Chapter 244: Drinking Water

Inside the sewer tunnel beneath the city.

"Beep~ beep~."

"Squeak~ squeak!"

In the dim, damp environment, water drops occasionally fell, along with faint noises from rats fighting over territory.

Turbid wastewater flowed in the center of the tunnel, while narrow walkways above the water level on both sides facilitated workers clearing blockages and performing maintenance, and the corners where the walkways met the walls were overgrown with green moss.

?

Suddenly, the two rats gnawing at each other on the right walkway, as if they had discovered something, simultaneously stopped moving and turned their heads toward the bend at the tunnel's end.

Their mouths and whiskers twitched in a dazed stupor for several seconds, and then they saw a figure passing through the corner.

!

Upon realizing they were humans, the two rats immediately fled, putting aside their feud; by the time the person and his companion rounded the corner and arrived on this walkway, the rats' traces had vanished.

That person was Leon, with blond hair parted down the middle, wearing a "transparent visor" emitting a faint blue light from its edges, and holding a custom laser pistol.

His companion behind him wore the same type of "visor" and held a slightly smaller pistol—Ada.

The so-called "visor" is a disposable filter with holographic glasses functionality, exclusive to information agents.

With a large number of nanobots in their bodies, Leon and Ada basically need not worry about microbial infection.

The tunnel they were in was precisely the underground sewer tunnel of District 04, Arcadia Metropolis.

As for rodents like these, wherever humans have long resided, they will soon appear.

At this moment, Leon, following the route guidance displayed in the upper right corner of his visor, continued deeper beneath District 04 with Ada, heading to the area where the vomiting worker had been active.

The two proceeded steadily in silence, after passing a downhill slope, arriving at a location farther from the surface.

"Whoosh! Splatter!"

Suddenly, Leon heard some kind of animal ahead, as if it were wading through filthy wastewater, quickly running toward the walkway where they were.

Leon glanced at the upper left corner of his visor screen, which showed their straight-line distance to the surface was 24 meters, and the local time was 22:31.

Theoretically, no workers would be on duty or inspecting this sewer tunnel at this time.

Seeing this, Leon turned his head to look at Ada behind him.

"." The two nodded silently.

Then Leon stepped over the wastewater, easily jumped to the opposite walkway, and increased the distance between himself and Ada.

Immediately afterward, each raised their pistols aimed at the front "T"-shaped bend, focusing their spirits while waiting for that "animal" to appear.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The sound of flowing water became more distinct.

"Huff." The two also further regulated their breathing intervals to maintain optimal shooting condition.

Finally, the silhouette of that "animal" appeared in their field of view.

But a loud "Woof!" of a dog's bark completely shattered the tense atmosphere that was about to erupt.

It turned out to be a medium-sized stray dog with dirty fur, splashing about in the water as it ran back and forth playing.

Possibly because it was too engrossed in play, and the wastewater masked its scent, when it finally saw Leon and Ada, the stray dog only then realized that humans would be at this time in the "territory" it often frequented.

It then bared its teeth and barked once, then turned and ran.

"Heh." Watching the stray dog run off, Leon lowered his gun barrel and self-mockingly said: "I never thought we two would almost come to blows over a dog."

"But this also shows there's nothing particularly abnormal nearby, right?" Ada likewise gave a light chuckle.

"Also. Let's go."

"Okay."

Having finished their conversation, the two resumed coordinating and headed downward.

When they reached a point 45 meters below the surface, the area where those workers had previously operated, they finally detected some abnormalities.

This is an automatic recycling plant responsible for treating wastewater.

However, in the outer tunnel where they were, the wastewater had nearly ceased flowing, its color turning greenish and yellowish, resembling that worker's vomit.

Even without removing the visor, just looking at this scene one could guess how foul the smell must be.

"Hmm"

Ada half-crouched at the edge of the walkway, closely observing the wastewater conditions, then looked toward the forward sealed gate, murmured, and said to Leon standing beside her:

"Leon, did those workers just finish maintaining this place today?"

"Yes."

Leon likewise glanced at the gate and responded softly, though what he was staring at was the surveillance camera mounted above the gate.

Moreover, as his visor screen marked the surveillance camera according to his line of sight and performed a scan, the result was "damaged".

Having received this information, Leon lightly tapped Ada's right shoulder to signal her to quickly stand ready, and lowered his voice to say:

"It appears someone deliberately sabotaged the workers' repair results, gradually plunging District 04's—and even the entire metropolis's—underground system into paralysis, then attempting to spread some virus or bacteria, or even a microbial weapon."

Upon hearing that.

Ada solemnly rose, gripped her pistol, followed behind Leon, and slowly proceeded toward the end of their walkway, approaching the automatic door that could lead into the factory interior.

Arriving at the door.

The automatic door was tightly shut, and the terminal screen on the right-hand wall also displayed a red glow, indicating the door had likewise been manually locked.

Seeing these, Leon grew even more convinced that the abnormal event facing Arcadia leaned toward his earlier speculation.

Thus Leon waved his left hand at Ada, signaling her to stay alert to the surroundings and provide cover.

Meanwhile Leon took out the information agent's dedicated phone, uploaded the latest intelligence, and notified the Krieg 087 Regiment stationed at the northernmost side of the metropolis, ordering the 087th Regiment to prepare for possible combat.

After completing the intelligence upload and notifying the 087th Regiment, Leon placed his phone beside the terminal and initiated a hacking procedure on the automatic door.

Within ten-odd seconds, the terminal screen turned from red to green, indicating the phone had successfully unlocked the automatic door.

Seeing everything go smoothly, Leon put his phone away, but behind his visor his expression grew even graver; then, using his peripheral vision, he looked behind and reminded:

Ada, the situation inside the factory is unknown, so for the next operation we will try to continue gathering information without exposing ourselves, and the danger level is also unknown, so be mentally prepared.

"Don't worry." Ada lifted her hand to lightly smooth her scattered bangs, her tone calm and confident as she smiled at Leon.

We've been partners for decades—what kind of anomaly haven't we seen? Open the door, rookie.

Yeah.

Influenced by Ada's words, Leon also laughed and sighed, then without hesitation clenched his right hand into a fist and forcefully touched the terminal screen.

Swish-.

With the sound of the automatic door opening, the two firmly gripped their weapons and entered the factory without hindrance.

The interior passageway was even narrower, but the structure separated from the drainage channel meant they didn't have to worry about falling into the sewage.

As they passed a passageway with large observation windows on both sides, they saw that the sewage pool outside below was even more turbid and filthy.

Such a foul environment attracted swarms of hovering insects, and the pool walls were covered with dense, tiny, white insect egg cases.

Even the walkway beside the sewage pool began to sprout numerous holes, like fungal plants or organisms growing on rotting flesh.

Half-crouched behind the window, Leon and Ada observed closely and actually saw a creature resembling a "fish" but covered all over with pus-filled boils and writhing tentacles, swimming in the murky sewage.

Adding to the countless flying insects entering and exiting the "fungus," even these two battle-hardened individuals felt an urge to vomit upon seeing them.

Suppressing their discomfort, the two stood and continued forward, leaving this passageway whose visual impact was overly strong.

As they moved through the factory, they also discovered that the factory's sewage-filtering machines were all shut down, and many areas still bore traces of having been cleaned.

Finally.

The two passed through the entire factory unhindered and arrived at the exit at its end, before an automatic door marked above with the words "Leads to the main drainage channel."

Leon repeated the steps to crack the terminal, and while waiting he said to Ada: "Performing maintenance work in such an environment, no wonder that bar worker got so seriously ill."

Ada nodded in response and said: "Leon, the contamination below is so severe that the higher-ups of Sector 04 cannot possibly be unaware."

"What you mean is" Leon turned to face Ada and said: "Are the higher-ups of Sector 04 problematic?"

"I cannot rule out that possibility." Ada stated her speculation:

"Arcadia is far from humanity's center, and communications will also experience varying degrees of delay due to fluctuations in the Rift Space, so the company and UEG cannot monitor the situation here in real time.

Once the Public Security Bureau prepares a large-scale investigation, missing and death cases plummet rapidly; combined with what we just saw, everything can be clarified."

Hmm, you're right.

Leon, agreeing with Ada's view, saw the terminal screen turn green and then used his phone to upload the information that the higher-ups of Sector 04 might be problematic to the company and to the Kriegel 087 Unit.

After making preparations.

The two opened the automatic door and walked out of the factory into a more spacious tunnel.

Moreover, due to the factory's shutdown, the sewage level is noticeably lower than the upper tunnel.

When they reached the T-shaped turn at the end, they heard talking from the left, so they slowed their pace, approached the corner's stop-and-guard position, and listened carefully to the conversation.

"Ugh, I finish work during the day and still have to come here at night to stand guard, sigh." Only a guard-like person complained.

"Just bear with it; it won't be long before we no longer need to hide underground, and then we will let all of Arcadia know what true mercy and generosity are!"

Another guard spoke up to advise, his tone increasingly unhinged, as if he held an extreme, pathological belief in something.

Hearing the keywords "mercy" and "generosity," Leon's brows furrowed, because he had dealt with too many similar things before, and he instantly felt that this abnormal event might far exceed his and Ada's imagination.

Immediately, he took from the small tactical pouch strapped to his waist and perfectly covered by his shirt a metal ball smaller than an egg.

Leon pressed the red button on the metal ball, then gently placed it on the edge of the corner.

Immediately, the visor's screen displayed a fluctuation invisible to the naked eye, centered on the metal ball, rapidly rushing outward in all directions.

At the same time, the tunnel overhead map in the upper right of the screen became much clearer, and two red dots marked the two guards who were chatting outside Leon and Ada's field of view.

The pulse wave released by this metal ball is similar to the pulse scan of Thor's Hammer and the OriginalBody powered armor.

But its pulse range is far less than that of the powered armor, only able to scan a 35-meter radius, and it is a disposable device.

However, this is already sufficient for Leon and Ada.

Upon learning that only those two guards were nearby, Leon pointed with his left hand toward the opposite passageway and swung twice toward the left corner, and Ada, understanding the gesture, nodded in response.

The silent conversation ended.

Leon stepped back two steps, then surged forward, running past the sewage and leaping onto the opposite passageway.

????

The two guards' attention was directly drawn by Leon's actions.

But just as the guards were about to raise their pulse rifles and shoot Leon, they saw two "red lights" flash.

"Thud." Two sounds.

The guards didn't even know what had happened before their bodies went limp and they collapsed to the ground, and each had a small, pierced, burnt hole at the center of their foreheads.

The one who killed the guards was Ada, who took advantage of the opening created by Leon drawing their aim and made a precise shot.

Having cooperated to neutralize the threat, they hurried to the location of the two corpses.

Upon examining the corpses, they found that the more deranged guard had a pallid complexion like the vomiting bar worker, and fine pus-filled bumps also grew on the back of his neck, behind his ears, etc.

After uploading the corpses' photos and the latest information, Leon stood up, looked toward the automatic door leading to the main drainage channel, and sighed:

"This abnormal event is indeed a contagious disease of the mind and thought."

"An otherworldly space?" Ada echoed.

Leon walked to the terminal on the right side of the automatic door and said: "The current information is insufficient to prove it's an otherworldly space, but my intuition tells me that Arcadia's ordeal is inseparable from the evil god of the otherworld."

"How did the company respond?" Ada asked, walking alongside Leon.

"The White Empress's reply stated that support is already en route, with the fastest unit reaching Arcadia in ten hours.

I hope the severity of the incident will not exceed our and the company's expectations."

After Leon finished speaking, he reached out and touched the terminal screen, opening this automatic door that had once been guarded.

Passing through the door, they arrived at a lifting platform used for waiting on engineering work, an open-structured platform whose underside is the main drainage channel.

Enjoy! This is the nectar bestowed by my lord!

Thank my lord!

My lord is benevolent!

From below came waves of cheering.

The two kept close as they neared the outer edge of the fence; looking down, they saw that on both sides of a large drainage channel no different from an underground river, people were packed.

Using the mask's screen for a rough scan, it showed the number was at least over a thousand, and the figure kept rising.

These people varied in age, wore different clothing, had different occupations, and there were even quite a few police officers.

What shocked Leon and Aida even more was that these thousands of people were actually fighting for the chance to drink "water".

(End of chapter)