Deep in the Living -
Chapter 152 - 146: Arrival
Chapter 152: Chapter 146: Arrival
United Nations,
This country, built by the consolidated power of the entire world, uses the Solar System as a reference, and has established nine major cities*.
All immigrants and subsequently born humans are concentrated in the urban areas.
*As the nation gradually stabilizes, the nine major cities will be expanded, in the interest of ensuring safety. It’s even possible to build satellite cities around them, such as Moon City next to the Capital.
Even though the urban areas are already huge, they occupy no more than 20% of the national territory, with most of the area still classified as the "outskirts."
Although the nation has invested enormous efforts in laying out "full-coverage circuits" and planting a large number of genetically modified luminescent plants to increase the visible light in the outskirts, it is still difficult to achieve nationally qualified levels of light.
Due to the emergence of Psychological Corners and the increasing number of Pseudo-Persons, greater attention has been paid to the safety issues within the cities.
With the internal issues of the cities unresolved, it is even less possible to address those of the outskirts.
Therefore, the management of the outskirts is very weak, with only some rangers risking their lives for "high salaries" responsible for the most basic tasks—repairing some of the faulty circuitry and reporting any anomalies that may exist to the nearest city.
Most events that occur deep in the outskirts are of little interest to the Investigation Bureau, unless they are particularly severe or involve the Pseudo-Person Organization.
According to the Corner Law,
Every citizen leaving the city must submit a psychological evaluation and specify the destination city.
Both departure and arrival times are recorded. If someone fails to reach the intended city or is delayed, it will be noted in their personal file.
Each city’s passenger terminals also have strict management requirements, with cabins sealed during transit and drivers under constant surveillance, not allowed to stop.
If intercepted by Pseudo-Persons en route, the vehicle will immediately send an alarm to the adjacent city and engage defense mode, forming a high-voltage electric grid on the vehicle’s surface, which is also very sturdy, usually holding up until the investigator arrives.
The bus Luo Di and his companion were on was no exception.
After five hours of traveling, the time reached 20:10 in the evening.
The vehicle was driving in the middle of the highway, at the farthest distance from both the preceding and succeeding cities.
The car, which should have been maintaining high speed throughout the journey, suddenly broke down, activating red lights.
Fortunately, ahead was a ranger rest station packed with various repair devices; it also served to log the vehicle malfunction and specific repair times which would save a lot of trouble later.
The vehicle stopped at the rest station, and the passengers were informed and prohibited from disembarking.
All compartments were in emergency lock-down, yet the one at the far end was not controlled.
Luo Di and the squad leader came out from the inside and disembarked.
Neither the driver nor the rangers expressed any surprise; instead, they provided two sets of ranger uniforms prepared in advance for them.
They immediately assumed the identity of rangers and drove off in a staff off-road vehicle adorned with luminous strips, heading towards a small path in the forest.
The rangers who originally worked there shed their uniforms, assuming the appearances of two passengers, and boarded the long-distance bus to continue to their destination.
...
In the rangers’ dedicated off-road vehicle.
The squad leader was still driving while Luo Di sat in the passenger seat.
"Half an hour’s drive and we’ll be there. Relax a bit; being tense can make it easy for others to notice," said the squad leader, assuming Luo Di might be somewhat nervous. But when he turned his head to look at her, she had already fallen asleep.
"You really have strong nerves..." he remarked.
Half an hour later,
The vehicle came to a stop by the roadside, and only after some shaking did the squad leader manage to wake Luo Di.
The area illuminated by the headlights brought Luo Di to full alertness, a sense of crisis enveloping her.
Ahead lay a dilapidated town, a relic of the former nation, still retaining the style of the 1940s. It had become deserted following a national disappearance event.
And as the town is located deep in the outskirts, it has yet to receive proper demolition.
On the road to the town stands a prohibition sign erected by the rangers—[Keep Away, Corner Warning].
Because it’s a town left behind by the former nation, its buildings were constructed without compliance with the Corner Law; every building adopts a vertical-intersection style.
Looking into the distance with the help of the headlights, there are structures that can all form Physical Corners.
Only the character "County" remains on the town’s name carved on the roadside stone.
"The meeting is in here? Isn’t that too dangerous... One careless move and we could fall into a Corner," Luo Di expressed concern.
"Of course not! We just need to pass through the town; this place is considered a transitional zone to prevent any outsiders from intruding during the meeting.
As for the Physical Corners, no need to worry.
Just hold onto the luminous equipment and keep a distance of over three meters, and we won’t get sucked in," assured the squad leader.
"Let’s go."
The ranger’s uniform was left in the car,
Luo Di put on his iconic mask, with a pig’s head hanging at his waist; his body wrapped in a pitch-black coat, he stepped in his Oxford leather shoes.
The team leader was dressed in the same black rubber clothes.
The flashlight was switched to the scatter mode, able to maintain safe lighting within a fifty-meter fan-shaped range.
Entering this abandoned town, the vertical structures of the walls and the ground made Luo Di quite uncomfortable, having never seen such architectural structures from childhood to adulthood, and he had always been informed about the dangers of vertical structures during his studies.
He always felt that these vertically intersecting surfaces were like a giant mouth of the abyss, poised to swallow him up if he was not careful.
Walking along,
Luo Di, who kept an eye on the Corners the whole way, suddenly felt a sensation of being watched, his flashlight moved upward to look at the second floor of a building, where inside a square window, there was the impression of half a woman’s face.
Upon closer inspection,
It was not a real person,
But rather a mannequin with geisha makeup, yet the feeling of being watched was incredibly real.
"The Sisterhood’s surveilling lines are set here; any outsider approaching will be immediately known."
"Mhm."
Many such mannequins were set in different rooms across various buildings.
Luo Di originally thought the Sisterhood’s gathering would be deeper within the town, but the team leader didn’t seem to have any intention to stop, instead moving faster and eventually leaving the town through the other side.
The rural path behind the town was enveloped in a thick layer of fog,
The fog seemed to have all sorts of delicate arms touching the bodies of the entrants, probably another of the Sisterhood’s methods.
The layers of arrangements were meant to prevent the exposure of the gathering.
No wonder such a Pseudo-Person Organization could exist for a long time, constantly recruiting excellent and special female pseudo-persons nationwide.
Continuing through the fog for a few hundred meters, the outline of a large building gradually emerged.
Crack!
When the feeling beneath his feet changed from soil to stone,
The thick fog dispersed,
"Huh!?"
Luo Di was startled, moments before he had been walking on a path outside the town, but now he found himself in a deep valley surrounded by two towering mountains, extremely secluded.
A modern French mansion stood there, its ivory-colored stone walls matched with the dark brown wooden roof, the light spilling out from between each arched window, illuminating the hundred-meter area in front of the door.
But the mansion’s door was a bit strange,
Its size and specifications didn’t match the building, to be precise, it was huge, the arched door stood over five meters tall, seemingly ready to welcome not just persons of stature but also beings that were much larger.
The arched door was tightly closed, it seemed the meeting had not yet begun, nor could any sisters or servants be seen.
When the two arrived in front of the closed arched door,
There was suddenly noise from the soil beside them,
A rotten arm extended from it, a green-skinned Living Corpse dressed in close-fitting servant attire crawled out from underground, its hand holding a bell and the other supporting a golden bowl.
From its mouth full of earthworms and soil, it emitted the sound of a normal human voice, speaking in a rarely used French.
"Miss Isabella, you have come early today! The first to arrive at the gathering."
The team leader hurriedly held onto Luo Di beside her, "We’ve just found a partner, so of course we must bring him early to get familiar and also to show off a bit."
The Living Corpse Butler with a few strands of white hair on top of his head wanted to see the so-called "partner," but discovered he had no eyes, he hurriedly took out an antique metal box from his pocket, with two eyeballs preserved inside.
After inserting the eyeballs into his sockets and clearly seeing Luo Di’s appearance, he nodded in approval.
"Not bad taste, certainly an excellent partner!"
"Thank you, Uncle Corpse!"
"Alright, the usual rules."
The Living Corpse Butler extended the golden bowl in his left hand forward, and the team leader reached out her finger, lightly scratching through the rubber clothes and her skin, her fresh blood dropping into it.
Luo Di immediately did the same.
The Living Corpse held up the golden bowl, pouring the blood into his mouth, thereby completing the verification of their identities.
Ding ding ding!
He rang the bell in his right hand, calling out loudly enough to echo through the entire mansion:
"Miss Isabella and her Preparatory Partner have arrived at the gathering!"
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