Chapter 200 - 18th Floor Hidden (5)

After leaving the Revolutionary Army's base, I headed for Doug City using the information I'd been given.

There was no need to bother with Portals or any other means of transportation.

With the Warp Device, all I needed was a map to work out the distance and direction.

Since the civilization here was more advanced than Earth's, all the location data I needed was easy to look up. I reached my destination in no time.

Doug City was one of the many cities within the Empire's vast territory.

The man I needed to meet was named Christine.

He was a well-known real estate tycoon in the city who apparently collected all sorts of stolen goods as a hobby.

Kagan had also given me some basic information about him, including his background and address, so finding him wasn't difficult.

His home was an elegant, old-fashioned mansion in the heart of the city.

As I watched the mansion from nearby, an aircraft resembling a hovercraft happened to land at the entrance.

A middle-aged man stepped out, accompanied by a bodyguard.

One look at his face confirmed that he was Christine.

I followed him into the mansion with Concealment active.

“Christine-ssi?”

I dropped Concealment and spoke to him.

Christine jumped at my sudden appearance.

His bodyguard hurriedly tried to aim his gun at me.

Before he could, I snatched the gun away and crushed it.

The bodyguard stared at the shattered weapon, stunned for a moment, then drew a Laser Sword from his wrist and swung it at me.

Crunch!

I caught the Laser Sword's blade in my bare hand and shattered that too.

With the bodyguard frozen awkwardly in place, I spoke to Christine.

“I have no intention of harming you. There's something I'd like to ask. Answer me, and I'll leave peacefully.”

Christine swallowed hard and slowly nodded.

“You acquired a relic of the Ancient God Ram a few years ago, didn't you?”

“...? Y-Yes, I did.”

“I'd like to see it for myself. Where is it?”

Christine looked flustered as he replied.

“I don't have the Relic of Ram anymore. It was stolen...”

“Stolen?”

“I-It's true. A treasure hunter robbed my mansion three years ago, and the Relic of Ram was among the things he stole. Some people in the city should have heard about it, so please ask around. You'll see I'm telling the truth.”

I smacked my lips in disappointment.

If the Relic of Ram really was a Divine Artifact, I should have sensed its Divinity as soon as I got near the mansion.

But I couldn't sense even a trace of it...

Even if Christine was lying, the relic would have to be a fake, not the genuine Divine Artifact I was looking for.

Still, he didn't seem to be lying, so I asked another question.

“Do you know who stole the relic?”

“Well, I'm still trying to track the thief down myself... There's a notorious treasure hunter named Schnilts. He's by far the most likely culprit.”

“Please give me that information.”

“Pardon?”

“Give me everything you have on this Schnilts. I want everything you've found out so far.”

Once I'd gotten the information from Christine, I left.

Using that information, I traveled to another city and began searching for the treasure hunter who had supposedly stolen the relic.

But...

“T-The Relic of Ram? I sold that antique on the Black Market ages ago! I really don't know where it ended up!”

I'd finally tracked the bastard down and caught him, only for him to tell me he'd already sold it off.

With only another scrap of a lead to go on, I resumed my search for the relic.

I found myself wandering through an unfamiliar world, so different from Earth.

Along the way, I came to understand this world better and see firsthand what life here was like.

Just as Patriot had said, this was a world with almost nothing to dream of or hope for.

There were the wars the Empire had started, and the Plants that ground people up for use as raw materials.

People from defeated nations weren't the only victims. Citizens of the Empire weren't spared either.

Powerless ordinary people were routinely taken away if their Astral Affinity exceeded a certain threshold, regardless of the circumstances. Those with power became loyal dogs of the Imperial Family to escape the same fate.

Apparently, the corporations still in business were the ones that had taken the lead in helping select people for use as material, as well as manufacturing and supplying the equipment needed to run the Plants.

In the tightly controlled cities, most people seemed to have no life left in their eyes. That had nothing to do with the fact that parts of their bodies were mechanical.

The areas farther from the city centers were particularly dystopian. Resources were scarce, crime and fighting were rampant among the people themselves, and corpses littered the streets like garbage.

Apparently, it had taken only a few decades after the Emperor went mad to turn the world into this hellhole.

I was ambushed or followed a few times myself.

That was what I got for poking around in so many places while digging for information. Of course, taking down my attackers or shaking off my pursuers was easy, so none of it posed a problem.

Anyway, another week passed like that.

I had now spent almost fifteen days in this Hidden world.

- This world is nothing but an empty shell anyway. Why are you dragging this out?

The Demon King spoke.

- Would it not be far more efficient to use any means necessary to beat the information out of everyone in power in this world? Starting with the Emperor.

...Well, maybe I should start considering that.

Besides tracking down the Relic of Ram, I'd also been asking around whenever I could about other objects connected to gods, but I'd had little success.

The civilization here was so advanced that people seemed to have little interest in myths and legends, even as entertainment. That was probably why.

If the relic I was after turned out to be a dud, I might have to take the Demon King's advice.

No matter how much havoc I wreaked or what else I did... the fact remained that this wasn't a real world anyway.

I had to try everything I could before leaving.

I looked up at the enormous skyscraper towering in front of me and muttered.

“I hope this one's a winner...”

This was Pledemroid.

It was a pharmaceutical company, apparently one of the Empire's major corporations.

My search for the Relic of Ram had begun with Christine, and after following its trail from place to place, I'd ended up here.

One of Pledemroid's directors, a man named Tangkang, apparently shared Christine's hobby of collecting ancient relics.

According to my information, he'd bought the Relic of Ram after it had made the rounds on the Black Market.

I entered Pledemroid's headquarters with Concealment active.

Quite a few cyborg guards were stationed inside the building.

It didn't take long to find Director Tangkang.

“How are the experiments to boost Astral Activity going?”

I found him in an office on one of the top floors, receiving a report from a subordinate.

“We're still in the 49% range. We estimate it will take at least another year to meet our target and clear the clinical trials.”

“Are you kidding me? That's far too long.”

“Sir? Yes, we'll do everything we can...”

Leaning back in his chair, Tangkang idly picked at his nails as he spoke.

“If we want to speed things up, we need to run more tests. Tell the collection team to bring in another hundred test subjects. I don't care if every last one of them drops dead. Ignore the side effects and keep burning through them.”

“Understood.”

“We don't have the luxury of worrying about every little detail right now. If we fail to cater to the Imperial Family's tastes, this company could go under in an instant. You understand?”

The subordinate bowed and left the office.

Tangkang swiveled his chair around, sighed deeply, and gazed out the window at the view below.

I dropped Concealment and spoke.

“Director Tangkang.”

His breath caught.

Without turning around, he slowly raised both hands and spoke with feigned composure.

“Don't do anything rash. Hear me out first. Whatever you've been promised, I'll pay you double. Did Credi put you up to this? You can't trust that lowlife loan shark to keep his word.”

Did he think I was some kind of assassin?

“Think carefully about the consequences of killing me. It won't be worth...”

“I'm not here to kill you.”

“...Then why are you here?”

“There's something I want to ask. Cooperate, and I'll leave without any...”

Light suddenly flashed from the back of his hand, which was facing me.

A laser beam shot straight at my head.

Of course, it had no chance of hitting me. The beam only punched through the office wall.

“...!”

Tangkang looked horrified when he saw that I was already standing right beside him.

Crash!

The door shattered, and guards immediately stormed into the room.

I couldn't be bothered fighting them.

I grabbed Tangkang by the back of the neck, smashed through the window, and leaped outside.

I used Air Walk to shoot up into the sky, rising above the clouds in an instant.

Tangkang gasped.

Tangkang went deathly pale as he looked down. I spoke to him again.

“Answer my questions honestly and you'll be fine. Otherwise, you can imagine what happens.”

“W-What do you want...?”

“You bought the Relic of Ram on the Black Market, didn't you? Where is it now?”

Tangkang stared blankly at me, then asked a completely unexpected question.

“A-Are you with the Imperial Family...?”

“What?”

“I already handed everything over, so why are you doing this...? I gave you the Relic of Ram back then, and I didn't hold anything back! I-I swear on my life, I've never breathed a word about it to anyone!”

What was he talking about? The Imperial Family?

“I'm not with the Imperial Family.”

“Pardon?”

“Explain what you just said. Are you saying the Imperial Family took the Relic of Ram from you? When? Why?”

Tangkang's eyes darted around.

He didn't seem inclined to answer, so I let the pressure of my Divinity wash over him.

It was similar to the Demon King's interrogations, which etched fear into the soul.

“Uh... Uh... I don't know...”

Tangkang spoke in sheer terror.

“I-I don't know why. About a year ago, the Imperial Guard showed up out of nowhere and took it all without any explanation... That's all.”

After hearing his answer, I brought Tangkang back down to the ground and left.

Once again, the Relic of Ram had long since passed into someone else's hands.

The Imperial Family's involvement was a bit unexpected, though.

...Had the Imperial Family seized the Relic of Ram because the Emperor wanted it? What for?

I didn't know, but I felt a little more hopeful.

If the most powerful person in this world had made a point of taking it, then perhaps it wasn't a fake Divine Artifact after all. Maybe there really was something to it.

So I'd have to meet the Emperor in person after all.

The Imperial Palace was in Arkin, the Empire's capital.

I took out my Terminal and opened the map, intending to warp there.

But then...

“...?”

There was a message on my Terminal, even though I hadn't expected to hear from anyone. It had arrived just ten minutes earlier.

- It's Patriot. I'll get straight to the point, Kim Seo-hyeon.

The Revolutionary Army is launching an all-out assault on the Imperial Palace. By the time you get this message, the operation will probably already be underway.

I can't begin to describe how desperate things are. We're launching such a reckless operation on such short notice because we have no other choice. The Commander just sent us information about what the Emperor is planning.

The countless lives sacrificed in the Plants so far were just a drop in the bucket. The Emperor has used those sacrifices to complete some kind of device, and he's about to activate it to sacrifice most of the Runexian population. If we can't stop him, this world is finished.

This world is dangerous, so get back to your own world right away if you can. That's what I wanted to tell you. Our time together was brief, but I enjoyed it.

“...”

Things were taking another ominous turn.

As soon as I finished reading the message, I activated Radiant Incarnation.

Whoooosh!

I flew toward the Imperial Palace. At the speed of light.

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