Urban Plundering: I Corrupted The System!-Chapter 187: THE DIGITAL HUNTER IN THE DARK

Lex, Ethan, and Cam were chilling.

Feet up, half a pizza box open between them, monitors glowing in the dim room. The tension from earlier had worn off; they’d done their job, planted the spyware, secured the backdoor, and left no obvious traces.

Easy money.

Lex leaned back, tossing a stress ball in the air. "See? What did I say? Flawless." Ethan exhaled, stretching. "I still feel weird about it, though. The client’s real hush-hush about what they actually want. Feels sketch."

Cam snorted. "Bro, everything about this gig is sketch. But it’s money, and I like money."

Lex rolled their eyes. "You overthink too much. No one even knows we were there. We’re ghosts."

And right as they said that—

BEEP.

A loud, angry system alert flashed across the screen.

All three of them snapped forward, chairs creaking.

Cam’s fingers flew to the keyboard, Ethan swiped open the logs, Lex squinted at the data stream. "What the—"

Unauthorized breach detected.

Intrusion at 23.4.4.8.

Security compromised.

Lex’s heart stopped. "Wait. Someone’s—" Before they could even finish that thought, the screens glitched, lines of code flashing faster than their processors could handle. Their system—their fortress—was getting shredded open like wet paper.

Ethan cursed, slamming keys. "FUCK. We’ve got a live one."

Cam’s face went pale. "Who the hell is this?"

Lex’s fingers trembled as they typed. "I—I don’t know. They’re coming in way too fast."

**

Back in his room, Parker sat calm as hell, sipping a protein shake. On his screen? A live feed of his prey panicking. He could see them scrambling. Rerouting firewalls, trying to cut connections, throwing up digital roadblocks like scared kids barricading their bedroom doors.

Adorable.

Thing was, he wasn’t really fighting them.

That’s what they thought.

Nah. He’d already won.

From the moment he’d kicked their fucking door down, he’d been digging his way through them, tracing their IPs, sorting through system logs, extracting their digital DNA like a damn forensic expert.

And now?

Now he had names.

Lex. Ethan. Cam.

He stared at the info, lips pressing into a thin smirk.

He fucking knew these guys. They weren’t just random hackers—they were kids from his own damn school. The voices clicked in his memory. He’d heard them before. Arguing in the bathroom. That weird moral debate about a "job" that didn’t sit right with them.

"So that’s who they were." Teenagers. Smart. Talented. But still just kids chasing a bag.

They weren’t criminals.

They weren’t evil.

But they were still fucking stupid.

Because they’d played with his people.

And that?

That pissed him off.

**

Lex was sweating. This was bad. Whoever this was, they weren’t just a hacker. They were surgical, like some goddamn predator playing with their food. Ethan cursed again. "We’re getting dragged. We need to—"

Cam gasped. "FUCK. Our real names—they have our real names!"

Lex felt their stomach drop. "No fucking way."

But then—

BEEP.

A message flashed on their screen.

Just one line.

{Found you.}

Silence.

No one moved.

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No one breathed.

Then another message.

{You picked the wrong phone and owner!}

Ethan swallowed. "We’re so fucking dead."

Cam looked like they wanted to throw up. "We—shit. We need to shut everything down. Now.".Lex didn’t argue. They reached for the kill switch.

And then—

All the lights cut out.

The whole fucking mansion. Parker sat back in his chair, rolling his shoulders. They thought they could just unplug and escape?

Nah.

The hunt had just begun.

Parker, fingers drumming lazily against the keyboard, he skimmed through the flood of data pouring onto his screen. His lips curled into a slow, villainous smile—one of those grins that sent chills down spines and made people regret their life choices.

Lex, Ethan, and Cam.

Their full names, backgrounds, everything was laid bare before him. Damn, these kids had quite the story.

They weren’t just some random cyber-punks looking for an easy score. No, they were family—real family, bound by something stronger than blood. They grew up in the same group home, thick as thieves from the start. Apparently, someone had wanted to adopt Lex alone, probably charmed by his sharp mind or whatever, but the kid refused to leave without his "brothers." And that must’ve done something to the woman, because instead of taking just one, she took all three.

Parker’s eyes flicked over the next part. The woman wasn’t exactly rolling in money, but she gave them a stable home. For a while, at least. They had enough—not rich, not poor, just comfortable. But life had a way of kicking people in the teeth.

Their adoptive father? Murdered the next few days.

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Their mother? Never the same after that.

And just like that, the world they’d built collapsed.

The money dried up, the warmth faded, and suddenly, it was just the three of them again. From the age of eleven, they’d been hustling—doing whatever it took to survive. And what started as a desperate attempt to support their mother eventually turned into something bigger.

She died two years ago. And by then, they’d already gotten too deep into the grind to stop. Parker exhaled sharply, tilting his head. Damn.

These three had been pulling off all sorts of jobs, playing the system like pros. They had talent—serious talent. Hacking, cyber-surveillance, coding—they’d been getting paid to do other people’s dirty work, even sitting in on MIT exams for spoiled trust fund kids who couldn’t pass on their own.

And recently? They’d set their sights on Beverly Hills, looking to squeeze as much cash as possible from the rich kids with weird-ass kinks and dark secrets. The whole "Eat the Rich" dream. The Billion Dollar Dream.

****

Parker let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. "Well. Until they met me." Parker smirked as he typed up the message, his fingers dancing across the keys. He couldn’t resist a little fun—he knew how this was gonna hit them.

{Nice mansion you’ve got there, really nice. Wonder what the neighbors think about you? And your little side gig?}

"Wait, what the hell?" Lex muttered, his voice rough. Ethan put the can down slowly. "That… can’t be..." They all exchanged looks, tension thickening in the air. They’d been careful. Who was this guy?

Ethan leaned back in his chair, half-smiling in disbelief. "He’s not gonna—no way…" He trailed off, the smugness starting to slip as he realized it wasn’t just an empty threat.

Cam clicked his tongue nervously. "Shit, this guy knows everything. Did we fuck up somehow?"

Lex clenched his fists, the frustration mounting. "Who the hell is this?"

{Oh, and I looked into your past. Such a touching story, really. The family, the hustle, the whole rags-to-slightly-better-than-rags thing. Very heartwarming!}

The room went cold, as if the air had been sucked out. The words hit hard. Lex’s eyes flicked between the screen and his friends, his jaw tightening. "No way… no fucking way. He’s got everything."

Ethan’s face went pale, his usual bravado evaporating. "We made sure that stuff was buried, man. How the hell does he know?"

Cam gritted his teeth, his stomach dropping. "This is bad, really bad. Who is this guy?"

{But hey, here’s the fun part: What do you think the police would reward me if I handed over all this juicy info? Or better yet—what about all the people you’ve screwed over for a quick buck? Hmm, lots of folks would be more than willing to pay for your heads, right?}

Lex swore loudly, slamming his fist on the desk. "He knows we’re doing shit that’s way too far. Damn it, this isn’t just some random hacker—he’s got something personal against us. We should’ve stayed the hell out of this world."

Ethan ran his hands through his hair, visibly shaken. "Shit. I thought we were just—you know, doing a little side hustle. But now? Now we’re fucked."

Cam’s face was pale, his eyes darting around the room. "Do you think he’s… watching us right now? Is he in the system?" They all fell silent for a moment, the weight of the situation sinking in.

Parker paused, taking a breath and letting the words simmer before finishing it off.

{But don’t worry, kids. I’m not here to ruin your life… yet. You can keep going to school, keep doing whatever the hell you’re doing, living your life like it’s all normal.}

Lex leaned forward, his fingers tapping nervously on the desk. "What the hell does he want from us? Why is he playing games with us? Why not just go to the cops?"

Ethan shook his head, still processing. "This isn’t over. He’s not done. Not by a long shot. That ’yet’ at the end? We’re not off the hook..." Right on cue a reply came.

{Just do one thing for me: sit tight, don’t try any dumb moves, and wait. For. Your. Punishment.}

He hit send.

The line was like a punch to the gut. Cam felt a chill run through him. "This guy’s crazy."

Lex slammed his chair back. "No. This isn’t how it ends. Not like this. We won’t get away with this, this time." But even he wasn’t sure anymore.

In the darkness of the room, their laughter, born out of nervousness and disbelief, echoed weakly—unsure if they were laughing at the situation or because they were too damn scared to cry.