Chapter 114: A World Certainly Better Than Yesterday!
“Alright, the beginner’s guide to building an artificial sun!”
【There’s no such thing.】
Theresa quickly refuted it.
What? Even beginners can easily make it?
Even the finest engineers and scholars in the Central Zone took at least half a year to painstakingly construct an artificial sun.
“Ha-ha, just kidding. Still, Rilstia is more cooperative than I expected.”
【I agree with that.】
Despite Rilstia’s initially dismissive attitude, as if telling us to figure it out ourselves, she unexpectedly accessed the Ark’s Central Main Archive and handed over the blueprints for the artificial sun directly to Alice.
【Thanks to that, we can attempt to construct the artificial sun immediately.】
Originally, Alice and Theresa had planned to travel to the Ark’s central area to visit the archive where the basic technologies and design blueprints for the artificial sun were stored.
Of course, it would take a long time, as the Main Archive was not accessible remotely from here and required a physical visit.
However, thanks to Rilstia’s consideration, a tremendous amount of time was saved.
【Initiating analysis.】
【Initiating analysis.】
【Entering phase for synapse blueprint design, technical comprehension, basic structural design, reapplication technology, and electronic synapse separation.】
-Chi-iik!
Creating a sun in the lower layers.
Honestly, this was beyond reckless; it was nearly absurd to the point of impossibility.
Even the most outstanding First-Class Overseers wouldn’t think of or feel the necessity to bring a sun down to this hopeless infernal region.
However, Alice thought otherwise.
For a me that’s better than yesterday.
For a world that’s better than yesterday.
This hopeless world needed a symbol, and light was the most fitting choice as both that symbol and the start.
After all, someone once said, “Let there be light.”
Frankly, Alice didn’t fully understand that phrase 100 percent, but she simply thought humans needed light to start their day energetically, feel a bit better, and grow crops.
But upon reflecting deeply, if this lower layer really had light… wouldn’t that be a good thing?
The lower layers enjoying the same light as the upper layers.
Alice didn’t believe there would be no resistance or side effects, but she aspired for a world where people were treated as people.
Why a robot like her, beep-bop, would have such thoughts was unknown.
Perhaps the Alice of the Demon King era might have aspired to such a world, she vaguely thought.
If it were me, I would’ve done that.
With such simple and impulsive thoughts, Alice genuinely decided to construct an artificial sun.
And, as expected, she faced countless problems.
Money, resources, technology, time, the site and level for establishing the artificial sun, and various authorizations.
Everything was fraught with issues, and it seemed impossible for Alice to solve them alone.
But after discussing it with Theresa, Alice surprisingly found another way forward.
“Let’s designate the Caracas level as the site for the artificial sun.”
【Decoding blueprints… feasible, feasible, feasible. Suitable locations identified: 198.】
The Caracas heavy industry level was currently at a standstill due to blood contamination.
The criminal organizations that originally occupied this area had either turned into infected individuals or transformed into vampires.
These vampires and infected were being actively hunted in real-time by Alice, her puppets, and Marlang.
However, even after exterminating the infected and vampires completely, there remained another issue.
Blood contamination had infected the ground, air, and liquids with the Progenitor Virus, causing mutations.
The problem wasn’t just the people but the level itself.
In the upper layers, such an area would be wiped out with bombs or purified with fire, but there was neither the capacity nor the necessity to do so in the lower layers.
Even before the Caracas level’s contamination crisis, many regions were already restricted due to diseases or calamities.
Mercury rainstorm levels.
Acid rivers.
Carnivorous cell radiation zones.
And now, it was the Caracas heavy industry level’s turn.
However, Alice came up with a rather good idea.
Why not create the sun in the heavy industry level where people couldn’t live?
During the construction process, the sunlight from the artificial sun would burn or forcibly purify all the blood contamination.
Though it might not affect the Progenitor’s main body, the artificial sun in close proximity would certainly eradicate blood contamination.
Since people couldn’t live there anyway, and the only things present were infected individuals and unfortunate vampire victims, the site for the artificial sun was resolved.
If successful, this could mean artificial suns could be installed in disaster-prone areas or restricted zones throughout the lower layers.
“Everyone, from today onward, our top priority isn’t exterminating vampires but searching for any potential survivors.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Marlang!”
“As per Alice’s orders.”
Malang and the dolls lowered their heads to Alice’s orders and shifted their operational policy from an extermination mission to a search mission.
This was to check for any survivors, orphans, or intact individuals in the Caracas Stairs and evacuate them.
Mellie, an orphan girl, knew the layout of the industrial complex well and guided them to a hidden crevice called Plum Blossom Cave, successfully evacuating hidden orphans.
The Hush Gang spread the news about the artificial sun project to all sectors adjacent to the Caracas Stairs.
“But honestly, public opinion isn’t that great.”
According to Anis of the Hush Gang, the lower world’s humans were naturally very resistant to the idea.
Most of them said things like, “What can be done about it now?”
“Will a single artificial sun change anything? Do you think fixing it now can normalize this wrecked society in the lower world?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“If the money to make an artificial sun was just spread across the lower world or donated….”
“You don’t actually expect that money to completely reach the people, do you?”
“…….”
Anis was well aware of how much money middlemen like charity organizations and foundations siphoned off.
Honestly, both Anis and Dusty had initially ridiculed Alice’s plan to build an artificial sun.
They thought it was nonsense.
Could it even be done?
And if it could, what benefit would Alice gain?
However, Alice strictly adhered to the principle of “I’ll do whatever I want.”
Having no expectations meant she didn’t need to concern herself with the opinions of the residents.
With no desire for profit, she didn’t need to worry about money.
Theresa accessed the internet to purchase and order the necessary materials and institutions.
With the money Alice received from the Sohi Guild, which had fully occupied the satellite city, there was plenty left over.
Moreover, other materials were well-preserved in the Caracas Heavy Industrial Stairs.
Alice climbed to the highest power spire in the Caracas Heavy Industrial Stairs and looked down below.
It was a massive industrial sector on the scale of a major metropolis.
Various mechanical devices were lined up, and crime syndicates had long converted more than half of the industrial machinery into drug production facilities.
The rest were food production plants and synthetic food processing complexes.
Alice planned to use all the machines, except those for food production—especially the weapons and drug production facilities—as materials for the artificial sun.
“Hoo… 【Fusion】 begins.”
【Fusion】
【Fusion Target】
【Caracas Heavy Industrial Stairs.】
【All dolls are to protect Alice.】
【Initiating Nano Synapse Development】
【Starting Machine Fusion】
【Activating Fusion System】
【Link Start.】
-Pushuk!
Countless mechanical tendrils sprouted from Alice’s back and began embedding themselves into the spire of the industrial complex.
The mechanical tendrils re-embedded into the machinery of the drug production facility, absorbing all the metal and power.
Alice’s body, enhanced by Gaia’s distorted vitality, possessed the properties of both machine and life.
The mechanical tendrils began absorbing and reassembling all the drug production machinery, taking on the form of a biological factory created by Gaia.
The industrial complex.
The structures and machinery of the Caracas Heavy Industrial Sector began being assimilated by Alice.
【Internal Organization】
【Re-establishing Internal Synapse】
【Restarting Biometrica System】
【Writing New Coding】
【Initiating New Biometrica Synapse Connection】
【Re-establishing】
【Reassembling】
【Reconnecting】
【Re-establishing】
【Reconnecting】
【Recreating】
【Reassembling】
【….】
Assimilating, connecting, and pulling it all up again.
Alice’s body was so overheated that simply touching it would ignite a fire.
She processed, reinterpreted, reassembled, and recreated structures with the influx of new information.
All to create the artificial sun.
Using the facilities, designs, and blueprints analyzed by Theresa, she would consume all materials in the Caracas Heavy Industrial Sector to create a new light.
During this process, hidden vampires and infected individuals noticed the anomaly and made attempts to attack Alice.
However, under the protection of the dolls and Malang, no one could lay a hand on Alice.
Unlucky vampires who tried to attack Alice were captured by Malang and had their regenerative abilities exhausted as their bodies were torn apart by powerful sword energy.
【Fusion】
【Fusion】
【Artificial Fusion Success】
【Commencing Artificial Sun Assembly.】
However, there was a critical shortage for the artificial sun.
It was energy.
Even with the blueprint’s design, without energy, it couldn’t produce light and heat.
The light that could completely dispel the darkness of this lower layer was something Alice’s power could not create.
However, Alice was not alone.
[Hahaha, haha! Finally, Alice needs me.]
Gaia.
The goddess of this land, who unilaterally adored Alice, and the master of the twisted earth.
However, Gaia’s true form still lay dormant somewhere deep within the earth, and what resided within Alice was merely a fragment of Gaia.
Yet, that was sufficient.
Alice partially unleashed the fragment of Gaia residing within her.
More flesh and blood circulated within Alice’s mechanical body, and the mechanical parts began to diminish.
Simultaneously, Gaia’s true form deep within the ground responded to the call of the fragment.
Gaia’s roots extended toward the lower layer.
A biological factory.
A source of infinite energy and resources for this land, endlessly producing specific types of monsters.
The power directly connected to Gaia began to sprout life in the Caracas Heavy Industry sector.
“It’s complete.”
The mechanical tendrils infiltrating Alice fused with the sprout.
Naturally, if Alice simply absorbed this, she would, in turn, be absorbed by Gaia.
For Gaia was not just a hollow title of the Goddess of the Earth but the dangerous vitality of nature itself.
However, this was not something Alice intended to use for herself.
What was originally meant to become a biological factory, endlessly spawning monsters and beasts, would now be harnessed as a power source for the Artificial Sun.
Flesh and metal intertwined.
The sprout formed a bud, and as per the design interpreted by Theresa, the Artificial Sun began to rise, claiming the Caracas Heavy Industry sector.
Heat gathered within the bud.
The natural energy and twisted vitality coalesced, igniting into bright light and fire.
A sun.
A new sun was created in this hopelessly dark sector.
This occurred three days after Alice had declared to Rilstia that she would create a sun.
★
★
★
★
True Ancestor.
Its dwelling is the Abyss.
It’s a laughable matter.
The True Ancestor was originally neither an intelligent lifeform nor anything else but a ‘virus’ driven by instinct, indiscriminately consuming the blood and flesh of all living beings, whether human or beast.
However, the True Ancestor’s main body was slightly different.
In order to consume human blood, it assumed a human form, and after prolonged and substantial consumption of human blood, its form gradually transformed to resemble humanity.
Having taken on the shape of humanity, it naturally gained reason and intelligence, and as the first True Ancestor became a humanoid entity, all viruses connected to it also began to sprout their own intelligence and self-awareness.
Thus, the True Ancestor Virus became a subtle yet potent calamity, both the deadliest threat to humanity today and one that could easily blend into society.
“Haaaaa~”
And so, one True Ancestor resided in the Abyss of Ark as another name for calamity.
The lower layers were inherently a flood of countless impoverished individuals, vagrants, criminals, and organizations, but among them, the Abyss was an entirely separate world, beyond comparison.
It was a place where social misfits with terrifying powers or returnees gathered, and the True Ancestor was the grand host of this Abyssal layer.
The True Ancestor consumes humans.
It could use human blood, flesh, life force, and even mana derived from humans, consuming everything it could extract from humanity as sustenance.
So, instead of actively seeking to destroy humanity, the True Ancestor preferred to leave them to thrive and multiply until the right moment to begin feasting.
Of course, even in the meantime, it sometimes hosted gatherings where it indulged in human blood, as if enjoying a casual snack.
For such an True Ancestor, the lower layers were a very appealing place.
Here, it could devour at will, and in this world where the logic of power was the only justice, the central power of Ark could not reach, making it convenient to expand its influence.
The True Ancestor was neither human nor noble by origin, but having lived for so long, imitating humans and soaking in their sense of self, it gradually developed its own form of etiquette, elegance, and refinement.
Thus, a noble resided in the Abyss.
Just as high-ranking central families, including administrators, resided in the central Ark, in the deepest and darkest Abyss, a noble called the True Ancestor lived leisurely, feasting on nameless humans whose deaths went unnoticed.
Well, not all True Ancestors lived the same life, so it couldn’t speak for others.
“Ah, what a fine day today~ The sky is dark, there’s even less light than usual, and humans are wandering aimlessly, destined to end up on my dining table.”
As such, the True Ancestor was always in a good mood.
Unless a swarm of First-Class Overseers arrived to hunt it down, there was no real danger, and everything gathered in the Abyss was either its food or its plaything.
This darkness.
A world where everything was determined by the logic of power.
Pitiful humans.
All of them, my food.
This is a massive breeding ground.
A breeding ground and dining table for me.
Ah, blissful.
To the True Ancestor, always enraptured in ecstasy, someone came visiting one day.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Yes, who might it be~?”
The True Ancestor, ever the elegant noble, did not refuse visitors.
With graceful movements, it pinched the hem of its dress and slightly bowed its head.
And then, what arrived was something unexpected.
[Hey! Are you the child of darkness?!]
“Pardon?”
[If you’re human, open the windows! Pull back the curtains and bask in some sunlight!]
What is this nonsense?
However, the illusions and hallucinations quickly vanished, and the True Ancestor’s questions did not last long.
Keeeeeeeeeeeeng!
Light.
Light was descending.
Like a flashlight shining directly into the eyes of a sleeping soldier being woken up for dawn duty, the True Ancestor’s eyes were flooded with blinding sunlight.
In the lower layers, where there had only ever been darkness.
In the lower layer, where soft darkness, dense darkness, and humid darkness loomed, even in the deepest Abyss, the radiant light of the Artificial Sun began to fall like bombardments.
“Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!!!!”
That day, for the first time in ages, the True Ancestor was forced to feel the emotion called anger.