Infinite Wealth: Revenge of the Lost Heir

CHAPTER 3: THE DEATH OF THE HEIR AND THE FIRST STEP OF THE GHOST

Morning in the lower district of New York always began with the noisy roar of the subway and plumes of smoke rising from the cracks in the streets. Inside Chloe's studio apartment, however, the silence felt suffocating. Julian Vance, who was now using the alias Ian, sat quietly in front of Chloe's old laptop. His fingers, which were moving deftly over the keyboard, suddenly halted when a browser window displayed the main page of the New York Post cyber news.

A massive headline in bold red letters immediately struck his retinas.

"VACATION TRAGEDY: VANCE CORPORATION HEIR DECLARED DEAD IN LONG ISLAND CAR ACCIDENT"

Julian clicked on the news. There, a live broadcast video displayed the charred, unrecognisable wreckage of his black sports car at the bottom of a steep cliff. The reporter, with a tone of voice engineered for condolence, began speaking in front of the camera.

"The evacuation of the young billionaire's body, Julian Vance, has been declared impossible due to the extreme terrain conditions and a one-hundred-percent vehicle damage rate resulting from a massive explosion. Local authorities suspect a mechanical failure in the braking system..."

The screen then shifted to display an official press conference from the Vance family's main residence. Arthur Vance, his biological father, stood at the podium in a formal black suit. The old man appeared to wipe the corner of his eye with a handkerchief, pretending to be fragile in front of dozens of journalists' camera flashes. Beside him, Valerie put on a theatrical face of grief, while Ryan wrapped his arm around the shoulders of Amber Miller, who was acting by sobbing uncontrollably like the most devastated fiancée in the world.

Julian did not scream. He no longer raged like that hellish night. The surge of cold energy from the System seemed to freeze all of his fragile emotions, leaving behind a pair of eyeballs that stared at the screen with ice-cold intensity.

"Incredible actors," Julian whispered, a terrifying thin smirk carved at the corner of his lips. "Weep while you still can, Arthur. Because when I return, I will ensure your fake tears turn into blood."

Julian closed the news window. Their mourning period was his greatest tactical advantage. In the eyes of the world, Julian Vance had turned to ash. He was now a ghost, and a ghost could strike from any blind spot without ever being detected.

His focus returned to the digital number of $50,000.00 blinking in his anonymous account. Activating the God-Level Stock Market Analysis capability, Julian began breaking down that capital into hundreds of micro-transactions on Wall Street. Using multi-layered encryption from the System that could not be traced even by the FBI's cyber division, Julian began to eat away at the short-term stock market. His first target was a logistics company that was the primary distribution partner of the Vance Corporation.

His fingers danced with abnormal speed. He bought at the lowest point, manipulated the trading volume within minutes, and sold exactly one second before the chart reversed direction. To the stockbrokers on Wall Street, this anonymous movement was like the attack of an invisible predator.

In just four hours, the number in the corner of the computer screen jumped drastically. From fifty thousand dollars, it was now transformed into $2,150,000.00. Two million one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

[Notification: First Wealth Accumulation Successful.]

[Host has obtained an anonymous title on Wall Street: The Ghost Whaler.]

Julian leaned back in the wooden chair, exhaling slowly. Two million dollars was a large number for an ordinary person, but to bring down a giant of Vance Corporation's scale, this was still considered a small bullet. However, this was a more than sufficient beginning.

In the afternoon, the studio apartment door creaked open. Chloe Miller stepped inside with her shoulders slumped dejectedly. Her beautiful face looked exhausted, and there was a clear line of pressure in her eyes after a full day of working as a waitress at a luxury Vance Group restaurant.

However, Chloe's exhaustion instantly vanished upon seeing that Julian was already able to sit upright at the work desk. In fact, the man's aura felt very different from last night—even though he was only wearing a borrowed, oversized plain t-shirt, Julian's gaze radiated an authority that caused Chloe to stand stunned briefly at the threshold.

"Ian? You... are already able to get up?" Chloe asked, putting her bag down awkwardly.

"Yes. Thanks to your warm soup last night, my condition is much better," Julian answered, his voice softening instantly when speaking to Chloe. His eyes shifted to a luxury paper bag on top of the small dining table. "I ordered dinner for us. Come here."

Chloe approached and was shocked to see a food menu from one of the best restaurants in the midtown district. "Ian, this... this is very expensive. Where did you get the money? Didn't you last night..."

"I spun a bit of my luck on the internet using your laptop," Julian cut in calmly, providing a reasonable excuse for a girl as innocent as Chloe. "Consider this a small compensation for taking in a stranger like me. Eat, Chloe. You look very tired."

Chloe stared at the food, then let out a long sigh before finally sitting down. "How did you know I was tired?"

"Your eyes cannot lie," Julian said while proffering a spoon. "Did something happen at your workplace?"

Chloe fell silent for a moment, stirring her food listlessly. "Just... a classic problem. The restaurant manager keeps cutting my shift hours to make room for a new employee who has insider connections. And today, my cousin, Amber..." Chloe stopped her sentence, a held-back bitterness in her throat. "Ah, forget it. It's not important. I don't want to ruin this dinner."

Julian did not press, but inside his heart, a new note had been made. Amber Miller. So you even use the power you stole from me to trample on your own flesh and blood?

Night grew later when Chloe finally fell fast asleep on her main mattress due to the accumulated exhaustion. The apartment atmosphere turned quiet once more, leaving only the hiss of the old air conditioner.

Julian sat back in front of the laptop. In the midst of the darkness, the computer screen reflected a gleam of sapphire-blue light in his cold eyeballs. Suddenly, the transparent panel from the System vibrated before him again, bringing up a row of new text flashing in red.

[Phase I Main Mission: Cut Off Ryan Vance's Right Hand.]

[Mission Details: Tomorrow morning at 09:00, Ryan Vance will submit a property investment project worth $10 Million to the Vance Corporation's Board of Directors. Thwart the project and destroy his credibility entirely.]

[Mission Reward: Ownership of 15% Shares of Blackwood Capital (The Largest Investment Firm on Wall Street) & Access to Amber Miller's Personal Account Data.]

Julian stared at the mission details with the gaze of a predator that had found its prey. His finger moved over the keyboard, beginning to infiltrate the internal servers of the Vance Corporation to plant the first financial time bomb that would explode right in front of Ryan's face tomorrow morning.

"Your first show will be ruined, Ryan," Julian muttered coldly in the midst of the night's darkness.