Chapter 25: New Items
"????"
The tip of Samira’s pen had just touched the paper when she abruptly jerked her head up. Her mouth agape and pupils dilated, she stared in utter disbelief at the calm and composed Luca.
She was not the only one. Even the company employee who had been assigned to drive the new car for this trip couldn't help but feel an instinctive urge to turn around and look at the future heir of the company. However, perhaps mindful of not losing such a well-paying job, the driver summoned all his willpower to keep his eyes forward. While he "focused" on driving, he kept his ears pricked to listen carefully, occasionally glancing at Luca through the rearview mirror.
"Y-young Master, is that really appropriate? You are still so young, and... that sort of thing..."
Hearing Aunt Samira’s stuttering, trembling voice, Luca pulled at the corner of his mouth and forced himself to continue in a calm tone. "What are you thinking about, Aunt Samira? My upcoming invention just happens to require these items. You just need to get them for me."
"But, Young Master... the company doesn't produce such products," Samira stammered.
"...... I didn't say to take them from the company. Just like the medical equipment, just purchase them from an outside supplier."
"A-alright."
Sensing Luca’s resolve, Samira finally steeled herself and scribbled the words "vibrators" onto her notepad. However, she decided she wouldn't entrust this specific order to anyone else; she would purchase every item personally. As a middle-aged woman, despite being unmarried, she was quite familiar with such things, and there was no sense of embarrassment whatsoever. Her previous nervousness had simply been the concern of an elder worried that Luca might be going down a wrong path. Now that she had calmed down, she didn't dwell on it further.
After stealing a glance at Luca and seeing the boy staring blankly into space again, lost in thought, Samira could only sigh silently. *I wonder if little Luca is thinking about a new invention or missing his parents. Either way is fine; at least having something to occupy his mind is better than nothing.*
***
After carefully tucking away her notes, Samira began to ponder whether she should have the temporary driver fired or find a way to transfer him to a factory far away from the New York headquarters.
As for Luca, once he realized Samira was no longer paying attention to him, he let out a slight sigh of relief and mused to himself, *Indeed, it’s good to be rich.*
If he didn't have the company or the capital to prepare these items himself, the cost of frequent trial-and-error—not to mention the sheer effort required to procure qualified materials for his "synthesis consumables"—would have been exhausting.
*Still, I need to find a dedicated assistant to handle these trivial matters. Samira is a warrior by trade, after all; expecting her to work as both a butler and a secretary is really pushing it.*
But that brought him back to the issue of maintaining control over the company and its funds. *Either I cure Gina, or I get the company under control. In any case, I need to find a breakthrough as soon as possible!*
***
An hour and a half later. Greenwich, Connecticut, at a seaside villa. It was nearing dusk.
Looking at the pile of miscellaneous items cluttering the villa’s living room, Luca rubbed his temples, a headache forming. "Aunt Samira, please go ahead and handle the recall of that tactical team and the procurement of materials. Those two matters are more critical. As for this mess, I’ll take care of it myself."
After seeing Samira off, Luca sat down right in the middle of the living room. This villa was an Orange family property in Connecticut. While not in New York City, it was not far from Lower Manhattan, just over an hour’s drive away. The family of three used to come here on weekends to stay, shedding the noise of Manhattan for a bit of rest and relaxation. However, with their Upper East Side apartment severely damaged and Manhattan currently in chaos with martial law everywhere, Luca had moved here temporarily, turning a "vacation spot" into his permanent residence. Well, to be fair, he still spent most nights at the hospital.
***
As for the heap of junk in the living room, some were items he had ordered his subordinates to collect, while others had been sent directly from the company. It was a chaotic assortment: daily necessities, toys, models, weapon samples—everything imaginable.
The problem was that Luca still hadn't figured out how to trigger the "core components" of his cheat ability, or what exactly qualified as a "core component." He only knew that indirect visual representations, like photographs or video recordings, didn't reveal the faint glow of a core component. He had no choice but to have a variety of random items brought over so he could inspect them one by one.
It was proving to be highly inefficient. After a quick scan, he hadn't seen a single item emitting the white light unique to a core component.
"It seems I can't keep doing this; it's too inefficient and tedious to process," he thought. "However, when I met those people from the Avengers, almost everyone had a core component on them. Targeting plot-relevant characters is at least one viable strategy."
Then, Luca thought about the [Strength-Enhancing Shoes] he was currently wearing. Their "core component" had been found in a common shoe store as an ordinary item; it didn't have any grand or mysterious origin.
"Perhaps going shopping more often and screening things in bulk at malls is another decent approach."
While calculating this, Luca didn't immediately open the unopened packages to inspect them. Instead, he walked toward two boxes placed in a corner of the living room. One was quite large and bore the Orange Industries logo; clearly, these were the custom accessories he had ordered.
The other, smaller box looked like a standard red medical kit, even sporting a white cross on a red background. Yet, in Luca's eyes, this box radiated a unique, shimmering white light.
Yes, the reason Luca—who had been staying at the hospital for days—chose to come home today wasn't just to see if any of the collected junk contained a new synthetic tool. The more important reason was that, over these past few days, Luca had indeed stumbled upon another new "core component."