Because the Miserere was designed so perfectly that she could handle any problem herself, the Fixer Association never placed monitoring personnel at the top of the tower where she resided. Her origin dated back to far before the New Era Calendar, and most records from that time had been lost. Even the world's top scientific researchers felt like helpless, naked children in the presence of the Miserere.
Yet, a figure was currently sitting before the Miserere, boldly opening a bottle of aged red wine.
He evenly spread butter on every slice of whole-wheat bread, huffing and puffing to blow on his food while adding hot water to a bucket of instant noodles and snapping a sausage into it.
He wore a magnificent suit of peacock green and silver-white. His wrists were covered in expensive luxury watches, and every knuckle on his fingers was adorned with a ring. He propped his leather boots leisurely onto the table, indifferent to the bright, precious gems that occasionally fell from his trouser legs. He cradled the instant noodles in his hands; to him, those gems were far less substantial than the salty, savory noodles.
"Hive City No. 5, R'lyeh. Three explosions occurred, an oxygen leak, the left engine ring power arm has stopped functioning.
Two thousand three hundred deaths, vacuum pressure loss. No abnormalities."
The man nodded thoughtfully, slurped his noodles, and took a swig of the red wine straight from the bottle.
"Hive City No. 61, Mobius City. The sub-intelligence 'Ouroboros' has frozen time and initiated a reboot. Reason: The Hive City lost all life in a nuclear explosion. Anomaly monitoring anchors have been placed, and an observation system has been established. Anomaly Level: 1."
"Mobius City?" The man raised an eyebrow with interest upon hearing the name. Not long ago, he had traveled to that prosperous federal city for a vacation. It was a Hive City with infinite resources that were perpetually on the brink of exhaustion. Every twelve years, it would be destroyed by a war triggered by resource distribution issues, only to be rebooted by 'Ouroboros.' Everyone's memories would be wiped, and the cycle would repeat, just like a Mobius strip.
Because of its bizarre 'Ouroboros' balance, that Hive City had rarely seen high-risk urban legend events since the start of the New Era Calendar. The Fixer Association simply let it run its course and prohibited all outsiders from entering to avoid breaking the balance.
Of course, such rules meant nothing to a man who stood above the laws of the world. He finished his noodles and began eating the buttered bread.
After an indeterminate amount of time, the man finished his lunch. He wasn't some lunatic who had come to the top of the tower just to show off his power and status to an artificial intelligence.
The time-freeze protocol at the top of the Light-Chaser Tower could stop the passage of time. He didn't want to waste his precious life on mere energy intake; with every breath he took, an uncalculable amount of wealth shifted toward him on the world's scales.
"Hive City No. 653, Ashes City. No abnormalities."
"Hive City No. 791, Probability Corridor. Suspected appearance of Deep Blue Tide. He forcibly danced with two young girls in their prime and departed after paying the fee."
"What is that brain-dead idiot up to now?" the man cursed under his breath.
"Hive City No. 800, Red Heaven. The new train, Heart's Desire, has arrived. Suspected appearance of Dark Gold Rose and Abyssal White Flower. Anomaly monitoring anchors have been placed, and an observation system has been established. Anomaly Level: 2."
"Arbiter Jingbai, they are within the sphere of influence of Universal Heavy Industries. You hold decision-making authority higher than that of the Fixer Association's Supreme Council.
Shall I report this to the Fixer Association?"
"Continue observation," the man said with a wave of his hand. He was quite interested to see what kind of waves the newly appointed luminous prism grade fixer from the Fixer Association would stir up in his territory.
"Understood. Luminous prism grade fixer 'Deep White Midnight's' priority decision-making authority is in effect. Maintaining observation system. Anomaly level has been downgraded. Current Anomaly Level: 1."
Deep White Midnight stretched and cleaned up the food scraps on the table. Just as he thought it would be another peaceful day, the Miserere's loose hair turned bright red. Her calm gaze shifted abruptly, and the red lights representing the highest anomaly level began flashing in the room.
"Hive City No. 801, Star of Art. A world-class unknown urban eldritch creature has revived. An alert has been sent to the higher-ups of the Fixer Association. Observation system established. Anomaly Level: 5."
"Warning! Warning! Warning!"
Deep White Midnight's expression froze. The breadcrumbs at the corner of his mouth fell off.
Time returned to half a month ago.
Countless black spots danced across her retinas. The intense tinnitus and dizziness forced Xu Xiaoyou to open her eyes in pain. Seeing the unfamiliar ceiling, she hesitated for a moment before groaning and clutching her head to sit up. She spotted the silver-haired girl across from the bed.
Angelina had changed out of her hospital gown. Her arm rested against the bedpost, and bandages were wrapped around her waist. Her clear, slender figure was on full display, and her long legs were draped lazily over the edge of the bed. One could sense the power hidden beneath their lines.
"Where... am I?" Xu Xiaoyou asked weakly, supporting her forehead.
The sound of crowds outside was deafening. The coarse shouts of thugs from the street made Xu Xiaoyou certain that she was definitely not in the Star of Art. Upon hearing the roar of a large military weapon passing by, she hesitated for a moment, walked to the window, and pulled it open.
Pedestrians on the narrow street were being squeezed to the roadside. People wearing the house crest of a black raven on their shoulders shouted hoarsely at them,
driving away the onlookers and using riot batons to eliminate any dissent.
Three armored vehicles drove past side-by-side, followed by two military tanks. The heavy armor resembled beasts with savage auras, their ten-meter-long barrels extending forward as their treads rolled on. The main turret of a tank passed right by the fourth-floor window of her small building. Xu Xiaoyou was stunned.
The rumbling sound of machinery faded into the distance. As the steel behemoths—veritable land fortresses—disappeared at the end of her sight, Angelina's slow voice drifted from behind her:
"As you can see, we are now in Red Heaven."
Xu Xiaoyou took a few steps back and sat on the bed in a daze.
"What?"
"You failed to finish off the Siren King. Section 6 was completely wiped out. Did you really expect to stay in the Star of Art and wait for the Fixer Association to come knocking?" Angelina shot her a glance and said with a cold sneer.
She couldn't believe that she had woken up in another Hive City. The feeling of being in another lifetime gave Xu Xiaoyou a sense of unreality. She hurriedly opened her network account. When she saw the incredibly prominent zero in her account balance, Xu Xiaoyou's world collapsed. She sprawled out on the bed like a star.
Everything happening before her was real. She wasn't dreaming. She really had squandered her entire life savings on the resort island,
bankrupting herself and returning to square one overnight.
She was now a penniless pauper...
"Tang Xin... wait, where is Tang Xin now?"
Xu Xiaoyou suddenly thought of the blue-haired girl. What was her situation? Had she left the island and escaped danger?
An inexplicable sense of dread made her heart throb violently. Noticing her distress, Angelina was already prepared. She dropped a vermilion substance into a cup, propped up Xu Xiaoyou's body, and fed it to her with some plain water.
The intense fear and palpitation slowly receded. Xu Xiaoyou's voice was raspy. "What did you just feed me?"
"I don't know. The landlord here gave it to me, said to take it if symptoms of fear appear." Angelina shrugged.
"Now that things have come to this, let's just lay low for a while."
Rate on N.U.
