Chapter 504: The Land of Hope for the Cursed Children

In the world of Black Bullet, only the areas surrounded by Monoliths are the final settlements for humanity in this world.

Because of the great war between humanity and Gastrea, the surviving regions of the Tokyo Area were consolidated and subsequently divided into forty-three districts. Starting with the central area of Tokyo as District One, the district numbers gradually increase as one moves outward, up to District Forty-three. Beyond District Forty-three lies the dangerous zone where Gastrea are active, which is also the area where Civil Security Officers operate.

The lower the district number, the higher its level of safety. In a sense, the status of the people living in those areas is also higher. As for the powerful elites in Tokyo, the district numbers where they reside are basically all single digits.

As for the outskirts of the Tokyo Area, that is a place where no one is willing to live. After all, that location is the closest place in the entire Tokyo Area to the Gastrea territories. Although the Monoliths have the effect of blocking Gastrea, this is not absolute; after all, the Monoliths are inanimate, while Gastrea are living, and even single-digit districts have had Gastrea break into them, let alone the outer areas. Under these circumstances, people in the outer areas naturally try their hardest to squeeze into the inner areas. Consequently, the population in the outer areas has naturally become increasingly sparse. In general, the outer areas are effectively no different from ruins.

However, in District Thirty-nine, which is an outer area, there is a unique zone.

The original ruins have completely disappeared, replaced by buildings constructed not long ago. Judging by the style of these buildings, they all possess different functions, and from a distance, it looks like a small town. The town is surrounded by a circle of black walls, and strange patterns are engraved upon them; if one looks closely, one can even see extremely faint light flowing through these patterns from time to time. On the only large gate of the wall hangs a plaque, upon which is a "Cloud" character written by Lingyun himself.

When residents of the Tokyo Area see this small town, a trace of disgust and surprise, as well as a trace of fear, always flashes in their eyes. This small town is the fruit of Lingyun's labor over the past year, and it is also an absolutely safe residence he built for the Cursed Children of this world, an existence referred to by the Cursed Children as Hope Land.

Of course, in this process, it was not just Lingyun working alone; the girls by Lingyun's side were all summoned by him to contribute to the construction of this small town.

During the construction of this small town, there was naturally no shortage of various people coming to obstruct it, and some extremists even wanted to blow this place up with bombs. Toward these people, Lingyun has always been polite before resorting to force; he would talk to those who could be reasoned with, and for those who could not, he naturally would not show mercy—crippling those who needed to be crippled, and killing those who needed to be killed. Of course, Lingyun naturally welcomes those who want to come for revenge; at worst, he would just have to make a move a few more times. To be honest, in this world, Lingyun has truly never feared anyone; apart from the Stage Five he has never met, the number of Stage Four Gastrea that have fallen by Lingyun's hands has long exceeded the number of fingers on one's hands.

In the face of Lingyun's iron-fisted methods, those with ulterior motives had to restrain their little schemes. After all, one only has one life, and none of them wanted to suddenly die in some accident. There had been precedents for this; as long as Lingyun made up his mind to kill someone, no one could be an exception.

The small town established by Lingyun not only accepts Cursed Children but also accepts a portion of people who hold goodwill toward Cursed Children and possess good character, although the number of such people is extremely rare. With the help of these people and Lingyun's coordination, the small town entered a state of normal operation half a year after construction began.

Over ninety percent of the Cursed Children in the Tokyo Area have been gathered into the small town by Lingyun. Moreover, this scope is still constantly expanding. The person responsible for gathering the Cursed Children is the first batch of Cursed Children Lingyun gathered at the very beginning, and they are also the first batch of students Lingyun personally taught in this world.

Because the persecution suffered by Cursed Children in this world is truly too severe, most Cursed Children have a high degree of vigilance toward others. Yet, as fellow Cursed Children, it is easy for them to bridge the distance when talking to those Cursed Children who have not yet entered the town. Under these circumstances, the operation to gather the Cursed Children did not encounter much resistance from the Cursed Children themselves. As for the external resistance, it was basically resolved by Lingyun in the shadows.

"Hey, has anyone seen Big Brother?" In the town's school, a little girl asked the girl beside her.

"I haven't seen him either; it seems Big Brother has been very busy these past few days!" another little girl said.

"But I heard Sister Saeko say that Big Brother has already returned!" The little girl's eyes suddenly lit up, and she said to her companions nearby. "Big Brother must be playing hide-and-seek with us; let's go find Big Brother now!"

"Hide-and-seek?" The other little girls looked at each other, seemingly pondering whether the little girl's words were true.

"By the way, the first person to find Big Brother can get the special lollipop Big Brother gave me!" A sly smile appeared on the little girl's face.

"Really?" The girls present all showed excited expressions; the special lollipops produced by Lingyun are extremely rare in the town, mainly used to reward some Cursed Children who have performed outstandingly.

"That's right!" The girl took a lollipop out of her small bag; on the candy wrapper was a special logo, which was the unique mark of the special lollipops produced by Lingyun.

"Alright, it's a deal!" The girls present all showed joyful smiles, then quickly scattered to start searching for Lingyun's figure.

On the roof of the town school, Lingyun was lying there, half-closing his eyes and basking in the sun.

"Lingyun, why are you hiding here again?" A tall figure appeared beside Lingyun.

"Is that you, Saeko?" Seeing the purple-haired mature woman beside him, Lingyun shifted his body to make a small space. "Is the kendo class over?"

"Mm, those children are all learning very diligently!" Saeko sat down beside Lingyun. "However, for over a year now, I've rarely seen you looking so leisurely!"

"Well, the town has been operating normally for half a year; provided there are no special circumstances, I can already delegate authority!" Lingyun waved his hand and said. "Besides, I just returned from the International Initiator Supervising Organization; things over there have also been settled. After tossing and turning for so long, it's time to take a break!"

"That's true, you should also take a rest!" Saeko said.

Over the past year, how much effort Lingyun has put into this small town, Busujima Saeko has seen it all.

"By the way, it seems no one has snuck into the town this month." Busujima Saeko said.

"That's normal, isn't it? After all, every person who snuck in has vanished into thin air, and before they vanished, they didn't even transmit a shred of information. Under these circumstances, it would truly be strange if anyone still came to throw their life away. After all, the unknown is the most terrifying thing!" Lingyun said.

"The Cursed Children of the Tokyo Area should basically all be here by now. Looking at them now, and thinking back to how they were seven or eight months ago, there really has been a heaven-defying change!" Watching the many little girls running back and forth on the playground below, Busujima Saeko wore a warm smile on her face.

"Indeed, but I think some people should be unable to sit still anymore!" Lingyun said.

"Are you talking about Tendo Kikunojo, who has been working against you in the shadows?" Busujima Saeko asked.

"That's right, that person hates the existence of Cursed Children so much he wishes to eradicate them as quickly as possible. Over the past year, he has lost quite a bit of power at my hands, and even his entire family has suffered no small blow. I think this time he shouldn't be playing small tricks anymore, but rather confronting me head-on!" Lingyun said lazily. "This morning, I received an invitation letter from the ruler of the Tokyo Area, Seitenshi; this is nine times out of ten the other party's maneuver!"

"Well, to be able to commit such cruel acts against these cute, innocent children, it's no wonder Nagato has been saying she wants to blast his head off with a cannon!" Busujima Saeko said.

"Please, I beg you not to bring that troublesome lolicon to this place again; I spent quite a bit of effort to calm down the chaos from that time!" Thinking of that headache-inducing lolicon, the corner of Lingyun's eye couldn't help but twitch.

"Ahem, according to Kirito, she is currently offering a high bounty at the Traveler Alliance headquarters for the coordinates of this world!" Busujima Saeko said.

"I knew it!" Lingyun slapped his forehead with one hand.

"Don't worry, she won't be able to find this place!" Ruoxi popped out from the Void and pounced on Lingyun. "After this world connected with the Cloud Realm, the world's coordinates were temporarily concealed by me; just by relying on those people from the Traveler Alliance, they won't be able to find it!"

"Phew, that's good!" Lingyun let out a long breath, then hugged Ruoxi in his arms.