The morning after the breach, the warehouse smelled like desperation.
Cigarette smoke hung in the air. Empty duffel bags lay scattered across the floor, tossed like used tissues. Joey "Snaps" Trujillo stood in the center, eyes red, lips cracked, phone in hand. His world had collapsed overnight—and no one could tell him how.
"No backup wallets?" he asked again, voice dry, trembling.
A trembling lackey shook his head. "N-None. They're either frozen, wiped, or traced. Boss, someone knew every step of our laundering network."
Joey's knuckles cracked as he crushed the burner phone in his fist.
This wasn't some hacker playing Robin Hood.
This was targeted.
Someone came for him.
"Who the hell even knew I was running BrikWallet?" he muttered.
He turned to his crew. "How long was it compromised?"
"Could've been days," someone offered. "But no one touched anything until last night."
That meant one thing: whoever did this was watching.
Joey swallowed hard. He didn't do fear. He ran fear. But this? This was different.
Then came the voice.
"Joey Trujillo. This is your first warning."
"Your sins have a price. And I'm here to collect."
Even now, it echoed in his mind.
He couldn't sleep. Couldn't think.
How did they know?
He picked up a burner—one of the last—and dialed a number labeled simply: Langford.
📍Langford Holdings – Private Office
David Langford sat behind a desk made of imported obsidian, polished so smooth you could see your sins in the reflection. He listened in silence as Joey ranted on the other end.
When the call ended, David spoke to the assistant waiting beside him.
"Find out what security Joey was using. Full audit. Tap his devices. I want to know who did this."
"And if it's a hacker?"
David's eyes narrowed.
"It's not a hacker. It's a problem."
📍Old Apartment, Rooftop – 8:11 AM
Ethan leaned back in a creaky chair, legs propped on a rusted A/C unit. The city buzzed beneath him, unaware that someone new had taken their first bite out of its underworld.
[System Log Update]
Power Points Earned: 4
New Balance: 9 PP
Net Worth: $1,240.51
Automated Earnings – Active: +$53/day (Growing)
He opened the Tier I Skill Store and browsed like it was a gaming menu. The feeling still felt surreal—like life had turned into a strategy sim and he was the only one holding the controller.
[Purchase: Financial Spoofing I – 3 PP] ✅
[Skill Unlocked: Create flawless aliases and digital IDs.]
The moment he confirmed the purchase, a name appeared in gold:
Alias Created: Elijah Crane
– 24 years old
– Trust fund heir to Crane Medical Group
– Verified accounts, perfect paper trail
– Initial System Credit: $250,000 (locked behind reputation checks)
Ethan smirked.
"Let's give them a new billionaire to obsess over."
He spent 2 more PP on Drone Reinforcement I. The small surveillance unit hovering nearby glowed briefly before vanishing into full invisibility.
[Drone Upgraded: Battery +60%, Cloaking Added, Speed Increased.]
"Now I can track them without anyone noticing," Ethan muttered. "Perfect."
📍Downtown – Langford Holdings (Later that Day)
David Langford stared at the internal audit report on Joey's warehouse operation.
120K in crypto: wiped.
Private servers: breached.
Surveillance cams: scrambled.
Data trail: non-existent.
He didn't care about Joey's cash.
He cared about control.
If someone had the tech to bypass his firewalls… they were a threat.
"Have the digital security team call me. We're upgrading firewalls, switching comms. Wipe every associate's phone. Now."
His assistant nodded, then paused. "Sir, there's… one more thing."
A tablet was passed to him. On it was a livestream clip that had gone semi-viral on a niche tech forum.
Footage of Joey screaming in his warehouse.
Audio distortion. That voice.
"Your sins have a price."
David stared at the screen for ten whole seconds.
Then, slowly, he smiled.
"So… a ghost with teeth."
He looked out the window.
"Let's see what you really want."
📍Café Hideout – 9:43 PM
Ethan reviewed the video himself. He'd leaked it through a proxy server to stir fear—specifically in David. He knew the man was paranoid. The moment he saw Joey crumble, he'd take notice.
The real question now was: Would he retaliate or investigate?
It didn't matter.
Because Ethan wasn't going to wait.
He clicked open the Investment Panel.
[New Investment Path Discovered: Langford Holdings – Risk: High]
– Market Volatility: Stable
– Insider Access Bonus (due to System-created alias): +20%
– Warning: Any loss will trigger System Alert
Do you wish to initiate a shadow stake using Elijah Crane's identity?
[Y/N]
Ethan didn't even hesitate.
"Yes."
📍The Next Morning
Langford Holdings stock quietly surged. Unknown to the world, one of their top 10 private shareholders was now a man who didn't exist.
Ethan Cross.
Operating under a lie.
Fueled by a system born for conquest.
"They made me poor," Ethan said quietly, closing his laptop.
"So I'll bankrupt their world… one deal at a time."