you will be the death of both me and our friends... Why are insisting so much?" Feeling very troubled by her words, Grace complained.

"Grace! Am I not asking this for your own sake? I just don't wanna see you getting depressed to death by just staying at home all the time!" Ella expressed outside, however inside, she was thinking, 'Damn it grace... I need you guys to take these lollipops without asking me any questions... and the best place to do that and to gather all of us together is the nightclub...'

"Just say yes Grace... we all need this and trust me... like I said, it's extremely safe! Furthermore, we're all dying in a year anyway... so why does it matter?" Ella sighed as she insisted.

"Sigh... alright, I trust you Elle... and like you said, the world's ending in a year either way... so let's just do something crazy for once at least." Finally, after being reminded the world was ending in a year, together with Ella asking her to trust her, Grace's last line of defense was broken as she agreed.

"Good!"

"But... what do I say to my parents? I mean... I'm pretty positive they won't agree If I say I'm going to a nightclub..." Grace questioned.

"Just say all of your best friends are gathering at my place and that you need to be here..." Ella voiced, before continuing, "Okay, also, since you're even better than me when it comes to convincing others, you call Faith and Mary too and notify them about our plan..."

"What about Jess?"

"Oh, just leave Jess to me, call them, alright?"

"Sure I'll talk to them... but, there is another problem here... you see, it would be extremely dangerous for us to leave the house alone... what do we do about this?" Feeling uneasy, Grace inquired.

And listening to this, Ella felt very troubled inside as she went entirely silent.

"Elle?... Elle? Are you still there?"

Finally, a few seconds later, as she had successfully thought of a solution, she stated, "Don't worry Grace! Don't you know who's my boyfriend? I'll just ask my bodyguards to send some people after everyone!"

"Alright... we'll do as you say then... see you soon Elle."

"Yeah, see you soon."