Chapter 3 - The Digital Earthquake
The moment my unmasked face hit the live stream feed, the internet didn't just react—it suffered a massive digital seismic shift.
Within ninety seconds of the broadcast starting, automated facial recognition scrapers used by financial news terminals, hedge fund algorithms, and tech-insider Telegram channels flagged the stream.
At TechNova's global headquarters in San Francisco, Chief Technology Officer Marcus Vance was sitting in an executive suite reviewing server metrics when his personal terminal violently flashed crimson. A high-priority system alert blared: CRITICAL IDENTIFICATION EVENT: PRIMARY FOUNDER LIVE PUBLIC EXPOSURE.
Marcus dropped his coffee mug, shattering it across the polished hardwood floor. He lunged for his mouse, pulling up the live-stream link embedded in the automated alert.
There it was. On a third-rate influencer's obnoxious Miami live stream, looking exhausted and annoyed in a plain white department store shirt, was Julian Vance—my brother, my partner, and the elusive, multi-billion-dollar ghost genius who owned 54% of TechNova.
"What... in the absolute hell... is happening?" Marcus whispered, his blood running ice cold.
He didn't hesitate for a microsecond. He slammed his desk intercom button. "Emergency broadcast to all executive board members, legal counsel, and PR leads. Code Red. Julian has been doxxed on a public live stream in Miami. Shut down every external server route, freeze all public-facing API gateways, and prepare for market chaos."
Back in the Miami parking plaza, Crypto-King was still strutting around me like a peacock high on its own supply.
"Look at him, chat! He's speechless! He's frozen like a deer in headlights!" The influencer zoomed in close on my face, panning the camera back to his own smug, grinning expression. "This is what happens when you cross the Crypto King, baby! Total humiliation!"
My phone, resting silently in my front pocket, suddenly began to vibrate. Not a normal notification buzz. It was a rhythmic, continuous, violent hum.
Vibrate. Vibrate. Vibrate.
Ten text messages. Fifty missed calls. Then a hundred.
My private encrypted satellite phone was lighting up like a Christmas tree. Within three minutes, the live stream's viewer count skyrocketed from 12,000 to over 850,000. Algorithms across AlphaStream, X, TikTok, and Reddit had algorithmically rocketed the stream to the number one trending spot globally, tagged with titles like: MYSTERY TECH BILLIONAIRE UNMASKED IN MIAMI ROAD RAGE and WATCH INFLUENCER DESTROY HIS ENTIRE LIFE IN 3 MINUTES.
Crypto-King noticed his viewer numbers spiking out of control, and his eyes widened behind his Gucci sunglasses. He thought it was because of his comedic genius.
"Yo! Look at the chat! We're at a million views! A million views in four minutes!" He spun around, grabbing the arm of the girl in the pink sundress. "Babe, we're going viral! We're going to be rich! Well, richer!"
He turned back to me, puffing out his chest even further. "Alright, loser. You're my lucky charm. Because you made me go viral, I won't have my tow truck impound your grocery-getter. You can leave. Crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The screen was a chaotic waterfall of red alert banners, emergency board directives, and direct messages from global billionaires, prime ministers' chiefs of staff, and venture capital titans.
I ignored them all, looking up slowly to lock eyes with the man in the neon-yellow polo.
"You told your chat to look at my face," I said softly, stepping closer as the ambient noise around us seemed to completely fade away.
May you like
"Yeah, I did. What are you gonna do, cry to your mom?" He scoffed.
"No," I replied, pressing a single button on my phone to route an audio feed directly through my AirPods. "I'm just wondering if you realize how much your entire life is worth right now."
