The Trillionaire’s Rise: Powered by a System Ring

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound of the heart monitor echoed faintly and steadily in the ICU room of Lonel City Hospital.

Rendi Martin lay on the bed. An oxygen tube was attached to his nose, and several wires were connected to his chest. His face was pale, his lips dry.

To the passing nurses, Rendi was just an ordinary comatose patient. The only difference was that this patient was the former number one tycoon of Hakward City who went bankrupt in a single day.

But Rendi was not sleeping.

He stood in an empty, dark space. There was no floor beneath his feet, no walls around him. Strangely, his chest no longer hurt.

"Am I dead?"

His voice did not echo. The words simply vanished into the darkness.

Fragments of light floated in front of him. Some were small, some were large, and all moved slowly in the air. The largest fragment was red.

Rendi reached out and touched it.

The dark space instantly changed. Rendi was back standing in the most luxurious wedding hall in Hakward City, the place he had rented specifically for the most important day of his life.

Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Hundreds of guests sat at round tables decorated with white roses.

Evelyn stood on the stage, her back to Rendi. Her white gown was long, touching the floor. Last month, Rendi paid for the gown himself without asking the price.

Then Evelyn turned around. She took off the diamond ring from her ring finger and dropped it to the floor.

Clink.

The ring bounced once and rolled under the table. Evelyn did not look at it at all. Hundreds of guests fell silent.

"Let's just cancel this wedding, Rendi. My role is done."

Rendi froze in his tracks. "Eve... what are you talking about?"

"You heard me."

Rendi let out a stiff laugh. His eyes glanced at the guests, then returned to Evelyn. Rendi hoped this was just a surprise, or a joke taken too far.

"Eve, this isn't funny. Everyone is waiting."

"I'm not joking."

Rendi went up to the stage and grabbed Evelyn's hand. Her hand was cold.

Evelyn pulled it away roughly. "Don't touch me."

"We can talk in the back. Just the two of us. If there's a problem, we can solve it."

"The problem is already solved, Rendi. For me."

"I gave you everything! Houses, apartments, five companies. Everything is already under your name!"

Evelyn chuckled. "Yes. That's why my role is done."

Evelyn stepped down from the stage. Her heels clicked on the marble floor, step by step.

"Five years, Rendi. Do you know how tiring it is to pretend for five years? Pretending to obey. Pretending to be amazed. Listening to your talk about our future."

"Eve..."

"I never loved you. Not even a bit." Evelyn stopped right in front of Rendi. "To me, you are just a tool. A tool who happily handed over all his wealth."

Rendi's breathing grew heavy. His hands trembled at his sides. "If it's not for you... who is all that wealth for?"

Evelyn did not answer. She turned her head to the rows of guests.

A man in a gray suit stood up from his seat. The man walked casually to the front with one hand in his pocket. As soon as he arrived, Evelyn immediately hooked her arm with his.

Rendi knew that face. For ten years, that face had appeared in tender meetings, in business news, and behind every project that slipped from his hands.

"Alex...?"

Alex Wijaya, the owner of Wijaya Group. A business rival who always played dirty by bribing officials, stealing clients, and spreading gossip.

Now that man was standing at Rendi's wedding, holding the arm of Rendi's bride-to-be.

"Hello, Rendi," Alex said. "Congratulations. Nice party."

"I love Alex," Evelyn said while looking at Alex in a way Rendi had never received for five years. "From the beginning."

"From the... beginning?"

"Your meeting at the party that night? It wasn't a coincidence," Alex said. "We arranged it. It took five years. But the result is worth it."

"All your signatures are valid," Evelyn added. "The board of directors agreed a long time ago. Even with the wedding canceled, everything remains mine."

Rendi turned to the front table, where the directors of Martin Group sat. He needed just one person to defend him.

Mr. Hendra, the finance director who had been with the Martin family for twenty years, looked down. The other directors pretended to be busy with their glasses. No one dared to look at Rendi.

"You... you guys knew?"

No one answered.

Alex patted Rendi's shoulder. "Do you know why you lost to me, Rendi? Not because you're stupid. Because you trust people too easily."

"You persuaded the board?"

"I only made an offer." Alex glanced at Mr. Hendra. "They accepted it. The salary is pretty good, after all."

Rendi's left chest felt painful. He gripped his shirt tightly.

Evelyn saw that. Her lips smiled.

"Thanks for your hard work, Rendi. Thanks to you, Alex and I can merge our companies and hold this city." Evelyn turned around. "Farewell."

The hall immediately became noisy. The guests whispered, then spoke louder.

"No wonder," said a lady in a maroon dress. "For five years she bought limited edition bags and European diamonds. I thought she was a rich kid."

"Turns out it was all Rendi's money," replied the woman next to her. "The gown she's wearing today was also paid by Rendi."

"The number one tycoon of Hakward, scammed by his own bride-to-be. For five years, no less."

Several guests raised their phones and started recording.

"Record it, record it. It will definitely be trending tomorrow."

An old man at the back table shook his head. "What a pity. His father built Martin Group from zero. His son wasted it in five years."

Rendi heard that sentence. Out of all the mockeries tonight, that sentence hurt the most.

The pain in Rendi's chest grew sharper. His breath was short, and his legs were no longer strong enough to hold his body.

Thud!

Rendi fell to the marble floor. The crystal chandelier above him became blurry. The last thing he saw was Evelyn's white shoes walking away without looking back.

The red fragment cracked.

Crack!

The wedding hall disappeared. Rendi was back standing in the dark space, alone.

His hands trembled. This time not out of fear, but out of anger.

'I was too stupid.'

"Five years," he muttered. "Five years I trusted her."

Rendi remembered the night he proposed at the rooftop restaurant. Evelyn cried when she accepted the proposal, and Rendi cried too.

It turned out that crying was also pretend.

Rendi also remembered his mother. Their family home was also handed over to Evelyn, and his mother knew nothing.

"Mother..."

Rendi clenched his fists until his nails pressed into his palms.

"If there is a second chance, I will take everything back. I will make the two of you regret it for the rest of your lives!"

His shout did not echo. The dark space remained silent.

Then a small blue light appeared, blinking slowly.

Rendi narrowed his eyes. The light came from a silver ring floating in the air. There were carvings of ancient letters on its surface.

'What ring is that?'

Rendi stepped closer and hesitated for a moment. After that, he touched the ring with his index finger.

BZZZT!

An electric shock spread from his fingertip to his entire body. A bright blue light lit up and filled the dark space. Rendi reflexively closed his eyes.

A flat, toneless voice was heard inside his head.

[Ding!] [Extreme vengeance detected.] [Host meets the requirements for the Revenge System.] [Synchronizing... 10%... 50%... 100%. Success.]

Rendi opened his eyes. The veins on the back of his hands glowed blue.

"What is this? Who is talking? Hello!"

There was no answer. A transparent screen appeared in front of his face, with letters glowing in blue.

[Host: Rendi Martin] [Status: Clinically dead] [Second chance available.] [Offered goal: Reclaim everything taken from you.]

Rendi read the text twice.

"A second... chance? Really?"

[Correct. Host's heart stopped 47 seconds ago.] [Remaining revival time: 13 seconds.] [Accept or reject?]

The number 13 changed to 12, then 11.

Rendi didn't need to think long.

"Accept."

The silver ring shot to his hand and wrapped around his right ring finger. It felt hot, then everything went dark.

In the ICU room, the line on the monitor screen was straight.

Beeeeeep.

Two nurses ran inside. A female doctor followed behind them and immediately pressed Rendi's chest with both hands. The name tag on her white coat read Dr. Nadia.

"It's been two minutes, Doc," said one of the nurses.

"I know." The doctor kept pressing. "One more time."

The nurse glanced at the wall clock. She did not argue.

"Come on," the doctor muttered. "Not now."

Then Rendi's finger moved.