Free Web NovelChapter 121: [121] Boardroom Preparation, The Night Before
[Ding!]
[System Interface Accessed.]
[Objective Updated: Destroy the Central Server. Estimated Debt Reduction: 50 Billion Merit Points.]
Arthur Sterling stared at the glowing blue text floating in his vision. Fifty billion. It was a massive number. To any normal person in this rusted, smog-choked universe, it was an infinite amount of wealth. It was enough capital to buy a dozen planets and retire in absolute luxury.
But to Arthur, it was just a dent. It was a single drop of water in the massive, burning bucket of his cosmic debt. He owed the Omniversal bank almost a trillion points. Still, fifty billion was a solid start. It was the kind of leverage he needed to get Silas Vance by the throat. freewebnσvel.cѳm
He swiped his hand through the air, dismissing the prompt.
The night before the assault was heavy with tension. The trio was holed up in a secure safehouse deep within the lower slums of the Margin. Outside, a harsh, acidic rain hammered against the rusted metal roof. The faint, neon glow from the streets below seeped through the cracked window, casting long, bruised shadows across the cramped room.
Vane was sitting on a sturdy wooden crate in the corner. The scarred frontiersman was meticulously sharpening his massive broadsword with a whetstone. The rhythmic, scraping sound filled the quiet room.
"Scrape. Scrape. Scrape."
Vane looked ridiculous. He was still squeezed into the stiff, navy-blue tuxedo Arthur had bought him for the casino infiltration. The expensive fabric was strained against his bulging, heavily scarred muscles. The jacket was already dusted with debris from their earlier fights in the alleyways.
"I still think this is a suicide mission," Vane grunted. He did not look up from his blade. He just kept running the stone along the chipped steel edge. "We are three people. Silas Vance has an entire private army in that tower. He has cyber-trolls, blood-mages, and a hundred floors of automated security."
Arthur leaned against the wall, casually inspecting the cuffs of his pristine white shirt. His own tailored charcoal suit was currently hanging over a chair. "It is not a suicide mission, Vane. It is a highly aggressive corporate restructuring. There is a difference."
"Yeah? Tell that to the guards who are going to shoot us," Vane muttered.
"We are not going to fight the whole army," Cassia chimed in.
The rogue bounty hunter was sitting cross-legged on a battered sofa on the other side of the room. She had laid out the pieces of her heavy sniper rifle across the cushions. She was carefully oiling the firing mechanism with practiced, lethal efficiency. She was still wearing the stunning, backless crimson evening gown. The contrast of the elegant dress and the deadly weapon in her lap was striking.
"We just need to get to the fiftieth floor," Cassia continued, snapping the barrel back into the rifle chassis with a sharp click. "The central server is the brain of the Iron Tower. If we smash it, the entire building goes dark. The defense arrays, the automated turrets, and the internal comms all run through that server. We break the brain, the body dies."
"And the Monopoly Field," Arthur added. His pitch-black eyes turned deadly serious. "Do not forget the field. That is the real threat."
Vane stopped sharpening his sword. He looked up, his jaw clenched tight. "The field that drains your stamina by five percent a minute. The one that crushes your internal organs the higher you climb. Right. How could I forget?"
"It is a localized reality warp," Cassia explained. She picked up a customized stun pistol and checked the energy cartridge. "It is an automated system designed to suffocate anyone who isn’t registered on the Consortium’s payroll. We won’t be able to breathe properly. Our muscles will feel like lead. Arthur’s system multiplier won’t work in there either. We are going to be fighting on empty."
"Which is why we move fast," Arthur stated. He pushed himself off the wall and walked over to the center of the room. "We do not clear floors. We do not engage in prolonged firefights. We breach the lobby, we take the primary elevators straight to floor fifty, and we liquidate the server. We hit them before they even realize we are in the building."
Vane let out a heavy sigh. He stood up, the floorboards groaning under his weight. He sheathed the massive broadsword and strapped it to his back over the ruined tuxedo. "You make it sound so easy, corporate. We just walk in and blow up the biggest bank in the sector."
"I never said it would be easy," Arthur smirked. "I said it would be profitable."
Vane just shook his head. He walked over to the small kitchenette to grab a bottle of water. He needed to hydrate if he was going to spend tomorrow acting as a human shield for a crazy CEO.
Arthur turned his attention back to Cassia.
The rogue had finished reassembling her sniper rifle. She leaned it against the armrest of the sofa and picked up a small cloth to wipe the gun oil off her fingers. She did not look scared. In fact, her silver eyes were practically glowing with adrenaline. She lived for this kind of high-stakes gamble.
Arthur walked over and sat down on the edge of the sofa next to her. The worn springs creaked slightly under his dense weight.
For a long moment, neither of them said a word. The only sound in the room was the heavy rain pounding against the roof and the distant wail of a police siren. They were sitting on the precipice of absolute disaster. If they failed tomorrow, Silas Vance would have them tortured, killed, and their souls erased to pay off the debt.
It was the ultimate make-or-break moment for their new empire.
Cassia tossed the oily cloth onto the table. She leaned back against the sofa cushions, tilting her head to look at him. The dim, flickering light of the safehouse cast sharp shadows across her face.
"If we die tomorrow," Cassia said softly. Her voice lacked its usual arrogant, playful edge. She wasn’t looking at his eyes. She was staring at the collar of his shirt. "I just want you to know..."
She paused, swallowing hard. In her world, in the cutthroat ranks of Auditors and bounty hunters, showing vulnerability was a death sentence. But sitting here, hours before charging into a heavily fortified death trap, the walls were coming down.
"I just want you to know," Cassia continued, her voice barely above a whisper, "this was the most fun I’ve had in centuries." freёwebnovel.com
Arthur looked at her. He didn’t pull up his system. He didn’t run a statistical analysis on their survival rate. He just looked at the woman sitting next to him.
He had spent his first life as a ruthless corporate liquidator on Earth. He had spent his second life as an untouchable, omnipotent God ruling over an infinite multiverse. But right now, stripped of his god-tier power, hiding in a dirty safehouse with a rogue and a stubborn hero, he felt more alive than ever.
Arthur did not offer her a comforting lie. He offered her absolute certainty.
"We aren’t dying," Arthur said. His voice was a low, absolute rumble that vibrated with unyielding authority.
He reached out. His large, calloused hand brushed against the side of her face. He gently tucked a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered for a fraction of a second against her warm skin.
His pitch-black eyes locked onto her silver ones. There was no fear in his gaze. There was only the cold, terrifying ambition of a predator who had found his next meal.
"I haven’t cashed out yet," Arthur smirked.
