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Chapter : 291
Ken followed his team out of the office and into the elevator. As the doors closed, he caught one last glimpse of the Vice Director's face, and what he saw there made his smile widen just slightly. The man was scared. Not terrified, not yet, but scared. And scared men made mistakes.
And mistakes were exactly what the 13th Unit needed. One slip, one document left unguarded, one executive who talked too much under pressure, that was all it would take to bring the entire corrupt edifice crashing down.
The elevator doors closed, and the 13th Unit descended toward the street level, their resolve hardened into something unbreakable. Tomorrow, they would return. And they would not be asking questions.
He reached for the bottle of expensive whiskey he kept in his desk drawer and poured himself a generous measure. His hand was not quite steady as he lifted the glass to his lips. The 13th Unit had been a minor inconvenience this morning. Now they were becoming something else entirely.
A minor inconvenience could be managed, delayed, and ultimately dismissed. But a team that refused to back down, that responded to threats with determination instead of fear, that was a different category of problem entirely. And the Vice Director was beginning to realize that he might have underestimated the 13th Unit from the very beginning.
And Lord Voss was not going to be happy about that. Not happy at all.
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The carriage ride back to the 13th Unit’s estate was filled with an incredibly thick, suffocating silence. The sun was beginning to set over the capital, casting long, dark shadows across the streets, perfectly matching the mood inside the vehicle.
Naomi sat with her arms crossed so tightly her knuckles were white. Her right foot tapped furiously against the wooden floorboard. She was absolutely seething. Laxmi sat next to her, literally radiating heat, staring out the window with an expression of pure, unfiltered frustration.
"I still say we should have burned his desk to ashes," Laxmi grumbled, breaking the silence. A tiny puff of smoke escaped her lips. "He basically confessed to mass murder and then told us to make an appointment. I cannot believe we just turned around and walked out."
"We walked out because attacking an unarmed corporate executive in his own building without a warrant is a crime, Laxmi," Sayma explained softly. The Vice-Captain was rubbing her temples, looking incredibly stressed. "If we had drawn our weapons, his security would have retaliated. The Imperial Police would have arrested us, not him. He would have spun the story to make the 13th Unit look like violent, unhinged terrorists."
"He is right," Princess Iris said quietly from the front of the carriage. Her violet eyes looked deeply troubled. "The Vice Director knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to provoke us. He wanted Naomi to strike first so he could use his expensive lawyers to disqualify us from the Succession War."
"Well, his plan almost worked," Naomi hissed through her teeth. "Did you see his smug face? He thinks he is completely untouchable. He thinks his money makes him a god."
Ken Eliot sat in the very back of the carriage, completely slouched down in his seat. His legs were stretched out, and his hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his navy blue suit. He was quietly chewing on a piece of hard candy he had found in his pocket.
"You guys are giving him way too much credit," Ken mumbled lazily, popping the candy into his cheek. "He isn't a god. He is just a very sweaty guy in an expensive suit. And honestly, he wasn't looking very smug when we walked out the door."
Zinia looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Ken? He literally laughed in our faces."
"He was laughing on the outside," Ken explained, waving a lazy hand in the air. "But on the inside, he was totally panicking. Did you see his hands? When Princess Iris brought up Vane and Augusto, his fingers started shaking. He was reaching for his little communication crystal before the elevator doors even closed. He is absolutely terrified."
Ira, sitting perfectly still near the window, turned her pale, emotionless eyes toward Ken. "Statistically speaking, when a high-level corporate entity experiences sudden panic, their immediate response is to initiate evidence destruction protocols."
Sayma gasped softly, her eyes widening behind her thick glasses. "Ira is right! The shipping manifests, the financial links to the Anti-Empire faction, the orders regarding the Devil Flour—it is all sitting in his office! If he realizes we are a genuine threat, he won't just wait for a six-week legal inquiry. He is going to wipe the records clean!"
The carriage pulled through the rusted iron gates of their crumbling estate and came to a halt.
The elite girls scrambled out of the carriage and rushed directly into the strategy room. The frustration of the afternoon was instantly replaced by a massive, frantic surge of urgent energy.
Sayma immediately opened her magical communication terminal, hacking into the public corporate registry logs. Her fingers flew across the glowing keys with blistering speed.
"I am checking the Benjamin Group's localized magical network traffic," Sayma announced, her voice tight with stress. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "Just as I feared. Look at this data spike. The Vice Director just initiated a massive, building-wide 'Contingency Protocol'. He has locked down the entire executive floor."
Naomi leaned over the table, her green eyes narrowing. "What does that mean?"
"It means he called his lawyers and his mercenaries," Sayma answered grimly. "He has already filed three emergency legal injunctions to block the 13th Unit from entering his building again. And worse, he is moving his private security forces. He just authorized double overtime for a squad of thirty augmented, military-grade corporate mercenaries to guard the top three floors."
Laxmi slammed her fist onto the wooden table. "Thirty augmented mercenaries? Just to guard a bunch of filing cabinets?!"
Luna lifted her head from the couch, letting out a massive yawn. "If you hire thirty heavily armed guys to guard your office on a Tuesday night, you are definitely hiding something highly illegal. Even I know that, and I was asleep for half the meeting."
Princess Iris stared at the glowing digital readouts on Sayma's screen. The grim reality of the situation crashed down on her. The Vice Director was using his vast wealth to build a literal fortress around his crimes.
"He is buying time," Iris deduced, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "He is using the mercenaries to barricade the executive suites tonight so his staff can shred the physical documents and wipe the digital servers. By tomorrow afternoon, the injunctions will be finalized, the evidence will be gone, and the Benjamin Group will be completely, entirely innocent on paper."
"Then we have lost," Risa cried softly from the corner, hugging her medical bag tightly against her chest. "If they destroy the proof about the Devil Flour, we can never get justice for Mr. Carrion. The cure will stay hidden forever."
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