The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 1273 - 196 - Boiling Point (2)

After meeting with Myrcella earlier, I went to see Amon, Maya, and Anne.

They were the ones who piloted the helicopters earlier, the same helicopters that had been carefully positioned along the very edge of the kingdom.

The three of them were already deep into preparation when I arrived. The atmosphere in the room wasn’t chaotic, but it wasn’t relaxed either. It had that focused kind of tension that people get when they know trouble is probably on the way, but they’re determined to be ready for it.

After all, the person—or group—who had been moving behind the scenes all this time was almost certainly going to make a move against Leonamon.

And considering what had already happened in the past, that assumption wasn’t paranoia.

It was caution.

There had already been an attack before, one that cost the lives of many employees. I still remembered the aftermath of that incident far too clearly.

That memory alone was more than enough motivation to make sure something like that never happened again.

Right now, we were preparing for the worst-case scenario.

"Master."

Amon approached me as soon as she noticed my arrival. Her posture straightened instantly before she gave a respectful bow. Even though she had worked with me for quite some time now, she never really dropped that formal habit of hers.

"How is everything going so far?" I asked her.

She lifted her head and answered calmly.

"We are almost done," she said. "The preparations are nearly complete. The only thing left now is to wait for your command."

I gave a slow nod, glancing around the room for a moment before speaking again.

"Well then..." I said, rolling my shoulders slightly. "Let’s get to it."

Amon nodded without hesitation and then turned her attention toward the other two.

Maya and Anne immediately understood the signal.

The two of them stepped toward the control panels and pressed their assigned buttons at the exact same moment. Their timing was almost perfectly synchronized.

A second later, I felt it.

A faint vibration traveled through the floor beneath my feet. It wasn’t violent or alarming, just a subtle tremor, like the ground itself had quietly cleared its throat.

Right then, the entire base of operations began to move.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

The massive structure started descending deep into the earth.

It was almost surreal when you thought about it. A company headquarters quietly lowering itself underground like some giant mechanical elevator.

But this wasn’t some theatrical display.

This was preparation.

And considering that Leonamon operated as the center of many operations, it only made sense to protect it properly.

We weren’t just hiding one building either.

The system I had commissioned was much larger than that.

The main branch of Leonamon wasn’t the only structure being lowered underground. All the internal facilities connected to Leonamon were also descending together.

The various branches.

The affiliated companies.

Even smaller businesses connected to us—like Leonamon Cake Shape—were included in the system. And of course, the Mercenary Company that Charlotte had created was part of the network as well.

Every internal structure was moving downward at the same time.

It was slow and controlled. It was very carefully engineered.

Of course, the exterior parts of the buildings remained above ground.

From the outside, everything would still look completely normal. Anyone walking past would see the same buildings standing where they always had. Offices, shops, facilities, nothing suspicious at all.

But beneath those structures?

Everything important had already moved underground.

The entire project had taken an absurd amount of time to design and construct. Not to mention the money involved. If someone saw the financial reports, they’d probably choke on their coffee.

But despite the cost, it wasn’t useless.

Not even close.

If anything, what happened during the Eclipse attacks had proven just how necessary it was.

Back then, several Leonamon branches were caught off guard. The damage had been severe, and the losses were something I didn’t intend to repeat.

Complacency was a luxury I couldn’t afford anymore.

Not when people depended on this place.

So I prepared.

I prepared myself.

And more importantly, I prepared the company.

Because in the kind of situation we were facing, an "emergency" wasn’t just some theoretical possibility.

It meant lives.

The lives of my employees.

The lives of the women close to me.

People who worked hard here, trusted this place, and built their futures around it.

I wasn’t about to let those lives get crushed just because I failed to plan ahead.

And right now, the system we built was finally being put to use.

After a short while, the descent finished.

The entire interior structure of the company had moved far enough underground that it now rested deep beneath the surface. Far deeper than any ordinary facility.

And it wasn’t just buried dirt and concrete.

The walls had been reinforced with specialized materials designed to withstand heavy impact. Bombardments, explosions, structural pressure, none of those things would easily break through.

If someone wanted to destroy this place, they’d have to try very, very hard.

And even then, good luck.

The underground complex was also connected by a network of internal routes. These passageways linked all the buildings and facilities together once the descent was complete.

Think of it like an underground city corridor system.

From one branch, you could move to another without ever stepping outside.

It also connected to the areas where the others were currently staying.

In other words, once everything was fully active, the entire operation could function underground without exposing anyone unnecessarily.

Right now, this was basically our base.

A temporary headquarters for whatever chaos was about to unfold.

Because the situation developing outside wasn’t going to be small.

This wasn’t just some corporate rivalry or minor conflict.

It was turning into something far bigger.

A civil war.

And alongside that civil war, a political struggle was brewing in the background. Power struggles, alliances shifting, and people making desperate moves to stay relevant.

When a country reaches that stage, things rarely stay clean or controlled.

Destruction becomes unavoidable.

Entire areas can collapse financially.

Families get displaced.

Cities start changing in ways nobody wanted.

And worst of all...

People die.

A lot of them.

Thinking about that alone was enough to make my head feel heavy.

Right now, my mind was already running through different possibilities as well as different ways to reduce the scale of destruction as much as possible.

Because if this war was inevitable, then the least I could do was make sure fewer people suffered from it.

***

After finishing the preparations, I headed back to where Myrcella was staying.

Her dorm room was quiet when I entered.

She was sitting at her desk with a focused expression, writing something carefully on a sheet of paper.

One small detail immediately caught my attention. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

She was wearing glasses.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She didn’t even look up immediately.

"Well," she said casually, continuing to write, "I’m sending a letter to Administrator Galdea."

Her pen moved smoothly across the paper.

"I think it’s better to start gathering supporters now rather than wasting time thinking about plans that might end up useless."

While she spoke, she eventually noticed that I had been standing there... staring.

She finally paused and looked up at me.

"What?" she asked.

"Well," I said, "this is the first time I’ve seen you wearing glasses."

She blinked once.

Then a slow, mischievous smile appeared on her face.

"Fufufu..." she chuckled softly. "Do you want to fuck me while I’m wearing them?"

Straight to the point, as usual.

"Well, I’d be interested," I said with a shrug. "But considering you’re clearly busy right now, I’m fine with waiting until this whole situation ends."

She smirked faintly before returning her attention to the letter.

Right now, everything around us was slowly heating up.

The situation outside was building toward a boiling point.

And until that moment arrived—

We couldn’t afford to waste time.