Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 716 - 327. Look, he has to wrap things up for us.

Chapter 716: 327. Look, he has to wrap things up for us.

Andrew Velazquez, standing at a height of nearly two meters, had a handsome appearance and an elegant demeanor. Even among the young talents of the group, there were not many who could hold the titles of "Redd Gold’s Chosen," "Company Crown Prince," and "Zeta Rank (6)" at such a young age.

Almost everyone believed that he would become a prominent figure in the group in the future. He was bound to be the kind of ruler who would frequent high-class venues, discuss Starry Abyss development with top financiers, and chat about pathway ascension with stock market magnates—the kind of "government official" as common civilizations would call them.

The group’s narrative did not have a bureaucratic system; everything in society was handled by outsourced companies.

Now, however, this future "government official" was sitting gloomily in his office. He lay back in his chair with closed eyes, the air filled with top-grade incense from the Annihilation, keeping his thoughts tranquil and rational.

Group members worshiped profit and investment. To maintain a pleasant mood, they had all developed the habit of burning incense. Thus, all the senior executives of the group remained cold, inhumane, and extremely rational.

This wasn’t entirely beneficial.

Just like now, Andrew Velazquez was constantly replaying the process of the "Star Hunting" plan in his mind.

The public relations department had already started handling various issues. The hijacked Kaitai Airways had taken their money and chosen to remain silent. Meanwhile, passengers from Baizhu Star revealed Velazquez Corporation’s actions to the media.

But that was not a big deal. Velazquez’s PR staff effectively eliminated unfavorable media, and he also ordered the research department to launch satellites and buy some tabloid headlines to cover up the facts.

As for Leozi... Leozi had to be acknowledged as a sensible person.

He did not presumptuously engage in a direct confrontation with the Narrative-Level Civilization but quietly took Nariya’s inheritance, essentially a hush money.

Since Li Aozi was so smart, Andrew did not want to continue opposing him at this juncture.

Nariya Velazquez’s death led to the overnight collapse of her family’s power. Andrew quietly absorbed her former subordinates and talents. As for her native husband from the Crystal Tower Civilization, Andrew did not waste any resources and allowed him to remain, using him as his eyes to monitor the Crystal Tower Civilization.

In reality, this was also a way to monitor Li Aozi. Now, with the Crystal Tower Civilization and Baizhu Autonomous State in a military alliance, Li Aozi’s subordinates would inevitably interact with their allies, revealing a lot of information.

This seemed somewhat strange.

Clearly, Leozi was their target, and now they had to deal with the aftermath of the Grave Star Cluster extermination that he had accomplished.

What was this... Andrew shrugged.

Might as well consider this kid exceptionally lucky.

Andrew handled it all with great ease.

As for losing money? Don’t be ridiculous; how can you run a business without losing money occasionally?

Complaining and self-blame were useless. One had to conduct a review, find the problems, avoid mistakes next time, and make the money back. It was that simple.

This operation had indeed failed miserably. It wasn’t just the economic loss; the stock price fluctuated by 3.8%. If Nariya’s death hadn’t been confirmed with no remains, she would certainly have been brought out to be held accountable by the board members.

Experts might give various reasons, but for Andrew, he only saw the most crucial point.

"Emotional collapse."

Nariya’s emotions gradually collapsed during the operation.

The reports presented many issues, with Nariya’s emotional changes particularly catching Andrew’s attention.

Frankly speaking, he couldn’t understand any of it.

Nariya Velazquez, a ruthless merchant who could unceremoniously kill her siblings to gain power and use her body as a bargaining chip, how could she make such a mistake?

It was merely about capturing a Zeta Rank. Though Leozi was strong, as long as the plan was followed step by step, there would absolutely be no problems; even the prophecy said so. He had specifically asked the Light Gold Priest to pray to the revered deities for guidance,

and the guidance was—Leozi would eventually come here.

Setting subjective factors aside, objectively speaking, Nariya was well-prepared, even overly so in outsiders’ eyes; it was like using a sledgehammer to kill a chicken.

A Gabros responsible for execution, an intelligent battleship for backup, and a Zeta Rank "Gambler" for divination and increasing fault tolerance.

Andrew was well aware that such preparation was nearly foolproof. Even placing an average commander in charge, wiping out a planetary civilization would have been a cinch.

Yet, despite all this, Nariya still failed.

It wasn’t just a failure in execution; Gabros, considered an important company asset, had been turned and taken away by Leozi. This actually wasn’t a bad thing, at least revealing some flaws in the fifth-generation Gabros modification.

Initially, it was thought that removing the glands would sufficiently suppress Gabros’s personality and ego through loyalty protocols, but now it seemed that without employing soul-based methods, it was impossible.

However, this didn’t cover up the fact that Gabros had betrayed and killed its master.

This was indeed peculiar; Gabros was fine, and it had specifically been dispatched to hunt down Leozi five years ago. There shouldn’t have been any issues.

Given this, it seemed necessary to retrieve Gabros to understand the exact reasons for its defection.

Thinking of this, he called in his subordinate and instructed, "Place a bounty on the Valkyrie Fortress. I want ’Nephis Cleopatra’ dead or alive."

His subordinate quickly jotted it down and then asked:

"Mr. Velazquez, we already contacted Mr. Olavir. He asked about your price..."

"Forty million ammonium gold," Andrew said. "Dead or alive. But if captured alive, there will be an additional 80% reward."

"Sir, isn’t that price a bit too high? Gabros only cost 34 million to produce."

"You don’t get it."

Andrew smiled:

"Gabros is now certainly homeless, and its only choice is to stay with Leozi. Leozi’s single action this time cost us a whopping 95.37 million ammonium gold in operations, personnel, procurement, intelligence, and PR expenses. Dealing with Gabros will definitely cause a few Quasi Iota-ranked legendary mercenaries to take action... Either Leozi will have to abandon Gabros or clash with them. It’s that simple."

"I see, your ultimate target is still Leozi."

His subordinate suddenly realized:

"In recent years, Valkyrie Fortress has started to subtly try to shake off our narrative control. Letting Leozi and them fight it out can appropriately weaken their strength."

"Valkyrie Fortress has acted as a cosmic toll station for too long. As the no man’s land of the Layer Abyss, maintaining a buffer zone is actually necessary for the three of us narrative-level entities. However, they’ve become a bit too tough over the years."

Andrew spun his chair.