Arc 1: The Wealth Momentum (2016)Part I: The Zero-Sum Game
Chapter 4 — System Appears
Morning arrived in Dadar the same way it always did—uninvited, loud, and unapologetic.
The distant whistle of a local train cut through the air at exactly 6:12 a.m. A milkman's cycle bell rang twice on the street below. Somewhere nearby, a pressure cooker screamed like it had been personally wronged by existence.
Vikram Choudhary groaned and turned on his side.
His head throbbed.
Not a sharp pain—more like a dull, persistent reminder that yesterday had not been kind.
"Ugh…" he muttered, pulling the thin bedsheet over his face.
For a brief moment, he forgot everything.
Then memory returned like a badly edited montage.
Kareena.
IAS.
Road.
Flower pot.
Darkness.
He opened his eyes slowly.
And froze.
The Blue That Didn't Belong
Hovering in front of his vision—perfectly centered, impossibly crisp—was a blue panel.
It wasn't on anything.
It wasn't projected onto the wall, the ceiling, or the air.
It was simply… there.
Semi-transparent. Neon-blue edges glowing softly. Clean lines. Minimalist design. A faint grid pattern shifting subtly in the background, like controlled energy rather than light.
Vikram blinked once.
The panel remained.
He blinked again.
Still there.
"What the…" he whispered.
His heartbeat accelerated.
Hallucination.
That was the first conclusion his engineer brain reached.
Post-traumatic visual hallucination, he reasoned. Head injury. Mild concussion.
He sat up abruptly.
The panel adjusted instantly, staying at a fixed distance from his eyes—neither closer nor farther.
That was when panic crept in.
"No no no," Vikram said, rubbing his eyes hard with both palms. "This is not happening."
He opened them again.
The panel sharpened.
If anything, it looked more real.
Wealth Rebate System Initialized
Text appeared on the panel.
Clean. White. Precise.
[WEALTH REBATE SYSTEM — INITIALIZED]
Vikram's mouth went dry.
Below it, smaller text scrolled in with mechanical calm.
Host Identified: Vikram Choudhary
Age: 25
Location: Mumbai, India
Current Time: 06:14 AM
"This is a dream," Vikram said immediately. "Definitely a dream."
He pinched his arm.
Hard.
"Ow—!"
Pain shot up his nerves.
The panel didn't flicker.
Didn't glitch.
Didn't disappear.
A new line appeared, almost politely.
[HOST CONSCIOUSNESS CONFIRMED]
Vikram's breathing became shallow.
His eyes darted around the room.
Everything else was normal.
The cracked corner of the ceiling.
The old wooden cupboard.
The sunlight slipping in through half-closed curtains.
Only the panel was impossible.
The Engineer Wakes Up
Panic slowly gave way to curiosity.
Fear didn't vanish—but it took a step back.
Vikram swallowed and focused.
"Okay," he said quietly. "If I'm hallucinating, let's hallucinate properly."
The panel responded as if it had been waiting.
The interface expanded slightly.
A dashboard unfolded.
SYSTEM DASHBOARD
User Status: VIKRAM | LEVEL 1
Current Savings: ₹5,400.00
A golden bar sat beneath it.
[POSITIVE VIBRATION: 12%]
It pulsed gently, like a living thing.
At the center of the panel, large digital numbers glowed:
₹ BALANCE: ₹5,400.00
At the bottom-left, a log window blinked to life—empty for now.
Bottom-right:
[MARKETPLACE] | [ASSETS] | [STATS]
Vikram stared.
"₹5,400," he whispered.
That was accurate.
Uncomfortably accurate.
No hallucination should know his bank balance.
Cold sweat formed at his temples.
"Okay," he said slowly. "If you're real… explain."
The system didn't speak.
It didn't need to.
A new line of text appeared, calm and neutral.
Blink Rate (Level 1): ₹2.00 per blink
Base Rebate: 100% on all spending
Vikram frowned.
"…Blink?"
The First Trigger
His eyes were already dry from staring.
Instinctively—
He blinked.
Ting.
The sound was soft.
Crystal-clear.
Like a glass bead tapping porcelain.
At the corner of his vision, a tiny +₹2.00 floated upward and faded.
The central number changed.
₹ BALANCE: ₹5,402.00
Vikram stopped breathing.
"…What."
He blinked again.
Ting.
+₹2.00
₹ BALANCE: ₹5,404.00
His heart slammed against his ribs.
"No," he whispered. "No way."
He blinked rapidly—three times.
Ting. Ting. Ting.
The log window updated:
Blink Detected… +₹2
Blink Detected… +₹2
Blink Detected… +₹2
₹ BALANCE: ₹5,410.00
Vikram stared at the number as if it might apologize.
It didn't.
It just sat there.
Growing.
Logic vs. Reality
"This is impossible," Vikram said, voice trembling. "This violates… everything."
Money didn't come from nowhere.
Systems didn't reward blinking.
Physics didn't allow free energy.
He swung his legs off the bed and stood up.
The panel moved with him.
Perfect tracking.
No lag.
No distortion.
He walked to the bathroom.
The panel followed.
He splashed water on his face.
Cold.
Real.
He looked into the mirror.
The panel was not reflected.
Only he was.
"That means…" his voice dropped. "This is directly interfacing with my vision."
A chill ran through him.
Neural overlay.
Direct perception manipulation.
Far beyond consumer tech.
Far beyond anything in 2016.
"Who made you?" he asked softly.
The system didn't answer.
Instead, the golden bar flickered faintly.
[POSITIVE VIBRATION: +0.3%]
Vikram frowned.
"…Why did that increase?"
A realization hit him.
He smiled.
Just a little.
The bar responded with a gentle glow.
[POSITIVE VIBRATION: +0.7%]
He laughed suddenly.
A short, incredulous sound.
"You react to emotions," he said.
The bar filled a fraction more.
The First Calculation
Vikram leaned against the sink.
Engineer mode fully engaged.
"Okay," he muttered. "Let's do the math."
Average blink rate: ~15–20 blinks per minute.
At ₹2 per blink—
That's ₹30–₹40 per minute.
₹1,800–₹2,400 per hour.
₹43,200 per day… if awake and blinking naturally.
His brain stalled.
"That's… that's more than my monthly salary," he said hoarsely.
Just for existing.
Just for blinking.
"No interviews," he whispered. "No boss."
Another blink.
Ting.
₹5,412.
He sank onto the toilet seat.
Fear Creeps In
Then came the fear.
"This can't be free," Vikram said. "Nothing is."
His fingers trembled.
"Where's the catch?"
As if responding, a faint warning icon flickered briefly—then vanished.
The system wasn't threatening.
It was… indifferent.
A tool.
A machine.
It would reward.
Or ignore.
Nothing more.
That scared him more than malice ever could.
Mother's Voice
"Vikram!" his mother called from the kitchen. "Uth gaya kya?"
He flinched.
"Yes, Ma!" he replied quickly.
His heart raced.
What if she could see it?
He stepped out.
The panel stayed invisible to everyone else.
Malini Devi stood near the stove, already dressed for school, hair neatly tied.
She glanced at his forehead. "Kal chot lagi thi?"
"Bas thoda," he said. "Flower pot."
She sighed. "Kismat bhi na…"
Vikram smiled weakly.
If only she knew.
He sat at the table.
The panel hovered just above the surface, numbers ticking upward with every blink.
₹5,430.
₹5,448.
₹5,466.
He swallowed.
This wasn't luck.
This was something else.
Acceptance Begins
As his mother served tea, Vikram stared into the cup.
Steam rose.
Reality grounded him.
He took a sip.
Hot.
Real.
The panel remained.
Persistent.
Patient.
He leaned back slightly and whispered, so softly only he could hear:
"Maybe getting hit by that flower pot…"
He blinked.
Ting.
"…wasn't bad luck after all."
The golden bar shimmered.
[POSITIVE VIBRATION: 15%]
Somewhere deep inside, something shifted.
Not ambition.
Not greed.
But curiosity.
And curiosity, Vikram Choudhary realized, was far more dangerous.
End of Chapter 4
In a city where survival was a competition,
Vikram had just discovered a system that rewarded existence itself.