Chapter : 657

The cold, hard logic of the situation was inescapable. The knowledge of the salt project's most intricate details was confined to this group. The leak had to have originated here. The Altamiran spy was not a shadowy figure from a rival house; she was one of the faces he saw every day, a woman who smiled at him, praised his vision, and shared in his successes.

The weight of this certainty was immense. He felt a profound sense of exhaustion, a weariness that went beyond the physical. It was the exhaustion of a commander who realizes the enemy is not at the gates, but has been sleeping in the barracks all along.

He set down his quill. The analytical phase was over. He had his suspect pool. He had confirmed the security of his most vital secret. He had established the parameters of the threat. Now came the next step: flushing the traitor out.

He could not rely on Ken’s network for this. An internal investigation would be too disruptive and would inevitably alert the spy. He couldn’t use magical means; any form of truth spell or mental probe would be a violation of trust that would poison his entire organization, and a professional operative would likely have countermeasures.

No. He had to do this himself. He had to set a trap so elegant, so irresistible, that the traitor would have no choice but to walk into it. He needed a new secret, a new project, one that made Project Brine look like a child’s sandcastle. He needed to offer them a prize that would make their handlers abandon all caution.

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes closing as a new schematic began to form in his mind. Not a schematic for a pump or a dispenser, but a schematic for a lie. A beautiful, intricate, and utterly deadly lie.

The process of elimination had brought Lloyd to a cold, hard place. The traitor was one of the five women who formed the backbone of his commercial empire. The knowledge was a dissonant chord in the symphony of success he had been conducting. He had built a team based on trust and mutual respect, and that foundation had been fractured by a single, invisible crack.

His mind, now fully in the detached mode of Major General KM Evan, began to cycle through the profiles of the five suspects, weighing motives and means with a chilling lack of sentiment.

Mei Jing, Tisha, Jasmin, Pia and Martha Jr.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Speculation was useless without data. He needed to force the traitor's hand. He needed to create an event, a stimulus so powerful it would provoke an undeniable response.

The trap had to be perfect. It couldn't be a simple lie; it had to be a work of art, a multi-layered deception that would stand up to the scrutiny of his own brilliant team and, by extension, their Altamiran handlers. It had to be a project so revolutionary, so profitable, so strategically vital that the risk of being caught stealing it would be outweighed by the imperative to possess it.

He thought back to his life on Earth, to the great technological leaps that had defined his career. What was the one thing that all civilizations, regardless of their magical or technological level, craved?

Food. Abundance. Freedom from the tyranny of famine and blight.

A slow, cold smile touched Lloyd’s lips. He had it. A project that spoke to the most primal fears and desires of any ruler. A project that would make the control of salt seem like a triviality.

He picked up his quill again, but this time, he wasn't writing a list of names. He was sketching a new logo, a new brand identity. He drew a stylized sun, its rays piercing a single, perfect grain of wheat. Beneath it, he wrote the codename for his grand deception.

"Project Sunstone."

The name itself was a stroke of genius. Sunstones were a known, if rare, alchemical component in their world, associated with life, growth, and positive energy. It gave the project an immediate, plausible foundation in existing magical theory. The concept was simple and devastatingly effective: a secret, proprietary method for infusing common seeds with the latent energy of Sunstones, causing them to germinate faster, grow stronger, and produce crop yields that were triple the normal amount.

Chapter : 658

It was a lie, of course. A beautiful, elegant, and world-changing lie. But it was a lie that was just plausible enough to be believed. It combined known alchemical principles with an outcome so desirable it would short-circuit critical thinking. Any ruler who possessed this technology would have an unshakeable grip on their kingdom. They could feed their armies, enrich their populace, and hold their rivals hostage with the threat of starvation. The Altamirans would have to have it. Their spy would be commanded to get it, no matter the cost.

Now, to build the stage for his play. He would need fake research, plausible-looking alchemical equations, and detailed engineering schematics for the "infusion chambers." He would need to present this to his team with the same passionate conviction he had shown for his real projects. He would have to sell them the dream so completely that the traitor among them would believe it without a shadow of a doubt.

The plan was set. The bait was designed. He would call an emergency meeting. He would unveil his new, grand vision. And then, he would watch. He would watch their eyes, listen to their questions, and gauge their reactions. And he would wait for one of them to take the bait.

The circle of trust was broken. Now, he would use the promise of a new, more intimate circle to expose the one who had committed the original sin. The hunt was on, and the hunting ground would be the hearts and minds of the very people he had once called his family.

Two days later, the trap was set. Lloyd called an emergency meeting, summoning his entire inner circle to the manufactory study. The summons was deliberately vague and urgent, designed to create an atmosphere of high-stakes importance before a single word was spoken. They filed into the room one by one, their faces a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Mei Jing arrived first, her usual sharp business attire somehow looking even more severe. She took her seat with a crisp nod, her eyes already analyzing Lloyd, trying to read the nature of the crisis from his expression. Tisha followed, her cheerful demeanor tinged with a rare seriousness, her smile a little tighter than usual. Lyra, Alaric, and Borin came as a group, their ongoing debate about the viscosity of a new soap base cut short by the gravity of the summons. Jasmin and Pia were the last to arrive, their quiet presence almost lost in the room of larger personalities, but Lloyd’s gaze lingered on them for a fraction of a second longer than the others.

He had arranged the seating himself. A large, circular table, a conscious echo of a war council. There was no head, no position of overt authority. They were, ostensibly, a team of equals about to be entrusted with a secret of immense value.

Lloyd waited until the door was sealed before he spoke. He let the silence hang, building the tension, allowing their imaginations to fill the void. He looked around the table, meeting each of their gazes, his own expression a carefully crafted mask of grave solemnity and barely contained excitement.

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," he began, his voice low and steady. "I have called you here today because we are at a turning point. What we have achieved with AURA, and what we are beginning with Project Brine… these are significant victories. They have laid the foundation. But they are, and I want you all to understand this, merely the prologue."

He paused, letting the weight of that statement sink in. He could see the flicker of confusion and intrigue in their eyes. Mei Jing leaned forward slightly, her strategic mind already racing.

"For the past several weeks," Lloyd continued, "I have been working on a private research project. A venture so sensitive, so potentially world-altering, that I could not risk even whispering its name until I had achieved a breakthrough. That breakthrough occurred last night."

He walked over to a heavy velvet cloth covering a large slate board on an easel. With a single, dramatic gesture, he pulled the cloth away.

On the board was the symbol he had designed: the stylized sun, its rays piercing a single, perfect grain of wheat. Beneath it, in bold, stark letters, was the name.

PROJECT SUNSTONE

A collective, soft gasp went through the room. The name alone was evocative, powerful. Sunstones were the stuff of alchemical legend, rare gems believed to contain the pure, crystallized essence of life and light.