2026-03-13 22:08:20Sean Alexander’s eyes snapped open.
A faint sapphire glow flickered in his pupils for a split second before fading back into deep brown. He jolted upright. His lungs gasped for the freezing night air as if he had just breached the surface after drowning.
The first thing he felt was not pain, but a suffocating silence.
Sean panted. His hands frantically clawed at his chest, which should have been a mess of broken ribs. There was nothing. There was no pain. He sat up on the slick, filthy asphalt while his breath came in white plumes of vapor.
"I’m... I’m alive?" he whispered. His voice was hoarse and trembling.
He lifted the hand that Viktor’s guard had stomped into pulp. Under the flickering amber glow of the streetlamp, the hand looked whole. There was no blood and no protruding bone. There was not even a dull ache. There was only a faint red coin-shaped symbol etched into his palm, looking as if his skin had been branded by a hot iron.
"I’m dead," Sean let out a dry, nearly hysterical laugh. "This must be hell. Or my brain is playing its final trick before I truly rot in this trash pile."
[Emergency Recovery Level 1 Complete.]
[Medical Cost: $1,000 (Added to your Debt).]
[Total Debt: $1,501,000.]
Sean recoiled so hard his back slammed against the brick wall. A transparent, neon-blue screen hovered inches from his face. Digital letters flickered and followed his eyes wherever they moved.
"Who?! Who’s there?!" Sean shouted. He swiped his hand through the air to swat the screen away, but his fingers passed straight through the light.
[I am the 'God of Wealth System'. User’s mental state: Unstable. Suggesting breathing stabilization.]
"System? God of Wealth?" Sean clutched his throbbing head. "I’ve gone mad. That’s it. I’ve gone insane because I was beaten too hard. I’m talking to a damn hallucination inside my own head!"
He squeezed his eyes shut and counted to ten. He hoped that when he opened them, the crazy screen would be gone. But when he opened them, a red warning window blinked with a soft beep that echoed directly in his skull.
[Warning: Survival window: 23 hours, 42 minutes. If the balance remains negative after the timer expires, your existence will be erased.]
"Existence erased? What the hell does that mean?! Get out of my head!" Sean screamed into the darkness of the alley. A rat scurried past his feet, seemingly mocking the man who looked like a lunatic talking to thin air among the garbage.
Sean tried to stand. His legs felt shaky yet strangely powerful. As he turned toward the pile of waste where he had been discarded, his eyes suddenly throbbed with heat. The world around him lost its color. Everything turned into a monochrome grey, except for a few objects that began to glow with an alluring golden light.
A broken glass bottle beneath a pile of rotting banana peels emitted the brightest glow.
[Appraisal Eye: Activated.]
[Item: 'Vintage Oud' Perfume Bottle Shard.]
[Analysis: Contains 15ml of pure, uncontaminated Ambergris essence in the hidden base layer.]
[Market Value: $5,500.]
Sean froze. He recognized that bottle. It was the perfume he had bought for Sophia six months ago. He had purchased it by working overtime for an entire month. Sophia had thrown it away last week, claiming it was empty.
"Five thousand dollars? For this empty bottle?" Sean picked it up with a trembling hand. "This is impossible. What kind of logic is this? My brain is truly broken."
[Pure Ambergris is liquid gold in the world of fragrance. Sophia was too foolish to check the base design that stores a reserve. Do you wish to convert this information into currency?]
Sean went silent. Bitterness filled his mouth at the mention of Sophia’s name. If this was madness, it was a terrifyingly detailed one.
He continued to scan his surroundings. Beneath a rotting wooden crate, he saw another green shimmer.
[Item: Broken Pocket Watch.]
[Analysis: Internal gears are made of 95% pure Platinum.]
[Market Value: $12,000.]
Sean picked up the rusted watch. Its weight felt real. The coldness of the metal felt real. This was not just an illusion.
"If I am indeed crazy, at least this madness gives me hope," Sean whispered. His tears merged with the rain on his cheeks. "A million-dollar debt, that betrayal... I need this to be real."
[Advice: 'Black Market' Pawn Shop is open 24 hours in Sector 7, three blocks from here. Sell your assets to extend your life.]
Sean clenched his newly healed fist. He looked up at the luxury apartment balcony far above. Up there, Viktor and Sophia were likely laughing, certain that Sean Alexander was rotting in the trash.
"If you truly are a demon that crawled into my head," Sean said to the blue screen, "then be the strongest demon there is. Because I will destroy them all, no matter the cost."
He stepped out of the dark alley and tucked the "trash" worth seventeen thousand dollars inside his tattered jacket. Tonight, a loser had just received the key to the world’s vault.
***
To be continued ...
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 11
The District 4 police lobby, which moments ago had been buzzing with mocking laughter, had now transformed into a place of sickening worship. The four suitcases containing a sea of cash seemed to radiate a power that paralyzed the common sense of every officer present. Sergeant Miller, who had previously wanted to twist Seans collar, now stood trembling with a bowed back, looking like a terrified servant."Mr. Alexander... please forgive our misunderstanding," Miller whispered, his voice hoarse. He no longer dared to look Sean in the eye. "We were only following orders; we had no idea you possessed this kind of power."Commissioner Griffin stepped forward, roughly pushing his men aside. His face, which had been flushed red with anger, now turned pale, replaced by the widest fake smile he had ever displayed in his life. He touched the suitcase of money with his fingertips, as if touching a sacred relic."Calm yourself, Mr. Alexander," Griffin said in a voice as sweet as honey, a sharp
Chapter 10
The morning sunlight crept through the gaps in the thin curtains of the secret apartment unit in Sector 5. Sean Alexander did not stay at the hotel again. His body was exhausted from the sheer excitement of the previous night. He woke up with a long, deep breath. A smile spread across his face; as usual this time, he did not wake up to a blaring alarm or the fear of overdue bills. He woke up with a new, burning spirit, no longer the underestimated loser.He dreamed of his childhood, a beautiful and peaceful dream. However, when his eyes opened, the reality he faced was far more fantastic than any dream could ever be. Sean reached for his phone lying on the dull wooden table beside the bed.Click.[Main Account Balance: $6,300,000][System Status: Active - Awaiting Further Instructions]Sean chuckled softly. The view inside this room—the peeling walls and the creaking wooden floors—felt so out of place compared to the long string of zeros on his phone screen. He looked like a jobless b
Chapter 9
That night, Sean did not head to the hotel. He instructed his rental limousine driver to pull over in a derelict industrial area on the outskirts of Sector 5. Tucked behind a waste processing warehouse reeking of rusted metal stood a heavy steel door, guarded by men in black suits concealing submachine guns beneath their waistbands.A light drizzle fell, wrapping Sector 5 in a cold, thin mist. At a seemingly abandoned pier stood a container warehouse labeled 101. There were no signs of life outside, but behind its walls lay a freight elevator that descended three floors underground.The Vault. That was the name of the most exclusive illegal casino and auction house in the city. A place where money had no serial numbers and the law had no teeth.Sean Alexander stepped out of the elevator, his head obscured by a black hoodie. His cargo pants were slightly damp from the rain, and his scuffed boots stood in stark contrast to the gleaming white marble floors of the subterranean lobby."Sor
Chapter 8
The atmosphere inside the cabin of the Rolls-Royce carrying Sean back to the St. Regal Hotel was profoundly silent, yet filled with an unspoken tension. Isabella Moretti sat beside him, still motionless, gazing at the profile of Sean’s face illuminated by the rapidly passing streetlights. This man was no longer the courier she had met by the roadside yesterday. There was an aura of power that felt tangibly radiated from his every movement."You just robbed Viktor Vane of half his pride and secured a half-million-dollar check in a single night, Sean," Isabella finally spoke, breaking the silence with a slightly raspy voice. "I have never seen any man make Viktor look that pathetic in front of his own colleagues."Sean turned, the corner of his lips curling into a thin, mysterious smile. "The world is merely a stage, Isabella. I just happened to hold a better script tonight."The car slowed to a halt in front of the luxurious St. Regal lobby. The chauffeur stepped out to open the door,
Chapter 7
A haunting silence blanketed the Atlantis Hotel Ballroom. The sound of Viktor’s crystal glass shattering still seemed to ring in the guests' ears. Sean remained standing tall, his hands tucked casually into his trouser pockets, while his sharp eyes stared flatly at a trembling Viktor."Mr. Vane? You look as though you’ve just seen a ghost," Sean remarked, his baritone voice cutting through the silence with a touch of subtle mockery.Viktor struggled to catch his breath, his chest heaving erratically. He glanced at Sophia, who was now clutching his arm so tightly her nails nearly pierced the fabric of his white suit jacket. Sophia’s face was deathly pale, her eyes bulging as she stared at Sean as if waiting for death itself to claim her."Who… who are you, really?" Viktor asked in a hoarse voice. He attempted to rebuild his wall of arrogance, but the tremor in his hands betrayed him."Hasn’t Ms. Moretti already introduced me? My name is Sean Alexander. An antiques consultant," Sean rep
Chapter 6
"Ten thousand dollars for a dull bowl? You must be out of your mind, Mr. Sean Alexander."Isabella Moretti stared at the tea bowl inside the wooden box with doubt as they sat in the cabin of the Rolls-Royce, gliding through the city streets. Sean, who was adjusting the watch on his wrist, only offered a calm smile. The man’s aura had transformed completely. Not a single trace remained of the hunched-over courier with the lingering scent of sweat.Sean’s transformation had begun the moment he stepped out of 'The Sovereign' boutique earlier that afternoon. He had spent eight thousand five hundred dollars on a three-piece suit custom-stitched with dark silk thread. He did not hesitate to drop another three thousand two hundred dollars on a pair of Oxford shoes made from Italian calfskin, a craft that took hundreds of hours to complete. Not stopping there, he had visited a renowned salon, wanting to showcase a new hairstyle. That treatment, of course, did not come cheap.Combined with the
You may also like
LEAD System: Andrew on Top!
GreaterGlory26.8K viewsVillain steal the Heroines
Autistically21.7K viewsPenniless Man's Wealthy System
Calendula29.7K viewsCultivation Sign-In System
ShadowKatake53.1K viewsDebtbound: The Price of Power
Alyah Night658 viewsMy Creation System
Infinite Ruler501 viewsThe Accidental Wealth
Gregory Ellington7.9K viewsThe Fugitive's Touch
4lpukatmentega1.2K views