All Chapters of The God of Ruin’s Pocket Change: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
170 chapters
CHAPTER 21: The Trap Has Already Closed 2
A translucent, blood-red overlay burned its way into the center of my vision, overlaying the dark room and the glowing monitors with its own harsh light.[Threat Level Increasing]I stared through the floating text at the screen in front of me. The red letters pulsed in time with my racing heart. The air in my lungs felt incredibly hot, incredibly thin.This wasn’t just some random conflict. This wasn't a rival gang looking to settle a street dispute or a crew of thugs looking to steal Nathan's hardware.I watched the men on the lobby feed clear the security desk. They moved with absolute, terrifying discipline. They didn't cluster together. They kept a precise, five-meter spread between each man, ensuring a single burst of fire couldn't take down more than one. They checked their corners without having to speak. Their rifles stayed tucked tight to their shoulders, muzzles tracking where their eyes looked. They wore unmarked, high-end tactical gear that cost more than most people in th
CHAPTER 22: The Hunter Has Entered the City 1
I didn’t immediately close the feed. I couldn't.My hand rested heavily on the computer mouse, the cheap plastic warm against my palm, but my index finger refused to click the red 'X' in the corner of the window. The harsh glare of the monitor cut through the pitch-black darkness of my room, casting a pale, sickening light across my face. My eyes burned, dry and stinging from staring too long, but I didn't blink.The screen in front of me still showed the chaos completely unfolding inside Nathan Carter’s building.The security cameras were high-definition, offering a mercilessly clear view of the violence. Armed men were moving through the ground-floor lobby in total silence. I watched the heavy, black boots step over the shattered glass of the front entrance. Their flashlights swept left and right, cutting stark white cones through the dim, red glow of the building's emergency lights. The intruders moved with a terrifying fluidity, their long, distorted shadows stretching violently ac
CHAPTER 23: The Hunter Has Entered the City 2
There was a much longer pause this time. The cursor blinked ten times. Twelve times. I could practically feel her hesitation through the fiber-optic cables.Finally, her reply appeared.“…You’re smarter than I thought.”I chuckled softly. The sound was dry, completely devoid of any real humor.“It wasn’t that hard to figure out,” I muttered, thinking of the massive red target the system had painted on the map.But her next message made the smile completely vanish from my face.“Then you also know what that means.”I didn’t reply immediately. I took my hands off the keyboard and let them fall to my lap.Because yes.I did know.If Leon Kuroda had begun openly operating inside the city limits, burning down buildings just to make a point…Then the hunt had officially begun. There were no more safe zones.Before I could type a response, Monica sent another message.“You should leave.”I blinked, staring at the harsh white text.“Leave?” I typed back.“This city,” she replied instantly. “Wh
CHAPTER 24: When the Hunter Starts Smiling
The harsh, artificial white light of the system interface burned into my retinas, leaving dark, floating afterimages every time I blinked. My apartment felt heavy, the air thick with the metallic smell of overworked processor fans and my own stale, cold sweat.Leon Kuroda’s message still hovered in the dead center of the glass.I exhaled slowly. My breath hitched slightly in my chest, a quiet, ragged sound in the empty room."So this is the kind of player you are," I whispered. My voice sounded rough, scraped completely dry by adrenaline.Most hunters chased. They relied on panic. They wanted their prey exhausted, careless, and constantly looking over their shoulder. But Leon Kuroda? He planted his feet. He waited for the prey to bare its teeth and fight back. Which meant one terrifying thing.Leon wasn’t just confident. He was entertained.I leaned forward, the old springs in my chair whining in sharp protest, and dragged my fingers across the touch-sensitive edge of the desk. I expan
CHAPTER 25: He Found Me Faster Than I Expected
I didn’t panic.My heart didn’t hammer a frantic rhythm against my ribs, and my hands didn’t shake. I just stood perfectly still in the dead center of the penthouse, the thick soles of my boots planted heavily on the cold hardwood floor. The air conditioning hummed, pushing a stream of chilled, artificial air against the back of my neck.I didn't panic when the system displayed the massive, blood-red warning across my vision.I didn't panic when the red marker representing Leon Kuroda violently tore itself away from his location and began moving across the digital map.And I definitely didn’t panic when the distance between us started rapidly shrinking.I stood quietly, studying the chaotic mosaic of surveillance screens surrounding me. The pale, synthetic light washed over my face, illuminating the dark room.Distance: 5.8 kmThe number ticked down with a mechanical, merciless rhythm.5.5 km5.2 kmLeon wasn’t moving slowly. He wasn't navigating the dense urban sprawl like a normal pe
CHAPTER 26: The First Move Is Always Mine
My index finger hovered a fraction of an inch from the brushed steel of the elevator call button. I could feel the faint, mechanical vibration of the shaft humming through the metal panel, but I didn't press it.I turned my back on the heavy doors and looked over the array of glowing monitors.The black sedan had stopped perfectly at the curb directly below my building. It didn't screech to a halt; it glided into place like a shark sliding through dark water. And the figure standing beside the open door—Leon Kuroda—looked entirely untouchable. Through the high-resolution feed, I saw the rain sliding off the shoulders of his dark suit. I saw that faint, razor-thin smile. It wasn't a smile of greeting. It was the physical promise of chaos.I let out a slow, jagged breath. The air in the penthouse tasted like stale copper.I dragged my focus back to the center screen. The City Surveillance Network blinked insistently, casting a harsh, pale red glow across my face. Hundreds of tiny red dot
CHAPTER 27: Face to Face with Rank #7
The elevator doors slid apart with a soft, metallic whisper. I stepped out into the lower hall of the penthouse. The heavy soles of my boots sank into the thick carpet, swallowing the sound of my footsteps. It was entirely too quiet. The massive, open-concept floor felt like a tomb.The air conditioning hummed, blowing dry, recycled air across my face, but I could smell the faint, sharp scent of ozone and incoming rain from outside.I didn’t look at the expensive furniture or the sprawling layout of the room. My eyes were locked completely onto the translucent system interface projecting directly into my retinas.Distance: 0 kmI stopped walking. My pulse beat a slow, heavy rhythm against the sides of my throat. I wasn’t shaking. My hands hung loosely at my sides. Leon Kuroda was here. But the suffocating panic I had felt earlier was gone, burned away by a freezing, absolute focus. I had the system. I had the tools I bought. And more importantly, I had my own mind.The red dot on the d
CHAPTER 28: The Man Who Turned My City Against Me Part 1
Standing on the edge of the opposite balcony, separated by a deadly drop into the screaming traffic below, Leon Kuroda looked completely untouched. He wasn't bracing against the gale. His dark suit barely seemed to ripple. He stood there with his hands resting easily at his sides, looking out over the sprawling grid of the city like a man admiring a quiet painting, not a player standing on the edge of a warzone.I tasted stale copper in the back of my throat. I hated that kind of absolute, quiet confidence.It wasn’t a bluff. You can always spot a bluff in the shoulders, in the micro-tensions of the jaw. Leon had none. That loose-limbed relaxation meant he already believed, with absolute certainty, that he held every single card.The city lights stretched out endlessly beneath us, glowing like burning veins of gold in the dark. The rhythmic, steady flow of headlights and taillights pulsed through the concrete arteries. Normally, looking down at this grid gave me a rush of pure adrenali
CHAPTER 29: The Man Who Turned My City Against Me Part 2
Leon watched my reaction closely, his eyes tracking the micro-expressions of panic I was desperately trying to suppress."You’re talented," he said, and it sounded like a genuine compliment from a predator admiring a clever rat. "But you made a fatal mistake."I forced my arms to uncross, letting them hang loose, ready to move."Oh?"He pointed a single, long finger downward, gesturing to the crippled, darkened street below."Your entire strategy depends on absolute control."He lowered his hand and tapped his own temple lightly with two fingers."Mine depends on prediction."Before I could process the threat, the system map violently tore itself apart again. A massive chunk of the grid simply vanished.[Surveillance Feed Lost: Sector B]I gritted my teeth. Then another alert fired.[Sector C Offline]I exhaled slowly, trying to push the mounting terror out with my breath."Impressive."Leon smiled faintly."I thought you’d say that."For the first time since he arrived in my city, the
CHAPTER 30: The Moment He Proved Rank #7 Was Not a Title
Leon Kuroda jumped.For a split second, my brain flat-out refused to process the physics of what I was looking at. The gap of empty air separating our two buildings wasn’t small. It was easily fifteen meters wide, a sheer drop of dozens of floors into the concrete grid below. Even with maximum momentum, even with a flawless running start, a jump like that should have been physically impossible. Gravity should have dragged him down like a stone.But Leon didn’t hesitate.The moment the sole of his polished shoe pushed off the freezing iron railing, his body cut through the night air like a fired bullet.The wind exploded between the buildings, a physical shockwave of displaced pressure that whipped my hair across my eyes.And suddenly—He was right in front of me.My survival instincts kicked in before my conscious thought did. I stepped backward, the heavy rubber heels of my boots scraping harshly against the wet concrete of my balcony. My right hand was already swiping frantically acr