Harem Streamer System: Every Crime I Broadcast Wins Me a Superheroine

Chapter 297: Food For Thought

Scott now had two big issues to deal with.The first was the system’s urgent mission.

He had exactly 72 hours to figure out a way to save Maya from being locked up in supermax. He had no idea how to even begin. He didn’t know the full story behind what had happened or what Vincent had actually done to cause this mess. Logically, there was a starting point: he needed to find Vincent, drag the truth out of him, and then engineer a plan to intercept or break Maya out of Ashgate custody.

That sounds like hell.

But at least there’s a clear first step.

The second big issue. Hmm.

That one has no starting point...

Because every single starting point would lead him directly to his death!

In fact, the second issue was right in front of him on his over-bed table in the form of various homemade dishes with cute designs prepared by his girlfriends.

Food that you can also call packaged poison.

"Mael, you have to try mine first!"

Lady Fortress was the first to step forward with her smallish adorable face that turned as red as a ripe tomato as her tiny fingers twirled nervously.

"I—I wanted it to be special, so I flew outside Earth to get some of the most exotic life forms in the solar system to cook for you! It’s... well, it’s not much. You should really try the acid stew, that’s fantastic!"

To demonstrate, she picked up a plastic spoon and began stirring the bubbling, faintly glowing neon-green liquid. But by the time she pulled the spoon back out, the entire bottom half of it had completely melted away into a gooey plastic stub.

Scott’s eyes widened.

"Errr..."

The word he’s looking for is HELL NO!

But how does one say that to a cutie like Fortress.

Lady Fortress’s blush deepened to a bright red.

She quickly tossed the ruined spoon into a nearby bin and looked away, whistling innocently.

Before he could process the chemical weapon on his table, Gwen was holding two paper bags of chili fries in one hand and her smartphone in the other. The screen was currently displaying the latest episode of [Galactic Legends]. She stylishly tucked a few strands of her overgrown blonde bangs behind her ear and blushed softly, refusing to meet his eyes directly.

Gwen is a hard-headed tomboy.

But she can also be shy about these things.

"I bought your favorite snack... and I have your favorite show ready, babe."

She was murmuring.

And her voice was uncharacteristically shy.

"I can sync it with the TV so we can all watch it together while you eat."

Miss Mercury saw this and instantly grew jealous. Not about to be outdone by a pair of fast-food fries, she proudly shot her chest out until her breasts were bouncing intrusively right in Scott’s face.

"Hmph! You really think a super cheap tactic like that is going to work?"

Mercury huffed, crossing her arms beneath her chest.

"An actual woman goes through the stress of cooking a real meal for her man, just like I did."

Gwen clicked her tongue sharply.

"Bitch."

"Heh."

That only made Miss Mercury smile triumphantly as she casually rubbed the side of her nose with a finger.

Beca nervously scratched the back of her furry fox ears, looking a bit left out.

"Oh... I didn’t really have time to prepare a proper meal like the others, so uhh..."

She waved a plastic pouch gently in his face.

"I... I do have some beef jerky? I’ll make sure to actually cook for you next time..."

She looked genuinely embarrassed to the point her tail drooped slightly.

Scott’s heart melted a little. He reached out and gently patted her head between her soft ears.

"It’s totally fine. Honestly, I’m looking forward to your cooking since I’ve never tasted it before."

Beca let out a sad sigh.

"That’s only because something always goes wrong whenever I try to cook at the mansion. Either the food mysteriously goes missing, or there’s suddenly no plates or cutleries left in the entire kitchen."

Scott scratched his chin and quickly looked away.

For some reason, he’s sweating a lot now.

"Ohh... what a terrible, completely unavoidable coincidence..."

"Move aside, amateur hour is over."

Bella pushed her way to the bed.

She held out an expensive, beautifully arranged tray of mushroom rice and a large ceramic bowl of creamy chicken stew. Bella held her chin up high and kept her eyes closed in unshakeable pride.

To her, this dish was top notch!

"I’ve been taking cooking classes, so you can trust that this is the best meal you’ll ever have in your life!"

She looked so blindingly confident that Scott actually believed her for a second. He reached out, almost taking the fancy wooden spoon to try a bite. But just as he did, his eyes drifted over to the corner of the room where Morgan was standing. The old butler was silently but vigorously shaking his head with a look of pure terror on his face.

That clearly means DO NOT EAT!

Scott choked on his own breath.

Right then, another food box was opened.

Just by the rich, mouth-watering aroma that instantly filled the VIP hospital room, everyone in the room knew exactly who it belonged to.

Nadia, of course.

The other girls were now jealous.

"Ugh, why can’t any of us ever cook like that?"

"Did you order that from a five-star place, Nadia?"

"Yeah, be honest!"

"No way she made that herself in that timeframe!"

Nadia simply held her chest up proudly. She’s clearly not fazed by their jealousy. With a calm, victorious smile, she positioned her food box right in front of Scott’s face to make sure he really took in its glorious scent.

Technically, Scott could take the easy way out.

He could just eat Nadia’s food and save his tastebuds.

But he knew he would also die if he did that.

The others were already insecure about their own dishes and would feel heartbroken if he didn’t at least try to show theirs some love. It wasn’t that his girlfriends would beat him to death or do anything silly like that... it was worse. It would kill him inside to see their sad, rejected faces while he exclusively enjoyed Nadia’s food.

『Dammit, I love them too much to treat them poorly! I have to find a way to be fair to all of them, but how the hell am I supposed to do that?!』

It wasn’t like their food was even manageable. Eating a mix of exotic alien acid stew and whatever Bella had conjured was a surefire recipe for explosive diarrhea, or at the very least, a ruined tongue for the next week. The only safe zones were Beca’s jerky and the chili fries from Gwen, who has made peace with the fact that she’ll never be a good cook.

Hrmm... Scott stroked his chin to think.

Then his eyes suddenly fell on Bella’s hands.

There were tiny, skin-colored bandages wrapped around her dainty tanned fingers.

Bella had perfect, delicate hands. She was a spoiled heiress who had never done a single chore or a day of manual labor in her entire life. Yet, she had sliced her fingers just to try and cook something for him. And it wasn’t just her. All of these women had gone out of their way, stressing themselves out and rushing over just to be by his side the moment they heard he was hurt.

There was a time in his life where Scott truly believed he’d die alone, with nobody standing by his deathbed. But look at him now. The case was entirely different. All these beautiful, incredible women were right here, entirely devoted to him.

It felt good...

Scott snatched all the food boxes toward himself.

There’s no time to think!

He grabbed a fork and a spoon and scarfed down all the food like a madman. He even lunged for the beef jerky that Beca was still holding.

"Wait, Scott!"

Beca squeaked, trying to pull the pouch back.

Internally, she was panicking.

『Oh my god, this is so embarrassing! The others brought such thoughtful, amazing dishes, and he’s seriously embarrassing me by mixing my low-effort beef jerky with their masterpieces?!』

She shyly covered her red face with both hands.

Scott looked up at her with a stuffed mouth.

"It’s nwoot low effwort!"

Beca froze.

『Eh?!』

Her mind went into hyperdrive as her eyes went wide.

『DID HE JUST READ MY MIND?!』 ¡|!(0∆0)!|¡

She felt like she could genuinely die of sheer shame right then and there.

Scott’s stomach got bigger and larger the more he shoveled more food into his mouth.

Not a single piece of food was spared!

Scott held up two large spoons like trophies.

"IT’S SO AWESOME!!"

That killed the tension in the room.

The girls all had ecstatic smiles and red cheeks.

My boyfriend loves my cooking...

That was surely all they could think of.

Before he could even put the spoons down, the girls almost drown him in hugs and affection. Beca adjusted his messy hair, Gwen straightened his rumpled patient gown, and Miss Mercury gently wiped a smudge of sauce from his mouth with a tissue.

"Slow down, you idiot, you’re going to choke!"

Gwen scolded softly, but her eyes were so tender.

Right on cue, Scott started coughing. Nadia wrapped her arms around him from behind as she pulled him against her soft chest and gently patted his back like he was her sweet little baby.

"See? I told you to chew properly."

Lady Fortress face was red and full of shyness and yet she managed to hand him a glass of water.

"H-, Here... drink this... don’t push yourself so hard..."

Morgan watched the whole thing.

『Miss Bella has absolutely terrible culinary skills, and I am entirely certain young Scott knew that. And yet, the boy still chose to eat her food and everyone else’s as if it were a five-star gourmet meal. Tch... the Chairman was right. This kid is way too cool.』

There was a proud smile on the old man’s face.

A few hours passed...

Scott was now propped up against the pillows of his bed with an awkward, strained expression plastered across his face. He’d just finished a massiveamount of food, yet he didn’t look relaxed in the slightest. In fact, he was sweating profusely as his eyes darted nervously from side to side.

The reason was simple.

He was totally surrounded and pinned down.

Because it was a massive VIP hospital bed, all the girls had successfully managed to crowd onto it to be close to him. If it had been a standard hospital bed, he’d have had to awkwardly watch them fight to the death over who deserved a spot.

Lady Fortress and Beca were both exhausted so they slept on his lap and crotch as their pillow.

On his left, Miss Mercury and Nadia were softly braiding sections of his hair and chatting.

Gwen was resting her head comfortably against the center of his chest, idly scrolling through her Chirper feed, while Bella lay on his right side, lazily tracing his abs through his gown with her index finger.

Meanwhile, Dark Elf was watching all this from a small chair in the far corner of the room.

Crunch... Crunch...

She slowly ate a bag of chips.

"I feel like a cuck..."

Her deadpan expression did not change.

She looked down at the chair beneath her.

"This is a cuck chair."

BLAM!

Brigid barged into the room, panting heavily.

"Brigid? What’s the problem?" Scott asked.

"Lord Scott! You need to turn on the TV and change the channel to 24/7 City News right now!"

Before Scott could even think about how he was going to reach the remote, Morgan has already taken it and done as Brigid urgently requested.

Miss Mercury and Nadia both paused their braiding as their jaws dropped slightly.

『Woah... so fast!』

They both thought the same thing.

However, Bella didn’t even blink.

She’d grown up around Morgan and had seen him do far more terrifying things.

Scott focused on the flat-screen TV on the wall.

"What the hell is going on?"

The TV showed a live broadcast.

The news ticker at the bottom read.

[METRO CITY IN STANDSTILL: MASSIVE PROTESTS OUTSIDE HERO AGENCY!]

The anchor was Judy Cho.

She was surrounded by a sea of angry people holding signs and shouting at the top of their lungs.

[This is Judy Cho, reporting live from the Hero Agency Headquarters. Metro City has been completely shut down today due to a city-wide protest. The citizens are out in full force, demanding to know the truth behind the allegations against the Number One Hero, Megaman. The public wants to know: Is Megaman actually a domestic abuser, and has the Hero Agency been actively covering up his crimes for years?]

The camera panned across the raging crowd and showed people holding up signs that read ’NO MORE LIES’ and ’WOMAN BEATER’. Judy Cho quickly navigated through the throng to interview a few protestors.

The vanguard of the protest was being led by a the calm and beautiful Martha McQueen. She was surrounded by a tight perimeter of burly bodyguards who immediately moved to block the reporter when she got too close.

[It’s fine, let her through...]

Martha’s voice is smooth like velvet.

Judy hurried over and shoved the microphone forward.

[Ms. Dimitrova! As a victim of these shocking allegations regarding Megaman’s abuse as a husband... what exactly are you hoping to achieve here today?]

Martha looked directly into the camera and let her beautiful face do all the work.

[I want that coward of a man to come out here and face the public. He needs to speak on the matter like he should have done years ago. To be honest, Megaman is an incompetent, fragile man who will never take responsibility for his actions. That is exactly why he tried to force me to get an abortion to begin with. He’s nothing but a pathetic little shit.]

She managed to deliver those words with elegance.

You would think she’s a queen even!

That’s when the top of the grand stairs of the Hero Agency building caught everyone’s attention.

Judy Cho looked up toward the high podium.

[Wait, it seems leadership is finally emerging! Megaman is making his way to the microphone, accompanied by his daughter, Scottie, who is also a top hero in Falan City and Chairman Lymtos!]

The moment Martha saw her daughter standing up there on the stage, the calm facade cracked. She clutched her chest tightly and her breath hooked in her throat as a piece of her fragile heart broke.

[My child...]

To see Scottie like this was heartbreaking.

Judy signaled her cameraman.

[Focus on the high podium, quickly!]

The camera zoomed in as ordered.

Inside the hospital room...

Scott watched the screen with a dark face.

"This is so stupid..."

Brigid stood completely silent by the door.

She looked incredibly sad as her eyes darted between the TV screen and Scott.

『None of them know that... those people on the TV are Lord Scott’s real family.』

Back on the broadcast...

Megaman stepped up to the microphone.

The raging crowd didn’t waste time to boo him.

"Friggin’ woman beater! Shameless!"

"YOU USED TO BE SOMEBODY!"

"Respect women’s bodies!"

Megaman calmly adjusted the microphone with an entirely blank face. He greeted the hostile crowd with a steady wave and acted as though their screams and anger were totally insignificant to him.

Down below, Martha glared up at him with hatred.

A burning hatred.

Megaman simply stared right back down at her with bright blue eyes full of coldness.

Scottie was standing in the corner of the high stage with her hands clenched tightly at her sides.

"It just had to be on national television..."