Home / Urban / Regression To Invest And Become A Billionaire / Chapter 2: Regressed With a System
Chapter 2: Regressed With a System
Author: Baby prickly
last update2025-09-28 08:49:22

Nathan Cole☠︎ 𓃵’s eyes snapped open like someone had poured ice water over his face. His chest heaved once, sharply, as if he had just been pulled out of drowning water.

‘Wait. This is… odd.’

The last thing he remembered was the bus. The blaring horn, the screech of tires, the split second where he realized he couldn’t move fast enough. And then the pain. That crushing, bone-snapping, soul-tearing pain that exploded through his body. His blood had spilled across the asphalt, his ears had filled with Sierra’s scream, and Brandon Mercer’s mocking laughter had been the soundtrack of his death.

He had died.

So why was he breathing now?

He blinked once. Twice. His hands trembled as he reached for his stomach, expecting shattered ribs, twisted flesh, something that screamed you were hit by a bus. But there was nothing. No blood. No broken bones. Not even an ache.

His body felt… light. Whole. Fresh, even. Like he had just taken the longest sleep of his life and woken up in a new skin.

Nathan frowned. Maybe he was in a hospital. Maybe they had pumped him with so much anesthetic that he couldn’t feel the pain yet. But no… this didn’t feel like numbness. This felt like health.

Too much health.

There was no beeping of monitors. No smell of antiseptic. No ambulance sirens outside. And most of all, no cold pavement beneath his back.

Something was wrong. Something impossible.

He sat up slowly, his heartbeat pounding louder with every second, and looked around.

The bed.

The room.

Nathan froze. His jaw went slack.

This wasn’t a hospital. This wasn’t his penthouse with Sierra.

It was his old room. His room from years ago.

The same scuffed posters of rock bands that he had taped to the walls when he was twenty-one. The shelves lined with old finance books he had sworn he’d read but never fully did. The PlayStation 3 sitting crooked under the small television in the corner. Even the little silver music box on his desk, the one his mother had given him before she passed.

It was all here. Untouched. As if time itself had wound backward.

‘Is this a dream?’ Nathan thought, his throat tightening. ‘If it is… what kind of sick dream is this?’

He pinched his arm. Hard. The sting was sharp, too sharp for a dream.

His eyes darted across the room again, drinking in every little detail, like he was afraid they’d vanish if he blinked. The faded carpet. The old leather backpack tossed in the corner. The clock on the nightstand.

Ringggggg!

The alarm buzzed suddenly, shrill and angry. Nathan jumped, instinct taking over before he even thought. His hand shot out and slammed the button with practiced force.

Silence.

He stared at the clock. His lips parted slowly.

That muscle memory… that automatic hatred for the alarm… he hadn’t done that in years. Back when he was twenty-one, it was the first motion of his mornings. Slam, groan, curse the day, then roll out of bed.

His breath quickened. No. This couldn’t be.

He grabbed the clock with both hands, nearly fumbling it, his heart pounding like thunder in his chest. He pressed the little side button, the one that switched the screen from time to date.

The glowing numbers flickered once, then locked into place.

July 29, 2010.

Nathan’s breath hitched. He stumbled back as though the numbers themselves had punched him in the gut.

“No way,” he whispered aloud. “This… this isn’t possible.”

He bolted out of bed and stumbled to the mirror. His legs were clumsy, his balance off, as if his body wasn’t used to moving this young anymore. He gripped the edges of the mirror and froze.

The reflection staring back at him wasn’t the worn, tired face of a thirty-one-year-old man who had clawed through life and lost everything.

It was him. But younger.

His face was smooth, free of the lines and tired shadows that years of failure had carved into him. His eyes were brighter, his jaw sharper, his skin untouched by stress and sleepless nights. He looked exactly like he had a decade ago.

His mouth trembled. His hands touched his own cheeks, his own hair. His heart roared in disbelief.

‘I… I actually… regressed?’ His mind spun. ‘I really did. Ten years. I’m back. I’m twenty-one again.’

The mirror fogged slightly as his breath hitched against the glass. He staggered back and fell onto the bed, his body shaking as the truth crashed into him like a second bus.

He had died.

And then he had regressed.

» » » « « «

Nathan lay sprawled on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. The posters of his youth looked back at him like ghosts of a forgotten life. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. Slowly, he was piecing it together.

He really had died. Brandon Mercer had laughed at him while he bled out in the street. Sierra Voss had watched, guilt on her face but not enough to stop anything. Victor Voss had set the whole stage, pushing him out of the company and out of Sierra’s life so neatly that Nathan had walked right into ruin.

His fists clenched, the veins in his arms throbbing with anger.

What kind of fool had he been?

Why had he lived like that? Weak. Passive. Letting people trample him over and over. Victor Voss had treated him like dirt from the moment he stepped into Voss Financial Corp, yet Nathan had smiled and worked harder, believing hard work would earn respect.

When he got that internship, he had thought the sky had finally opened for him. A job at Voss Financial was a dream for any finance graduate. And when they had promoted him to assistant, he thought he was climbing. That one day he’d be something.

But no matter what breakthroughs he made, no matter how sharp his analysis was, no matter how many late nights he pulled, Victor never promoted him. Never even acknowledged him.

Because Victor never intended to.

Nathan’s teeth ground together as realization burned through him.

‘Of course. Of course this was the plan all along. He didn’t just fire me to get rid of me. He used me first. He drained me of every idea, every calculation, every financial strategy I created. He took all of it, slapped his own name on it, and tossed me away without a shred of credit.’

Images flashed in his head. Victor’s cold eyes. Brandon’s smug grin. Sierra’s betrayal.

‘Brandon always wanted Sierra. Victor wanted a deal with Nova Holdings. They both got what they wanted. And me? I was the sacrifice. The loser. The dog on the street.’

His chest burned with rage. His vision blurred red.

‘Fine. So be it. If this is fate… if fate threw me back to this point… then I’ll use it. I don’t care why. I don’t care how. I won’t ask questions. But I will not make the same mistakes. I will burn Voss Financial Corp to the ground. I will crush Nova Holdings. I will destroy Brandon Mercer. I swear it.’

He sat up, covering his face with both hands, shaking, whispering to himself like a prayer. “I’ll use this chance. I’ll use it. Even if it kills me again.”

“I will—”

┏1/3 Goals have been identified┛

┏Bitcoin System Activated┛

┏Analyzing Host Profile…┛

┏Compiling Current State…┛

Nathan’s head snapped up. His breath stopped.

There. Floating in front of his eyes. A translucent, glowing screen.

“What the…” He reached for it. His fingers passed through. Holographic. Untouchable. But real. His eyes widened as lines of text danced across the screen, building themselves into boxes, graphs, charts.

┏Welcome, Host, to the Bitcoin System┛

┏Host Profile has been activated┛

Nathan’s mouth went dry. “This… this is a system? Like in those stories? No way.”

Data flickered into place.

---

Host Profile: Nathan Cole☠︎ 𓃵

Age: 21

Assets:

— Cash: $232.47 (Checking)

— Personal Belongings: $900

Liabilities:

— Student Loan: $3500

— Debt Owed to Co-worker: $100

Net Worth (Assets - Liabilities):

— $1132.47 - $3600 = - $2267.53

---

Active Investments: None

Business Owned: None

Portfolio Summary:

— Stocks: 0

— Cryptocurrency: 0

— Physical Assets: 0

---

Expenditure Log

— Monthly Money Gained: $579.31

— Monthly Money Spent: $609.73

---

Reputation Tracker

— Public Reception: Unknown

— Rivals’ Fear: No Business Rivals

— Allies’ Loyalty: No Business Allies

---

Financial Milestones

— First $1M Net Worth: Locked

— First Profitable Investment: Locked

— First Business Acquisition: Locked

---

Legacy Counter

— Jobs Created: 0

— Companies Disrupted: 0

— Rivals Defeated: 0

---

Quests

Weekly Quest:

— Early Investor: Make your first investment

Monthly Quests:

— No Debt, No Stress: Pay Student Loan and other Debts

— Build a Foundation: Save $500 this month

---

Achievement Unlocked: Rock Bottom

— You’ve hit the lowest point in your life. There’s nowhere to go but up!

---

Nathan’s jaw hung open. He whispered hoarsely. “What the hell…”

The screen glared back at him with brutal honesty. His net worth was negative. Negative.

“My net—” His eyes bulged. “My net worth is in the negative?!”

He ran both hands through his hair, pacing in his small room. “God. This was how broke I was back then? This bad?”

His chest sank. It was true. He remembered the hunger, the debts, the way he had scraped by. He really had been at rock bottom.

His eyes flicked to the achievement text and he barked a bitter laugh. “Rock Bottom? That’s the reward I get? Screw you.”

But his gaze hardened when he scrolled down to the milestones. Companies disrupted. Rivals defeated. His pulse quickened.

This system… it knew. It knew what he wanted. To crush Voss Financial. To bring down Nova Holdings. To ruin Brandon and Victor.

And it was giving him a tool to do it.

Another message appeared.

┏Do you accept the Bitcoin System?┛

┏Note: Refusing the System results in instant death and the wiping of this timeline┛

Nathan blinked rapidly. “Ehh?!” His lips twisted. “What kind of choice is that? Of course I accept. Hell yes I accept!”

He jabbed at the glowing option. Yes.

The interface shifted, glowing brighter.

┏Bitcoin System successfully activated┛

┏Regression confirmed. Host chosen correctly. Vast financial knowledge detected┛

┏Future knowledge grants guaranteed profitable investment opportunities┛

┏You have regressed to invest. Build your empire. Crush your rivals. Rewrite your legacy┛

Nathan’s head spun. His body buzzed with energy.

He clicked the weekly quest. Early Investor: Make your first investment. A new list appeared.

Aparagon (APG). F******k (Meta). Doxercoin (DXC). Wesla Cars (WSLA). Bitcoin (BTC). Silver (XAG). Esper (Proga).

His eyes locked onto one. His heart pounded.

Bitcoin.

His fingers shook as he tapped it. The screen blinked, then revealed the price.

$0.08.

Nathan’s chest tightened. His breath came fast. His vision blurred with tears of disbelief.

This was real.

This was happening.

He wiped his face with the back of his hand and let out a strangled laugh. “I’m… I’m going to be a freaking billionaire.”

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