Vincent’s smile was razor-sharp. The bait had worked perfectly. "And what did your handlers plan to do with this information?"
"Present it to the board. Prove that Cornelius Holdings was gaining an advantage in logistics efficiency. They ntioned sothing about... about justifying closer ties with other major corporations to counter the threat."
Vincent’s eyes narrowed. So ridian was already thinking in terms of alliances. The original Vincent would have seen this as a direct threat to be crushed, he reflected. But I can see the opportunity—if they’re forming alliances, they’re also creating vulnerabilities. Every alliance has fracture points.
After interrogating two more he moved to the next room, where one of the refined stage operatives waited—a woman in her forties with the kind of calm composure that ca from genuine spiritual developnt.
"Sarah Sharma," Vincent said, reading from the file Olivia had prepared. "Ten years with Annapurna Guild, specializing in architectural cultivation patterns. What brings soone of your caliber to break into a competitor’s facility?"
Sarah’s eyes t his steadily, her refined stage cultivation providing resistance to his spiritual pressure. "I assu you know why I’m here, Chairman Cornelius."
"I know you believe my company has developed sothing that threatens your corporation’s position," Vincent replied, settling into the chair across from her. "What I want to know is why Annapurna Guild is so concerned about logistics efficiency that they’d risk sending a refined stage operative."
"Because," Sarah said carefully, "logistics is the foundation of everything else. You control the flow of goods, materials, and people between sectors. If you’ve truly developed a breakthrough in Qi stabilization..."
"You’re afraid it will destabilize the current power structure," Vincent finished. "Tell about the tensions between Annapurna and ridian."
Sarah’s spiritual defenses stiffened. "I don’t know what you an."
Vincent studied her for a mont, then pulled out his phone and scrolled through what appeared to be a ssage thread. His expression grew cold as he read.
"Curious," he murmured, turning the screen toward Sarah. "I just received confirmation from our security team. They’ve been monitoring communications traffic during the infiltration. It seems soone on the inside was feeding real-ti updates to external parties."
Sarah’s eyes flicked to the phone screen, which showed fabricated ssages tistamped throughout the night. Vincent had had Olivia create them during the interrogation of the other operatives.
"The ssages show grid references, security rotation schedules, even details about which rooms contained the most valuable prototypes," Vincent continued. "Soone with intimate knowledge of tonight’s operation was ensuring it would succeed."
"I don’t understand what you’re implying," Sarah said, but her voice had lost its steadiness.
"I’m not implying anything," Vincent replied. "I’m stating facts. Soone sold out their own team tonight. The question is whether it was you, or whether you were simply unlucky enough to be partnered with a double agent."
He leaned back in his chair, his tone becoming almost conversational. "Here’s what I think happened. ridian and Annapurna have been playing gas with each other for months. Secret etings, back-channel negotiations, mutual intelligence gathering. Tonight’s operation wasn’t just about stealing from —it was about testing each other’s loyalty."
Sarah’s composure was cracking. "That’s ridiculous."
"Is it? Because the communications traffic suggests otherwise. Soone on your team was reporting to ridian handlers throughout the operation. Either you were part of it, or you were being used as an unwitting test subject."
Vincent’s voice took on a note of false sympathy. "Think about it, Sarah. Why would Annapurna send soone of your caliber on what should have been a routine intelligence gathering mission? Unless... they wanted to see if you could be trusted. Unless they already suspected you of divided loyalties."
The psychological trap was closing. Sarah’s refined stage cultivation couldn’t protect her from the growing certainty that she’d been set up, that her own guild might have been testing her loyalty all along.
"The board etings," she whispered. "They’ve been asking pointed questions about my contacts, my thods. I thought they were just being thorough..."
"But now you’re wondering if they were building a case," Vincent finished. "Testing whether you’d maintain guild loyalty or pursue personal advantage when the pressure was on."
"There are... disagreents between the corporations," she finally admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "About sector developnt priorities. About who should handle joint projects. The board etings have been tense. ridian thinks we’re too conservative. We think they’re too aggressive."
"And your guild suspected you might be sympathetic to ridian’s approach?"
"I’ve always advocated for more aggressive expansion," Sarah said, the words tumbling out. "The guild elders think I’m too willing to take risks, too quick to suggest partnerships with other corporations. They’ve been... watching ."
"So tonight was a test," Vincent concluded. "Send Sarah on a mission that requires cooperation with ridian operatives. See if she maintains guild loyalty or if she tries to build bridges with the competition."
Sarah’s face went pale as the implications hit her. "If I go back empty-handed, they’ll assu I was compromised. If I go back with intelligence, they’ll assu I was working with ridian all along."
Vincent leaned back, his mind already working through the implications. The two of the few most powerful corporations in Autumnvale already harbored mutual suspicion. It was exactly the kind of structural weakness he could exploit.
He spent the next hour extracting similar information from the remaining operatives, each revelation adding another layer to his understanding of the inter-corporate dynamics. The basic stage operatives revealed operational details about their respective companies’ intelligence networks, while the refined stage operatives provided insights into boardroom politics and strategic concerns.
By the ti he finished, Vincent had a clear picture of the situation—and more importantly, what he needed to do about it.
**
Vincent stepped out of the final interrogation room to find Olivia waiting with her usual patience, tablet in hand and expression carefully neutral. However, he noticed the slight tension in her shoulders, the way her eyes tracked his movents more carefully than usual.
"What would you like to do with them, Chairman?" she asked, then added with characteristic directness, "And may I suggest we discuss the broader implications of this operation? Your thods today have been... notably sophisticated."
Vincent studied her face, recognizing the careful way she was probing. "You’re wondering how I knew exactly which psychological pressure points to exploit."
"Among other things, yes. The chairman of a month ago would have used physical torture and intimidation. Today, you conducted what amounted to advanced psychological warfare. It’s effective, but it’s also... different."
She was right, of course. The original Vincent had been brilliant but crude in his thods. This level of manipulation required understanding human psychology in ways that the previous Vincent simply hadn’t possessed. And his cute secretary as a silent observer seem to have noticed.
"Perhaps I’ve been studying our competitors more carefully than you realized," Vincent replied carefully. "What matters is the results."
Olivia nodded slowly, but her expression suggested she wasn’t entirely convinced. "Speaking of results, sir, I’ve been monitoring communication traffic from both corporations. There’s been a significant uptick in encrypted ssages and ergency protocols. They’re not just worried about their missing operatives—they’re actively trying to determine if this was a coordinated attack."
"Excellent. Now, to answer your question about the operatives—implent Protocol Seven," Vincent said quietly. "All of them go off-grid for the next seventy-two hours. No communication logs, no system entries, no inter-corp intel pings. Flag it as a biotric clearance breach under security lock."
Olivia’s eyebrows rose fractionally. "A complete audit freeze?"
"Exactly. If anyone from Sectors 1 or 2 cos sniffing around, they’ll find standard security protocols preventing access to sensitive breach data. The spies simply won’t exist in any system until I decide otherwise."
"And the subjects themselves?"
Vincent’s smile was sharp enough to cut glass. "Comfortable but isolated. I want them healthy and unhard when I’m ready to release them."
"May I ask the strategic purpose?"
"Information warfare, Olivia. Right now, both corporations know their operatives are missing. But they don’t know they’ve been caught by us, and they don’t know what I know. That uncertainty is a weapon."
Understanding dawned in Olivia’s eyes. "You’re planning to control the narrative."
"Precisely. Fear and paranoia are powerful tools. The question is how to deploy them most effectively."
She leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping to a more confidential tone. "Chairman, from the communication patterns from both corporations, they’re not just panicking about their missing operatives—they’re starting to suspect each other. Soone leaked information about tonight’s dual operation, and both sides are wondering if it was intentional."
Vincent’s eyes sharpened. "What kind of suspicions?"
"ridian’s ergency channels are buzzing with questions about whether Annapurna knew about their operation in advance. Annapurna’s secure networks are carrying discussions about ridian’s ’unusually aggressive’ intelligence gathering. They’re both starting to wonder if tonight was less about stealing from you and more about testing each other."
Perfect, Vincent thought. I didn’t even need to plant that suspicion—their own paranoia is doing the work for .
"And our internal situation?" he asked.
"Departnt heads who were inford are asking questions, but they’re framing them as strategic curiosity rather than suspicion. For now. I’ve been managing their inquiries, but eventually soone will want a more detailed briefing about our new... thodologies."
The warning was clear. Vincent’s transformation from the brutal, straightforward original into this calculating strategist was becoming noticeable. He would need to be careful about how he managed his own people’s perceptions. Unlike the others, Vincent did not want to run his corporation on fear so he has been working on changing his previous image for the past few weeks. He has picked out a few people after confirming their loyalty and like mindedness on ambition.
Vincent had gained multiple strategic advantages:
Proof of Corporate Espionage: Both major rivals had violated corporate neutrality agreents by attempting theft of proprietary technology.
Detailed Intelligence: The interrogations revealed internal tensions, board eting dynamics, strategic concerns, and personal vulnerabilities of key personnel in both organizations.
Psychological Leverage: Making the operatives disappear from all tracking systems created an information vacuum that would drive both corporations to paranoia and potentially reckless actions against each other.
Strategic Positioning: He could now present Cornelius Holdings as the stable, neutral party in an increasingly chaotic corporate landscape.
As Vincent walked back toward the elevator, his mind was already working through the next phase of his plan. The spies had revealed more than they knew—not just about the existing tensions between Annapurna and ridian, but about the fears and insecurities that drove their corporate masters.
I’m becoming soone I never was in my previous life, he realized. The original Vincent was ruthless but predictable. I’m learning to be sothing more dangerous—patient and calculating. But am I still myself, or am I becoming him?
The question lingered as he considered his next moves. Every strategic decision seed to co more naturally now, as if the corporate cultivation world was reshaping his very thought patterns.
"Olivia," he said as the elevator doors closed, "I have already told Raghu to arrange for so specialized equipnt. A faulty Qi resonance tag that can be disguised with ridian signature pattern. Also, a fake Qi blueprint fragnt (Technical schematic that outlines how to infuse Qi into anobject) with Annapurna-style glyph structuring (kind of like a writing style of a Qi-infused pattern, specific to cultivators), but distorted as if from failed reverse-engineering."
(P.S.- Resonance Tag: A small embedded tool or imprint used by engineers or cultivators to scan, monitor, or align Qi flow in a device or structure. Like a diagnostic chip.)
"Planting evidence, sir?"
"Creating opportunities," Vincent corrected. "Sotis the truth needs a little encouragent to surface."
"And the internal situation? How do you want to handle the departnt heads’ questions about your... evolved strategies?"
Vincent considered this carefully. "Tell them I’ve been consulting with external strategic advisors. That should satisfy their curiosity while maintaining operational security."
Olivia nodded approvingly. "A plausible explanation that actually enhances your reputation for thorough preparation."
The elevator carried him back up to his executive floor, where the morning’s business awaited. But Vincent’s thoughts were already turning to the next phase of his plans—a carefully orchestrated campaign of misdirection that would turn Autumnvale’s two most powerful corporations against each other while positioning Cornelius Holdings as the stable, neutral party in an increasingly chaotic landscape.
In the world of Corporate Nexus Cities, where cultivation and capitalism had fused into sothing altogether more dangerous, information was power, and Vincent Cornelius had just acquired enough ammunition to reshape the balance between the city’s most powerful factions.
The original Vincent had built this company through calculated selfishness and practical arrogance. The current Vincent would expand it through strategic manipulation and patient cunning.
After all, he hadn’t survived transmigration into this world of corporate cultivation just to play it safe. And he certainly wasn’t going to start now.
P.S.- I hope all the information is easy to understand. There are so new terms I ca up with.
Do tell if sothing is not explained enough or may require changes. I am a new author after all.
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