"Get out. Get the fuck out!"
Just like that, his uncle threw him out of his own house.
"You ungrateful kid," his uncle shouted. "You're lucky I don't drag you to the office right now. You're fucked, kid. And that stupid brother of mine who left you behind—fuck him. Fuck you. You're nothing but a problem. Get the hell out, and I swear, dare to show up again, and I will fuck you up!"
His body was already bruised—marks left by his uncle, a police officer who had taken the house by force. Dex stood on the front steps with a duffel bag at his feet, the door already shut behind him.
Cold air crept through his thin jacket, biting at skin that still ached from earlier. He didn't bother knocking again. He already knew how that would end.
So much for family.
The house had belonged to his parents. After they died, his uncle—a police officer—had shown up with paperwork, uniforms, and enough authority to make resistance pointless.
There had been no discussion with him. Just signatures, threats wrapped in legal language, and the quiet understanding that fighting back would only make things worse.
Dex checked his phone.
Balance: $10.42
He exhaled slowly. Not enough for food for more than a day—let alone rent for a month. Night Valley was already slipping toward freezing, the street empty in a way that made the city feel indifferent rather than asleep.
One bad decision from his father. That was all it had taken.
The valley didn't offer much comfort. In the distance, rows of towering skyscrapers cut into the night sky, each one filled with companies he would never set foot in again. Their lights burned steadily, cold and distant, sending a message that didn't need words.
You're poor. Deal with it.
They called this place a city of dreamers. People came here chasing titles, startups, and billion-dollar valuations. Everyone thought they'd be the exception.
Most of them weren't.
For every success story plastered across the screens, there were hundreds who disappeared quietly—chewed up by debt, bad timing, or one mistake they never recovered from.
[ERROR…]
[Decision Record Detected…]
Dex stopped. "What… was that?"
He pulled out his phone, checking the screen. No notifications. No pop-ups. No glitchy apps running in the background, it was just his phone as usual. The streetlights hummed softly above him.
Dex shook his head and slipped the phone back into his pocket. Stress did strange things to people. Hallucinations, maybe. Lack of sleep. Cold. It wouldn't be the first time tonight had tried to mess with him.
He'd had a life once.
A scholarship.
A degree in business and management.
A stable job as an analyst.
For a while, everything had actually lined up—until it collapsed in a single night. Somehow, his father had vanished and left behind a ten-million-dollar debt owed to the wrong people.
They didn't bother being subtle.
They showed up at his office armed with pistols and baseball bats, making their point in front of everyone who mattered. His employer didn't hesitate. The moment Dex became a risk, he was gone.
His girlfriend left somewhere in the middle of it all. She said he'd changed. Said he couldn't give her what she wanted. Dex didn't argue. There was nothing left worth defending.
Later, he found out she'd been seeing someone else for months.
The son of a CEO.
The kind of generational richness that he could only dream of.
Footsteps sounded behind him.
Dex didn't turn right away. He already knew.
Three men stood a few steps back, broad shoulders filling the narrow sidewalk.
"I don't have money," Dex said, stopping.
The tallest one smiled. "Good. We're not here for that."
Their hands clamped down on his arms, and his shoulders were slammed into the brick wall right next to him.
"Hold him!"
The man injected something into his body. Suddenly, the world slowed down, every voice became dull, and he lost the feelings into both of his legs. His consciousness slipped slowly until he couldn't do anything more.
[SSS Billionaire System Activated]
What a weird life.