I'm Trying To Go Broke, So Why Do I Keep Getting Richer?!-Chapter 251: The Two Plans

Leo stared at the translucent blue screen.

For him, the one-time exception felt less like a gift and more like a slap on the wrist from a parent who had just caught their child with a hand in the literal cookie jar, and then proceeded to lock the jar in a secret shelf.

"Tch. Stingy," Leo muttered, crossing his arms. "I was just trying to be a proactive boss. Why are you trying to defame me?"

He leaned back in the Commander’s seat, sighing. The Consolation Participation Trophy appeared in his inventory. He tapped the icon, expecting a useless piece of junk.

.......................

Item: The ’I Tried’ Commemorative Medal

Rank: E (Special)

Description: A medal forged from the melted remains of a toaster that failed to toast. It smells faintly of toast.

Effect: Plausible Deniability...Once activated, the user gains a +50% boost to ’Acting’ and ’Deception’ for 10 minutes, specifically when explaining why something went horribly wrong.

.......................

Leo’s lips twitched.

"Okay, so the System has a sense of humor. I can work with this."

He turned his gaze back to the monitor, which displayed a long-range feed of the Alpha Bank ruins. The smoke was thick and black, but the fire didn’t look like it had any intention to die down anytime soon.

While the System had blocked the loophole and now he couldn’t use the art of explosion on his own assets. But still, Leo didn’t feel much regret.

After all, if he could only use that loophole once in his lifetime, then what better time to do it if not now.

After all, the bank had already served its purpose.

The money was already as good as good and couldn’t be recovered, but it also couldn’t be considered a loss as long as it was with the person that it was lent to, since there was always a possibility of return.

It was better to just burn it and get double the return. Moreover, when else could he do something so absurd like burning so much money?

In any case, even before his disappearance, he had already realized that the bank was running out of funds. He had already sold all the traceless items to fund the bank, and that had barely allowed it to function until now.

It was only a matter of time before it went down. If anything, Leo felt slightly relieved that he wasn’t in command when it happened. Otherwise, it would’ve ruined his carefully cultivated reputation.

After all this time, Leo had become somewhat attached to his reputation. After all, he was still a human.

Even though he knew that losing money was beneficial to him, after being praised by so many people as a genius, he felt like it would’ve been embarrassing to be called an idiot who just got lucky.

Hence, he was already trying to think of a solution for this problem.

He had basically realized that the potato was burnt. If he kept holding onto it, he was going to get burned with it. So he simply tossed the potato to Skrax and patted his hands clean.

Now that the Vanderlens reputation had been established as genius of the era that changed the fates of millions, he didn’t want to come out and ruin that.

At the same time, he knew that he had to lose money. He had to make his business bankrupt.

For that, he had thought of two plans. First, it was time to leave the Alpha Corp’s ship temporarily while leaving a possibility of return.

After all, with the way he had set up the company, no one could snatch the power completely even if they wanted. He had already left many arrangements in place to keep the company going.

As long as he wanted, he could always return and take control. After all, Reo Vanderlen had died. What did it have to do with him, Leo Vanderlen?

Wasn’t he simply missing from the moment he was arrested? He could always make a return with an excuse.

However, for now, he didn’t want to do that. Firstly, it was because the chances of Alpha Corp’s complete fall were too low. And even if it did, he wouldn’t really gain much.

All he could do was leave a functioning ecosystem for the Alpha Corp which had already reached the peak of its abilities to earn money.

From here on, it was only a downfall. It might even shift from being the sole overlord of this space sector to being just one of the top few companies of the space sector.

What was important was his second plan. It was to start fresh... An identity different from the Vanderlens and after a place different from this space sector.

That way, even if someone found out a link between the so-called envoy of death and a human from earth, what did it have to do with him?

Leo had already made up his mind to start a new company from scratch, which would’ve had no relationship with the Alpha Corporation .

That way, even if he burned the company to the ground, it would be slightly less embarrassing.

He had already selected a space sector for that. It was a place that was near the center of the universe, right under the Galactic Union’s domain of direct governance.

It was also a place which was in absolute chaos recently because of the battle between three ancient houses.

What better place than the center of chaos to start trouble? And now that the battle had ended, he could easily expand.

And even if the battle started again, wasn’t it better for him if his new company was blown up along with the planet because of after shocks alone.

With a rough plan, the only thing that Leo had to wait for, was the settlement of this month. In fact, he couldn’t wait to see how much he was going to gain this month.

With this month of reward from the system, his bankrupt account might be filled with quite a lot of seed money as well.

"The monthly calculation is going to be incredible," Leo mumbled, his heart fluttering with a twisted kind of joy.

Back at the Ruins

The heat from the fire was intense. Skrax was still on his knees, staring at a half-burnt million-credit note that fluttered past his face like a dying butterfly.

Ulien, however, wasn’t looking at the fire. He was looking at Yang.

Yang was standing perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the spot where Leo had vanished. He looked like a man who had seen the end of the world and was trying to figure out if he should scream or pray.

"Yang," Ulien called out. "You were the first one here. You’re telling me you saw nothing?"

Yang frowned. He thought of the ghosts. He thought of the Land of the Dead flooding their world, millions of transparent, vengeful spirits pouring through the streets of the Alpha Corporation because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

"I told you," Yang said coldly. "Are you doubting me, old foggy? It must be because of some internal structure fault lines. After all, it was constructed before our construction company was formed. What shoddy work."

He shook his head, shifting the blame on bad construction by the ones that made this building.

At the same time, he was inwardly cursing, ’You old bastard, can you stop putting your nose everywhere! Stop asking me for things that you shouldn’t know!"

Ulien stepped closer, his gaze weighing down on Yang like a mountain. "You are a terrible liar, Yang. Even a child could see the sweat on your brow. Who are you protecting?"

"I’m protecting all of us!" Yang suddenly blurted out, filled with frustration.

The surrounding guards and executives froze.

Skrax stopped his mourning and looked up, his face smeared with dust.

"Protecting us from what?" Skrax demanded, his voice filled with range. "You definitely saw something!"

Yang looked at Skrax, then at Ulien.

"You don’t understand," Yang frowned. "I mean I’m protecting you from wasting your time because there is nothing suspicious. So stop thinking about it!"

He turned on his heel and walked away, ignoring Ulien’s calls. He needed to find a priest. Or an exorcist. Or at the very least, a very strong drink.

Moreover, he didn’t want to be interrogated anymore. The more he talked, the more he was worried that he might have exposed flaws.

Leo, watching from his ship, let out a sigh. He was the most worried about Yang. Fortunately, that man knew how to use his brain and he hadn’t exposed anything.

With this, the matter of the fire had temporarily come to an end, many believing that it might truly be an accident.

Unfortunately, this was simply the beginning of the cracks within the Alpha Corporation, planting a seed for something that was going to become the center of a storm that no one could have imagined.

However, the person who was responsible for this, and the one who started this company in the first place, had already left the space sector, even changing his identity.