/ Adrian
Liang takes me down the stairs once more. The whole thing is just endless stairs of the metallic conundrum. The whole thing is a whole lot of a mess where people are not people. How can they treat those who are even made in a lab like a damn lifestock? That's absolutely insane.
I am aware that what I did with the AIO in the parallel - I did to manipulate the population and access their respective alterations to brain. To monitor the whole lot and to see if anyone is even faintly trying to be up to no good. Sure, a whole thing is a damn authoritarian dictatorship, though I am well aware that the system was monitored by other people. The whole life they lived was rather peaceful, as long as they would not go out of the bubble they lived in. Yeah, I was bad like that.
The magical realm? I needed the damn information and the access. I needed to see how things were and used people. Used magical beings, had under me those who were on par with endless killers and psychopaths, but here… Here is a situation I could not have thought up even in a million years in the system. Just how twisted humans are in actuality?
Liang opens the door and pulls me in. Almost dragging me, as my feet stumble lifelessly.
The whole area unfolding felt like it was giving me hope. People! There were actual people walking around!
There's homes, there's people, kids, animals…
Liang caught my eyes looking at the scenery, then shook his head. What? Why? Why?!
Then we walked further - endless farms here. All sorts of animals are grown here. From typical pigs and cows to all sorts of birds, even felines, canines, some lizards, insects… What is this? Animal farm?
Humans in here - a whole lot of them with both adults and kids, all seem somewhat alright…
Liang pulls my mask down a bit, the smell that was lesser before hit my nostrils - a rather foul smell of excrement. I winced my face, as the smell got to me. Liang held my hand, as he pulled me further in - seemed like a distant similarity to town square…
I kept noticing the farm-like environment. How people were preoccupied taking care of the animals, how they were cleaning up, how the whole thing was like a busy village, then the creepy feeling washed over me. Liang pushed me into a corner near the square, pulling up the mask, so that my face would be covered once again. Then he raised his hand to gesture to me to keep quiet. Why, though? After all these insane floors, what evil could dwell in here?
Some were gathering at the square. Around 15 military personnel stood on a podium. Around a few hundred people gathered around the podium. The military, one bulky man stood above all others - somehow menacing. I was not sure why… But he reminded me of what I've seen in the side rooms of the military level - what they did to people. What would have this one done, I wonder? What atrocities would he have pulled off? His face was that of a heartless, soulless bastard. Just absolute cold blood. Executing orders, like a well trained, indoctrinated dog.
"I'll be calling names. Step up to the podium once called." - The cold, absolutely harsh sounding voice of this man resounded across the square. Though for some reason the people around were joyous somehow. Expectant. Some were happy, in a hushed voice saying how they'd love to be chosen. Some others were saying how they are jealous of others who left here to live better lives. The comments of how some left and never contacted back, though surely now live a better life.
What? What are they spouting? I was standing amazed, watching the military block of a man call out name after name, with people joyfully going. What? What are they doing? Are they not aware of what happens to people upstairs? What?
I sense the pain in my arm, as Liang tightens his grip around my arm. His eyes were full of endless, boundless fury. But he stood there. Grabbing me. I winced.
Once the 30 people gathered, the military took them along to the elevator, as large as a conference room in an office. Once the door opened and I saw it - it was huge. A few trucks would fit easily in there. The people followed. Everyone who was called out went in, the military walked in. The elevator closed. The people in the square dispersed back to work.
What the heck did I just witness? The ones who went in were mainly young, some - kids, some teens. Most of them are fairly good looking. Just where did the military take them?
Liang, still holding me, pulled me along, as he walked off to the side. Some path of a narrow alley, then down the other alley, all towards the similar structure - the damn "pleasure rooms".
There - the setup was somewhat easier to process. The people there were the locals, just having sex naturally in those rooms. Some more kinky, some pretty soft about it. The sounds of people actually having pleasure in their life, as they enjoyed their bodies.
Liang pulled me to the prison looking rooms once again. Seems like every floor has that damn setup. He did not even check the surroundings this time. He just threw me into the room, as he closed the door behind. There was a man here, by the looks of it - somewhat in his 30s, smoking something, as he sat in the corner. He eyed us, as we barged inside.
Liang pushed me onto the floor to sit nearby, as he stared at the man in the corner.
The man, dark hair, smirk of mischief, a glint in his eyes. He checked me, then looked back at Liang.
"Oh my, what brought the loyal boot-licking dog of Master Feng down here? And with some boy-toy no less? Have you changed your ways, Liang?" - The man leisurely called to Liang.
"I see you're still alive." - Liang let out, clearly furious, by the tone of his voice.
The man calmly sat there, taking a toke, as he puffed the smoke out. Nodding at Liang, pointing with a pipe at him.
"So you're still on edge every time you see the sacrifice huh?" - He lets out, then runs his free hand through his hair, as he lets out a sigh.
Sacrifice? What sacrifice? What is he talking about?
"Wan." - Liang hisses through his teeth.
"Yes, yes. Wan is here. Come on brother, you're aware of how it is. Why still bother with all this anger? Unless you have the bite to that bark, that is." - Wan lets out, eyeing me now. - "So what's this little thing?"
"Fengs toy." - Liang lets out, finally managing to collect himself.
"Hmm? Toy?" - Wan tilts his head, looking at me. Though, as I'm covered up, with only eyes showing from all the covers… Though he sure is aware that I AM indeed a man.
"I assume passage to the bottom level?" - Wan looks at Liang, his eyes more colder now. As if the unspoken business negotiation kicked in a second ago.
Liang gave a nod.
"I see." - Wan lets out, as he gets up. - "With the toy?" - Wan points at me, as he comes closer.
"Don't damage the cargo. I'm still going to deliver it back up." - Liang sternly replies.
"I see." - Wan lets out a sigh. - "Follow me then, pretty boy."
Wan said that, then opened the door and walked out. Liang grabbed my shoulder, pulled me up, then dragged me along with him. All whilst following Wan in silence. Once more - narrow pathways, pretty damn dark. Pretty constricting. We had to walk sideways to make it through those. Then a narrow staircase. Unlike others - this one was not straight down, but it was spiralling down. Walking down this small thing felt like going down some old well. The lower we went, the darker it got.
This metal tube surrounding the staircase was with some lights embedded into the walls, but if at first they were somewhat bright, the lower it got - the less they worked. At some point it became dark. I was holding onto the Liang, as I sensed him walking in front of me, with another hand tracing the wall next to me as we kept descending.
The echo of our footsteps started to be more and more foreboding. Are we going to hell or something? Liang has not even explained to me yet what happened to that whole floor we just were at. Where did the military take the people? What sacrifice did Wan talk about?
A dull thud, then we stopped.
"Take a deep breath here. It's not gonna be nice from here on out." - Liang said coldly. I followed his advice. The air here was not pure. It was with a mixed stench of the metal, rust and something I could not put my finger to. But then Wan opened the small door. The stench of gutter, the waste, harsh chemicals and other horrors hit me. I felt sick. Like my lungs were burning, though my nose was about to fall off.
"No. Push through." - Liang said, as he once more grabbed my arm and pulled me along, following Wan.
The floor was dimly lit. There were endless streams of shit, waste and whatnot. Faintly resembling the waste recycling, or maybe waste cleansing plants. We walked past these "waterways" of waste. The dead bodies mixed in with food waste, excrements and other atrocities. Here were some machines that grinded up all the large waste into smaller bits, then processed through chemicals, then all that was somehow purified in large tanks.
Anything from the water cleaning plants, to the waste cleaning and processing plants to all that thing that does all the unseen maintenance to sustain the damn place.
As we kept walking through the narrow roads, with slush of shit, few parts of bodies and pieces of god knows what laying on them - we managed to come to a clearing, that seemed like the warehouse. We walked in, with a warehouse having people in it. Actual people living here? Seriously?
There's all - the elderly, the adults, the kids… In rags, in shit, some puking blood, some eating the bits of the human bodies scavenged from the rivers of waste… They all look like a bunch of gollums. Skinny, grayish, withered, wild…
We walk past them, off to the far side of this rather massive warehouse construct. It seemed like a football field or a few of such put together. Some made-up houses from the rags and bits of metal rods put together as tents, some a bit more sophisticated, using… Human bones?!
I stumbled, as I realised what I looked at. Liang held me up, as he kept dragging me along, following Wan.
We finally came to the far end of this place. More rags here hung from the walls, with human hair and whatnot used as ropes, the bones as holding structure… What are these horrors?!
We walked into the so-called tent, following Wan. Inside there were sitting a few men. Around seven of them. Looking like some mercenary men, with gun-like weapons holstered around tights, chest, with some washed out military set of clothes, but with rags of outfits thrown on top of the form.
"Look who the cat dragged in." - Wan let out, as he walked in. Liang and I followed behind him.
The moment the men looked at us - I felt like I'm here for some experiment. Maybe I'd be killed off in the same way as the twisted military did upstairs? Maybe there's even more perverse way to deal with a human for torture that I am not aware of… Just what the hell?
"So you're all still alive. That's promising." - Liang let out, as he eyed all of the men sitting around the tent.
"Still barking up the wrong tree, Liang." - One of them spoke up to Liang, as he approached.
"Sister." - Liang lets out, as he allows the person to place their hand on his shoulder. At the closer look - it IS a woman. Just that her build is rather bulky and hair is short. A heavy weight champion would not survive her… By the looks of it.
"So why did Feng send you here? Is the plan rolling then?" - She spoke to Liang.
"Not yet." - Liang turned to me. - "Tell him what they do up in the farm, then tell him what it is like in here."
She frowned, as she gave me a one-over.
"Who is he?" - She asks.
"Is Feng having a shitty sense of humor or has he gone insane? Why send some boy in here?" - Another mercenary lets out, as he looks at me with disdain.
"It's Fengs request." - Liang replies coldly.
"He fucking off and went senile before even being old enough for it. Fuck.." - The mercenary went off.
"My name is Li Hua." - The woman speaks. - "The floor above is regarded as the 'cattle floor'. There are animals grown for food and sustenance, as well as plant farms on the other side, with many tending to the plants and the animals. Once a month there's a 'calling'. When the military comes over to call out names of some people, saying that they'll go up for better jobs. Sometimes it's five people, sometimes they take up to fifty."
She walks over to me, looking me in the eyes.
"The people taken in end up in the pleasure houses, as slaves or as whatever elites want. So that's a death sentence altogether. Though on the farm floor they've preached for years that the 'going up' is actually better jobs and life in general. Those people never went up, never went down. They've never left their floor. Indoctrination did its thing - they all are like cult believers. Even if someone says something else - they won't believe it. They believe the legend that was built years over years. And they're comfortable where they are. Those who are doubtful, those who are moderately appealing, those who are kids, those who are young - those are the ones picked. And they never return. So nobody ever knows." - She says, as she places her hand on my shoulder. - "But here… Here is the waste zone. Here we survive by whatever was discarded from all the other floors. How did people end up here? Workers who originally were here for maintenance. Some are occasionally sent here from other floors for maintenance only to never return upstairs. There is another side of the floor where some live a bit better. But they are aware of the true face of this place - due to what they've seen in the waste. Bodies of people, food, shit, puke, parts of weapons, blood, whatnot… It all ends up here. And someone has to maintain the cleaning process. Those who deny the regime - they end up in this warehouse. To be the scavengers left to die. All to never show the true face of this place to others."
I watched her, as she spoke. The whole lot of this nightmare is catching up to me. My legs gave out, as I fell to the floor.
"Good." - I heard Liang above my head.
"Any special reason why?" - Li Hua asked.
"Fengs request. He'll let us know later if there's something up his sleeve." - Liang let out. - "We'll stay the night here."
"Sleep on that side." - Li Hua pointed to the far end of the tent. Liang pulled me up and dragged me to that spot. Letting me go in a pretty harsh manner, so that I fell down.
I sat there. In half-darkness. Just thinking about it…
The whirring of the machines persisted in the distance. The sounds of bones cracking, the slush pushed through the pipes. Coughs and hushed voices of others out there, dying as they breathe this mad air in their lungs.
This is the horror that some damn elites came up with. A damn nightmare.
"Have some." - Liang showed up, pushing a water bottle to me, as he pulled out the gag, removing the restraints. I take the water, drinking it though… It felt like I drank the contents of the waste rivers here… With the smell permeating into what I drank. Eating shit might have been tastier. I push the bottle back to Liang. He takes it and closes up.
"We'll go tomorrow to Feng. Try and get some sleep." - Liang sits next to me.
"It's like a nightmare." - I let out weakly.
"Mhm." - He agrees.
"Endless, boundless nightmare…" - I sigh.
"There's a reason why Feng wanted you to see this. Don't fail his expectations." - Liang said coldly.
Right, goddamn expectations of that damn man. Was he aware of all this? Did he see it with his own eyes? Did he smell it? Did he sense it? Just what does he want from…?!
Ah… Right… Bunker… Niko. Does he think that that place can help out somehow? How? Would it be audacious to request help from them, with all this military might in here? That sounds pretty insane to me. And what would I do? Convince her to work with us here? Like she will agree to that… She actually might… Knowing her temper.
Fuck…. I miss her. I miss them all. Just why the fuck did I follow them out here? Right… Right… To find her. To find where she is. Right. At least that could be done. I hope it can be done. Fucking hell. Who could have guessed that I'd end up here of all places… Fuck…