"Ryan, it's the end of the month. When are you gonna cough up the rent?!"
"If you can't fork over the rent, then pack your bags and scram now!"
The landlord roared from outside.
Lying in bed, freshly unemployed Ryan Noah heard the outburst and got instantly riled up.
He shot up from the bed, fists clenched, but upon reaching the door, he held back.
"Broke and gotta act humble."
Ryan sighed, sinking back onto the bed.
As per the lease, today was rent day.
In the past, with a job, he'd just throw the money out the door, not endure this crap.
But now...
Ryan checked his phone, only to find a measly hundred bucks, nowhere near enough for rent.
Feeling stuck, he yearned for any job; even hauling bricks, he'd take it!
Biting his lip, Ryan endured the landlord's insults outside.
After a while, the landlord seemed done and walked off.
Ryan breathed out but then welled up with tears.
A man with drive and ambition, hustling for so long, yet ending up empty-handed, now taking crap for a few hundred bucks.
"Even heroes buckle under pennies."
After a good cry, Ryan wiped his tears.
He knew he couldn't keep wallowing; there had to be a fix.
Ryan fired up job search apps and scoured through.
Being a computer whiz, he aimed for an internet or programming gig.
But no dice, no fitting gigs.
Just as Ryan felt hopeless, he spotted an unfamiliar app on his phone - 'Trillion Subsidies'.
Ryan found it odd; he'd never heard of this "Trillion Subsidies."
"What gives? When did I snag this?"
Ryan furrowed his brow, but he didn't remember this app.
He hadn't even clicked on it, so how the heck did it auto-download?
Quickly, Ryan tried to uninstall it, but no matter what, no dice!
"What the heck's going on!"
Ryan stared at his phone, muttering, "If it won't let me delete, then I'm gonna snoop around and see what's so hot about this app."
A tech whiz like him could spot flaws in any software with just a glance, a piece of cake to fix!
He opened the app, and a load of products popped up, similar to those big-shot shopping apps.
Ryan found it bland, about to close it, when a special page popped up.
[Ding, welcome, new customer.]
[Ding, new customer gift package.]
[Ding, Emerald Shield villa, subsidy: $0.1.]
[Ding, limited edition Porsche 911GT1-98, subsidy: $1.]
Reading the page, Ryan frowned, then scoffed, "These sellers will pull anything for business!"
Whether it was the Emerald Shield villa or the limited edition Porsche 911, they're worth millions, yet here for less than two bucks?
Even a toy model wouldn't come this cheap!
Clearly, a trick to lure traffic.
But Ryan had a glimmer of a fantasy: What if it's real?
Lost in thought, Ryan's finger accidentally swiped the screen, landing on the limited edition Porsche 911.
[Ding, congrats, customer, purchase success!]
[Ding, delivery to the customer starts now.]
Ryan froze in his tracks upon witnessing this scene.
Purchase success?
In a flash, his phone pinged with a message.
Message: Mr. Noah, your card ending in 1122, spent $1 on May 26 at 10 o'clock, leaving a balance of $99.
As he scrutinized the message, Ryan's brows tightened.
Just a buck off, but for him now, that was something!
"Darn, this is a total rip-off!"
He'd just casually tapped, maybe didn't even enter a password, and got charged like this.
This…
Just as Ryan was lost, his phone buzzed again.
[Ding, the stuff you bought's been delivered. Check it out.]
"Delivered? Where the heck to?"
Ryan was sure he'd stumbled into a telecom scam!
About to call the cops, he felt a bulge in his pocket.
Reaching in, Ryan felt car keys, pulling them out, he was gobsmacked.
These, these were the keys to a Porsche 911!
Ryan then glued his eyes back to the app still on his phone.
Could this app be real?
Without a second thought, Ryan eyed the last item, and without hesitation, made another purchase!
[Ding, customer buy success!]
[Ding, goods on their way, should arrive within an hour, please wait.]
[Ding, today's new customer perks and the rest of the goods sold out. Come back tomorrow.]
Seeing this, Ryan seemed to catch on. The items in this app had limits on quantity and time.
Seemed like they refreshed daily.
Though this time, the delivery was taking a while, Ryan was pumped, wondering how the villa would show up.
