End of the World? I'm the Boss novel Chapter 349

Chapter 349 Jack’s Fault

A quiet, simmering resentment began to stir among the Vernon Base members.

Finished

If Jack hadn’t picked a fight with Robin from the very start, they could’ve been using the giant spiders just like everyone else by now.

The reproachful looks burning into his back from his own people cut Jack deeper than he wanted to admit. His jaw locked tight, and his fingernails bit into his palm. “Fine. What would it take for you to lend us the spiders?”

Robin twisted a strand of hair around her finger without lifting her eyes. “That doesn’t sound like someone asking for a favor.”

“You…”

Jack felt the humiliation settle into his bones like poison.

These people called him with respect, but Vernon Base wasn’t a one–man show.

He was the one responsible for this operation, and if his personal grudge cost the base anything, it could very well cost him his standing back home.

He ground his teeth down to almost nothing before he finally forced his voice into something resembling civility. “Aunt Robin, would you please lend us the spiders?”

Everyone present had seen Jack Neel in many lights. Not one of them had ever seen him like this.

Every pair of eyes in the area swung toward him with the gleeful, vulture–like focus of people watching something spectacular unfold. The weight of all those stares hit Jack like a barrage of needles.

Robin cleared her throat and fixed him with a perfectly straight face. “I’m not your aunt. Don’t try to cozy

up to me now.”

Jack’s composure cracked. “Robin, don’t you…”

He caught her expression mid–sentence, that slight, knowing smile sitting right at the edge of something dangerous, and every remaining word died in his throat. He swallowed hard. His whole body was trembling.

“Then what am I supposed to call you?”

Robin considered it for a moment, then looked thoroughly bored with the entire exercise. “Whatever you want. It doesn’t matter. Other bases pay two hundred sacks. Vernon Base pays three hundred.”

“Three hundred sacks?”

Artemisia’s voice shot out before she could stop it.

That was a full hundred more than anyone else.

“Isn’t that a bit excessive, Ms. Neel? Our base really wants to work with yours. Everyone knows we control

11:31 am

ppp.

Chapter 349–Sack’s Foult

Finished

significant resources. Help us out today, and there are plenty of projects we could run together. When you weigh it all out, the value of that partnership far outstrips a hundred extra sacks of grain.”

Rolf felt the pull of that argument the moment it left her lips.

Vernon Base was no small operation. It had deep roots and real resources. A partnership with them could open doors that grain alone never would

He cleared his throat, feeling it was time for a commander to weigh in. “Ms. Neel, given how much goodwill Vernon Base is extending here, perhaps we could…”

Robin turned her gaze on him, and the temperature in that look could’ve frosted glass. “Rolf, if you’re going to make that call for me, then you can go ahead and send the spiders over yourself.”

Rolf’s eyes went wide.

Send the spiders myself?

How?

Tyrant Base ran entirely on Robin’s say–so. If he strutted up to one of those creatures and started pointing fingers, he wasn’t entirely sure he’d walk away from the experience.

Still, he made one last attempt. “Ms. Neel, shortsightedness is a liability. This is a rare opportunity. Even setting yourself aside, think about what it means for our base. We’re all one unit here. We rise together, we fall together…”

The implication was plain enough. He’d already started folding Robin into Tyrant Base as though she belonged to them, and he was using that to nudge her toward compliance.

Robin didn’t even glance at him. “Three hundred sacks. You decide.”

“You…”

Artemisia exhaled in resignation and looked back at Jack.

Jack sucked in a long, slow breath. “Three hundred sacks it is.”

It wasn’t as though they couldn’t afford it.

The hundred–sack difference still sat like a stone in all of their chests, though.

Robin’s brow lifted with unmistakable satisfaction. “Vivian.”

Vivian snapped to attention with a crisp salute. “Yes, boss!”

She turned and directed a contingent of spiders toward the Vernon Base section of the haul.

With the spiders working alongside everyone, the rest of the grain was loaded and transported to the vehicle staging area in just over two hours.

Kevin sidled up to Rolf and offered a handshake, his voice warm with admiration. “With members like these, Tyrant Base is walking away with quite the windfall today.”

11:31 am Ppp.

Chapter 349-9eek’s Foult

Finished

That was putting it mildly. Robin alone had pulled an extra two hundred sacks from the other bases through sheer negotiation, bringing Tyrant Base’s total to 1,100 sacks.

That wasn’t a minor figure, and the envy written across every other faction’s face made that abundantly clear.

Rolf still carried a faint sting from the earlier slight, but the grain was real and it was theirs, and that was enough to keep his irritation from boiling over. He let out a broad, easy laugh. “Just good luck, that’s all…”

Mid–sentence, his eyes caught on something. Ella was leading a small group of grain–laden spiders away from the main cluster, moving in a direction that had nothing to do with their vehicles.

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