Elegy from Another World

The pale purple light of twilight was completely shut out. Sakozon descended the spiraling stone steps, the sound of his high heels echoing clearly in the confined passage. The air grew cold and damp, carrying a peculiar scent reminiscent of old books and aged metal, a stark contrast to the perpetually sweet fragrance emanating from the ground.

At the end of the stairs stood a colossal door woven from some kind of dark bone material and writhing nerve bundles. Sakozun reached out, his palm resting on a complex groove in the door. A subtle energy fluctuation flashed, and the door silently slid open inward.

Behind the door lies a vast underground space, its high dome shrouded in darkness. At the center of this space stands a "tree" that defies conventional description.

It is not made of wood, but rather of countless intertwined and coiled nerve bundles of varying thicknesses, shimmering with a faint bioluminescence. These nerve bundles pulsate slowly like living things, sometimes expanding, sometimes contracting, emitting extremely subtle hissing sounds. Occasionally, tightly closed eyeballs or silent opening and closing mouths will bulge out on the surface of the nerve bundles, only to disappear again. This is "The Pivot," one of the actual rulers of the City of Pleasure, and the master to whom Sakozun must serve.

Sakozun abandoned her usual languid and alluring demeanor, her expression becoming respectful, even tinged with a barely perceptible fear. She walked to a spot about ten meters away from the nerve tree, knelt on one knee, and lowered her head.

"Lord Kaname." Her voice was exceptionally clear in the empty basement.

On the main trunk of the neural tree, a huge, bloodshot eyeball slowly opened, its pupil like a deep vortex, locking onto Sakozun. No sound was uttered, but a cold and direct stream of thought had already flooded Sakozun's mind:

【report.】

"Yes." Sakhozon remained kneeling and began to state, "The initial in-depth analysis of the damaged equipment—the pleasure converter—brought by the three outsiders has been completed."

She paused slightly, organizing her thoughts, a hint of seriousness flashing in her dark purple eyes: "The result... was unexpected. The technological architecture of this device does not belong to any system we know of. Its core code is extremely ancient and complex, containing an incomprehensible underlying logic. The only vague information we can trace back suggests that its original creator appears to be an unknown entity named 'Zhang Wei'."

【Zhang Wei?】 Shu's thoughts were tinged with doubt, clearly indicating that he had no recollection of this name.

"Yes, a seemingly ordinary yet enigmatic name," Sarkozyn continued. "That's why the technology is so profound, and our repair progress is slow. But even with only about 10% repaired, we've already detected some astonishing properties."

Her tone involuntarily carried a hint of amazement: "Its energy conversion efficiency... is ridiculously high. Conservatively speaking, under the same input conditions, its efficiency in converting pleasure into usable energy is at least twice that of our most advanced pleasure converters! And this is only the data with partial functional recovery. If it were fully repaired or even optimized..."

Sarkozyn did not say anything more, but his meaning was self-evident.

Silence enveloped the basement, broken only by the persistent hissing of the pulsating nerve bundles. Suddenly, the main trunk of the nerve tree writhed violently, and an exceptionally large eyeball, its pupil like shattered mirror, bulged out, descending to eye level with Sarkozun. A surge of intent, a mixture of greed, fanaticism, and ruthlessness, rushed towards Sarkozun like a tidal wave:

[Double?! Hahaha... Hahaha! A gift from heaven! This is the true treasure! Sarkozyn, we must have it! The complete one! At all costs!]

Sakhozon's body trembled almost imperceptibly. She raised her head, looking at the chilling eyes so close to hers, her voice tinged with hesitation: "Lord Kaname... do we... really have to take this step? The deal with them is going smoothly so far, but to forcibly seize it... I'm afraid..."

[Smoothly?] Shu's thoughts instantly turned icy cold, filled with unquestionable authority. [Fool! Have you been blinded by those superficial pleasures? This technology, so far ahead of its time, means power! Absolute authority! Are you content with a mere dilapidated ship? Obey my orders, Sarkozon! Develop a plan, seize that converter, and if necessary… eliminate those three outsiders.]

The oppressive feeling contained in that thought made it almost impossible for Sakozun to breathe; she felt her very soul trembling. She knew what "getting rid of" meant and understood the consequences of disobeying the pivot—she had seen many of her "kin" who had lost their value eventually become nourishment for the City of Pleasure, becoming "consumables."

A brief struggle flashed in her eyes. She remembered Zoimem's clear, curious dragon eyes, Yisen's shrewdness that wasn't unpleasant despite his mercenary nature, and even Kawi's cold vigilance. But all of this seemed so pale and powerless in the face of Shu's absolute will and her own survival instinct.

She lowered her head deeply, burying the last trace of hesitation deep in her heart, her voice regaining its calmness, even carrying a hint of submissive gentleness:

"...Yes, Lord Kaname. I understand. I will devise a meticulous plan to ensure that the pleasure converter...is presented to you intact."