This wasn't a competition. It was his first attempt to answer one question—
How much was he really worth?
—
Simulation City Test Base · Athena Global, South Industrial Sector
This was a fully immersive urban training ground—
Built for high-tier students.
Streets, corporations, media outlets, government units, open markets—
Every piece was here.
A compressed metropolis engineered for decision-making under pressure.
Each participant was dropped into this world with:
• One startup company,
• A startup capital injection,
• And sixty hours on the clock.
The goal was simple:
Engage in a real-time, high-stakes business simulation.
Not a test.
Not a report.
A functioning economic model tracked by the central system in real time—
Where decision-making, negotiation, resource allocation, and team control
would all be measured with no safety net.
—
Elric stood at the entrance to the city zone labeled "Zone-0."
Nine others had qualified alongside him—
Each from a different national system.
Some were heirs to financial empires.
Some, self-taught hackers from off-grid networks.
Others had already built small, successful brands in the real world.
They stood in front of the simulation gate,
As the massive screen above them lit up with the welcome message:
⸻
"Welcome to Trial Zone Zero."
"What you carry now isn't knowledge. It's choice."
"Who are you? What will you build? What will you sacrifice?"
⸻
Elric's assigned identity was simple—on paper.
Simulated Role:
Founder, Zane Consulting Group
Specialty: Market Reconstruction and Model Analysis
Starting Capital: 300 Simulation Credits
Available Strategic Tracks: Brand Acquisition · Strategic Alliances · Hostile Takeover · Risk-Based Negotiation
He had no team.
No background.
No established social network.
—
But he had one advantage—
His brain had been trained, since childhood,
To do one thing before others aware about during his teenage years:
Build the model before they built the trap.
This wasn't a contest.
This was his first attempt
to answer a question he had never dared say out loud:
"What am I worth?"
—
He typed his first command into the system terminal:
[Initiate Opponent Mapping Protocol: Target Acquisition Scan]
Then he turned—
And stepped into the heart of the city simulation's main commercial district.
Crowds moved.
Trades echoed.
Simulated ad audio roared from digital billboards.
It didn't feel like a game.
It felt like stepping into a world whose rules hadn't yet been explained.
—
Meanwhile, in the Central Oversight Module,
Instructor James was reviewing the trial's live strategy feeds.
"Participant 22-F03's decision curve doesn't align with any standard business-school profile."
He paused, pulled up the trajectory model.
Elric's current path:
Trigger market disruption → Acquire peripheral third-party assets → Backdoor infiltration of core partnerships.
Another instructor leaned in, startled.
"That's a full-tier acquisition-cleansing route. That's a play used by seasoned capital."
James said quietly—
"This kid's thinking wasn't trained."
"It was survived."
"He's not solving a scenario. He's reconstructing one."
—
Elric sat at a simulated café on the third floor of the mall.
His first real dialogue with another player.
"I want to buy 40% of your company."
The other laughed.
"On what terms?"
Elric looked straight at him.
"No offer."
"I'll make sure that by tomorrow—
you come back asking what price I'm offering."
—
[System Log Update:]
— Psychological Anticipation Module Activated
— Influence Index Spiked
— Observer-Side Recording Triggered
— Current Ranking: 1
—
At the same time, a soft signal blinked on in the dormitory monitoring interface.
Liu watched the behavior alert and asked quietly—
"You're really letting him go that far?"
Zane stood at the window, hands behind his back.
His gaze fixed on the dark horizon.
"If he can only survive by depending on us,"
"then this entire plan is meaningless."
—
Beneath the night sky,
The city shone bright.
Elric stood at the corner, the pocket watch in hand, listening to it tickling.
He knew—
This time, no one would clean the dirt off his hands for him.
But due to this reason
every step he took now—finally belonged to him.
——
[Chapter Epigraph]
Some start from nothing.
Some fall from privilege.
But he—
He climbed from outside the system, one bruised step at a time.
⸻
[Next Chapter Preview]
Chapter 21 · The First Glance Back
As he begins to win—
someone else begins to lose control.