Awaited Announcement

[Shadow Inc.]

It had such a shady and… unappealing name, but somehow had grown to the point of having a representative on a seat of the United Human Council! This meant that it was an entity that, based on nothing but financial activities, reached the level of a giant like Frost Group.

What was even more interesting was that despite being part of the Frost Group which wanted his blood; mainly the stone he had found and not his blood as such, Shadow Inc. still did reach for his identity through the bank they owned, nor revealed such information to anyone.

Although they did plenty of underhanded things in the past to get to where they are right now, and did plenty of unethical, immoral, and outright illegal things to try and capture Jack, it seemed that they would do anything but reveal information about a customer.

Since they were like that, Jack simply could not think of a better place to store the money he would use for the transactions. This way, the person who bought around 2.8% of United VR and then sold just after the price soared would remain a mystery, as all the money would be sent through this account, then the shares would remain in the name of the account instead of Jack's name, and after selling them back, the money would be sent back to the account, without his presence throughout the entire process.

However, before accessing it, he had to mask his Network Access Code, or the NAC for short. Normal people could just use a free-to-use Virtual Private Network to hide their traces from the website they were accessing. However, if someone was already following you, they could just as easily hack into the VPN database if they so wished. Worse, they could just buy a few staff members of the company to sell everything you did. Although a VPN would stop the websites you accessed from tracing you back, they intern traced you back all the way to the source and kept as much information as possible, to be sold to the websites if they so wish to purchase it.

{Author's notes: I take no responsibility for what is written here. I am not involved in the writing of this part. It was all my brain's doing. If you have any complaints, or mistakes to point out, first book an appointment with my brain. Pls do not comment or contact me otherwise.}

Therefore, Jack instead opened up the command prompt on his phone. Yes, such a thing was actually possible even on the phone. Only, when he did that, everything else would stop working, and instead, he needed to use an external keyboard to use his phone. Essentially, his phone would work as the CPU and the monitor of a computer, and no longer a touch screen.

Thankfully, Jack had a spare keyboard and a mouse, which he had used with his old computer before it just gave up on life a few years ago.

The knowledge he had learned in his 5 years in the military had given him incredible knowledge not just in armed and unarmed combat, but also technical expertise which were not available to normal citizens. This included being able to hide himself from low-end tracking software, as well as high-end tracking software. Naturally, he was also given some amount of information on hacking and the likes, but by no means would he actually be able to hack into even the most basic of website databases. It was just enough for him to know what to do if and when being hacked or tracked.

Jack completed an hour-long set of coding, which took him such a long time to get right because in the military, after his training, he never had to actually do any of this stuff. After all, there were dedicated technicians and support troops who would handle everything while he and the others like him would just handle the fighting.

After that, he executed it, but unfortunately, there was a compiling error.

Back to the beginning it was.

Nearly an hour later, he finally completed the work, and by now, the sun was setting and it was time for breakfast. Therefore, after hiding his phone from all forms of tracking and hacking, Jack exited the command prompt, and went down for another blissful breakfast with his family.

Once he was at school, he spent some time with Ava and Max, telling them that what he was doing was a secret, and that if they got to know right now, they would think he was crazy. But if he revealed it at the right time, things would make a lot more sense. Thankfully, neither Ava nor Max were the least bit bothered by the credits Jack had taken from them. Surprisingly, Ava seemed even less bothered than Max, which was odd considering the amount she had given.

However, after school, Jack dropped Freya and Max's sister at their homes and went to the place under the bridge to tell them a little secret.

"So, I found out about this bank, which is like a secret bank. It can stop any money you want, and no one without your DNA, your password, and your pin can access it once you create it. Not even the Human council." He said mysteriously, to distract them from asking what he would be doing with the money.

"Look, I'll create one right now." He said, casually whipping out his phone.

…

In an invisible hover-car, the same two men in their black suits and black sunglasses were staring, utterly dumbfounded at the situation. The tracker they had placed on the 5,000 credits transferred to Jack had been completely blocked off since late in the evening, but they only realised it just now due to having arrived at a similar location as before, with Jack being the centre of their focus.

While this was happening, they could also see that the Jack they were already shocked about was not accessing the incredibly secretive and highly restricted 'Shadow Inc.,' website, and even freely creating an account without a single worry in the world.

"Reporting in. The tracker on transferred funds has been frozen. Target is accessing Shadow Inc., likely to create an account and transfer funds received into it, making it impossible to recover. Orders?" One of the men in black suits immediately reported the odd turn of events exactly as they were.

"Roger. Proceed to neutralise- Halt! The Boss's daughter is right there. How can you guys act right now! Just let it happen. It is only 5,000 credits. If it is gone then so be it, as long as the young lady is happy. Remember your task you big idiots! Just sit tight and observe."

"Understood Sir!" The other man who had been too dumbfounded to say anything until now spoke up before cutting the connection.

"Now what?" The other man asked.

"What else? We sit tight and observe" said the first man before returning to his task of observing.

"Right. After all, that is our task. To sit tight and observe." The other man repeated before nodding.

…

"Don't look" Jack said as he turned away from the two of them, and leaned his back against the pillar supporting the bridge, thus making it nearly impossible for someone to spy on him as he created his pin and password, as even allowed the scanner of the touchscreen phone to scan his DNA.

Unfortunately, since his model was a physical touch screen and not the latest holographic device, it took nearly an hour before his DNA was finished scanning, before he turned around and showed off his new bank account to them. It was a rather simple design.

==========

Name: J*** G***

Alias: GH0STZ0NE12

Rank: Bronze

Age: **

Location: Territory of the United Human Council, ******* ***** Galaxy, *********** Star Cluster, *** **** ** Star System, ******* Planet.

Bank Balance: 5,640 credits

Assets: None

Liabilities: N/A

==========

This censored information would not be available even to the very owners of Shadow Inc. themselves, just to prove how trustworthy the bank truly was. And this was also the reason why Jack Chose this bank.

After a while of discussing with Max and Ava about random things, Jack returned him and immediately went back on the news. He was waiting for the share price of United VR to drop to 1 credit. If he could just get the timing right, he should be able to pull back a cool 78,000 credits before the release of Tether. He might even be able to rent out the 1 bedroom home, as well as purchase the capsule before the release of the game, preventing him from potentially wasting almost all of his collected funds on just the capsule.

…

Without wasting time on having dinner with the excuse that he was busy with school homework, Jack entered the stock exchange and waited. The message for countless new manufacturers having entered the VR capsule manufacturing market occurred just on schedule as the shares for the existing companies began t spiral out of control.

[United VR: 9.8 credits]

[United VR: 9.3 credits]

[United VR: 8.9 credits]

[United VR: 8.5 credits]

…

[United VR: 1.2 credits]

[United VR: 1.0 credits]

Immediately, Jack spent all of his money on buying 5230 shares of the company. Of course, the stock exchange itself, as well as the government took their 'fair share' of the transaction. Nevertheless, this meant that he now owned 2.61% of the total company. And now, the waiting game began…

It was times like these, when it felt like the world was moving in slow motion. After reaching the low of 1 credit, the share price refused to fall any lower, and Jack was simply waiting for the moment the change in management, as well as the various reforms were announced. If he times it just right, he might even be able to snag up a premium build VR capsule which might have cost around 1,000,000 for just 70,000 due to a large number of new entrants into the market, causing a crash in the price.

{Author's Notes: These are simple economics. If you don't understand, it's fine. Just know that he might be able to get a high discount on the highest-end capsuled if he bought at the right time.}

He had read about this in a paper, where a few people who had bought a few hundred shares of the company just as a keepsake of the past era, suddenly saw their investments increase by a chilling 200 times. What they regretted the most was not having spent more credits to get more of the shares, since these people has spent just a few tens of credits which they had laying around to buy a few tens of shares.

Jack on the other hand had spent all of his collected 5640 credits.

About an hour later, the notification of the change in management and the changes they would make with immediate effect. And just like that, the prices of the shares began to skyrocket out of control.

[United VR: 1.1 credits]

[United VR: 1.3 credits]

[United VR: 1.6 credits]

[United VR: 2.0 credits]

[United VR: 2.5 credits]

[United VR: 3.1 credits]

[United VR: 3.8 credits]

[United VR: 4.6 credits]

[United VR: 5.5 credits]

[United VR: 6.5 credits]

[United VR: 8 credits]

[United VR: 10 credits]

[United VR: 14 credits]

[United VR: 15 credits]

However, unlike his previous life, this time around, the price did not just stop at 15, and instead rose for a bit more before coming to a stop.

[United VR: 16.5 credits]

[United VR: 16.5 credits]

Seeing that the price had peaked, Jack immediately sold all his shares and cashed them into credits. The yield this time was larger than he had predicted which might be a good thing in this case, however, it walks meant that his tiny actions which differed from what he had originally done might have changed the course of history.

He needed to be a lot more careful of relying completely on his knowledge of the future for things from now on, as they might no longer be as accurate as he thought they were.

Right now however, Jack was on a time crunch, as he immediately opened the government renting website and rented out the more expensive, and much closer apartment, immediately signing the paperwork and making the payment of the first month's rent of 150 credits as well as the deposit of 1,000 credits to be returned with interest of 1% p.a. whenever Jack exits the contract.

Since this was completed through the government website, the government was essentially taking responsibility from both sides that they will honour the agreement, else the government themselves will take the necessary action to suffice for the party who was harmed through the contract.

With about 85,000 credits left in his account, Jack immediately went to the website of the most famous VR manufacturer, and the only company in the manufacturing industry whose share price did not fall one bit even after the entry of so many new companies; VR Gaming.

Of course, although its share price did not fall due to confidence in the company itself, as well as speculation, the prices of all the products were immediately reduced by anywhere between 40 and 80% due to the oversupply which would occur soon.

After sorting the filter to display the products with the greatest discount, Jack immediately saw one particular one which caught his eye.

It was a premium VR capsule, one of the very best that the company sold commercially. It now costs only 73,000 credits, and within that price, many things were included like; Medical insurance for the user, 4-year warranty for the product, a secured electricity and internet connection (+ installation charges), Insurance for the product itself in case of destruction due to naturally or man-made calamity (Not including theft, fraud or otherwise), as well as a VIP level 2 certification from VR Gaming which would entitle him for a 10% discount on any and all future purchases.

With all the additional costs and taxes, the total came upto 79,000 credits, eerily close to the total amount he had in his Shadow Inc., account.

Immediately with the transaction, his account had nearly been completely emptied out, with just barely 6,000 credits.

Of course, without even thinking about it, he immediately sent back the 5,000 he had borrowed from Ava, and the 600 he had borrowed from the shy yet buff Max.

"Thank you for the help, and the trust you put in me. I will be sure to repay this in the future. Yours truly, Jack Grey" was the message he sent with the transfer of credits, leaving his Shadow Inc., account almost completely empty, with just a few tens of credits remaining.

Now he had everything he needed, and all he needed to do was to wait, wait for 'them' to make an entrance into the galactic stage that was this universe.

He did not go to sleep, and instead waited, because as soon as it was noon, about midnight for him and his family, the entire world would be shocked. However, since some things had already begun to change, he did not know how this would change, and did not want to take the chance of sleeping through the announcement in case it was early, or later.