After Being Humiliated, I Awaken An Infinite Spending System

2

He flew back and hit the hard stone floor. He tried to get up, but a heavy combat boot kicked him in the stomach.

All the air immediately left his lungs but the bodyguards did not hold back. They kicked his ribs, stepped on his legs and punched his face.

Every blow brought him pure agony. He tasted thick, warm blood and curled into a ball, totally helpless.

Through the blur of his swollen eyes, he saw Julian open the car door and Chloe stepped into the Bugatti. She did not look back at Caleb, not even once.

The engine roared and the car zoomed off. Its massive tires splashed dirty water all over Caleb's broken, bleeding body.

The rich students walked away, shaking their heads in disgust while the bodyguards left him on the cold pavement.

Hours passed.

Caleb woke up and saw that the bodyguards had dragged him into a pitch-black, dirty alley filled with trash bags.

The rain was still falling... it washed the blood down his swollen face.

He tried to move, but his body screamed in pain. He coughed violently and spit out a mouthful of blood onto the dirty ground.

He lay there in the garbage, staring up at the black sky.

His heart burned with a dark, unprecedented hatred.

He hated his ex for her cruel betrayal, hated the heir for his untouchable power and hated this sick reality... a world where the rich could step on the poor like bugs.

Caleb forced his bleeding hand into a fist and punched the cold, wet ground.

"If I survive this..." Caleb whispered. His voice was broken but full of deadly intent. "I swear... I will make you both pay in tenfold."

[PING!]

[Host's despair and hatred have reached maximum thresholds. Criteria met.]

Caleb froze.

A cold, mechanical, robotic voice echoed directly inside his mind. It pierced the silence of the alley.

Suddenly, a glowing blue holographic screen materialized before his eyes.

[Binding complete. Negative Emotion Spending System Activated.]

[Initial Funds Granted: $100,000,000.]

[Note: Funds are to be spent exclusively on generating negative emotions in your enemies.]

Caleb blinked past the mix of blood and rain stinging his eyes.

He stared wildly at the floating blue screen in front of his face. The soft blue light chased away the deep darkness of the dirty alley, illuminating the piles of wet garbage around him.

"Am I dead?" he muttered.

His voice cracked... it sounded weak, hoarse and broken. "Is this what happens right before you kick the bucket? Great, I am hallucinating."

He closed his eyes tightly, shaking his head to clear the vision. But when he opened them again, the screen was still there, hovering perfectly still in the freezing air.

The cold, mechanical voice rang in his mind again. It was totally indifferent to his physical panic and confusion.

[Host is fully conscious. Cognitive functions are normal.]

[Negative Emotion Spending System has successfully bound to the Host.]

Caleb groaned and pushed himself up with trembling arms.

His back scraped against the damp, rough brick wall of the alley. Every single muscle in his body screamed in pure agony, but he could not look away from the glowing screen.

Suddenly, the text on the screen changed. It began to scroll rapidly, detailing the rules of his new reality.

[Scanning Host's past behavior...]

[Scan Complete.]

[Evaluation: Pathetic.]

Caleb froze. "Did a hallucination just insult me?"

The robotic voice continued, and this time, it sounded almost mocking.

[Host has spent four years acting like a doormat. You believed that hard work, loyalty and kindness would be rewarded. Error. That philosophy is a complete garbage.]

The system text flashed a bright, piercing yellow right before his eyes.

[Host is too good, too naive and too weak. Your kindness resulted in extreme poverty, a broken nose, and public humiliation. You starved so she could eat luxury meals. You slept in filth so she could live in a nice dorm. The System will now force you to stop being a pathetic saint.]

Caleb clenched his jaw so hard it throbbed. He looked down at his grease-stained fingers. He wanted to argue, but he couldn't. Even the mysterious voice in his head knew he had been an absolute fool.

The blue screen shifted back to its normal color, typing out new lines of code.

[The Daily Allowance: A staggering $100,000,000 will be deposited into the Host's bank account every single day at midnight.]

Caleb stared at the number, his brain stalling out. "One hundred million dollars... a day?!"

[The Catch: Funds cannot be spent on ordinary, quiet luxury. You cannot hide in a private mansion and live a peaceful, quiet life.]

[Every dollar spent ONLY counts toward the system's quota if it directly provokes a negative emotion in others.]

[Target Emotions: Envy, Rage, Shock, Regret or Utter Humiliation.]

Caleb scoffed and wiped the dirty rainwater from his bruised face, leaving a smear of dark blood across his cheek.

"A hundred million? Right," he laughed bitterly, coughing immediately after. "I am the King of England. I just got beaten half to death... my brain is definitely broken."

[BZZZ! BZZZ!]

Suddenly, his pants pocket vibrated violently against his thigh.

Caleb flinched from the sudden movement. He reached into his wet pocket with a shaking, bloody hand and pulled out his old, cracked smartphone.

The screen lit up the dark alley, the bright display showing a new text alert. It was a formal notification from his banking app.

Caleb squinted through the spider-web cracks on the glass, trying to read the tiny text. Then, his breath hitched completely in his throat.

[Notification: Your account ending in 4932 has received a deposit of $100,000,000.00.]

[Current Balance: $100,000,014.23.]

His eyes traced the endless string of zeros on the tiny display. He counted them once... then twice... then a third time.

His heart hammered wildly against his ribs like a trapped animal.

Fourteen dollars and twenty-three cents. That was exactly how much money he had left to his name after buying that orange Hermes bag. That number was completely accurate.

"That number was real," Caleb whispered, his voice trembling in the dark. "Which meant... the one hundred million is real too."

His hands started to shake so violently he almost dropped the phone into a puddle.

He is rich. He is not just rich... he now held the kind of absurd wealth that could rival the biggest and oldest commercial families in the city.

Before the deep shock could even fully settle in his mind, the floating blue screen flashed a vibrant, warning crimson.

[WARNING: Initial Missions Generated.]

[Failure to complete missions within 24 hours will result in an immediate, permanent Account Freeze and System Unbinding.]