Free Web NovelChapter 108: Chapter 108: The 4th Layer
If merely surviving was the goal, that would be easier to explain. However, Bai Wu had to bring back some intelligence, which meant that he conducted a relatively in-depth investigation.
Surviving in the red zone for over ten hours, that was not a sin, but a merit. Yet if he were the first person in history to have his experience recorded, no matter what, it was always wise to be cautious.
Bai Wu quickly figured out how to deal with it, and the elevator gradually came to a stop at the entrance to the fourth floor.
At first glance, Bai Wu noticed that there were far fewer buildings on the fourth floor than he had imagined.
Every building here had the exact same style—a pyramidal black tower.
The buildings were thirty meters, sixty meters, and ninety meters tall, with several standard heights. Each building occupied about six hundred square meters.
From a distance, they looked like a series of dark spires standing tall on a vast and flat square.
It was also like the lonely lighthouses one would see in the seas of a former world.
But it was only when he got close, courtesy of the transport vehicle, that Bai Wu saw the intricate electronic patterns etched upon these black spires.
"First time here? When I came for the first time, I also found it strange. It was different from what I had in mind. I thought it would be attractive, but it’s actually quite desolate," Dong Shuyu pulled out an electronic cigarette.
Bai Wu waved his hand to indicate that he didn’t smoke, but Dong Shuyu gave him a look; it wasn’t for him anyway, and she started smoking on her own.
"Are there no entertainment buildings here?" Bai Wu naturally shifted the conversation to avoid embarrassment.
"Entertainment? The fourth floor is not a place for that. Here, the architectural style is similar to the fifth floor albeit slightly more diverse. The functions these towers are equipped with are much more than you’d expect, but they don’t include entertainment. For fun, the managers prefer to go down to the third floor."
It made sense, as many businesses on the third floor were owned by the fourth floor’s managers. Although the architectural styles of the third and fourth floors differed greatly, giving these pyramidal buildings a mysterious, technological feel, no one would forget leisure and entertainment because of it.
Bai Wu’s gaze settled on one of the taller spires—
"Each spire houses resources beyond the imagination of those below the third floor: 0.04 percent of all mined materials remain on the bottom level, three percent on the second, nineteen percent on the third, and one hundred and twenty-two percent are stored within the fourth and fifth floors. As for the remaining vast resources, they’re on the sixth floor."
The emphasis provided in the notes was surprisingly on resource distribution. Apart from providing residences and offices for the managers, was the biggest use of these towers to store energy?
Bai Wu felt slightly astonished.
This resource distribution was indeed odd. The lower three floors had such scarce energy allocations, yet their use of electricity, water, and industrial demands were always met.
For seven hundred years, the people on the bottom floor indeed rebelled, but those rebellions were, after all, in pursuit of more living resources, to make life feel more human; not because the bottom levels’ energy had been depleted to the point that even simulating day and night with the ceiling was impossible.
Throughout the Era of the High Tower, humans on the lower three floors never lacked any energy.
And now he learned that from the fourth floor upwards, the population was less than one percent of the bottom level, yet the wealth of mineral resources was hundreds of times greater than at the bottom.
What exactly were these massive mineral reserves used for? Were they purely stockpiled, or were they being used for research or making certain items? Or had their use already begun?
"The fourth floor is... much more monotonous than I imagined," Bai Wu remarked.
"Yes, most managers actually live on the third floor and only come here for serious business. These pyramidal towers all look the same; the difference in height indicates rank. Among the managers, there are also levels of hierarchy. The thirty-meter ones are office areas allocated to junior managers, the sixty-meter ones are for mid-level managers, and the ninety-meter ones are offices for the ruling candidates, the senior managers," Dong Shuyu explained.
"It’s quite complicated, but you won’t have many opportunities to come here, so you just need to remember the location of the Legion headquarters. The Legion Commander asked you to come to the fourth floor to make a show for others."
Bai Wu nodded lightly, while Dong Shuyu seemed quite enthusiastic.
"What rank is the Legion Commander?" Bai Wu inquired.
"Both the Commanders of the Garrison Corps and the Investigation Corps are mid-level managers. Exploring outside the Tower and maintaining stability within it, those are their paths to becoming senior managers, candidates for rulers."
This situation clearly indicated that breakthroughs from outside the Tower exploration were likely to be higher, but the fact that internal stability maintenance was mentioned in the same breath suggested that this "stability" was probably more than just keeping order.
When he thought about the Garrison Corps having a "garrison" in its name... and the fact that the garrison generally received better treatment than the Investigation Corps, Bai Wu guessed that the "stability" the Garrison Corps was tasked with probably meant quelling riots.
"We’ve arrived."
The vehicle stopped, and Dong Shuyu and Bai Wu got off, arriving in front of a sixty-meter high Pyramidal Black Tower.
"Is this all there is to the headquarters of the Investigation Legion?"
"But it’s enough to handle all affairs of the Investigation Legion. If you’re looking for something larger, you can visit the branch on the second layer."
Bai Wu thought about it and agreed. A decision-making place didn’t need to be excessively large. After all, the fourth layer was much quieter compared to the third layer.
...
...
Under Dong Shuyu’s guidance, Bai Wu entered the interior of the Pyramidal Black Tower. Each Pyramidal Black Tower was of the same design, and there were only three types of specifications. The main way of distinguishing them was by the building numbers.
The inside of the Black Tower felt very spacious. The clean black floor, which could reflect a person’s shadow, was six meters beneath the white ceiling.
The distribution inside the tower was akin to two commercial buildings merged together, with Bai Wu and Dong Shuyu on the right side of the Pyramidal Tower.
When he touched the wall, he felt that the material of the tower was like the outer crystals of the tower that had been carved.
The core technology of the Pyramidal Tower must be within the walls.
Although it looked like an overly simple architecture with only black and white colors, Bai Wu’s eyes told him that the secrets hidden in these towers might even be unknown to the Tower’s administrators themselves.
[You’ve come to the inside of these pyramid-like buildings, but this is only what you think. In reality, you’re still on the outside. They’ve also never been buildings at all.]
Bai Wu wasn’t sure what the note meant, but he guessed that the secrets of these structures must be hidden on the fifth layer.
Because of his mission, he had access to the fourth layer, but it was a fleeting glimpse. There were many secrets on the fourth layer that he didn’t have time to explore.
As for the fifth layer, even the administrators only had a few who had ever been there, so Bai Wu wasn’t concerned about it for the time being.
He still remembered the first time he saw the Stele, the remark on it was also very strange. The Stele was not the exit of the High Tower, but was used to suppress some kind of monster.
The secrets of the High Tower were too many, perhaps not fewer than those outside the tower.
"Let’s go in."
A pitch-black, marble-like door appeared before Bai Wu.
As Bai Wu was about to knock, the door opened by itself.
The office of Legion Commander Qin Zong, compared to Wu Jiu’s office, didn’t have many files; because all the files were stored on an extremely small chip within this room.
The entire office of the Legion Commander consisted of just a long table and a row of chairs, resembling a round table conference.
There were three people in the room—Bai Wu, Wu Jiu, and Qin Zong.
Bai Wu first nodded to Wu Jiu, then turned his gaze toward Qin Zong:
[He harbors secrets that are also of interest to the sixth layer. As the leader of the Investigation Legion, he has great ambition, almost no shortcomings, and in fact, many strengths. After all, not everyone can cultivate subordinates like Little Dwarf. More than the secrets within him, you might be more curious about his identity. Like Little Facial Paralysis, his parents also hail from the fifth layer. Lastly, he doesn’t smoke, drink, pursue relationships with the same sex, perm his hair, gamble, covet other men’s wives, or have an interest in young girls; you can hardly pick on any bad habits, which is indeed boring.]
Combining the note, his first impression of this office, and Qin Zong’s attire—
Bai Wu was convinced that this boss was a man of incredibly strong self-control, to the point of being somewhat twisted.
However, overall, he and Dwarf Brother were on the same page.
Bai Wu was somewhat relieved, just afraid of encountering the kind of Dwarf who was too outstanding and then jealous of the Dwarf’s superior.
The traits and stance of the big boss dictated how much information Bai Wu would provide.
"So you’re Bai Wu? Indeed, a hero emerges from youth. I am Qin Zong, the Legion Commander of the Investigation Corps beyond the High Tower."
Qin Zong gestured for Bai Wu to sit down, taking a seat directly across from Wu Jiu.
This detail impressed Bai Wu.
Facing each other like this, from a strategic perspective, Wu Jiu and Bai Wu had quite the feel of being the left and right arms of Qin Zong.
"Very good at winning people’s hearts. It’s a pity you don’t do well with wives. Otherwise, you would definitely get along with the open thieves and might even promote the friendship between the two armies," Bai Wu internally commented.
Qin Zong’s expression was very serious:
"I’ll get straight to the point. I’ve heard that you’ve obtained some intelligence in the red zone outside the Tower, and I want to know what kind of intelligence it is."
Bai Wu nodded, then started to slowly recount the information he had gathered.
He did not hide the intelligence he obtained. As for the means of gathering it, that was an easy issue to resolve.
No one had ever been to that region, so Bai Wu had a great deal of licence to improvise.
The number of Evil Fallen, their distribution, and the sources of intelligence—all of this, he could freely invent. The key point was that Qin Zong only cared about the value of the intelligence, not the authenticity of the facts.
Although Wu Jiu knew it was fake, he chose to play dumb or rather, to pretend along with the Legion Commander.
Of course, to add a bit of credibility, Bai Wu still exposed some of his own affairs.
Recent memory loss had caused some issues with Bai Wu’s emotional perception.
For the members of the Vanguard Group of Squad Seven, this was no secret. Bai Wu also knew that this secret would eventually spread, so he might as well mention it himself so that Qin Zong would be the first to know, thus avoiding some risks.
Qin Zong was very curious about Bai Wu’s physique, thinking it was a natural fit for a Tower Outlands investigator. However, he was soon shocked by the intelligence Bai Wu brought—
The white zone was gradually shrinking, while other colored zones were growing. There was a distortion source known as "The Well" beyond the Tower, which moved in a progressively shortening cycle, intensifying the world’s distortion and making the monsters stronger because of these distortions.
At the same time, there were monsters in the world that were not confined by the regional limitations, and these monsters would also be temporarily unrestricted by the zones during the period when The Well was active.
Each piece of news here was a unique and explosive reveal despite being shrouded in layers of fog and unverifiable...
But Qin Zong understood that even if these messages concerning the origins of the regions beyond the Tower were incorrect, they still held certain value to the High Tower.
Bai Wu was not worried that this information would cause trouble. Both Qin Zong and Wu Jiu knew how to avoid risks.
The obtaining of intelligence in the red zone, or even surviving in the red zone, though shocking, was not impossible.
The red zone expedition ninety years ago, that joint military expedition which ended in a terrible defeat, did not mean humanity would give up exploring the red zone.
They just lacked a guide. A successful case.
After arranging everything, Qin Zong dismissed Wu Jiu and Bai Wu, needing to properly digest this intelligence.
Dong Shuyu, still burdened by her duties, was responsible for escorting the two of them.
Wu Jiu and Bai Wu did not speak on the way back, but Bai Wu could clearly sense that the captain’s mood was very good.
The intelligence he brought back, although too macroscopic, its significance may surpass its value.
Watching the black pyramidal towers recede from sight, Bai Wu thought, next time I come to the fourth level, I must thoroughly investigate these Black Towers.
... freeweɓnøvel.com
...
At the bottom level.
In the following days, a number of things happened.
Bai Wu received a batch of supplies as rewards from the management level.
But he was not promoted to the captain of a new squad or the leader of a group, remaining under Wu Jiu’s jurisdiction.
He was quite satisfied with this arrangement.
Another matter was his Innate Force, which had directly advanced to the fourth tier, fifth stage.
Only one step away from the fifth tier, this progress was so great that it shocked all members of the Vanguard Group.
Even Bai Wu himself found it strange, as it seemed to be much faster than he had anticipated.
He had not expected that staying in the red zone for over ten hours would directly boost his Innate Force by more than a whole tier.
To be just one step away from the fifth tier, which was the peak of the High Tower’s masters, was an incredible leap for Bai Wu, who, not long ago, was someone on his first outing beyond the Tower and didn’t even possess Innate Force. To become an elite hand of the Investigation Corps in such a short time was truly shocking to the Vanguard Group.
Wu Jiu, however, was the most composed of them all.
The red zone’s ability enhancement coefficient was inherently higher than other zones, especially since Bai Wu’s emotional fluctuations had always been zero, which was another bonus.
Although Bai Wu was surprised by this event, he did not find it particularly pride-worthy. Having witnessed the strength of top-tier Evil Fallen, he felt the immense gap that simply couldn’t be bridged by basic numeric values.
But this would indeed be a safeguard for his future investigations in the blue zone.
And to the Vanguard Group’s congratulations, he mockingly said,
"Isn’t this rate of progress the standard for the Investigation Corps? Surely no one takes a month to reach the fourth tier, right?"
Lin Wurou promptly challenged him to a duel on the spot, stopped by Wu Jiu.
...
...
Yet another matter was the commotion caused by the Investigation Corps’ return from the red zone.
Over these past few days, the main topic of discussion on the second and third levels was about the Investigation Corps surviving in the red zone. However, the investigation results were not released by Qin Zong, who classified them as military secrets, accessible only to squad leaders.
Still, people were quite excited, and even many nobles from the third level believed that humanity no longer needed to fear the monsters.
Such ideas only those warriors who had truly experienced the Tower Outlands could understand how laughable they were.
But overall, the return of the Vanguard Group of Squad Seven of the Investigation Corps from the red zone greatly uplifted the people of the High Tower—whether they were from the Garrison Corps, the Investigation Corps, or just ordinary residents of the High Tower.
Bai Wu didn’t care about these matters; more than the revelry of the people of the High Tower, he was concerned about—
What exactly did Liu Chengzi teach Yan Jiu?
