(Heartfelt thanks to 'Wufeng Haotian' and '200530481273' for their rewards!)
Tokyo Area, Outer District, Monolith.
The pitch-black colossal wall soared upward, disappearing into the clouds.
Beneath the immense black wall was a number marked in stainless steel—No.0013.
This was Monolith No. 13 of the Tokyo Area.
Outside the Monolith lay the unexplored territory where Gastrea were active.
Inside the Monolith, however, were endless ruins where even humans were unwilling to remain.
Throughout these ruins, collapsed buildings and residences with even their roofs crushed flat could be seen everywhere.
Fallen utility poles tangled with wires, forming intricate patterns like cat's cradle strings.
Aluminum cans and all kinds of plastic trash piled up on the ground. As the garbage fermented, faint heat rose from the ground beneath it.
Timber, mortar, rusty nails, and similar debris littered the area, making the original ground difficult to see.
Yet amid this heap of rubbish was a manhole cover resembling one from an underground sewer.
Looking closely, there was a symbol beside the manhole cover that would be impossible to notice without careful inspection.
A ☆ symbol.
There were feathers above that ☆ symbol.
It was, unmistakably, a five-pointed star decorated with feathers.
If the manhole cover were opened, one would find a sewer-like tunnel beneath it.
At the end of that tunnel was a base.
A base that extended from the Outer District of the Tokyo Area into the unexplored territory beyond the Monolith, its interior filled with personnel conducting research and working.
Clearly, it was a research institute.
Although there were some obviously heavily armed combat personnel, there were also quite a few researchers in white coats, constantly moving through the underground institute and keeping busy.
Had this scene been aboveground, it would surely have possessed an entirely different air of technological advancement.
But