Unlimited Transaction System

Property God’s Challenge

The screen of my phone reflected my wide eyes. That blood-red sentence seemed to burn itself into my retinas.

"...from another System user."

"Damn it!" I cursed, nearly hurling the phone onto the asphalt.

My blood surged violently, no longer from anger, but from a horrifying new reality. All this time, I had believed I was the only predator empowered by this System. But tonight, beneath Arkadia's pitch-black sky, I realized I was nothing more than another chess piece on a board far larger than I had ever imagined. There was another monster out there.

And it had just laughed at me.

"Mr. Arkan? Are you alright?" Elena stepped closer, her aura instantly shifting into tactical alertness as she noticed the drastic change in my expression.

"We've been set up, Elena," I hissed, my jaw locked tight as I squeezed my phone until my knuckles turned white. "Our short selling... someone hijacked it. Someone who knew exactly what I was thinking. Contact the field team at Green Oasis right now! We're going there tonight!"

The drive to the outskirts of the city felt like torture.

Instead of fading, the tension lingered into the following morning. The roar of excavators at the Green Oasis construction site, which should have sounded like a symphony of progress, now rang in my ears like the tolling of a funeral bell.

"Stop! Shut down every machine! By the authority of the law, evacuate this area immediately!"

The booming shout snapped me out of my thoughts as my black SUV came to a stop outside the project gate.

I jumped out, my boots landing on the dry, dusty ground. Ahead of me, the construction workers were surrounded by a group of city inspection officers.

But what truly caught my attention was the middle-aged man standing among them.

Dressed in an expensive linen suit and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, he stood arrogantly, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve as though my entire project was filth contaminating his world.

It was Hendra.

The so-called Property God, the mastermind behind this sabotage.

"Mr. Arkan," he said, his voice dripping with condescension the moment he saw me. He glanced at his luxurious watch, deliberately ignoring the fact that I was the rightful owner of this land. "Such a shame your journey has to end so soon, young man. This morning, we received a report regarding structural zoning violations in the southern sector of this project. Under Arkadia's bureaucratic regulations, we have the authority to seize this property until the investigation is complete. Let's say... the next six months?"

Six months.

This bastard knew perfectly well that if my liquid assets were frozen for that long, my System would fall into a negative balance and collapse.

I walked straight toward him, closing the distance with a razor-sharp stare.

Elena followed exactly one step behind me. Her fingers subtly shifted beneath her blazer, ready to incapacitate Hendra's personal security team if things escalated.

"Hendra, we're both adults," I said, forcing a faint smile despite the storm raging inside my chest. "Playing cat and mouse by hiding behind corrupt officials like this... isn't it a little childish for someone of your stature? Just tell me the number you want so an old lion like you will stop barking on my property."

Hendra chuckled.

The sound was dry, grating, and unpleasant.

"It's not money, Arkan! You think I need your pocket change?" His voice suddenly rose, his eyes blazing with hatred. "I want your head! You dared destroy the Dirgantara family, and now you're trying to piss all over my territory?! There's not enough money in this world to buy back your neck after you've walked straight into my trap!"

DING!

A golden notification appeared in the corner of my vision.

[SYSTEM FEATURE ACTIVATED: Weakness Analysis (Perk)]

Object Detected: Hendra (Three Pillars Group).

Status: Using an Illegal Business Permit (Forged Environmental Impact Assessment Certification Documents) issued by the Licensing Department last month.

Counter Opportunity: Leak the documents anonymously to the public.

A predatory smile spread across my lips.

The panic caused by last night's mysterious message vanished instantly, replaced by adrenaline that reignited my hunger for battle.

So, the mighty Property God was standing on a rotten, filthy foundation.

"Elena," I whispered without taking my eyes off Hendra. "Send the Three Pillars environmental permit manipulation files we pulled from their server last night to the Arkadia Daily newsroom. Copy them directly to the Chief Prosecutor's office as well. Now."

Elena didn't ask a single question.

"Already processing, sir," she whispered.

Her skilled fingers danced across the transparent display wrapped around her wrist.

"Done."

Completely unaware of what had just happened, Hendra took another step forward, attempting to intimidate me physically.

"Why are you so quiet? Scared? Don't act so cocky just because you're some snot-nosed brat in this city! Go ahead! Seal the site! Seize every piece of heavy equipment immediately!"

"Hold on, Mr. Hendra."

The interruption came not from a person, but from the loud ringing of a phone.

Not mine.

Not Elena's.

It was the phone inside Hendra's suit pocket.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he yanked it out.

"What?! It's me! Don't bother me while I'm executing this little rat... WHAT?! What did you just say?! Where did the media get those documents?! Damn it, delete them, now..."

Hendra's words died in his throat.

The fury burning across his face drained away, leaving him as pale as freshly painted concrete.

His phone slipped from his hand and crashed into the dusty ground.

He slowly looked up at me.

His eyes trembled with absolute terror.

"You... how do you have those internal documents?"

"Just doing a little environmental cleanup, Hendra," I said, lowering my voice into a cold whisper inches from his face. "I heard Three Pillars' stock is in free fall because of a nationwide permit forgery scandal. Isn't it ironic? A so-called Property God buried alive beneath the ruins of his own lies."

The inspection officers who had been acting so aggressively moments ago exchanged anxious glances.

One by one, they slowly backed away, realizing the powerful man paying them had just become a legal corpse.

"What's our next move, Arkan?" Elena asked, ignoring Hendra, who now sat limply on the ground, stripped of every ounce of dignity.

"Leave him here to rot," I answered flatly as I turned toward the SUV. "Construction at Green Oasis continues. By the end of today, every asset owned by Three Pillars will be frozen by the government."

The moment we returned to the soundproof cabin of the SUV, the System chimed again with satisfying clarity.

[QUEST COMPLETED: Construction Rescue Operation.]

Reward: 500 billion dollars credited to your primary account balance.

Additional Status: Domino Effect activated. Other Great Families have begun watching your actions with fear.

Elena started the engine and glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

"What's our next target? The remaining Three Pillars shares are being auctioned off for next to nothing because of the market panic."

I leaned back and closed my eyes for a moment, easing the pounding in my temples.

"Sell the minority shares we bought at the peak this afternoon when the market makes a slight correction. After that, we change strategies. We're not targeting buildings anymore, Elena. We're taking over the bank holding their debt."

Elena smiled.

It was a rare smile, revealing a trace of admiration beneath her normally icy expression.

"You're more than just a market monster now, Arkan. You're starting to think like a king."

"Not a king," I replied quietly, staring toward the towering skyscrapers of the Financial District, which looked like chess pieces waiting to be toppled. "Kings always feel safe on their thrones. Me? I'm a predator that's still hungry."

But just as our SUV sped through the streets of Arkadia, a familiar icy sensation crawled up the back of my neck.

The dashboard display suddenly flickered uncontrollably.

The stock market charts Elena had been monitoring distorted into static-filled lines.

The car speakers emitted a deafening burst of interference before transforming into a heavily modulated digital laugh.

"Excellent work bringing down Three Pillars, Arkan. But... did you really think that environmental permit scandal was your own discovery?"

The voice laughed again.

It sounded relaxed, yet every word pierced like a knife.

"I was the one who opened a hole in their firewall last night so your System could read those files. I deliberately fed my little pawn to make this game more entertaining. Enjoy this hollow victory, Arkan... because in the next chapter, I'll be taking over everything inside your head."

The System in my vision suddenly flashed a deep crimson, displaying a warning I had never seen before.

[WARNING: Your Device Has Been Infiltrated by a High-Level Competitor System. Consciousness Synchronization Is in Danger.]

My breathing stopped.

So did my heart.

I looked at Elena, who slammed on the brakes with panic written across her face.

Surrounded by the dazzling lights of Arkadia, I realized something that sent a violent shiver through my soul.

I wasn't the hunter.

I was the one being herded into a cage by another System user whose power was far beyond anything I could control.