CHAPTER 16: $10,000,000

The next day, as early as 7 a.m., a long and slender finger pressed on the doorbell button of the McLloyd residence.

Nana, who was mopping the kitchen, raised her head when she heard the buzz. ’Were we expecting anyone so early?’

She took off her apron and answered the door.

"Yes?"

A stunning brown-skinned lady, quite tall, bespectacled, and clad in a black suit with her hair tied up, stepped forward and introduced herself, "Good morning, miss. My name is Riya Patel, and I’m from BlackCloud Incorporated. You must be Roy and Donald’s grandmother, it’s nice to meet you..."

She stretched her hand out for a handshake, but Nana frowned at her instead and kept her hands folded.

"Okay? Can I help you?" Nana voiced, sounding disgruntled.

Riya Patel awkwardly brought down her hand and asked, "Is Donald McLloyd home?"

Nana waited a few seconds, staring down at the lady with a hint of jealousy on her face, and slowly said, "I’ll go get him. Wait—"

"I’m here!" Donald said, immediately appearing from the side and purchasing Nana back in, looking as though he hadn’t slept throughout the night. Roy was behind him, too.

Roy tried to push Nana back, too, but she slapped the back of his head when he tried and cursed him under her breath. Of course, Roy grumbled in response.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat and composed himself. "Good morning."

"I’m Riya Patel, the assistant Mr. Cross sent," the lady said, wearing an aloof expression with an outstretched hand. One briefcase was in her left hand, while another was sitting on the porch floor.

After the initial greetings, Donny invited her inside the house. Nana excused herself.

Riya, however, didn’t sit for pleasantries but placed the first sleek, metallic briefcase on the dining table.

It clicked open and revealed a single, thick, black card made of unique metal with a chip at the corner. There were two white cards at the side, too, but those were simple credit cards.

Roy was quite lost, but Donny’s eyes widened in shock.

"What’s this?" Roy asked.

"A credit token!"

"This is a Sovereign Credit Token."

Both Donny and Riya answered, but then he gave her the chance to continue with the explanation.

With the drastic change the world underwent as the abyss gates appeared, part of it was the creation go an advanced financial network for the entire globe — the Central Credit Network (CCN).

Every individual was registered at birth or a young age to the CCN and given an identification number, called a CC-ID. This ID was critical in their dealings with government and financial services.

Riya explained that Sovereign Credit Tokens were a cold-storage hardware wallet, the equivalent of a physical vault for digital currency. It was offline and unhackable, so no one could steal the money remotely. But for the most part, only the ultra-wealthy use SCTs as the only way to access a Sovereign Account, a secure, anonymized account on the CCN.

Roy nodded in understanding.

"How much to get one?"

"One hundred thousand dollars," Riya said, making Roy choke on his saliva.

The stunning lady placed the next briefcase on the dining table and opened it. There was a flat, glass-and-metal scanner, a keypad, a port, and an interface.

"Anyway, this credit token is blank. That is why this mobile terminal is here. So please, place the token in the binding port, place your hand on the scanner, and confirm your Bio-Signature," she said, looking at Donald.

Donny glanced at Roy and stretched his hand out to place on the scanner. He understood the intricacies behind what was currently going on.

Cash God would never transfer such a large amount through normal means.

A ten-million-dollar transfer from a private, high-class figure like Mr. Cross to a "nobody" like Donny would instantly trigger dozens of audits and compliance alerts on the CCN to verify Donny wasn’t a thief. Official authorities would then start looking into the reason for this trade, and this would surely reveal to more ears what Roy was capable of. This wasn’t what both parties wanted.

By sending Riya with a Secure Mobile CCN Terminal (the briefcase), Cash God was making this a private, peer-to-peer transaction.

So Cash God used his high-level access to the CCN to create a pending credit note valued at $10,000,000 on the network. He doesn’t send it to an account, but only internally flags it for a specific CC-ID signature to claim, which was Donny’s. And once claimed using the Sovereign Credit Token, the money would land in a Sovereign Account, which had no name or history but only a random, unique hash address and secured by his bio-signature.

This kept Donny and Roy’s new wealth completely off the public grid and severed any obvious link back to Cash God.

As Donny pressed his palm flat on the scanner, a faint light pulsed up and down, scanning.

Just a few seconds after, the identity check, liveness check, and duress check were completed, and a message came up on the screen of the vertical side of the briefcase:

[BIO-SIGNATURE VERIFIED. WELCOME, DONALD MCLLOYD (CC-ID: XXXXX-XX)]

[PENDING CREDIT DETECTED. AMOUNT: $10,000,000.00. SOURCE: (PRIVATE ID)]

[CLAIM THIS CREDIT AND BIND TO SOVEREIGN CREDIT TOKEN? Y/N]

Maintaining maximum composure, Donald tapped on ’Y’.

[TRANSFER COMPLETE. CREDIT TOKEN IS NOW BOUND TO YOUR BIO-SIGNATURE. AUTHENTICATE ALL TRANSACTIONS WITH YOUR BIO-SIGNATURE.]

"Phew..." Donny let out a sigh of relief and looked up at Riya Patel and Roy, who was wearing a wide grin. It wasn’t every day one received ten million dollars because someone believed in your potential and wanted to invest.

But speaking logically, in a dying world with an increasing number of abyss gates, a resource like this was even too small for the level of potential Roy had.

Donald went through the process on the interface again to check the balance of the credit token.

[BIO-SIGNATURE VERIFIED: DONALD MCLLOYD] [CREDIT TOKEN BALANCE: $10,000,000.00.]

Donny smiled and shook Roy’s shoulder; both looked genuinely happy. The kid was the man of the hour.

"Congratulations," Riya Patel said, wearing a light smile of her own being the brothers’ happiness.

"The transfer is complete. But two more items remain. Mr. Cross requires a standard Non-Disclosure Agreement and an Exclusivity Contract."

Donny’s smile reduced. "Exclusivity?"

"Do not be mistaken. Mr. Cross is still very much interested in the growth of your brother, if your claims are true. However, he has to make sure that if Roy ever wants to seek out a sponsor, he must be the first to make an offer."

Donny had no response to that. It’s not like Mr. Cross gave them ten million dollars because of his charitable heart. No. He was an investor taking calculated risks.

This was standard protocol.

"Is that okay?" Roy whispered, but Donny just nodded in confirmation, reiterating, "This is just standard protocol."

"Where do we sign?" Donny asked.

"Both contracts must be bound to your CC-IDs," Riya said and manipulated the terminal. Adding, "Please re-authenticate to sign."

Donny looked at the scanner, then at Riya, then at Roy.

And then smiled.

It was a smile that was worth ten million dollars.

Shortly after, both Donny and Roy had signed, and then the credit cards were activated with $10,000 in each. Donny gave one to Roy and the other to Nana. Roy could hardly contain his excitement.

With the completion of the transaction, Riya Patel left, and Donny said to Roy with a grim expression, "Roy, this is no time to rest or be complacent. This is just the beginning..."