He continued, voice low but firm, "one of our surveillance drones picked up movement near the east test fields. Couple of unmarked figures, sneaking around the boundary fence of the newly bought land."
Kaito's eyes narrowed.
"The ruin land?"
His uncle nodded. "Yeah. The construction for our cover research institute has already started and is already halfway through as we just need a simple building but I think some were alerted by our moves.'"
Kaito said nothing. The public-facing story was airtight: the Ren family had launched an advanced agricultural biotech research division focused on food and agriculture for revitalizing ancient crops. But buried beneath that cover was their true aim—introducing the cultivated Level 1 spiritual grains, sourced from the Library Ruins.
Kaito's brows furrowed, his voice quiet but sharp.
"Did we identify them?"
His second uncle shook his head. "No. They slipped before we could engage."
A pause. Then the older man leaned back slightly, his tone grim.
"But I'd bet everything it's someone from the Velthorn Consortium."
Kaito's expression darkened at the name.
The Velthorns fellow giants in the logistics sector. Publicly polished, with their logos on shipping hubs, air carriers, and transport lanes across the Eastern Republic. But beneath that image, Kaito knew they operated with teeth. Their rivalry with the Ren family stretched back decades—spanning everything from port disputes tosnatching potential customers.
Kaito clenched his jaw,
I wasn't able to do anything to you in the past life but this time don't blame me as you were the one who jumped out first.
In his past life, he had watched it unfold from the shadows. The Velthorn Consortium, once nothing more than commercial rivals, had gained a new backer—the Orion Syndicate. And that changed everything.
What had once been a competitive business war turned into a systematic campaign of erasure.
Supply chain collapses. Frame-ups. Quiet takeovers of Ren-linked companies. And then… assassinations.
His father and mother were killed in what was labeled an 'unfortunate accident'—a high-speed crash involving an untraceable drone and a blind zone on the highway. No culprits. No investigations.
But Kaito remembered.
And now, as the wind blew lightly through the study's rooftop corridor, he clenched his fists behind his back.
I will take good care of you and then the orion.
While Kaito was deciding on his further actions his father also entered the study with his third uncle and grandfather.
"So What have we missed." Asked his father.
Then his second uncle told them his findings.
His Grandfather smirked " Well generations have passed but their methods are still the same."
"You don't need to worry about them I'll take care of them." Said his father
Well what can I say his father was right not to talk about care He has been supressing them since the beginning without giving them any breathing time to worry about anything else that's why they are always focused on their family's actions.
The Ren family's reputation had been carefully built over generations—rooted in honesty, consistency, and unwavering efficiency. In the business world, their name carried weight. "Reliable and fair"—that's what the market said about them. Using this hard-earned trust, Kaito's father had always been able to keep the Velthorn family suppressed, never allowing them to rise above.
But this time Kaito didn't want to end like that, He directly wanted to remove this future threat to his family.
But deep down, Kaito knew the truth — his family had yet to witness the Velthorns' true cruelty. Convincing them to take decisive action, to strike first, would not be easy. They still saw the Velthorns as just business rivals… not the vipers they truly were.
Without hesitation, Kaito silently issued a command to the central AI node embedded within the study's quantum core:
"Trace and compile every illegal or questionable activity linked to the Velthorn Consortium, Cross-check with all public and shadow-net records."
The AI obeyed instantly. Within minutes, it had bypassed multiple layers of encrypted firewall systems, some even tied to Federation-level watchdog servers. But those posed no real threat—Kaito's AI ran on neural-tier logic cores, far surpassing standard civic-grade algorithms.
As the data streamed through, the room's holo-wall lit up in red highlights, followed by the soft whir of the embedded smart-printer activating near the far shelf. A detailed log of the Velthorns' corruption was being etched onto smart-paper.
Kaito stepped forward without a word. With a solemn expression, he began handing out slim smart-folds, one by one, to his grandfather, his father, and each of his uncles. The AI-generated dossiers activated as they were unfolded, displaying holographic pages of damning evidence.
At first, the elders glanced at the contents with confusion, unsure of Kaito's sudden seriousness. But as they began to read deeper, the atmosphere in the room shifted. Their expressions hardened, brows furrowing—faces slowly losing color line by line.
These weren't ordinary business reports.
The documents detailed the Velthorn Consortium's dark history, drawn from decrypted shadow-net logs, whistleblower leaks, and classified records. It began with deep-market manipulation—offshore laundering networks, black-channel acquisitions, forged transport permits. But it didn't stop there.
One section revealed how the Velthorns had systematically crushed competitors: assassinations masked as industrial accidents, executive's family's kidnappings later dismissed as disappearances, and data-wipe sabotage that erased entire rival warehouses from Federation surveillance. A map lit up in the corner of the document, showing the slow, surgical elimination of at least five once-prominent logistics houses across the continent.
Kaito's father, once praised for his flawless business judgment, stared blankly at the pages in front of him—eyes scanning over crimes he'd never imagined, much less discovered.
He had always believed the Velthorns to be cutthroat, yes—but business rivals, not blood-soaked predators.
Kaito finally spoke, his voice calm but sharp.
"The only reason they haven't used those methods on us is because of the Federation's investigation unit. After a smuggling scandal that they were involved in, they've been under constant low-orbit surveillance… which forced them to slow down. Play cleaner. Or at least, appear cleaner."
He looked each of them in the eye.
"But nobody knows till when they will do so."
Kaito back to his seat "That's why I want to solve them completely this time by striking first."
They all exchanged heavy glances, the weight of realization settling silently between them. The room, once filled with quiet suspicion, now brimmed with unspoken agreement and a grim sense of urgency.
Finally, Kaito's father exhaled slowly, his gaze steady as he looked toward his son.
"Well… now that I've passed the mantle of family head to you," he said with calm conviction, "we'll follow your lead—whatever path you choose."
No one objected.
No one questioned it.
In that moment, each of them silently wondered the same thing—what would have happened if Kaito hadn't uncovered the truth in time?
They didn't say it aloud.
But the thought lingered like a shadow behind every pair of eyes in the room.
Kaito turned toward his third uncle with a steady gaze.
"Third Uncle, first update me on the situation with the family guards."
Still reeling from the earlier revelations, the third uncle took a moment to collect himself. Then, straightening his posture, he nodded and replied,
"As per your earlier orders, we've already recruited two hundred new trainees. They've begun their basic martial instruction. They would take at least 2 weeks to show some results. As for the existing guards—most have made impressive strides in their cultivation. Right now, even the weakest among them has reached Rank 1 high stage, and the strongest has already stepped into Rank 2 mid stage."
"As of now, we have one Rank 2 mid-stage, ten Rank 2 lower-stage, and twelve Rank 1 high-stage cultivators among the family guards."
Before Kaito could respond, his father stepped forward with a small, knowing smile.
"They aren't the only ones who've progressed."
He exchanged glances with the second and third uncle—then, in sync, the three men began to subtly release their auras into the room.
Kaito's eyes widened in surprise as the energy signatures pressed against his senses.
His father, who had been at Rank 2 mid-stage, had clearly broken through to high-stage. Both uncles, too, had stepped into mid-stage Rank 2—a significant leap in such a short time.
"And it's not just us," his father added with a chuckle. "Your mother's reached Rank 2 low-stage, and your aunt has also advanced to Rank 2 mid-stage."
Kaito narrowed his eyes with a faint smirk.
"Alright, alright—stop showing off already."
Even as he said that, he noticed the quiet pride twinkling in his grandfather's eyes. The old man didn't say a word but the subtle smile on his face said it all.
Then, He gave a light humph, clearly unwilling to be left behind.
"Well then, how could this old man's achievements fall behind all of you?" he said with a grin, tossing two slim, worn-out manuals onto the table.
Everyone turned.
"I came across these while sorting through the medical scrolls recovered from the ruins. One is a basic body-forging medicinal bath recipe, and the other is an advanced version. Along with them are several herbal prescriptions that, when used alongside martial training, can speed up the training."
Kaito's eyes lit up in surprise.
He had been genuinely happy for his family's breakthroughs, but a small part of him had also been feeling envious—powerless to catch up until he reached Rank 1.
Unlike his elders and the guards, he couldn't yet make use of spirit stones—his body hadn't reached the necessary threshold to safely absorb their energy. If he tried, the spirit energy would simply dissipate, wasting the stone.
He had planned to visit the family's private library soon in search of a solution.
Now, perhaps, he didn't need to.
"We will use the basic one to accelerate the progress of the guards and even I will need it for my studio, as for the advanced one our family members can use it ," he said with a smile as he reached towards the manuals.
"You can decide however you want to use it." Said his grandfather laughing.