Chapter 100: Lower Realm Disappearance Case 5
A quiet office.
However, it was far from an ordinary upper-level office piled high with documents.
Guns and weapons hung like decorations, and the place was filled with debt documents scrawled with crimson letters and debtor lists written like kill orders.
Of course, this was the newly relocated office of the Hush Gang.
For the record, this was their seventh move.
Moving in the lower realm wasn’t easy.
Unlike the upper levels, where legitimate real estate transactions occurred, any new location was often already occupied by thugs or criminal groups.
Dusty of the Hush Gang had originally been a thug who dominated the entertainment district of the Magrid Step.
Typically, they would provide jobs for prostitutes, extort protection money from shops and street vendors, and profit from drug distribution, or even rob the ID cards of those daring enough to venture into the lower realm to squeeze money out of them.
Even this level of crime would be considered a heinous criminal organization by upper-level standards.
Yet surprisingly, in the lower realm, this was considered relatively normal.
The truly vile and terrifying figures were on a different level altogether.
These people would butcher someone who wandered into an alley and sell the meat as human cuisine.
Some found joy and purpose in torturing and killing others as a career.
The lower realm was a place overflowing with such individuals.
There were even rumors, almost urban legends, about an academy in the lower realm that taught murder and curses.
At any rate, since the Hush Gang didn’t make torture and murder their trade, they could be considered a group that still retained some humanity.
That is, until one day, a white-haired brat named Alice showed up and utterly destroyed the gang.
It was done so cleverly that they were beaten to the brink of death but not quite killed.
Bones were broken and ligaments shattered, but the injuries were severe enough to heal over time.
Though no one had died, it didn’t mean there wasn’t a problem; operating an organization ultimately required manpower.
Most of the Hush Gang’s members were severely injured by Alice, the white-haired girl with a fully mechanical body.
As a result, estimates suggested that the gang would be out of commission for at least a month.
Healing potions or healers could have resolved the injuries quickly, but finding a healer in the lower realm was harder than finding a star in the night sky.
Recovery potions were astronomically expensive, so the injured members were effectively sidelined.
This left the Hush Gang’s vacancies wide open, and rival gangs swiftly moved in.
Faced with this, Dusty, the leader of the Hush Gang, had to make a significant decision.
Rather than sit idle and let rival gangs devour them, he decided to take what remained of their assets and members and relocate to the sluice gate region in the lower realm.
The sluice gate region was home to Executors, Overseers, and Hunters from the upper levels, making it naturally avoided by criminal organizations.
In the abyss of the lower realm, even the Executors or Hunters might be beatable.
What was truly terrifying wasn’t the Executors who lived in the sluice gate region but the First-Class Overseers and top Executor units who would descend in response to their deaths.
Thus, even the Executors in the sluice gate region knew criminals wouldn’t dare touch them.
After all, the real mission of the sluice gate Executors wasn’t to maintain public order but to monitor the trends of the lower realm.
Using this, Dusty set up a new base in the sluice gate region, maintaining a new “business” by extorting money from clueless tourists who ventured into the lower realm.
The sluice gate region’s reputation for maintaining the highest level of security in the lower realm wasn’t unfounded.
It was the only place selling lower realm tours for upper-level rich people or foolish nouveau riche.
Overcharging tourists.
Offering bait products.
Promoting drugs.
The drug business was particularly lucrative.
Even upper-level elites were often addicted to primal pleasures and dopamine-shattering highs.
Drugs were rampant across Kowloon, after all.
With enough money, one could hire a healer or buy a potion to cure drug addiction in this world.
Thus, wealthy tourists in the lower realm often enjoyed being robbed, exclaiming, “Oh my! This is indeed the lower realm! So vulgar!”
Some genuinely terrified tourists cried and begged for their lives, occasionally reporting their lower realm experiences to the Barrier Agency afterward.
However, the lower realm wasn’t just vast.
Its population density was higher than even the ant-like density of Kowloon’s residential areas.
Over 90% of its residents lacked registration.
Few had legitimately purchased homes, and no one knew who built the swarm of houses in the first place.
So even if tourists reported their experiences, actual investigations were rare.
The Ark’s central policy toward the lower realm was to “cover filth with a lid.”
As a result, by the time the Hush Gang completed their settlement in the sluice gate region, they were running a blatant illegal business.
Dusty’s business acumen allowed the gang to generate considerable profit.
They even hired a new accountant.
Recruited new members.
As long as they avoided catching the attention of the sluice gate Executors, they would be fine.
It wouldn’t be long before they became the new rulers of the empty sluice gate region.
“You, why are you here again…!”
Dusty, dreaming of such a rosy future, pointed his gun at Alice with a near-seizure-like reaction.
The magic-engineering armor-piercing bullets were said to take down even an awakened individual in one shot.
However, Dusty knew they were mere snacks for Alice, not a real threat.
Pointing his gun at Alice was nothing more than a desperate, flailing attempt.
The only effective response to Alice would have been to prostrate himself immediately and beg for forgiveness, hoping to earn her pity.
Of course, Alice wasn’t one to enjoy the pathetic groveling of a man.
A woman might have been a different story.
“Why do you think I’m here? Hey, is that all our relationship amounts to?”
“Don’t mess with me! Since when were we so close or anything?”
“Oh-ho, I haven’t forgotten the taste of that mint chocolate from that day!”
“What?”
What nonsense is this now?
“Daring to feed me mint chocolate-flavored electricity?! Even if the heavens forgive you, I won’t!”
“Wait, why is this crazy woman suddenly showing up and causing trouble again?!”
“Boss!”
-Bang!
At that moment, several burly figures burst through Dusty’s office door.
They were new members of the Hush Gang, all of whom had undergone body modification surgery.
Dusty had recruited them from the floodgate area, where they were living before, and as a form of gang welfare, he provided them with physical enhancement procedures to strengthen their loyalty.
Hearing the sound of shattering glass in the office, they seemed to have rushed up immediately.
“Look, we don’t have any particular connection, do we? It wasn’t even a pleasant encounter.”
However, Dusty knew that such things didn’t matter now.
He needed to get out of this situation.
That pest-like woman was deceptively pretty on the outside, but she possessed cruel and wicked mechanical tendrils that had humiliated him.
Instinctively, Dusty felt that avoiding her was the best course of action.
“You’re right. We were enemies! Daring to feed the righteous Electricity Fairy that mint chocolate garbage. I haven’t forgotten…!”
“This crazy… Is she seriously insane?! What kind of nonsense is that?!”
The moment he spat those words out, Dusty realized something.
Ah, she’s provoking me on purpose right now.
She’s deliberately trying to irritate me, mess up the situation, and humiliate me like last time.
“You! What are you doing to our boss?!”
“You damn wench. Your mouth’s flapping too much. Do you think you can mess with our boss just because he’s being kind?”
“Ah, no. Stop! Stop it, you idiots!”
But it was already too late.
Unfortunately, the ones who had arrived were the new recruits Dusty had hired after moving to the floodgate area.
The childhood friends, those cancerous punks, had already been cut off last time, so now Dusty was the only one who knew Alice.
And these people from the floodgate area had once worried about getting a single meal a day.
Since Dusty had brought them in with capital and even enhanced them, their loyalty was through the roof.
“Our boss has been insulted. How can we just stand by?”
“Boss, just sit back and watch us rip her head off.”
“Her face is decent. How about we have some fun with her before we finish her off?”
“No, stop it!!!”
Dusty’s face twisted with dread as he realized the situation was getting worse, while Alice’s smile only deepened.
‘Woo-hoo~! A fresh, free guide to the lower strata acquired~!’
Alice was probably thinking something like that right now.
Searching the vast lower layers one by one with her bare body was close to a hopeless task, but having such an efficient and knowledgeable guide for the lower strata changed everything.
Even if her combat skills were outstanding, she needed someone who knew the Blood Contamination Zone’s location and could navigate the unmapped areas of the lower strata.
And it was free.
It didn’t cost her a dime.
She could even beat them up as much as she wanted if they annoyed her.
While she refrained from killing people, when it came to criminals like these, she could bash them without guilt or hesitation.
Watching the approaching thugs, Alice grinned wickedly.
“Hohoho, gentlemen. Judging a person by their appearance…”
-Boom!
“Is never a good…”
But at that moment, something shot up rapidly from the office floor beneath Alice’s feet.
Black thorns.
No, on closer inspection, they were dark red thorns.
They had a sinister hue, like congealed blood turned solid, which briefly drew Alice’s gaze.
-Thwack!
Then the dark red thorn pierced Alice’s head.
Not just pierced—it went straight through to the other side.
“Huh, what…?”
Dusty was aghast at what he saw.
“Haha! The momentum we needed for this ambush was your distraction!”
“You stupid wench! Do you think we’d just stand still and let you have your way, barging in here alone?”
“She looked confident even when she saw us. That must mean she’s strong.”
“We’re not honorable enough to face a strong opponent head-on!”
“And to be honest, I’m not even attracted to kids.”
“Well, I am… At least the corpse will still be warm, right?”
“You sick bastard.”
“Anyway, boss, are you alright?”
“You… you guys…! What is this…”
Dusty, staring at the scene, couldn’t tell if this was really the end.
He gazed at the terrifying white-haired brat with her head pierced by a crimson thorn, his expression a mix of surprise and delight.
“Haha! Actually, we’ve been practicing for scenarios like this, boss!”
“Even those despicable pigs from the upper levels, or anyone jealous of your business methods, might try something dirty.”
“So, we rehearsed a protocol among ourselves to act immediately if an assassin ever came after you!”
“Hah, you… you thoughtful little punks…”
Dusty’s face lit up at his surprisingly resourceful subordinates.
If they had recklessly rushed in, relying solely on crude enhancement procedures, they would have been utterly destroyed by the white-haired brat.
In truth, some of those recruited in the sluice gate region were even awakened individuals.
“Boss, are you alright?”
“Oh, you’re here. Sis!”
“Boss, I told you not to act like this in front of others.”
“No, no! You’ve done something incredible!”
“Hah, compared to what you’ve done for us, boss, this is nothing.”
The one they called “Sis” was someone Dusty seemed ready to embrace in pure joy.
“Haha! Anis, thank you! Thanks to you, we managed to take down that white-haired parasite!”
Her name was Anis.
She was a short-haired woman dressed in a crop top exposing her navel and hot pants.
She embodied the rough and rugged life of a lower-realm woman.
In her hand was a crimson thorn dripping with blood, the same one she had used to pierce Alice’s head.
She must have hardened it to snipe Alice from the lower level.
“By the way, who’s that? She’s pretty… Is she some naïve girl from the upper levels?”
“I don’t know, damn it. I don’t want to know. Just toss her corpse in the junkyard!”
“Hey, the corpse is still warm…”
“Corpse or not, I don’t want anything more to do with that wretched thing, so just get rid of her already…!”
However, both Dusty and Alice overlooked something.
Alice, brazen and unrepentant, was contemplating, “Why does Dusty and the Hush Gang hold such a grudge against me?”
She wondered if what had happened between her and Dusty was really worthy of such deep resentment.
Sure, she had played a minor “prank” as the Electricity Fairy, but was it something to hold a murderous grudge over?
Of course, it absolutely was.
In the lower realm, such things were taken even more seriously.
But Alice either didn’t know or pretended not to know.
The Demon King wouldn’t have been a Demon King for no reason.
Even if they had normal sides, they also had a significantly twisted or tyrannical streak that imposed their will on others.
If anything, the Hush Gang had been the ones to provoke Alice first.
Even this time, it was the Hush Gang, including Dusty, who had approached Alice, mistaking her refined appearance for that of a wealthy upper-class lady ripe for extortion.
Dusty and his gang also failed to anticipate one critical factor.
-Crack!
“Is it over? Is everyone here?”
“……?”
“What?”
What they didn’t know was the face of someone blinking calmly even after having a blade driven into their head.
They couldn’t have guessed.
Even in the lower realm, such sights were rare.
How could someone’s head—specifically the part where the brain should be—be pierced so precisely and yet react as if only bitten by a mosquito?
“What…”
“Ah.”
“No…”
No.
What.
Insane.
Damn it.
Various expressions of disbelief and frustration erupted as the Hush Gang froze in place.
And with good reason.
The head had been pierced.
A crimson thorn had cleanly impaled her head through the floor.
Even for a First-Class Overseer, if their head was pierced, death would follow.
Despite the strange, miraculous magic and modifications that defined Ark, this was unheard of.
“Ah…”
-Clink!
-Clank!
Then, dolls numbered 11, 21, and 31 clung to the windows, armed with full-fledged, war-grade weaponry, threatening the Hush Gang.
Alice, unfazed, broke off the crimson thorn impaling her head and smirked at Dusty.
“Hey, you’re going to work with me.”
It wasn’t a proposal or negotiation.
It was a statement: “You will.”
“Ha, damn it!!!”
Dusty tightly shut his eyes.