In the enormous, absurd, clamorous Passageway, Mora contacted Shausedo. As the distance between them closed—or perhaps because they had entered neighboring zones—she no longer needed to communicate through the Combat Puppet Soul Hosted by him. They could use their communicators directly.
Mora said irritably, "What happened to you just now? Even your puppet didn't respond."
Shausedo's voice was somewhat hoarse, and his temper was even worse. "What happened to you? It was forty or fifty kilometers. Even a turtle would've crawled here by now!"
"Then have one try."
Shausedo went silent for two seconds before replying, "I see you've entered the Passageway area. If you encounter a mechanical cluster, don't worry. They'll ignore you. Keep going forward, and you'll reach the more central functional zones..."
Since the communications had improved, Shausedo gave her a rough introduction to the base.
After listening patiently, Mora asked, "Where are you?"
"I think I entered a Prayer Hall. Mm, it's quite distinctive."
He briefly described the structure and layout of his current location, making Mora frown deeply.
"What the hell is this place? Those Clay Figures... do they have consciousness and civilization? Or is this some sick bastard stacking blocks, assembling a map, and playing house?"
Shausedo did not respond. He seemed speechless—or perhaps he was thinking.
Mora asked again, "What's with the restrictions on the Abyss Zone side?"
Shausedo snorted. "This is the Thirteenth District. Since there's a problem like this, shouldn't you explain it? Even if you can't, what about Mentor Li Wei?"
"I've already contacted him, but the delay is insanely high. We can only wait. But..." As Mora spoke, she looked around at the mechanical cluster single-mindedly carrying out construction around her and gave a low laugh. "I can basically confirm it now: we're already in the Inner Ring, and