Chapter 314: The Underground District and the Fool's Dream
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 314: The Underground District and the Fool's Dream
Over the next few days, Ninglan Qiuyue proved to be incredibly efficient. Compared to Wumali, the president of the Association, her performance was practically a dimensional strike—though that was to be expected, given her status.
After looking into the president’s background, I began to understand his situation. He was just a young man who had recently taken over the position. The previous president—his father—had passed away not long ago. This Wumali fellow hadn't even finished sorting through his father’s network of connections yet. He was quite green; his only redeeming quality seemed to be his genuine passion for Beyonder Arts. Unfortunately, passion alone did almost nothing to help one secure a seat as president.
If Ninglan Qiuyue hadn't given him a helping hand, it was doubtful he could have held onto his position at all.
Now, because of the mess I’d stirred up, his pressure had only increased. Even with his love for Beyonder power, he hadn't been able to attend my lectures more than a few times. That was proof enough of how busy he was.
When we finally arrived at the so-called Beyonder Research Group, it was a world apart from the previous Association headquarters.
"Where are we going?" I asked habitually as I followed Ninglan Qiuyue to a secluded, hidden location.
"To the secret base of the Beyonder Research Group, naturally. A group like this can't exist out in the open; it must be kept in the safest place possible. And what place is safer than the underground? Besides... researching Beyonder Arts can lead to things like explosions. Doing it underground ensures that any major disturbances won't affect the daily lives of ordinary people."
"That makes sense," I nodded. Sister Bai and I followed Ninglan Qiuyue into a massive structure that resembled an elevator.
The steel machinery here was covered in dense layers of inscriptions. From this alone, it was clear that their use of inscriptions had already surpassed my expectations.
After all, these were techniques developed over a thousand years. You could say they hadn't made a breakthrough, but you couldn't say they lacked accumulation.
The elevator began its slow descent. The process lasted a long time—long enough to suggest that the depth they had excavated was far beyond what I had imagined.
Eventually, I felt a surge of energy fluctuations passing through my body that I could no longer ignore. I realized we were almost there.
Before long, the elevator descended into the high altitude of a vast, open territory.
"This... this is!"
I stared at the scene before me, speechless with shock. This wasn't just some underground research lab.
This was... they had dug out another Ninglan New City beneath the earth!
As we descended from the ceiling, we were treated to a panoramic view of the entire underground region. It had become a fully realized residential area, complete with houses and buildings.
And then there was the most eye-catching feature: a massive Ley Line that connected the floor of the Underground District to its vaulted ceiling!
The Ley Line pulsed with a pale blue glow, illuminating the entire region. Massive mechanical facilities were built around the surging Ley Line; every building in the city seemed to radiate outward from that central point.
No wonder I had felt such a strong feedback of Ley Line energy and information once we hit a certain depth. It turned out they had tapped directly into a Ley Line!
This was my first time seeing a Ley Line branch condensed into a physical form. Judging by the scale of their operations, had they already reached the point of exploiting and utilizing Ley Line energy?
I felt like I finally understood where that massive Ninglan Protection Stele in the center of the surface city came from. Or perhaps I had it backward—maybe it was their curiosity about the stele's function that led them to find the source this deep underground.
I mentally compared the locations; the source here seemed to align perfectly with the position of the stele on the surface.
So... was that stele an extension of this Ley Line branch?
"Welcome to Ninglan New City's Beyonder Arts Research Base. You could call this a nearly autonomous Underground District. The original research base wasn't nearly this large."
"Of course, this is also Ninglan New City's final sanctuary. It was designed as the last hope should the surface city be completely destroyed. The most outstanding geniuses of Ninglan New City—those with a talent for Beyonder Arts—are gathered here. Many have lived here for a long time, eventually passing away in obscurity. Their descendants live here too... so you'll see scenes of everyday life. After all, their families and children reside here as well."
"I see..."
As I listened to Ninglan Qiuyue’s brief introduction, I nodded in understanding. I had wondered how Ninglan New City could have developed for a thousand years and only be what I saw on the surface. It turned out they had a "pioneer test server" down here.
Looking at this Underground District, the style was completely different from the world above. Inscriptions were etched everywhere. The transcendent energy they used wasn't just Beyonder power, but Ley Line energy! In fact, the entire city was powered by that Ley Line!
That meant if the Ley Line branch were destroyed, the entire Underground District would... be paralyzed!
Wait... why was my first instinct to think about how to destroy the place?
I suppressed those thoughts and waited for the elevator to land, acting as if nothing were wrong.
Once we finally touched down on the underground floor, a petite figure appeared before us.
"Welcome to the Underground District, you three. Do you need me to lead—ah? It's Sister Ninglan Qiuyue."
"Good girl~ No need to trouble yourself this time." Ninglan Qiuyue leaned down and patted the head of the figure, who stood barely half as tall as a grown man. She had a petite, cute frame, a curious face, and—most notably—a pair of cat ears that twitched occasionally. It was a cute little cat-girl!
"A cat-girl?"
"A Fool's Dream?"
Sister Bai and I spoke simultaneously, our voices laced with surprise.
Sister Bai and Ninglan Qiuyue both turned to look at me. Sister Bai’s eyes held a flicker of astonishment, while Ninglan Qiuyue’s were filled with pure curiosity.
"You know what they are?"
"No..." I swallowed hard, taking a moment to compose myself. I looked at the cat-girl, then back at Ninglan Qiuyue. "Wait a second. Can I ask... have they always lived here?"
"No. They... well, they appeared around the same time as the first batch of Outsiders. And they appeared in this Underground District all at once."
"I see..." I looked at the Fool's Dream cat-girl again. Aside from curiosity, her eyes held that "clear-eyed stupidity" unique to the Fool's Dream. I didn't mean that in a derogatory way; it was simply the best way to describe them.
"Are there... about several hundred of them?"
"Roughly, yes. The sudden appearance of so many alien creatures in the Underground District did shock us for a while. But after interacting with them, we found them to be very friendly and quite pitiful. Many people were willing to accept them, so they were settled here temporarily, doing simple chores in exchange for food."
Ninglan Qiuyue explained the situation, then looked at me again. "Scholar Xiao Han, from your tone... you know them? They're called 'Fool's Dream'?"
"Yes," I nodded.
"Are they dangerous? Forgive me for asking, but the underground research base is vital. We can't allow any threats to exist here."
"We... we're very well-behaved..."
I looked at the cat-girl, who was now acting quite timidly, her voice trembling slightly. My usually expressionless face softened into a small smile.
"The Fool's Dream... they're all very kind little sweethearts. How could they be dangerous?" I reached out, intending to tease the little thing, but my finger passed right through her.
Had these Fool's Dream already obtained shells created by the Academy Dean? So this was a body projection.
In that case, their appearance was almost certainly the Dean's doing. But... why would the Dean drop them here?
I thought about it for a moment but couldn't find an answer, so I gave up. If I couldn't figure it out, I wouldn't dwell on it; I’d just let nature take its course.
However, I kept one thing from Ninglan Qiuyue: the relationship between the Fool's Dream and Nightmares. Since the Fool's Dream had appeared in Ninglan New City—even in a hidden place like the Underground District—it wasn't surprising that Nightmares were appearing frequently as well.
I suspected that before long, all the Nightmares would "logically" appear in Ninglan New City. The protagonists, driven by the script, would fight a grand battle here to clear them out. Meanwhile, I would lead the Fool's Dream to sever the Ley Line Shackles, separating the Fool's Dream from the Nightmares, and use the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art on them to awaken their intelligence. That would bring the matter to a close.
That was likely the script the Academy Dean had arranged, wasn't it?
"Is that so? Then I can rest easy. To be honest, not everyone here likes them. Some even reject them. After all, the day they arrived, a Nightmare incident occurred here. People blamed these little ones for it."
"Did they?"
"But don't mind them. Just because this place is full of geniuses doesn't mean there aren't ignorant people among them."
"Ignorant... indeed." I nodded with a smile. This time, the ignorant people had actually stumbled onto the truth—the Nightmares really were related to the Fool's Dream. They hadn't wrongly accused them.
But that wasn't the point. To those who didn't know the truth, those ignorant people were simply forcing a scapegoat onto the Fool's Dream. It didn't change the fact that those people were inherently narrow-minded.
Therefore, I naturally had to join in and strongly condemn those fellows.
Afterward, Ninglan Qiuyue led us toward the very center of the city. That was the cradle of Beyonder Arts, the very reason for this place's existence.
"Um, Scholar Xiao Han, most of the people who can come here to research Beyonder Arts are geniuses. Geniuses often enjoy special treatment and possess... eccentric personalities. I hope you can understand that. It would be best if no conflicts occurred."
"Geniuses and their quirks? I understand. If they actually have talent, I don't mind. But if someone with no skill tries to show off, I won't be polite."
"Also... there's the Ground Patrol here specifically to maintain order, so it's best... ah, sorry. I forgot that you can ignore such things, Scholar Xiao Han."
"True. It saves a lot of trouble."
"I'll go arrange your accommodations. Staying at the Ninglanxiang Hotel above wouldn't be appropriate anymore. Of course, if you want to go up for some fresh air..."
"I have my own ways of going up, so don't worry about that. Let's see the living quarters first."
After following Ninglan Qiuyue to see our new home, we prepared to head to the core research area. I didn't care much about the environment of the living quarters; no matter how messy or poor it was, I could always remodel it.
The main goal was to witness the research into Beyonder Arts here. Of course, my primary method would be observation.
After all, these geniuses all had their own projects and developments. It was unrealistic to expect me to take over and have them all follow my lead and learn runes the moment I arrived.
In a way, I had no intersection with them yet. Ninglan Qiuyue had brought me here simply to announce my presence and to promote the Transcendent Runology I had taught previously.
The people here weren't like the ordinary people from before; they were scholars with deep knowledge of Beyonder Arts. Even if they hadn't encountered runes, their existing expertise would allow them to grasp the concepts quickly.
Once the materials related to runes were made public, those who were interested would naturally seek me out. This was much faster than slowly filtering through ordinary people. Furthermore, the quality of the people coming to study runology would be very high. I wouldn't even need to waste time on basic common sense, as they had their own research habits. They would only come to me with key questions after hitting a wall.
As Ninglan Qiuyue said, this place really suited me. I didn't have to worry about the interests of the various factions in Ninglan New City, either. Their reach didn't extend down here.
You couldn't negotiate terms with people in their final refuge. When they lived independently beneath the city and had their own Ground Patrol, any surface interest group trying to interfere would likely get their hand slapped back.
It was a "the mountains are high and the emperor is far away" situation. The only thing the surface could use to pressure them was the supply of daily necessities.
Logically, Ninglan New City shouldn't have allowed such a situation to develop—it was practically a city within a city. But Ninglan Qiuyue didn't explain the reasons behind it, and I was too lazy to ask. I only cared about the result.
I was given an independent research laboratory. Though it was quite empty, extra clutter was useless to me anyway. I could use the Dream Rewriting Spell to be self-sufficient. At times like this, the utility of that otherwise niche spell was fully realized.
"By the way, those Fool's Dream—the cat-girls you mentioned—can I have them come to my lab to help out?" I asked Ninglan Qiuyue.
According to her, the Fool's Dream weren't having a good time here. I figured if I could, I’d offer these poor things a bit of protection, even if I couldn't look after every single one of them.
Their lives had been full of hardships. Perhaps this was the price they had to pay for seeking the Dean's help to become true living beings.
"It's possible, but can they really be of any help to you? Scholar Xiao Han, I don't mean to lecture, but excessive sympathy is often unnecessary."
"Thanks for the reminder. I'm currently in a dream state and can't touch reality, so I'll let these little cuties help me. Besides, they have a special meaning to me, and seeing them puts me in a good mood. Don't worry."
"Alright. Since you insist, Sister Xiao Han... actually, I could arrange some apprentices for you. They would do a much better job."
"No need. This is fine," I shook my head, standing my ground.