Urban Plundering: I Corrupted The System!

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It was...a lot. The thing was practically a blueprint for running a global entertainment empire, covering everything from talent acquisition to industry politics, financial structuring, and distribution networks. The works.

The moment the transfer completed, Parker stored the manual back in his inventory through his bag with a quiet sigh. One problem down.

Now for the fun part.

See, Parker wasn't just gonna read this stuff. Hell no.

He had a better idea.

He tapped the laptop's touchpad, fingers moving fast as he opened a blank coding project. His brain was already two steps ahead, sketching the rough framework in his head—an AI assistant built from scratch.

Not some basic chatbot nonsense. This thing was gonna be next-level. A custom virtual strategist designed to break down the massive data he'd just scanned. The AI would analyze the manual's info, generate strategic reports, and adapt in real time for the entertainment industry's chaos.

But that wasn't enough either.

Parker wanted it linked—no, synced—with a talent-scouting algorithm. A data miner capable of crawling social platforms like TikTok, YouTube, even those obscure streaming sites barely anyone used, all to find rising stars before they even blew up. Raw talent, trending influencers, unsigned musicians—the algorithm would flag them, sort them, even rank their potential.

Big plans.

Only...his laptop? Yeah, not built for this.

Already, the screen was lagging. The fans were whirring louder, the processor struggling to keep up.

"Shit," Parker muttered under his breath, leaning back slightly. Naomi glanced up for a second, curious but not pressing.

He could feel it. His current setup wouldn't survive the workload. Building the AI was gonna take way more power than this basic school and bussiness-issued machine. But Parker wasn't the type to just stop because of hardware issues.

"Alright," he whispered under his breath, already shifting gears. His laptop was strong enough to handle high level modification.

He opened a new coding window, writing faster now, fingers practically flying. Step one—he'd build a performance-enhancing software patch to optimize his laptop. Custom firmware, stripped of the usual bloatware, boosting RAM efficiency and reallocating processing power to favor his code over everything else.

It was basic shit, for him anyway. But it was enough for phase one.

Once the patch was done and installed, his laptop finally stopped sounding like it was about to take off like a jet engine.

Still it was for temporary use though.

Parker leaned back, rubbing his temples as the screen refreshed with his AI prototype's skeleton framework. Yeah, this was gonna be a long-term project. His current setup wasn't gonna cut it for the full system.

If he wanted this to actually work—like really work—he'd need a bigger server.

No, he realized, frowning slightly.

He'd need a damn server farm.

Parker exhaled, staring at the glowing screen.

Another thing added to his to-do list. But whatever. This was just step one. The empire was coming together—one line of code at a time.

Parker paced the quiet library, heaned against the edge of the his fingers drumming on his phone as he stared out the window. Naomi was back buried in her book, looking like she was trying to solve the mysteries of the universe or whatever existential nonsense she found interesting that day. Good.

He thumbed through his contacts, found Cassidy, and hit the button. "This woman. How many times have I disturbed her today, she's lucky!"

She picked up on the second ring, her voice sharp like she'd already predicted he was about to start some shit. "Alright, Boss Parker. What fresh hell are you cooking up this time? I am about to ask for a raise."

He smirked. Classic Cassidy. "I need a small server farm built on my mansion grounds for my entertainment empire and future ventures."

Cue the silence. Then, laughter—short, dry, and almost offensive. "You need a server farm? On your mansion grounds? For what? Running a Call of Duty tournament in your basement? Hosting OnlyFans knockoffs? Be serious."

"I am serious," Parker shot back, "Look, I've been thinking about this. I don't trust cloud services, okay? One bad outage, one price hike, and I'm screwed. I need full control—complete independence. No risks. No bullshit."

"Parker," Cassidy started, the sigh practically dripping through the phone, "you're talking about building an actual server farm for something that doesn't even require half of that power. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure—they exist for a reason. They're cheap, scalable, and they handle way more than your empire needs right now. Hell, even entertainment giants don't build their own. They outsource. What's your excuse?"

Parker rolled his eyes, like she was missing the point on purpose. "Look, I get it. Cloud services work. But I don't want to build something only to be at someone else's mercy. What happens when I need real computing power—when I'm processing global trends in real-time, building predictive AI models, or launching platforms? You think Amazon gives a fuck about me when someone with a bigger check rolls in? No, that won't be an issue, what if my things are leaked. No thanks."

Cassidy's laugh was softer this time, like she was amused but also slightly impressed. "So, what, you're building a data empire now? A digital fortress for all your big, bad ideas?"

"Something like that," Parker said, sitting back down and crossing his arms. "This isn't just for now, Cassidy. It's for later. Future-proofing. Sure, cloud services can handle my talent scouting and market analytics today. But what happens when my empire's touching tech, media, and industries no one's even thinking about yet? I want infrastructure that's mine—no strings attached."

"Yeah, but at what cost?" Cassidy asked, her voice more curious than critical now. "You're talking permits, equipment, maintenance—hundreds of thousands just to start. You sure you want to drop that much cash just for a security blanket?"

"It's not just a security blanket," Parker replied, his voice steady and sharp. "It's a weapon. Control, Cassidy. That's the name of the game. If I don't control my infrastructure, someone else does. And I don't hand my would-be enemies the keys to my kingdom. As for cash? Come on I am literally made of dollars, I breathe that shit." Maybe more like he had a full ocean of it.

Cassidy was quiet for a beat, probably processing the weight behind his words. Finally, she exhaled. "You're one paranoid son of a bitch, you know that?"

"Paranoia's just another word for being prepared," Parker said with a smirk. "But you already knew that."

She laughed again, but there was no mocking in it this time. "Alright, fine. I'll look into it. Costs, timelines, permits—everything you'd need to expand the mansion grounds and make this happen. But let me just say this: Start small. Use cloud services for now. If and when the time comes that your empire actually needs its own server farm, we'll pull the trigger. Deal?"

"That's the plan," Parker said, leaning forward like he was sealing a deal with the universe. "I expand, I dominate, and when the day comes, my server farm will already be in place. Ready to go."

"Damn, Parker," Cassidy said, her voice laced with reluctant admiration. "You don't just think about today, do you?"

"No," Parker replied simply. "I build for domination."

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You guys... don't you think, I can be way too good sometimes?