Since things had already progressed this far, Rahul naturally wasn't going to turn down Anjali's offer.
He knew perfectly well by now that any girl drawn into his orbit by the Karma Succubus Attribute was guaranteed to be someone significant. Even though Anjali looked quiet and delicate, she had spoken with absolute certainty. Rahul decided to see where this would lead!
"Alright then, lead the way! Let's go."
Rahul adjusted his DJI camera, flipping the screen to face himself, and followed a step behind Anjali.
The reason he kept the lens pointed away from her was out of basic courtesy. Unlike Samina, who loved the spotlight and was highly extroverted, Anjali seemed much more reserved. He figured it was better not to shove a camera in her face without asking.
Noticing this, Anjali deliberately slowed her pace to walk side-by-side with him.
She pulled out her smartphone, looked up, and asked, "Rahul, what's your Instagram handle? I'll follow you."
"I just started this whole travel vlogging thing yesterday, so there isn't really any content up yet," Rahul explained as they walked. He pointed at the camera. "By the way, are you comfortable being on video?"
Anjali hesitated.
Walking next to someone as ridiculously flawless as Rahul, she suddenly felt like a total ugly duckling. What if he uploaded the vlog and his viewers started making fun of her in the comments?
But this was the very first time in her life she was actually hanging out with a guy this handsome. If she said no, would he get annoyed and leave?
Her mind raced through a dozen worst-case scenarios before she finally nodded her head.
"Okay!" she agreed. "But you have to make me look good!"
Rahul was instantly amused by her completely relatable request. He laughed and said, "Don't worry, I'll crank the beauty filter up to level ten just for you!"
He flipped the lens to include her in the frame, and Anjali shyly threw up a peace sign for the camera.
"So, what's the account name? Let me be your very first follower!"
Rahul gave her the handles for the YouTube and Instagram accounts he had just set up in his hotel room that morning.
Anjali typed the name into Instagram as they walked. She was expecting to see a completely blank profile with zero followers, but when the page loaded, she saw the follower count was already sitting at '1'.
Since Rahul hadn't locked his privacy settings, Anjali tapped on the follower list. Instantly, Samina's profile picture popped up.
It was a highly glamorous, close-up selfie of Samina, her makeup professionally done, looking absolutely radiant, wealthy, and stunning.
Seeing that picture, the light in Anjali's eyes immediately dimmed.
What on earth? He literally said he just arrived in Bangladesh yesterday!
This account was created just a few hours ago, it didn't even have a profile picture yet, and he already had a stunning, high-society Bangladeshi girl following him?
However, Anjali quickly rationalized it to herself. It made perfect sense; a guy looking like a literal movie star wouldn't exactly have a shortage of wealthy female admirers throwing themselves at him.
But women are naturally competitive. At that moment, Anjali couldn't help but compare her own bare-faced, simple look to Samina's glamorous profile picture. A heavy wave of insecurity washed over her.
I don't even know how to do makeup properly, and I'm definitely not as pretty as her. Is he just going to ignore me eventually?
But she couldn't forget how her heart had skipped a beat the first time she saw him. The way he had effortlessly pushed through the chaotic crowd to help her up from the dirt... it was straight out of a Bollywood romance.
Actually, Bollywood actors couldn't even compare to how good he looked!
With her head down, lost in her own internal drama, Rahul couldn't see the screen of her phone, nor did he realize she was having a minor existential crisis over an Instagram follower.
Seeing a fork in the road ahead, Rahul stopped.
"Anjali, which way are we heading?"
Anjali snapped out of her thoughts, quickly slipped her phone into her pocket, and pointed toward a narrow, cramped alley on the right.
"That way. We cut through this lane, and it opens up right into the slum area."
Rahul nodded and stepped into the alley, with Anjali following closely behind.
But the moment they stepped into the shadows, a group of skinny, rough-looking local thugs leaning against the brick walls immediately locked their eyes on Rahul.
"Oi, look at this. A tourist!"
"Yeah, and he looks like a rich pretty boy, too."
"Hey brothers, my pockets are looking pretty empty today. Let's go shake him down for some cash."
"Look at that camera, we can sell that for a fortune!"
The group of thugs, laughing darkly and tossing their cigarettes away, began aggressively blocking the path, walking straight toward Rahul.
Rahul noticed them immediately and stopped dead in his tracks.
No matter where you go in the world, there are always opportunists looking for an easy target. Especially in the gritty, unpoliced areas of a developing megacity.
Considering it took the local police hours just to pretend to look for his stolen wallet, Rahul had zero faith that anyone would come to his rescue here.
This is the exact kind of high-stakes drama the YouTube algorithm loves, Rahul thought, but it's also incredibly dangerous.
If he was going to be traveling to chaotic countries, he was definitely going to run into situations like this again. Thankfully, he had seen that the system's Reward Store offered 'Master-Level Combat Skills' for a few Charm Points.
Right now, his desire to farm Charm Points and buy that combat upgrade had reached an absolute peak!
But since his Charm Points were currently sitting at zero, he didn't have the luxury of turning into an action hero. He immediately reached back, grabbing Anjali's wrist to turn around and sprint back to the main road.
But before he could even pull her back, Anjali stepped directly in front of him, putting herself between Rahul and the approaching thugs.
The exact second the thugs got a clear look at Anjali's face, their aggressive swagger vanished. They froze mid-step, looking like they had just seen a ghost.
Rahul paused, his hand still hovering in the air, thoroughly confused by the sheer, unadulterated terror spreading across the thugs' faces.
Who exactly is Anjali?!
Why did this quiet, petite girl make a group of hardened slum thugs look like they were about to wet their pants? That kind of fear couldn't be faked!
"Get out of my sight! Or I'll have the military police lock every single one of you up by tonight!" Anjali shouted in Bengali, her voice suddenly echoing with terrifying authority.
Hearing that, the thugs didn't even hesitate. They turned on their heels and sprinted away in the opposite direction, running as if their lives depended on it.
Once they were gone, Anjali turned around. The intimidating aura vanished instantly, replaced by a sweet, innocent smile that showed off two deep dimples.
"It's all clear, Rahul. You can keep filming now!"
The entire bizarre interaction had been perfectly captured on Rahul's vlog camera.
Rahul stepped forward, looking at her with wide, highly suspicious eyes.
"Anjali... you just told me you don't live anywhere near here. Why are local street thugs absolutely terrified of you?"
Anjali's smile didn't fade at all as she answered casually:
"Oh! Because the restricted Army Cantonment and their private golf course are right on the edge of this area. I come here all the time with my dad to play golf."
Hearing that, Rahul almost dropped his DJI camera straight onto the concrete.
Are you kidding me?! The quiet girl he casually helped up at a dusty bus stand was the daughter of a top-ranking Bangladesh Military VIP?!
This Karma Succubus System was completely broken!
Just leveling up his Proficiency by 1 point was already summoning military heiresses!
Seeing Rahul standing there completely speechless, Anjali reached out and playfully waved her hand in front of the camera lens.
"I actually came to this side of town today to practice my swing," she said. "The scenery at the cantonment golf course is really beautiful. Do you want to come inside and see?"