Chapter 258: The Hollow Shield

The convoy came to a halt in front of a sprawling industrial complex. From the outside, the building looked unremarkable—a standard corporate office with a glass facade and a concrete parking structure. Construction crews were still busy with the final touches, and the sound of drills and hammers provided a mundane soundtrack to their arrival.

"It looks... normal," Ethan said the leader, glancing at the workers. "And I noticed something. My primary accounts haven’t taken much of a hit recently. How did we pay for all this? The materials, the labor, the logistics... it’s not cheap."

"We haven’t been using your personal funds, boss," said Jason as he stepped out of the SUV, scanning the rooftops. "There have been daily skirmishes against Olympus. Thanks to those ’interactions,’ we’ve seized a massive amount of their resources. We’ve raided warehouses filled with high-grade building materials they had destined for their own projects. We even intercepted two armored trucks carrying cash from one of the Olympus-affiliated banks. The battle out there is getting fiercer by the hour."

Ethan frowned, looking at the massive line of armored vehicles and the helicopters hovering above. "And despite that war, you pulled all these elements away from the perimeter just to escort me? I can defend myself, you know."

"I know you can, boss. But you are our trump card," said Jason, his voice firm. "When you strike, it should be to annihilate them completely. Leave the little insects who only know how to jump from place to place to us. It’s our job to clear the path."

Jason paused, his expression turning thoughtful as he led Ethan toward the entrance. "Besides, although it seems we are in constant danger, I have to report a very strange shift in the situation. We believe it’s all because of you."

"Because of me? What happened?" Ethan asked the young man.

"Until yesterday, there wasn’t a single day where we didn’t face at least eight separate attacks at different points in our territory. It was so bad that the original residents fled, even though we tried to maintain order. But today, everything changed," said Jason. "The armored patrols that were harrassing our borders have vanished. Their soldiers are gone. The area is a ghost town. Falcon 18 took a risk and scouted their forward barracks—they left them abandoned. We seized more weapons, vehicles, and abandoned cash. We didn’t understand why they would retreat so suddenly until Old Falcon mentioned the Blood Rose’s attack. It’s likely they are terrified of us now."

Ethan rubbed his chin, a cold smirk forming. "It’s possible. They probably think she’s acting as my personal enforcer. But we can’t be certain it’s a permanent retreat. Strengthen the perimeter here regardless." He looked around the lobby, noticing it was unusually quiet. "By the way, how many men do we have left?"

Jason let out a short, nervous laugh, his eyes shifting toward the empty corridor. "Very few, boss. We have less than 500 active elements left alive. Everyone else was lost in the recent battles. To be honest... this convoy behind us? It’s just a hollow shell. There’s only one armed driver per vehicle and two per helicopter. It’s all a show to make it look like we have hundreds of soldiers ready to drop. It’s a deterrent tactic. We don’t know what our enemies are planning next, so we have to look bigger than we are."

Ethan stood in the center of the silent lobby, the realization sinking in. He was a king with a legendary reputation, but his army was bleeding out.

"So we’re bluffing," Ethan said the leader.

"We’re bluffing with the best hand we’ve ever had, boss," said Jason. "But eventually, someone is going to call."

They walked toward the back of the lobby, past a group of workers who were busy painting a wall. Jason led him to a service elevator that required a triple-authentication scan. As the doors closed, Ethan felt the heavy pull of a deep descent. He had personally reviewed the blueprints for this underground bunker weeks ago, but seeing the depth indicator move was different.

"Boss, I’ve got to ask... why did you want something this deep and this reinforced?" asked Jason, his eyes fixed on the floor numbers as they plummeted. "During this past month, an expert team worked on this little secret under my direct supervision. Despite what you might expect, the actual space is relatively small—no more than 50 square meters. But we followed your specifications to the letter: a single vertical tunnel with no other exits. Whatever tries to force its way in here will be buried forever if we trigger the charges. I get chills just thinking about being trapped down here."

"Because what goes in here is more valuable than all the gold in the Union," Ethan said the leader.

The elevator finally stopped. The digital readout confirmed they were nearly 500 meters below the surface, encased in solid bedrock and lead-lined concrete. The doors hissed open to a sterile, cold vault.

"It’s perfect. Go back up, Jason. I’ll be up in a moment," Ethan said.

"Understood, boss," said Jason. He stepped back into the lift, the doors sealing shut and leaving Ethan in a silence so absolute he could hear his own heartbeat.

Ethan stood in the center of the room. "Alright, System. I’m in the most secure place we could build. I followed your specs to the centimeter. Now tell me, what’s the next move?"

[Purchase the AI Seed,] said the System.

Ethan opened his interface. He spent the 100 Lux Points, and a small, matte-black cube—about the size of a paperweight—materialized in the air. It hummed with a low frequency that Ethan felt in his teeth.

"I thought I’d be spending the next week installing server racks and cooling units. Where is the hardware?" Ethan asked the young man, circling the floating cube.

The System let out a mocking, mechanical laugh. [This isn’t like your shitty internet, Ethan. This is truly a work of art.]