THE HIDDEN HEIR'S VENGEANCE

CHAPTER 3 : DIGITAL PHANTOM

[I AM A COSMIC LEGACY EMBEDDED WITHIN YOUR GENETIC CODE AND ACTIVATED AT THE THRESHOLD OF DEATH. MY FUNCTION IS TO ENSURE YOU DOMINATE EVERY ASSET ON THIS PLANET.]

“Mr. Thomas, I’m going to call the doctor right now,” the nurse said quickly before hurrying out of the room, leaving Matthew alone with his digital phantom.

Matthew forced himself to sit upright, ignoring the sharp pain in his ribs. He stared intensely at the panel.

“One trillion dollars,” he hissed. “If I have that kind of money, why does my status still say ‘poor’ with two hundred dollars in the bank?”

[THOSE FUNDS ARE FROZEN IN THE ARC GLOBAL VAULT. TO ACCESS THEM, YOU MUST COMPLETE MISSIONS AND INCREASE YOUR AUTHORITY. CURRENTLY, YOU POSSESS LEVEL 0 ACCESS.]

“What kind of joke is this?” Matthew laughed bitterly as he grabbed his badly cracked phone from the bedside table. Miraculously, it was still on. “So you’re just a more advanced virtual assistant telling me how rich I am in some dream world, while in reality I just got kicked out of Lane Corp and almost died?”

[I AM NOT A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT. I AM A TOOL, AND A TOOL REQUIRES A BOLD USER.]

The holographic screen shifted. Wall Street stock charts and global crypto markets appeared at lightning speed, moving in real time. Red and green numbers flashed faster than the human eye could blink.

[FINANCIAL DISTRESS ANALYSIS ACTIVATED.]

[BEGINNER REWARD AVAILABLE : INSTANT MARKET PREDICTION (DURATION : 5 MINUTES).]

[OPPORTUNITY DETECTED : CRYPTOCURRENCY ‘VOID-X.’ EXTREME VOLATILITY WITHIN THE NEXT 180 SECONDS.]

“Market prediction?” Matthew frowned. His heart began to race. As a former investment analyst before his career was destroyed by Lane family intrigue, he knew the market was a savage beast.

“Prove it,” Matthew challenged the empty air. “Prove you’re useful before the doctor comes in and sedates me.”

[OPEN YOUR TRADING APPLICATION. USE YOUR REMAINING BALANCE. BUY ‘VOID-X’ NOW AT $0.05. USE 100X LEVERAGE.]

“100x leverage?” Matthew’s eyes widened. “That’s financial suicide. If the price drops just one percent, my money is gone.”

[TRUST THE DATA. A SWISS FINANCIAL WHALE WILL PUMP THIS ASSET FOR MONEY LAUNDERING IN 3… 2…]

Matthew hesitated. Two hundred fifteen dollars was the last money he had. If it vanished, he would not even be able to pay for a ride home, let alone dinner.

But the image of Carol Lane tearing apart his blueprint flashed through his mind, along with the laughter in the boardroom and Viviane’s pitying gaze.

“To hell with caution,” Matthew growled.

His fingers quickly opened the Binance app on his phone and searched for the Void-X token. A trash coin, no volume, no news. Its chart was flat, like a dead man’s heartbeat.

“You want me to bet on this dead coin?”

[EXECUTE NOW.]

Matthew slammed the BUY/LONG button. 100x leverage. All in. His $215 balance vanished, replaced by an extremely risky futures position.

The first second, nothing happened. Matthew held his breath, cold sweat dripping down his temples, mixing with dried blood. “If this fails, I’m smashing this phone and losing my mind forever.”

At the fifth second, a vertical green line shot up on the chart. The price suddenly surged. $0.06… $0.09… $0.15.

“What?!” Matthew’s eyes nearly popped out.

The chart exploded upward like a SpaceX rocket breaking through the atmosphere. Notifications on his trading app went insane. The return percentage soared. +200%… +500%…

[HOLD. DO NOT SELL. LET MARKET GREED WORK.]

“This is insane… It’s up 1000%!” Matthew shouted, his hands shaking as he clutched the phone. “I have to take profit now. This is enough to rent an apartment for a month.”

[NOT YET. WAIT FOR THE PEAK AT $4.50.]

“Four dollars fifty? It’s only at one dollar right now. That’s impossible!” Matthew argued with the empty air.

But the chart kept climbing wildly. $2… $3…

Footsteps of doctors and nurses echoed in the hospital hallway. The squeak of a gurney’s wheels grew closer. Matthew knew time was running out. He had to finish this trade before they came in.

$4.10… $4.25…

Matthew’s heart raced faster than the EKG machine beside him. The numbers in his portfolio spun like a broken Las Vegas slot machine.

$4.48…

[SELL NOW. CLOSE ALL POSITIONS.]

Without thinking, Matthew slammed the CLOSE ALL POSITIONS button. In the next instant, the chart collapsed. Void-X plunged back to $0.10 within seconds. A brutal classic pump and dump. Millions of dollars in retail money vanished in the blink of an eye.

But Matthew was already out. He stared at the balance on his screen. $107,500.00. One hundred seven thousand five hundred dollars. In less than five minutes.

Matthew released a long breath he had been holding. The phone slipped onto his lap. He looked down at his palms. A strange vibration of exhilaration crawled from his fingertips up his spine, not only because of the money, but because of the power he had just tasted.

The hospital room door suddenly swung open.

A gray-haired male doctor in a white coat labeled Dr. Steinberg rushed in, followed by two nurses.

“Mr. Thomas! For God’s sake, what are you doing sitting up like that?” Dr. Steinberg hurried to his side, pulling out a penlight. “You suffered severe head trauma. Your intracranial pressure could spike. Lie down immediately.”

Matthew brushed the doctor’s hand aside, gently but firmly. His movement was calm, nothing like the desperate man who had been wheeled in unconscious just hours ago.

“I’m fine, Doctor,” Matthew said. His voice was steady. “In fact, I’ve never felt more alive.”

[FIRST MISSION COMPLETE : PROFIT EXCEEDING 10,000%.]

[REWARD GRANTED : INSTANT CELLULAR RECOVERY LEVEL 1.]

Warmth surged through Matthew’s body at once, like stepping into a hot bath during a snowstorm. The pain in his ribs vanished. The dizziness in his head disappeared without a trace. The bruises on his arms faded visibly, leaving clean skin and muscles that felt denser and stronger.

Matthew swung his legs off the hospital bed. His feet planted firmly on the cold floor. He pulled the IV needle from his hand without even flinching. A small drop of blood appeared, then sealed itself within seconds as the wound closed on its own.

“Where do you think you’re going? You still need observation, Mr. Thomas!” Dr. Steinberg exclaimed, even as his feet instinctively stepped back, unsettled by the pressure radiating from the man before him.

Matthew stood tall in front of the doctor, six feet two point eight inches, and for the first time in years, his posture was no longer bent under the weight of life. He looked at Dr. Steinberg with a gaze that left the senior physician speechless.

“Check the monitor, Doctor,” Matthew said flatly, pointing at the EKG machine now displaying a perfect, powerful, calm heartbeat, like that of an Olympic athlete.

The doctor gaped at the screen, then at Matthew’s body, which looked completely unharmed, as if it had never been crushed by a container truck. “This… this is impossible. You were diagnosed with a mild concussion. You need a follow-up MRI…”

“Save the MRI for someone who needs it,” Matthew cut in.

He picked up his torn suit jacket, stained with dried blood, from the guest chair and slipped it on casually.

“Wait, your bill…” one of the nurses said hesitantly. “Lane Corp’s insurance canceled your policy an hour ago.”

Matthew smiled faintly. “Send the bill to my home address. I’ll pay it in cash tomorrow morning, along with a tip for the inconvenience,” he said coolly, then walked toward the door, parting the medical staff as he passed.