Tonight, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse.
After joking around with his roommates Ryan, Daniel, and Jason, Aiden James finally prepared to take a shower and head to bed.
In the bathroom, as Aiden took off his shirt, he froze.
He actually had abs! Not just a bit of definition, eight perfectly sculpted abdominal muscles.
His once-skinny body had transformed into something powerful and lean.
He was now the very definition of looking thin when dressed, and muscular when undressed.
> "The system's enhancement points are ridiculous," Aiden thought to himself. "A normal guy would need three to five years in the gym to look like this."
The 20 enhancement points he had used earlier had nearly doubled his physique and strength.
This was just from his counterattack against Emily Rose.
If he could counterattack more goddesses… would he eventually become a superhuman?
He smirked at the thought.
> "Still, that reward was too low, only 5,000 dollars. I should've spent more on Emily."
When he checked his personal account earlier, the extra 5,000 dollars confirmed the system's reward.
For a regular college junior, that was a lot of money.
Having that kind of balance made Aiden feel… different. Stronger. More confident.
After his shower, Aiden picked up his phone.
Several unread WeChat messages blinked on the screen.
He opened them one by one.
Zoe Quinn: [Good night, my number one!]
Emily Rose: [Aiden, I know my actions may have hurt you deeply, but you didn't block me as a friend, which means… maybe you still care. I know it's useless to say this now, but I regret everything. I finally realized who truly cared for me. Aiden, please don't leave me. Give me a chance, I'll make it right.]
Ivy Mae: [Aiden… can you lend me some money?]
Aiden read all three messages carefully.
He replied "Good night." to Zoe.
He didn't even bother replying to Emily.
As for Ivy's message…
Normally, she would be the last person he'd consider helping.
She was always talking about money.
Last time, he'd spent hundreds of thousands on her, and she still wasn't satisfied.
And now she wanted more?
Honestly, Ivy's greed was disgusting.
Her reputation wasn't great either, flirting with rich second-generation guys and taking money from any boy who offered.
If Emily Rose was a "green tea" beauty, then Ivy Mae was a full-blown gold-digger.
But right now?
Aiden didn't mind gold-diggers.
He wasn't afraid of them being materialistic, he was afraid they wouldn't ask for enough.
> "I've got nine hundred trillion in system money," Aiden thought with a grin. "At this rate, I'll need ten thousand years to spend it all. Time to speed things up."
He typed back:
"How much?"
Meanwhile, in her shared apartment at Menghu Waterfront, Ivy Mae's desperate eyes lit up when she saw Aiden's reply.
For the past two days, she had been running from loan sharks and didn't even dare to attend class.
> "Aiden… my dad's business failed. He owes a lot of debt to loan sharks. Can you help me?"
She wasn't lying. Her father, Thomas, had once owned 17 chain internet cafés across Seoul, worth tens of millions.
The business had been booming, each investment could be recovered within a year or two.
But then came the sudden pandemic.
All the cafés in the city, no, across the entire country were forced to shut down overnight.
And that was when everything started to collapse...
The lockdown lasted for six months.
By the end of it, Ivy Mae's family was completely bankrupt.
The girl who once basked in luxury and admiration was now avoided by everyone she used to call a friend.
Before messaging Aiden James, Ivy had already asked almost all her friends for help, especially the rich second-generation boys who had once chased after her.
But the moment they heard the number she needed, their attitudes changed instantly.
Some simply blocked her.
Others mocked her.
A few even spat out cruel words, calling her a whore who finally ran out of luck.
Of course, those insults were cruel… but reality was crueler.
Who in their right mind would lend such a huge amount of money, with no promise, no guarantee, no written contract, just for the sake of a pretty face?
> "Don't be naive," Ivy whispered to herself bitterly.
"The world doesn't work that way anymore."
A woman's beauty might turn heads,
but no one would spend millions when they could have a night with a stranger for a few thousand.
Still, desperation drowned her thoughts.
She hesitated before messaging Aiden. He was rich now, yes but he also had every reason to ignore her.
After all, Charles little stunt had already caused a rift between them.
She bit her lip, took a deep breath, and typed:
"Brother Aiden, I'd like to borrow 500,000 yuan. Don't worry, I can sign and seal it. I promise I'll pay you back!"
The reply came almost instantly.
Aiden James: "Send me your bank card number."
No questions. No hesitation.
Ivy blinked in disbelief. "Okay! My card number is 6225…"
A few moments later, her phone buzzed.
Ding!
5,000,000 yuan has been transferred to your account ending in 6987.
Her hands trembled.
She stared at the text message for several seconds before typing in a panic:
"Brother Aiden! I only asked for 500,000! Why did you send me five million?"
Aiden's reply came cool and calm:
"Oh, I must've added an extra zero."
That single line made Ivy's vision blur.
Tears streamed down her face.
> "Brother Aiden… you knew, didn't you?" she whispered through sobs.
"You knew my family owes exactly five million in debt…"
She clutched her phone tightly, crying harder.
> "Thank you, Brother Aiden. I don't know how to repay you. I swear, I will. I'll find a way."
All the pain, fear, and humiliation she'd endured these past two days broke free at once.
The crushing weight on her chest finally lifted.
Her family owed a total of 4.8 million yuan in high-interest loans.
As a college student, even if she sold everything she had, there was no way she could gather that much money.
She had begged everyone she could, friends, classmates, exes.
And those boys who once swore they'd do anything for her?
They didn't lend her a single cent.
Especially the rich ones, the richer they were, the stingier they became.
But Aiden James…
He didn't ask questions.
He didn't demand proof.
He didn't even ask her to sign anything.
He simply sent her five million yuan.
That single act was enough to wipe away all her family's debt in one stroke.
At that moment, something inside Ivy broke and something else bloomed in its place.
In her heart, Aiden's image changed.
The once-gentle, slightly awkward boy she'd toyed with before now stood tall and radiant in her memory.
He was calm, powerful… safe.
A man who gave her, for the first time in her life, a sense of security.
The kind that made her heart ache.
Meanwhile, on WeChat, other boys were still messaging her, offering to lend a few thousand here and there, even their whole month's allowance.
But Ivy didn't even look at them.
She didn't need them anymore.