Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

After finishing the sorting out of details about the deals that he was about to make with Hacker, Adam leaked out a short sigh of relief when she informed him that there was indeed money present in the bank accounts of the pair of twin brothers.

[It seems like most of the bank accounts have already been raided though. Quite a shame truly. We could have surely gotten much more if you came to me just a few hours earlier at least. Things would have been much more different then.]

Adam shrugged in response, it was indeed a shame but he didn't really care about it, either way. Even if he only obtained one dollar, it would still be a net positive for him so he was happy with anything he could get.

In the first place, most people who actually had more than a few million dollars in their bank accounts would put that money in stocks or in their companies or real estate and luxury goods for further profit.

"So how much is left?"

[...About $367 Million…]

"...Ahem… How much did you just say…?"

[You heard me right. Damn! I am even surprised by this amount. Who the hell keeps all that money in banks?]

Even Hacker was surprised by the amount she was seeing. She had to search through more than ten different accounts belonging to the two brothers or some under the name of fake companies to get this net total but the fact of the matter was that the money was really almost 400 million dollars.

In fact, she was pretty sure that if all the accounts were added together, they would reach nearly 700 million or perhaps even a billion dollars.

[We struck the jackpot!]

Hacker was truly excited right now.

In the grand scheme of things, 300+ million dollars was actually nothing surprising. But this was pure cash. Not liquid funds but cold hard cash.

Not stock or estimations of lands or ships or any other form of worth.

[Damn. Prince, if you were near me right now, I would have kissed you. Fuck, I am fucking rich now.]

She was just playing some FPS game a few minutes ago and now $73 million landed on her lap without her even doing shit other than hacking the banks to transfer that amount to their laps.

'Am I dreaming? Was the food I ate more spoiled than I initially thought them to be? Perhaps I should stop eating fast food now?'

She looked at the ramen cups on the side of her room with a skeptical gaze, wondering if someone put some psychedelic drugs in them or not.

"You aren't dreaming."

Adam breathed in deeply before exhaling out loud. This was the only way he was actually stopping himself from shouting and dancing in the air in pure joy.

367 million, 60% of this represented roughly 220 million dollars. Even if he spent one million dollars, this was enough to live for 220 years, which was two or three lifetimes for normal humans.

"This is truly extraordinarily funny."

How many people would work their whole life without even hoping to reach half or even a quarter of this amount of money?

He sighed,

"Do you plan to retire?"

[Retire?]

Hacker bewildered voice came out from the intercom before she laughed out loud,

[I am not doing this simply for money, you know?]

"I know."

The level Hacker was in right now, money was without a doubt the least of her worries. If she truly wished, it wouldn't be hard to have enough money to sustain herself for several lifetimes or beyond for her.

[After a certain point, money is just a means to an end— a string of numbers. Nothing more, nothing less, my dear Prince. It's nice to have and I am certainly happy to have it. But I strive for more than just money. What about you?]

"Me?"

Adam looked up at the skies above,

"When I started this whole thing, my only goal was money."

He became a Gigolo for money.

He became a criminal for more money.

"But I soon realized that money was never the problem in the first place. The problem was much deeper than what I could imagine…"

He wished to have money to help the heart condition of his mother. He wished to have money to give her a better house and provide her with a better life.

He wished to never be in need nor need charity from anyone else ever again.

But Adam soon realized that his mother didn't need money. If she truly wished for money, money would rain for her and show itself on her doorstep.

"Well, I guess my goal goes far beyond money now as well."

He smiled.

He had his goals and those were his and his only..

Not just to save his mother but to do things for himself.

[Beautiful. Let's continue doing business together then.]

"I will be happy to do business with you. Perhaps one day you will tell me what your goal is."

[Heheh. Let's look forward to our future cooperation.]

The two shared a good-natured laugh and Adam felt like the distance between the two of them had shrunk ever so slightly through this deal.

It was too soon to call each other friends, but at the very least, they were more than simple acquaintances and business partners now. It was enough.

"Well. Send the money to Yui and give me the details of the bank account you will create for me later on."

[Roger! Our company thanks you for your confidence. We will make sure to take care of your well-earned money and provide you with the best experience, sir.]

"Hahaha… See you later"

On those words, the communication was cut off and the surroundings lapsed into a silence once more for Adam.

'She didn't ask.'

Adam mused in his mind. Outside of her first reaction of surprise, she didn't ask any more questions. Even though she found an astronomical amount of money of clearly suspicious origin, she still didn't ask how he was able to get them.

'Well, with her skill she should already know what happened.'

He shrugged and started to walk or rather fly in the air while taking out his small smartphone.

"Hum…?"

He could see two missed calls and a message,

"Natasha?"

Both calls and messages were sent to him around two hours ago.

[Sender: Natasha

Are you free tomorrow? I wish to visit you. I still did not thank your mother for saving us back then and my sister needs to apologize to you as well. I tried to call you but you seem to be busy. Answer me back when you are free.]

He immediately closed the message and dialed her number, calling her.

This might be a good way to relax slightly until he could enter Wonderland again for his second round of training.

Spending time with Natasha was obviously a good bonus for him as well.

He had no reason to refuse her invitation.

(AN: Adam is now rich enough that he doesn't need to worry about money for normal things. It took nearly 370 chapters but now my boy is moderately rich when compared to other rich people. Time to become strong enough to stand at the top as well. Anyways one more chapter as a transition then starting Natasha's arc.)