Chapter 102: Caracas – Slums – Stairway 1
To be honest, Alice didn’t necessarily have to give the Hush Gang a huge sum of $100,000.
The Overseer of Ark, excluding the central Administrator, is essentially a self-governing enforcement body with full administrative authority.
A Third-Class Overseer could conscript Ark citizens or issue administrative orders under justifiable circumstances.
In short, a Third-Class Overseer could suddenly burst into any citizen’s house and declare, “I need a bed, meals, and your labor, so don’t go to work and do as I say.” This would be legitimate under the Overseer’s authority.
Of course, forcibly conscripting a citizen’s labor without justification or compensation and having that reported to the Administrator could lead to demotion, even for a First-Class Overseer.
In reality, some Overseers have been stripped of their positions for arbitrarily conscripting or plundering the property of Ark’s citizens or outsiders.
An Overseer abusing their authority recklessly could be dealt with by the Administrator for “damaging the dignity” of their position.
However, Alice’s mission of “purifying the Blood Contamination Zone and rescuing the missing” provided a solid justification, far removed from abuse of authority.
Under these circumstances, it would be reasonable for a Third-Class Overseer to request cooperation from a criminal group like the Hush Gang.
Even so, Alice went out of her way to personally pay $100,000 to these people, knowing life’s hardships through not one but two lives.
Although her first life was a blur, Alice vaguely remembered being exploited by a black company that destroyed her body and health while not even paying her properly.
This memory carried into her second life as the Demon King, where she always ensured to pay her subordinates for their labor, no matter how small the task.
“People are more efficient when they’re compensated, even a little.”
Alice deeply understood how futile and dreadful unpaid labor could be.
Though the Hush Gang members were corrupt criminals from the lower class, Alice thought that such people would be particularly sensitive to money.
Her assumption was correct.
Even residents of the area who harbored envy and anger towards the upper class couldn’t deny the appeal of $100,000—enough to cover a decent-sized organization’s monthly tribute.
And the possibility of earning an additional $100,000 if they performed well was a dream for them.
Yet, some Hush Gang members, including Anis, affectionately referred to as “Big Sis” among the newer recruits, began to wonder.
“Why not just take the $100,000 and run? How can we trust an Overseer from the upper class? Is she even a real Overseer?”
For context, Anis had been a dominant figure in the area before Dusty moved into the Sluice Gate Region.
Anis’s ability was straightforward yet powerful even without training.
She could turn parts of her body, like her bones and blood, into spikes. While this might resemble the visual symptoms of Blood Contamination, she was undeniably an Awakened.
Being from the lower class, Anis never received proper training or nourishment, unlike the systematically trained Hunters of the upper class.
She was weaker by comparison.
Still, having an Awakening ability was better than nothing, especially in the slums, where even children wielded knives or stones to ambush unsuspecting adults.
Thanks to her ability to generate spikes, Anis managed to hold the position of a neighborhood boss in these stairways.
She hadn’t attended school or learned much from books, so forming an organized group wasn’t within her capabilities.
Joining Dusty’s Hush Gang was a natural choice for someone with her limited options.
Though the idea of taking the money and running was raised, most gang members, including Dusty, were more enticed by the prospect of the immediate $100,000.
“Are you crazy, Big Sis? It’s a hundred grand. One hundred.”
“That weird little girl might have misunderstood the value of one bill, but if we just guide her around, we’ll earn $200,000 in total. Isn’t this a bargain?”
“Even for dangerous work, I’ve heard hitmen charge about $500 to kill a person, Big Sis. Isn’t $100,000 worth risking your life?”
“But would an upper-class Overseer really come all the way down here and pay us lowlifes to ask for help? It feels too easy. And we only have her word that she’s an Overseer.”
Anis’s concerns were valid.
When do people from the upper levels ever come to the slums?
When disease spreads?
When people starve?
When massive gang wars erupt, leaving countless dead?
Never.
The only time they dispatch an Overseer to the slums is when incidents in the lower levels threaten other stairways, residential zones, or the upper levels.
Alice’s deployment was already delayed.
If the Central Administration had acted immediately after the first report of Blood Contamination, many wouldn’t have been consumed by it.
But from the Administrators’ perspective, Ark was plagued with calamities and various insidious groups.
The Administrators had to preemptively identify and counteract these conspiracies while the Overseers focused on immediate threats to Ark and humanity.
Alice’s deployment to the lower levels was inevitable.
Her official mission was to investigate the disappearance of Academy students, making her response to Blood Contamination relatively quick.
“Anis, all we need to do is guide her. We don’t have to fight monsters or confront a calamity.”
In the end, Anis’s concerns were dismissed.
If they took the money and ran, the terrifying doll and Overseer Alice would track them down, leaving them crippled but alive.
Shortly after, Alice arrived at the agreed meeting point with her three dolls—Units 11, 21, and 31—and the undead girl, Marlang.
Seeing Dusty and the gang members assembled diligently, Alice raised the corners of her lips.
“Oh, you didn’t run away? Honestly, I thought you might take the money and bolt.”
She had deliberately given them time to do so.
If they had fled, Alice would have confiscated the money and broken their limbs to make them her guides anyway.
But since they didn’t run, this remained a hypothetical scenario.
“Ha, haha… With $100,000 on the line, how could we dare defy an Overseer?”
“Just speak casually. It’s weird hearing you call me ‘Overseer’ with that thug face.”
“Tsk, you… no, did you just tell me to let go first? Don’t come crying later about how I’m not being polite.”
“I don’t go back on my word.”
Actually, it’s invalid because this isn’t even a human mouth speaking.
I’m just a tin can. Clank, clank.
Still, Alice had no intention of breaking her promise to the Hush Gang and Dusty first.
Looking at their faces, they were all familiar.
The gang leader, Dusty.
And several new recruits from the Sluice Gate Region, including Anis.
They seemed to have rummaged through their closets to put on the best clothes they could find, but the cheap-looking suits made the 31 gang members standing at attention look rather ridiculous, or so Alice thought.
“Good news.”
“We are deactivating the tracking strings attached to the targets.”
“Deactivating tracking registries #11, #21, and #31.”
Alice and Dusty turned their heads at the words of the three dolls.
“What’s this? Did you stick something on them already?”
“They are recipients of Alice’s property. This is only natural.”
“They received a wealth that surpasses their means—a grand sum of 100,000 dollars. If they had failed to honor the deal, we would have initiated obliteration even without Alice’s command.”
“W-what…”
“Sigh… Listen, everyone. I’m giving an order. Unless I explicitly say so, don’t go around killing people without permission.”
Despite their appearances as young and pretty girls, Alice and the others were far more than they seemed.
Knowing that the three were third-class Overseers, beings of exceptional rank, Dusty and the Hush Gang were sweating bullets under the pressure.
“My apologies, Dusty. They’ve been rude again. Shall I compensate you with an additional fifty thousand dollars?”
Hearing those words, Dusty felt the urge to shout, “Yes! If you’re offering, we’d be most grateful!” but stopped himself.
However, Dusty and the gang members saw skewers subtly extending from the wrists of the three dolls behind Alice.
Their expressions seemed to say, “Choose your words carefully,” “Stay sharp,” and “You’ll die if you mess this up.”
“Ah, no! We’re fine. After all, we already received a hefty deposit, didn’t we? A hundred thousand is more than enough. Really.”
“Is that so? Suit yourself. I don’t make the same offer twice.”
“Y-yeah, of course…”
“Well then, take a look at this for a moment.”
Alice spoke and extended an electronic document from her wrist.
A complex magic circle and an electronic transaction format appeared as a hologram, with the names Dusty and Alice inscribed in Ark’s common language at the center.
“By the authorization of Administrator Rilstia Frostia, third-class Overseer Alice enters into a series of transactions with Dusty of the Hush Gang. Do you agree, Dusty?”
“What is this…”
“I don’t really know either. They say it’s a simplified contract form used upstairs.”
“A simplified contract form!”
It was a simplified mana contract.
Dusty knew what that meant.
It was a mana contract used for agreements between organizations.
Breaking it would bring severe consequences, so even major crime bosses strictly adhered to them.
Frankly, someone of Alice’s level of ability could likely nullify a mana contract with her own power.
Still, bringing one out was probably a gesture of goodwill and mutual trust.
‘Well, I expected her to be extraordinary, but to think she’s actually a third-class Overseer at that age…’
Ordinary Hunters or Executors, truth be told, weren’t particularly impressive in the lower tiers.
But Overseers were on another level, akin to beings from legends or ghost stories.
People whispered that opposing an Overseer meant annihilation, befriending one could resurrect the dead, or that they could erase names from the ledger of death.
While the tales were exaggerated, often fueled by envy and longing for the upper levels, there was no denying the awe surrounding Overseers.
The atmosphere remained tense.
While Alice seemed composed, the three dolls behind her continued radiating an oppressive aura toward Dusty and the Hush Gang.
In Ark’s Central Precinct evaluations, a single combat doll’s power was estimated to equal that of two second-class Overseers or two A-rank Hunters.
Of course, due to the rigidity of combat AIs and their lack of real-world experience, their combat data was still incomplete.
Nevertheless, dolls, created for killing and combat, radiating killing intent toward gang members, made it feel as though they’d drop dead of heart failure before the negotiations even began.
This was unsurprising, given the dolls were imbued with ideology and knowledge by a Mega Corp named Ernest Rail.
Their programming reflected a disdain for the lower tiers and an understanding of how much the lower-tier humans envied and coveted the upper levels—entirely from the Mega Corp’s perspective.
Moreover, the dolls’ original bodies were orphans from the lower tiers.
Although their memories of being orphans had been entirely erased when they became dolls, an unconscious remnant of loathing for the lower levels lingered within them.
The persistent faint killing intent directed toward Dusty and the Hush Gang stemmed from this unconscious bias.
Of course, Dusty and the Hush Gang, unaware of this, could only feel unjustly oppressed.
Even as they negotiated with Alice, the air between them remained suffocating.
“Marlang!”
“Huh, isn’t that…”
However, today, there was a child who completely lightened the intimidating atmosphere.
It was Marlang.
She was a young girl similar to a doll, with black hair and a bright smile spread across her face.
“Marlang!”
“Uh, uh…”
“Marlang!”
“Hmm? This child is…”
Marlang eagerly shook hands with each Hush Gang member, smiling brightly as if she was delighted to meet them.
She moved so quickly that the gang members couldn’t react before their hands were shaken by her.
“She looks even younger than that Alice kid…”
“Hey, is she mute? Or maybe she’s mentally ill…?”
“No, she can talk properly.”
“Then why does she keep saying just that?”
“Just because? Maybe she finds it fun.”
“What…? For fun?”
“She probably thinks it’s funny when people like you, meeting her for the first time, get flustered. That must be why.”
Dusty thought, “Bringing a kid like her to the lower levels… Is this a joke or what?”
The lower class was such a terrifying place that a young, innocent child like her could end up mentally scarred or physically ill.
“Marlang!”
-Click!
“Eek!?”
“What the hell…!”
Suddenly, Marlang pulled a knife from her palm.
There was a terrifying sound of blood and bone crunching as she drew the knife, yet she stood confidently with a smile, as if to say, “Don’t worry about me!”
“Well, she’s not just an ordinary kid,” Anis remarked.
If she was someone the Overseer brought along, she must at least have some power.
Feeling the heavy atmosphere lighten slightly, Alice tapped Dusty’s shoulder lightly with a mechanical tendril.
“But the group is smaller than I expected.”
“I left out the grunts. Honestly, bringing too many people wouldn’t be useful, so I just picked those familiar with the local geography.”
“Fair enough. I’m not planning to flaunt my presence as an Overseer in the lower levels.”
“Let’s get moving, then. It’s a bit of a trek to the contamination zone.”
“Do we have to walk?”
“If we use aerial vehicles in the lower levels, it’s like sending a signal saying, ‘Please rob me.’ You might be fine, but the aerial biker gangs here are trash you don’t want to deal with. Better not provoke unnecessary trouble.”
“Aerial biker gangs?”
“They ride unlicensed aerial drones and declare the skies of the lower levels as their territory. You’ll find plenty of them down here.”
With that, Dusty began to guide Alice.
On the surface, it looked like a typical lower-class building, but inside was a spiral staircase that wound endlessly downward like a snail.
It was the stairway leading from the Sluice Gate Region to the lower areas.
After descending for about ten minutes, a red door came into view.
When they opened the door, a new landscape unfolded, different from the stairway of the Sluice Gate.