I Became a Black Market Tycoon with an Inventory - Chapter 216

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

216 – Victor
216.
Near Raffles Place, Singapore.
Parallax Disguised Office.
Victor stared at the countless monitors mounted on the wall.
The screens displayed various information before shifting to different images moments later.
Financial data, port entry and exit records, communication logs, satellite photographs.
I had combined numerous pieces of information,
but there were no tangible results.
There was only one thing I knew.
Dennis had been an arms trafficker operating out of Zamboanga, Philippines.
However, Parallax already knew that Zamboanga was his base of operations.
The problem was that we couldn’t even approach that place.
The retrieval team that went in was completely annihilated.
Victor exhaled a long sigh.
The Singapore office had always lacked presence within the organization.
Profits were minimal, and I was always excluded from important operations.
But this situation had made things worse.
Though we executed the same operation,
Mateo succeeded.
Though Dennis died,
he didn’t commit the foolish mistake the Singapore team did—going out on an operation and accomplishing nothing before returning empty-handed.
As a result, the mission changed.
Rather than executing operations directly,
I was tasked with gathering and compiling information.
The mission shifted to finding Phantom Grid and its developer.
Of course, I had to take orders from Mateo.
That was what I hated most.
Mateo dumped the work on the Singapore office and disappeared somewhere.
He said if I couldn’t find this much, I wasn’t worthy of Parallax.
So I remained in the office, staring at monitors.
I needed to find information about Phantom Grid, but I couldn’t find any information at all.
Nothing emerged.
‘Damn it. What am I supposed to do?’
A frustrated curse escaped Victor’s lips involuntarily.
That was when it happened.
One of the many screens displaying CCTV footage turned black.
The CCTV monitoring the lobby.
What?
Victor felt a surge of unease.
“There. Why is that CCTV down? Check it.”
“Yes.”
The Agent picked up the radio and transmitted.
“Lobby team. Respond. Lobby team, respond.”
“Underground Parking Garage. Underground Parking Garage. Respond.”
But there was no response from anywhere.
It didn’t seem to be a mechanical malfunction or signal interference.
Another CCTV went dark.
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Emergency Level 3 protocol initiated.”
He issued the command sharply and decisively.
At Victor’s order, the Agents stopped what they were doing
and prepared for Emergency Level 3.
They grabbed their weapons and moved to their designated positions.
That instant.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
A powerful explosion erupted from the basement, shaking the entire building.
“What?!”
“It’s an explosion. Appears to be from the Underground Parking Garage…”
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
Before the Agent could finish speaking, gunfire erupted.
Glass windows shattered from incoming bullets,
and monitors were obliterated.
The Agents in the Office began falling helplessly.
The Agents in the Office scattered in panic toward the windows.
Bang!
The head of an Agent standing near the window snapped backward.
Blood sprayed as his body collapsed to the floor.
“Sniper.”
Someone shouted.
The problem was that the sniper was nowhere to be seen.
Not even in this building.
They seemed to be hiding somewhere outside, in another building.
It didn’t seem to be just one sniper.
Bullets came from different directions.
Every time they peeked their heads out from cover, their skulls exploded.
They couldn’t even return fire, let alone raise their heads.
If they moved, the snipers would get them,
and if they stayed still, the incoming enemies would.
They were completely cornered.
The Singapore office had taken considerable care with security, but it proved useless against the enemy’s assault.
Many operatives had already fallen,
and only a handful remained.
Victor crawled beneath the desk.
He held a gun, but lacked the courage to fire at the enemy.
Firing now would only
reveal his position to them.
It would be like sending a signal begging to be killed.
Yet he lacked the resolve that Dennis possessed—the willingness to take responsibility for everything and press the barrel beneath his own chin.
As he hesitated, the office door swung open.
Through it poured figures clad in black tactical gear.
Upon entering, they moved with mechanical precision, sweeping the office.
They approached the fallen and delivered finishing shots.
Their gun barrels never wavered.
There was no mercy.
Those who didn’t surrender with hands raised were cut down without hesitation.
Victor had no choice but to raise his hands and crawl out from beneath the desk.
All survivors were bound.
The office was completely secured.
Then, amid the sea of black tactical gear, a color stood out distinctly.
A Hawaiian shirt with vibrant patterns.
The man wearing it walked slowly into the office.
.
.
.
The man in the Hawaiian shirt entered the office at an unhurried pace.
A Hawaiian shirt amid the black tactical gear.
Among the fully armed personnel, he wore no protective equipment whatsoever.
Not even a bulletproof vest.
The moment he entered,
the air in the office seemed to freeze.
Despite the flamboyant colors of his clothing, his expression was cold and rigid.
It was terrifying.
The murderous aura he emanated
made breathing itself feel laborious.
What kind of life must one have lived
to exude such killing intent?
Victor knelt with his hands bound behind his back.
Men in black tactical gear stood before and behind them.
The man in the Hawaiian shirt was in no hurry.
Slowly. Deliberately.
I moved with unhurried grace, savoring every moment of this.
Singapore.
At Raffles Place, no less—where explosions had erupted and gunfire had echoed.
Singapore’s counter-terrorism system ranks among the world’s finest.
They would respond with overwhelming speed and force.
Police would be pouring through those doors any second.
Perhaps even the military would mobilize.
Yet this man exuded absolute composure.
He moved like someone with nothing to lose.
“Now then. I hold the highest rank here. Hands up.”
Victor’s heart sank.
He glanced nervously around the room.
Among the survivors, Victor held the highest position.
But he couldn’t bring himself to raise his hand.
He could only hope someone else would step forward instead.
He simply waited, watching for any sign.
The man in the Hawaiian shirt noticed his hesitation and spoke.
“Kill them all.”
The survivors gasped in unison, their breath catching.
The man didn’t even ask questions.
No interrogation. No demands.
Now I understood the killing intent that radiated from him.
The man in the Hawaiian shirt turned without hesitation.
He was about to leave the office when the man in black tactical gear spoke up from behind.
“Surely there’s at least one useful person among them, sir?”
“They’re all small-time trash. Cowards who can’t even raise their hands. It’ll be faster if we just figure it out ourselves rather than waste time on these spineless bastards.”
“Understood, sir. I’ll handle it immediately.”
At his command, the men in tactical gear raised their weapons, aiming at the group.
These men showed no hesitation.
They would fire without delay.
The man in the Hawaiian shirt spoke again.
“Don’t kill them quickly. Give them the worst death you can imagine. You can manage that, can’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
The men in black tactical gear answered with crisp precision.
“These are the bastards who killed Dennis. Feel free to vent your frustrations on them.”
The man in the shirt said this, then turned to leave the office. But one of the bound men suddenly screamed out.
“I know everything! I can tell you everything!”
“I know! I’m part of the operations team here. I managed the servers!”
“I have access to the financial records!”
“I’m from the IT department. I can check the communication records.”
In an instant, the office descended into chaos.
They shouted over one another to be heard.
Just moments ago, they had been united under the name Parallax,
but now they were denouncing and pushing each other aside.
It was a matter of survival.
Everyone could sense it.
If that man walked out, they would truly die.
Victor cried out as well.
“I… I’m the Team Leader here. I know everything.”
At that moment, the man heading toward the door stopped.
And still slowly, deliberately, he turned his head.
He looked at Victor.
.
.
.
Geylang, Singapore.
We moved to Geylang.
Singapore’s most notorious red-light district.
And the place where Triad Society activity still persisted in Singapore.
Du Man-sik had arranged the location.
It was an underground space that had been used as a warehouse.
“You should be able to work relatively comfortably there.”
“We’re also digging deeper into Parallax.”
“I’ll contact you as soon as we hear anything.”
I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the location.
For one, it was cramped.
I would have preferred somewhere larger, somewhere more spacious
where I could work on these bastards freely, but there was no choice.
Finding such a place in Singapore was difficult.
And taking them across the border would be even harder.
A single dim light barely illuminated the darkness of the underground warehouse.
I looked at Victor, bound to the chair.
I simply stared at him.
Just… quietly.
Victor couldn’t bear my gaze and grew increasingly restless.
His hands were bound, but his fingers kept moving.
He kept avoiding my eyes.
I opened my mouth quietly.
“What are you doing? You said you’d talk.”
“What?”
“You’re the one who said to bring you here. So why won’t you speak?”
Victor’s eyes wavered.
He’d said he was speaking to survive,
but now that he was actually here, the words seemed to stick in his throat.
For the record, Tian Zihao and many others were waiting behind me.
They stood ready with laptops and tablets, prepared to verify the facts.
All communication channels were open, exchanging information in real time.
To immediately confirm whether what Victor said was true.
To conduct cross-verification right here on the spot.
We were prepared.
Victor quietly began to speak.
“Our Singapore office typically serves as a relay hub. We handle Southeast Asia operations and money laundering.”
“The servers are divided into three locations. One local server here, one in Dubai, and the main server is in Europe.”
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
With each word Victor spoke, the sound of keyboard typing echoed.
Victor’s gaze turned toward that direction.
“Where?”
As I spoke, the attention that had shifted behind me returned to me.
“Switzerland.”
Victor answered.
“Switzerland confirmed. Verification complete.”
Tian Zihao’s voice came from behind.
Honestly, I wasn’t particularly curious about such details.
What I wanted to know was.
“Why you killed Dennis.”
Victor’s pupils trembled slightly at the question.
Then he spoke in an uncertain voice.
“We needed Phantom Grid. We needed Phantom Grid, but Gavin failed to acquire it, so we had no choice.”
Victor lowered his head.
“You could just buy it with money. It wasn’t like they refused to sell. If something was put up for sale, you could just steal it?”
“Gavin tried to do that. But Gavin was also eliminated.”
“Gavin’s death has been confirmed.”
The verification team was confirming Victor’s words in real time.
Victor couldn’t lie even if he wanted to.
“So who ordered you to steal it? Who ordered you to kill Dennis?”
“It wasn’t an order to kill. It was an order to capture him alive. They said we had to obtain Phantom Grid.”
“So who gave the order?”
“I don’t know either. Since Mateo came directly from headquarters, it appears to be a response at the corporate level.”
“Who is Mateo?”
“He oversees all operations at headquarters. While he manages overall operations, he personally handles all critical missions.”
Something smells off.
Mateo.
I need to catch this bastard.
“Where is he now?”
“I’m not sure. He told us to find Phantom Grid and then disappeared. He’s probably at a casino or drinking somewhere.”
I glanced back.
Without me saying a word,
Tian Zihao and the verification team were already typing away at their keyboards.
“Checking casino CCTV footage.”
“Checking VIP lounges and bars.”
“Cross-referencing hotel guest lists.”
Within moments, a report came back.
“A person matching Mateo’s description has been spotted at Resorts World Sentosa.”
“At Crockfords Premier on the 10th floor.”
“It’s an exclusive VIP casino.”
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
He kills our people and now he’s gambling?
He’s playing cards in a situation like this?
Rage surged through me in an instant.
But I continued to suppress it internally.
I couldn’t afford to lose my composure now.
I needed to assess the situation calmly.
“We’ll bring him in within thirty minutes.”
Scott and Allen were already prepared for deployment.
It seemed like they could grab Mateo any moment.
I couldn’t let these guys have all the fun.
“Let’s go together.”
We headed straight for Resorts World Sentosa.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————