He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 127 North and West

On the surface, it seemed to be a pleasant meeting for both host and guests—at least Aina was very happy, as she had almost finished all the various drinks that Hugh had painstakingly collected over the years.

The girl, now brimming with boundless energy, was busy observing the strangely shaped pieces of furniture, clicking her tongue in amazement: "Unbelievable! Unbelievable! Even I can't figure out how these things work!"

She glanced at Hugh, whose expression was contorted as if he had just sucked on a lemon, staring at a pile of empty cans on the table next to him, trembling so much he could barely stand.

—Even I myself am reluctant to drink it————

He looked utterly hopeless, but Aina didn't seem guilty at all. She was just afraid that the cat would make her faint from anger in a little while, so she changed the subject to Hugh.

She pointed to the ornaments scattered throughout the small room and said casually.

"Did you make all of this?"

Since there are no specialized insulation materials available, most of the electronic equipment circuits here can only solve the "waterproofing and corrosion prevention" problem by layering thicker insulating materials. — With the help of a vast amount of miscellaneous knowledge stored in her memory bank, Aina easily figured out the purpose of each of those strange devices:

Like a row of glow tubes placed high up, serving as a counter, the magnesium-yellow pixel lights are rugged and distinctive—of course, since the circuitry hasn't been programmed yet, it can't display the time accurately, though Hugh may be working towards that goal.

The previous swimming tank was a rather complex creation, since refrigeration is much more complex than heating and requires an extra heat exchange step, which is why it looked bulkier than the other furniture.

Even simpler: the "heating device" connected by resistance wire and coil next to it seems to be used as a heater —

"Guess." — Her thoughts were interrupted by a resentful reply. The owner of the voice couldn't suppress his resentment. Aina awkwardly turned her head and saw Xiu's melancholy gaze.

Xiu, who had originally planned to take a nice hot shower when he got home, felt his fists harden when he thought about all the unpleasant things that had happened since this woman appeared.

Seeing that the cat boy was unwilling to cooperate with her questions and looked rather unhappy, it seemed as if he was baring his teeth at her.

—Hakimi breathes when he feels uncomfortable, but what does that have to do with me, an innocent bird?

Aina certainly wouldn't make a fool of herself, just as she didn't feel "awkward" at all. On the contrary, the process of creating trouble for others was something she enjoyed even more.

Besides, before she could even deal with Hugh's resentment, Hugh's father was already grabbing the cat's tail and shaking it. Although he was frowning, his soft tone clearly lacked any intimidation—"Impolite—you should treat your friends well!"

"She's not," Hugh was about to retort, but under Aina's smiling gaze—he suddenly gave up the idea, silently watching his little father who seemed much happier than usual, and finally sighed.

"Come out with me for a moment." He suppressed any hint of distance and spoke softly to Aina before opening the door and leaving.

—Oh, Hakimi, who has no family.

Aina shook her head, and for some reason became even more determined to support the dog party. She stroked the soft mouse ears a couple more times, casually grabbed the last bottle of cola from Hugh's refrigerator, and slowly walked towards the door.

"We should get along well—"

A soft, delicate sound came from behind me.

She casually closed the door, and a gust of wind carrying the smell of sulfur swept past her, stirring up the rubble piled up around the town. Taking shelter under the eaves of this little house, and watching the rain that showed no signs of letting up, Aina put her hands in her pockets and looked at this unfamiliar "dome".

The gray sky was the usual sight, but strangely, she didn't see Hugh. So she walked around the house a few steps and, when she got to the back of the door, she saw a cat crouching in the shadows.

Aina tilted her head slightly.

Not far from the town is a junkyard, and even more so, a densely packed temporary shelter and a maze of alleyways, which seem to hold a special place in the town. In such a bloated world, Hugh even has a small "backyard" at home, although it is only separated by a crooked wire fence.

Stepping from the eaves into the rain, Aina bent down and looked at Hugh, who was tinkering with something. In front of him was a small thing—it was hard to tell if it could even be considered a vehicle. It had no wheels, and the structure that touched the ground was two not-so-flat tracks. The wheels and the axle were made of high-strength metal plates, and you could see obvious signs of cutting and welding.

The enormous eyepiece seemed somewhat disproportionate to Hugh's size—holding the wine bottle his father had brought back for him, Hugh carefully poured the ointment inside into a pipe. With a piercing roar, he tried to start the strange engine—and it even seemed to work.

Although it only lasted for a short half minute, Hugh watched as the entire machine suddenly jolted twice, several broken gears fell out from the gaps in the iron box, and the tracked locomotive stalled amidst the wailing of the gearbox.

"Tsk."

Hugh sighed softly, slowly got up from the ground, kicked the broken gears to the side of the scrap heap, and looked at Aina, who was staring intently at the spot without moving.

"Have you seen enough?" The cat, in an unfriendly tone, started hissing again, only to be ignored by Aina, who naturally pushed Hugh aside and squatted down in front of the half-finished motorcycle.

"Wow----"

After examining it for a while, Aina let out a few muffled gasps from her throat. Facing Hugh's wary and nervous gaze, she suddenly pulled up his sleeve from the bottom.

Seeing Hugh suddenly shrink back and look like he'd been whipped about, Aina sighed.

"no----"

Her expression was strange. "I was just wondering, could you be a green cat in disguise? — Why don't you make a 'waaaagh' sound for me?"

"What do you mean—?"

Not everyone can understand some of the strange jokes, so Hugh looked blank, while Aina dusted off her hands and got up from the ground.

"According to physics, your engine has at least thirty unresolved structural problems, yet it still manages to ignite—"

She rested her chin on her hand, a gesture that would normally resemble that of an older man, but it still looked adorable on a young girl. "Could it really be that the machine spirit is overjoyed?"

"I still don't understand—" Hugh sighed.

From the moment Aina appeared until now, very few of the things this strange person says have been comprehensible—she's like a madwoman living in her own world.

—As expected, it must be from the upper echelons, right?

After all, only those at the higher levels have such "leisure" to be "arrogant," "rude," and "unrestrained" without being influenced by their environment.

He frowned, feeling that the situation was now completely out of his control. If they were exiles who had come from the metropolis, reporting them could still solve the problem.

Now, a "visitor from above" who remains shrouded in mystery and is even a "person with abilities"—reporting him may not necessarily solve the problem.

The atmosphere became awkward for a moment, until Aina tilted her head and, seemingly casually, spoke to the cat with its many thoughts swirling around her, "You haven't answered my question yet—is this the bottom nest?"

'

'

Faced with what seemed to be a way out offered by the other party, Xiu took a deep breath and slowly said, "This is the bottom nest."

He said, "The bottom nest, the southern ruins, the old capital, the small settlement number 272—we call this place 'Usa Town'."

Usa, an inconspicuous little gathering place in the bottom hive, so insignificant that in the association's management form it is just a three-digit number without any characteristics, which can be crossed out and replaced by a new one if there is a raid by nomads or a "natural disaster".

"That's it—"

After that, without Aina having to bring it up again, the clever cat began to introduce her to this kingdom located at the bottom of Hallownest.

[Bottom Nest.]

This nest world, several times larger than the combined Upper City and Lower City, theoretically shouldn't have been so overcrowded, even considering its capacity to accommodate three times the total population of the Upper City. It should have even had considerable leeway.

However, the reason why the bottom nest is so bloated is that its existing "usable" area is only one-third of that of the lower city.

The dome is a cold and rigid inorganic material. No matter how great and sturdy it may be, the "extra structures" built on it will deteriorate over time due to lack of maintenance.

As more and more things break down, more and more land becomes a territory ruled by "death," "poison," and "cold."

"Although this place is called the Southern Ruins, in reality—besides the metropolis, all that remains here are the [South] and the [Far East]."

Xiu smiled wryly and pointed to the distant, dark gray horizon.

"The northern plateau was originally a giant raw material field that produced saltpeter and iron ore. Because of the undulating terrain of its base, we call it the plateau there—and it is also known as the Pearl of the North and the Heart of the Great Nest."

"And fifteen years ago—"

He said softly, "An unprecedented upheaval, a 'land collapse disaster,' in which more than 40 million people were swallowed up by the earth, which surged like waves, before they could even react. This is a disaster recorded in the Di Nest calendar—"

"And now, if you go 400 kilometers north from the border of Usa, you can see the source of the tremor—a huge, almost unfathomable void. According to the association's investigation, it is unknown how many billions of years it will take for the collapsed surface structure to recover."

Fifteen years ago, we lost the "North" forever.

"As for the West—"

His lips trembled slightly. "The life wave monitor there was displaced seven years ago."

Note: The dominant life form there no longer occupies a quarter of the land that is "human," but has become a world of alien species.

,

Aina seemed lost in thought, her golden-red pupils unfocused. "I see—"

"Um.

""

Hugh gave a blank, wooden reply. "Regarding the alien infiltration in the west, of the three existing organizations, only the Fallen Agency still insists on reclaiming the lost territory. The Holy Gear Church's attitude is unclear, while the Association—they are the largest—is now seeing differing opinions emerging internally, with some attempting to communicate and negotiate with the aliens—"

'

When this topic came up, his tone was lost and sad, "But clearly, the first thing we learned in school was that humans and other species cannot coexist in the same world —"

"I didn't expect you to be so interested in politics."

Aina glanced at Hugh, who was now sitting along the eaves in the shadow of the small house, looking tiny and helpless.

"Tsk." She narrowed her eyes.

Under such a gray and black dome, most people have burned everything just to survive, but the poor visionaries have the sad luxury of lamenting the present and worrying about the future.

It's clear that this little cat has been holding back for a long time—only when facing someone as obviously "different" as itself can it pour out so many strange things that sound weird to outsiders.

His "father" cannot understand his "son's" usual thoughts and ideas. The mouse can only worry about Hugh's isolation and his alienation.

Communication between people is sometimes submerged in such loneliness and isolation.

Aina felt that the fluidity within her personality had become a little more translucent, and its flowing form a little more dynamic.

—Is this what "completion" means?

Just as she was deep in thought, a metal can suddenly flew from in front of her, and Aina caught it in her hand.

Without any labels or markings, Hugh coldly explained to her, "If you prefer standing in the rain, you'd better spray a coating on any exposed skin—otherwise, your flesh will rot."

Thanks.

Although she didn't know if her tin-clad body needed this, Aina still sprayed the coating all over her exposed shoulders and arms—at this moment, Hugh couldn't help but ask.

"Aren't you cold like that?"

Looking at her outfit, which was completely different from the style of the underworld—a black and red dress that looked proud and high-profile, but also almost incongruously thin—Aina blinked. Hugh, in front of her, shrank her neck with a sense of identification, buried her arms in her bulky trench coat, and exhaled a breath of misty white vapor in the increasingly cold air as night approached.

Aina raised her head and looked at the "sky," which had gradually turned from gray-black to pitch black.

It wasn't much different from daytime, except that a darker and colder night had arrived.

A muffled sound kept coming from Hugh —

The climate of the bottom nest depends on the mood of the "dome" that day. If the complex internal circulation structure is still functioning properly, it will only be slightly colder than the lower city. But if any component malfunctions before the glow rises and is not repaired in time, the lowest temperature in the local area may even plummet to below minus sixty degrees Celsius.

Of course, those "local areas" are still uninhabited areas even in the bottom nest. In towns where people live, the climate is not that extreme. Apart from the annoying torrential rain, the temperature in this town is currently around zero degrees Celsius.

It is cold, but it is not yet time to "heat up". The real challenge is "wintering" - the bottom nest has a "winter". Unlike the upper layer with the "furnace", the "big boiler" can only supply limited and tight heat. So every year, for two to three months, the control boiler's major valves will declare the "winter season", during which the heat output will be kept at a low level in order to save fuel.

Therefore, every resident of a town living in a scattered settlement outside the metropolis must collect enough "heat quota" before the arrival of "winter"—or, to put it more simply, transform their flesh and blood into "iron blocks" that are not afraid of the cold, so that they can consume less fuel and live even colder.

"The internal circulation system above our heads is also deteriorating further —"

Hugh lowered his head and murmured, his tone grave, "This is information I received from someone else. In at most six months, this place will be uninhabitable."

"————"

In contrast to Hugh's worried expression, Aina remained seemingly carefree. "You guys are planning to move? Moving in this godforsaken place is definitely not easy. Starting to prepare six months in advance shouldn't be a problem, so—is there anything I can do to help?"

'

When faced with Aina's sudden offer to help, Hugh didn't react at first, and after a moment he stiffly shook his head, "No need."

Two seconds later, he seemed to realize that his tone had been a bit harsh, so he lowered his head slightly, silently forming a circle with the tip of his tail, and added in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible—

"Thanks."

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