Money rules the world.
This is the ultimate truth, and there's no point in arguing with it. Those who say that happiness isn't in money have simply never had it in large quantities. Kane Reed believed in this idea since childhood, and as he grew up, he never stopped adhering to this life paradigm.
Growing up in a family where debts were closed by means of new ones, he absorbed this belief and wholeheartedly wanted to become richer, to forever forget the taste of cheap bread, strangely smelling pasta, and dirty buckwheat with rice that were an integral part of their lives.
He wanted to become richer every time he fell asleep.
He yearned to stop being poor the moment he opened his eyes and saw the mold-covered ceiling.
He wanted to control his destiny and often dreamed about how everything would change if he suddenly got a lot of money. However...
Day after day, he saw the same picture. His own attempts to earn money didn't affect the overall situation, and constantly filled with anger at the surrounding world, he might have eventually taken the path of robbery, but then Lerleya was born.
Kane was smart enough to understand what an idiotic mistake his parents had made. Another child in a family that already had financial problems? Are you kidding?!
But something incredible happened. Bursting into his life, the little girl, who wasn't to blame for being born, managed to change the gray colors of everyday life and constant anger at everyone around into something a bit brighter.
Three years had passed since her birth, and despite all the hardships, Kane was able to look at this world with a slightly more direct gaze rather than from under his brows, and then, quite suddenly, one evening, his mother simply didn't return home.
Police reports yielded no results, and she was considered missing.
Because their father was constantly traveling, he had to raise the little girl himself, and at some point, Kane made an important decision: to let his sister finish her education and release her into this cruel world fully armed. Her light would be bright, and he...
He would become her protection. Her shadow.
The young man himself, to help his family and especially his sister, after long arguments with his father, dropped out of high school so they could save money for when she started first grade. And also hire a nanny so she wouldn't be alone while he was at work. After all, Darius, their father, hardly saw the family due to his long business trips.
That's why the girl adored her brother, and that's why she gave it her all when she started studying at the best school they could afford at the time.
When she turned fourteen, she stood out among her peers. Intelligence and acumen made her one of the best in academic performance and gave her an advantage over her peers, leaving them far behind. And this strengthened the belief that the girl would have no trouble finishing school and then entering university.
Years passed. Kane grew into a strong, fit young man and had already served in the army. Starting from 2177, the contract service conditions were changed. Eight mandatory years turned into five, and even as a recruit, you had a chance to get into special forces. You just had to prove yourself well.
And perhaps fate took pity on Kane, because after careful selection, he was offered training in the counter-terrorism unit. The unit commander, who was conducting interviews and observing recruits at the time, noted his determination and developed strategic thinking, and ultimately made such an important decision for the young man.
Cold calculation of actions, calmness, penetrating mind. All this had developed over many years of persecution by both peers and their parents. Poverty has always been a good reason to mock someone.
The habit of analyzing and building a model of subsequent events helped him resolve conflicts more than once. Combined with good physical preparation and willingness to improve, all this played a role in his appointment as a negotiator.
The pay was more than sufficient, allowing him to gradually pay off loans, pay utilities, and pay for his sister's education, who, realizing what her brother did and how he earned money, tried not to let him down.
But a year ago, the contract was over. Currently, he was twenty-four years old and worked in a fashionable restaurant where he was invited by an army friend with whom he had left the army ranks.
Yes, he could have gone to serve in the police, but decided not to deal with government structures anymore. He wanted to rest. Three years dedicated to liberation and shootouts began to weigh on him, and ultimately the period of anxiety and life-threatening moments was left behind. However...
Poverty was again at the door, knocking with its dirty hand and taking off debt-ridden shoes at the threshold. And this would have continued for who knows how long if it weren't for one accidentally overheard conversation in the restaurant.
It was between two guys, apparently his age, in expensive clothes with a platinum card on the table. It clearly showed their difference in social status.
The conversation, as Kane understood, was about a new virtual reality game. It was supposed to go on sale in six months. Given that virtuality wasn't anything new, the young man initially paid no attention to this. But the casually thrown phrase "big money" by one of the guys automatically made him listen. Fortunately, they were sitting near the bar counter, so no one noticed his gaze.
"I'm telling you: the information is one hundred percent verified. You know who my father is, and I heard his entire conversation. Good thing they didn't notice me, or I think he would have torn my head off."
"Ah-ha, yours definitely could. Always feared him." Both quietly laughed.
After this, the interlocutors lowered their voices, making them harder to hear, but Kane, who had concentrated his hearing on them, didn't lose the thread of the conversation.
"And when does it start?"
"Still in the final testing stage, but after release, hundreds of millions of players will play it! All over the earth! Can you imagine what kind of money that is?! This business is growing! People pour hundreds, if not thousands of dollars into popular games! For all this virtual clothing and weapons. But why am I telling you, you know everything yourself. We've both invested so much that we can't even remember now. People buy anything that will make them cooler. From magic potions to complete sets of epic gear. And they pay for it with quite real 'money'."
"Yeah, I know, I know. But I still don't understand what will make it different from the ones people play now?"
"Everything!"
"Bro..." The guy to whom his friend was enthusiastically telling about the game cast a skeptical look.
"Okay." Understanding that he was being asked to clarify, he began to explain. "Everything will be for sale in it! Houses, lands, states, up to entire empires. This will be a new era of VRMMO! You can become the ruler of some city. But most importantly - it's the AI responsible for the gameplay. That guy, well, the one who met with father, you know what he said? Huh? That the game will adapt to players, but this is, like, listen! A total secret. Dude, this will be just something else!"
"If this is true, then the game is definitely bomb." Now it finally got to him. "Listen, you praise it so much that I just don't understand one thing: what exactly was the conversation you overheard about?"
"He was discussing with someone the strategy of conquering the entire game world. It was already about business in virtuality. The amounts they named would blow your mind, brother."
"Oh, yo-o... Everything's that serious?"
"...Kane!..."
The guy, coming to his senses, realized that someone was calling him and, turning to the bartender, saw a drink that needed to be taken to another client.
But what he heard was quite enough to draw certain conclusions. His brain began to work feverishly, and the decision came quickly. Kane must prepare for this game. His face lit up with a rare wide smile.
This was an excellent way to escape poverty.