The call came in suddenly, catching Chris off guard even though he had been waiting for it.“Hello, sir.” Chris began respectfully.He knew this was his benefactor and couldn't afford to offend him.“Drop the formalities, I'm not some old guy. You might even be older than me.” Ethan remarked from the other end, his casual demeanor catching Chris off guard.“Uhmm…”“Hah, never mind. I'll send one of my representatives over to handle the negotiations.”“You won't be coming?”“No, I have other things to do, one of which includes tracking down the hacker that hacked your company.”Chris furrowed his brows. “I don't understand.” Ethan sighed. “Tell me, Chris. Was there any investigation into what happened to your company?”“Barely,” Chris replied in slight annoyance. He still remembered how the cops led him around by the nose while giving fake promises.After everything, he ended up with nothing to show for it.It had been the most frustrating moment in his life.“Thought as much. I need
Ethan left Ricky's place with more questions than he had answers to.The organization that had approached Ricky to purchase the security codes of Rix was an anonymous conglomerate that had been active for more than a decade.An entire ring of hackers had hacked so many companies from around the world, with almost a hundred trillion in stolen funds.Ethan wasn't sure if he could take them on without putting his friends at risk but then, he began to understand what Mr. Brewster had meant about Reginald having quite a bit of backing when he'd stolen the money from Players.Taking a moment to weigh his options, he soon decided on his next course of action.He got into his car and left the vicinity, returning home before using his laptop to get into the dark web.Once there, it was child's play to reach out to a member of the organization.Just as he waited for a response, Ethan put on the mask he used to play his role as Ghost.A video soon appeared on the screen, revealing a masked perso
Ethan was worried as if the Titan's Heart was truly as dangerous as the system said it was, which meant it couldn't possibly be given to any single person to wield.Sure it could be useful as an alternative source of power but the fact that it was being sold in Nomansland, instead of an official auction meant that those who would be coming for it wouldn't be law-abiding citizens.The chances of that thing being weaponized were enough to leave Ethan worried.The lady chuckled as she replied. “Don't worry, I can already tell that you are worried that I'll end up using the Heart as a weapon.”“You don't?”“I'm more interested in computers and the like. Weapons are not my forte.”“I see.”“However, I do need you to claim it.”“Why?”“Because my benefactor claims that you are the best person to retrieve the item.”“Who is your benefactor?”“A member of the Neutral faction.” Ethan frowned. “You could have gotten anyone else.”“But they would be tempted by the power within the heart.”“And
Having been liberated from Lucius, Mira didn't want to rely on anyone ever again.She wished to be independent as she felt that if only her mother was independent, she wouldn't have decided to marry a bastard like Lucius.Worried that Ethan would someday change and kick them out or maybe he'd be forced to kick them out for some reason, Mira felt the need to prepare properly for that day.Even if it meant going back to work at Panda's Gate, it would all be worth it as long as she could properly cater for her siblings.Also, even though she couldn't go to school, she wanted Rodney and Lulu to have that privilege, especially for Lulu since the little child was not completely okay.But Ethan was telling her she couldn't work anymore and so, she got scared.What if he wanted to turn her into a maid without pay?... At that moment, she found herself falling back into the PTSD Lucius gave her causing her to instinctively tremble.Anna reached out to softly touch her palm at that moment, drawi
“Ethan,” Anna called out softly, jolting Ethan from his thoughts.Letting out a sigh, Ethan released Lulu's hand. “It's not a mental illness.” “But then why isn't she reacting?” Mira inquired, relieved to know that her sister wasn't sick as she had initially thought.Ethan replied with a weak smile. “Don't worry about it, I'll find a way to help little Lulu.”“But…”“Trust me.” Ethan intoned, cutting her off.Mira hesitated but after everything, if she couldn't even trust him, who else would she trust?So, reluctantly, she nodded. “Alright.”Letting out a sigh, Ethan intoned. “Anna…”“Don't worry, I've already been looking into several schools for the kids. Was only waiting for your presence to bring it up.”“Plan on using my money without my permission?” Ethan teased with Anna snorting.“I am quite well off, thank you very much.”Their little banter lightened the mood at the breakfast table with everyone chuckling.“Alright, since you already have that down, that's fine. Make sure i
Khalid could hardly believe his ears as he stared at Kiara in utter disbelief.If it were fellow gamers on par with him, he wouldn't have felt so insulted but for some random nobody to be paired up with Kiara alone caused Khalid's blood to boil.What the hell made the bastard good enough that he didn't have?He immediately glared at Ethan with the desire to put him in his place.“You must be him, right?” Khalid began, barely hiding the animosity he felt towards Ethan.Kiara tried to intervene as she remarked. “Can you just stop this?”“Shut up!” Khalid spat coldly. “I wasn't talking to you.” Taken aback, Kiara was just about to strike back in a similar vein when Ethan raised a hand, asking that she calm down.Seeing this, Khalid grew even more incensed as he glared hatefully at Ethan.“I don't know what you are talking about.” Ethan calmly remarked causing Khalid to snort.“The fucking wannabe that managed to win first place at Mr. Brewster's housewarming game competition.”“I wouldn
“You didn't have to do that.” Kiara pointed out as Ethan led her to his car.“Do what?”“Humiliate Khalid like that.” Ethan shrugged. “He was asking for it.” “Hah, I guess so. But now, the day is far spent and we can't carry out our training any longer.” Ethan chuckled. “Who said I didn't train?... I trained and you watched. Now, you get to train while recalling my gameplay.”“You're joking, right?” Kiara inquired with furrowed brows.Ethan grinned. “Nope.”Kiara nearly facepalmed as she got into the passenger seat with Ethan getting in as well.“Now then, I believe it's time we go and teach a certain Jason a lesson in humility,” Ethan remarked before proceeding to start the engine and drive away.Just then, the headlights of a car hidden in the shadows turned on after which the driver of the car spoke into a walkie-talkie. “Target is on the move. He has company.” “Noted. We'll cut him off, you come from behind.”“No problem.”***The drive was smooth and Kiara found herself enjoy
The middle-aged man took one look at the black card on the floor and then back at Ethan before stepping forward to pick up the card.“I presume we have a deal.” Ethan calmly remarked.“It would be difficult to convince others.” The middle-aged man intoned.“Then it would be difficult to not do something we'd both regret next time. So for the sake of those too stupid to understand, you'd best convince them.” Ethan candidly said without mincing words.The middle-aged man nodded. “I'll make sure to pass across the message.”“Pleasure doing business with you.” Ethan intoned before adding. “Also, I'll be taking your car.”The man tried to speak but glancing at Ethan's car that had been totalled by the truck, he replied. “No problem.”Satisfied with the response, Ethan walked back to the messed up car and picked up Kiara after which he made his way toward the middle-aged man's car.Once in, he drove away without issue, leaving the man and his thugs who weren't pleased that Ethan was left al