Pretending To Be A Boss

The fifty-six fortresses of Hua Xia Country primarily derive their economy from the miners at the bottom level.

They earn the lowest wages, yet create the most value.

But no one complains, because in this era, talent decides everything. For those at the bottom, mining is the means for the talentless to survive as the forsaken.

While the operations at the base level are similar, each fortress actually specializes in certain areas.

For instance, Fortress 39 emphasizes a comprehensive, well-rounded development. Fortress 2 is dedicated to the tertiary service industry.

Tang Xian and his group were about to head to Fortress 51, which was a heavy industry fortress.

Apart from the somewhat homogeneous first layer, from the second to the fourth layer in Fortress 51, the majority of street industries are involved in weapon processing.

This is also why the most excellent weapon designers would want to go to Fortress 51.

Because it represents the pinnacle of that field.

On the way to Fortress 51, Tang Xian silently calculated the design of his next weapon.

Li Zheng, on the other hand, was a chatterbox, constantly searching for topics of conversation, such as the girl Akasi was carrying, or the real identity of the Masked Chopper Hero, and so on.

Thanks to Li Xiaoyu's confidentiality, the fact that Tang Xian had strength surpassing Eve's was still only known to Li Xiaoyu and Eve.

In Li Zheng's eyes, Tang Xian was the brains and the eyes of a team.

Akasi was an assassin, and the Masked Chopper Hero was a warrior.

Regarding the tragic incident in the evolution zone of Fortress 2, since the surveillance footage was uniformly destroyed, the Qi Family's people and Li Zheng could only learn some testimonies when investigating the incident.

These were provided by the guards from the evolution zone. The test subjects were mostly insane, their testimonies unreliable, while the guards' were strikingly consistent.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Li Zheng and Qi Xun thus became convinced that everything was done by the Masked Chopper Hero, Akasi, and Test Subject 19.

The bloodstains on Akasi were evidence of a fierce battle he had been through.

In all the testimonies, the strongest monster was still the Masked Chopper Hero, which aroused Li Zheng's interest even more. He kept steering the conversation towards this person.

Tang Xian's response was, "I don't know, I don't recognize this person."

Akasi kept silent as well.

Li Zheng, finding it boring to probe further, realized that if these two tightened their lips, he could get nothing out of them.

However, Li Zheng was certain that the downfall of the evolution zone was not a result of a large-scale clash of people, but a small team operation.

Such a team would not be rejected by the higher-ups of any fortress. Li Zheng's attitude toward Akasi remained amicable.

Akasi was always cold, just like the silver-haired reaper described in the rumors.

Tang Xian stared out the window.

The scenery outside the vehicle, which he had only seen once before, still filled him with a profound sense of novelty.

The remnants of the city torn asunder, reeking of apocalyptic desolation.

Mammoth iron towers, tracks overgrown with plants, congested yet silent streets, and massive billboards whose inscriptions were indecipherable.

The buildings still retained their strict angular shapes, standing like vertical coffins.

Tang Xian knew there were no humans outside, the plants grew wildly unchecked, and he was curious. After centuries, was the area outside the Pyramid still uninhabitable?

Seeing Tang Xian somewhat lost in thought, Li Zheng spoke up:

"The place we're flying over now is a city called Xianghai City. This city is also one of the first to respond to the great catastrophe."

Tang Xian nodded and following Li Zheng's lead, said, "They had already established refuges underground. A large number of shelters allowed this city to hold out the longest. There were also networks of passages between the shelters, and they were the first to quell the chaos brought by the disaster. When the Pyramid emerged, the people of this city were the most resistant to moving in.

But entering the Pyramid was an inevitability; the shelters may have avoided the disasters on the surface, but they couldn't change one fact: food reserves.

The Pyramid had extensive food reserves, like initial supplies given for the development of civilization, much like a game called Age of Empires.

But how could the food in the shelters, which lasted for three or five years, endure for ten or eight years? Ultimately, due to food shortages, a few upheavals occurred, and after the chaos, people unwilling to live too savagely had no choice but to enter the Pyramid.

The history records of the world outside the Pyramid also end here. They were the last humans outside the Pyramid and ultimately they too entered the Pyramid."

Li Zheng did not expect Tang Xian to be so knowledgeable about history.

"What do you know about the great catastrophe itself?" Tang Xian asked.

"I really can't know that; I'm just as curious as you are, but not just me, even the older generations in my family have no clue," Li Zheng shook his head.

Tang Xian was not surprised.

Regarding the missing historical records, the causes and process of that great catastrophe, it seems that, just as Li Xiaoyu said, one would have to look higher up in the Pyramid.

…

…

On the fifth floor of Fortress 51, the House of Daedalus.

The best treatment a weapon designer could pursue is to work in the House of Daedalus.

The weapons designed here are without exception revered and recognized by hunters and the regular army.

The House of Daedalus mostly comprises old scholars, and there are some younger people, but at twenty-four years old, there are only a few like Ke Ye.

In the conference room with the long table, Ke Ye and several peers of the same age all sat in relatively rear positions.

At the very front was the greatest elder in the weapon design field, known as the father of postmodern weaponry—Li Zhenjiang.