Night Journey

Chapter 42 Throne
Phantom.

This was Dalyn's first impression of Cillian.

Dalin regretted coming to see Cillian; this guy who talked to dogs all day was clearly not someone you could trust to do work with.

But when Cillian saw through Daelin's intentions at a glance, he realized that the boy wasn't as bad as he had imagined.

“A very careful assessment,” Dalin affirmed Cillian’s guess. “The City Guard is indeed in dire need of manpower, but the reasons go beyond that.”

“I understand,” Cillian repeated Bruce’s words. “The destruction of a city-state without warning can only be due to one possibility: the intervention of chaotic forces.”

“You are afraid that the Chaos believers lurking in Hel City may collude with the outside world and thus overthrow Hel City.”

Daelin looked at Cillian with surprise and asked in confusion.

"How do you know these things? Is it just inference and guesswork?"

Cillian said without changing his expression, "Just like even the cleanest kitchen will have a few cockroaches hiding in the corners, the same applies to Hull City. No matter how strictly the city guards guard, there will always be Chaos believers breeding inside."

Daelin was persuaded, and Cillian's image transformed into that of a somewhat eccentric but reliable torchbearer.

Cillian kept smiling.

His deduction was so accurate because the accomplices who destroyed White Cliff Town came from Her City.

"Would you like to join the City Guard Bureau?"

When Dalin asked about Cillian's thoughts, he said, "The work of the City Guard is very dangerous. It is on the front line against Chaos, but in return, our treatment is very good. Even if you are a new employee, your salary is among the top in Hel City."

In this crazy era, the social status of the superhumans has always been very high, not to mention the City Guard Bureau's work, which involves dancing between life and death.

"of course."

Seeing that Cillian agreed so readily, Daelin felt inexplicably uneasy, as if Cillian had known all along and had been waiting for him to come.

Cillian quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "Can I start work as soon as possible? I've only paid one month's rent, and it's due soon."

"Are you not doing too well financially?"

"Do you think someone who has fled all the way from the wilderness would have a lot of assets in their pocket?" Cillian joked. "I'm almost ready to sell my blood to purify my soul essence."

"That sounds pretty bad," Dalin exclaimed.

He wrote down an address and handed it to Cillian. "You can prepare in advance. This is the address of the City Guard Bureau. Just arrive before noon tomorrow."

"it is good."

Cillian paused for a moment, then asked, "Is that all? I thought your vetting process would be more rigorous."

Not only did Daelin feel uneasy, but Cillian also felt that everything was going too smoothly for a strange reason.

The two looked at each other, each harboring their own secrets.

"The City Guard Bureau's requirements are not that strict. No matter where you come from or what fate you are on, as long as you are not a member of Chaos and are willing to contribute your strength to the city-state, we will not refuse you."

Dai Lin laughed and said, "Don't think of us as too serious. Our backgrounds are all rather unreliable; you could say we're a mixed bag."

When mentioning "origins," Daelin deliberately emphasized his words, testing Cillian, but Cillian acted as if he hadn't heard him and didn't react at all.

"For example, I come from the Throne of Destiny created by the giant arm of the sky, but I have never made a pilgrimage, and I have no connection with the Saints of Obstruction."

Dai Lin introduced himself and comforted her, "You don't need to worry about being too unique. In this outer frontier, no one cares about these things."

In the public library, Cillian read about the story of the Titan, Optimus Prime.

Unlike many of the Titans that have sunk into the spirit world, Colossus Optimus Prime has always existed in the real world and is one of the six active Titans.

Legend has it that when the Dayless Catastrophe broke out, a terrible crisis was about to sweep across the land. In order to prevent the crisis from erupting, the giant god stepped forward and sealed the unknown crisis with his own body.

Since then, the giant has stood in the same spot, silent. Everything that approaches it freezes and turns into hard stone statues when it gets close enough.

Over time, that eerie dead zone came to be known as the Silent Land.

Even today, thousands of years later, the giant still stands in the Silent Land, sealing away the crisis that never erupted.

Later, in gratitude for his sacrifice, many people spontaneously came to settle around the Silent Land and, with the help of the Sage of Secrets, repaired the throne of the giant god on the Bound Source Long Staircase.

The believers formed a supernatural force called the Holy Order of Obstruction. In order to fulfill the spirit of the giant god's dedication, they shared their path of destiny without reservation, so that more people could become superhumans, even if they had no faith in the giant god.

Therefore, although the Holy Ancestors may not be considered a top-tier extraordinary force, the number of extraordinary individuals in their Throne Destiny far exceeds that of other destinies.

"That's roughly the situation. Well then... see you tomorrow."

Dai Lin said goodbye and left.

Once he was sure the other party was out of sight, Cillian spoke to Bruce. "A mixed bag... Is this kind of situation common among supernatural forces?"

"Otherwise what? The Gray Realm of the Narrow Space isolates the city-states, and the existence of the Bound Source Long Rank makes it easier for mortals to embark on different destinies."

Bruce explained, "At this point, many superhumans and the superhuman forces corresponding to their destinies have no strong connection."

“In that case, some things need to be put on the agenda,” Cillian said, pushing open the door to leave. “I’m going out again.”

Bruce pressed, "Where are you going?"

"Let's go stroll around the commercial street and see if we can find any materials for refining advancement potions."

Cirian had only been in Hel City for a short time, and had not found any trace of Tania, let alone any clues about Chaos.

With nothing progressing, Cillian began preparing for his upcoming promotion.

“I’ll go with you,” Bruce said excitedly, following along. “I haven’t really explored much yet.”

Don't you go out often?

"At most, you can just stroll around the streets. If you go into any shops, you'll definitely get beaten up!"

Cillian saw Bruce as a dog-like person, but the others didn't care.

"Let's go."

The man and his dog left the apartment and wandered around the streets for a while before arriving at the light rail station to wait for their train.

"Speaking of which, with such a large population in Hel City, and everyone living inside high walls, where does the food come from?"

Cillian suddenly thought of this question.

Under the influence of the narrow gray zone, the land of the outer flame frontier is extremely barren, with few crops able to grow healthily. However, if farmland is cultivated within the city, it will occupy people's living space.

"What do you think the industry that Tiangong Tiefu rebuilt is?"

Bruce responded dismissively, "After Tiangong Tiefu led the completion of the industrial system reconstruction project, the first thing he did using energy technology was to build an automated three-dimensional farm."

Cillian belatedly remembered the underground of White Cliff Town.

“Vertical farms are typically located underground in cities, enabling fully automated operations from sowing, irrigation, and fertilization to harvesting and processing.”

Bruce further explained, "Any city-state with a complete industrial system will not lack important resources such as food, and it is through these automated industries that each city-state has the ability to remain isolated."

"For individual city-states... no, for the civilized world, the truly important resource is space, the space for survival."

Bruce lamented, "It was precisely out of the desire for living space that the Expeditioners launched expedition after expedition, returning piece after piece of lost land from the dark world, only to lose it all back in the years of rebellion."

The light rail slowly pulls into the station, like an iron snake weaving through the city, connecting various districts and serving as an important mode of transportation for citizens.

With a rumble, the light rail carried Cillian and Bruce to another part of the city.

The city of Hel boasts a well-developed industrial base and energy technology, and its streets and alleys are filled with novelties that Ciri has never seen before.

Bizarrely shaped pedestrian vehicles, armored machines on guard, and a huge airship floating above the city cast shadows, obscuring the entire street.

"That's a whale-type airship. It can fly long distances at extremely high altitudes, far away from the narrow gray areas on the ground. It's one of the safest means of transportation for moving between city-states."

Bruce was extremely perceptive of all kinds of mechanical creations, "The downside is that they move slowly and need to be resupplyed between different city-states."

The light rail arrived at the station, which was the commercial district of Hull City. All kinds of shops lined the riverbank, and the dazzling array of goods overwhelmed Ciri.

“Didn’t you say that city-states were self-sufficient?” Cillian asked doubtfully. “I thought commerce and trade would decline considerably.”

"We can only produce the most basic supplies ourselves, but for many things that cannot be produced, we have to rely on this difficult trade."

From time to time, some useful knowledge pops into the dog's incomplete brain.

"For example, some extraordinary materials obtained from the spirit world, or special products of a certain city-state, all need to be traded for exchange, even in this era of mutual isolation."

It suddenly stopped and gestured for Ciri to look ahead.

In the heart of the commercial street, a castle-like building stands out conspicuously and majestically.

“Generally speaking, you can buy whatever you need here,” Bruce said. “It is currently the largest merchant guild in the civilized world and an important organization that maintains trade between various city-states.”

A symbol caught Cillian's eye: eight human legs arranged radially around the same center, forming a wheel-like symbol.

"Centipede Merchant Guild".

(End of this chapter)