Chapter 997: Bernius Rift Settlement and the Underground District
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 997: Bernius Rift Settlement and the Underground District
By the time the Real Protection Association learned of my decision to keep the appointment and travel to the Bernius Rift Settlement to meet Monroe—the association’s spiritual leader and president—I had already left Igesuo Surface City.
The association immediately locked down the news, doing everything in its power to cover up the fact that the Calamity Witch had departed.
Tang En, naturally, took over the temporary permissions I had left behind.
Though some were dissatisfied with this arrangement, they were powerless to change it. The Calamity Witch was the primary reason Igesuo Surface City remained stable. Even with the power network being laid out, they didn't yet dare to rely on that strength to go toe-to-toe with city-destroying vanguard players.
Thus, using the Calamity Witch’s name as a shield served everyone’s interests.
However, these people had grown wary of Tang En to the extreme.
Tang En quite generously informed them that before her departure, the Great Witch had temporarily granted him several vital permissions. No one knew exactly what those permissions were—perhaps the highest power authorization for the Omni-Link Main Network Tree, or perhaps the authority to strip someone of their right to use the power network entirely.
Ultimately, despite a few minor ripples, the association stabilized.
Only Tang En remained tense. After all, during their last conversation, the Great Witch had warned him that even after her departure, she would be watching to see if Igesuo Surface City drew the attention of the Terminal of Myriad Worlds headquarters.
If they were targeted, it would essentially prove that Monroe was a problem.
However, the Supreme Council likely wasn't that foolish. Until the Calamity Witch was officially declared dead, they wouldn't dare move against Igesuo Surface City.
With the Calamity Witch gone, the association’s plans to infiltrate surrounding cities slowed down. Without her to back them up, they naturally didn't dare stretch their hands too far.
* * *
Back to my perspective.
The Bernius Rift Settlement was quite a distance from Igesuo Surface City. The surface cities on either side of the settlement had little to do with a peripheral city like Igesuo. Even among surface cities, there were massive disparities in status and wealth.
However, distance was a non-issue for a witch with the means of flight.
From high above, I saw the fissure cutting through the earth, etched into the ground like a scar upon the world.
The surface cities on either side glittered with gaudy lights in the night sky. Thanks to the Infinite Energy Perpetual Motion Machines, the game world enjoyed the luxury of "unlimited power" ahead of its time.
Of course, this world didn't run on electrical technology, but on pure transcendent energy drawn from void rifts—a basic energy infrastructure distributed using the Terminal of Myriad Worlds as a carrier.
I had to admit, being able to use the Terminal of Myriad Worlds to this extent, laying this power into almost every corner of the world, showed just how much vision the person who made that initial decision must have possessed. They truly had the well-being of everyone in this world in mind.
But now…
I looked toward the distant horizon, at the chaotic areas and the depths of the rift settlements. This contrast was a poor tribute to the vision of those who came before.
According to my information, the two surface cities flanking the rift were Gantango and Bacara. The names were transliterations from the game world’s language.
The one closest to me was Gantango Surface City. Its construction appeared far more developed than Igesuo’s; after all, this was the inland core region near the Terminal of Myriad Worlds headquarters.
The architecture presented a dreamlike, three-dimensional cityscape, though the seemingly advanced transportation hubs looked more decorative than functional to my eyes.
There was very little foot traffic in the city—it was night, after all—though their nightlife appeared quite decadent.
I had no interest in learning the details of their lives. In the end, I simply landed silently atop a daily refuse truck.
Contrary to the stench I expected, food was extremely scarce in this world. This meant the concept of "kitchen waste" didn't really exist, and thus, there was no fermented, sour rot.
That wasn't to say it smelled good, however.
The truck’s destination was the top of the Bernius Rift Settlement.
I rode the vehicle all the way to the end, half-sightseeing and half-loitering. As the truck bed tilted, I finally saw the view below.
It was… a giant web.
"Trash is here~!"
Accompanied by a cheer from below, the refuse poured out.
As I fell, I caught a glimpse of the Bernius Rift Settlement’s general layout.
The uneven cliffs on either side were actually rows upon rows of houses—hand-built extensions protruding from the material pixel frameworks of the cliff walls.
The further down one looked, the darker it became.
Crisscrossing "bridges" stretched between the two precipices, all constructed from junk and scrap. Some were horizontal, some slanted upward, and some were purely vertical.
It looked like a modern version of a primeval forest. These man-made structures were like vines and moss clinging to a wild wood. Interwoven, they formed a "harmonious" framework for survival.
"Holy crap! Who threw away a 1:1 scale doll?"
"Dumbass, that’s a person! A real person! You idiot!"
"Whoa, whoa! Holy sh*t! That person just flew away!"
"I think you’ve been doing too many drugs. Your eyes are playing tricks on you."
Crude shouts and bickering dialogue formed the colorful, "harmonious" community atmosphere here.
I quickly vanished from their sight.
I knew that the Bernius Rift Settlement had a dedicated elevator structure, but that massive, towering mechanism had long since ceased operation. It was kept broken specifically to prevent the "lowly peasants" of the settlement from running up and offending the eyes of the surface dwellers.
The irony was palpable.
There were horizontal passages between the two sides of the rift, but they were few and far between. Crossing was incredibly inconvenient, leading the residents to rig their own ropes to communicate and trade.
As for safety hazards?
That wasn't a concern for them. They replaced the ropes periodically. As for when they replaced them… naturally, whenever one snapped.
Entering through a narrow, cramped tunnel, I finally witnessed what a true Underground District looked like.
If the game world had notable surface cities, it naturally had underground ones as well. The rift settlement was merely the "entrance" to the underground districts. The deep fissure provided a natural advantage for vertical expansion.
This was a completely different concept from the Underground District of Ninglan New City.
The residents on the two cliff faces were just the tip of the iceberg; the larger portion of the settlement lay horizontally within the earth.
The place was a melting pot of all sorts, filled with a unique, pervasive stench. The cramped spaces were packed with people, giving me my first clear experience of the raw scent of humanity.
This clone in the game world was merely an avatar; there were many methods I couldn't yet use. For instance, my understanding of the Ordinary Subject wasn't deep enough to achieve my desired effects through specific techniques.
In a lawless place like this, being attractive was not a good thing.
So, I performed a simple disguise. My clothing and messy hair allowed me to blend perfectly into the atmosphere. Combined with my grasp of the Ordinary Subject, I was able to lower my presence in the eyes of others.
The Underground District connected to the Bernius Rift Settlement was even more complex than I had anticipated. Even with a 3D terrain map generated by Ley Line Identification, the layout was dizzying.
It gave the illusion of a man-made ant colony. Likely only the "old-timers" who had spent years here could navigate it with ease.
The concept of law was incredibly thin in the game world. In fact, the world didn't even have the concept of nations. What they followed were the in-game rules, which synchronized with certain reality-based rules to cover legal authority.
However, the binding force of these rules only existed in surface cities with functional order-maintenance frameworks. In the Underground District, they were essentially non-existent.
This was what made me sigh. Truly, any kind of world can find a way to persist… but since this world had survived for so long, it clearly had its own logic.
According to the information Tang En gave me, their channel for receiving messages from Monroe was rooted in the real world. It involved primitive methods of cross-city communication held by the association, though the distortion rate of the decoded information was high.
The message regarding where Monroe wanted to meet me, however, had been quite detailed.
It was in a hidden area at the very bottom of the Underground District within the Bernius Rift Settlement.
I quickly pinpointed the location on my 3D ley line map.
"That old geezer is certainly confident… The Underground District is so complex, does he really think I can find it? If someone pisses me off here… isn't he afraid I'll just tear this whole place down?"
I muttered to myself, showing the man no respect. Whether this was a way to test me or if his situation truly prevented him from revealing more, I was going to complain about it regardless.
Before heading to that spot, I once again utilized the authorized Great Knowledge Seed, using a Simple Qi Observation Art to scan the Bernius Rift Settlement.
The luck here was chaotic and tangled. Perhaps my arrival had muddied the waters, but it couldn't be helped; I had to get involved personally.
Even so, I didn't observe any targets with the distinct signature of a Child of Destiny.
"That old fogey should be a middle-aged man by now, right? If a Child of Destiny is still living like this at that age, it’s a bit pathetic."
Muttering, I walked into the depths.
Even though I had mentally prepared myself, I was still shocked by the rock-bottom standard of living here. The settlement didn't have formal food distribution channels like the surface cities.
Or rather, they existed, but were completely controlled by certain factions. The trash dumped from above was the primary food source for those at the very bottom.
Despite this, the people in the settlement still had game equipment; the penetration rate was surprisingly high.
However, upon closer inspection, I realized the equipment was rented. One could say that almost everyone playing the game here was essentially a laborer for the local power-holders, working to pay off their equipment fees.
Since the Underground District required game coins, it meant they weren't entirely disconnected from the Infinite Group.
Based on what my other clones knew of chaotic regions, game equipment there was scarce, and people were mostly left to fend for themselves.
After wasting some time, I finally reached the location.
Even after arriving, the area remained massive. According to my perception and information readouts, this spot was at the absolute bottom of the Underground District, possibly even below sea level.
"Hey! You there, old man! What the f*ck do you think you're doing wandering around here? You looking to have your corpse fed to the fish?"
A sudden challenge made me pause.
The "old man" they referred to was, of course, my disguised form. With a slightly hunched back, being called an old man was expected. I had allowed them to find me on purpose; after all, if I didn't make some noise, how would the people here know a guest had arrived?
"Cripple! When you find someone here, you report to the boss!" another person shouted.
"Report? That big-spending boss wouldn't want to see some old geezer, would he?"
"Exactly, Boss~ Didn't that big-shot say the important stuff starts in a few days? If we bring this guy over now, wouldn't it be…"
"Tsk… then just get rid of the old bag!"
The three men guarding one of the few passages leading into this area took all of a second to think before waving their hands dismissively toward the one called Cripple.
Just as they were about to "handle" me, I spoke in my original voice.
"You really should have been more diligent in listening to that big-spending boss’s instructions."
As my crisp, melodious female voice rang out in stark contrast to my appearance, they froze.
Before they could even react, the two lackeys standing beside the one called "Boss" were torn apart in a burst of fire.
The fleeting flash of light illuminated the gloom.
Where an old man had stood a moment ago, there was now a young girl.
Her long hair drifted slightly in the shockwave of the Explosive Spell, its silver hue reflecting the orange-red glow of the flames.
Seeing this girl—someone they had never met, whose very presence felt utterly alien to the Underground District—the man couldn't even muster a shred of lust.
The remains of his two companions were plastered across his body. Blood sprayed across his face, the warm, metallic liquid trickling down his cheeks.
His legs gave out instinctively, and he collapsed to his knees. He tried to speak, only to find he had completely lost his voice.
"No need to beg. Your memory will tell me everything I want to know."
I spoke softly, deciding this man’s life or death as casually as he had said, "Get rid of the old bag."
Then, his body slumped over.
His soul essence, about to return to the ley line cycle, was intercepted by my Ley Line Identification Art, his memories harvested with only minimal loss.