Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 32: : Playing the Long Game

Chapter 32: : Playing the Long Game

There was a puased.

"Two months of being the underdog. Two months of building back everything I lost." He tossed the token in the air, caught it effortlessly. "And when I got it back? I doubled it."

Ava arched a brow. "Alone?"

Lucas laughed. "No. I had help."

He leaned forward slightly. "My butler."

Ava blinked. "William Zhou?"

Lucas grinned. "By some type of luck he was Shifter. Got a studio on the floor. He kept Level One within my reach."

Ava frowned. "Bunkers doesn’t just let exiles back in."

Lucas smirked. "That’s where Zhao comes in."

Ava froze.

Lucas’s golden eyes gleamed sharper now. "Zhao was the one who made it happen. My ex-fiancée and her little military boyfriend? They thought they could erase me."

He chuckled, low and dark. "Zhao thought differently. He made them give me half of what they stole."

Ava’s pulse kicked up. "Why would Zhao help you?"

Lucas’s smirk was pure satisfaction.

"Because we have a deal."

Ava’s pulse kicked up.

"You have a deal with Zhao?"

Lucas’s smirk didn’t fade.

"Of course." He leaned back, stretching like this wasn’t the single most dangerous thing he could have just admitted. "Survival isn’t about strength, Beauty. It’s about leverage."

Ava crossed her arms. "And what exactly do you have that Zhao wants?"

Lucas tilted his head, golden eyes gleaming. "Information. Control. A way to keep things moving while he plays his own game."

Ava’s stomach tightened. "You work for him."

Lucas laughed. "No. I work with him. There’s a difference."

Ava wasn’t convinced. "You seriously expect me to believe that Zhao—General ’Kill First, Question Never’ Zhao—lets you operate under his nose just because you’re useful?"

Lucas grinned. "That’s exactly why he lets me operate."

Ava exhaled sharply. "What’s the trade? What do you give him?"

Lucas tapped his fingers against the edge of the table.

"Stability."

Ava frowned. "That’s vague."

Lucas sighed, as if she was being slow.

"The bunker runs on power, food, weapons, and trade. Zhao controls three." He gestured to himself. "I control the fourth."

Ava’s breath stilled.

Trade.

Of course.

Lucas didn’t just deal in money.

He dealt in movement.

Who got what. Who sold what. What went underground, what went through official channels.

He controlled resources.

And Zhao needed that.

Lucas smirked, watching her realization click into place.

"The military keeps people in line. I keep people from starving."

Ava exhaled. "So, what? He lets you run your empire as long as you don’t get in his way?"

Lucas leaned back, golden eyes gleaming, fingers tapping lazily against the arm of the couch.

"The other bunkers that went full military?" He smirked. "Didn’t survive the first month."

Ava watched him carefully.

Lucas stretched, rolling his shoulders. "No food. No trade. Just orders and bullets. They collapsed before they even got a chance to play the real game."

His smirk sharpened. "Now? Everything is about trade. Who controls what, who has the resources, who can move without getting noticed." He gestured around them, voice smooth and deliberate. "And I just happen to have the skills to make that work."

Ava exhaled sharply. "And you think that makes you untouchable?"

Lucas chuckled, low and amused. "Nothing is untouchable, Beauty. But the more you own, the harder you are to break."

Ava’s jaw tightened. "And Zhao lets you operate because it benefits him. But what about the others?"

Lucas’s golden eyes darkened slightly.

"If someone really wants me gone, it’s not Zhao." His smirk was slow, knowing. "It’s that boy."

Ava stilled.

She didn’t have to ask who he meant.

Lucas Bai’s replacement.

The loyal soldier, the perfect officer, the one who got everything Lucas lost.

His ex-fiancée’s new choice.

Lucas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, voice dropping to something almost mocking.

"Let’s see who’s better."

Lucas smirked, tilting his head, golden eyes gleaming with something sharper.

"You know, Beauty," he murmured, "this is something I’ve been working on since you arrived."

Ava stilled.

Her fingers curled slightly against the fabric of his too-big shirt, her mind already racing ahead, calculating.

Lucas never wasted time.

If he was saying this now, it meant he had already decided.

Already set the pieces in motion.

She inhaled slowly. "Go on."

Lucas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"This bunker isn’t going to last."

Ava narrowed her eyes.

Lucas smiled, lazy but calculated. "The system is stretched too thin. The military has control, but not efficiency. Food production is failing, trade is too restricted, and resources are bleeding out faster than they can contain it."

He tapped his fingers against the table, thoughtful.

"Sooner or later, something’s going to break."

Ava exhaled. "And you want to be ahead of it."

Lucas grinned. "I don’t just want to be ahead of it, Beauty. I want to control what happens next."

Ava watched him, waiting.

He didn’t make her wait long.

"Other bunkers are moving smarter. More efficiently. They don’t waste resources on power plays—they invest in what works. That’s what I’m building.**"

Ava’s stomach tightened. "And where do I come in?"

Lucas’s smirk deepened.

"You could help me pull this off."

Ava raised a brow. "Help you with what, exactly?"

Lucas leaned back, stretching. "Rebuilding from the inside."

He flicked a trade token into the air, catching it effortlessly.

"Technology, weapons, supply chains—all things the military can’t keep up with. You fix things, you build things, and you see opportunities others don’t."

His golden eyes locked onto hers.

"With your blueprints and my trade network, we don’t just survive this bunker collapse."

Ava’s breath caught.

Lucas’s smirk was razor-sharp.

"We own what comes next."

Ava’s pulse kicked up.

This wasn’t just some power move. This was him setting the stage for something bigger.

And from the look in his eyes? He’d been planning it for a while.

Lucas leaned back, arms draped over the couch. "You think I spent those two months licking my wounds?"

Ava frowned. "Did you?"

Lucas laughed, low and amused. "No, Beauty. I was at Bai Manor."

Ava’s breath hitched.

Bai Manor.

Lucas’s family estate.

Before the world collapsed, it had been one of the most secure private holdings outside of the bunker system.Untouchable.

And now?

"It’s still standing." Lucas’s voice was calm, certain. "Resources, defenses, backup supplies—everything I need to rebuild if this bunker goes to hell."

Ava stared at him. Processing. Calculating.

"You have a fallback."

Lucas nodded. "A controlled retreat, if needed." His golden eyes gleamed. "And now that you’re in this? If things go bad, we could retreat there."

Ava exhaled sharply. "And how many people know about this ’backup plan’ of yours?"

Lucas smirked. "You. And William."

Ava’s stomach tightened.

Lucas Bai wasn’t just surviving.

He was preparing for the end of the bunker before anyone else saw it coming.

And if he was right?

Bai Manor wouldn’t just be a retreat.

It would be the new center of power.