Chapter 316: A Gathering of Pangea’s Best

A submarine carried a few selected people who were invited to join in on the great reveal. In that submarine were among the wealthiest people in all of Pangea. Lara Diamon and Charm Novelty-Blastoise sat among the group. 

Charm and Lara were seated in a small room. It was secure, and they couldn't hear the loud sounds outside the room. The escorts and bodyguards of both groups were seated on different rooms as Lara and Charm requested. While the bodyguards didn't agree to this, they had no choice as their masters insisted on this arrangement.

"I'm still not used to this." Charm sighed. She continued to peruse over the small digital map, which listed where all the guests stayed. The names of the people on that map were all famous and powerful.

"Relax. Your heritage outmatches most of them." Lara smiled as she comforted her friend.

"Says the girl who managed to relocate all of the Diamon's resources quickly. I'm still surprised that you owned an underwater city!"

"That wasn't mine! I had no idea as well!" Lara chuckled.

"Have you heard from Seeker?" Charm asked.

Lara shook her head.

"The situation turned out to be quite more severe than we thought. Seeker is hidden, and only Harker knows his current location. Harker let me in on a certain secret as well." Lara sighed.

"A certain secret?"

"It involved Seeker and explained how it was that he became so… awesome. I've read the history of Seeker's parents… it turns out that he isn't their real son. Chris and Grace Carlean are Force Operatives of the Americas. Seeker was their adoptive son. But the birth parent's Seeker is said to be from the lineage of this mysterious person called the Progenitor. Harker's allies who have secretly partnered with the WGP to destroy that Lost Primordial carried the moon received their techs from this Progenitor." Lara explained.

Charm's eyes widened.

"That's the name of the group? Progenitor sounds like a person."

"It must be whoever has these techs. So we have the Lost Primordial and now the Progenitor. We finally have a name for them."

"What about those Pioneers and Planteds that we keep hearing in the news?"

"Harker said that they must be serving the Lost Primordial as he heard of rumors where they used an operation called the Programmed Slave. It's an operation that practically mind controls you into following their orders."

"What?! How sickening!"

"That's exactly why they had to hide Seeker. Being a descendant, the Lost Primordial would be after him. That's why even I am unable to contact him…" Lara sighed.

"Ladies and gentleman, please use your screen to observe the underwater city before you." An announcement rang out.

Lara immediately used the remote to turn on the television. What she saw shocked her.

"That's not a city… It looks like a strange Lingkaran." Charm frowned.

But Lara knew better.

"The King Naga!" She exclaimed.

"King Naga? The SPU mobile fortress? Oh my god! You're right!" Charm then noticed the peculiar shape of the serpent-like object that kept rotating.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are all our sponsors and are the main sources that can help Pangea become a so-called City of Refuge. So while the world believes otherwise, we cannot let you, our beloved sponsors, be deceived. Behold, our recent success. We've lost an army in the South Pacific, but we gained another in the South China Sea. Behold, a functioning King Naga. Captured to replenish our lost forces."

The many Pangean powerhouses were stunned to see this scene.

"They have it! Harker has it!" Charm began to shed tears of joy. Such victory brought more hope to Pangea. 

The others even grew more emotional and cried.

The submarine slowly docked on the Lingkaran as the soldier continued to recount the battle of the SPU. Through Harker's first super-soldier, they could infiltrate and attack the King Naga from the inside. The details were explained on how the mission was pulled off.

And while most of them listened and marveled at the explanation, Lara wasn't.

She knew what the King Naga was and understood its structure more than anyone else in Pangea.

As such, she frowned as she listened. This account was a lie.

The Lingkaran was also shown as some minor repairs were still being made underwater. Nevertheless, the Lingkaran was fully functional.

The submarine docked, and all passengers and guessed went on board the Lingkaran. The group was immediately led towards the King Naga.

Various SPU soldiers led the group to the surprise of many.

"We are Harker Cipril's Programmed Slaves." The soldiers announced as he smiled.

"Please go ahead and ask me any questions that you have." The soldier offered.

The investors began to throw one question after the other as the SPU soldier politely answered his questions.

He revealed that he was a Programmed Slave and that he is a native of SPU. But now, he was the recipient of the Programmed Slave operation and began to detail what that implied.

The group was amazed at such an operation and even began to ask various questions on how the Programmed Slave operation works.

Charm's appearance drained as she looked in disgust at this.

"Lara…? Are you ok with this?" Noticing Lara's unaffected look, Charm couldn't help but wonder.

"I've known about this, Lara. Even before. And look around you. I'm not the only one. About a fourth of everyone here already knew of this operation." Lara pointed out.

"Try to look around. But don't do it so obviously." Lara added.

Charm followed and glanced around. While some of the people asked how the operation works and even offered to purchase this tech, some of the guests remained silent and did not offer any questions.

"How cruel…" Charm felt sick in her stomach.

"Charm. This is the real world. But I know of this operation. Don't be too impressed with what Harker is showing you. I know the cost of this operation. These people are planted with some form of device in the brain that controls the release of hormones. It dictates when a person is happy. But this small device is very hard to make. They'd have to make a new element not yet known by most of the world. Only the top of the Underworld has this." Lara explained.

"What do you mean?"

"In short, Harker is tricking most of the investors here. It's him flexing his muscles. The truth is, he cannot do the programmed slave operation to that many people. The cost alone in making enough to control this many people would already eclipse the cost of building one Pangean Shape." Lara explained.

"Please settle down." A familiar figure appeared. It was one of the soldiers who had always been seen loyally serving Harker.

"Tyler!" Lara called out.

"Nice to see you again, Miss Lara." Tyler smiled and gave special attention to Lara.

"Dear investors, we have a special show for you to see. Let us enter. Gardo Dalisay of the Dalisay Clan is already inside. He took part in this mission to capture the King Naga." Tyler led the group into a smaller ship that allowed them to transfer from the Lingkaran and move to have a closer view of the SPU's King Naga.

The entire group was divided into several small pods led by Tyler, Scribs, and Earl. The three most trusted soldiers of Harker.

Lara was with Charm and a few prominent members of Pangea's richest circle. The small pod circled all over the King Naga and revealed how it was practically undamaged, and many SPU soldiers patrolled the area.

"What exactly is going to happen here?" Charm whispered to Lara

"It's basically an attempt for Harker to garner support from all the strongest families in Pangea," Lara answered loudly. Not bothering to hide her voice.

"Oh? It looks like Miss Diamon is making quite an accusation." Tyler laughed.

"A necessary accusation. The fight against the King Naga happened weeks ago! Repairing the King Naga and the Lingkaran could have been completed a few days ago. What you are showing now is merely a pretense. What is the original state of this ship? Did you sink it? We detected immense energy underwater. Don't forget my family has an underwater city." Lara challenged.

"Amazing. And here I thought that Miss Diamon would be like Miss Novelty-Blastoise." Tyler chuckled.

"Everyone in this room except Charm already knew of the operation cost to make a Programmed Slave. You cannot do a mass operation. You separated us into groups for this underwater tour to talk to us. Harker knew that everyone in here would be the most skeptical of your operations, so you decided to be completely honest to us." Lara smirked.

"Ah. I shall instill to my old bones, never to take the youth lightly!" An old Pangean powerhouse smiled.

"Mister Russel Aggripa. It's a pleasure to meet you." Lara gave a respected curtsy.

"It seems that we don't need to pretend. What happened, Tyler? How did you capture the King Naga?"

"Would you believe me that the King Naga didn't receive great damage in the battle? And while the Lingkaran had been damaged, it isn't as bad as you thought it would be?"

"Humor us." An impatient woman challenged.

"All of you were given a special task of using your resources to find Lynd Indigo. But it seems that the Progenitor was pulling a trick on us to see if there are any traitors. We already have Lynd Indigo. We thought him to be a Lost Primordial, but just like Seeker, he too is related to the Progenitor."

The unimpressed looks of everyone became stunned, wide-eyed expressions.

"I say related, but Lynd Indigo is an experiment that the Progenitor had in the depths of SPU. The Progenitor has a base there. It was the Progenitor who decided to manipulate the government of the newly founded SPU to use that arrogant naming scheme."

"What do you mean by arrogant?" Russel asked.

"South Pacific is the region that encompasses most of South Asia. Yet now, the SPU only holds the territories of the upper part of South Asia. When the SPU began their crusade, they envisioned the entire South Pacific, and this includes Australia, to be theirs. And their hatred for Pangea began when Pangea was able to resist their arrogant dreams and fought back. This is why relations between SPU, Pangea, and Australia are never amicable."

"What has this to do with this Progenitor?" The impatient woman now asked with a more sincere and curious expression.

Charm was surprised to see that she was the only one who didn't know about the Progenitor until a while ago.

"Everything. The Progenitor knew that the mysterious Lost Primordial would not plant its seeds in the SPU. For a time, it was safe, and the Progenitor managed to complete its experiment. It experimented on the son of a wild pair of mercenaries named Lynda and Peters Indigo. Of course, these two were thought to retire, but it was actually to send the child to Pangea where it would escape the eyes of the Lost Primordial." Tyler explained.

"Then… Lynd is?"

"He's safe. The Progenitor didn't tell us as he feared there were traitors among us. He kept it a secret and made Lynd escape on a secret ship. And that ship was recovered by the King Naga before it attacked the Lingkaran." Tyler explained.

"So Lynd is the reason why we have a King Naga?"

"Not exactly. Lynd had the techs installed inside his body. He is changed to the genetic level. The techs that Unlocked Industries revealed are a tech of the Lost Primordial and the Progenitor. Rather, it's a very inferior version of what Progenitor and our enemies have. Lynd is made of this cellular metal and can do superhuman things. And through that ability, he deployed a virus of the Progenitor. A virus with such advanced A.I that it could hack and take control of the King Naga!" Tyler smiled.

Lara's eyebrows were raised as she heard it.

On another room, Seeker and Lynd were looking at the feeds.

"Did she buy the lies of how we got the King Naga?" Seeker asked.

"I think so. It's very difficult for me to observe or use my powers to empathize and sympathize with her. You're right. That's not her real body!" Lynd frowned.

"But did she believe the lies?"

"She has her doubts, but you could say she thinks it possible."

"Good enough for me. Tyler. Don't give any more details than that." Seeker ordered.

"Already? That was less than half the lies you prepared!"

"The fewer lies we give, the less chance of getting found out. This is alright. At least now, to her, the return of Lynd Indigo will go unquestioned."

"You gave her the tasks of looking for me and then suddenly bring me back and say that I'm an ally. You're cruel, Zeek." Lynd laughed.

"We don't know what these Presiders can do with all their techs. Right now, with everything that we're planning, Lowengren had the right call. We have to make these Presiders waste time and effort to look for non-existent things. Tyler. Do it." Seeker ordered.

Back in the room, various questions and complaints were being made. Some of the families invested a huge sum in looking for Lynd. And they were very angry to see that it was all pointless.

"Everyone… We will compensate you soon. Right now, the Progenitor has given us the access to mass produce that technology!" 

"That technology?"

"Behold," Tyler revealed it.

It was long and firm, sturdy and stalwart.

"Phallic Techs! The power to rule this world!"

Tyler had shown the best and most powerful of Pangea a dildo.