The three thousand dollars that Judge Hemlock had given him was only a temporary solution. While it was enough to pay the rent for his workshop and buy groceries for another week, but Ace could already see it running out. He felt a constant, low-level anxiety that never went away; it was like a quiet buzzing in the back of his head that he was beginning to accept as a normal part of his life. To make matters worse, the System remained completely silent, offering him no new tasks or easy ways out. It simply existed in the background like a silent guard, waiting for him to make a mistake.
The money from Ramos's jobs was tainted, as if it were a leash around his neck keeping him under control. Meanwhile, the money he made from Aegis's clients felt dirty in another way, making him feel like his entire life was built on the foundation of other people's corruption. He knew he needed to find a different source of income—something that was truly and purely his own.
