Mobile Cities—the biggest difference between Terra and other worlds.
This super black technology is the complete crystallization of Terra's human wisdom. It's hard to imagine that a world where slavery and tribal Alliances still exist, and even cultists practice live human sacrifices, would have such an outrageous technology.
Imagine a mountain, one to two hundred meters high, covering tens or even hundreds of square kilometers, slowly moving across the ground on tracks and rollers, and even capable of being assembled and disassembled... Goki isn't some bumpkin; he's currently affiliated with Rhine Lab, one of the world's most advanced biological research institutes, and he's seen plenty of cutting-edge technology.
Even though he spends most of his time accompanying Saria and Silence caring for the children, and chatting with Ptilopsis, Mayer, and Magellan, he's learned a lot about Rhine Lab's top research.
In his dream world now, there's a Mipo robot that keeps the Nona doll company and is always charging. Its only function, besides bumping into people, is to turn into the Third Bomb.
Although it looks simple, the truth is that it, like the three robots on Rhodes Island, is considered cutting-edge Terra technology. Besides its outrageous AI, it doesn't seem much different from Earth technology.
Even if Skadi's strength is absurd and beyond all reason, she couldn't push a Mobile City block, yet humans have indeed created a way to move "mountains."
If "The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains" was a god's grace to Mortals, then Mobile Cities are clearly Mortals' usurpation of divine power—even if humans don't know what a great undertaking they've created.
And, of course, the creation of any great undertaking requires someone to sacrifice for it, to become the "cost" at all costs.
Hot, stuffy, scorching.
While the finals of the Knight Tournament were in full swing, beneath the surface of the Mobile City, or more precisely, beneath its "deck," the temperature was even hotter than a summer noon.
Between the narrow, purely metal corridors, a dim reddish light glowed, making the entire underground pathway feel like a burning inferno.
But one thing was certain: the only thing absent here was fire.
And in this Hell-like environment, four figures were moving swiftly.
"Ugh, so dry, no moisture..."
Skadi, wearing her hunter's uniform, her hand on the hilt of the sword on her back, followed closely behind Goki. She felt as if she had returned to the Foehn Temple in Sargon. As a child who grew up in the sea, she hated dry air the most.
"Water's coming, water's coming, it's already prepared—if you're hungry, I even brought chocolate. Eat it quickly now, we'll probably be fighting soon."
Next to her, Goki skillfully pulled out various foods and drinks from his dream, stuffing them into Little Orca's mouth. While watching Platinum negotiate with a worker, he expertly observed the surrounding facilities.
This is the "underground" of the Mobile City.
Currently, their position is roughly on the twentieth underground level.
A movable mountain cannot possibly be solid inside; instead, it has winding, intricate passages like an ant's nest, with tens of thousands of workers traversing each section.
Gone is the dazzling prosperity of the neon city above; this is the unseen bottom layer of the entire city.
Goki and Skadi's group, however, needed to go deeper—their destination was outside the Mobile City, but it was enveloped by the entire Mobile City, making external entry impossible; they could only descend through the interior.
Old Man Marse and his Surveillance Court Knights had already secured an area and begun evacuating the workers.
Although the Knights were strong, Goki still refused their participation—Goki didn't know what outrageous things he might encounter further down, but he was certain that if something monstrous escaped, it would be an absolute disaster—with Skadi there, she was worth a thousand armies; the Knights still needed to protect the people.
Besides Platinum, who was leading the way, Goki only brought Skadi. Although Gravel also wanted to go, Goki, after much persuasion, made her stay home.
After all, when he was a Doctor, Goki could use Gravel to block purple arrows, but when facing his wife, Goki had to block the purple arrows for her!
"Yes, Sir Knight, going down from here leads directly to the bottom work area—you must have a mission, I dare not ask, but the dust concentration along the way is very high, please be sure to wear a filter mask, and if anyone underground asks, please don't say it was me."
Under a gas mask with obvious damage and cracks, a broad-shouldered, stout, muscular Caudus man with a somewhat mischievous smile wiped his hands on his work clothes, accepted the money handed to him by the silver-haired Nona, and earnestly pointed out a long, unprotected ladder descending downwards.
His body was covered with jagged Originium crystals, and he consciously kept his distance from others. In his hand, he held a large shovel, half-filled with sparkling black crystals—any fool could tell this stuff was highly radioactive.
These black crystals are low-purity Originium raw ore, a byproduct of high-purity Originium extraction.
Originium ore, like crude oil, is a highly complex mixture; only after refining can different types of Originium be separated for various uses, while low-purity raw ore is used as fuel.
Behind the Caudus worker was a large carbon alloy blast furnace, constantly roaring, with a dark furnace chamber emitting a continuous reddish glow—that was the explosion produced by the release of Originium energy.
Each primitive energy burst would release all the Originium energy and radiation, and then... don't ask, it's just boiling water.
These are the "boilermen," the drivers of the Mobile City. They are like coal shovelers on Earth, providing power to this city one shovel at a time—but coal doesn't have strong radiation.
Although in recent years, the Grand Knight Territory has also acquired several advanced automated Originium blast furnaces, the capitalists calculated that this new Columbia technology, while beneficial to worker health, increased costs by a few percentage points, so they unhesitatingly continued to choose the old-fashioned reactors.
After all, for Infected who would die of exhaustion in Ursus mines or suddenly die in Victoria's steam factories, the Kazimierz Company at least offered them a choice.
"Sigh..."
Following behind Platinum, Goki couldn't help but sigh, seeing these Infected who were still working even during the Knight Tournament finals.
"Alright, stop sighing. I've been in this city longer than you and seen more of what goes on underground. This kind of thing is common—you should go, take my advice, and quickly get your co-workers to run. Something big is about to happen underground."
Platinum had already changed back into her handsome assassin's outfit. After skillfully completing the negotiation, she turned and shrugged at Goki and Skadi.
Although she wasn't very willing to come along, after all, when you eat someone's food, you're beholden to them, and when you take someone's money, your hands are tied. Assassins value integrity the most, so Platinum ultimately became a member of the three-person team.
Of course, another reason was... this guy paid too much! Her Siesta beachfront villa, her dream of financial freedom and early retirement, was not far off!
A black card, a black card! How could an external affairs specialist for a Columbia company possibly have such a super credit card with an unlimited overdraft limit, usable in both Victoria and Lungmen?! He must have latched onto some rich sugar mommy!
[Calm down, Platinum. The battle is the key now. You are an independent and self-reliant Kazimierz female assassin of the new era. You can't think about being kept by someone just because this guy is tall, handsome, capable, good at housework, rich, and has a good personality!]
Although her heart was in turmoil, Platinum maintained her usual cool and calm exterior, quickly walking to the temporary passage the worker had pointed out.
The passage led straight down, pitch black and bottomless, with only a row of rusted metal ladders beside it. Even Platinum, who often scaled walls and rooftops, felt a bit of acrophobia.
"We're about sixty meters from the bottom of the city. This ventilation shaft goes straight underground, we'd best just—huh?"
Before she finished speaking, Platinum felt a small hand wrap around her slender waist, and her petite body was lifted into the air.
"Hey, Goki, what are you pervert—"
Subconsciously, Platinum thought Goki had picked him up. Just as she was about to turn and glare at him (because she couldn't beat him), she found that Goki was also in the same position, held by Skadi's arm around his waist.
"We're in a hurry, let's go! Skadi, give her a show!"
"Alright!"
"Eh—Waaahhhhh!"
------------------------
There are already 70+ chapters available on my Patreon!
The story will continue to update 1 chapter per day on Webnovel,
while early access chapters are posted on Patreon.
Maybe it's not worth it today but it could be later
[email protected]/Kazenova223
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"