The Cashback God: Spending My Way to World Domination

The rain in River City was cold, but it wasn’t as cold as the look in Chloe’s eyes.

Arlo stood shivering in his yellow delivery uniform, his boots soaked through and his cheap helmet tucked under his arm. In front of him stood a woman he had loved for three years, draped in a mink coat that probably cost more than his annual salary.

“Chloe, please,” Arlo’s voice cracked. “I worked three double shifts to buy you that medicine for your mother. Why are you here? With him?”

He gestured toward the man standing next to her—a tall, arrogant youth named Young Master Jackson, heir to the Jackson Real Estate empire. Jackson leaned against a sleek, gold-wrapped Lamborghini, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Medicine?” Chloe scoffed, looking at Arlo as if he were a piece of gum stuck to her designer heels. “My mother’s medical bills are five hundred thousand dollars, Arlo. You earn five dollars per delivery. Do the math. Your ‘hard work’ is a joke.”

“But I was going to get a promotion! I was—”

“Shut up, you loser!” Jackson interrupted, stepping forward. He took a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket and slapped them against Arlo’s chest. The money scattered into the muddy puddles at their feet. “There’s five thousand dollars. Consider it a tip for the three years you spent ‘babysitting’ my new girl. Now, pick it up and get out of my sight. Your presence is polluting the air of this five-star hotel.”

The hotel guards, seeing Jackson’s status, didn't hesitate. They stepped forward and shoved Arlo.

“You heard the Young Master! Scram, delivery rat!”

Arlo stumbled back, his old delivery bike toppling over. As he fell, Jackson deliberately stepped on Arlo’s hand with his polished Italian leather shoes.

“Agh!” Arlo hissed in pain.

“Look at you,” Jackson sneered, leaning down. “In this world, money is god. Without it, you aren’t even human. You’re just a bug meant to be crushed.”

Jackson and Chloe turned around, laughing as they walked into the Grand Imperial Hotel. Arlo lay in the mud, his hand bruised, his bike mangled, and his dignity shattered into a million pieces. The rain washed the mud into his wounds, but the fire of resentment in his heart burned hotter than any fever.

If money is god… then why did the heavens make me so poor? Arlo screamed internally. I worked hard! I played by the rules! Why am I the one in the dirt?!

Suddenly, a sound like a crystal shattering echoed in his brain.

[Ding! Host's resentment has reached the threshold.] [Detection of strong desire for wealth and power...] [The 10,000x Rebate System is binding to the Host!]

Arlo froze. A system? Like the ones in web novels?

[Binding Successful! Welcome, Host Arlo.] [Current System Level: 1] [Core Function: Every cent the Host spends on others will be returned with a 10,000x Rebate!] [Starter Mission: The first spend must be made within 10 minutes to activate the system. Target: Any person with a favorability or hostility rating.] [Initial Balance: $1.00 (System Loan)]

Arlo stared at the holographic screen floating in front of him. Only one dollar? What could he do with one dollar? He looked at the muddy ground and saw one of the bills Jackson had thrown. It was a single, dirty dollar bill that had blown away from the stack.

He scrambled to his feet, his heart hammering. He looked around. Just outside the hotel gates, an old woman was shivering, trying to sell handmade flower pins for a dollar each.

Arlo ignored the pain in his hand, grabbed the dirty dollar, and ran to the old woman.

“I’ll buy one!” he gasped, shoving the dollar into her hand.

The old woman looked surprised. “Bless you, young man. You look like you need it more than I do.”

[Ding! Transaction Successful!] [Host spent $1.00 on a 'High-Hardship Target'.] [10,000x Rebate Triggered!] [Processing... $10,000.00 has been credited to your personal bank account!]

Bzzzt—bzzzt!

Arlo’s cheap, cracked phone vibrated in his pocket. With trembling hands, he pulled it out. It was a text notification from his bank.

“Your account ending in -4402 has received a deposit of $10,000.00. Current Balance: $10,000.42.”

Arlo’s breath hitched. It was real. In ten seconds, he had earned more than he usually made in half a year. A wild, manic laugh bubbled up in his chest.

Jackson said money is god? Well, I’m about to become a god.

[Ding! New Mission: 'The First Slap'.] [Mission Objective: Enter the Grand Imperial Hotel and spend at least $5,000 to humiliate those who looked down on you.] [Reward: Level 2 Upgrade + 'Aura of the Hidden Tycoon' (Permanent).]

Arlo wiped the mud from his face. He didn't look like a rich man. He looked like a drowned rat in a yellow uniform. But his eyes—they were no longer the eyes of a defeated loser. They were sharp, cold, and predatory.

He walked back to the hotel entrance. The two guards from before immediately crossed their batons.

“Back again, trash? Did you forget your brain in the mud?” the lead guard mocked.

Arlo didn't flinch. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and opened his banking app. “I’m here to book the Presidential Suite.”

The guards paused, then burst into a roar of laughter. “The Presidential Suite? That’s eighty thousand dollars a night! You can’t even afford the air in the lobby, boy!”

Arlo stepped closer, his voice low and dangerous. “Move. Or I’ll buy this hotel just to make sure you both spend the rest of your lives cleaning sewers.”

There was something in Arlo’s voice—a sudden, crushing authority—that made the guards’ laughter die in their throats. It was the "Aura of the Hidden Tycoon" beginning to bleed through.

“Whatever,” the guard muttered, stepping aside. “Go ahead. The receptionist will have the police throw you out in handcuffs.”

Arlo walked into the lobby. The marble floors glittered under massive crystal chandeliers. At the far end of the lobby, he saw Jackson and Chloe at the VIP check-in desk, laughing with a young female receptionist.

“Oh, look who it is,” Chloe’s voice rang out, full of disgust. “Arlo? Did you sneak in to steal the tips from the fountain?”

Jackson turned around, smirking. “Hey, guard! Why is this beggar in here?”

The receptionist, a girl named Sarah who was used to sucking up to people like Jackson, looked at Arlo with sheer elitism. “Sir, this is a private establishment. Please leave before I call security.”

Arlo walked straight to the desk, ignored Chloe and Jackson, and tossed his cracked phone onto the counter. “I want to buy out the entire jewelry display in the lobby lounge. Right now.”

The lobby went silent. Jackson laughed so hard he nearly choked. “Buy the jewelry display? Arlo, that’s the ‘Eternal Heart’ collection. It’s worth at least two hundred thousand dollars. Do you even have two hundred cents?”

Arlo looked at the receptionist. “Swipe my card. Or rather, let me scan the QR code for the deposit. Two hundred thousand, right?”

Sarah, the receptionist, sneered. “Fine. I’ll scan it. And when it says ‘Insufficient Funds,’ I’m going to personally watch the guards break your legs.”

She held up the scanner. Arlo pulled up his payment code.

Beep.

The system interface flashed in Arlo’s vision: [Detected spend of $200,000. Apply 10,000x Rebate?] Yes! Arlo screamed in his mind.

[Ding! Transaction Approved!] [Cashback Triggered: $2,000,000,000.00 (2 Billion Dollars) credited to Host's account!]

The printer behind the desk began to whir. A receipt slid out.

Transaction Approved. Amount: $200,000.00. Balance: [Hidden].

Sarah’s face went from smug to pale. Then to a ghostly white. Her hands began to shake as she looked at the receipt, then back at the screen. “It... it went through?”

“What?!” Jackson lunged forward, grabbing the receipt. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull. “Two hundred thousand? Paid in full?! This... this must be a glitch! This loser stole a credit card!”

Arlo turned to Jackson, a cold smile on his face. He took the "Eternal Heart" diamond necklace that the staff had just nervously brought out in a velvet box.

“Chloe,” Arlo said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Chloe gasped, her eyes wide with sudden greed. “Arlo! I knew it! I knew you were testing me! You’re secretly a billionaire, aren't you? Oh, Arlo, I’m so sorry about earlier, I—”

Arlo held the necklace up, letting the diamonds catch the light. Then, he turned to the old woman selling flowers, who had just walked past the glass doors outside.

He walked to the door, handed the diamond necklace to the confused old woman, and looked back at Chloe.

“I’d rather give two hundred thousand dollars to a stranger than spend one more cent on a trash bag like you.”

Arlo’s phone buzzed again. New Balance: $2,000,010,000.42.

He looked at Jackson, who was trembling with rage and confusion.

“Jackson, right?” Arlo said, patting the man’s cheek—the same way Jackson had done to him in the mud. “Keep the change. I’m just getting started.”