Chapter 194 - Plans Moving Forward

Kyle was still in the hypermall, doing a tour of the place. It’s only been a week since he left after the funeral, but it was still good to keep an eye on things and how they were progressing. Showing his presence also acted as a buoy of sorts – he wanted the spies and traitors to spread the information that he was here in Raktor.

The compulsory time off was a clean plan: the vacation would uplift his overworked members’ spirits, while those who had continuously betrayed him would be exposed the moment they left their position. Every instance of fraud, embezzlement or secret information leaks would be exposed cleanly. The random rotation of vacation also further prevented the traitors from knowing exactly when they would be gone, hampering their ability to evade detection.

“Now we just have to wait and see if any of them are related to the Tul’e Da’li.” Kyle remarked.

“What do we do when we find them? Kill them?” Keith asked.

Why does everyone around me think I’m all about just killing or enslaving? “Use them as a double agent – stalk them and use them to map out the infiltration sequence. That way we will be able to trace their movements as well and limit the information they gathered.” Kyle of course did not plan to reveal that he was on to them immediately, instead content with misleading the enemy and putting the traitors into non-important positions.

“What about the employees who found out?”

“Pay them to keep their mouth shut for a moment. This is a critical juncture. If anyone seems like they are on the verge of leaking too much information… Niko, I’m sure you can handle it?”

Niko was startled at the sudden thrust of responsibility, but a wide beam erupted on his face as he shot up from his seat, saluting. “Yes, Boss. You can count on me.”

“Good, I know I can.” Kyle gave a small smile, but that was all it took to wash away any doubt Niko had about his own importance and relevance to the gang. The burden of his own insecurities disappeared into thin air with the amount of confidence placed in him by Kyle.

Kyle knew Niko had made mistakes before – he still hadn’t forgotten about the factory hijacking and the multiple small little hiccups along the way. But loyalty was still far more important: he would rather have a loyal average worker than a traitorous competent one.

And earning Niko’s loyalty barely cost anything to Kyle: all he did was say a few words, yet it meant much more to Niko. What might seem like a small action could very well be the entire world to the other person and would net you much more benefits in the long run.

Even if Niko did not manage to prevent every leak, with the compulsory time off now in effect, Kyle and Adrian could still track down the main spies and traitors where possible. 

Kyle still trusted all the vipers, who had stuck with him through thick and thin even when the war was going badly. Speaking about vipers, I should consider integrating ADCON into the Seven Snakes soon. Right now, he knew that Nox, Yona and Feldon were still holding the fort, stalling Count Leon in Ocra to the best of their ability. He had instructed ADCON to not fight too hard – finishing the battle immediately would result in less profits from the Versian government.

He was in no rush to finish off the Count himself – killing Count Leon would open up the seat of Raktor for Baron Namor to ascend. There were many things he needed to do before that happened, and he could only hope that Count Leon would be marred in a war of attrition.

“What’s next on the schedule?” Kyle asked Keith, who quickly pulled up a timeline chart that the vipers had agreed upon a week ago.

“Guang Hwa is still overseeing Apartment #1, the first of the pre-fabricated buildings. We’re almost done with the inspection; perhaps you might want to go down and see it for yourself?”

“Maybe, but let’s go over the rest of the timeline first.”

“Of course. The reconstruction would see about six hundred apartments set up over the coming months – with more trained construction crews; more apartments can be built in parallel. It is only a question of how fast the factory in the Culdao Peaks can produce the necessary modules. We are also in the phase of redoing up the utilities and arcia lines to serve the district better. The bombing gives an opportunity to improve on it and make it better according to your suggested designs.”

Kyle nodded in agreement. He had planned the utilities for rapid expansion, with the utilities being easy to access rather than directly buried under heaps of concrete and asphalt. He knew that if the reconstruction plan went well, the population within his district would surge tremendously, and the infrastructure needed to cope with it.

“We have expanded the roads as well as part of our demolition process, restructuring the grid around the area. However, landowners who have previously fled the war are now coming back and requesting for their right to the land.”

“The land deeds are issued under Baron Cain, I assume?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have Baron Cain sign off the new redevelopment plan, and compensate them for the loss in surface area according to fair market prices. Put up an offer by the Golden Snake Construction Company for anyone who wants to sell the deed.”

As soon as Kyle was done talking to Keith, he and Mari returned to the Culdao Peaks immediately, with the unconscious Lionel in tow.  Kyle would love to inspect the construction project, but it was of far more importance to begin his investigation.

“Hey, I thought we were going to have a field trip!” Mari pouted as they returned back to the Culdao Peaks.

“You already had it. Didn’t you learn plenty from defeating the thugs?”

“That doesn’t count! I want a vacation!”

“Maybe when you even have a chance of defeating me one-on-one.” Kyle smirked, leaving Mari behind in the palace. He had Orisa’s clones haul Lionel’s unconscious body into the Oracle Chambers and place him in a similar stasis pod that Mari was in. “Orisa, perform a full body scan. As deep as you can go.”

[Confirmed. Cybernetics detected, beginning analysis. Shall I collect blueprints of construction?]

“Go for it.” Kyle did not have the machines nor tools necessary to create the cybernetic implants, but he planned on tracing exactly where Lionel got his from. If I can figure out the composition of the metal and where it is being crafted, then that would give me another clue.

He had heard Lionel talk about knowing ‘the mysteries of this world’, something Kyle would want to know, but there was far too much on his plate right now. While Mari was enamoured by the sleeping Lionel floating in stasis, Kyle opened a line to Adrian. “Adrian, updates on the Kregol situation? Is Victoria still requesting for backup?”

[So far so good for now, but there are clear signs of increased aggression across the board. More and more Violet Demons are infiltrating Kregol.]

“How many elite squads are currently assigned?” Kyle knew there were a total of two hundred elite soldiers – a squad of five meant there were a total of forty squads. Half were allocated to Sasha in order to suppress the belligerent remnants of the Ardent Cretins who refused the peace treaty, while the remaining half had been split up.

[Currently, there are ten elite squads, but seven of them are acting as guards for mines and forestry encampments that we have captured in order to stabilise the area for the Ravens to take over. Victoria has suggested we take over certain resource deposits in exchange for more soldiers deployed on our end.]

She knows she can’t hold all of it herself. “Tell her I accept. Dedicate five more elite squads, and begin recruitment of new elite soldiers again. Have Gordon handle the transfer of workers to the resource deposits to begin operations.”

[Yes, sir. Sasha is busy in Raktor right now, who should take charge of the recruitment?]

“I’ll do it.” Kyle would normally not have wasted time doing it himself, but the recent exposure of infiltration meant that Kyle would have to be extremely hands-on until the overall organisation had stabilised fully, with loyal subordinates in every category. Furthermore, being in charge of the recruitment meant there would be even more combatants to train Mari.

It was not enough for her to train with the same opponents all the time, lest she fall into the trap of specialising her fighting style too much.

[On it, I will set it up for you.]

Now alone in the Oracle Chambers, Kyle began to track out again the plan moving forward. He had previously declared that he would conquer Raktor, but even he felt that such a goal was slightly too ambitious. When he declared that goal, it was without the information of the Emperor’s impending death nor Baron Namor’s close ties with the Duke that ruled over Count Leon.

Kyle could see the writing on the wall: Baron Namor was already far ahead in the race to become the next Count. All that was left was for Count Leon to be either killed in battle or assassinated. If Count Leon is killed tomorrow, the coronation of the new Count would happen within a month. Thus, the longer Count Leon stalled in the battle for Ocra, the better.

He did not see it as feasible that he could prevent the death of Count Leon – in fact, he did not want Count Leon to return to Raktor either. Count Leon’s return would mean the expulsion of the Seven Snakes from Raktor due to Kyle’s betrayal in Tenar. Kyle had invested too much into Raktor to just give it up like that.

Every other party involved did not want the return of Count Leon either: the Duke did not send as much help as he should have to the Count, Baron Namor has the motivation to prevent Leon’s return, and every major gang would not want him to return either lest they were suppressed once more.

It took more than twenty minutes for Kyle to carefully consider the next logical step of moves that each party would play, trying to chart his own course to ensure he could weather the storm. Being a major gang in the South Sector seemed to have not made him stronger, but rather more susceptible to being targeted. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

As such, the objective was still the same for now: Make the Seven Snakes so economically integrated with Raktor that even if Baron Namor were to become the new Count, they could not afford to antagonise nor go against the Seven Snakes and Baron Cain. This way, they would be able to prevent a complete rout.

Kyle was cognizant that Baron Namor already knew of this happening – the Tul’e Da’li had already begun their expansion into their outlying districts, gathering former gang members together. But instead of bogging down in brinksmanship, Kyle had all his subordinates turned their focus to the reconstruction project, to scale so fast and hard in financial strength that it would be disadvantageous for Baron Namor to decimate them. Even he has to pay taxes and levies to the Duke eventually.

The reconstruction project was only one part of the overall plan: capturing outlying resource deposits like the ones in Kregol from the Ardent Cretins and Violet Demons was also another step.

The Seven Snakes was already beginning to act as the economic center of the South Sector, thanks to their hypermall still standing strong and their fixed price on rations. Their strong supply network further allowed Kyle to entrench their presence, causing more and more people to gravitate towards them.

Once they reached a critical mass, it would be akin to a self-fulfilling prophecy, where merchants would gather towards the hypermall due to the large potential customer base. It was effectively a race between him and the Tul’e Da’li on who could become the center of commerce faster.

And that was just the trading that was done aboveground. Kyle had yet to begin his plan to dominate the black market of Raktor – and in order to do so, he would need to enter with a bang. His addictive potions had already been long deconstructed by other alchemists from other sectors, making his supply fairly unremarkable. Most potions they made were for inhouse consumption, especially during the war.

Kyle needed to stay one step ahead of the competition. With Haui already presenting an affordable business model for cheap low quality potions, alchemists around the city are beginning to adopt mass production methods as well. It wouldn’t be enough for Kyle to just compete on price – he needed to compete on effectiveness as well.

The Euria Seeds proved to be useful, but Kyle knew that it could be made even better. All he needed was to form the right composition that has the right kick and hook. Naturally, Kyle already knew what addictive substances could be made thanks to his experience in the Galactic Era, if he had the ingredients. Advanced technology allowed them to generate any compound they could conceive that would target specific nerves or receptors, even eliminating many side effects such as addiction.

However, it was precisely that effect that Kyle had to find. And this time, it won’t be just a ‘potion’.

“Time to make a killer drug and rule the blackmarket.”