Chapter 56: going to tunnel

The room remained quiet as Victor finished his report, his head lowered as he waited for our next instruction. I looked from the book on the desk over to Suzy. She was staring at her father’s writing, her hair casting a shadow over her cheeks, but the watery look in her eyes had completely shifted into a determination.

"Victor, keep the inner guard perimeter completely locked down," Suzy said, her voice rising with that natural chief executive authority that always made her look incredibly attractive. "No one enters or leaves that tunnel area until Barry and I inspect the seals ourselves."

"Understood, Queen Suzy," Victor gave a firm bow, turning to exit the building.

Once the door closed, the space between us felt much smaller. I stepped closer to the desk, looking down at her. "You handled that trade audit like a real boss, Suzy. But your breathing is still a little fast. Do you need a temporary rest cycle?"

Suzy lifted her head, looking up into my eyes.

"I am perfectly fine, Barry. It is just... seeing the handwriting after ten years makes my chest feel very strange. Thank you for standing right here with me."

"A partner always backs up the primary managing director," I murmured, leaning a little closer to her shoulder. her fingers reached out under the lamp light to gently catch the gold border of my coat sleeve. For a brief second, we just stood there in the quiet house, our shadows blending against the wall boards as the tension turned sweet and lovely.

"Come on," Suzy whispered, her voice dropping into a cute, soft tone as she pulled her hand back and adjusted her belt loop to hide her immense embarrassment. "Let’s go check on your twelve-year-old construction manager before he fires the whole village."

We walked out of the stone house together and headed down past the storage barns toward the clay pit at the edge of the settlement. The scene at the yard was completely ridiculous. Toby was standing on top of a pile of raw bricks, holding his small wooden pointer stick high in the air as he barked orders at three adult builders who were twice his size. His face was full of immense pride.

"Move those blocks faster, you slow pokes!" Toby yelled, his high voice carrying across the whole yard. "The temperature inside the ventilation channels is reaching its peak performance! If you leave the bricks near the rear vents for too long, they will bake unevenly and turn into garbage! Do you want the tall manager in the black coat to fire us on day one?!"

The adult builders were sweating, running back and forth with wooden trays while looking completely terrified of a twelve-year-old child.

I stepped onto the edge of the clay path, crossing my arms over my chest as I let out a loud laugh.

"You are running a very tight ship here, Toby. Are your production numbers balancing out?"

Toby spun around, his expression instantly turning into a look of absolute respect when he saw me and Suzy. He come down from the brick pile, running over to us while trying to wipe the soot off his clothes with his small hands. "Barry! Look at the first batch! The new air vents worked perfectly. The clay didn’t crack even a single millimeter. We have five hundred solid building blocks ready to use right now!"

Suzy walked over to the cooling rack, reaching out her smooth hand to touch the side of a freshly baked brick. Her face lit up with a beautiful, smile that made every part of her look completely stunning in the afternoon sun. "The density is perfect, Barry. These are four times stronger than the old mud blocks. This kid really is a genius."

Toby puffed out his small chest, looking incredibly proud of her praise. "Of course I am. I told you those old guys were doing the math wrong."

"Don’t get too arrogant, brat," I said, reaching down to playfully tap the top of his messy brown head with my hands, messing up his hair. "A good assistant stays humble until the full project is completed. Now, clear the workers away from the lower yard. We have a compliance issue to check near the back fence."

Toby blinked, his eyes wide with curiosity, but he turned around and immediately began shouting at the builders to take a lunch break.

Suzy and I walked past the kilns, following the perimeter line until we reached the deep, overgrown brush near the old supervisor’s private pasture. Victor was standing there with four of our elite guards, their spears raised as they surrounded a large.

The hatch was massive, covered in thick rust, but right in the center sat a glowing grey mark shaped like a crown surrounded by three broken stars—the royal crest lock of the old dynasty.

I stepped right up to the edge of the iron plate, I knelt down on one knee to inspect the frame.

’System, activate scan mode,’ I thought, my eyes narrowing as a faint blue grid pattern appeared on my vision. ’Analyze the internal locking parameters of this seal.’

[System: Analyzing Royal Isolation Lock (Tier 4 Premium)... Warning: This lock does not use a physical key, host! It is a pure magic drain valve. It requires a massive injection of concentrated Ascendant level energy to short-circuit the internal matrix lines. If your core output is even a single percentage too low, the mechanism will trigger a massive fire explosion!]

’So it requires a high-level manager’s signature to open the vault,’ I thought.

I stood up again, adjusting my clothes as I turned to look at Suzy. " this door is locked with an advanced tier filter, manager. It needs a massive blast of pure power to break the internal lines without blowing up the whole village."

Suzy walked up right next to my shoulder, her sword guard catching the light as she looked down at the glowing crest. Her face was completely serious now, her eyes filled with that familiar, deadly focus. "We are both at the mid-stage of the Ascendant tier now, Barry. If we combine our core energy and strike the central matrix line at the exact same second, our combined output will completely overwhelm the royal seal before the defense trap can react."

"That is a highly efficient joint venture, partner," I laughed, my muscles buzzing with pure power as the wind from my core began to ripple the grass.

We stood side by side in front of the massive hatch, ready to combine our strength to tear the old dynasty’s secrets completely open.