Bitcoin Billionaire: I Regressed to Invest in the First Bitcoin!

Once he got inside, Darren slowly walked to the bed, his mother seemed half asleep, but the moment she heard a noise, she turned around to look at who it was.

A smile appeared on her weak face. "Darren. My boy."

Darren's eyes turned sad, and he wanted to hug his mother as tight as he could. But he had to be careful not to hurt her, so he just sat beside his mother, grabbing her frail hand in his trembling grasp.

"Mom," he muttered. "M— mum."

He couldn't tear his eyes away from her face, it was so pale but still radiating the warmth he remembered. The sight of her alive stirred an ache in his chest. Tears threatened to spill, but he blinked them away, determined to stay strong for her.

Mrs. Steele smiled, seeing her son being especially emotional today.

"Darren, what's wrong?" she asked with a soft voice. Her other hand reached up, brushing against his cheek. "Why are you looking at me like that? You're acting as if you haven't seen me in years."

'Because I haven't,' he thought, but the words remained locked in his throat.

He couldn't tell her. She wouldn't believe talk more of understand. And he also couldn't just tell her that she had died in his past life. That this sickness had taken her.

Instead, he leaned down, burying his face into her shoulder as her arms wrapped around him in a comforting embrace.

"I'm fine," he whispered, though his voice cracked. "I'm just… glad to see you, Mom."

She held him tighter. "I'm always here, baby. I'm not going anywhere, okay? Stop worrying so much."

"The people here want you out, don't they?" he asked. "Do they treat you poorly, mom?"

His mother sighed and smiled. "Anything here is still better than slowly dying. They give me the medicine I need. I'm alright, Darren. I will be fine."

But that wasn't true. Darren's heart clenched painfully. He knew the truth.

His mother's illness had been a shadow that consumed their lives during this year.

Just after his graduation and locking in the internship with Smithers Group, she had suddenly fallen heavily ill. She cried from chest pains and had shortness of breath.

Darren had rushed her to a cheap clinic, hoping it would be something that could be handled quickly, but the doctors diagnosed her with advanced aortic stenosis, a condition where the heart's aortic valve narrows, obstructing blood flow.

The symptoms had grown worse over time. Without an aortic valve replacement, her heart would fail... and she would die.

Since the clinic couldn't cure her, Darren had to take her to the only hospital in the city that he knew definitely would, and that was Morrison's.

He had begged Mr. Gareth Smithers to use his connections to allow his mother to be admitted in such a prestigious hospital. The CEO finally agreed, saying he wasn't heartless enough to watch a boy's mother die.

Then the cost of the surgery arrived and it had been insurmountable.

He hadn't been able to afford it back then, and so he went running to Gareth Smithers once again, and that was the first of his many altercations with the CEO which left him bruised and battered — emotionally.

Gareth Smithers had called him a beggar. A relentless and shameless beggar. All because Darren wanted an early pay after being officially made financial assistant. He said he had done enough by allowing her to get admitted, but he does not and will not give an early pay to any of his employees!

With the hospital discharging her because of Darren's inability to pay the hospital bills, his mother had died in her sleep one cold October night.

Darren remembered that night clearly. He had never felt alone, and had wept over her lifeless body, cursing the world for its cruelty.

In present time, Darren sighed.

'It won't happen this time,' he vowed in his thoughts. 'I won't let her slip away again.'

Mrs. Steele smiled at him. "What are you thinking about in that big brain of yours?"

Darren looked at her as she leaned back to rest, her breathing shallow. He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead with trembling fingers.

"I'll save you, Mom," he mumbled. "I swear it."

Ding!

┏2/3 Goals have been Identified┛

Darren frowned, looking at the interface. Goals? He remembered seeing that same notification just before the system officially activated.

However, he had no time to ponder the meaning as the door swung open behind him.

A man in a crisp white coat stepped inside, followed by the nurse from earlier. Her smug expression soured the air.

"Mr. Steele," the doctor said, adjusting his glasses. "I'm happy that I was able to catch you before you left. We need to talk about your mother's stay here."

Darren stood, his body tense. "Alright. Can we... do this outside?"

The doctor and nurse exchanged a glance. "Alright."

Once they got outside, Darren took a deep breath. "So, what's the problem?"

The nurse sneered. "Your account is overdue. You've racked up quite the bill for someone like you."

"Like I said before, the bill isn't in my name, it's in my uncle's. Jared Steele."

"And where is this Jared Steele?" the doctor, who was just one of the many esteemed doctors in Morrison's asked. "He has not stepped foot in this hospital and we have no way of contacting him or his banks in order to get the payment. Stop playing with us here, kid. The bill rests on you."

"Okay uhm... Listen, I —" Darren faltered, swallowing hard. "I don't have the money right now, but I'll have it by the end of the week. Please, just give me some time."

The doctor sighed, shaking his head. "This isn't a charity, Mr. Steele. Morrison's is the best and most prominent hospital in the state. We don't hold beds for people who can't pay their dues."

"Please," Darren begged, his voice desperate. "She needs the care."

"So do all of our clients, Mr Steele."

The nurse scowled at him. "Stop being an irritating pest and just pay us already, you maggot!"

Darren looked at her, doing his best to swallow her insults. He was the one in need of help here. "I'm just asking for one week. Please."

The nurse scoffed, folding her arms. "One week? Do you think this is some free clinic? We have patients who can actually pay for their care, you know." Her voice was laced with disdain as she raked over Darren's disheveled appearance.

"Pack up that hag of a mother and take her out of here. Our illustrious patients require that bed!"

That one pierced Darren's soul. He looked at the doctor. The man shrugged. "You heard her. If she is to stay here you must pay. If you can't pay, then she must leave for our more distinguished patients."

Darren's heart sank. His knees felt weak as he stepped closer. "You don't understand. She's critically ill. Moving her could kill her. Please, just one more day. I'll have the money by tomorrow."

The nurse laughed. "Tomorrow? And what miracle is supposed to happen by then? Face it, you're broke. If you cared so much, you'd have found the money already."

"I'm begging you," Darren dropped his head, fists clenched at his sides. "That's all I can do for now. Please!"

The nurse looked at him with disgust. "How pitiful." She hissed. "But since you said you'd do anything... Then, get on your knees and kiss my feet!"

Darren froze. "What?"

"You heard me," she said, tilting her head mockingly. "If you're really as desperate as you claim, show us how much you care. Get down on your knees and kiss my feet."

The doctor chuckled, shaking his head. "Well? What's the holdup, Mr. Steele? Pride won't save your mother, will it?"

Darren's chest tightened. He looked at the door to his mother's room and knew that her life depended on him now. But to kiss this crude bitch's feet?! How degrading.

Still, the doctor was right. Pride won't save his mother. In fact, to save her, Darren would kiss a hundred feet! And so, his desperation won, and he slowly sank to his knees.

Lowered his head as they watched him with evil grins. Then he kissed the nurse's polished shoe.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" The nurse lifted her feet, placed the heel of her shoe on his chest and shoved him backward, laughing as he fell.

"You really are pathetic," she sneered. "Alright then, you pitiful mutt. Your mother can stay for another day. But you better have the money tomorrow. We don't give free healthcare, especially not to eyesores like you."

The doctor added, "Now get out. Your presence here is an embarrassment to this hospital."

Darren lay down there for a moment, heart pounding, mind reeling, fists clenched.

'Of course. Of course!! Of course!!! It's the same everywhere. People are just naturally cruel. Once they view themselves better than you, once they see you have no money, no power! They treat you like trash! Of course Tyler Mooney was right. Money and Power is all that matters!'

'Anyone who says it isn't, just doesn't have enough of it!'

"Hey, mutt!" the nurse tilted her head looking down at him. "Didn't you hear what I said? Get out of here!"

Darren stood slowly, his cheeks burning with shame. He kept his head low, refusing to show them the anger in his eyes as that could piss them off.

'But I'm going to get a whole lot of it! And I'm going to deal with you first.' He looked down at the nurse's tag. 'Nurse Helen.'

Darren definitely wasn't defeated. He glanced back at his mother's door, whispering a soft goodbye before stepping into the hallway. The nurse's laughter followed him, along with the whispers of others who had witnessed the scene.

Darren kept his face blank, but his mind raced.

"They'll regret this," he vowed silently. "All of them."

He stepped out of the hospital and a ding rang in his mind.

┏Morrison's Hospital is now an enemy company┛

┏Enemy companies must be disrupted┛