"Grab that piece of trash right there, and bring him into the light," Galileo commanded, his deep voice carrying a terrifying resonance through the smoke-filled assembly hall.
The heavy iron boots of the two corporate enforcers clicked loudly against the cracked stone tiles as they advanced toward the darkest corner of the room. Richter lay huddled on his side, his body trembling violently beneath the filthy, tattered burlap cloak. He pulled his legs tighter against his chest, keeping his deformed, rigid right hand clamped tightly against his ribs. His shallow, rapid breaths sent tiny clouds of condensation into the damp air, perfectly mimicking the behavior of a completely terrified slum-dweller facing an inevitable execution. Beneath the dirt-caked fabric obscuring his face, however, his eyes remained sharp, cool, and locked onto the immaculate polished shoes of the man who had ordered his destruction months ago.
Ghina stood frozen against the far wall, her fingers clutching the rolled marriage contract so tightly that the parchment began to crumple under her grip. Her face was entirely bloodless, her sharp eyes darting from Galileo to the elite soldiers whose steam rifles remained leveled directly at her chest. The grand empire she had spent her life building, the secret trade routes, and the dream of independent wealth had vanished in a single afternoon, replaced by the terrifying reality of a corporate raid.
"Please, lord, have mercy on a poor beggar!" Richter screamed out, his voice cracking into a high, pathetic wheeze that echoed off the damp stone walls. "I have no money! I have no gold! I only clean the floors for the mistress! Do not shoot me!"
One of the massive enforcers reached down, his armored fingers twisting brutally into the collar of Richter's cloak. With a careless jerk of his arm, the soldier hoisted Richter off the floor and threw him violently toward the center of the room. Richter collapsed awkwardly, his stiff right leg twisting beneath him as he crashed onto his hands and knees right at Galileo's feet. The impact sent a sharp shock of pain through his copper-stitched spine, but he welcomed the sensation, using the genuine sting to fuel the desperate, weeping performance he was about to deliver.
Galileo looked down at the pathetic creature resting near his iron-toed boots, his expression shifting from cold suspicion to absolute condescension. He adjusted the heavy leather cuffs of his dark coat, his silver-headed cane tapping once against the stone floor with a sharp, dismissive sound.
"Is this the brilliant mastermind you have been hiding in your network, Ghina?" Galileo asked, his tone dripping with smooth, insulting amusement. "A broken scrapper who looks like he survived a factory boiler explosion? I must admit, I expected someone far more formidable from a family that has controlled the lower routes for three generations."
"He is nobody, Galileo!" Ghina shouted, her voice trembling as she tried to salvage whatever leverage she had left. "He is just a useless house servant! A crippled i***t I hired from the marketplace to carry heavy iron bolts! He has nothing to do with any data breach or your precious upper refineries!"
Richter did not let her finish. Before Galileo could order his men to search the rest of the facility, Richter shifted his weight, dragging his body forward across the dirty floor until his forehead touched the cold leather of Galileo's left boot. He let out a loud, sniveling sob, his shoulders shaking as he began to lick the wet mud and grease from the corporate titan's footwear.
"I will tell you everything, great master!" Richter wailed, his voice muffled against the leather as he played his gambit. "Do not let them kill me! The mistress is lying to you! She is the one who ordered the scrapper crews to infiltrate the northern shipping lanes! She made me carry the stolen ledgers to the southern drainage canal! I was just following her orders because she threatened to cut off my bread!"
Ghina's eyes widened in utter shock and betrayal, her mouth falling open as she stared at the servant she thought she could control completely. "What are you saying, you crazy freak? I never ordered any data theft! You are the one who brought me those excavation formulas!"
"Silence, you greedy vulture!" Richter yelled back, turning his head slightly to project his terrified voice toward the soldiers, though he kept his body firmly planted at Galileo's feet. "She has a hidden chest beneath the floorboards of Warehouse 4, master! That is where the scrapper crews keep the illegal decoding keys! They are planning to sabotage the Sector 9 locks at midnight so they can smuggle the raw materials to the southern ports without paying a single copper of your taxes!"
Galileo burst into a loud, roaring laugh, the deep sound echoing through the ruined assembly hall with absolute arrogance. He stepped back slightly, pulling his boot away from Richter's face, looking at the dirt-caked beggar as if he were the most entertaining piece of garbage he had ever encountered in the slums. The absolute absurdity of the scene completely dissolved his previous corporate paranoia. The forged documents, the missing taxes, and the structural anomalies in his network suddenly made perfect sense through the lens of a petty, disorganized slum syndicate trying to pull off a desperate heist.
"Look at this, Marcus," Galileo called out to the injured enforcer leaning against the wall, his eyes bright with a cruel, mocking satisfaction. "This is the grand resistance of the Black Water Syndicate. A crippled hound who will sell out his own mistress for a promise of mercy and a handful of grease. It seems your people have absolutely no loyalty when the iron boots arrive."
Marcus groaned, his hand resting on his bruised ribs as he glared at Richter with pure hatred. "The beggar is a coward, sir. He is not worth the ammunition it takes to put him down."
"Indeed he isn't," Galileo agreed, his tone smoothing back into a calm, superior drone. He looked at Ghina, who was shaking with a mixture of rage and terror. "Your house servant has been very informative, Ghina. While you were busy planning a pathetic sabotage on my locks, your own domestic partner was already preparing to give up your secrets to the highest bidder."
"He is lying, Galileo!" Ghina pleaded, taking a step forward before two steam rifles were leveled directly at her throat. "The marriage contract was just a legal formality to secure drilling rights! There is no data cache in Warehouse 4! He is framing me!"
"I have no interest in your domestic squabbles," Galileo stated coldly, waving his silver-headed cane dismissively toward his lead enforcer. "Take a squad and clear out Warehouse 4. Seize every piece of scrap, every ledger, and every illegal key you find. If the scrapper crews resist, execute them on the spot."
"Right away, sir," the lead soldier replied, bowing his head before barking orders to the men in the corridor. Half of the elite force immediately marched out of the hall, their heavy footsteps fading into the distance toward the northern distribution center.
Galileo turned his attention back down to Richter, who remained on his hands and knees, whimpering softly while rubbing his deformed right hand against the floorboards. Galileo reached into his inner pocket, drawing out a single silver sovereign coin. He flipped it carelessly into the air, letting it land in the mud right in front of Richter's nose.
"You are a disgusting, money-grubbing piece of trash," Galileo said, his voice dripping with absolute contempt as he looked at his former partner without a single spark of recognition. "But a useful informant deserves a reward. Take your coin, beggar, and finish your pathetic little wedding. I am letting your syndicate survive tonight because you are far too pathetic to pose an actual threat to my empire. Let Ghina keep her drilling permits in the south. By the time my auditors finish liquidating her assets to pay for this raid, I will own every single stone of her territory anyway."
"Thank you, great master! May the steam always power your fortunes!" Richter cried out, greedily snatching the silver coin with his left hand and pressing it to his lips as if it were a holy relic. "Richter will never forget your kindness! Richter will clean your streets whenever you ask!"
Galileo scoffed, turning his back on the pathetic display and walking toward the ruined exit of the hall. "Keep the creature on a short leash, Ghina. If I see his face in the upper tiers without a master's collar, I will have the executioners use him for fuel in the main furnaces."
The remaining corporate enforcers fell into line behind their master, their heavy iron boots clicking rhythmically as they exited into the dark, rainy night, leaving the assembly hall in a state of absolute ruin.
Richter remained on the floor for several long minutes, his body still shaking slightly until the sound of the steam carriages outside vanished completely into the foggy atmosphere of the lower docks. Slowly, the terrified expression on his face dissolved, replaced by a cold, terrifying stillness. He pushed himself up using his wooden staff, his movements deliberate and steady despite his calculated limp. He wiped the dirt from his forehead with the back of his left sleeve, his gaze locking onto Ghina with a quiet, dominant intensity that made the room feel instantly colder.
The plot had officially locked in. The fool's gambit had worked perfectly, allowing him to bypass Galileo's security network while securing his position within the innermost circle of the enemy.
Ghina stood by the wall, her breathing ragged as she looked at the ruined doors and then at the tattered servant who was now standing before her without a single trace of fear in his eyes. She felt a sudden, icy weight drop into her stomach as she realized the true nature of the man she had just legally married under customary law.
"You planned this entire nightmare from the very beginning, didn't you, Richter?" Ghina whispered, her voice shaking with a terrifying realization.
Aksara