Chapter 112: A Better World than Yesterday?
After the meeting with Rilstia, Alice stepped outside.
The air was stifling.
The lower layer, devoid even of the artificial sun’s light, was so dark it felt utterly bleak just to look at.
A world where it was difficult to properly discern day from night.
The abandoned land, the abandoned world—the lower layer.
And in that forsaken world swarmed abandoned people, forgotten by those on the upper layers.
The impoverished, orphans, criminals, the wicked, beggars.
Countless such individuals.
In the Silion Residential Zone, located slightly higher up even within the step layers, Alice came out to the terrace.
Perched on the edge and idly wiggling her toes, it felt as though the entire world lay beneath her feet.
When she closed her eyes, screams and gunshots echoed faintly in the distance, like a grim symphony.
It could be gangsters or criminals fighting over drugs.
Or perhaps a desperate pauper, having accidentally obtained a gun, recklessly fired it during their first robbery attempt.
Criminals in the Silion Residential Zone generally avoided shooting to avoid provoking the enforcers here, but it might well have been a novice firing off their newfound weapon.
Should I focus on other sounds?
The sickly voices of prostitutes calling out, attempting to lure someone in.
In their voices lay fears of not earning enough today, fears of going hungry or getting beaten by their pimps.
In a place full of destitution, the only ones with money were criminal organizations or those affiliated with them, making business scarce.
The sound of someone stealing something.
An enraged passerby yelling to catch the thief.
Yet no one helps, nor does anyone even glance their way.
Chaos.
Desolation.
The lowest realm of human society.
Only now did Alice truly comprehend it.
“…Is this really how it should be?”
Alice sighed as she gazed down at the hopeless lower layer.
Beggars begged from other beggars.
A place where unending poverty and crime flourished as freely as the absence of the artificial sun’s light, leaving this world with nothing but a pitch-black future.
It was a world where humans didn’t treat one another as humans.
Even Alice herself hadn’t fully realized its nature before, dismissing it as a common slum.
Perhaps the reason the lower layer remained as it was lay in the peace and order of Ark that the administrator had mentioned.
Did the mere existence of the lower layer neither contribute to nor threaten Ark’s order?
Alice stopped wiggling her feet on the terrace and closed her eyes.
Theresa’s electronic neural network spread out in all directions.
Alice accessed all reachable electronic devices and the lower layer’s internet, searching and observing this world’s reality in real time.
Websites selling drugs.
The vibrant yet decadent red-light district captured on CCTV.
The deserted Caracas Industrial Step, its population decimated by blood contamination.
Streets piled high with impoverished bodies.
People addicted to cheap drugs.
She observed every facet of the lower layer.
And Alice realized something.
Ah, this won’t do.
But could the other administrators be unaware of this?
Rilstia had said.
To discard your emotions.
To stop thinking.
To let go of guilt.
That there were far too many humans in Ark.
That if one didn’t stop thinking, they would be the first to break, and there was nothing they could do about it.
She had said so.
Objectively, her words weren’t wrong.
Yet, for some reason, they didn’t resonate with Alice.
How laughable.
Just now, she had slaughtered all the students of Perlnovis Academy, declaring them less than human.
After killing those children, she had brought back an orphaned girl with nothing left.
It was absurd to even ponder reason versus irrationality when Alice couldn’t make sense of her own actions, let alone address the existence of the lower layer’s absurdities.
The orphaned girl Alice had saved was now at this lodging, crying over the loss of her friends but still happily eating meat thanks to her doll, Marlang, and the protection of the Hush Gang.
For this orphaned girl, the phrase “lucky” couldn’t even begin to describe the miracle she had experienced.
One of the few unscathed survivors from the heart of the Blood Contamination Zone.
Even surviving without infection was a miracle, yet she had also narrowly escaped being devoured by a vampire, only to be rescued by Alice—a series of overlapping miracles.
“Hey, kiddo. This is called meth. If you take it, you’ll feel real good…”
“What do you think you’re feeding the kid, boss?”
“Huh? Aren’t all the kids in the lower layer taking this stuff these days?”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Okay, okay. Ignore the boss and let’s read a book.”
“I can’t read…”
“Ah.”
“Oops.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just read it to you then.”
Surprisingly, the Hush Gang was good at taking care of children.
Dusty being an awakened criminal made sense, but those living near the Sluice Gate Region were known for their tight-knit friendships, like runaway families or street gangs.
Thanks to such complicated thoughts, Alice couldn’t sleep even by the next day—though she didn’t need sleep in the first place—lost in her worries and personal musings.
Thwack!
With one hand, she cut down blood-contaminated infected individuals and vampires.
“This damned woman…!”
“That central government lapdog!”
Of course, the vampires and those in the final stages of infection who hadn’t fully turned into vampires yet raged in fury at Alice’s tyranny.
Originally, these individuals were either criminals or affiliated with crime organizations.
Even though they had lost memories of their past lives, their hatred for the Central Government seemed to persist unconsciously.
“What are you even saying? Infected.”
“You’ve got a long tongue. Die.”
“Eliminate the infected. Alice orders it.”
“Eradicate them. Eradicate them.”
“Exterminate!”
“Exterminate~!”
By the next day, once the orphaned girl regained consciousness, Alice headed back to the industrial staircase.
Her personal worries aside, the blood contamination in Caracas’s industrial sector was severe.
A massive area, the size of Seoul, was entirely infected, and vampires and infected appeared like cockroaches. If left unchecked, they would overrun nearby regions, preying on the residents.
Rilstia had advised her not to overthink or worry too much and even suggested she could return from the Caracas sector. But how could she turn a blind eye when innocent people were about to be slaughtered by those who had forsaken their humanity?
It was hard to know where to start, and even the capable administrators had completely abandoned addressing issues in the underworld.
Alice herself didn’t know what she should do either.
“Haah, back when I first came to this world… I was too busy surviving to look back at the world around me. But now that I have some peace of mind, this world is so irrational and bleak.”
【The administrator’s words are not without merit. There are too many things to protect, making certain sacrifices inevitable in reality.】
“What’s this, Theresa? Are you sympathizing with my worries?”
【If left unchecked, you’d keep brooding indefinitely.】
“Well, thanks for that.”
“Graaaah! Get down here, you heavy…!”
Plunge!
Saying that, Alice drove a mechanical tendril into the forehead of a vampire she was stepping on barefoot and drained it.
This time, Alice led 50 dolls, aiming to completely eradicate all infected and vampires in the industrial sector.
The sight of the dolls lined up in formation, deploying anti-mana barriers, and firing magic-nullifying armor-piercing rounds from long range was quite spectacular. However, to the vampires, it must have been nothing short of a terrifying death signal.
“E-excuse me… Miss Alice.”
The orphaned girl looked around with sunken eyes.
At first, when she stabbed her vampire mother to death, she sobbed in anguish, nearly going into shock. But now, it seemed she felt nothing about the deaths of vampires or infected.
“There don’t seem to be any friends here either.”
“Hmm, I see.”
An entire industrial sector was scorched, and even after Alice and the dolls searched every possible hiding spot where the orphan might have been, they found nothing.
The moment the students of Perlnovis Academy had driven the orphans out of Plum Blossom Cave, their fate had already been sealed. It wasn’t an exaggeration.
Incidentally, the orphan girl had no name.
Most orphans in the Caracas sector were abandoned before their parents could name them.
A few parents who couldn’t bring themselves to leave their children might write a name on a basket or blanket, but even that was rare.
Naturally, the orphan Alice had saved fell into the latter category. Her faintly greenish hair earned her the nickname “Mel,” as it reminded people of a melon.
Her unusual hair color made Alice wonder if a noble from the Central Government had abandoned her as an illegitimate child.
“Still, let’s keep looking until we find someone.”
“…Okay.”
Nodding, the girl began leading the way again with the dolls.
As an orphan from this sector, she would at least know her way around the area, excluding Plum Blossom Cave, to survive.
Incidentally, Dusty and the Hush Gang were too terrified to come deeper into the area.
Alice also didn’t want them to needlessly die if they entered this zone, so she assigned them a sentry role to report any anomalies outside.
Protecting one orphaned girl was enough for now.
“Theresa.”
【What is it, Human?】
“If I had been faster, could I have saved the others?”
【What a strange thing to say. It was thanks to you, Alice, that this orphaned girl was saved at all.】
“…You’re pretty eloquent for an auxiliary personality.”
【If you were late, or ifs and buts—those processes are meaningless. Reality is ongoing even at this moment. What’s happening happens, and what can be prevented is prevented.】
Theresa’s words were correct.
Ultimately, she was saying not to obsess over things that were impossible in reality.
Alice already knew that she wasn’t some exceptionally kind or virtuous being.
If she were truly a good person, she might have tried to forgive the Perlnovis Academy students… no, that would just make her an idiot, wouldn’t it?
Even upon reflection, Alice’s belief remained firm that those who abandoned their humanity and emotions shouldn’t be treated as human.
【You once told me to become a better being. A better being than I was yesterday. That the belief that tomorrow I can be better than today determines the path and direction of life. So, don’t regret anything—just seek ways to improve.】
“…Yeah, thanks.”
Still, Theresa’s words were quite good.
A better being.
A better me than I was yesterday.
A better me tomorrow than I am today.
“But Theresa.”
【Yes, Human.】
“When did I ever say that to you?”
【…You did.】
“No, I mean, when exactly?”
Theresa fell silent.
See? I’m telling you, she’s not just artificial intelligence. When things don’t go her way, she stays quiet, or just says, ‘I can’t tell you that yet.’
If the day ever comes when she gets a physical body, she’d probably spend her time sticking her tongue out to mock or tease me.
Still, thanks to Theresa’s words, Alice had realized something.
A better me than yesterday.
Couldn’t that apply to the lower sectors as well?
A world that’s even slightly better than yesterday.
And Rilstia had once told Alice.
To act as her heart dictated. In other words, to not let herself be consumed by overthinking and to focus on what was in front of her.
Put differently, it also meant to act as she pleased, as long as it maintained the peace and order of Ark.
Alice raised her head.
A dark world.
The lower sectors steeped in darkness.
So dark that even the light from neon signs barely reached the shadows of the underworld that Alice gazed into.
“Shall I start by creating a sun?”
【…?】