All Chapters of NEXUS TRIAL: The Rise of Liam Parker: Chapter 71
- Chapter 80
92 chapters
Chapter 71: The Return
Chapter 71: The Return Liam materialized in the exact spot where he’d first left Earth - the plaza near the abandoned warehouse. It was 3 AM. According to his phone, only 72 hours had passed since he’d vanished, though he’d experienced weeks of trials. His wristband had transformed into an elegant watch that displayed his permanent enhancements when he focused on it. His stats were locked at their final values: - Perception: 45 - Intelligence: 44 - Constitution: 14 - Agility: 30 - Strength: 24 The Predictive Analysis skill remained, as did all his enhanced capabilities. A notification appeared on the watch: “$100,000,000,000,000 deposited in account. Aging reduced to 1/10 normal rate. Welcome home, Liam Parker.” He checked his phone. Forty-seven missed calls from his mother. Twelve voicemails. Dozens of increasingly desperate texts. With shaking hands, Liam called her. “Mom? Mom, I’m okay. I’m coming home. I’m so sorry I scared you.” Alice’s sob of relief nearly broke him
Chapter 72: The First Lie
Chapter 72: The First Lie They sat together on the narrow bed while Liam prepared to deliver the lie that would shape their relationship for years to come, his enhanced Perception picking up every micro-expression that would tell him whether she was accepting his story or becoming more suspicious. His hands were steady despite the weight of what he was about to do, and his voice remained calm and measured as he spoke the carefully constructed fiction. “Three days ago I was approached by recruiters from a classified government program,” Liam began while watching his mother’s eyes for signs of disbelief. “They’ve been monitoring exceptional students for potential recruitment into special training initiatives, and apparently I qualified based on my academic performance and some psychological assessments they conducted without my knowledge. They made me an offer that seemed insane but the money was real and we needed it desperately after everything with Uncle Collins.” Alice stared at
Chapter 73: The First Lie II
Chapter 73: The First Lie II“I need to tell you about the money situation,” Liam said after they finally released each other. “The signing bonus is two million dollars and it’s going to be deposited within twenty-four hours. I want to use it to get us out of this shelter immediately and set up a proper living situation where you never have to worry about rent or utilities or any of the financial stress that’s been crushing us since Dad died.”“Two million dollars,” Alice repeated like she was testing whether the words would dissolve if spoken aloud. “Liam, that’s more money than our entire extended family has earned in generations combined. That’s enough to buy a house outright and still have money left over for college and retirement and everything else. Are you absolutely certain this is legitimate? Because if you’ve gotten involved with something illegal I need to know now before we accept money that could destroy both our lives.”“It’s completely legi
Chapter 74: A Trillion Reasons
Chapter 74: A Trillion ReasonsThey left the shelter just before dawn.The sky had begun to lighten at the edges, the city transitioning from night to morning with reluctant grace. Liam carried their few bags without effort, his steps measured, his awareness spread wide. He guided her away from broken sidewalks and dim alleys without ever appearing to look, subtly steering them along safer routes.They didn’t go back to his uncle’s house. Instead, Liam booked a hotel room less than ten minutes later, paid upfront, and watched Alice stare at the confirmation email on his phone like it might evaporate. She didn’t argue.Once inside the room, Alice sat on the edge of the bed, exhaustion finally claiming her. Liam watched as she kicked off her shoes and lay down fully clothed, her hand still gripping the sleeve of his jacket until sleep pulled her under.He stood there for a long moment, listening to her breathing even out. Then he sat in the chair by the window and
Chapter 75: The First Moves
Chapter 75: The First MovesThe next morning came at 4 AM when Liam’s eyes opened without needing an alarm, his enhanced Constitution requiring less sleep than normal humans while his mind remained sharp and alert despite only three hours of rest.His mother was a still and exhausted shape under the hotel blankets, and Liam watched the steady rise and fall of her shoulders through his enhanced Perception that let him see her heartbeat and breathing patterns with perfect clarity.She was safe for now, dreaming peacefully for the first time in months, and he decided to let her sleep while he handled business that would be easier to conduct alone.He dressed in silence and pulled on his hoodie, moving through the dim hotel room with careful steps that made no sound despite the creaky floors.He slipped out of the room and into the cold morning air that felt crisp against his skin, and the city spread before him like a grid of data that his I
Chapter 76: The First Moves II
Chapter 76: The First Moves IILiam spent the next hour setting up their new life with a methodical efficiency that his enhanced Intelligence made almost trivial.He drove toward the property management office where he had scheduled an early morning appointment.He parked the Centurion in their lot and watched through his enhanced Perception as employees arriving for work stopped and stared at the hypercar that was worth more than their annual salaries combined.He did not want to waste time with banks or traditional lenders. He did not wait for approval. He used the Nexus Card to buy a modest three-bedroom house in a good neighborhood for four hundred twenty-five thousand dollars. He paid the full amount in cash.The transaction processed in seconds. The realtor was a man named Miller who had spent thirty years selling property. He stared at the seventeen-year-old boy in a worn hoodie with a mix of shock and professional suspicion. The Nexus
Chapter 77: Building a New Life
Chapter 77: Building a New LifeThe house smelled like fresh paint and new carpets when Liam opened the front door for the first time as the actual owner.Alice stood behind him on the porch with tears already streaming down her face before she had even stepped inside.“Go ahead,” Liam said while gesturing toward the open doorway. “It’s yours. Our home. Nobody can take this away from us.”Alice walked through slowly like she was afraid the house might disappear if she moved too quickly, her fingers trailing along walls that belonged to them now rather than to some landlord who could evict them on a whim.She stopped in the middle of the empty living room and turned in a slow circle, taking in the space that was larger than anywhere they had lived since before Liam’s father died.The afternoon sunlight streaming through the windows made everything look golden and perfect and almost unreal.“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up in that shelter,” Alice said
Chapter 78: Building a New Life II
Chapter 78: Building a New Life IILiam spent the next hour researching painting classes and European tours and cooking schools, using his Nexus Card to register his mother for courses that started within the next month.Alice protested weakly about the costs but her protests grew less convincing as she saw actual registration confirmations appearing in her email inbox, tangible proof that dreams could become plans when money stopped being the limiting factor.“I also need to set up your monthly stipend,” Liam explained while pulling up banking information. “I’m thinking twenty thousand a month deposited directly into your personal account. That should cover any expenses you have plus give you plenty of discretionary spending for courses or hobbies or whatever you want without needing to ask me for money constantly.”“Twenty thousand a month?” Alice repeated like she was testing whether the words would explode if spoken aloud. “Liam, that’s more than I made in an ent
Chapter 79: The Stone Wall
Chapter 79: The Stone WallLiam had spent the first two days back settling his mother into their new life, but Noah’s final words haunted him every moment with the kind of persistence that enhanced memory made impossible to escape. ‘Promise me you’ll find Emily.’On the third morning he sat at the empty living room with the Nexus Watch on his wrist and the Card in his pocket and the full weight of a promise pressing down on him with more force than anything the trials had thrown at him.The trials had enemies he could see and obstacles he could calculate and odds his Intelligence could process into actionable strategies, while a promise made to a dying boy operated on entirely different logic that no stat distribution could simplify.Today was the first time he thoroughly inspected the watch after leaving the nexus. It seemed like an ordinary digital watch, but it was much more than that.He focused on the watch the way he had learned to
Chapter 80: The Stone Wall II
Chapter 80: The Stone Wall II“I’m a friend of her brother’s,” Liam said while his enhanced Perception caught the micro-expression that crossed her face at the mention of Noah, a flicker of recognition that confirmed she knew exactly which case he was referring to before he provided any additional information. “Noah Carter asked me to check on her before he died.”Carol’s fingers stopped moving on her keyboard. “Noah Carter is listed as missing. Not deceased.”“He’s dead,” Liam said flatly, because there was no version of this conversation that benefited from softening that fact. “I was with him when it happened and his last words were about Emily and he asked me to make sure she was okay.”“I’m sorry for your loss,” Carol said in the mechanical tone of someone delivering a scripted response rather than expressing genuine sympathy. “But that doesn’t change the policy. Without legal guardianship or a court order you cannot see Emily Carter. And you