The Price Of A Sacrifice

Adrian's plan

[ OFFER AVAILABLE 'ABSOLUTE MARKET ANALYSIS' ABILITY. ]

[ PRICE: SENSE OF TASTE. ]

Adrian fell silent. His hand, holding a piece of bread, stopped in mid-air. His sense of taste?

"You mean I’ll never taste food again?" he asked flatly.

[ CORRECT. HUMANS USE TASTE FOR PLEASURE. AN ARCHITECT ONLY REQUIRES NUTRITION. DO YOU ACCEPT? ]

Adrian remembered Elena. He remembered how his mother always ordered five-star chefs to prepare Julian's favorite dishes, while Adrian often received only leftovers or was put on a strict diet to maintain the quality of his organs. His tongue had never truly tasted the luxury of affection.

"Take it," Adrian said without hesitation. "The taste of food won't help me drag Dimitri to hell."

Instantly, a sensation like melting ice spread from the base of his tongue to his throat. Adrian felt as if every nerve in his mouth had gone numb. He tried to take another bite of the bread.

Tasteless.

The bread no longer had the flavor of wheat or yeast. Its texture felt like dry, synthetic foam in his mouth. He grabbed a bottle of mineral water and drank greedily. The water felt like a neutral liquid devoid of any characteristics. The coldness was there, but the taste was gone.

"So that’s how it is," Adrian muttered. He forced himself to swallow the bread, realizing that from now on, eating was merely a mechanical task to keep his body's machinery running.

[ SACRIFICE ACCEPTED. ]

[ ACTIVATING: ABSOLUTE MARKET ANALYSIS. ]

Adrian looked back at his laptop screen. In that exact moment, the world before his eyes changed. The stock market numbers that had once been confusing now looked like rows of ants moving in crystal-clear patterns. He could see the red threads connecting one company to another. He saw cracks in the financial walls of Durnevra Corp that even their best accountants hadn't noticed.

"This is... incredible," Adrian hissed. His fingers danced across the keyboard with terrifying speed. "Dimitri is banking on the logistics sector this month. If I cut the capital flow at this point... their shares will falter."

Adrian began to perform minor manipulations. He moved the remaining money in 'Aris's' account to an untraceable cryptocurrency trading platform. With his new ability, he was no longer guessing. He knew exactly when a value would drop and when it would soar, as if he were reading a script of the future.

One week passed in the darkness of that apartment room.

Adrian hardly ever went out. The room was now filled with cans of cheap liquid nutritional supplements. He drank them three times a day. To him, the liquid was no different from sewer water or expensive champagne; it was all just calorie counts needed by his system.

Srekk...

Adrian opened his tenth nutritional can of the day. He downed it in one gulp. His eyes, bloodshot from lack of sleep, remained fixed on the charts on his monitor.

"A quiet week," he whispered. His voice sounded hoarser, more robotic.

He stood up and walked toward a small, cracked mirror in the corner of the room. His face looked thinner, his cheekbones protruded, and his eyes radiated a deadly coldness. There was no longer any trace of the nineteen-year-old boy who had begged for his mother's love.

"How are you doing, Julian?" Adrian smiled faintly at his own reflection. "Is my kidney working well in that spoiled body of yours?"

He returned to his laptop and hit the refresh button on his shadow bank account balance.

The numbers flickered.

From the few hundred dollars left over from his escape, the string of numbers on the screen now showed an absurd amount for someone living in a slum apartment.

US$ 1,450,200.00

One and a half million dollars in seven days. A part of his old self might have been shocked, but the current Adrian only saw it as a tool.

"Not enough," he murmured. "This can't even buy one of their office buildings yet."

Suddenly, a notification appeared in the corner of the screen. It was a news alert from a major financial media outlet.

Durnevra Corp Announces Major Expansion in Medical Sector, CEO Dimitri Durnevra Calls It a 'Legacy for the Future.'

Adrian stared at the photo of a smiling Dimitri on the screen. Beside him, Julian looked fresh in an expensive suit, waving at the camera. They looked so happy, so untouched.

"Legacy?" Adrian chuckled, a sound like a knife scraping against stone. "You built your palace on my blood, Father. So I will make sure the foundation crumbles exactly when you are at the peak."

Adrian turned off the apartment lights. In the darkness, only the laptop screen illuminated his face. He began typing new commands, an algorithm that would slowly eat away at the small assets of Durnevra’s shell companies like invisible termites.

[ SYSTEM WARNING: TARGET IDENTIFIED. COMMENCING BUSINESS INFILTRATION STAGE. ]

"Nurse Mia," Adrian suddenly remembered the nurse. He opened the hospital database he had previously hacked. "You are the only witness left. I hope you are smart enough to stay quiet."

He closed his laptop with a sharp click. Adrian stood by the window, looking at the glittering city lights in the distance. There, in the heart of that luxury, his enemies were celebrating life.

"Enjoy your food while you can still taste it," Adrian whispered, feeling the tastelessness of his tongue in his mouth. "Because soon, everything you swallow will taste like ash."

Suddenly, the burner phone on the table vibrated. A message arrived from an unknown number.

Mr. Aris? We accept your investment offer. Let’s meet at the Black Crow Bar tomorrow night.

Adrian turned off the phone. His eyes flashed in the darkness. This was the moment. He no longer needed a sense of taste to know that his dish of revenge had begun to cook.