Ultimate Invest: Blasphemy Against Economics.

Jayden was many things right now—tired, cold, borderline done with the world—but he wasn't a piece of shit. No matter what the system thought he'd become or how many rewards it dangled in front of him, there was a line he wouldn't cross.

He didn't hurt people who hadn't earned it. And he sure as hell wasn't going to treat someone like a tool just because they trusted him. That was the one thing he couldn't stomach anymore—misused trust. He knew what it felt like to give someone your heart and get nothing back but silence and betrayal. He wasn't about to make someone else carry that weight for him.

As if it had been listening—like it had been waiting for his hesitation to settle in—the system chimed in again, dropping new information into his mind like a cold splash of water.

*

[Ding! Host can see his affection to woman and their affection to you! By reaching 50% affection, the individual is registered as a partner and bonded to the system.

Host would then be able to copy and paste their wealth into 10x yours.]

[Ding! On 100%, the unbreakable bond—Host would get a 50x Copy and Paste of their wealth!]

[Ding! Affection can decrease like any normal love. And if host loses a woman, you'd lose the wealth he acquired and a -10% on your overall wealth!]

[Ding! 100% is an unbreakable bond for both host and the particular woman!

After registered as a partner, each coin spent on the partner, host would get 10x back!]

*

Jayden sat with the words, letting them sink in. Not just the numbers, not just the cold transaction underneath it all, but what it actually meant. There was still choice. There was still balance. The system wasn't just designed to be some emotional black market where he harvested love like a con man with a good smile. It was tracking mutuality.

It demanded real affection. It measured what was given and what was returned.

And that... surprised him.

For the first time since all this started, something inside him eased. Just a little. Like light cracking through a boarded-up window.

A system like this—designed around value, wealth, rebates—it still chose to anchor itself on genuine connection. It rewarded love, not manipulation. That meant he didn't have to sell his soul to use it. It wasn't asking him to fake feelings, or become the monster he used to fall for.

It was asking for real love. Mutual trust. Bonds built from something deeper than seduction.

Jayden could work with that.

This wasn't about playing the game better than everyone else. It wasn't even about chasing girls for money.

This was about building something real—and being rewarded for not being the kind of bastard who saw people as numbers.

He wasn't going to fake it. Wasn't going to charm someone just to register them like an asset and then move on once the cash hit. If he was going to love someone—and he would, eventually—then it was going to be for real. The kind of real that didn't disappear when the cameras were off or when the system wasn't paying attention.

Because the truth was, deep down, he still believed in love. It might've been buried under heartbreak and humiliation, but it was there. Still burning. Still waiting. And if someone out there could actually love him for who he was, not for what he had or what he could do—then damn it, she deserved the same in return.

Even if it cost him.

Jayden huffed a dry, bitter laugh, shaking his head at himself like he was trying to snap out of it;

"Right. Talking like a whole philosopher now. Big words for a guy who just got dumped on camera holding a teddy bear the size of a third grader."

He let the silence settle again, this time a little looser in his chest. That system message—it had sparked something. Hope, maybe. Or control. Or just the idea that he didn't have to stay on the floor anymore, metaphorically or otherwise.

He could do something with this.

Hell, he could do everything.

Because for the first time since his life had cracked open, it finally felt like the world owed him—and for once, it looked like he had the tool to collect.

[Ding! Ultimate Invest Function:

Host can invest in any assets or stocks and the Ultimate Invest Function would give you 10x what you had initially invested!

Note: Digital assets are safer and easy to abuse the Ultimate Invest Function!]

Jayden sat up way too fast—snapped from the bed like someone had poured gasoline on his brain and struck a match. His eyes were wide, chest rising like he was trying to breathe for the first time in hours.

This wasn't just a cheat code. This was blasphemy against economics.

Ten times return on investment?

He blinked, running it through. If he bought 1% of Tesla, this thing would hand him 10% like it was nothing. Not profit. Not value. Ownership. Like someone reached into the market and rewrote the numbers in his favor.

That wasn't luck. That was warping the rules of the game entirely.

It was a goddamn invitation to own the world.

And the system wasn't even flexing yet. This was just the warm-up.

Jayden couldn't help the grin pulling at the edge of his mouth. For the first time, it wasn't fake or forced. This wasn't some fantasy—it was algorithmic reality bending for his benefit.

[Ding! Host's imagination and experience is limited and can only unlock these functions for now!]

Jayden arched a brow. "Didn't even ask, but thanks for the ego check."

[Host might unlock more functions as your experience increases!]

He snorted once, slow and low. "Right. Keep dangling the shiny stuff."

But he wasn't mad at it. Not even close. If anything, it made things clearer.

There was more to come. More to earn. More to control. And all of it—every goddamn byte of wealth, every percentage of ownership, every cent rebated from a broken heart or smart investment—started now.

He'd work with what he had. Cold as it was, this system had already handed him more than life ever had. And Jayden? He wasn't about to waste it.

Not again.