2025-09-09 04:50:16The room glowed with the shifting light of a dozen monitors, each one displaying candlestick charts, trading forums, and news tickers. Damien Holt sat forward in his leather chair. His sharp jaw set as his gaze burned into the largest screen mounted on the wall.
A replay of last night’s viral video filled the display. “The Phantom Trader.” He muttered. The anonymous contender who had entered a trading contest with mere scraps of capital and flipped it into fifty thousand dollars before the world’s eyes. The replay showed every insane call, every perfectly timed exit, and that final suicidal 100x leverage strike that should have liquidated any sane trader. Instead, it had crowned Phantom Trader as champion. The crowd’s online reaction scrolled like wildfire across the feed. He started a reply of the chats, “Phantom Trader is a monster!” “This guy reads the market like he built it himself!” “Who IS he?!” Damien’s hands tightened around the edge of his desk. ‘That style… those trades… the rhythm of each execution…it feels familiar.’ He commented softly. He leaned forward, rewinding the replay at the exact moment the Phantom Trader launched the 100x strike. His own mind, honed by years of manipulation and backed by a team of analysts, replayed the movements. The hesitation, the sudden pivot and the precise patience. Damien whispered, “That… looks like Ethan Cross.” …………. … ……… “Ethan?” The voice came from behind. Clara was dressed in an expensive silk dress that shimmered in the glow of the screens as she leaned lazily against the doorframe. A wine glass dangled from her manicured fingers. Her lips curled into a mocking smile. “You can’t be serious.” She let out a small laugh with her eyes glittering with disdain. “Ethan’s broke, Damien. He is homeless, the last I checked. You really think that loser could turn a few hundred dollars into fifty thousand in front of the whole world?” Damien didn’t respond. His jaw clenched. Clara sauntered over. Her heels clicked against the marble floor, and perched herself on his desk. She crossed her legs, swirling the wine in her glass. “You are giving him too much credit. Ethan’s a dreamer. He always was and always will be. That’s why I left him. He’ll never rise above his fantasies.” Damien’s eyes stayed locked on the screen with the Phantom Trader’s mask flickered across it. Clara reached out and touched his shoulder. “Forget it Ethan. You’re the king now. HoltPay is everywhere. Investors worship you. Why waste your time worrying about a ghost trader who’ll disappear in a week?” But Damien’s instincts screamed otherwise. He slammed his hand on the desk, making Clara jump. “You don’t understand.” His voice was low and very dangerous. “I know Ethan. I studied him for years. His patterns, his stubbornness and the way he thinks when the odds are against him. Look at this trade.” He pointed to the replay, freezing it at the instant Phantom Trader’s position hung on the edge of liquidation. “Any normal trader would have panicked. Would have bailed early or lost everything. But Phantom Trader held. He waited. Just like Ethan always did.” Clara rolled her eyes. “Or maybe he’s just another reckless gambler who got lucky. Markets spit out one-hit wonders all the time. Why obsess over this?” Damien turned his gaze on her. It was sharp and cutting. “Because if it’s Ethan… then he’s not finished. And if he’s not finished, then he’s coming for me.” The silence between them was tense and broken only by the hum of the monitors. Clara looked away first, sipping her wine. “You’re paranoid,” she muttered. “But fine. Do what you want.” Damien already was. He snapped his fingers. Two men in dark suits entered the room immediately. Both of them carried encrypted tablets. Damien didn’t even look at them as he spoke. “Find Phantom Trader. I don’t care if he’s hiding behind a hundred proxies or using the darknet. Trace the trades, dissect the wallet flows and rip apart the contest’s data logs. I want his IP, his device ID, and even everything you can find.” The men nodded sharply. “Yes, Mr. Holt.” Damien’s eyes narrowed as he leaned back in his chair. His voice dropped to a cold whisper. “If Phantom Trader really is Ethan Cross… I’ll bury him before he takes his first breath of fame.” The monitors flickered, replaying the contest one more time. Phantom Trader’s final winning trade filled the screen, and Damien’s reflection in the glass looked like a predator scenting blood. Meanwhile, across the city, Ethan sat hunched over in the dark of a run-down café. The cracked screen of his phone illuminated his face. The system’s interface shimmered in the air. His heart was still hammering from the contest, but his victory hadn’t cooled into comfort. If anything, the weight pressing on his chest had grown heavier. Because he knew this was just the beginning. “System Notification! Main Quest Activated. Objective: Earn your first $1,000,000 within 90 days. Current Capital: $50,000. Time Limit: 89 days, 23 hours, 41 minutes. Penalty for Failure: System Lockout for 3 years.” The glowing countdown timer made his stomach twist. “In ninety days. One million dollars and no safety nets.” He murmured but clenched his fists. “This isn’t just about money,” he muttered under his breath. His reflection in the darkened café window looked older and harder than the delivery boy he once was. “This is about Damien. About Clara. About every single person who spat on me, who called me useless. You stole everything from me.” The system pulsed again. “System Prompt! Recommendation: Begin capital expansion phase immediately. Suggested Pathways: Leverage trading competitions, short-term arbitrage on high-volume tokens and exploit insider whale wallets with tracking features enabled.” Ethan’s eyes hardened. “Good. Feed me everything. Every chart, every whisper, every hidden move in the market. I’ll take HoltPay down to the ground.” The café’s old led sign flickered outside, bathing the window in ghostly red light. Ethan raised his fist slowly, gripping the air as if he could crush Damien’s empire in his hand. “I swear…” His voice was sharp and deadly. “Damien Holt. Clara Voss. I will destroy you both. And when I’m finished, the world will remember the name Phantom Trader.” The system’s final notification for the night rang in his ears like a war drum. “System alert! Mission Path: Vengeance Integrated. Status: Beginning the Rise of a Sovereign.” The glow of the countdown clock ticked in the air: 89 days… 23 hours… 39 minutes…
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Chapter 10: First Counterattack
The brightness of Ethan’s monitors made the dark apartment glow with blues and greens candles. Charts went across multiple screens with red and green candles battling for dominance. His heartbeat raced against his chest but he remained steady but alert. The Phantom Trader had become a name talked about across online forums. Every move he made seemed to draw more attention.Tonight, the market felt… wrong.“System,” Ethan muttered, leaning closer to the screen, “give me a full scan. Something’s off.”A crisp chime rang in his ears.“System Alert: Market Manipulation DetectedStatus: Unnatural pump signals forming.Estimated origin: Coordinated wallets.”Ethan’s jaw tightened. Someone was laying bait.Across the city, in the gleaming Holt Capital skyscraper, Damien Holt stood behind his analysts. His sharp suit glistened in the fluorescent light, and his cold eyes locked onto the live feed of trading activity.“Is the trap set?” he asked without turning.One of the analysts, a pale y
Chapter 9: Whispers in the Market
The glow of multiple monitors filled Ethan’s small apartment. The show on his face in shifting streams of green and red candlesticks. The sound of his outdated computer blended with the steady sound of his own heartbeat. He had barely slept since his last victory, but fatigue wasn’t an option. The market never stopped moving, and neither could he.“System Notification! Daily Trading Session Activated. Preparing system modules… New Feature Unlocked: Whale Watcher.”Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “Whale Watcher? What’s that supposed to mean?”The interface of the system flickered, opening a sleek new panel at the side of his dashboard. Pulsing dots appeared across the blockchain map and each tagged with wallet IDs and transaction histories.“System Explanation! Whale Watcher is a predictive tracking module. It scans wallets holding more than $100M in assets, analyzing patterns of movement, trade intent, and hidden signals. When a whale buys or sells, you will be alerted seconds before the tran
Chapter 8: The Enemy Notices
The room glowed with the shifting light of a dozen monitors, each one displaying candlestick charts, trading forums, and news tickers. Damien Holt sat forward in his leather chair. His sharp jaw set as his gaze burned into the largest screen mounted on the wall.A replay of last night’s viral video filled the display.“The Phantom Trader.” He muttered. The anonymous contender who had entered a trading contest with mere scraps of capital and flipped it into fifty thousand dollars before the world’s eyes.The replay showed every insane call, every perfectly timed exit, and that final suicidal 100x leverage strike that should have liquidated any sane trader. Instead, it had crowned Phantom Trader as champion.The crowd’s online reaction scrolled like wildfire across the feed.He started a reply of the chats,“Phantom Trader is a monster!”“This guy reads the market like he built it himself!”“Who IS he?!”Damien’s hands tightened around the edge of his desk. ‘That style… those trades… t
Chapter 7: Rise of the Phantom Trader
The glow of Ethan’s cracked phone lit up his face as he stared at the system’s new prompt.“System Notification! New Optional Path Unlocked: Public Arena Trading Competitions.Recommended for Host: Ethan Cross.Warning: Risk of humiliation is high. Success yields exponential influence.”His pulse quickened. He had just clawed his way out of Victor Kane’s trap and the adrenaline still hadn’t left his bloodstream. He could feel his hands trembling, not from fear, but from the anticipation of finally stepping onto a stage where others would be forced to watch.“Phantom Trader…” he whispered, testing the name on his lips. A figure that no one could link back to Ethan Cross, the homeless delivery boy everyone laughed at.The system pulsed with approval.“System Prompt!Identity Module Activated.Codename: Phantom Trader.Masking protocol initiated. Digital footprint scrubbed.”His screen distorted, glitching for a second before reforming into a new interface. A dark, minimalist holographic
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
Chapter 5: First Blood in the Market
Ethan Cross sat hunched over a dimly lit screen inside the dingy corner of a rundown internet café. His heart pounded so loudly that it drowned out the sound of old computers and the faint smell of burnt coffee in the air. His stomach growled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since yesterday, but he shoved the hunger aside.The Digital Dominion System’s notification still glowed in his mind like a firebrand,“Mission: Turn $1 into $1,000 within 24 hours.Penalty: Permanent ban from all trading systems.Reward: Beginner AI Bot – Scalper-X.”Twenty-four hours with only one chance and no safety net.“This is insane,” Ethan muttered, gripping his hair. “One wrong move and I’m finished… but if I pull this off that means I am made.” He glanced at the glowing words again. “I’ll prove I’m not a failure to my father and to everyone.”The countdown timer ticked mercilessly, “23:41:16.”Ethan inhaled deeply, steadying his shaking hands as he scanned the exchanges. The system’s tutorials had been bl
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