Chapter 472: Construction in Main Street
"A Vanderbilt was kicked out from the Legacies?" Michael muttered in confusion.
Flarexis was kicked out because he broke the rules. Could the unknown Vanderbilt have done the same?
"The Legacies used to be five, but now there’s just three of them. As for why this Vanderbilt got kicked out, it’s probably because they were unable to compete with the market of Metropolis.
I did some digging earlier, and I found out that the Vanderbilt business here has been slowly losing their territories to other companies. They used to rival Alaric and the other Legacies a few years ago. But now, they just own a fraction of what they used to have.
From what I heard, they had to let go of their territories in order to pay off their debt. What happened was that they tried to expand their business and took a lot of risk in the process. But the venture ended up in failure, leading to them being buried in a lot of debt."
Even though Michael didn’t know who they were, he still felt a little bad because they were still his relatives no matter what.
"And their business here hasn’t gone well?" he asked.
"Yeah. They were unable to keep up with the other Legacies, who kept their success throughout the years. They’re just a shadow of who they once were. I just thought you’d like to know."
Michael thanked Jimmy for the information.
Now, he wasn’t planning on going over to this Vanderbilt and giving them lots of money to fix their business. He didn’t even know them.
However, he did have some thoughts about talking with them as relatives. He wanted to know how they were related and if they knew his parents.
It would also help him to know how and why they lost their footing. If he knew the truth directly from them, then he could possibly use that information to prevent himself from following their footsteps.
"Would you like me to investigate them further? Maybe ask them if they want to talk?" Jimmy asked Michael.
"That would be great."
...
...
...
Michael immediately went over to Main Street to look over his territories.
He didn’t want to waste any more time. So, he asked for Kong and other Rebornian construction workers to start tearing down the warehouses left behind by Flarecorp.
A few minutes later, Kong and the engineers arrived via shadow teleportation skill courtesy of himself.
Of course, they brought with them the tools and materials needed for construction. They even had sacks and sacks of concrete with them, ready to be used just by adding a bit of water.
"Boss! Here’s the blueprint for our headquarters. Miss Castelle already gave me the specifications needed for the structure," Kong said confidently.
The Chief Engineer used his skill to project a 3D version of the blueprint into the air, allowing Michael to see what they looked like once construction was finished.
On the right side of the street was where their headquarters would be located.
Kong chose a simple design for this headquarters, taking the signature architecture of the Nation of Reborn and allowing the building to give off a warm but powerful feeling.
Now, from an outsider’s perspective, their headquarters looked small. After all, it only had one floor in total.
But in truth, there were actually multiple floors spanning downwards. Kong chose to create layered basements for security purposes since this would be their headquarters for the foreseeable future.
Aside from security, expanding underground also gave them the opportunity to build beyond the boundary of their ’small’ territory in Main Street.
Their headquarters was like an ant’s nest. At the top, people could only see a small hill. But underground, it spread far and contained multiple rooms enough for an entire army of people.
Now, such an ambitious project wouldn’t be possible using normal standards. After all, creating levels further and further underground created lots of problems like heating and ventilation. Not only that, but the structure could collapse entirely.
But Michael didn’t have a problem with that. He intended to power the whole thing with generators that pumped air in and out, allowing for a cool breeze that circulated throughout the rooms.
As for the risk of collapse, he didn’t worry about it one bit. Kong was a competent engineer that was trained by ChatJK4 itself.
"Good job on the headquarters, Kong. It may be your best work yet," he praised.
The Yellow HobMankey inwardly cheered. "I am honored!"
"Now, tell me about our new department store here."
Michael looked over to the opposite side of the street. This was where their whole operation would take place.
And unlike their headquarters, Kong designed this structure to be like traditional buildings with multiple floors spanning upwards.
"Right now, there’s just four floors in total," Kong mentioned. "But I made sure to add some possibilities to an expansion. If we need more, I can put another floor on top of the existing one."
"That’s smart," Michael realized.
They don’t know if they would get another territory in Metropolis. So, Kong designed their store with the future in mind. Even if this was the only place they were allotted, it could still accommodate a lot of customers as the company grew in popularity.
"Shall we start the project, boss?"
Once he gave the signal, the Rebornian workers started knocking down the warehouse little by little. The unique skill he gave them allowed for easy dismantling without creating a lot of mess.
In just under an hour, they were able to completely turn the empty warehouse into an empty plot of land.
Right after that, they began digging out a large hole in the ground for the underground levels. This laborious task would have taken them the entire day, but Michael helped them himself to lighten the load.
In the end, the foundation for the structure was finished in half a day.
After that, Michael began transporting tall metal pillars from their warehouse in the Parched Lands, all the way into the construction site directly.
The Rebornian workers completed their task well and with haste. They were extremely motivated seeing their boss work hard just like them.
Michael became the courier of materials, transporting metals, woods, and even concrete.
Because of that, the Rebornian workers were able to work for three days straight.
And in those three days, the entire structure for their headquarters and their department store was finished.
The only thing left to do was furnishing the interior, but that could be done at a later date. The most important part was that they could now officially move into their headquarters and start expanding their business in Metropolis!
Of course, such a fast construction of the building surprised a lot of people.
"Woah...when did this happen?"
"I could have sworn this wasn’t here a week ago. Am I hallucinating?"
"Did anybody see the construction crew?"
They were so fast that almost no one noticed that they even worked on the building.
And perhaps no one was more surprised than when Michael visited Claudia and told her about their newly constructed headquarters.
"You’re already finished?" she asked, incredulous. "You know, it’s better to build something with quality rather than rush it."