Downcity

At the bottom, the elevator shaft did not end in a neatly enclosed space. In fact, as the shaft descended, its walls gradually spread outward. The massive stones, steel, and pipes that made up the walls slowly blended into the buildings of the Downcity. It was a transitional structure that had evolved over thousands of years. Hao Ren felt that as they descended, they had somehow, without noticing, arrived in a city district.

The Downcity.

At the very depths of Twilight City, where the foundations of the Doomsday Shelter lay, the Downcity's first impression on Hao Ren was one of gloom, followed by age and disorder.

Much of its appearance from two thousand years ago remained intact. Massive stone buildings and cast-iron pillars inlaid with runes stood everywhere. Humans two thousand years ago had not been capable of building such a magnificent city of megaliths, so the original city-states of Midgard had been built with the help of the Norse Gods—a history later preserved in various legends of divine miracles. That was also why these ancient buildings could serve as the foundations of Twilight City.

The weathered old buildings stood packed tightly together. The Downcity resembled a vast, complicated maze without any discernible order. Wherever you looked, you saw only layer upon layer of buildings and platforms from different eras. The entire city weighed heavily overhead, so the strongest feeling you got walking among these buildings was oppression—followed by the fear that the whole city might suddenly collapse.

Hao Ren looked up. Twilight City was like an oversized nest, its crisscrossing structures tangled above him and stretching into the endless darkness. Haphazard lights glimmered among the buildings, but they did nothing to dispel even a trace of the oppressive gloom. He widened his eyes and strained to make out what