Chapter 57: City of Ruins
For the next few days, Lonis worked alongside Elus.
Although they had seemingly defeated Hoffa and Silent Night, the cleanup operation for the City of Ruins had only just begun.
This was because it wasn’t an abandoned city; in fact, many survivors of the Apocalypse Independent Kingdom still lived here. The City of Ruins was divided into four areas from top to bottom: the Dome District, the Market District, the Industrial District, and the most horrifying of all, the Exile District.
The Dome District was naturally Hoffa’s former residence. Even after a thousand years, the royal palace and its furnishings were still grand. From the Hall of the Throne at the very top, one could overlook the entire Sea of Ice Lava.
The Market District was the general residential area where most of the “strong individuals” of the former Apocalypse Independent Kingdom lived. This place was once bustling with people, with many houses dotted around.
However, most of the houses had now fallen into disrepair.
Only one in ten rooms was occupied, and the occupants were not descendants of the strong individuals but rather the descendants of the lower-tier personnel of the Apocalypse Independent Kingdom.
…
“Elus, this place looks like a ghost town, doesn’t it?”
“Hmph-hmm, naturally. Although the path to becoming strong in the Apocalypse Independent Kingdom existed, it had a fatal weakness, you know?” Elus said with a slight smile as she walked with Lonis along the street that stood on the rocks.
“What weakness…”
“Well, it’s that their genes underwent significant changes, making it impossible for them to reproduce stable offspring. Those born were either monsters or idiots.”
“!”
“Our genes have undergone hundreds of millions of years of evolution to reach this stable level. While artificial mutations might grant immense power, they cannot last.”
“To think it would be like this…”
“Hmph-hmm, isn’t it ironic? As time passed, most of those strong individuals have died of old age. Those who have survived are the lower-tier D-class Personnel.”
…
…
Along the way in the Market District, Lonis also saw many stone tablets.
Although they appeared somewhat ancient, they were still meticulously maintained… It seemed Hoffa was a very traditional person, at least with a great nostalgia for the Independent Kingdom.
The City of Ruins had no shops; all goods were transported by supply elevators from the Industrial District and then distributed uniformly.
Therefore, the residents of the City of Ruins didn’t need to look for work; they generally followed their parents’ professions.
Although this description might not be entirely appropriate…
The residents of the City of Ruins truly had very little pressure.
There was ample housing, no worries about paying rent, and no concerns about food or safety… Due to their low strength, these ordinary people didn’t even need to serve in the military; they only needed to perform periodic labor.
…
Looking at this scene, Lonis felt a bit emotional:
“I can somewhat understand… why the Eight-Tailed Fox said that the original intention of the Apocalypse Independent Kingdom was good.”
“A society where class is divided by strength inherently possesses objective rationality. After all, those strong individuals were also protecting these weaker people from being plundered by other strong individuals, so it was natural for them to collect some protection fees.”
“Mm…”
“The elevator is here, let’s go down now.”
…
Supporting Elus, Lonis also entered the elevator. Following the passage all the way down, the two arrived at the Industrial District of the City of Ruins.
This was the core of the City of Ruins, and its starting point.
…
But the moment she stepped out of the elevator, Lonis was stunned.
“Wh-what is that!!!”
…
Because it was an incredibly vast underground space.
This should be located within the foundation of the City of Ruins. There were no lights, but the lava illuminated the space brilliantly… Light blue ice lava flowed in from a pipe on one side and slowly flowed out from the other.
And standing in the center of the space was a colossal machine. It resembled a massive factory densely packed with metal spirals, equipped with various scaffolding, where many workers were constantly moving, attempting to fix something.
…
Seeing Lonis’s shocked expression, Elus cast a curious glance.
“Oh? Lonis, have you never seen this place before?”
“How could I have seen this place!”
“Well, it seems the idiot little maid died very early. This machine is actually a product of the previous epoch, also known as the Garbage Disposal Center.”
“G-Garbage Disposal Center!”
“Yes, in the epoch you lived in, wasn’t the world’s population nearing saturation? Over 10 billion people brought a massive amount of garbage, and the method of dealing with most of it was compression and burial on the spot.”
“…”
“And this large underground cavern was once the world’s largest landfill. And this machine is the crystallization of human technology, a garbage recycling device.”
“Ah? Elus means to say… that the entire large underground cavern was accumulated because of human garbage from the past?”
“Not entirely, but at least this place is. This garbage processor, combined with the power of Han Yuan, was the core supporting the development of the Apocalypse Independent Kingdom back then.”
“!”
“So, if we extrapolate from this, the very first founders of the Apocalypse Independent Kingdom were probably descendants of garbage collectors, weren’t they?”
Learning this knowledge, Lonis was speechless.
In fact, if each person produced 1.2 kilograms of garbage per day, the entire world would produce 10 million tons per day… and this did not include industrial and construction waste. For example, when Lonis was still alive, the entire world produced 500 million tons of garbage annually.
If human garbage continued to accumulate…
…
“The City of Ruins actually has such a history…”
“Hmph-hmm, so the City of Ruins didn’t become the City of Ruins because it was abandoned, but because it was a ruin from the beginning. Well, now we need to go to the Exile District. We musn’t keep Princess Cécile waiting too long.”
“Princess Cécile?”
“Of course. I also know that you, an idiot maid, can’t protect me. So I had Princess Cécile go there to stand by first.”
…
…
What exactly is the Exile District?
If you ask the native inhabitants of the City of Ruins this question, they would surely feel a chill down their spine and beg for mercy on their knees.
Because the Exile District is the most terrifying place in the entire city, and even the king of the City of Ruins, Hoffa, found this place to be a great headache.
In the past, the Apocalypse Independent Kingdom had many strong individuals who had modified their genes, each possessing strength comparable to Rank 7 individuals, almost on par with the blessed of the Rainbow Abyss.
However…
Why are there only Silent Leaf, the Minotaur, and Mortac, who is two-timing, left among the usable generals in the City of Ruins now?
Because those strong individuals either died of old age or completely went mad over time.
Ordinary crazy people are already terrifying, let alone powerful madmen.
They could destroy the world and slaughter the innocent.
So Hoffa could only establish an Exile District and throw all the mad people in there… And if anyone committed a serious crime, they would also be thrown in there.
Thus, over the years, the Exile District became the most terrifying place in the city.
