Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 59: : The Art of Contracts and War

Chapter 59: : The Art of Contracts and War

Lucas looked up from his screen, golden eyes gleaming. "Good work, Beauty."

Ava wiped her hands on a cloth, glancing up from the last adjustments she’d made to the drones. "Of course it is. I don’t do bad work."

Lucas chuckled, tapping the screen. "Come here. You’ll want to see this."

Ava stood, walking over, eyes scanning the encrypted feed displayed on the tablet. Live surveillance footage. Multiple angles. Some of them weren’t even from inside this bunker.

Ava frowned. "What am I looking at?"

Lucas tapped the edge of the screen. "This is what that lawyer sees. And by contract? I see what he sees."

Ava stiffened. "Wait—your contract lets you spy on him?"

Lucas grinned. "It’s mutual. He watches me, I watch him. A fair trade."

Ava exhaled sharply. "Bai, that’s not fair. That’s insane."

Lucas smirked. "Insane is thinking you can control information without understanding the consequences. Zhao thought signing me into his system would put me under his thumb."

Ava crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the feed. "And what exactly are we looking at?"

Lucas sighed, zooming in on a section of footage. "That lawyer. He makes contracts, but he needs to know his assets before sealing the deal. That means surveillance. Observation. A full analysis of whoever he’s binding."

Ava felt her stomach twist. "So if he’s watching someone—"

Lucas nodded. "It means he’s planning to use them."

Ava glanced at the various feeds. Some were tracking known traders, others military personnel, but one window in particular caught her attention.

Ava stiffened. "That’s Angel’s base."

Lucas smiled slowly. "You’re catching on."

Ava felt her pulse spike. "So what’s the plan? We just watch until he makes his move?"

Lucas leaned back, tapping his fingers against the desk. "We have three directions we can take this."

Ava narrowed her eyes. "Go on."

Lucas held up one finger. "First option—destroy it from the inside. Infiltrate, break their infrastructure, make them collapse under their own weight."

Ava tilted her head. "How long would that take?"

Lucas sighed. "Too long. And it requires too many moving parts."

Ava folded her arms. "Alright. Option two?"

Lucas grinned, lifting a second finger. "Destroy it from the outside. Cut off supplies, force them into bad deals, pressure them into a slow decline until they have no choice but to turn on each other."

Ava exhaled. "That’s more your style."

Lucas winked. "You know me so well."

Ava huffed. "What’s the third?"

Lucas smiled, lifting a third finger. "Pull a scam."

Ava blinked. "A scam."

Lucas nodded. "A con. A false deal so lucrative, so enticing, that they take the bait without thinking. And once they do? We bleed them dry."

Ava raised a brow. "That’s your preferred option?"

Lucas grinned. "It’s risky. But if we pull it off, we don’t just take them down—we take everything they own in the process."

Ava tapped her fingers against her arm. "Alright. Walk me through it."

Lucas leaned forward, eyes sharp. "Angel’s base isn’t just a stronghold—it’s a marketplace. A trade hub for the highest bidders. They operate on trust. Which means the right deal can break them."

Ava nodded. "And how do we get them to take the bait?"

Lucas smirked. "We offer them something they can’t refuse. High-value goods. Military-grade tech. Something so rare, so expensive, that they’d kill to get it first."

Ava tilted her head. "And where do we get that?"

Lucas chuckled. "We don’t need to have it. We just need them to believe we do."

Ava exhaled. "Bai, that’s playing with fire."

Lucas grinned. "Beauty, I don’t play. I win."

Ava sighed. "And if they figure out it’s a scam?"

Lucas shrugged. "By the time they do, it won’t matter. Because we’ll already have taken everything."

Ava felt her stomach twist, but the logic was sound. Dangerous. But sound.

Ava narrowed her eyes. "And if something goes wrong?"

Lucas **smirked. "Then we fall back to Plan B—and burn them to the ground."

Ava exhaled sharply, staring at the screen. "We need to be careful with this, Bai. One wrong move—"

Lucas grinned, reaching out to tilt her chin up. "Then let’s make sure we don’t make one."

Ava rolled her eyes, but she was already running calculations in her mind.

They had three days.

Three days to set up a plan that could either make them untouchable—or get them both killed.

Ava sighed. "I really hate how convincing you are."

Lucas laughed. "And yet, here you are."

Ava huffed. "Fine. We do this. But I swear, Bai—if this backfires—"

Lucas winked. "Then we improvise, Beauty. Like we always do."

Ava leaned against the desk, arms crossed, mind racing. Three options. Three different ways to take down Angel’s base. Each with its own risks.

Destroy from the inside? Too slow. Too many moving parts.

Crush from the outside? Possible, but resource-intensive.

A scam? Dangerous—but the fastest, cleanest win if done right.

Her eyes flicked to the surveillance feed, watching the shifting figures on the screens. Watching Zhao. Watching the traders moving through Level One. Watching how Angel’s people operated.

If they were going to pull a scam, they needed bait. Something valuable. Something believable.

Ava exhaled sharply. "Bai."

Lucas tilted his head, still lounging in his chair like they weren’t plotting high-level deception. "Yes, Beauty?"

Ava rolled her shoulders. "Do you have a hot item you want to get rid of?"

Lucas grinned. "You’ll have to be more specific. I have many things people would kill for."

Ava huffed. "Something big. Something you wouldn’t mind losing if the deal goes sideways."

Lucas tapped his fingers against his knee, considering. "I might. Why?"

Ava straightened. "Because if we’re pulling a scam, we need proof. A product. Something to show them before we vanish with their money."

Lucas chuckled. "And you think I just have something lying around?"

Ava smirked. "You always have something lying around."

Lucas sighed dramatically. "I do love when you believe in me, Zhang."

Ava rolled her eyes. "So?"

Lucas leaned forward, golden eyes gleaming. "I have something."

Ava tilted her head. "What?"

Lucas grinned, tapping the side of his chair. "A shipment of real military-grade power cores. I wasn’t planning on selling them yet, but..." He smirked. "If we make fake versions of the cases, it could be the perfect bait."

Ava felt her system hum in the back of her mind, already running possibilities. "I could do that."

Lucas raised a brow. "Convincingly?"

Ava rolled her eyes. "You wound me, Bai."

Lucas laughed. "Alright, Beauty. You make the cases. I’ll handle setting up the deal."

Ava grinned, already forming a blueprint in her head. "This could work."

Lucas leaned back, watching her with amusement. "Oh, it will work."

Ava cracked her knuckles, rolling her shoulders as she turned toward the pile of supplies Lucas had never bother to throw away. He had piles of everything—old tech, weapons, raw materials, things that most traders wouldn’t even recognize as valuable.

Perfect.

She grabbed one of the military-grade power cores, feeling the weight of it in her hands. Heavy. Reinforced. Expensive as hell.

[SCANNING ITEM...]

[POWER CORE – MILITARY-GRADE]

[ENERGY OUTPUT: EXTREME]

[SECURITY MEASURES: ACTIVE]

[VALUE: 18,000 TOKENS]

Ava whistled under her breath. "Damn, Bai. You weren’t kidding. This thing’s worth more than some bunkers."

Lucas grinned, watching her from his chair. "You know me, Beauty. Only the best."

Ava ignored him, running another scan. "Alright, let’s make some fakes."

She set the original aside and grabbed a few scraps from his stockpile. Metal casings, dead batteries, old circuit boards—things that had just enough weight and complexity to look convincing but were utterly useless.

[SCANNING COMPONENTS...]

[POTENTIAL REPLICAS AVAILABLE]

[SELECT BUILD TYPE:]

– DUMMY UNIT – LOW COST, HIGH BELIEVABILITY

– EXPLOSIVE UNIT – DETONATION ON TAMPERING

Ava raised a brow, glancing at Lucas. "So, what’s the plan? Do you want a bomb in here, or do we just use the cheapest, dumbest stuff possible to make a dummy?"

Lucas laughed, stretching his arms. "Tempting, but no. No explosives. We don’t need them realizing it’s a fake too soon."

Ava snorted. "Coward."

Lucas grinned. "Pragmatist, actually. I want them to believe it long enough to pay us first."

Ava rolled her eyes but selected the first option.

[BUILDING FAKE UNIT...]

[EXTERNAL CASING – MATCHED]

[INTERNAL STRUCTURE – ADJUSTED FOR WEIGHT]

[ENERGY SIGNATURE – NONE]

[FINAL RESULT – HIGHLY CONVINCING DUMMY]

Within thirty minutes, she had three nearly identical replicas lined up next to the real one.

Ava tilted her head, admiring her work. "Good enough?"

Lucas stood, stepping closer. He picked one up, turning it in his hands, golden eyes sharp. He twisted the casing, checked the weight—then smirked. "Perfect, Beauty."

Ava crossed her arms. "Of course it is."

Lucas tossed the fake back onto the pile, grinning. "Time to sell a dream."

Lucas grinned as he lined up the fake power cores, golden eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "You really are something else, Beauty."

Ava wiped her hands on her pants, stepping back to admire her own work. "I know."

Lucas chuckled. "No false modesty today?"

Ava snorted. "You think I’d be modest about crafting the perfect scam?"

Lucas laughed, tapping one of the fakes. "No, I suppose not."

He pulled out a sleek black case, placing the power cores inside one by one. He worked fast, movements smooth and practiced, like he’d done this a hundred times before.

Ava watched him, arms crossed. "And now?"

Lucas snapped the case shut. "Now, we sell a dream."

Ava arched a brow. "Who’s the buyer?"

Lucas smirked. "A Level One trader. Someone with more money than brains. The type who thinks they’re playing the game when they’re actually the ones being played."

Ava rolled her shoulders. "Sounds like fun."

Lucas grinned. "It will be. But first—" He tossed her a small black device.

Ava caught it easily. "What’s this?"

Lucas winked. "Insurance. A tracker. We won’t just sell them a dream—we’ll watch exactly where that dream goes."

Ava smirked. "Bai, you’re diabolical."

Lucas laughed. "And you love it."

Ava rolled her eyes. "I tolerate it."

Lucas stepped closer, tilting his head. "Keep telling yourself that, Beauty."

Ava ignored him, flipping the tracker in her hand. "When’s the deal?"

Lucas grinned. "Tonight."

Ava exhaled, already running through the plan in her mind. "Then let’s get to work."

Because if they were going to sell this dream—they were going to make sure it turned into someone else’s nightmare.