Trash to trillions

YOU HIT THE JACKPOT

Caelum stopped before Oasis Investment bank, his heart pounding hard. It was the biggest and the most influential bank in the continent, after the World Bank. There were rumors that they work closely with the World Bank and were under the Oasis group. It was still eight in the morning, and the bank only catered to the top one percent of the population in Haidong city. So the hall was pretty much free.

The security guards looked at him, but ignored him and let him pass. Oasis had the reputation of training the most respectful and competent staff. Any other bank of that caliber would have turned him away because of his attire, but not Oasis. They were not just the best in terms of resources and technology, they were the best in terms of service and expertise. In the entire Haidong, if there was someone that would be able to decode the trading account, that person would definitely be from Oasis.

Caelum entered the banking hall and moved to the customer service representative who seemed to be free compared to the others attending to clients.

“Good morning ma'am.”

She looked up at him with a bright smile on her face.

“Welcome sir, how may I help you?”

Caelum instantly relaxed because of her warm attitude. He was half afraid that she would snob him like other people normally did, but it seemed as if he was in luck that day and only met kind people.

He looked around to make sure that no one was listening and leaned closer to the banker, looking cautious.

“My forex trading account is blowing up with figures that should be impossible. I'm unable to determine if the account and figures are real, or if my computer caught a bug that made the app malfunction.”

The girl chuckled, thinking that Caelum was exaggerating. He was probably a rookie trader that got lucky and made a few millions at a time, overwhelming him. She would just take a look and reassure him that it was real and help him convert it to dollars. That should be enough to make him happy.

“Let me see.” Caelum looked around cautiously and offered her the laptop after navigating to the account.

‘Tch! Look how cautious he is because of a few million dollars. Indeed, poverty is a chronic disease. I will just help him this time and earn contribution points.’

She moved the cursor around to fulfill all righteousness, still smiling at him.

“Sir, everything here is perfectly normal. There's…” Her eyes drifted to the top right corner where numbers kept rising steadily, and her words trailed off.

Her tongue suddenly became too heavy and her eyes widened. The banker's heart began to beat erratically, and she hurriedly counted the zeroes.

“Two hundred trillion?” She whispered in disbelief. Her hand began to shake in fear and she looked at Caelum with horror.

On seeing her expression, his face fell.

“It's a dummy account right? They can't be real dollars, money can't be made that fast. Or did my laptop develop an issue?”

The woman quickly got to her feet and bowed before him, her body shaking, her breathing erratic. “I'm sorry sir, this is beyond my level of expertise. I will go fetch the manager right away.”

She pushed his laptop back to him and hurried away. In five minutes, she rushed back with a man in his forties in tow.

“Is this him?”

The banker nodded and the manager offered his hand to Caelum.

“I'm Mr. Smith, the manager of Oasis investment, Haidong branch.”

“I'm Caelum Wexler.”

“Esteemed guest, please follow me.”

Everyone's attention was immediately attracted the moment the manager came out. Even the richest man in Haidong couldn't make him come out to personally receive him. Who was this little boy dressed in faded jeans that the manager welcomed him personally?

Caelum followed the manager inside, oblivious of the rumors and gossip which filled the bank hall. Everyone there was at least a millionaire. But at this point, they couldn't help but be jealous and curious about an insignificant little boy, creating many theories about his origin.

They entered the office and the manager quickly locked the door.

“Miss Michelle has briefed me about your issue. You want to know if the money and the coin inflation was real?”

Caelum immediately nodded, and the man accepted the laptop from him.

“Although I don't dare claim to be the best out there, I'm confident that I have a little skill.”

The man began to check, but with each minute that passed, the bewilderment on his face increased, and his eyes kept darting to the current value. It was increasing steadily, frightening him even more.

“It looks pretty real to me, and there's no problem I could detect. However, the numbers are too high to be rational. This is above my expertise. The CEO of Oasis Investments is in Haidong for a meeting, and will leave today. I need to call her to take a look.”

Caelum nodded. At this point, he was basically sitting on hot coals, his heart was pounding with anxiety. If he was a weaker man, he would have suffered a heart attack or anxiety attack from all the waiting and uncertainty.

The manager stepped out to make a call, leaving Caelum sitting all alone, tapping his fingers against his thighs and nodding at intervals to cope with his anxiety.

Michelle soon came in with a tray of refreshments, freshly baked meat pies, egg rolls, cinnamon rolls, and fresh sausage, alongside fruit juice. The enticing scent of the meaty treats made his stomach growl, reminding him that he had eaten nothing before leaving the house due to his haste.

He had just finished his meal and was washing it down with coffee when he heard the sound of approaching helicopters. He was startled at first, but when they landed on the roof of the building, he guessed that it must be the entourage accompanying the CEO.

‘Damn! What if after putting them through all that stress, it turns out to be a fake beginner's trading account? How will I compensate them for time wasted?

Soon, he heard steps approaching from outside, the most prominent was a confident pair of high heels clicking against the floor. The door opened and a woman dressed in ivory colored customized designer suits entered, with the manager in tow. Her bodyguards and remaining staff stood at the door while she walked to Caelum.

Caelum peeped at him as he took a sip of the coffee, checking her out through his side vision.

She was awfully young for someone who was said to be the CEO of the behemoth, Oasis Investment.

The woman looked around his age, with an hourglass figure and milky skin, which was paired off with a beautiful stern face, a pair of cold deep-blue eyes, perfectly shaped brows, and thick wavy black hair.

“I'm Stacy Melbourne, nice to meet you.”

Caelum found himself offering his hand, mesmerized by the view before him. She let go of his hand the next instant, and signaled to the manager.

“Let's get down to business, I don't have all day.”

The figures immediately made her frown, and she hurriedly began to run checks. She called one of the men in her entourage to help look at it.

“The money looks real. But we can only be certain when we try to sell a unit and convert it to cash.”

She looked at Caelum, as if waiting for him to give the go ahead. He realized that they were waiting for his permission to proceed and immediately nodded.

“Of course, of course. Do whatever you need to do.”

Miss Stacy immediately got down to work and in a moment, Caelum’s phone beeped.

“You have received a credit alert of ten million dollars.”

His eyes immediately widened as he brought out his rickety phone.

“We changed 0.0001 units to cash to see if it would convert, and guess it did since the money is now in your account.” She smiled at Caelum who was still watching the message on his broken phone screen, his eyes wide open, heart beating a mile a minute, and hands shaking in excitement.

This couldn't be real right? Was he dreaming? How could such a good thing… such a miracle happen to him? He was Caelum Wexler, the cursed pauper of St. Clara, when did it become his turn to experience such good things?

The woman didn't fully understand his reaction, but she had an idea of what he might be feeling. After all, it was also her first time seeing such an amount in cash.

She continued with a calculating smile on her face, seeing dollar signs all over him in her mind's eye.

“Congratulations, sir, you just entered the rank of the top ten richest people in the world with your current network of two hundred and sixty trillion dollars. It's nice to make your acquaintance. Will you please offer Oasis investment the privilege of helping you manage this vast wealth?”