Chapter 14: New Items & New Ideas
18 September 1970
Karan reached the top floor at last.
Each step had felt heavier than the last—a quiet toll extracted by a week of relentless movement across the map. Gorakhpur. Bengaluru. Mumbai. The acquisitions were complete, but the strain of orchestrating a multi-front industrial campaign was beginning to show.
The fifth floor had been transformed.
What was once a hollow shell was now a sealed command center—precise, silent, and immaculate. The air carried the scent of polished teak and cold circuitry. As the door clicked shut behind him, the System stirred in his mind, alive to his presence.
> [New items available in the System Mall. Flash Discount: 1% of original price for 60 minutes.
Karan rested a hand on the mahogany desk. The fatigue receded—not gone, but suppressed—as he began scrolling through the ledger.
He wasn't searching for weapons.
He was building an empire.
#The Strategic Acquisitions
In one decisive move, Karan liquidated a massive portion of his Gamer Points—trading them not for power in the immediate sense, but for permanence.
He acquired the industrial backbone of Shergill Strategic Industries (SSI) and the creative core of DreamWorks Holdings.
#The Industrial Core
The purchases came in waves:
Single-crystal superalloy ingots. Titanium electron-beam welders. Induction vacuum furnaces.
Each item was a leap forward—not incremental, but generational.
In a matter of hours, a coastal "film set" evolved into something far more dangerous: a fully capable aerospace facility. It could shape composite honeycomb structures and assemble analog flight control systems—technologies that nations took decades to refine.
This wasn't expansion.
It was compression of time itself.
The Cinematic Front
If SSI was the silent blade, DreamWorks would be the spectacle.
Karan ensured it would dominate perception.
Anamorphic lenses for sweeping visuals.
Steadicam rigs for fluid motion.
High-speed developers and synchronous cameras for rapid production cycles.
Optical printers and xenon arc projectors to flood screens with unmatched brightness.
The result was clear: the Shergill Slate would not just entertain—it would redefine how India saw itself.
#The Sovereign's Tool
Then came the final acquisition.
The Memory Manipulation Skill Module.
It settled into him like a shard of ice behind the eyes—cold, precise, absolute. With a touch, he could read, alter, or implant memories.
A power not of destruction—
But of control.
---
The Corporate Firewall
Two entities. Two identities. No overlap.
DreamWorks Holdings Pvt. Ltd.
The public face—studios, cinemas, publishing. Loud, visible, legitimate. A magnet for attention and capital.
Shergill Strategic Industries (SSI)
The hidden core—restricted zones, classified operations, and the Makara Project. Officially, experimental film infrastructure.
Unofficially—
Something else entirely.
Through a Singaporean front, Karan funneled in high-end Arriflex cameras and custom lenses. To the outside world, he remained what he appeared to be:
An eccentric industrialist obsessed with cinematic perfection.
---
The Shadow Logic
Far from the polished halls of the studio, another system operated.
Mr. Bharat.
Efficient. Invisible. Ruthless.
The numbers spoke for themselves: seventy politicians, over three thousand high-value criminals—gone. "Purified."
Bombay had fallen silent.
Too silent.
From the recovered ₹207 crore in black money, Karan allocated with surgical precision. ₹50 crore fueled DreamWorks' expansion—the thousand-theater network, the production of Wall of Steel. The remaining ₹157 crore flowed through layered shell companies into SSI, funding the naval fighter program.
Then came the shift.
"Stop the executions," Karan ordered.
A pause.
"From now on, we don't kill the system. We rewire it."
---
#The Vision
Back in his suite, Karan reviewed the script for Vajra.
₹1 crore had already been issued to Priya Verma. A large sum on paper—but insignificant compared to what he was truly building.
"Priya."
She entered moments later, composed but visibly worn. Her gaze lingered on the crates stacked near the door—each stamped with the insignia of Shergill Strategic Industries.
"Sir," she began, voice tight, "the Soviet Cultural Attaché is asking questions. He says the 'film sets' resemble industrial hangars. The Ministry is also… curious. Especially about the turbine blades props."
Karan rose slowly.
He studied his hand—the same hand that now held the power to rewrite a man's past.
Then he picked up one of the turbine blades.
It gleamed in muted silver, flawless in structure. A piece of the future, forged decades ahead of its time.
"The Soviets are looking for spies," he said calmly. "They don't understand vision."
He set the blade down.
"We're not just making a film about 1965. We're preparing the public for 1971. While they watch the screen, we build the steel that protects them."
His eyes shifted to the production board.
Everything was aligning.
The illusion held.
The lenses were ready.
The operators were training.
The narrative was taking shape.
"Coordinate with the SSI construction teams," he continued. "The deep-foundation vaults must be completed by January."
A brief pause.
"And inform the cast of Wall of Steel—they'll begin preparation for the Asal Uttar sequence."
His voice lowered, but the intent sharpened.
"I want the world to see what real power looks like