One Click Billionaire

He looked back down at the screen. He intended to close the app he was in. His eyes fixed on the display. Below the familiar icons for his delivery apps there was another app.

It was one he had never seen before. The title was simple white text against a plain black square. It said 'One-Click Billionaire'.

Adam stared at the icon. He felt a fresh wave of confusion wash over him. His brow furrowed. He lifted his thumb from the screen and looked closer. I have never downloaded an app like this, he thought.

There was no app like this on my phone before. He knew every single application on his device.

He only had the essential ones. He could not afford the memory space for anything else. This black icon was an intruder. It was an impossibility sitting right there on his home screen.

Things were already strange today. The entire morning had been a series of bizarre and unfortunate events.

First the job. Then the collision with the strange man. Then his old phone dissolving into particles of light. This new app was just another layer of mystery. It was another impossible thing that had appeared in front of him. It demanded an explanation he did not have.

His curiosity was a powerful force. It pushed aside his exhaustion and his lingering sadness about Sophia. He held the phone firmly in his hand. His thumb hovered over the black icon.

A part of his mind screamed at him to stop. It could be a virus. It could be some kind of prank left by the man in the suit. But another part of him had to know. He had to understand what was happening. He took a short breath and pressed down.

He clicked the app.

The screen flickered once. The interface that appeared was incredibly simple. There were no graphics.

There were no flashy animations. It was a plain white background with clean black text. It looked like a basic form. An interface opened in front of him. At the very top was a line of text that made his blood run cold.

It listed his full name. Next to his name was his credit card number. Not a credit card. It was his debit card. The only bank account he had in the world.

Below that was a line that read 'Balance'. Next to the word was a number. The number was $130.

Adam's breath hitched. He sat bolt upright on his bed. He felt a spike of pure panic. This was his exact bank balance. He knew it to the dollar. He checked it every single day. He had checked it this morning before his run to the hotel. It was $130.

This app had his name. It had his card number. It had his real-time bank balance. He was not just surprised. He was terrified. How? The question echoed in his silent apartment. How is this possible? How do they have my information?

He scrolled down with a trembling thumb. His eyes scanned the rest of the simple screen. Just below the balance he saw more text. It said '$2.5 per click'. And directly beneath that it said 'Level 1'.

All of this information was in the top half of the screen. His name his card his balance the strange price per click. The bottom half of the screen was almost completely empty. There was just a large gray rectangular button. Inside the button more black text was written. It said 'Click here to earn money'.

Adam felt his mind reeling. He was curious and he was scared. He could not understand how any of this was happening.

First the man in the suit. Then the phone turning into light. Now this impossible application that had his most private financial details. It felt like a dream. It felt like he had lost his mind.

He leaned back on his bed. He stared at the phone. He had to be a scam. It was a trick. A very sophisticated and terrifying trick.

But the balance was real. The card number was real. The man in the suit was real.

He looked at the gray button again. Click here to earn money. He thought about his lost job.

He thought about the $900 he had to survive on. He thought about the $22,000 debt that hung over his head like a storm cloud. He thought about Sophia and the feeling of shame that washed over him in the hallway.

What if? The thought was a dangerous spark. What if it was not a trick?

He lifted his thumb. He held it over the gray button. He hesitated for a long second. His heart hammered against his ribs. He made a decision. He pressed his thumb down on the area that said to click.

Nothing happened. There was no sound. There was no vibration. There was no animation on the screen. The only thing that changed was a single number. The balance at the top of the screen which had read $130 now read $132.5.

Adam stared at the new number. A bitter laugh almost escaped his lips. So that's it, he thought. It's a game.

Just a stupid game that somehow stole my information. It was an empty number on an empty screen. It meant nothing. He felt a wave of disappointment. It was followed by a fresh surge of fear about how his data had been compromised.

Then his phone buzzed.

The sound was so unexpected it made him jump. A notification banner slid down from the top of the screen. It was a text message. It was from the official number of his bank.

The message was short. It said: [Your account has received a deposit of $2.50. Your new available balance will be updated shortly.]

Adam's mouth went dry. He read the message again. And again. He looked from the official bank message back to the number inside the strange app. $132.5. He felt his world tilt on its axis. He was not dreaming. This was real.

He took a ragged breath. He had to see it again. He had to be sure. His thumb moved back to the gray button. This time there was no hesitation. He pressed it again. Hard.

The number at the top of the screen changed instantly. But it did not change to $135.

The screen now displayed a balance of $143.

Adam blinked. He stared at the number. One hundred and forty-three dollars. He did the math in his head. 132.5 plus 2.5 is 135. Not 143. This did not make sense. Where did the extra money come from? His confusion deepened.

His phone buzzed again. It was another text message from his bank. He read it with wide eyes.

[Your account has received a deposit of $2.50. Your new available balance will be updated shortly.]

The message was exactly the same as the last one. It said he had received another two and a half dollars. But the app was showing a much larger increase. Nothing about this was logical.

Adam could not believe it. He could not trust it. The messages could be fake. The entire app could be a hallucination. He saw the numbers change. He read the official texts from his bank.

He was seeing his balance increase in real time. But still he could not accept it. His life had taught him that things like this do not happen. Money did not fall from the sky. It was earned with sweat and exhaustion.

He needed proof. He needed undeniable concrete proof.

He pushed himself off the bed. He began to pace the small space of his apartment. The phone felt heavy and hot in his hand. There was only one way to know for sure. There was only one source he could trust completely.

He stopped pacing. He stood in the center of the room. He took a deep breath. With a decisive movement of his thumb he closed the One-Click Billionaire app. He swiped to his home screen.

His eyes scanned the familiar grid of icons. He ignored them all. He was looking for one in particular. He found it. It was the simple blue and white icon of his official banking app. He moved his thumb over it. He was about to learn the truth.