CH 45.3

Gatekeeper swipes a card on the sensor at the door, revealing the scenery inside.

The grey building appears to have two floors from its height outside, and its footprint suggests it might be an ordinary block of holding cells inside.

However, the scenery inside is completely contrary to expectations.

It is a large, unobstructed space within. No division at all. From the door to the wall in the far side, there is only a flat, expansive ground.

The ground has nothing more than food and drink dispensers scattered around, alongside portable bathrooms.

There are crowds assembled around each such feature. They are at the stage where they have even built preliminary tents and cheap-looking cots all by themselves.

A more accurate way to describe this scenery…

Well, ignore Stargaol for a moment. This has much more semblance to a scenario of stranded travellers or some post-apocalypse survival setting.

Because the simplest of observation will reveal that, under these crowds of people——There is a brutal society formed naturally around competition for limited resources.

Lin Yi almost loses it seeing this scene.

You can call him a foolishly romantic idealist, which is something evident from the Organisation he belonged to and worked for.

That is why he could easily betray Nianluo and FedCom no matter their generosity, but cannot accept this manmade colosseum of sorts.

These prisoners have their life necessities restricted and placed in this public, isolated, barren atmosphere. One scarcely needs to imagine what will happen next.

They will tear into each other, fighting for food, for water, or even just a more advantageous location. They will do their best just to survive, which means, some will inevitably die from their failure.

“This is…” Lin Yi only manages two words before Jiang Yiyi puts his hand on his shoulder.

Lin Yi stops abruptly, looks at Jiang Yiyi, then steps away to the side quietly.

Magician seems disappointed, “I heard your story. You were quite the somebody…” Yet, in front of Jiang Yiyi, that legendary figure is nowhere to be found.

Regardless, Magician stops and asks Jiang Yiyi instead, “Doctor, what do you think?”

The crowd glances at the door when it opens, notices Gatekeeper and Magician, then soon stop looking altogether. Some continue to blank out at their spot, while brawling continues in silence in other areas.

More generally, these isolated brawls are dispersed throughout the area, and appears oddly harmonious with the surroundings.

This place has already formed its underlying rules.

“More terrible than I thought.” Jiang Yiyi is never one to shy away from casting judgement, “and crude.”

“Certainly, I suppose this must be boring for Doctor.” Magician is not surprised, “but rules are rules, Doctor. All new arrivals to the fifth floor have to come here.”

Lin Yi glances up, and looks like he wants to speak; Lunatic’s gaze moves off from Gatekeeper for a second, giving him a stare.

Thus warned, Lin Yi decides to shut up again.

“Shock and awe?” Jiang Yiyi hazards a guess.

“Not really. It’d be insulting to expect just this to shock and awe you, Doctor.” Magician tells him earnestly, “this is simply our way of welcoming you to the fifth floor.”

Magician gestures inside, “show the fifth floor which room you deserve.”

“You see, there are many types of rooms on this floor.” Magician, leaning on the wall, explains, “only the most useless chaff find themselves put into this holding cell without a room.”

So it would seem that these people are the useless ones in Magician’s mind.

Jiang Yiyi sweeps his eyes across the people in the room, when suddenly, a silvery reflection emerges from his fingers, “I should make one thing clear first.”

Magician raises his brow.

Jiang Yiyi turns towards Gatekeeper, “I am not partial to this.”

“My, that is disappointing to hear.” Magician’s tone is melodramatic as usual, “could we have the honour of hearing what it is that you do not find to your liking?”

He turns towards the lazy crowds, “the treatment of these people, perhaps? Or our requirements? Or… all of this?”

“You truly are persistent in trying to get to the bottom of my thinking.” Jiang Yiyi allows the blade to dance on his fingers, feeling quite liberated for once——The fourth floor has been boring. His contract with Ye Wang did restrict him severely.

It serves as a good lesson. Do not promise lightly, especially when you are a noble, morally upstanding person.

Now, though, circumstances have aligned themselves. The location, environment, atmosphere, and even Jiang Yiyi’s own emotions, are complementary to what he wants to do——To enjoy something after a long abstinence.

Magician has picked up the subtle changes in Jiang Yiyi.

If Jiang Yiyi was but a shadow hidden, an unassuming abyss, that causes fear in those who notices him.

Then now, it is like it has come to life. He is no longer observing the outside quietly, but expanding, flowing across the lands, leaving his mark.

Is he… excited?

Excited for what?

Death? Blood? Or others’ fear?

Magician’s mind quickly analyses, trying to label Jiang Yiyi’s current state——He thinks that perhaps there is some truth to the helplessness expressed in the reports so far.

The Coordinators were not so useless that they failed to conclude anything, but Jiang Yiyi truly is like that——Conflicts, discrepancies, and inconsistent framework of thought and decisions. They are unable to determine what Jiang Yiyi would do next.

“My thoughts do not prove anything. Only actions can accurately form the basis for judgement.”

Jiang Yiyi takes a step and enters the room.

Followed by the rest of them.

Lunatic stops looking at Gatekeeper, and instead settles on the normal people who have now cast their gaze on them once more for stepping over the boundary.

Lin Yi is holding his baton tightly with furrowed brows. He looks troubled, but his actions are swift.

Jian Si… well, he tried and struggled against Magician, but follows them into the building regardless.

As they did, the crowd lazing about and brawling all stop. They stand up.

When the crowds were all dispersed lazily, they almost look small against the large building. When they all stand up, and assemble into groups, however, they realise just how many people there are here.

Jiang Yiyi are four people, against an entire crowd of innumerable individuals.

There is no stand-off. The extreme imbalance on the two sides mean they are easily surrounded.

Magician has let Jian Si go to follow after the group, while he leans on the wall, ready to act as soon as someone breaks a rule.

Still, so far, he is disappointed.

Disappointed in Jiang Yiyi’s action——Anyone who knows of their limit in fighting ability would know that it is foolish to go up against such a large crowd without a decisive advantage in power.

And those who know what Jiang Yiyi has done all know what Jiang Yiyi is best at.

Right now, it looks awfully like he is going to foolishly showcase his strength via his shortfall in martial ability.

Clearly, a sign of overconfidence.

The smooth sailing past the previous floors appear to have clouded Jiang Yiyi’s judgement of his own abilities.

This is the fifth floor, and he is up against thousands of battle-hardened veterans who survived this long on the fifth floor.

Ants cannot kill an elephant, but enough ants can simply chew their way through an elephant.

Of the events happening after arriving on the fifth floor, the only one that Magician finds marginally impressive, is that Jiang Yiyi’s reckless action did not deter his burdensome entourage at all, who have chosen to follow blindly——This is indicative of Jiang Yiyi’s ability to command loyalty, enough to overpower the threat brought on by a crowd a thousand strong.

Right now, Magician, critiquing Jiang Yiyi from on high, has perhaps never thought that, in several minutes, he will be completing turning his opinion around, as he realises what Jiang Yiyi meant when he said…

His thoughts do not prove anything. Only actions can accurately form the basis for judgement.