Prelude to Taking Action II

"Since word has come from over there, I'll head back first, Albedo."

"I'll leave everything here to you!"

A flash of killing intent passed through Ryan's eyes. He opened a portal and departed Mars under the respectful send-off of the crowd.

After Ryan and Sebas stepped through, the portal shrank into a black dot and vanished. Albedo raised her head and began issuing orders according to Ryan's instructions.

"Alva, I'll leave the environmental matters to you. If you need personnel or supplies, just ask."

"Yes, I will complete the Supreme One's orders as soon as possible."

"Mare."

"H-here!"

"Assist Alva with transforming the environment as quickly as possible. At the same time, use earth magic to help the construction teams build the base."

"I-I understand!"

Mare gripped the staff in his hand and nodded. Albedo shifted her gaze after hearing his response and looked at the others. "You all heard the Supreme One's orders. I don't care how hard you have to work, but every one of you must pass the assessment within three days. I do not want anyone among us to disappoint the Supreme One!"

New York.

Inside a leisure club.

Most of the Haulers Group's shareholders had gathered in a spacious room.

After Ryan had made his intentions clear, everyone had come here for a second discussion to decide what to do next.

"He's too arrogant! The company doesn't belong to him alone!"

A middle-aged man slapped the table and growled. As a renowned businessman, when had he ever been treated like this?

"For someone so young to reach heights that even we older generation found difficult to attain, it's only natural for him to have some pride. Besides, someone did break the rules first this time. It's perfectly normal for little Ryan to be angry."

An elderly man dressed with great refinement stroked the cane in his hand and spoke with lowered eyelids.

"Even so, he shouldn't have acted like that!"

The businessman who had spoken first looked unwilling, but wary of the old man's status, he did not dare say much more.

"Old Morgan, even at a time like this, are you still going to support Ryan? I think you can see it too. He's gone mad—completely mad!"

The Roxxon Corporation representative was displeased by the meaning behind old Morgan's words and spoke up.

At their level of wealth and influence, there were hardly any secrets in the world they did not know about. The information they could access was beyond anything ordinary people would even dare imagine.

Although Roxxon Corporation was absolutely confident that no one would find evidence of its involvement in the kidnapping of Ryan's younger sister, Annie,

the act itself was a clue.

There were only a few forces in the world capable of doing such a thing. Once the less likely possibilities were eliminated, the remaining suspects were obvious without needing to be named, and Roxxon was among those under the greatest suspicion.

"Mad? I think he's quite clear-headed."

"Once little Ryan's anger dies down, this old man can simply talk to him again."

"You still want to give him a chance?" The Roxxon Corporation representative's expression darkened.

"What else can we do? If we want to overthrow him from the Haulers Group, I don't think that will be an easy task."

"That's true. Then we'll leave it to you!"

Watching old Morgan play dumb with him, the Roxxon Corporation representative suppressed his anger and spoke calmly.

He could tell that old Morgan simply did not want to get involved in what came next.

But since he did not want to contribute, then when it came time to divide the cake afterward, he could not blame them for being ruthless.

"It's nothing. This old man will be leaving first. Anyone coming with me?"

Old Morgan rose with his cane and asked the others.

After his question, four people hesitantly stood up. Old Morgan nodded and led them out of the room.

The others remaining in the room watched calmly.

Once the figures of those people disappeared from sight, they continued their discussion. The Haulers Group was a massive conglomerate spanning many fields; swallowing it whole would not be easy, and the cake would need to be divided carefully as well.

As for Ryan's possible counterattack?

No one took it to heart.

A young businessman, a businessman with no foundation—he could never imagine how much power people like them could wield in this country once they truly made up their minds.

Outside the leisure club, night had already fallen. Beneath the cover of dark clouds, only a few scattered streaks of starlight filtered down from above.

One of the people who had followed old Morgan out finally could not hold back as Morgan was about to get into his car. "Mr. Morgan, why did you..."

"Are you asking why I didn't get involved with those people inside?"

The man nodded repeatedly.

Old Morgan smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Think of it as an old man's intuition."

With that, old Morgan got into the car.

Decades in business had honed his ability to judge people to a level ordinary people could scarcely comprehend.

With just one glance at an ordinary person, he could roughly infer what they were thinking and what heights they might reach in the future.

And Ryan—by all conventional reasoning, after doing something like this, he was almost certainly doomed. The connections that had been investigated so thoroughly would also find it difficult to help him in this matter.

However, whenever old Morgan recalled Ryan's wild, arrogant face in the conference room, he felt that Ryan must possess some confidence he did not know about—confidence Ryan believed could absolutely turn the situation around.

He did not know what it was, but he had no intention of gambling on it.

Having lived for so many years and seen so many things, he knew full well that this world contained many phenomena science could not yet explain.

And he had some guesses as well.

Those wildly popular Haulers Group works whose authors were unknown made it difficult not to think of another civilization.

Roxxon Corporation's true objective was probably not merely the Haulers Group. Ryan's secrets were likely one of the forces driving them as well.

"We'll find out sooner or later."

Old Morgan muttered indistinctly.

No matter what secrets Ryan possessed, some of them would surely be exposed this time. This old man only needed to watch from the sidelines. Both sides believed they held a trump card that guaranteed victory; it would depend on whose card proved stronger.

"That sly old fox!"

Inside the villa, Ryan muttered as he listened to the report from the Shadow Demons lurking in the shareholders' shadows.

He had long known that Roxxon Corporation had designs on him, but old Morgan's choice still came as a surprise.

"Notify Demiurge. Cancel the plans to deal with the Morgan Consortium and the several forces that withdrew."

Although those people had chosen not to act because they wanted to watch the show, since they had not made a move against him, no matter what they thought inside, Ryan could not go too far.

After all, the persona he had established was that of a righteous companion. Ruining that persona over a little personal displeasure would be a losing deal.

"Yes, I will see to it immediately."

Sebas nodded upon hearing this.