Chapter 179 Extorting the Great Powers

Chapter 179 Extorting the Great Powers



Morrison's question was what everyone wanted to know: "What's your relationship with Wayne?"

"Same cohort from Eagle's Prey Phase One training camp." Saskia didn't elaborate further, taking the files and walking over to the temporary command station beside the front desk.

"I left Eagle's Prey twenty years ago. This authorization Wayne gave me is my guarantee."

Opening her laptop, Saskia's fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard.

"In these twenty years, he's never been unable to operate for more than forty-eight consecutive hours."

Morrison fell silent, because what she meant was that Wayne had never been down this long before. This was the first time.

Saskia spent six hours sending the authorization codes Wayne had given her to water treatment facilities in municipal systems across seventeen cities worldwide, getting them to restore water service.

Isaac handled verification work on the back end, while Rivera's military channel provided communications support.

By four a.m., twenty-eight thousand of the thirty-two thousand people had water again, and medical freezes were lifted in fourteen countries.

The systems in the other three countries required local personnel to operate. Saskia had already sent out the instructions but hadn't received confirmation yet.

Morrison had stayed in the hall for six hours, neither participating nor leaving, just observing Saskia's working methods from the sidelines.

"You really are from the Legion," Morrison said.

Saskia didn't look up. "No kidding."

At 5:17 a.m., the white-haired doctor came downstairs.

When he walked up to Morrison, he was holding a tablet displaying constantly changing data curves.

Wayne's EEG patterns had changed.

Morrison stood up. "Is that good or bad?"

"When transitioning from deep coma to light sleep, the cerebral cortex shows intermittent activity."

The white-haired doctor handed over the tablet. "If this continues, he should regain consciousness within three hours at most."

Saskia's hands paused on the keyboard. She glanced toward the stairwell, then lowered her head and continued working.

Morrison noticed her reaction but said nothing.

Two hours and forty minutes later, Emily's voice carried down from the fourth floor.

"He's awake."

Morrison covered the distance from the first floor to the fourth in eight seconds flat, running the entire way.

Wayne lay in bed, his right arm secured with a splint, his left elbow also braced.

But his eyes were open, and he was looking at Jenny.

Jenny sat on her father's legs, burying her face in the uninjured side of his shirt, her fingers touching the bandages. "Daddy has lots of cloth on him."

Wayne didn't speak, just patted Jenny's back with his left hand.

Emily sat on the bed, gripping Wayne's sleeve and pulling it hard, making the wrinkles in the fabric even more pronounced.

Morrison didn't enter the room. He stood in the doorway for three seconds, then turned and walked out. On his way downstairs, he ran into Saskia, who was bringing files up.

The two stopped briefly in the stairwell.

"Is he awake?" Saskia asked.

"He is."

Saskia nodded, closed the folder in her hands, and headed back downstairs.

Morrison called after her. "Aren't you going to see him?"

"No need," Saskia said. She walked a few more steps, then stopped without turning around.

"The debt from twenty years ago has been fully repaid. I'll have the medical systems in the other three countries handled by this afternoon."

"So I'm leaving. When I'm not needed, I won't be around."

Morrison leaned against the stairwell railing. "You're certainly decisive."

Saskia turned to face Morrison. "That's how people from the Legion are. We finish the job and pull out. No loose ends."

After Morrison returned to the first-floor hall, Isaac relayed new information through the communicator, but this time the message was different from before.

Morrison said, "After Wayne woke up, the patch output recovered to one hundred and three percent."

"Over a hundred?"

"By more than ten thousand times. Jenny's genetic lock signal strength is at a historic high."

Morrison tucked the communicator into his pocket without asking why, because the answer needed no explanation.

In the fourth-floor hospital room, Wayne told Jenny to take the thing off his leg and play with it herself, then asked, "Did Saskia come?"

Emily handed him a cup. "How did you know?"

"When the deputy military seal is activated, it creates a response in the chip."

Wayne took a sip of water, then set the cup on the bed. "Is she finished?"

"Three countries haven't joined yet."

Wayne closed his eyes, then opened them again and said something toward the communicator.

"Isaac, tell Saskia the last three aren't her concern. I'll handle them myself."

Isaac quickly replied through the communicator: "Commander, your current condition isn't suitable for this..."

"Tell her I'll do it myself."

The white-haired doctor pushed the door open, holding a lab report. After hearing that last statement, he stopped in the doorway without moving.

Wayne asked, "When will my bones heal?"

"Based on your current recovery rate, the collarbone in three days, the ribs in five, your fingers..."

The white-haired doctor hesitated. "The shattered parts of the finger fractures will need about two weeks."

Wayne extended his left hand. "Too slow. Take off the splints."

The white-haired doctor didn't respond, because the collarbone hadn't fully healed yet.

"I said remove them."

The white-haired doctor said something to Emily, who then took Jenny to play with blocks in the hospital room.

This gesture meant she'd acquiesced.

The white-haired doctor was extremely careful removing the plaster bandages, though her movements were slow. Each time she undid a fastener, she stopped to check the bone position.

After the last brace was removed, Wayne moved his left shoulder. A slight grinding sound came from his collarbone.

Not fully healed, but usable.

"That'll do." Wayne got down from the bed and stood on the floor. His feet planted firmly, he swayed once, then steadied himself.

The white-haired doctor stepped back. "What are you planning to do?"

Wayne didn't answer. He walked to the window, picked up the communicator, and pressed Rivera's channel.

"Rivera, the Arctic situation is resolved. Now we're facing a different kind of problem."

Rivera's voice connected within a second. "What is it?"

"After the Eden Council collapses, all the military contracts and medical patents they held worldwide will be seized by others."

Rivera was silent for a moment before asking, "By whom?"

"Everyone." Wayne placed the communicator on his right side. Though the splints had been removed from his fingers, they were still wrapped in bandages. "So we need to secure the assets before the vultures arrive."

Isaac cut in: "Commander, the Eden Council global asset inventory is ready."

"Total involvement: forty-seven countries, three hundred and twelve core patents, and operational rights to eight military bases."

"Forget about those last three countries. Restoring water service isn't what I'm after."

The sound of Saskia's keyboard stopped. "What do you want?"

"All those patents were originally granted by me. The Council just took my property and dealt the cards."

"Now the house is dead. Who gets the chips on the table depends on who can grab them first."

Wayne switched the communicator to Isaac's channel. "Publish the original source information for all three hundred and twelve major patents held by the Eden Council. Mark the primary authorizer as PK-001."

Isaac responded quickly. "Commander, if we make this public, patent offices in all forty-seven member countries will receive ownership dispute complaints within twenty-four hours."

"The Genesis Files have been decrypted. Seven member nations' arsenals contain an immutable chain of evidence."

Isaac added, "After publication, pharmaceutical companies in forty-seven countries will immediately halt supply to pressure you into handing over authorization."

"Perfect."

Morrison couldn't help asking from the doorway, "What's going on?"

"A supply halt means they're admitting it's mine but refusing to return it." Wayne said, "Which means this is no longer a legal matter."