Chapter 105: Gatekeeper Old Hao

[The fleet commander ordered saturation bombing before your combat team could withdraw.]

[Your squad suffered heavy casualties in the blast.]

[Yet this bastard escaped punishment because his family were major shareholders of the Corporation.]

[Later, you learned from an acquaintance that people like him looked down on "natives" like you most of all.]

Damn! So the Pier Point bluebloods think us outsiders are just beggars, huh?

[When patience runs out, no more need be endured. Since the Corporation won't give you justice, you'll take it yourself!]

[The fairest thing in this world is that everyone only gets one life!]

[After thorough reconnaissance, you infiltrated the fleet commander's family estate during their reunion and eliminated every last relative—pets included.]

[With help from contacts, you then acquired a portable nuclear device.]

[Aided by surviving squad members, you smuggled it into the Corporation's Pier Point headquarters and detonated it without hesitation.]

[The headquarters tower vanished in a blinding conflagration.]

[You died.]

Repeated trial-and-error left Solon mentally exhausted. He collapsed onto his bed for a solid nine-hour sleep. Perhaps from expended energy, he slept so deeply he woke up completely refreshed.

After breakfast, Solon glanced toward the beach and sighed. Time was tight—no room for leisure now. He initiated the simulation anew, this time selecting the Business Consolidation Department.

His prior research revealed this department usually operated alongside Market Expansion. While Market Expansion served as elite shock troops to crush planetary resistance, Business Consolidation followed as occupation forces—essentially glorified security guards maintaining order in conquered territories.

Put simply: Market Expansion were the spearhead commandos; Business Consolidation were the neighborhood watch. Since garrison duty required only second-rate troops, the competent ones got transferred to frontline divisions.

Solon already suspected joining Business Consolidation would be fruitless, but to gather intel for clearing the simulation, he proceeded as planned.

[You joined the Business Consolidation Department.]

[Your exceptional skills earned you a transfer to Pier Point headquarters as security personnel.]

???

Solon instantly understood—garrison troops weren't second-rate, but third-rate. While Market Expansion sent elites to the frontlines, Business Consolidation did the opposite, recalling their best to headquarters.

Perhaps the two Emperor Wars made the Corporation deeply distrust AI. They'd rather use inefficient manpower than deploy automatons, especially at Pier Point where AI had been nearly phased out.

But this was disastrous for him. Garrison duty at least offered occasional combat and minor merits. Stationed at HQ? Who'd be suicidal enough to attack the Interastral Peace Corporation's nerve center? Zero opportunities for contribution now.

The subsequent simulation confirmed his fears:

[For twenty diligent years as corporate security, the Corporation rewarded you by converting your P0 outsourcing contract to P1 formal employee status.]

[After another twenty years, they promoted you one grade.]

[Another twenty...]

Five identical notifications later, Solon had spent a century progressing from outsourced labor to a P4 formal employee.

Splendid. Only 100 years to skip the "junior" prefix in "junior security guard." Without his enhanced vitality and physique traits, he'd have gone from fresh recruit to retirement-age gatekeeper.

Truly, Business Consolidation lived up to its reputation as a retirement home rivaling traditional project teams. At this rate, the ending would be death by old age.

He needed to terminate the simulation early—continuing would guarantee the lowest E-rank rewards. Just as anxiety set in, the simulation unexpectedly shifted:

[Your exemplary service earned you reassignment to the Strategic Investment Department sector, guarding the Ten Stonehearts compound.]

[As bad debt liquidators constantly traveling the cosmos—each with personal ecology ships—the Ten Stonehearts were rarely present.]

[Even within Security, this was a plum assignment, a reward for veteran dedication.]

Solon sensed something ominous. Was this...?

[One day during patrol on your hoverbike, you spotted a figure at the compound gates.]

[Approaching, you saw a blue-gray short haired girl with crimson streaks in her bangs and iridescent eyes. Her proportions were... improbably generous. A sentient interstellar piglet accompanied her.]

[Her strained white shirt buttons threatened to projectile-launch from sheer bust pressure—clearly no risk of childhood malnutrition there.]

[The snug dark blue jacket exposed every curve of her pillowy thighs, the hem visibly indented by their plushness—begging to be squeezed to test their springy fullness.]

[Those fertile hips marked her as prime childbearing stock.]

[Topaz of the Ten Stonehearts.]

[Against all odds, you'd encountered one of the famously elusive Stonehearts shortly after transfer.]

[Masking surprise, you saluted from your hoverbike: "Greetings, Ms. Topaz."]

[She eyed you curiously: "Where's Old Bombo? Wasn't this his post?"]

[You explained: "Mr. Bombo retired three months ago. I now oversee compound security."]