Pampering Discarded Heroines Triggers My 10,000x Rebate System

The clock on the penthouse wall read 4:30 AM.

Outside, the rain had stopped completely, leaving a thick blanket of pre-dawn fog between the Imperial Capital’s high rises.

Inside the Presidential Penthouse, hotel attendants and Apex security drivers worked quickly and quietly. They carried out the leather suitcases and stacks of luxury shopping boxes from their trip to Maison Valoria, loading them onto luggage carts to take down to the convoy.

Zephyra stood near the living room window, wearing a clean charcoal sweater, dark trousers, and low combat boots. She picked up her black duffel bag from the armchair with her right hand, testing her grip. Her fingers wrapped firmly around the leather handle without any stiffness.

Amber walked over with a warm coat draped over her arm. ”How are the hands feeling, Z?”

Zephyra looked down at her fingers, flexing them open and closed.

”Light,” she murmured softly. ”For four months, my hands felt like they were packed in ice and gravel. Now... I can feel the leather of the bag. I can feel the air in the room.”

Amber smiled warmly. ”Good. We have a long drive ahead.”

Evren walked out of the private study, wearing a dark jacket over a casual gray shirt. He checked his phone, settled the hotel’s incidentals with a quick tap on his screen, and pocketed the device.

”Everything is loaded in the rear vehicles,” Evren said, looking at the two of them. ”Let’s head down.”

They took the private elevator straight to the underground garage.

Three black-and-gold armored SUVs were already idling in a neat line. The drivers and security escorts stood by the doors, bowing as Evren, Amber, and Zephyra approached.

The security driver opened the passenger doors. Evren climbed into the front passenger seat next to the driver, while Amber and Zephyra settled into the wide leather seats in the back.

With a low rumble of heavy engines, the driver steered the lead vehicle up the ramp, cleared the hotel security gate, and merged the three-vehicle convoy onto the empty highway heading south toward Veridia Province.

—

An hour into the drive, the first light of dawn broke over the horizon.

Golden sunlight lit up the rolling hills and pine forests along the highway. In the rearview mirror, the Capital’s skyline had faded into a distant shadow.

In the backseat, Zephyra stared out the window.

She pressed her palm against the cool glass. She could feel the chill of the morning air on the other side, the smooth surface of the pane, and the steady hum of the tires’ vibration against the road.

She pulled her hand back, looking at her smooth skin in wonder.

”Still feels strange?” Amber asked from the seat beside her, offering a gentle smile.

”A little,” Zephyra admitted in a quiet voice. ”When I was in the arena, I used to dream about what it would feel like to just hold a cup of water without dropping it. I thought those memories were gone for good.”

”You don’t have to look back at that arena anymore,” Amber said softly, placing a comforting hand over Zephyra’s wrist. ”When I was stuck in that wheelchair, I thought my life was over too. Every morning felt like an insult. But once you start walking forward, the dark days get smaller behind you.”

Zephyra met Amber’s dark eyes. A rare, faint smile touched the corner of her lips. ”Thank you, Amber.”

Before Amber could reply, the speaker system on the SUV dashboard chimed twice with an encrypted priority tone.

Evren tapped the dashboard speaker control. ”Evren here.”

”Boss,” Director Mikay’s voice filled the cabin, sounding clearer and far more composed than his 2:00 AM call. ”I have an update on the Sector One situation. Commander Derrick is on the field line with me.”

”Put him through,” Evren said.

”Chairman,” Derrick’s voice came over the speaker, accompanied by the background hum of heavy diesel generators. ”First piece of news: all forty miners have been pulled out of Sub-Level Four. Zero casualties.”

Amber let out a quiet sigh of relief, leaning back in her seat.

”How did you get them up if the primary hoist was destroyed?” Evren asked.

”We brought in two high-torque winches from our logistics yard and rigged emergency harnesses through the auxiliary ventilation borehole,” Derrick explained. ”It took three hours, but we hauled every man up one by one. Dr. Hayes has a field triage unit on site checking them for smoke and dust inhalation, but everyone is breathing clean air.”

”Good work, Derrick,” Evren said. ”Now tell me about the damage.”

”The main elevator cage dropped over three hundred feet when the cables gave out,” Derrick replied. ”The shaft structure is jammed with twisted steel and concrete rubble. It’s going to take at least a week of heavy clearing before we can haul ore out of Mine Three.”

”And the power failure?” Evren asked. ”What caused the blackout?”

”That’s where things get dirty, Boss,” Mikay took over the explanation. ”Derrick and our chief electrical engineer inspected the high-voltage junction vault twenty minutes ago. The main mana-conduits and the backup hydraulic brake lines weren’t snapped by pressure or age. They were melted through.”

”Melted?” Amber asked.

”Chemically dissolved,” Mikay answered. ”Someone poured high-grade Corrosive Silver-Acid directly into the cable housing and the hoist’s emergency brake calipers. It’s an industrial acid used exclusively for dissolving hardened mana-alloys during smelting.”

Zephyra’s eyes sharpened in the backseat. ”Silver-acid is strictly regulated. It’s never kept in open storage.”

”Exactly,” Mikay agreed. ”Every canister is locked inside the mine’s hazardous materials vault. We pulled the digital sign-out logs from the terminal. The locker was opened at 1:15 AM... just twenty minutes before the power dropped.”

”Whose keycard was used?” Evren asked in a cold voice.

”Shift Foreman Varner,” Mikay said. ”He’s an old supervisor from when the Prescott family ran the operations in Sector One. When Apex took over the mining charter, he stayed on as a night foreman.”

”Where is Varner right now?” Evren asked.

”In custody,” Derrick answered with a grim chuckle. ”The idiot tried to slip out through the western access road in an unmarked utility truck right after the alarms went off but was stopped at the perimeter gate.”

”Did you search his vehicle?” Evren asked.

”We tore it apart,” Derrick replied. ”In the glove compartment, we found ten thousand dollars in clean, unmarked hundred-dollar bills. And under the driver’s seat, we found a military-grade encrypted burner phone.”

”Did you pull the messages?” Evren asked.

”Three incoming texts from an unregistered number routed through a communication tower in Sector Two. The final text was sent at midnight. It read: ’Cut the cables at 0130. The road teams will handle the rest. Your payment is ready at the depot.’”

A heavy silence settled inside the SUV.

”This has the Prescott family written all over it,” Amber whispered. ”They still control the storage depots and private warehouses in Sector Two.”

”That matches our intel,” Mikay added. ”The mercenaries blockading the valley roads are using private transport trucks registered to shell companies tied to Prescott Logistics. They timed the mine collapse with the road blockade to completely choke off our ore supply to the foundries.”

Evren’s jaw tightened slightly as he looked out at the open road.

”How is Varner behaving?”

”He’s sweating through his shirt, locked in the forward security container at Mine Three,” Derrick said. ”He’s claiming he was framed, but he won’t look anyone in the eye. He’s demanding to speak with a provincial commerce lawyer.”

Evren looked up through the windshield.

The towering mountain peaks around Veridia Metropolis grew larger on the horizon against the morning sky.

”Keep him locked in that container,” Evren ordered calmly. ”Station four guards outside the door. Nobody goes in, nobody talks to him, and he doesn’t touch a phone.”