Leo glanced at the gun. He didn’t know much about underworld etiquette, but he could recognize a pledge of loyalty when he saw one.

He casually pushed the weapon back across the table with a single finger.

"Keep it," Leo said smoothly. "You’ll need it to maintain order among our new employees. We start immediately."

Silas received the gun as if it were a holy relic, his heart pounding against his chest.

"I’ll have the recruitment posters up in the underground networks within the hour," Silas declared. "What kind of wages are we offering? Given the... demographic... we can pay them dirt, just a few credits a day, and they’ll still bleed for you."

"Absolutely not," Leo frowned, genuinely offended by the idea of saving money. "We are a legitimate enterprise. I want everyone paid triple the standard rate of the upper districts. Plus, full medical coverage, hazard pay, and three high-quality meals a day."

Silas choked on his own spit. "T-Triple the upper district rates? Boss, these are murderers, thieves, and beggars! You want to pay them that much? Are they worth it?"

Leo inwardly sneered. ’Of course they are. They’ll just become lazy and drain my funds even faster. Perfect.’

"Also sigh a contract with each of them. The employment period will be for ten years at the start, during which they can’t be fired."

The more Silas heard, the more confused he became. Still, in the end, he noted down the incomprehensible instructions.

Leo lied effortlessly, leaning back in his chair.

"Furthermore, tear down the eastern sector of the warehouse. I want it replaced with a state-of-the-art recreational facility. Spas, VR training pods, luxury lounges. Only the most expensive materials."

"Whenever the employees are mentally stressed, they can enjoy these facilities at any time."

Silas frowned, connecting dots that didn’t exist.

’Triple pay to secure fanatical loyalty. State-of-the-art VR training pods disguised as recreation to train a highly-skilled private army. High-quality meals to get malnourished thugs into peak physical condition.’

It was definitely a covert military training, preparing them for mobilization. Silas felt a chill crawl down his spine. The House of Necropolis wasn’t starting a syndicate. They were breeding an army right under the Planetary Lord’s nose!

And the most shocking part, they had sent a human to oversee all this, so that it couldn’t be linked back to them.

"Understood, Boss," Silas said, his voice trembling with a mix of awe and terror. "And... what exactly will our company be producing to cover these... massive overheads?"

He wanted to know what kind of front they were going to have. After all, even if they were running a fake company, they still needed something to show for it.

Leo had been waiting for this question. He had spent all night brainstorming the absolute worst possible business model.

"We are going to enter the waste processing industry," Leo announced proudly. "I want you to buy up all the rusted, useless scrap metal in the Lawless Zone. We will buy it at ten times the current market price."

Silas blinked. "Ten times the market price? But... Boss, refining rusted scrap is already a loss-making venture. If we buy it at ten times the price, we’ll be spending millions of credits a day! We won’t even make a fraction of it back on the refined steel!"

Even if it was a front, could they really spend that much? More importantly, it was definitely going to catch the attention of people in the other sectors.

Leo revealed a genuine, warm smile spreading across his face for the first time since he entered the room. "Do not worry about the losses. Just focus on buying as much scrap as physically possible. If someone has a rusted tin can, I want you to buy it like it’s pure gold."

’Ah, buying high and selling low. The foolproof, golden rule of going bankrupt!’ Leo praised his own genius. ’There’s no way I accidentally make a profit from buying literal garbage at ten times its value. This time, I will definitely go broke!’ 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The best part was that there was a lot of waste metal in the upper realm. There was no upper limit on how much could be bought here, so he didn’t need to worry about resources.

The only problem was of the storage. But didn’t this lawless zone solve it? It was filled with useless space where he could throw the metals that he had bought at a sky high price.

Silas, meanwhile, felt like his brain was going to explode.

Buy useless scrap at ten times the price? Nobody in the galaxy was that stupid. Therefore, it had to be a smokescreen! As for catching other’s attention... He was sure Leo couldn’t be stupid enough to not consider it.

Maybe he wanted to catch their attention? He didn’t know why, but it was clearly a scheme hidden within a scheme that was hidden within another scheme.

He had only managed to uncover the first layer of this scheme.

"Boss... your foresight is terrifying," Silas whispered, bowing his head deeply. "I will not fail you. The ’scrap’ will flow in without drawing any problems."

Leo nodded approvingly, standing up and smoothing out his coat. "I leave the execution in your capable hands, Silas. Don’t disappoint me."

"I swear it on my life, Lord Leo!"

Even Leo was slightly amused at the versatility of the Necropolis Token. He had basically won the kotalt of a complete stranger that was part of the underworld of an upper world. And all it took was a badge that was useless, and money.

As Leo walked out of the rusted factory, he looked up at the smog-filled sky of the Lawless Zone, a triumphant grin on his face.

Now that he had arranged for a capable subordinate, he could relax and enjoy the life of living in the upper realm for a few days.

However, after that, he planned to clearly oversee the entire operation so that no one could pull another mysterious trick from under his nose.

He had a loyal subordinate who was fully committed to burning his money on garbage, overpriced thugs, and spas.

"This time, there won’t be any mistakes!" Leo thought happily, stepping out of the factory.

Back inside the dimly lit office, Silas stared at the empty doorway, his eyes burning with absolute fanaticism.

’The rebellion begins today,’ Silas thought, gripping his gun until his knuckles turned white. ’And I am part of the Necropolis. Incredible! After I succeed, I might even be granted eternal life as a reward.’

If he knew that not only was he not a part of Necropolis, but he was also working for someone that had screwed Necropolis, and other Ancient Houses, it was unclear what kind of expressions he would have shown.