Rain hammered the campus like it had a grudge against everything below. Students ran from buildings, dodging puddles that turned sidewalks into traps. Adam stood under a leaky awning, his cheap sneakers already soaked through. He checked his watch again, the cracked screen barely readable. Five minutes late. Olivia should be here by now.A group of guys jogged past, laughing about some party. One bumped Adam's shoulder hard enough to knock him back a step. "Watch it, tubby," the guy snarled without looking back. Adam swallowed the lump in his throat and stared at the ground. He pulled his jacket tighter, but it did nothing to hide the way his belly strained against the zipper.Then he heard her voice cutting through the downpour. Olivia dashed toward the overhang, her cheerleader skirt plastered to her legs, arms shielding her perfect hair. Adam stepped out, yanking off his jacket to hold it over her head like a shield. Water streamed down his face, but he grinned anyway. "Hey, I was

​Adam cleared his throat. That trillion-dollar felt like a fever dream buzzing in his veins. Still, questions gnawed at him. He hurried back into the restroom stall to find some privacy."Won't you want me to return the money or pay you back? Are there disadvantages to spending it? Do I need to stay in this restroom to contact you?" He fired them off, his voice echoing a bit too loud off the tiled walls.The response came right away.[You are bound by the Supreme God of Wealth System; there's no need to physically move to connect or ask questions.][The Supreme God of Wealth System offers significant benefits to the Host. There will be no repayment of rewards or negative consequences for spending your rewards.]A rectangular box popped into his vision, letters floating like they were etched in the air.[Level: 1][Completed quests: 0][Strength: 0][Special abilities: 0][Physique: Poor][Societal status: Poor][Wealth points: 5][You successfully saved Mrs. Carter, which rewards you

The pounding on the door wasn't just wood on wood; it was the sound of Adam’s old life trying to drag him back into the dirt. He stood in the center of the $200,000-a-night suite, the blue and red strobe lights of the police cruisers below dancing like ghosts on the ceiling.[New quest incoming: Escape the setup.][Time remaining: 00:04:15]Adam looked at the balcony, then back at the door. If he jumped onto that maintenance rig, he was admitting he was a thief. He’d be a fugitive before he even had a chance to buy a decent pair of shoes. He looked at the massive 8K screen on the wall, where a local gossip stream was playing a loop of him standing at the check-in desk. The camera had been tucked into the lapel of the second receptionist; a hidden vlog camera she used to farm drama for her followers. The caption read: “Cringe Alert: Watch this slob try to bypass VIP security with a ghost-fingerprint.”The comments section was a sewer. “He looks like he smells like sour milk.”“Arrest

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, revealing the wide marble floor of the lobby.It felt entirely different now; the last time Adam had been here, he was a desperate man rushing against a system countdown. Now, he viewed the lobby not with awe, but with the cold eyes of a man who could buy the entire building.The morning shift was in full swing, and the air smelled of expensive lilies and floor wax.Adam stepped out, his posture naturally upright. The tailored shirt Sophia had brought him felt like a second skin, the high-quality fabric moving with him instead of bunching up like his old clothes used to. When he walked across the floor, he noticed a shift in the environment. The bellhops and desk clerks, people who would usually look right through someone like the old Adam, were now tracking his movement. They didn't see a struggling student. They saw a high-value guest whose very presence demanded a cleared path.Sophia was waiting near the grand entrance, clutching a s

The lecture hall stayed quiet for the next forty minutes. Professor Halloway tried to keep his cool, but his voice was shaky. He kept glancing at the front row, where Adam sat perfectly still in his charcoal suit. The whole room felt different; the social ladder everyone had climbed for years had been kicked over in a single moment.Adam didn't take notes. He didn't have to. With the Eye of the Investor active, the math Halloway scribbled on the whiteboard looked like a joke. Adam could see the flaws in the formulas. They didn't account for the kind of brutal power a trillion dollars could bring. To Adam, this wasn't a lesson anymore; it was proof that he had moved far beyond this room.Behind him, the tension was thick. He could hear Charles’s fingers tapping rapidly against a mahogany desk. Every few minutes, Charles let out a sharp, ragged breath. The boy who had spent his life looking down on people was suddenly finding it hard to breathe.Olivia was worse. Adam could feel her sta