Messing With Her? Are You Crazy! novel Chapter 1769

If they could just extract that invaluable research direction from its biology... whoever cracked the code first would be the one to unlock the door to the next evolution of warfare. They weren't just buying a near-complete fighting machine; they were buying the keys to an absolute monopoly on a revolutionary technology. "Twenty billion dollars!" the Lead Auctioneer shouted, his voice cracking with adrenaline. But the record was instantly overwritten. [Twenty-three billion dollars.] [Twenty-eight billion dollars.] The bidding had already blown past the price of the mother liquid from earlier. And the numbers weren't slowing down. Factions and conglomerates kept throwing themselves into the warzone. For those backed by massive global empires, a biological weapon blueprint like this was something they could never allow to fall into rival hands. An army of bulletproof soldiers with superhuman strength, entirely obedient to a single command... If a faction could truly control something like that... who wouldn't risk it all? Even if they didn't know how far this research could take them, they had to secure the prototype first! On the giant screen, the numbers refreshed in a blinding blur. The price spiked so fast that the Lead Auctioneer couldn't even finish reading them out loud. In a matter of seconds, they blasted past the thirty billion mark. The frenzy in the room was even more unhinged than when the neural serum was introduced. Meanwhile, inside his suite, The Raven stared at the climbing numbers, his expression darkening by the second. The price kept surging, yet hardly any buyers were folding. The moment one bid was outmatched, another instantly replaced it. These people were dead set on taking AWS-14. This wasn't a casual flex; this was a war. The Raven gripped his armrests, his knuckles turning a bruised purple as he read the names of the global syndicates flashing on the screen. He knew exactly why they wanted it. They wouldn't settle for using the asset as a simple bodyguard. They saw the entire Obsidian Augments program hiding in its DNA. If AWS-14 landed in any of those rival labs, they would dissect it down to the molecular level. They would trace every single modification and figure out exactly how the specimen maintained stability. The proprietary technology Obsidian Sun had spent years agonizing over would be laid bare for their enemies. Worse... The Panacea already had a copy of AWS-14's diagnostic data. If a second, third, or even fourth faction got their hands on it, how much of Obsidian Sun's technological monopoly would even be left? The Raven's grip tightened, his breathing turning into a ragged, suffocating rhythm. The Commodore’s security detail was stationed right outside his door. All of his network access had been severed. He couldn't issue orders, and he certainly couldn't stage an armed takeover to steal the asset back. The second the hammer dropped, AWS-14 would belong to someone else. Someone with the money, the power, and the lab facilities to pull its secrets apart. Getting it back after that would be completely impossible. The Raven’s face contorted with rage. His gaze slowly shifted to the shattered remains of the bidding terminal on the floor. He sat there in the silence, completely paralyzed.