Spendthrift Tycoon: Forced to spend millions a day

Chapter three

Austin stared at the five figures crowding his doorway.

Leading the group was Declan, a hulking man with a scarred jaw and a cheap leather jacket. These were the loan sharks who had been hounding him all week.

"Look who finally decided to show up," Declan sneered, cracking his knuckles.

"We heard you had a little run-in with some street trash last night. Shame they didn't finish the job. Now, where is my money, Austin? You owe us a hundred thousand. With interest, let's call it two hundred."

Austin's brows furrowed slightly. What the heck were these people talking about.. This was outright extortion. The original loan for Chloe's fake mother had only been twenty thousand.

Before, he would have begged, or tried to force them to back down.

But now, with ten million sitting comfortably in his bank and Elite Combat Mastery he just felt annoyned. He was exhausted, and these men were standing between him and his bed.

"Two hundred thousand?" Austin raised his brows, his expression darkening.

"You deaf? Yeah, two hundred grand. Or we start breaking whatever bones those alley rats missed," Declan threatened, stepping into the cramped apartment.

Austin didn't blink. He calmly pulled out his cracked phone, this was a good chance to test out these loan sharks anyway, and looked at Declan.

"Account number."

Declan paused, exchanging a confused look with his goons. He scoffed, rattling off a string of numbers.

"Playing big shot, huh? If this bounces, I'm taking your teeth."

Austin gave him a glance and scoffed, then proceeded to type in the account Declan had just called.

"Transfer Successful, 2000,0000 received" A cold mechanical voice rang from Declan's pocket almost instantly.

Immediately Declan’s smug grin vanished. He yanked his own phone from his pocket, staring in utter disbelief as the notification chimed.

The money was really there. But what caught the loan shark's eye wasn't just the transfer it was the brief glimpse of Austin's screen before the phone went dark.

The available balance at the top of the app had a lot of commas.

"You..." Declan's eyes widened, a greedy light flashing in them. He looked around the shabby apartment, then back at the scrawny, bruised kid standing in front of him.

"Where the hell did a rat like you get that kind of cash?"

Austin slipped his phone back into his pocket. "The debt is paid. Get out of my house."

"Hold on a second," Declan said, his tone shifting from threatening to predatory. He signaled his men, and they immediately spread out, blocking the door.

"I think I miscalculated the interest. See, two hundred grand was if you paid yesterday. Today? The late f*e is a lot steeper."

"Is that so?" Austin sighed, rolling his shoulders. The system had said he couldn't just throw money away or pay unreasonable fees. This extortion definitely crossed the line.

The system didn't issue offer any notification meaning by calculation, two hundred grand was the highest he could go. Even if the limit was higher, there was no way he was handing it out.

He had money, but he was not a fool. There was no way he was going to let them have what they wanted.

"Yeah. In fact, I think you owe us your whole damn account," Declan barked, lunging forward to grab Austin by the collar.

"Hand over the phone, you little punk!"

Austin didn't flinch and only stared coldly.

As Declan's massive hand reached for him, the Elite Combat Mastery activated on pure instinct.

Knowing his current physical body was too weak to trade punches with a man twice his size, Austin didn't block.

Instead, he side-stepped, grabbed Declan’s thick wrist, and used the massive man's own forward momentum against him.

With a sharp, calculated twist, Austin applied brutal pressure to the joint causing a cracking sound to echo in the whole place.

Declan let out a bloodcurdling scream as his wrist snapped instantly. Before the man could even fall to his knees, Austin kicked Declan's knee, dropping the giant like a sack of bricks.

The room fell dead silent. The remaining four thugs stared in absolute shock at their boss, who was now writhing on the floor, weeping in agony.

Austin stood over him, not even breathing hard. He looked at the remaining four men, his eyes cold.

"Anyone else want to recalculate my interest?"

The thugs swallowed and stepped back slowly. They had alway bullied the weak and feard the strong. Beside, Declan was already their best fighter and yet he was taken down so easily.

This kid definately wasn't easy to deal with.

Hearing Austin's cold voice, the four thugs quickly shook their heads like rattle-drums, cold sweat pouring down their foreheads.

None of them wanted to end up on the floor with snapped bones like their boss.

Declan, who was still groaning in pain on the floor, wanted to curse and order his men to attack together.

But the moment his eyes met Austin's icy gaze, a chill ran down his spine and he swallowed the words right back into his throat.

"Get lost," Austin said coldly, pointing toward the open door. "If you're still in front of my house in ten seconds, I'll make sure none of you walk out on your own legs."

Hearing that, the four goons didn't dare waste another second.

Two of them rushed forward, grabbed Declan by the shoulders, and dragged him out of the cramped apartment as fast as their legs could carry them.

In just a few breaths, their panicked footsteps faded down the hallway stairs.

Seeing them finally gone, Austin let out a long sigh and kicked the shabby door shut.

Right now, he couldn't care less about where they went.

After getting beaten half to death in the alley, rushing to the hospital, and jogging all the way back home, his body was completely drained of strength.

Even with the ten million sitting in his bank account, he didn't have the energy to think about it right now.

Dragging his heavy feet into the small bathroom, Austin quickly washed the sweat and grime off his body before throwing himself onto his creaky bed.

Almost the instant his head touched the pillow, darkness pulled him under and he fell into a deep sleep.

When Austin finally opened his eyes again, the small room was already dim.

Looking toward the window, he noticed the sun was already setting outside, dyeing the sky a deep orange.

Austin froze for a second, blinking blankly at the ceiling before his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Wait... what time is it?!" He muttered, and bolted bolted upright in bed hurriedly grabbing his cracked phone.

The moment the half-broken screen lit up, Austin's heart slammed violently against his chest.

It was already past six in the evening!

Right above his banking app, the system's red countdown timer was ticking down mercilessly.

Less than six hours remained!

Cold sweat instantly broke out across Austin's forehead as he stared at his remaining balance of nine million and eight hundred thousand dollars.

If he failed to spend all of this money before the timer hit zero, his current debt would multiply by five.

That meant he would instantly owe nearly fifty million dollars!

"What the heck am I supposed to do with almost ten million in six hours?!" Austin muttered, jumping out of bed and pacing around the cramped room as he pulled at his hair.

He couldn't just throw the money away or buy useless junk online, cause the system would count that as breaking the rules.

Buying a luxury villa or a sports car?

Even if he wanted to, real estate paperwork took days to process, and most dealerships were already closing for the evening.

Donate it to charity?

The system rules clearly stated he could only use one-third of the funds for charity, which still left over six million he had to spend reasonably!

Thinking like this, Austin swallowed the lump in his throat as a sense of panic began to rise in his stomach.

He had money, more money than he had ever dreamed of, yet spending it was turning out to be harder than earning it!

Just as he was rackings his brain for a way out, his cracked phone suddenly buzzed in his hand.

A local business news pop-up flashed across the working half of his screen:

[Urgent Liquidation Sale: Apex Horizon Tech Company facing immediate bankruptcy. Owner seeking emergency cash buyer tonight Full company transfer for $9.8 Million!]

Staring at the bold headline on the screen, Austin froze in his tracks, and the next second, his eyes lit up.