Chapter 1 Look At You, You Wimp

On a street in Andridge, Dwayne North was squatting and panting for breath. It was an extremely hot day with a temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Even at night, the concrete road felt like a steamer, its heat scorching the soles of his feet. He removed his motorcycle helmet, causing rivers of perspiration to pour down his forehead. His sweat-soaked yellow food delivery uniform clung to his skin, making him incredibly uncomfortable. The text message from his girlfriend, Yvonne White, read, 'Can you help me? I'm still short of 11 thousand, and the hospital will only give me one more day. If I don't have the money by then, I'll have no choice but to prostitute myself!' Her younger brother Felix had stomach cancer and needed money for chemotherapy. Dwayne wanted to reply to her, 'I really don't have any more money.' Over the past two years, Felix had drained him financially. And just a couple of days ago, he had given Yvonne all the 220 he had earned from delivering takeaways last week. At the moment, he only had a few bucks left for food. However, he deleted those words in the text box. 'Don't worry, okay? I'll find a way,' he replied instead. Helplessness and despair overwhelmed him. How can I manage to get 11 thousand in a single day? Both Yvonne and I are just ordinary junior undergraduates. Even if we sell our blood or even a kidney, there's no way we can get 11 thousand in a day! He gritted his teeth and went to The Element without even having time to change out of his food delivery uniform. The Element was a bar owned by his ex-girlfriend, Cindy Bell—or more precisely, it was funded by their classmate, Paul Dunn, to fulfill her dream. Needless to say, the dream came at a price. So, without any hesitation, Cindy left Dwayne, whom she had been dating for half a year at the time, and began sleeping with Paul instead. Because of this, Dwayne became a well-known penniless loser in their university faculty. He lived like a laughingstock, which was precisely why he had been working hard to make money since he started dating Yvonne. He wanted to make Yvonne happy. No matter how financially draining Felix's illness was, he never complained. Clenching his teeth, he entered the bar. In reality, he wasn't sure if he would be able to borrow money from Cindy this time. If he wasn't truly desperate, he wouldn't have come here. It was already humiliating enough to be dumped like that by her back then, and now he was humbling himself to borrow money. Isn't that pathetic? But what other choice do I have? If I don't come here, Felix will die. He hadn't slept for more than two hours a day over the past couple of months in order to raise money for Felix's medical treatment, but what difference did it make? The money was still not enough. As soon as he entered the bar, the cool air from the air conditioning made him shiver. "Hey! Isn't that Dwayne North, our food delivery guy?" "Could this loser be here to mooch off the air conditioning?" "Shame on him for coming all the way here to beg for money!" "What bad luck! Let's go. I don't want to be in a room with a poor beggar!" Pushing the door open, Dwayne was instantly greeted with a round of jeers and insults. The Element was located just outside Andridge University, and it was frequented by students who had no trouble recognizing Dwayne since he was a 'high-profile' figure. At that moment, Cindy and Paul were sitting on the couch, sipping red wine. Cindy was wearing a black spaghetti strap mini dress, which showcased her beautifully long legs. She held the attention of the entire room just by sitting there. "What are you doing here?" taunted Katie Kline, Cindy's lackey, before Cindy even spoke. "We don't welcome food delivery people here." Feeling rather embarrassed, Dwayne rubbed his hands together while looking at Cindy. "Cindy, I—" "Get lost! Just seeing you makes us want to puke!" swore Katie. "The whole bar stinks of your sweat and poverty! How disgusting!" She had received a lot of money from Paul by introducing him to Cindy back then. The over 20 young people in the bar burst into laughter at her words. Dwayne clenched his fists, then unclenched them at the thought of Yvonne's text message. He pleaded with an obsequious smile, "Cindy, I need to talk to you. Can we talk outside?" Indeed, he was poor now, but he didn't want to lose his pride either. Cindy curled her lips in disdain without even bothering to look at him. "Dwayne, do you know how you look right now?" Paul's hand was fondling her thigh; his face showed impatience. "What else could he look like? He looks like a toad! Just hurry up and get out of here!" "I…" Dwayne turned pale. He pleaded again, his voice dropping to a whisper, "Let's talk outside, can we?" "Are you an idiot?!" Paul pretended to pick his ears in a dramatic gesture. He yelled, "How dare you ask my girl out right in front of me?! If you don't leave right now, believe it or not, I'll break your legs!" His words triggered another burst of laughter from the crowd in the bar, who laughed while pointing their fingers at Dwayne as if trying to poke holes in his spine. Seeing Paul's hand reach under Cindy's dress, Dwayne averted his eyes. "That's not what I mean. I just want to… borrow some money from you." Cindy raised an eyebrow. "How much?" Dwayne's eyes lit up. "11 thousand." However, he had clearly gotten ahead of himself, as Cindy obviously had no intention of lending him any money. She turned her head away, refusing to even look at him. When the surrounding crowd heard that Dwayne was here to borrow money, their mocking laughter grew even louder. Some even began to spit at him, sending spittle flying in his direction. Katie screamed, "Dwayne, you loser! Are you still dreaming or what?!" Dwayne couldn't help but feel his face burn with humiliation. He implored, "Cindy, I'll pay you back as soon as I have the money. I can write you an IOU. Can you please help me this time?" Cindy glanced at him, her pretty face contorted with mockery. "Why do you think I should lend you the money? Because you're a pauper who even has to take out loans for tuition? Don't you understand? You don't belong in the same world as us! Look at me, look at Paul, and look at anyone else here in this bar. Don't you find yourself laughable? Let me put it this way: even the dog I'm keeping now is more respectable than you. Isn't that right, Paul?" Stunned and speechless, Dwayne stared at her blankly, unsure of how to respond. "Bah!" groaned Katie with a look of contempt. "You're still not leaving after everything that's been said? You have such a thick skin!" "Don't say that. I can lend you the money, Dwayne. It's just that…" Paul's eyes flickered before he pointed to the floor in front of him with a wicked grin. "I'll lend you 11 thousand if you kneel and bow ten times in front of everyone here. How does that sound?" Dwayne clenched his teeth, suppressing his anger. "You're not trying to trick me, are you?" "Just get on your knees," said Paul with a grin while holding Cindy in his arms. "If you don't make it loud enough, I won't give you the money!" Naturally, his words provoked another burst of laughter from the crowd. Some even took out their phones, ready to record videos of the spectacle. Dwayne closed his eyes. After taking a deep breath, he instantly knelt down. Pride is valuable, but not as valuable as Felix's life. The crowd roared with laughter while marveling at the sight. Isn't this guy always so full of himself? So, that's how much pride he has? As he bowed all the way to the ground, Dwayne thought of Yvonne's lovely face. I'll endure it this time. His forehead was red by the time he finished. "What a loser indeed!" Cindy let out a snort, looking at him as though he were some pathetic stray dog. Dwayne's eyes were bloodshot. "Where's the money?" "You must be tired. Why not have a drink to quench your thirst?" replied Paul. With a wave of his hand, someone immediately brought over a glass of murky yellow foul-smelling liquid. Some couldn't help but retch at the sight of this liquid, which was taken from the washroom. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was. "Don't get up. Drink it on your knees!" Paul took out a bank card and tossed it in Dwayne's face. "This card has 14 thousand on it. Keep the extra 3 thousand as your reward." Dwayne clenched his fists so hard that veins stood out on his hands. "Don't go too far, Paul!" "You think this is going too far? I'm lending you the money, so you should entertain me a little. You call this going too far?" Paul deliberately stamped on his hand with a look of indifference. "Somebody make him drink it!" As soon as he gave the order, five men immediately rushed over and held Dwayne down. Infuriated, Dwayne snatched the glass and smashed it to the ground. "Paul Dunn, you're crossing the line!" The glass shattered on the ground, and the foul-smelling liquid splashed in all directions, causing Cindy and everyone else to scream and run away from it. Paul gnashed his teeth, looking menacing. "Don't kill him! Let him hold on to his last breath!" Dwayne tried to run away but failed. He had no choice but to protect his head as much as he could. Several men held him down, while a dozen others mercilessly punched and kicked him. Even an iron statue would have cracked under such a beating, let alone him, an ordinary mortal. "You're just a dog, so act like one!" At the end of the beating, Dwayne was barely breathing. He passed out immediately. When he regained consciousness, it was early the next morning, and he found himself lying next to the gutter in front of the bar. His face was bruised and swollen, and every inch of his flesh was covered in bruises. The manhole cover underneath him had been in the sun all day, and it burned his back, causing it to hurt like needles. Just then, the cellphone in his pocket received a text message. It read, 'Dwayne, I'm going abroad for a while to deal with something urgent, so I'm lifting the restrictions on you ahead of time. Also, I've wired you some money. Take good care of yourself! You must be tired of holding back all these years, aren't you? Go ahead and enjoy your life to the fullest!' Beep! The text message was immediately followed by another. 'Dear Supreme VIP Cardholder, your bank card has been unfrozen with 1,000,000,000.00 remaining in your bank account. We at Elysium Bank wish you a life of pleasure.' Dwayne's eyes lit up at once; even his bruises and wounds didn't hurt as much anymore. My family's restrictions on me are lifted! I thought I would have to wait until next month, but I never thought Dad would lift the restrictions on me in advance because he was busy dealing with something urgent! After taking a deep breath, he hailed a cab at the curb, heading straight to his small rented house instead of going to the hospital. He wanted to tell Yvonne that he was the son of Alex North, the world's richest man, and the heir to the North Family. The Norths had a tradition where each heir to the family had to live an ordinary life, going through all the hardships in the world and being disdained and snubbed before turning 22 years old. It was because of this tradition that he had lived like a dog, struggling to have enough food to eat each day for the first 22 years of his life. But things are different now. I'm wealthy! I can do whatever I want, and I no longer have to depend on anyone or be humiliated in any way! Overjoyed, he didn't even bother to get his wounds treated. He just wanted to share the good news with Yvonne. Unexpectedly, however, the moment he reached the door to his rented house, he heard moans and dirty talk coming from the couple in the room. He opened the door to see a man and a woman in bed, who were none other than Paul and Yvonne, respectively. They weren't even wearing any underwear. Even when they saw Dwayne, they didn't panic in the slightest; instead, they continued their intimate activities. Dwayne's mind went blank in an instant. He stood in the doorway, bristling with rage. "Paul Dunn!" Charging into the house, he grabbed a kitchen knife from the cutting board and stormed toward the bed.