Corpo Age - Chapter 256: Cooperation

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I can’t say I had never considered ways to quickly obtain experience points. The system naturally encouraged killing, so if I had set off a bomb somewhere crowded, I was likely to get boatloads of it.

However, there was a reason I never went so far. It just wasn’t worth becoming a mass murderer over. In my early days, if I had done something so heinous, I was confident that someone would’ve put a hit on me. I doubt that would happen now, with the blessing of the powerful SocialCorp executive before me, but I still had no desire to go through with it.

My goal was to become powerful enough so I could live peacefully in a not-so dystopian world where I would constantly have to look over my shoulders. The only way to do that was to make it to the top and change the system.

If I reached the doubt through such despicable means, I doubt I could ever rest in peace for the rest of my life. Even if I could get a peace of mind somehow, every person had loved ones. They would be hungry for revenge and a circle of hate and blood would be created.

Despite wanting to decline the offer, I couldn’t mutter a word.

If I stated my reasonings, I was sure he would claim to be able to take care of it. Of course he could. In his position, he could make a lot of things happen. He could make it look like an accident or blame it on someone else. It didn’t change the fact that it would make society worse off than before.

After staying silent for several minutes, I could only usher out two words.

“I can’t.”

“Of course you can. Don’t think too much about it. I have every prepared. You still need to be the one to pull the trigger, figuratively, of course. Otherwise, it would take quite some time.”

“But—”

“Mr. Halls, there’s no need to worry. I will take full responsibility and you can take all the credit. Think about it. You can become the savior of the world. The harbinger of a better era. All you need to do is press a single button and you will be able to bring an end to this conflict with minimal bloodshed and improve the living conditions of every single human being in this solar system.”

As he gave his spiel, his voice became more passionate. It was clear there was no convincing him. He remained steadfast in his cause and was willing to do anything to achieve it.

How do I even say no to this? He’ll become hostile if I decline—right? No, he needs me. There’s no point in killing me or putting me in a cage. He needs my cooperation, no matter what, in order to carry out his plan. I have leverage over him!

“I can already see the bright future for all of mankind. No longer will the minority rule over everyone else. We can truly harness the full potential of our race and create a utopia! I assume the AI you created isn’t even close to its full potential, yes? In a matter of a year, what you have created has already caught up to what I spent decades researching. With my resources and your system, the world will look completely different by next year.”

“NPC, I’m sorry, but no.”

“What?!”

“I can support your intentions, but not your methods. I believe your initiative with an AI governing the world to be feasible, but—I’m not so sure it’s the answer we need. At the very least, I don’t think murdering innocent people can be the means we use in the quest to help them.”

“That is the more efficient way to proceed. If we delay, the war will only get more out of hand. Even more innocent people will die because of it. It’s unfortunate, but it’s better to limit the sacrifices early on. Their death will not be in vain. I’m sure they’ll find meaning in their death.”

I shook my head as I sighed.

“No. I can agree with your plan, but I will only strike legitimate targets. I ask that you help direct the fighting away from populous centers. We can achieve the same effect through eliminating enemy forces.”

NPC’s exuberant mood dampened as he put on a thoughtful expression. He closed his eyes and slowly nodded. It seems he was smart enough to know when to yield.

“If that’s what you want, fine. I’ll transfer over a fleet for you to—”

“No need. You’re evenly matched with the faction under this Silas guy, right? I’d rather you use your forces to lure him somewhere for me to ambush.”

“—Very well. My forces will be the anvil to your hammer. You’ll have my full material and technical support in constructing your fleet, then. There isn’t any time to waste.”

“I just happen to have ships that are almost ready. Any upgrades you can provide are welcomed.”

This was for the best. Constructing my own fleet was always the answer. If I borrowed his assets, who knew if he would finesse me when things go awry? If we started losing, he could force me to resume his plan of targeting innocent civilians. When my life and the lives of my companions were on the line, I wasn’t confident I could say I wouldn’t crack under the pressure.

We stood up and shook hands. When I turned to face my companions, they both looked uneasy, but they didn’t say anything.

I understood how they felt. We were now involved in the latest corporate war. Very involved.

There didn’t seem to be a way out, either. NPC was dead set on using my system, while I could presume his rival had some hints about me. It was why they even bothered to target me in the first place.

I just hope this Silas person doesn’t know too much.

-----

With our pact settled, we were swiftly shuttled back to Aegis.

The battle in the area had subsided. NPC’s forces had won. However, that didn’t mean all the fighting had stopped. It only took a brief lookup on the web to find numerous articles and livestreams of ongoing conflicts all over the solar system.

We weren’t getting the latest news from the settlements far away from Earth, but just on the planet alone, there were over three dozen ongoing battles. It wasn’t as simple as the SocialCorp forces fighting among themselves.

Every corporation in the world was involved. They all had three options. Side with one of the two factions, or stay neutral.

Plenty of opportunists chose to participate in the conflict. They placed their bets in an effort to get into the good grace of the winner. It was the shortcut to elevate themselves and their company.

It was in this sea of articles that I confirmed a few suspicions. Ferrumus Corporation, who had been chummy with us in recent times, declared themselves to be allies of NPC’s Order faction, who were opposed to Silas’ Dominion faction.

“It seems the public only sees our new allies as the force to uphold the current order,” Thorne stated. “They don’t seem to know what he has in store.”

“Understandable. I don’t think publicizing his goals would be productive. Every corporation in the world would turn on him if they knew he plans to subvert the power they currently hold.”

“You two!” Claire interrupted. “We don’t have time for your speculations and theorizing. Help me coordinate all the things we have to do to get our shipyard working with those experts your friend is sending.”

“Just focus on establishing a secure line with them,” I answered. “We’re going to need a lengthy discussion to get anywhere.”

“Yeah, yeah. On it.”

It wasn’t long before we arrived at our Aegis branch, where we immediately went into the meeting room. Every piece of the puzzle moved fast. The technical team NPC sent my way and our own shipwrights were all ready within the hour.

The holographic projectors got to work as our virtual meeting began with haste.

“Okay, everyone. As we have announced, time is of the utmost importance for this project,” I proclaimed. “I won’t hold anything back and present to you all the current iteration of our ship designs. We must upgrade them to the highest standards right away. My employees will each soon be assigned specific roles, but you’ll also have to consult with our new advisers while you work.”

I had Lanus micromanage how the integration would work and update everything in real time. The plan was to work on things we wouldn’t need to change, like life support systems, first while I redesigned everything from the new input I got.

It was a lot. NPC threw his full weight behind this initiative, giving me access to all the tech he has to offer. It didn’t mean I could digest everything myself, but with his technical consultants, my employees, and Lanus helping me, we would learn as we built.

The core concept hadn’t changed. Our new fleet focused on using stealth to conduct surprise ambushes. However, the flagship was going to receive some heavy changes.

No matter how hard we worked, we only had half a dozen hulls to work with. This wasn’t enough to make a noticeable difference in the war. To remedy that, our flagship was going to be repurposed into a mobile shipyard.

The goal wasn’t to build new hulls from scratch, but to use the damaged wrecks of our enemies to reforge them into our own fleet. For this reason, it was codenamed The Scavenger.

Everything went well and quickly. Within a week, we were nearing completion. It was all thanks to the materializers from SocialCorp, which were essentially advanced 3D printers. It quickly produced all the delicate parts we needed.

During this entire time, the war continued, but that didn’t mean the fighting was unrelenting. Both sides needed to resupply and reposition themselves from one battlefield to another. It was precisely the calm before the storm.

I took advantage of this lull and boarded our new flagship, intent on escaping into the darkness of space. Despite the fleet stationed here, I was a sitting duck right now, and I needed to change that. We even skipped the trials and decided to go off the grid right away. Any issues that could arise could be fixed with all the equipment the ship possesses.

We arrived at the shipyard under heavy escort from both my security team and NPC’s forces. Just as we were disembarked from our vehicles, gunshots rang. I watched as a figure beside me flickered in and out of existence. To be precise, it was a figure of me.

Predictably, our enemies attempted an assassination. What we couldn’t predict was the scale of the attack. After realizing the first gunshot had hit a decoy, hundreds of gunmen and dozens of explosives were fired our way.

Despite my allies controlling the city, our foes had somehow managed to smuggle such a large hit team.

This was not going to go well, but it was only the prelude. The fighting was about to intensify throughout the entire solar system.