Chapter 218: Code 48

Evren did not look at the contract, and he did not reach for the pen. Instead, he took a step back, turned toward Calista and Amber, and spoke in a flat, calm voice. "We’re leaving."

Director Crowe blinked in disbelief, his hand freezing mid-air with the pen still extended across the desk. A sharp scowl replaced his practiced smile as he sat up straight.

"Chairman Evren, if you walk out that door, you forfeit all chance of an amicable settlement," Crowe warned. "Starlight Pharmaceuticals will face immediate criminal prosecution, and your facility will remain padlocked until the courts decide your fate!"

Evren did not even slow his stride.

Calista gathered her leather journal and tablet from the edge of the desk, keeping her head held high. Beside her, Amber cast one last disdainful glance at the director before turning on her heel.

The oak doors swung shut behind them, cutting off Crowe’s indignant shouts.

They walked briskly down the polished marble corridor toward the elevators.

The moment the brass doors slid closed and sealed the three of them inside, Calista exhaled a shaky breath. She sounded worried as she asked, "Evren, what do we do if they lock the facility?"

Evren reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"They want you to panic, Calista," Evren told her gently. "People like Crowe use threats and deadlines because they know fear makes people sign bad deals. If you stay in his office and argue on his terms, you give him control."

Amber crossed her arms, her eyes flashing with a dangerous gleam. "And besides, they sent twelve municipal guards with batons to an industrial complex guarded by real fighters."

Evren pulled out his phone as the elevator reached the ground floor.

He led them quickly through the soaring atrium, ignoring the stares of the alchemical clerks, and stepped out into the bright morning sunlight. Once they were inside the black armored sedan, Evren set his phone to speaker and dialed Walter.

The line connected on the second ring, and Walter’s rough voice came through the car speakers. "Chairman, Lady Zephyra pinged me fifteen minutes ago about a possible incident."

"Where are you right now, Walter?" Evren asked, putting the car into gear and pulling out onto the main avenue.

"I took twenty-five of my best veterans and two armored transports straight to District Two," Walter reported with a low chuckle. "We’re already inside the main gate of the biotech complex. The rest of the boys are holding Floor 76 and the conservatory."

"Good," Evren said. "The Regulation Board dispatched twelve enforcement officers to padlock the perimeter and impound our equipment under Municipal Code 48. Do not let them touch the gate."

"Don’t worry about that, boss," Walter replied. "We just fitted Tridon’s heavy alloy armor this morning. If twelve pencil-pushers in breastplates show up at our gates, they won’t even get close enough to read the door signs."

"Hold your ground and do not attack first, but do not let them cross the threshold," Evren instructed. "We’re fifteen minutes away."

"Understood, Chairman," Walter replied before disconnecting.

Evren immediately dialled the direct private line for the Imperial Defense Division. Amber glanced at him, her eyebrows raising slightly in curiosity.

"Are you calling Grand Arbiter Kincaid?" Amber asked.

"I am," Evren replied calmly. "Yesterday, we stood before the entire Defense Board and promised Starlight would produce its own resources within ten days so the military wouldn’t have to supply us. Kincaid needs to know what his city’s bureaucrats are doing to that timeline."

The line rang three times before connecting. Grand Arbiter Raymond Kincaid’s deep, authoritative voice came through clearly over the encrypted link.

"Chairman Evren," Kincaid said, sounding busy amid the faint hum in the background. "I didn’t expect a call so soon after our debrief. Has something happened?"

"You could say that, Grand Arbiter," Evren replied evenly. "I’m calling about our production schedule for Starlight Pharmaceuticals."

Kincaid’s tone sharpened with interest. "Did you run into a logistics delay with the raw ingredients?"

"No," Evren said. "We submitted our three breakthrough formulas to the registry at dawn. Less than two hours later, Chief Registrar Ralev Crowe rejected our patents, froze our operating accounts, and dispatched twelve armed enforcement officers to seize our facility in District Two."

Silence fell over the line.

The background chatter on Kincaid’s end abruptly vanished, as if the supreme commander had just raised a hand to silence his entire war room. When Kincaid spoke again, his voice had dropped to a dangerously cold rumble.

"He did what?" Kincaid demanded.

"Crowe claimed our formulas fall under a two-year-old bankruptcy forfeiture from House Vesper," Evren explained. "He offered to make the charges disappear if we pay an upfront five-hundred-million-credit licensing fee and hand over thirty-five percent of our profits to the Regulation Board."

"That corrupt, arrogant idiot," Kincaid growled, the raw anger in his voice vibrating through the speakers. "We are staring down continental dimensional thinning that could wipe out border cities within the year, and this idiot is trying to shake down the man who saved forty-one hunters yesterday!"

"I walked out of his office," Evren said. "My allied guild is currently holding the perimeter at District Two, but Crowe’s men are on their way to padlock the complex under Municipal Code 48."

"Municipal Code 48 has zero authority over strategic wartime defense assets," Kincaid snapped. "Chairman Evren, do you have the Sovereign Defense Marshal’s Seal with you?"

Evren looked down at the dark silver and obsidian badge pinned neatly to his left jacket lapel. "Yes, I’m wearing it."

"Then listen to me carefully," Kincaid instructed firmly. "That seal is not just a military decoration. Under Imperial Readiness Decree 12, any industrial facility directly affiliated with an Imperial Defense Marshal holds Level-One Immunity against local civil seizure."

Kincaid took a sharp breath, his voice turning absolute and commanding.

"A municipal regulation board cannot touch, freeze, or quarantine a single vial on that property without my personal signature," Kincaid declared. "Hold the gates and do not let them set foot inside, because I am dispatching a Defense Provost detachment to District Two right now."

"We’ll be waiting at the gates," Evren said, nodding once. "We won’t let them touch a thing."

"Tell Crowe’s lapdogs that if they touch that gate, they are committing treason against the Imperial High Defense Command," Kincaid said coldly, and hung up.

Beside Evren, Calista let out a long breath, her blue eyes wide as she looked at him with relief and awe.

"Immunity?" Calista whispered. "The Regulation Board spent two years treating my family like criminals, but with one phone call, you turned our plant into a military asset they can’t even touch."

Amber grinned fiercely from the back seat, leaning forward between their chairs. "That’s how we do things in Apex, Calista. When someone tries to bully us, we don’t play defense; we bring down the ceiling on their heads."

Ten minutes later, the black sedan turned into the industrial sector of District Two.

Towering chemical silos, high-security warehouses, and wide cargo roads lined the street.

At the end of the boulevard sat Starlight’s massive biotechnology complex, sprawling across a hundred and fifty thousand square feet behind twenty-foot steel perimeter walls and heavy automated blast gates.

Parked directly outside the main entrance were two sleek, black-and-emerald transport vans, bearing the crest of the Capital Alchemical Regulation Board.

Twelve officers in dark green uniforms and polished chestplates had climbed out of the vehicles.

They carried heavy magnetic padlocks, orange quarantine seal-tape, and crackling shock-batons, looking smug and self-important as they gathered before the gate.

Leading the squad was a tall, pompous man with a pencil-thin mustache and a brass inspector’s badge pinned over his heart. He held a leather clipboard in one hand, shouting orders at two technicians who were carrying a magnetic lock toward the biometric access panel.

Inspector Malor barked orders at his technicians, gesturing toward the gate. "Slap the Class-Four quarantine chains across the hinges first and override the security relay, because anyone refusing to evacuate will be arrested for obstructing justice."

Before the technician could touch the control box, a mechanical groan rattled through the pavement as the gates slowly slid open.

The twelve Board officers froze in surprise, expecting to see frightened factory staff or night watchmen.

Instead, a solid wall of reinforced steel marched out from the courtyard.

Twenty-five heavily armored Iron-Thistle veterans stepped through the gate in tight formation.

Each hunter stood clad in full steel-alloy plate armor, holding massive interlocking tower shields and heavy six-foot poleaxes that gleamed dangerously in the morning sun.

At the front of the line towered Guild Master Walter. He stepped past the threshold, raised his spiked tower shield with one arm, and brought it slamming down into the asphalt with terrifying force.

A concussive shockwave rippled across the street, tearing spiderweb cracks through the solid concrete beneath the inspectors’ boots.

The two technicians carrying the magnetic lock stumbled backward in terror, dropping the metal chains onto the road with a loud clatter.

Inspector Malor paled, stumbling back two steps as he stared at the wall of battle-hardened veterans. "W-What is the meaning of this?! We are sworn officers of the Capital Alchemical Regulation Board executing a court-ordered asset quarantine under Municipal Code 48!"

Walter looked down at the trembling inspector, a wide, terrifying grin spreading across his weathered face.

"I’ve fought Level 60 rift abominations with this shield, little man," Walter rumbled, his deep voice carrying across the entire street. "You think a piece of paper and a toy baton is going to make me move?"

He leaned forward, his poleaxe resting casually over his shoulder. "This facility is private property. Take one more step toward that gate, and my men will throw every single one of you into the drainage canal."

"You cannot threaten officers!" Malor stammered as he backed away. "This is an official inspection, so stand down or we will call the city enforcers."

A low, quiet engine hum cut through his panicked shouting.

Evren’s black armored sedan pulled up directly behind the two emerald transport vans, cutting off their only retreat path.

The passenger doors clicked open, and the street fell completely silent.

Calista stepped out first, followed by Amber, and then Evren.

Evren stood right next to Malor, towering over the trembling inspector. "I told your director to check who was backing Starlight before sending you here," he said in a chilling voice. "It seems he didn’t care about your lives enough to warn you."