Apocalypse Architect: A Tower Defense LitRPG

Chapter 143: The Swarm Diversion Plan

The room exploded into outrage at Jax’s request for food.

“Dinner?” a patriarch screamed, his face turning purple. “The city is burning, and you want dinner?”

“We brought you here to save us, not to cater to your appetite!”

“Do you know how many sectors have fallen while you were doodling in there? If you don’t have a plan, we’ll feed you to the worms!”

“Don’t take us for fools, kid. If you’re stalling, you won’t leave this room alive.”

The threats flew thick and fast. Jax leaned against the doorframe, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Stalling?” Jax chuckled, shaking his head. “You people really have no imagination. Dealing with this swarm doesn’t require a miracle. It just requires a brain.”

He pushed off the doorframe. “Now, get me a four-course meal. And make it snappy, or I start charging overtime.”

He turned to walk back into the office, leaving the elite sputtering in disbelief.

One man, unable to contain his fury, lunged forward. “Bastard! You’re playing us! I’ll kill you right now!”

Jax stopped. He didn’t turn around completely, just glanced over his shoulder.

“You’re Liu Quan, right?”

The man froze, his fist raised. He blinked, confused by the sudden name-drop. “I… yes. I am Liu Quan. What of it?”

“Good,” Jax said. “Since you’re so eager, you’re first. Take your men to the outer perimeter. Deploy your towers according to this schematic.”

Jax pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from his pocket and flicked it toward Liu Quan. It fluttered through the air and landed at the man’s feet.

Liu Quan hesitated, then bent down to pick it up.

It was a detailed map of Sector 4. The diagram was marked with specific deployment zones for Defense Towers and walls.

Red dots indicated [Cryo-Towers] and other slowing emplacements at choke points. Blue circles marked long-range artillery positions. Purple squares designated rapid-fire turrets. Each zone had a number written in red ink next to it, indicating the precise quantity required.

Liu Quan stared at the paper, his anger replaced by stunned silence. The plan was… comprehensive. It was brilliant.

Other family heads crowded around, peering at the map.

“Don’t just stand there,” Jax called out. “Come get your assignments. I’ve reviewed your inventories. If you follow my layout, the line will hold.”

He turned to Sawyer, who was watching with wide eyes.

“Sawyer, I need you to do something. You still have some goodwill with the commoners, right?”

Sawyer straightened up. “I do. What do you need?”

“Go to the refugee camps,” Jax ordered. “Announce a general recruitment. The coalition families are putting up a fund of 1,000,000 Tier 2 Cores for hazard pay. Anyone willing to fight or build gets two Cores a day and safe housing.”

Sawyer nodded eagerly, but the room behind him erupted in protest.

“What?!”

“One million Cores? Are you insane?”

“We never agreed to that! We gave you the towers; we aren’t giving you our treasury!”

“Who does he think he is? Spending our money like it’s water! I won’t pay a single Credit!”

Jax turned to face them, his expression hardening into ice.

“So, you’re refusing to cooperate?”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Fine. If you won’t pay, then the loot rights go to the people. Every bug they kill, every Core that drops—Tier 3, Tier 4, even Tier 5—belongs to them. You don’t get a single shard.”

Director Quinn frowned, stepping forward. “Mr. Jax, money aside… are you truly confident you can destroy this swarm?”

“Destroy it?” Jax laughed. “Of course not. There are millions of them. We don’t have the ammo to kill them all.”

The room went silent.

“Then what is the plan?” Quinn asked, his voice trembling.

“We don’t kill them,” Jax said, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “We divert them. We turn The Sprawl into a funnel and release the swarm toward Redrock Bastion.”

Shock rippled through the room.

“You… you want to send the swarm to Redrock?” Sawyer whispered. “Brother, that’s madness. It will be a slaughter.”

“Do you know how many bugs are out there?” Jax asked.

Everyone shook their heads. It was an ocean of monsters.

“Exactly. It’s an endless tide. If we try to dam it, we drown. So we open the floodgates.”

Jax looked at the faces of the elite. “Redrock Bastion abandoned you. They locked the tunnels. They left you here as bait to buy time for their own walls. Why should you die for them?”

He pointed to the map. “We use the towers to create a corridor of death. We funnel the bugs through the city and out the back door, straight toward the people who betrayed you. Let Redrock deal with the Spiked Dune Lord. They have the Tier 4 towers. Let them earn their survival.”

Director Quinn’s eyes narrowed. A dark realization dawned on him.

“You’re right,” Quinn said slowly. “They used us. They wrote us off as a sunk cost.”

“They wanted us to be cannon fodder,” another patriarch growled. “They wanted us to bleed the swarm dry so they could mop up the survivors.”

“Why should we protect them?” a woman spat. “If we’re going to burn, let’s share the fire.”

The mood in the room shifted instantly. Fear was replaced by spite. The elite of The Sprawl had been betrayed by their superiors in Redrock, and Jax had just given them a way to strike back.

“I agree,” Quinn declared, his voice firm. “If they are unrighteous, we will be unkind. We funnel the swarm.”

“Let’s do it,” Liu Quan shouted, crumpling the map in his fist. “Let’s see how they like a Tier 5 monster on their doorstep!”

“Open the gates!”

“Deploy the towers!”

The patriarchs rushed forward to grab their assignment sheets, energized by the prospect of revenge.

Quinn walked up to Jax, shaking his hand vigorously.

“Brilliant,” Quinn whispered. “Absolutely ruthless. Brother Jax, thank you. I’ll have the chef prepare that dinner immediately.”