Chapter 6: First Blood
1:30 AM – Mumbai, New Apartment
The city slept, wrapped in monsoon silence.
But inside a small, rented flat on the 4th floor of a nondescript building, Steve Makinson was wide awake—staring at his glowing laptop screen with the eyes of a man possessed.
Rain tapped against the windowpane. Each droplet echoed in the quiet, a background beat to the most important transaction of his life.
His screen displayed the System’s Black Market Portal, dimmed with a security overlay.
Item: Nanobot Medical Kit [Future Tech – Class A]
Status: Ready for Dispatch
Buyer Code: 472X – Istanbul, Turkey
Transfer Method: Ghost Courier Logistics
Offered Price: $1.6 Million USD – Secured Wallet Transfer
Item Legality: Banned in 91 Nations
System Risk Rating: Medium-High
Would you like to proceed?
Steve didn’t hesitate.
He clicked: YES.
1:45 AM – Packing the Future
He removed the Nanobot Kit from its hidden foam-lined case. It looked like something from a sci-fi movie—sleek silver casing, digital readouts, and small vials of shimmering liquid.
Nanobots that could regenerate tissue. Purge disease. Even restart dying organs.
“This alone could collapse the pharmaceutical industry,” Steve muttered.
And he was selling it like a courier moving a stolen phone.
He added two things:
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A self-erasing paper with handling instructions.
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A tracker-triggered destruct module—a gift from the system.
Then he placed the device into a shock-proof, heat-insulated briefcase, layered with foam and RFID blockers.
Next came the outer disguise—a large, padded cargo box with forged shipping documentation: “Lab Glassware – Sample #L-TG9902.”
System Add-on Activated: Tamper Alert + AI-Trace Jammer
The package was untraceable by all known global customs databases.
He double-checked everything thrice.
2:30 AM – Logistics
On his system dashboard, a new section blinked:
Ghost Logistics Courier – Available Routes: 3
Route Chosen: Mumbai → UAE → Romania → Turkey
Arrival Estimate: 36 Hours
Pickup Window: 4:45 AM – 5:15 AM
He booked the pickup with one click.
3:10 AM – The Wait
Steve leaned back against the wall.
He didn’t sleep.
He couldn’t.
Not because he was nervous—but because his mind was racing.
"With this sale… I can start the next phase. Shell companies, currency flow, asset disguise, maybe even political bribes in third-world nations."
He opened a blank notebook and wrote:
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Dubai Shell → Weapon Prototypes
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Singapore Shell → AI Tools
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Cayman Shell → Luxury Property Holdings
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Convert 40% to crypto. Diversify wallets.
There was no excitement in his eyes—just calculation.
4:55 AM – Outside His Apartment
A black van rolled to a stop without a sound.
No number plate.
Just a man in grey cargo gear and a black cap. Face covered. Eyes hidden behind reflective shades.
Steve handed him the box without a word.
They didn’t speak.
Didn’t nod.
No signatures.
The man turned and left as silently as he came.
6:27 AM – System Alert
Item Delivered to Node 1 – Transfer in Progress
Buyer Acknowledged Receipt – Clean Transaction Logged
Transaction Confirmed
Wallet Balance: $1,602,180 USD
Trace: Obscured (Success)
Steve stared at the screen for several minutes.
This was real.
His hands hovered over the keyboard.
Then he leaned back slowly, resting his head against the wall, watching the morning light creep into his room.
“I just sold a banned medical miracle to someone halfway across the world,” he whispered.
“And nobody even knows my name.”
He allowed himself the briefest smile.
Same Morning – College Campus
He walked among students chattering about cricket scores and assignment deadlines.
He heard them talking about a party in Juhu, about some professor being caught with exam leaks.
None of it mattered.
Not anymore.
Steve’s footsteps were slow. Calculated.
He no longer felt like one of them.
“Let them have their 9-to-5 dreams,” he thought. “I’m building something bigger.”
A few heads turned as he passed.
New shoes. Clean, sharp clothes. A presence they hadn’t felt before.
Even Aanya looked twice when she saw him across the campus lawn.
He didn’t look at her.
Didn’t flinch.
She was his past.
The future was now his alone.
10:00 PM – System Update
Back at the apartment, the system interface glowed brighter than ever before.
Black Market Tier 2 Unlocked
– Advanced Drones
– Weapon Blueprints
– Political Manipulation Tools
– Surveillance Erasers
– Crypto Laundering AI
New Feature: Market Influence [Alpha]
"Influence media, trends, or public sentiment via anonymous digital campaigns. Price varies."
Steve scrolled through each tool with clinical detachment.
Then stopped at one:
Digital Clone – Create fake social media & legal identity (Global Validity: 1 year)
Price: $30,000
“Useful for shadow deals,” he murmured.
He bought it.
No hesitation.
Meanwhile – Geneva, Switzerland
Inside an intelligence monitoring center, an analyst frowned at his screen.
“Another classified medical device just surfaced in Turkey.”
“Same digital signature as the Seoul incident last month…”
The agent typed:
New Tag Created: Ghost Seller – Unknown Origin (India Suspected)
Threat Level: Yellow → Elevated
Forward to: CIA | MI6 | RAW
Somewhere, Steve Makinson’s name wasn’t discovered—
—but his presence had been noticed.
What do you think?
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