CHAPTER 33

Watts sat on the snowy mountain peak, the icy wind biting at his skin. The freezing cold didn't bother him much, not compared to the storm of uncertainty swirling in his mind.

His gaze swept over the endless white, but his thoughts were far from the beauty around him.

Questions plagued him—unrelenting, agonizing. Had he done the right thing?

He thought of his aunt, the woman who had raised him and his sister as if they were her own children. She had sacrificed everything—marriage, friendships, and her youth—to provide for them after his parents had died.

Every overtime shift she worked, every small luxury she denied herself, had been for their sake.

And now? Now he had left her behind in tears.

Even here, atop the world's tallest peak, his technopathy allowed him to see her.

The camera feed from the hospital ward displayed her fragile figure hunched on the hospital bed, her face buried in trembling hands.

The guilt hit him like a dagger to the chest.

He clenched his fists. He wanted to turn away from the image, but he couldn't.

"Better to let her cry now," he whispered to himself, the words hollow, "than make a promise I can't keep."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, it seems he will have to look for a new way of keeping his family safe.

He doubted after what happened, if his aunt would let him near her. But even with that, it didn't mean his enemies wouldn't go after his family.

Deep down, he knew the truth. His enemies wouldn't stop.

Taking a deep breath, Watts closed his eyes. He needed to focus. Protecting his family wasn't something he could leave to chance or guilt.

And so, he would have to work on that. But right now, he was going to do everything on his list. And first on the list was getting a secret base.

This was the reason as to why he was at the peak of Mount Everest, the supposedly tallest mountain on earth.

But now with the knowledge that there were other hidden and secrete cities on earth, he wasn't sure if this was the tallest mountain on earth.

Anyway, this was going to be his base.

Ofcourse not with the way it looked, no, he would have to work on that, plus he was going to build it underground. How? You may ask, well, here goes.

He stood, shaking off the snow clinging to his coat. Below the pristine surface of Mount Everest, the base of his dreams would soon exist.

It wasn't going to be a simple hideout.

No, it would be a masterpiece—a secret sanctuary buried so deep in the heart of the mountain that no force on Earth could find it.

Raising his arms slightly, palms facing downward, he focused.

//Creation of an underground facility in process...//

The mountain trembled slightly beneath him. Snow cascaded down the slope in soft, powdery waves as the ground deep below reshaped itself.

His power surged outward, weaving his vision into reality.

//Creation successful...//

He opened his eyes to the glowing interface displayed in his mind.

//Description: A technologically advanced hidden underground facility deep within Mount Everest.

Equipped with cutting-edge resources, self-sustaining systems, and AI-driven infrastructure, it is an advanced facility capable of supporting every need and want.//

Watts smirked. It was everything he had imagined and more, though the process had almost drained him.

He felt the sharp pull on his reserves, the energy leaving his body in waves.

Even with over a thousand units of creation energy at his disposal, more than half had been consumed. But the exhaustion was worth it.

"That's more like it," he muttered.

With a thought, he vanished from the icy peak, reappearing instantly in the heart of his newly forged base.

"Wow."

The underground facility was a hidden masterpiece of innovation, carved deep into the heart of Mount Everest.

It exuded an air of meticulous design and controlled power, a perfect blend of functionality and futuristic elegance.

Far from being sprawling or chaotic, it was compact yet versatile, every corner optimized for Watts' creative genius.

The space was dominated by a central chamber, vast and cathedral-like, but with an intimate focus.

Smooth, matte-black walls glinted with embedded energy conduits, faintly glowing like veins of liquid light coursing through the metallic black walls.

The lighting was dynamic and purposeful—cool blues and whites shifted subtly, illuminating specific areas while leaving the rest cloaked in shadow, evoking an air of mystery and precision.

At the heart of the chamber was Watts' command center: a circular platform slightly elevated from the surrounding floor.

His station featured a single, chair made from a blend of carbon fiber and leather. Surrounding it, holographic displays hovered midair, wrapped in a semicircular arc.

These projections shifted and reshaped with a thought, displaying everything from global satellite feeds to real-time analytics of his creations.

The platform itself had a minimalist elegance, its surface smooth and glass-like, concealing complex mechanisms underneath.

To the left of the central platform stood the armory, a wall of sleek weaponry suspended midair in magnetic fields.

Blades, energy rifles, and even prototype gadgets rested in perfect alignment, their polished surfaces reflecting the ambient light. This section of the facility felt like an arsenal of infinite potential, every tool within arm's reach but carefully secured.

On the opposite side, the fabrication bay was alive with motion behind a glass wall that seperated it from the command cetre.

Robotic arms danced gracefully, assembling components with surgical precision.

3D printers buzzed softly, layering materials into existence atom by atom. Storage units lined the walls here, containing raw materials sourced from around the globe, waiting to be transformed.

Specialized alcoves extended outward like ribs from the chamber's core. Each was tailored for a unique purpose.

The AI development station glowed with cascading data streams on transparent screens. The laboratory, with its sleek steel counters and containment chambers, felt ready to experiment on the very fabric of reality.

There was a corridor that extended toward the rest of the facility, leading to living quarters and auxiliary spaces, but Watts didn't have time to explore it.

His eyes glowed faintly, etched with shifting runes, and in the next instant, those runes materialized in the air around him.

They shimmered with ethereal energy, glowing faintly as they attached themselves to every surface in the chamber.

The runes spread methodically, starting from the walls and reaching every corner of the facility, sparing no equipment or system.

With this intricate network in place, Watts ensured his privacy would remain absolute.

Each rune had a specific purpose: defensive runes fortified the structural integrity of the space, invisibility runes cloaked it from detection, sound-canceling runes muffled every noise, and illusion runes created false imagery to mislead any intruder.

There were others, too—redundancies for safety and contingencies he couldn't yet foresee.

Satisfied with the network, he turned his attention to a specific corner of the command center.

With a thought, he created a glowing teleportation rune on the floor. It radiated a subtle, pulsating light as it connected to another rune he had silently placed at the peak of the mountain earlier.

Now, movement between the surface and his sanctuary was instantaneous and undetectable.

With these preparations complete, Watts stepped back, taking in his work with a faint smirk. Everything was in place.

He was ready for phase two.