Corpo Age-Chapter 263: Planning to the End

A frown naturally came to me upon hearing NPC’s latest suggestion. I was sure he had thought hard about it, trying to come up with a solution that I could accept, but he should’ve known I had quite a few acquaintances within the wasteland. In fact, having spent a decent amount of time there, I was quite knowledgeable about the situation out there. It was one of the best sources of experience points with all the wasteland mutants that roamed the desert.

“I don’t think that’ll work as well as you think,” I said. “Most wasteland monsters are quite sensitive to danger and live underground. The moment we started bombing the area, they’d all go underground. It isn’t much more efficient than what I’m doing right now.”

“That’s if you only make use of the few ships you have. I can arrange enough firepower to decimate an area thrice the size of Elevate City. It should be within the limit of what the environment can handle.”

I gulped at how casual he was in deciding the target for one of the largest arsenals of humanity. Thankfully, he had his limits. He was smart enough to know mass bombardment had the potential to permanently change both the landscape and environment of Earth. Depending on the scale, the effects ranged from firestorms and acid rains all the way up to recreating the scene that wiped out the dinosaurs.

“Hm, that’ll only be possible if we have up-to-date information regarding the location of each wasteland clan. I’m sure you already know this, but I have quite a few allies among them. I don’t want to harm any of them even if I don’t have a relationship with them yet. Is that something you can do?”

Wastelanders were nomad. There was no question about that. To be able to grasp their location throughout all the wasteland zones wasn’t an easy task, even if you were SocialCorp. Now that they were preoccupied by the war, their capabilities must’ve suffered as well.

Without this guarantee, there was no way I would agree to this new proposal. Otherwise, I would never be able to face anyone from the Wells Clan or any wastelander again.

NPC didn’t respond to my question for some time. He was likely making some calculations, so I didn’t rush him. Instead, I took my time assessing how my own company was faring.

The decision on where to allocate my upgrade points was critical for us, and getting the latest information was crucial to my decision. I had so many choices that would have a far-reaching consequence on everything.

Right now I was leaning toward upgrading what I was already familiar with, saving time, which in turn saved lives. From what I know, SocialCorp was split into two factions spearheaded by NPC and Silas. As many shareholders as there were, these two had the most influence. If I eliminate one of them, things should settle down, as the rest of the company would fall in line with the remaining candidate.

That meant I could upgrade my personal stealth tech and skill to pull off an assassination attempt. By upgrading two complementary skills, the synergy produced should mean I don’t have to put as many points into it. It solved the issue of procuring the right materials to make use of the knowledge gained when upgrading my skills too far. In that case, I wouldn’t need to dedicate as many points to the relevant material science.

However, picking this path meant I would put all my eggs in one basket. If my assassination attempt failed, I would need a tremendous amount of points in order to provide assistance to the large-scale battle that NPC wanted.

Is it too much pressure if my fallback plan will probably require massacring entire cities? If I don’t, the war will drag on, and the resulting casualties will likely be even higher.

But shouldn’t I value civilian lives more? They didn’t sign up for the violence while the soldiers did. Damn this shit. Now I have to think about the philosophical question of weighing the value between civilians and combatants.

Screw it. I should just focus on ensuring the success of the most likely plan first.

After another half hour, NPC finally turned to me.

“Your request is possible and quite resource-intensive. You’re right in that it won’t be much more efficient than attacking an enemy base or participating in a fleet battle, but right now, Silas’ forces are taking a defensive stance. That means we can go with both options. Bombard the wasteland between battles.”

“I don’t expect you to do a thorough study to predict every impact our actions will cause, but I hope you’ll provide your assistance to those affected after this war is over.”

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“Of course. I’ve fought for my cause for a long time. I won’t forget to look after the people once I win. I’ll need your help in creating the perfect AI government, anyway. If you don’t trust me, just make sure to create an AI that will address these wastelander’s plight.”

I begrudgingly nodded.

I wasn’t still fully convinced about his plan, but I could see the potential. If I could put more upgrade points into software engineering, it may really be possible. There would be a lot of things to work out, but those were worries for another day.

With that, we nodded hands as our employees got to work.

Silas Vexel - SocialCorp

Silas was currently livid. His carefully laid trap had backfired. He knew he had given his prey time to react the moment he couldn’t convince anyone willing to sacrifice themselves for his cause. To be precise, he could, but that would severely affect morale. If that happened, his handle on his men would loosen, giving his opposition an opportunity to exploit his weakness.

It wasn’t worth snuffing out one possible source of disaster only to create another one. It wasn’t in his habit to play whack-a-mole.

“I value results. Decisive results that will bring us long-term success. What I hate most are the incompetent and the lazy. Did you know that?”

Hearing Silas’ words, the stocky man in the red power armor across from him could only tilt his head down in shame. Contrary to his wide frame, he was acting so timid. He couldn’t mutter a word.

“Gunther,” the much skinnier corpo in a fancy suit said in a sharp tone. “Are you listening? If you are, please do tell me. Are you the former or the latter?”

“None of them, sir!”

“I hope so because it would otherwise mean I selected the wrong person to be one of the four leaders of my elite Executors!” Silas shouted as he got to his feet.

He quickly calmed himself down and slipped back into his seat. He then pressed a button under his desk and the doors to his office opened. Three figures strode into the room. They each wore a similar power armor to Gunther, being red in color, but had their own distinct features.

They were holding their headgear against their side, so their faces were on full display. The one first to enter was quite short, standing barely five feet tall. A girl with brunette hair accentuated by some baby blue highlights. She casually waved with both hands as they walked in.

“Yoo-hoo, boss. Did you miss me?” a girly voice reverberated through the speakers of the power armor.

Before anyone could reply to her, the person behind her instantly karate-chopped right at the top of her head. The culprit was also a woman, but with a much fuller figure and jet-black hair.

“Apologies for Silky’s behavior, sir. We’re here as you ordered.”

Silas nodded, causing the woman to blush. She then quickly turned to the last remaining newcomer and signaled to the bald man with a wide build to greet their superior. However, the man remained stoic and simply nodded.

“Show some respect, Doran. At least say hi to our leader.”

“It’s fine, Ciel,” Silas interrupted. “We have more important things to worry about. Gunther, show them.”

The man in question reluctantly faced his compatriots and quickly got his terminal to project the footage taken from the camera built into his visor. It depicted the scene of his last mission and the shame of his career.

“Ha, what were you doing, Gunther?” the short girl known as Silky teased. “You practically let them get away. Were you having fun getting lost in the haze?”

“Silky!” her minder, the tall woman, once again reprimanded. “It’s not our job to judge the failure of others. We have more important things to worry about. This smokescreen used in the video is a serious threat. If the readings are correct, none of us are able to do much if we allow it to envelop us as well.”

“That’s correct,” Silas added. “I’ve ordered our research team to come up with a solution already. Go see if they are done yet. They won’t have time to come up with a way to address this enemy’s impressive stealth, nor is it worth their time. Any competent company that employs stealth will make subtle changes every deployment to avoid being tracked. Go practice how to deal with this type of tricky opponent once your armors are refitted.”

“Yes, sir!” three voices could be heard as the four snapped to attention in unison.

Inside an undisclosed location on Aegis, I was currently doing some final checks on the targeting system that allowed me to synchronize the control of several planetary weapons together.

It wasn’t the only thing I was doing. I was also multitasking, with a part of my attention on a call.

I had Vin sortie out into the wasteland to meet our allies, and he brought a holographic projector along, allowing me to directly converse with them. Eugene Wells was currently sitting across from me on his usual pile of carpets.

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“Apologies for asking for a meeting all of a sudden, but this is important,” I said.

“Hm, it must be, considering you’re taking the time to talk to us personally with so many things happening right now.”

“Well-informed as usual. Then I won’t waste time summarizing everything. I want to ask for your cooperation and understanding regarding something big about to happen.”

The bearded clan leader leisurely took a hit of his pipe before blowing out ring-shaped smoke toward my projection. It passed by me, causing slight ripples in my image.

“Tell me the details.”

Here we go, Rollo. Time to sell your plan that just happens to involve bombing the living shit out of your allies’ living area. I can already tell that this is going to go great.