I'm The King of Business & Technology in the Modern World-Chapter 185: Dig More

March 4, 2024 – Sentinel HQ, Manila | 6:15 AM

The sun hadn't yet breached the skyline, but the subway control room inside Sentinel HQ was already alive with purpose. Techs adjusted sensors. Engineers reviewed cross-sections. Project coordinators tracked bore head telemetry across giant digital panels. The main dashboard now featured two active feeds—one from TBM Aurora near Makati, and another from TBM Rizal, officially launched from the Guadalupe pit just before dawn.

Angel stood in the middle of the floor, a coffee in one hand and a digital stylus in the other. She moved between stations with calm precision, checking progress numbers and routing updates. Behind her, a bold new message glowed across the wall:

"Metro Manila Subway — Twin Drives, One Direction: Forward."

Matthew entered through the side door, tie slung loose around his neck. He nodded to Angel as she passed him a new report.

"TBM Rizal's cutting clean," she said. "Two meters per hour on the first run. No shift in seismic readings."

"Start's better than we projected," he replied. "Let's keep both machines on alternating cycles to minimize vibration overlap. We're under heavy foundations now."

Angel nodded. "Already done."

They stood in front of the main display, watching the colored progress bars move—two lines crawling through the crust of a city too long trapped by its own surface.

"People are calling it the Great Underground March," Angel said with a soft smile. "Social media's full of it."

Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Better than 'Borja's Boring Machines,' I guess."

She smirked. "Only slightly."

—

Pasay Public Market – March 4, 2024 | 11:30 AM

Amidst fresh fish, street food, and woven baskets, Sentinel's community liaisons had set up another feedback booth—part of the company's ongoing effort to bring every stakeholder into the process. Local residents filed past blueprints and virtual 3D walkthroughs of their future Pasay interchange station.

A grandmother wearing a faded apron stepped up to the table.

"This tunnel… will it reach Mall of Asia?"

A young liaison smiled. "Yes, ma'am. Phase 3 will terminate near the reclaimed area. We're integrating it with the Aurora Line and Astra's air-cargo loop."

The woman beamed. "Then my granddaughter can study in Quezon City and still be home before dark."

Matthew, watching from a short distance, quietly turned to Angel. "That right there. That's what it's about."

Angel nodded. "And she's not the only one. Our app feedback panel hit 100,000 public submissions last night. Most of them are about station names, though."

"Let them vote," Matthew said. "Let them own it."

—

Sentinel Satellite Field Office – Taguig | March 5, 2024 | 3:00 PM

In a sleek prefabricated building beside the training yard, new recruits sat at digital simulators for tunnel operations, emergency response, and power grid routing. Sentinel's Rail Training Institute had just opened its doors a week earlier—and it was already full.

Matthew and Angel arrived for the first full site inspection, greeted by trainers who had once worked on rail systems in Singapore, Tokyo, and Berlin.

"Eighty percent of trainees are local," the director said proudly. "We're not just teaching engineering—we're building a culture of accountability."

Matthew watched one of the younger trainees perform a simulated TBM brake override. The young man nailed the timing perfectly.

"How old is he?" Matthew asked.

"Twenty-one. From Caloocan. Dropped out of university last year to take care of his siblings. Got in through our community referral program."

Angel smiled. "We'll need a thousand more like him."

"Then let's train ten thousand," Matthew replied.

—

Department of Public Works – March 6, 2024 | 4:00 PM

The conference room was tense.

Old-guard officials from legacy construction firms sat stiffly across from Sentinel's legal and engineering teams. On the table: the final transfer agreements for MMSP's remaining government-held segments.

"You're asking us to cede oversight," one of them challenged.

"No," Matthew said, voice measured. "We're asking you to cede delay."

Angel laid out the compliance audit logs, the week-by-week forecast charts, and the third-party safety certs.

"We aren't rewriting laws," she added. "We're fulfilling the ones no one enforced for fifteen years."

Silence. Then a quiet murmur of agreement from one of the agency's career engineers.

"They're doing what we couldn't," the man muttered. "Maybe it's time we let them."

—

Makati Tunnel Site – March 7, 2024 | 6:00 PM

Sunset cast long shadows into the excavation pit where TBM Aurora had just completed a milestone: 500 meters from Central Pulse.

A crowd of workers gathered on the scaffold decks. Someone passed around trays of pancit and soft drinks. Flags were raised. Hardhats clinked together in celebratory taps.

Matthew and Angel stood at the edge of the shaft, looking down into the steel-lined tunnel as TBM Aurora emerged from the curve.

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"Should we tell them what's next?" Angel asked.

Matthew shook his head. "Not yet. Let them have this."

As dusk fell, the lights inside the tunnel flickered on one by one—like a constellation forming underground.

—

Sentinel Rooftop – March 8, 2024 | 9:45 PM

The rooftop felt different tonight. Lighter. Hopeful. The kind of night that didn't press down but lifted up.

Matthew stood by the railing, Angel beside him, both holding steaming mugs.

"Guadalupe will connect next," she said. "Then the curve into Buendia."

"By June?"

"If weather holds and crews stay on pace—yes."

They looked out over a city slowly being unburdened of its chaos. One shaft. One corridor. One decision at a time.

"You know," Angel said, "if we do this right, we'll never need to build another road above ground in the city again."

Matthew sipped his coffee. "That's the point."

She turned to him, eyes reflecting the soft skyline glow. "And after this?"

Matthew exhaled. "Then we leave the metro. And start laying track across the archipelago."

Angel nodded, not surprised. "From street to sea to sky."

Matthew smiled. "From a lab… to a legacy."

And below them, as always, the city kept breathing—faster now, freer now. Because at last, it had begun to move with purpose.

Tomorrow, they would break more ground.

Tomorrow, they would dig deeper.