Crypto Lord: The Digital Dominion System

Chapter 6: The Loan Shark’s Return

The night air in the city was heavy with rain. Water dripped from the rusted pipes above the alley, each drop echoed like a ticking clock. Ethan walked with his hood pulled low. His cheap sneakers soaked from the puddles. He carried no bag, no umbrella and no weapon. It was just a dying phone in his pocket, still buzzing faintly with the glow of the Digital Dominion System interface.

For the first time since his mother’s death, he had hope. He had completed his first quest. He had turned one dollar into one thousand. He had tasted victory.

But fate wasn’t done testing him.

From the shadow of a broken lamppost, a deep voice growled.

“Well, well… look who’s crawling the streets like a rat.”

Ethan froze. He knew that voice.

Victor Kane stepped out, flanked by four thick-set men with shaved heads and fists like sledgehammers. The alley closed in around Ethan as the men spread out, boxing him in.

Victor lit a cigar, the flame illuminating his scarred jaw. He took a slow drag, then exhaled the smoke into Ethan’s face.

“You think you can hide from me, Cross? You owe me money. With interest. You thought I would forget?”

Ethan clenched his jaw. Memories flooded back, his desperate attempt to borrow from Victor and the sneering laughter when he had promised he would pay it back once his ideas took off. Victor hadn’t believed him then, and he sure as hell didn’t believe him now.

“I told you,” Victor said, shoving a finger against Ethan’s chest, “I don’t loan to dreamers. I loan to men who can pay. And you, boy, are still a beggar.”

The thugs chuckled darkly, closing the circle tighter. One cracked his knuckles. Another swung a chain lazily. Ethan’s pulse raced. He was outnumbered, unarmed, and one wrong move away from a hospital bed or worse.

Then it happened.

He felt a sharp ding inside his head. The System activated.

“Hidden Quest Triggered!

Crush Victor Kane.

Reward: Influence Points + Access to Black Market Exchange.

Penalty: Lose all trading privileges for one week.”

Ethan’s breath caught. This wasn’t random. The System was giving him a chance. The opportunity to fight back, not with fists, but with the weapon he was building and that was his mind.

Victor’s smug grin widened as he flicked ash onto Ethan’s hoodie.

“You’ve got three choices, Cross. Pay what you owe, work for me as my errand boy… or I break your legs and leave you here for the rats.”

Ethan’s mind raced. He had no money to hand over. He would never work for Kane. That left one option, play the System’s game.

His lips curled into a calm, almost mocking smile.

“You know, Victor, you’ve been looking at me all wrong. I don’t need to pay you back… I can make you richer than you’ve ever been.”

Victor barked out a harsh laugh. “Richer? You? You couldn’t scrape together bus fare. Don’t insult me.”

“No insult,” Ethan said evenly. “An opportunity. A coin is about to skyrocket. I have insider access to a pump no one else knows about. I was going to keep it to myself, but maybe I’ll let you in.”

Victor squinted, suspicious. The thugs exchanged glances. One sneered, “Boss, he’s full of it.”

But greed was Victor’s weakness and his obsession. The idea of doubling and tripling his cash in hours was a poison that slipped into his veins. He stepped closer, gripping Ethan’s collar. “You had better not be lying. What coin?”

Ethan forced his voice steady even though his stomach twisted.

“It’s called TitaniumX. Tiny project. Nobody cares about it. But tonight, whales are lining up to pump it. I can get you in before it spikes.”

The System’s interface flickered before Ethan’s eyes, offering calculations, probabilities, and projected graphs. It was true that TitaniumX was a worthless coin, prone to small surges from hype. But with Scalper-X and the System’s tools, Ethan could manipulate the flow.

Victor released him with his eyes glittering. “Show me.”

The thugs dragged Ethan to a rundown internet café at the corner. Inside, the neon lights buzzed as cracked monitors blinked awake. Victor slammed a wad of cash onto the counter, barking, “Set up the accounts now.”

Minutes later, they were inside the exchange platform. Victor hunched over Ethan’s shoulder with the cigar smoke curling around them.

“You have got one hour. If this coin doesn’t move, you’re dead.”

Ethan’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Sweat beaded his forehead. His heart pounded with every click and every confirmation. The System whispered strategies into his mind like a digital mentor. Scalper-X highlighted trades in real-time, guiding him to buy into TitaniumX with Victor’s funds while simultaneously preparing sell orders at the perfect peaks.

The price began to twitch upward, “2%. 5%. 8%.”

Victor’s eyes widened. His greedy grin stretched across his face.

“Ha! It’s working! You little rat, maybe you’re good for something after all.”

But Ethan wasn’t smiling. He was waiting. Timing and positioning. The pump built to a frenzy. The numbers climbed faster by 15%,  25% and 40%.

Victor slammed his fists on the table, laughing wildly. “Double it! Put everything in! We’re about to be rich!”

The thugs cheered, crowding behind him. They didn’t see Ethan’s subtle keystrokes. They didn’t notice him selling off his secret stash and dumping TitaniumX at its artificial peak while Victor poured in more and more cash.

Then, the crash.

The green candle on the chart reversed into a blood-red plunge. TitaniumX nosedived, erasing gains in seconds. Victor’s laughter cut off in a strangled shout.

“What the hell!? No! NO!”

Ethan leaned back with his face calm, almost serene. His wallet balance glowed with profits while Victor’s account bled to zero. The System chimed again:

“Quest Completed!

Reward is +500 Influence Points.

Black Market Exchange unlocked.

Victor’s face twisted into rage. He grabbed Ethan by the shirt, “You tricked me! You set me up!”

Ethan’s eyes burned with defiance.

“No, Victor. You set yourself up. You were too blinded by greed to see the trap.”

The thugs shifted uncertainly. Their boss had just lost everything in a single play. The invincible loan shark had been gutted in front of them by the very man he called a rat.

Victor roared and swung a fist, but Ethan ducked, rolling away. He scrambled toward the exit, the System urging him to flee. The thugs didn’t chase. They just stared at Victor, bankrupt, humiliated and now powerless.

As Ethan burst out into the rainy street, his chest heaved aggressively. His phone buzzed, and the System displayed a new interface, Black Market Exchange Unlocked. Hidden coins, shadow trades, backdoor deals are all now within his reach.

He wiped rain from his face and whispered, “The tables have turned.”

Behind him, in that dingy café, Victor howled like a broken animal. His empire had cracked in one night right in his face and the boy he had dismissed as worthless had destroyed him without throwing a single punch.