Chapter 54 (1/2)

Episode 4: The Great Colonizing Age / Chapter 54: Investigation (5)

TL: emptycube

Editor: Obelisk

Chu Youngjin and Ryu Hyunsung, who had left the hot springs city ‘Pyungryu’ which had a slave market, had escaped to the outskirts of the Sovereign of Dark Secrets Lao Ban’s territory. They checked the whirlpool in the sky and examined the terrain.

“Ha… What a beautiful scene.”

Ryu Hyunsung took pictures as they explored a hilly region that seemed to have been cut cleanly by a sword, plains that seemed to have experienced a drought as the ground was split into deep cracks, and tens of lakes which seemed as though the ground had been punched to make uniform holes.

He held an expensive item in his hands, a transparent tablet. He used an application on this tablet that could a.n.a.lyze the pictures he took and automatically create a map. Electronics from Earth couldn’t function properly in outer s.p.a.ce, but this tablet was originally created by alien technology and therefore worked anywhere. It was said to be an essential item for each faction. Choi Hyuk’s group only had two tablets. One was in Baek Seoin’s possession while Ryu Hyunsung brought the other one with him.

“Well… There are unexplainable terrains on Earth as well… But this is really amazing. Is it even possible for these to form naturally?”

Ryu Hyunsung held the transparent tablet in his hands as he admired the scene in front of him, while Chu Youngjin picked up a white rock that was rolling on the ground.

“This rock is strangely warm.”

It was warm. Its warmth seemed to exceed 40 degrees. When he heard those words, Ryu Hyunsung placed his hand on the ground. The ground itself was warm.

“Is it because we’re in a hot springs region?”

He recalled Pyungryu, the hot springs city not far from here. He then compared their location and Pyungryu as he examined the map that had been automatically created by the tablet. Ryu Hyunsung left a memo, ‘the ground is warm’.

“Done. Let’s go to the next place.”

After he finished recording, the two continued to their next destination. Ryu Hyunsung’s map already included the territory of the Sovereign of Dark Secrets, but they were extending even beyond that.

The land was split like rice paddies. However, the scale was a hundred times larger than a rice paddy. When they saw it from afar, it looked like a rice paddy, but as they approached, the crevices between the pieces of land were as wide as the gaps between buildings. When they dropped a rock to figure out how deep it was, they didn’t hear a sound. Hot air that seemed to come from the depths of h.e.l.l would occasionally blow from the cracks.

Here, Chu Youngjin discovered some traces.

“This… looks like traces of humans?”

On one side of the crack, there was a cave. Wooden tools that looked like lamps rolled in front of the cave. Since it was two stories below, it was a great place to hide from monsters. They jumped into the gap and entered the cave.

“This stench…”

Chu Youngjin took immediate notice of the blood and flesh on the walls as well as the sickening stench.

“Seeing as how there is a stench, it doesn’t seem like it’s been very long.”

Ryu Hyunsung agreed with him. He examined his surroundings and said,

“Yeah, even though we don’t know when or how this cave was made, immigrants definitely used to live here. That corpse is wearing jeans.”

The upper and lower body of that corpse had been separated. Chu Youngjin frowned and asked.

“… Why were they annihilated? Monsters?”

“What monsters. In my perspective, it’s Lao Ban, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d. They probably only took those who could have been used as slaves and killed the rest.”

Ryu Hyunsung took out the tablet and took pictures. Even though it was obvious, they hadn’t had visible evidence of slave hunting and immigrant slaughter until now… Well, it wasn’t as though evidence like this meant anything nowadays.

“The world really is strange. Even when a sovereign pulls this kind of s.h.i.+t, we can’t do anything, right? Because it’s impossible to enter Dragonic without the sovereign’s permission… And the future of Earth lies with Dragonic. Same with the law. It collapsed the moment the military and police became awakenees.”

Ryu Hyunsung complained while taking pictures of the cave. The cave was quite deep. When they went deeper, they saw places that seemed to be sleeping quarters and a kitchen. Though they didn’t know who first dug this cave, they were quite functional.

“Our leader contributed to that as well.”

Didn’t Choi Hyuk kill someone in front of the president? From that point onwards, at least to the awakenees, it was no different from having no laws.

Ryu Hyunsung shrugged. He had been present then.

“Well, at least the leader was discussing the relations.h.i.+p between favor and spite. This, this is just killing people unrelated to him for greed. It’s very different. No matter how low the morals of the strong have fallen…”

Chu Youngjin nodded at his words. His gazed turned towards a couple who had been stabbed by a spear and had died alongside each other.

Chu Youngjin felt jealousy, pain and rage all at the same time. A pain that was incomparable to the pain he experienced from Explosive Blood.

“… That’s true… It’d be nice if we met a slave hunting troop.”

His eyes reddened as though he had unknowingly activated Explosive Blood. If any slave hunters met with Chu Youngjin now, it would the day of their calamity.

Ryu Hyunsung seconded Chu Youngjin’s wish.

“It’d be nice. We can give them another warning as well.”

After they finished recording, they left the cave. And they checked a distant whirlpool in the sky. It was a dented whirlpool that looked like stirred milk.

Chu Youngjin observed the familiar whirlpool and said,

“Is that really… the whirlpool we saw in our territory? It’s really small…”

“Even if it’s small, the shape is almost identical. There’s a high chance they are the same whirlpool.”

“If that really is the case, then they must be colonizing in that direction.”

“Yeah. So let’s quickly finish our mission and return.”

They were almost done. The two set that whirlpool as their target and started to walk.

Had Chu Youngjin’s words about wanting to meet a group of slave hunters come true? They really did meet them. It was at a place that was about three days away from Pyungryu. A place that seemed to be slightly closer to the dented whirlpool.

They were in a terrain where blue boulders emitted a thick fog. When seen from a distance, the combination of the blue rocks and fog looked like a mysterious ocean. While Ryu Hyunsung was taking pictures, he spotted fleeing immigrants making their way through the fog. Immigrants who couldn’t receive supplies were easily identifiable as they wore tattered clothes from Earth or covered themselves up with a cloth.

“We’re quite lucky. Immigrants are being chased.”

To be able to meet slave traders, whom they wanted to teach a lesson to, and find skilled immigrants, it was like killing two birds with one stone.

Immigrants who survived here for a long time were of great help to Chu Youngjin and Ryu Hyunsung’s mission as they would undoubtedly know the terrain, infestation of monsters, and the distribution of the native population better than anyone else. Due to the increased sightings of monsters, it was about time for them to leave as well. If they could obtain the immigrants’ cooperation, they could even leave with information about a place they hadn’t scouted yet.

“Do we charge in?”

Chu Youngjin, who was spectating the fleeing immigrants, asked Ryu Hyunsung as if informing him. Ryu Hyunsung nodded.

“Explosive Blood.”