Rebirth: Super Banking System Chapter 2484 - 2322: Congratulations
Previously on Rebirth: Super Banking System...
Mexico.
The capital city.
Right at this moment.
Staring at the staggering figures plastered across the news, countless individuals ground their teeth in pure resentment. Since the emergence of fruit wine, the livelihood of multitudes had crumbled.
For far too many, their prosperous days.
Vanished in an instant.
The more they gazed at the reports.
The deeper their fury grew.
The longer they contemplated.
The more incensed they became. Each criminal organization had seen their primary income stream evaporate, leaving only predatory lending, racketeering, or the dark trade of human flesh.
A grim prospect indeed!
It was all the doing of Aikodu.
Hmph!
"The higher you soar, the more painful the collapse." whispered some with malice, holding tight to the conviction that sooner or later, they would witness Aikodu’s ruin brought on by his own arrogance.
They cast their gazes northward.
With expressions heavy with complexity.
Everyone whispered about their proximity to the United States. In this hour, they pinned their hopes on the U.S. intervening to teach Aikodu a lesson and enact vengeance on their behalf.
Within Mexico’s shadow circles.
The prevailing theory remained.
The United States refrained from acting only to 'fatten the sheep' for the slaughter. They lamented internally, "Fed to such proportions, is it not finally time to shear the wool and carve the meat?"
Why the hesitation?
What are they waiting for?
If they continue to let it grow.
The meat might turn to stone.
...
And at this very juncture.
Tucked away in a slum within Mexico City, a room guarded by a dozen men echoed with faint, unsettling laughter. Those positioned outside shuddered instinctively.
Damn it!
What is that maniac howling about now?
No matter.
It is none of their business.
Their duty is simply to remain here and secure the perimeter of the lab. Besides their small guard, over a hundred others laid in wait nearby.
Each gripped a pair of weapons.
To ensure that nothing could deviate from the plan!
...
Inside the facility.
A man in middle age wore a lab coat, his face twisted into a grin so wide it seemed to touch his ears. After years of exhausting study and grueling development, success was finally his.
Ha ha!
Henceforth.
Vast wealth.
Higher station.
Beautiful companions.
Everything.
Shall be within my grasp.
"I truly am a genius, ha-ha!" Reflecting on the long years of hardship, he felt tears welling up; the road had been so arduous. But at last, he witnessed the sunrise of victory.
Resting in his hands.
Was the peak of his life's labor.
How grand!
"Bang!"
The primary entrance was kicked wide open as a voice resonated, "Congratulations."
That single phrase.
Left the middle-aged man startled; the voice was entirely foreign to him. Turning his head, he was rendered speechless. The test tube slipped from his grip and clattered onto the concrete.
Shattering into fragments.
The substance inside bled across the floor.
What he saw.
Was a group of masked figures swarming inside, brandishing firearms, clearly not there for pleasantries. While he was no saint, he remained deathly afraid of true predators.
"Who are you?" the researcher stammered.
"Good people."
The commander replied with a thin, mocking smile.
Hardly had the words left his lips before the scene shifted.
He watched as some associates hauled in gasoline canisters, dousing the laboratory entirely. The sight made the researcher’s eyes widen in horror, thinking: Is this what 'good people' do?
Instantly.
His courage dissolved.
Fight back?
Forget it.
Those instruments were expensive, but risking a beating was not worth it. In any case, his intellect was his greatest asset.
All else.
Truly secondary.
"What do you want?"
"You."
"..."
The middle-aged man’s face twitched uncontrollably.
Next.
The leader walked up with casual menace, patted his shoulder, and spoke words that sent a chill to his marrow: "Congratulations, you have just earned a lifetime sentence."
The horror of the realization dawned on him.
So that was the congratulation he meant.
No!
He utterly rejected this fate; years of cold logic insisted that surrender to survival was no shame, "I am willing to defect to your side—just give me a chance!"
"Understood."
In a heartbeat.
The world of the middle-aged man vanished into darkness.
A flash of illumination followed.
The intruders vanished as quickly as they had arrived. Then, an inferno erupted within the laboratory, incinerating every trace of his life's work. Outside, guards lay scattered across the cold ground.
Shortly after.
A flood of reinforcements charged in.
"Who did this?"
"Who exactly? Where has Aikodu gone?"
Only agonizing roars answered the roaring flames.
...
"Slap!"
A sharp sting to the face.
Aikodu jolted awake, greeted immediately by a ring of alien faces. The scent in the air was unmistakable; he was under the cold scrutiny of a group of prisoners.
Huh!
The sky above?
Could it be.
Was he captured by the Mexican authorities and tossed into a cell? But even then, would there not be some form of legal process before being sentenced?
And yet.
The faces here were far too diverse for a local prison.
"Hey, look at the rookie."
"In shock, are we?"
"Haha, his mind is still floating in the clouds."
"Poor miserable wretch."
"Aren't we all?"
"..."
The assembly of men.
Prattled on, trading barbs. A hulking man of dark complexion seized him by the collar and hoisted him up, "How did you end up here?"
"Huh?"
"I’m asking you a question."
"I’m not certain," Aikodu replied with genuine fear.
"Ha!"
Those surrounding him clearly dismissed his claim, as everyone in this place had committed crimes of 'significant' scale. It appeared he had yet to accept his new reality.
Letting go of the collar.
Dropping him to his feet.
Just as the interrogation resumed.
"Aikodu?" A familiar voice cut through the air. Aikodu pivoted, stunned to lay eyes on an old colleague.
However.
They had served competing firms.
And.
Had not spoken in over a year.
"What are you doing here?" Aikodu inquired in disbelief.
Hearing this.
The man could only manage a grim, crooked smile.
"I did something regrettable."
"Such as?"
"I developed a highly volatile, destructive virus."
"Oh?"
Aikodu was stupefied; this person was indeed a renowned virus expert, formerly tied to a pharmaceutical entity whose moral compass he had always doubted.
Nabbed for that?
But.
The man wasn't even in Mexico! He had been researching in Canada, so how did they collide in the same prison?
"Did you craft something destructive as well?" the colleague pressed.
"Well..."
Aikodu hesitated.
"There's nothing to hide; sitting in this place, even if you’d created a doomsday virus, I wouldn't find it surprising," the man scoffed after experiencing a year of incarceration.
He was utterly disillusioned.
He had realized.
He was nothing special; there were too many lunatics in these cells, and the inventions they had birthed were increasingly terrifying. He was merely mediocre.
Naturally.
The truly impressive figures were these faceless captors.
Mysterious.
Formidable.
He began to suspect it was a global syndicate focused on neutralizing 'threats to humanity,' and that seemed overwhelmingly probable.
Otherwise.
How could they be so efficient?
Moreover.
They displayed zero interest in their scientific fruits, which only cemented his theory.
"I... I developed a biological agent designed to bypass the neural inhibitors of fruit wine on stimulant substances, but I’d barely finished it."
"And then they hauled me away."
Finishing his confession.
He expected to see a spark of awe in their eyes.
To his dismay.
The reactions surrounding him were entirely indifferent, his former colleague just looked enlightened, and that was that. "Are you not impressed?"
Aikodu was struggling to cope.
Truly.
That was a global rarity! The lack of reaction was deeply insulting.
Only.
There was news far crueler in store.
The colleague grinned, "It’s nothing, really. You are neither the first to craft it, nor the first to be captured for it in this very prison."
"As far as I can ascertain."
"You."
"Barely rank in the top five."