2025-12-22 22:01:59The isolation cell was a tomb.
Six by eight feet, poured concrete on all sides, a steel door with a narrow slot for food trays. No window. A single fluorescent bulb behind wire mesh buzzed overhead, never turning off. Bradley sat on the bare slab that served as a bed, knees drawn up, staring at the wall. His ribs throbbed with every breath; the cut on his forearm had scabbed over, but the bruises were blooming purple and yellow.
Twenty-four hours in seg for “his own protection,” the guard had said with a smirk. Protection from what came next, more likely.
He replayed the fight in his mind, the three men, their coordinated attack, the glint of the shiv. They hadn’t been random. Though paid to make it look like a typical prison beating gone fatal. The Jordans’ reach stretched even here, into the bowels of Rikers.
He leaned his head back against the cold wall, sleep felt dangerous. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Maya’s face, heard Evelyn’s silence as the cuffs clicked shut.
A clang echoed down the corridor as a tray slot was open somewhere. Then muffled voices of guards doing rounds.
Bradley stood, pacing the tiny space to keep blood flowing. Three steps one way, three back. His mind raced. He needed a plan. A lawyer, an evidence, something to prove the Jordans had framed this whole thing.
But who would believe a broke live-in son-in-law over one of New York’s connected families?
The light buzzed louder, or maybe that was only in his head. He stopped pacing, pressing his palms to his temples.
Then it happened.
A sharp pain lanced through his skull like a migraine exploding behind his eyes. He staggered, grabbing the wall for support. His vision blurred with colors inverting. He dropped to his knees, gasping.
Words appeared in his mind, they were seen and not heard. Glowing blue letters hovering in the darkness behind his eyelids.
[Initializing Urban Ascendancy System…]
[Host in mortal danger. Emergency activation protocol engaged.]
[Scanning biological signature… Bradley Turner confirmed.]
[Binding complete.]
The pain receded as suddenly as it came. Bradley blinked, still on his knees. The cell looked the same, but something had changed inside him.
A translucent blue panel materialized in his field of vision, like augmented reality but crystal clear.
Welcome, Host Bradley Turner.
Urban Ascendancy System activated.
Purpose: Elevate host to pinnacle of urban society through knowledge, skills, and strategic empowerment.
Current Status:
Level: 1
Health: 68/100 (injured)
Strength: 12
Agility: 11
Intelligence: 15
Charisma: 8
Skills: None unlocked
Quests: 1 active
Points: 0
First Quest: Survive the Night
Objective: Neutralize immediate threats to life.
Reward: Basic Combat Module + 100 XP
Failure: Death
He stared, heart pounding. This couldn’t be real. Hallucination from a his concussion? Or possibly trauma?
But the panel felt solid and responsive. He thought “dismiss,” and it vanished. Thought “status,” and it reappeared.
Before he could process further, the slot in the door slid open. A guard’s face appeared, different from the earlier and younger.
“Turner. You’re moving back to general pop. Warden’s orders.”
Bradley stood slowly. “Already? Thought I was in for a week.”
Guard shrugged, avoiding eye contact. “Orders changed. Let’s go.”
He was cuffed through the slot, then the door opened. Two guards escorted him down the corridor, past other seg cells where shadows moved behind doors.
Back in Block C, the dorm was quieter than before. Men watched as he was uncuffed at his bunk. The three attackers were gone, either in medical or solitary, he didn’t know. But new eyes tracked him calculatively.
The system panel pinged softly in his mind.
[Threat detected. Three hostiles approaching in T-minus 2 minutes.]
Bradley’s pulse spiked. He sat on his bunk, feigning calm while scanning the room.
There, three different men this time. Bigger. Meaner. One with a teardrop tattoo under his eye, another with MS-13 ink on his neck. The third carried himself like a pro, with no wasted movement.
They spread out casually, pretending to head for the toilets, but angling toward his bunk.
Lights out hit right on schedule. Fluorescents off, dim reds on.
The dorm settled into murmurs and snores.
Then movement began.
The teardrop came first from the left, a garrote wire between his fists. MS-13 from the right with a shiv. Pro from the foot of the bunk, empty-handed but with deadly eyes.
Bradley rolled off the mattress just as the garrote whistled down. Wire sliced into the pillow causing feathers to exploded.
He hit the floor as the system kick in.
[Emergency boost activated. Adrenaline surge + temporary stat increase.]
Time sharpened. Sounds amplified. Muscles responded faster.
Teardrop yanked the wire free and swung again. Bradley ducked, grabbing the man’s wrist and twisting it in basic move, but powered now by unnatural strength. Bone snapped as the Teardrop howled.
MS-13 stabbed low. Bradley sidestepped, feeling the blade tug his jumpsuit but missing flesh. He drove his elbow into the man’s throat, guilded by the system. MS-13 dropped, choking.
Pro was on him instantly, he was fast and trained agreeing to the way he carried himself. A punch to the kidney that would’ve crippled normal Bradley. The pain flared, but the system dulled it.
[Health: 52/100]
Bradley spun, blocking the follow-up strike. Pro’s eyes widened in surprise at the resistance.
They grappled, slamming into bunks. Men woke, backing away. No one intervened.
Pro headbutted him. Stars exploded in Bradley’s vision.
[Health: 41/100]
Critical.
Bradley kneed Pro in the groin, breaking the clinch. He grabbed the fallen shiv from the floor close to MS-13 who was still wheezing yet held it out.
Pro paused, reassessing Bradley.
Then he smiled. “You’re dead anyway, man. They won’t stop.”
He lunged.
Bradley parried the grab, slashing across Pro’s forearm. Blood sprayed as Pro hissed but didn’t slow.
Teardrop was back up, one arm hanging limp, murder in his eyes. MS-13 rising too.
Three on one again.
Bradley backed toward the wall, the shiv was ready again.
[Quest update: Neutralize threats. Bonus for non-lethal.]
His mind flooded suddenly with knowledge downloading like files unzipping.
Joint locks, pressure points and nerve strikes.
Basic Combat Module installing…
He didn’t question it.
Teardrop charged blindly. Bradley sidestepped, chopping the broken arm’s elbow. Teardrop screamed while collapsing.
MS-13 hesitated. Bradley feinted high, swept low with a leg takedown. The man hit concrete hard. Bradley stomped the wrist holding a second hidden blade.
Pro came last, smart as before and patient.
He faked a punch and went for the shiv hand.
Bradley let him grab it, then twisting it using Pro’s momentum to flip him over his hip. Pro slammed into the floor with air exploding from his lungs.
Bradley dropped a knee into Pro’s chest, pointing the shiv at his throat.
“Tell me who sent you,” he growled.
Pro coughed blood while smiling. “You know who. Rich bitch with silver hair. She said we should make it hurt.”
Victoria was the only that fit that description.
The guards finally rushed in with batons and flashlights as their shouts ignites order.
“Break it up! On the ground!”
Bradley dropped the shiv, raising hands.
The three attackers were dragged away, bleeding and broken.
He was cuffed again, but this time the guards looked wary.
One muttered, “This guy is a goddamn ninja.”
Back in seg, the same cell he was brought from.
But now the panel glowed triumphantly.
[Quest Complete: Survive the Night]
[Reward: Basic Combat Module unlocked + 100 XP]
[Level Up! Current Level: 2]
[+3 stat points available]
[Health restored to 100/100]
Pain faded. Bruises lightened before his eyes.
Bradley sat on the slab, breathing steadily.
The system was real.
And it had just saved his life.
Outside New York, in the warm lights of the Jordan estate, Victoria’s phone rang at 2 a.m.
She answered with her voice crisp despite the hour.
“It’s done?” she asked.
A hesitant voice on the other end. “No, ma’am. He’s still breathing. Took down three of ours this time. Clean. Like he’s trained.”
Victoria’s grip tightened on the phone.
“Then send better ones,” she said coldly. “And tell them the price just doubled.”
She hung up, staring out at the snow beginning to fall.
In the cell, Bradley allocated his points, two to Strength, one to Agil
ity.
He closed his eyes with the blue interface dimming.
For the first time since the arrest, hope flickered.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
9: Prison survival mode.
Days passed by very fast with strict routine at Rikers Island which couldn't by bent by any means.The morning count was every 5:30 a.m. followed by the slop for breakfast and then yard time if the weather allowed, showers under lukewarm water that cut off too soon, endless hours in the dorm with nothing but concrete walls and the low hum of male voices. Bradley moved through it all with deliberate calm, his body was becoming stronger now and his senses sharper. The system had turned him into something new, someone patient, watchful and lethal when needed.The assassination attempts had stopped since other inmates were now scared of attacking him, but there were other means to silent a man without the use of brute force.Word had spread through the block like wildfire: the “dead man” who couldn’t be killed. Six professional hitters down in two nights, and he’d walked away without a scratch. Inmates gave him space and nods of respect in the chow line, some even offer extra dessert fro
8. Evelyn's true colour
The Jordan estate glowed like a jewel against the snowy night, every window lit warmly as if in celebration. Inside the drawing room, a fire crackled in the marble hearth, casting dancing shadows across antique furniture and oil paintings of long-dead ancestors. The air smelled of pine from the massive Christmas tree in the corner and the faint, expensive notes of Victoria’s favorite Chanel perfume.Three crystal flutes stood on the silver tray, champagne bubbling gently. Victoria lifted hers first, the diamonds on her wrist catching the firelight.“To the end of an unfortunate chapter,” she said, her voice smooth as silk.Leo clinked his glass against hers eagerly, wincing only slightly from the movement, his ribs still tender, but the sling was mostly for show now. “About damn time. I thought the bastard had nine lives.”Evelyn stood a step behind them, near the window overlooking the snow-covered gardens. She held her flute but hadn’t drunk yet. Her reflection stared back from the
7. System awakening
The isolation cell felt different now.Bradley sat cross-legged on the cold slab, eyes closed, the blue glow of the system interface illuminating his mind like a private screen. The pain from the second attack had vanished completely with bruises faded, cuts sealed, ribs no longer tender. Whatever this system was, it wasn’t just giving him strength in the moment. It was rewriting his body.He focused on the translucent panel.**Urban Ascendancy System****Host: Bradley Turner** **Level: 2** **XP: 100/500 to next level** **Health: 100/100** **Strength: 14** **Agility: 12** **Intelligence: 15** **Charisma: 8** **Available Points: 0****Skills Unlocked:** - Basic Combat Module (Level 1): Enhanced reflexes, instinctive knowledge of hand-to-hand techniques, pressure points, and improvised weapons.**Active Quests:** - None**New Notification: Daily Login Reward Available**He mentally selected the notification.[Daily Login Reward claimed: +50 XP, Minor Healing Potion x
6. The assassin's shadow
The isolation cell was a tomb.Six by eight feet, poured concrete on all sides, a steel door with a narrow slot for food trays. No window. A single fluorescent bulb behind wire mesh buzzed overhead, never turning off. Bradley sat on the bare slab that served as a bed, knees drawn up, staring at the wall. His ribs throbbed with every breath; the cut on his forearm had scabbed over, but the bruises were blooming purple and yellow.Twenty-four hours in seg for “his own protection,” the guard had said with a smirk. Protection from what came next, more likely.He replayed the fight in his mind, the three men, their coordinated attack, the glint of the shiv. They hadn’t been random. Though paid to make it look like a typical prison beating gone fatal. The Jordans’ reach stretched even here, into the bowels of Rikers.He leaned his head back against the cold wall, sleep felt dangerous. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Maya’s face, heard Evelyn’s silence as the cuffs clicked shut.A clan
5. First night in hell
The clang of metal doors echoed like gunshots as Bradley was escorted into Block C at Rikers Island. The guard, a thick-necked man with a shaved head and a name tag reading “Ortiz” shoved him forward with casual indifference.“Home sweet home, Turner. Bunk 42. Touch nothing that ain’t yours, and maybe you’ll last the week.”Bradley stepped into the dorm, the stench hitting him first: a mix of sweat, bleach, mold, and something sour he didn’t want to identify. Sixty bunks lined the walls in two tiers, most occupied by men who looked up with predatory curiosity. Tattoos crawled up necks and arms; eyes assessed him like fresh meat.He kept his gaze forward, walking the narrow aisle to bunk 42 bottom, near the toilets, as expected. The thin mattress was stained yellow in places, the pillow flat and gray. He dropped his issued bedding roll onto it and began making the bed with mechanical precision, the way he’d learned in the brief intake orientation.Conversations resumed around him, but
4. Arrested and betrayed
The back of the police cruiser smelled like old vinyl, stale coffee, and something faintly metallic, maybe blood from previous passengers. Bradley sat with his hands cuffed behind him, the metal biting into his wrists every time the car hit a pothole. The two officers up front spoke in low murmurs, occasionally glancing at him in the rearview mirror. One was young, fresh-faced, almost apologetic. The older one had the weary eyes of someone who’d seen too many domestic calls in neighborhoods like the Upper East Side.Bradley stared out the window as Manhattan blurred past holiday lights strung across brownstones, doormen hailing cabs, couples in wool coats hurrying toward restaurants. Normal life. A world he’d been part of, but never really belonged to.His mind replayed the scene in the foyer: Victoria’s cold triumph, Leo’s smug grin despite the bruises, and Evelyn… Evelyn turning away. That fleeting look of relief on her face haunted him more than the cuffs. He’d caught it just befor
You may also like
The Rise Of The Unknown Zillionaire Heir
Gem Lynne161.5K viewsRise Of The Sole Heir
Estypen78.6K viewsTop Expert in Floraville
Earth at Dawn171.1K viewsEthan Nightangle Rises To Power
Dragon Sly98.9K viewsRISE OF THE FALLEN HEIR
Angela Dunlap277 viewsTHE HEALER'S LAST LEGACY
Angka sara231 viewsGod-Level Tycoon: Rise of the Nobody
Alia Writes 1.0K viewsALL HAIL THE GOLDMASTER
Fountainpen1.1K views