2026-02-09 19:53:17Eduardo jolted awake. He sucked in oxygen greedily, as if his lungs had just been crushed under concrete. The icy cold of seawater vanished, replaced by the musty scent of old paper, cheap tobacco, and a faint trace of perfume smoke. He was not at the bottom of the sea. He was inside an enormous room, stark white and spotless, yet cluttered with wooden shelves crammed full of absurd antiques.
There was a wall clock whose hands spun backward, bottles filled with pulsing light, even a mummified hand clutching a cigar.
“At last, my useless grandson finally wakes up. I thought you planned to sleep there forever.”
The voice was hoarse, rough, and painfully familiar. Eduardo turned sharply. Behind a rotten wooden cashier’s desk sat an old man in a shabby flannel shirt, thick dark sunglasses, and a crooked flat cap. He was calmly rolling tobacco with his calloused fingers.
Eduardo frowned, squeezing his still foggy mind. “Grandpa? Grandpa Antonio? Weren’t you… weren’t you dead ten years ago? Slipped in the bathroom? What are you doing here? Taking a break from being tortured by angels?”
The old man looked up, staring at Eduardo from behind his sunglasses with open disdain. “Watch your mouth, boy. I was an honorable man and I died honorably. There is no way God would send angels to torture me.”
Then Antonio clicked his tongue irritably as he looked Eduardo over. “But after seeing the condition of my useless grandson, I’m starting to think God really does hate me.”
Eduardo raised both eyebrows. “What’s wrong with me, Grandpa?”
Antonio’s eyes bulged. “What’s wrong with you?”
He immediately looked up at the ceiling, clutching his chest. “Oh Lord, if this is your punishment, I accept it. I accept it. Just give me extra patience to deal with this stubborn grandson of mine.”
“Why are you talking like that?” Eduardo asked, confused, stepping forward. The moment he stood up, the bed he had been lying on vanished.
“Shut up, boy. I gave you a family relic embedded in your blood, something that should have let you conquer the world,” Antonio snapped, scanning Eduardo from head to toe before shaking his head. “Instead, you followed me here in the most humiliating way possible. Thrown into the sea like plastic trash. You’ve completely ruined the family reputation.”
Eduardo walked closer. Strangely, he felt no pain in his body. “Where are we, Grandpa? Hell? Where are the demons? Where’s the fire everyone says is insanely hot?”
“Huh, hell?” The old man laughed derisively until he started coughing. “Even hell would be disgusted to take in a loser like you, Eduardo. This is the Equivalent Exchange Shop. Think of it as a waiting room for losers like you who still have grudges but no guts.”
Eduardo looked around, baffled. “I have guts. And what was that shop called again?”
“Yeah, yeah, you have guts. I’m sure even the devils in the deepest pit would laugh hearing that,” Grandpa Antonio snorted, lighting his cigarette and offering it to Eduardo. Eduardo hesitated, but Antonio glared at him, and in the end he smoked again after quitting for two years.
Antonio exhaled smoke and pointed to a wooden sign above his head. It read: “There Is No Free Lunch, In This World Or The Next.”
“Here’s how it works, my idiot grandson. I am the manifestation of a system embedded in our bloodline. Don’t ask why, Grandpa’s too lazy to explain,” he said, taking another drag.
“A system?” Eduardo echoed, smoking.
“In short, you get a chance to go back. You can become a king, a monster, you can stomp Claude’s head into pulp.”
At the mention of Claude’s name, Eduardo’s rage exploded again. He gripped the edge of the counter. “Send me back now. Claude is taking Emily tonight. I have to save my wife.”
“Patience, you mutt. Don’t cut off an old man when he’s talking. Didn’t your parents teach you manners?” Antonio barked, slamming an empty glass bottle on the desk.
Eduardo swallowed. For some reason, his grandfather’s anger was always terrifying and ridiculous at the same time. “You know my parents never had time for me and…”
Antonio raised his hand, shame flickering across his face. “Listen first. Everything here works on exchange. You want power, you pay. You want your life back, you give something in return.”
Eduardo fell silent. His heart pounded. “Pay with what, Grandpa? I have nothing left. Claude took all my money, my house was seized, my dignity was trampled.”
Antonio smiled, a deeply sly smile. “Money is trash here. What I want is something that makes you human. Memories, emotions, or lifespan. That’s the currency that works here.”
“What do you mean?”
“You really are a stupid grandson.” Antonio pointed at a red bottle on the shelf. “That’s called Bone Breaker. Drink it, and your bone density becomes harder than steel. You can punch through walls. But the price? Maybe you forget how your mother’s cooking tasted. Or you forget the first time you fell in love with your wife.”
Eduardo froze, the cigarette trembling in his fingers. “Damn… that price is insane.”
“The system is fair. Nothing is free in this world,” Antonio replied, staring straight at him.
“So choose. Die as a loser and let your wife and child become shared trophies, or rise and conquer that rotten world with an equal price,” Antonio said, patting Eduardo’s shoulder.
The world seemed to stop. Images of Emily crying in terror and Chloe screaming his name flashed like lightning. Eduardo clenched his fists so tightly his nails cut into his palms.
“To hell with morality,” Eduardo hissed, his voice low and venomous. “I don’t need beautiful childhood memories if I can’t save them today. Take whatever you want, Grandpa. Turn me into a monster or a devil. As long as I can send Claude to the deepest pit of hell.”
Antonio grinned wide, yellowed teeth showing. “Now that’s my grandson. I’m sick of watching you play the good guy and get crushed. Good people belong in graves, Eduardo. In the real world, only bastards survive.”
He reached beneath the counter and pulled out a necklace with a blood-red gemstone pendant that pulsed like a living heart.
“This is your starter artifact. The key to accessing the Equivalent Exchange system. Wear it, and you officially become my slave,” Antonio coughed, realizing his mistake. “I mean, the system’s slave,” he corrected, tossing the necklace.
Eduardo caught it. The stone was hot, unbearably hot.
“When you go back, your body will be reconstructed. You’ll have physical abilities above normal humans, for now. But remember, every time you activate a special skill, the system automatically collects its payment. Don’t complain if one day you forget your dog’s name or forget how to cry,” Antonio warned, suddenly serious.
“I don’t care,” Eduardo said firmly.
“One more thing.” Antonio leaned forward. “The world you’re going back to won’t be the same. Claude is just small fry. Once you step into this world, you’ll attract bigger monsters. Are you ready to lose everything for this power?”
“I already lost everything tonight on that pier,” Eduardo replied, his gaze hollow and terrifying. “All that’s left is a borrowed life for revenge.”
“Good. Now I believe you really are my descendant. Use your blood to activate the system,” Antonio said, handing him an ancient parchment that looked unnaturally thirsty.
Eduardo did not hesitate. He bit his thumb until it bled and pressed it onto the parchment. Instantly, the white room shook violently. Shelves of antiques collapsed and crumbled into dust.
“Your time is up, Eduardo. Your wife is terrified at home,” Antonio shouted amid the shaking. “Welcome back to the world of the living, you cursed grandson. Don’t die again too soon. ONE LAST MESSAGE!”
Eduardo looked at his grandfather, answered by Antonio’s heroic shout.
“KILL THEM ALL!”
Eduardo nodded, smiling coldly as he slipped the necklace around his neck. At once, the red gem flared and sank into the skin of his chest.
“AAARRGGHHH!”
He screamed as searing pain tore through him, like molten iron being forced into his heart. His veins blackened, bulging across his body.
His vision went white. The sound of the backward clock morphed into the roar of crashing waves. The pain in his shattered bones vanished, replaced by explosive energy threatening to burst free.
Emily… hold on. I’m coming.
A transparent notification appeared before his closed eyes.
[BLOOD CONTRACT SUCCESSFUL.]
[USER: EDUARDO (LEVEL 1).]
[PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: BONE BREAKER (LV.1).]
[FIRST PAYMENT SELECTED: CHILDHOOD MEMORY OF A PET.]
ZING!
Something snapped inside Eduardo’s mind. An image of a golden retriever chasing him through a park faded, blurred, then vanished into a dark empty space. He did not feel loss, only a small hole he could not recognize.
Then the darkness shattered.
Eduardo’s eyes flew open beneath the crushing pressure of icy seawater. This time, he did not feel suffocated. He felt powerful. He felt hungry for blood.
The arm that had been broken now felt stronger than ever. He grabbed a pier pillar underwater, and with a single pull, the hardened wood cracked in his grip.
He kicked through the water with inhuman force, rocketing toward the surface like a torpedo meant to destroy anything in its path.
Tonight, the pitiful Eduardo had died. Something else had risen from the ocean floor.
His grandfather’s final words echoed in his ears.
“KILL THEM ALL.”
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Ch 150. The Price of a Memory
The evening breeze drifted gently through Rome, sweeping across the square once known as Piazza della Mafia, now renamed Piazza del Fantasma, Ghost Square.At its center stood a monument that defied time itself.The ten-meter-tall statue, cast in black bronze, had no distinguishable face. It was only the silhouette of a man in a suit, his left hand missing one finger, gripping a grim reaper's scythe pointed toward the earth.At the foot of the monument, thousands of tiny candles lit by the citizens flickered beneath the wind, creating a sight that resembled a galaxy scattered across the asphalt that had once been soaked in blood.The golden plaque beneath it still gleamed.THE PRICE OF A MEMORY: PAID IN FULL.A young tourist turned to his guide."Why doesn't he have a face?""Because he traded it away," the guide answered with almost sacred reverence. "He gave up his face and his name so we would never have to look into the face of fear every time the sun went down."Far from the worl
Ch 149. Requiem (Song of Death)
Twenty years.Long enough to turn a pile of rubble into a monument, and vengeance into history that was almost forgotten. Yet in Rome, time seemed to revolve around a single axis, a white marble gravestone atop Crystal Heights. The cemetery was no longer merely a burial ground. It had become a cathedral for those who worshiped shadows.That morning, the Roman air was remarkably clear, as though the sky had been washed clean by the night's rain. A convoy of armored black limousines climbed the hill at a measured pace, passing rows of tactical security personnel standing at attention every ten meters along the private road.Vito Eduardo stepped out of the lead vehicle.At twenty-one years old, he was no longer the little boy who played with pebbles around a gravestone. He stood nearly six foot three, dressed in a custom-tailored charcoal gray three-piece suit crafted in Milan. His hair was jet black, sharply contrasting with his pale complexion.But the most striking feature was his eye
Ch 148. The Legacy of the System
Dust that had accumulated for nearly two decades swirled through the air as the soundproof steel door deep beneath Sark Tower groaned open with a piercing screech.This room did not exist on the building's official blueprints.Even Belerik, the keeper of the numbers, only dared enter once a year to make sure the ventilation system was still functioning.This was Sector Zero, the place where the Ghost's darkest secret had been sealed away behind walls lined with solid lead.Vito stood at the entrance.He had just turned twenty years old.He was taller than the average Italian man, broad-shouldered, with the solid posture forged through relentless training alongside the remnants of the Iron Guard. He wore a black suit without a tie. Thin leather gloves covered his hands, a habit he had copied from his father. His arms rested calmly at his sides.His pitch-black eyes, devoid of warmth yet as sharp as an eagle's, swept across the room.There was only a steel table.And resting in the cent
Ch 147. The Right Hand
Ten years had passed since the dust settled over the Commissioner's headquarters in Rome. Yet at the top of Sark Tower, time itself seemed frozen within the endless circuitry and the glow of monitors that never went dark.The main control room had become much quieter. There were no more explosions or pounding against reinforced steel doors. Only the steady hum of server cooling systems running twenty-four hours a day to keep trillions of dollars flowing smoothly across the world.Belerik sat in his advanced electric wheelchair, now equipped with sophisticated life-support sensors attached to his increasingly frail body.His hair had turned completely white.His skin was wrinkled like aged parchment.His carbon-fiber prosthetic leg rested stiffly against the wheelchair's foot support."Look at that number blinking in red, Vito. What does it mean?" Belerik asked in a raspy voice, interrupted by heavy breaths.Beside him stood a twelve-year-old boy with perfect posture.Vito.He wore a f
Ch 146. The Golden Cage
Snow fell relentlessly over Zermatt, Switzerland, until the majestic peak of the Matterhorn seemed to vanish beneath an endless sea of white fog. Atop the most isolated hill stood an ancient Gothic villa, completely renovated yet still imposing in its timeless grandeur. A thirteen-foot steel fence, charged with electricity, surrounded the estate, sealing it off from the outside world.The villa had everything: a heated swimming pool, an underground wine cellar stocked with vintage bottles from the 1940s, and furniture expensive enough to support an entire village in Italy. Yet inside the eight-hundred-square-meter mansion, the only sound was the soft clink of ice against crystal.Emily Eduardo sat before her vanity, surrounded by luxury cosmetics from Paris and bottles of Scotch whisky from Scotland. She wore a silk robe worth more than a teacher's annual salary, yet the radiant confidence of the once-proud "Parasite Queen" had long since disappeared.The face staring back at her had
Ch 145. A Conversation with a Ghost
The Roman sun slowly sank beneath the western horizon, leaving behind streaks of orange that looked like burn scars across the cooling evening sky. Within the grand private mausoleum, the last traces of Emily and Chloe's hypocrisy had vanished with the dust drifting across the pavement.Now, only silence remained.The kind of silence so dense that Freya could hear the slow rhythm of her own heartbeat, as if it were dying alongside the memories buried beneath this white marble.Freya knelt beside Eduardo's headstone, a simple monument with no carved portrait. Her expensive black dress was stained with dried mud and scattered gravel, but she didn't care. Beside her, two-year-old Vito sat with his chubby little legs stretched out, happily picking up white pebbles around the grave and stacking them into uneven little piles."Easy, Vito. Don't throw them," Freya whispered.Her voice was hoarse, still raw from the fury she had unleashed on Emily earlier.Vito glanced at his mother for only
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