Moving

When leaving, Ivette didn't forget to place an order with the Welder for two clean and sanitary new ID cards. This required calling in favors at the police station, and the Welder, being one of the local powers-that-be, had no problem facilitating it – essentially, the police station was selling them directly, and he was just the middleman.

In fact, as she spoke with the Welder, Ivette had already begun to suspect it wasn't necessary to buy ID cards. Unless the friends and family of those three thugs were willing to stuff the police station with red envelopes, the quality of the police officers here was such that they wouldn't bother with a thorough investigation. They'd just go through the motions, and there was no way they'd notice the police system had been hacked or resident information altered.

Besides, the Blackwater District had more unsolved cases each year than could be counted. Except for the fresh-faced rookies sent here when they first joined the force, the regular police officers had long since become jaded veterans. They wouldn't care about adding one more to the pile.

However, Ivette had only been here for her second day. She lacked understanding of the Blackwater District, Ish City, or even the entire Origin Civilization. Having theoretical knowledge was one thing, but it wasn't enough. Therefore, out of caution, she paid for two ID cards, totaling 16,000. Her account balance then dropped to 69,800.

Leaving the Junkyard Black Market, Ivette took Rosaline on a tour of the city center in the evening. They passed through the citizens' park, which had become an estate after the apocalypse, enjoyed a high-class dinner, and ascended to the observation dome atop the Black Tower Building. From there, they took in the neon nightscape of Ish City, their eyes filled with the ceaseless flow of magic.

Looking at the beautiful scenery, Rosaline essentially treated it as a true depiction of the Kingdom of God on Earth, harboring all sorts of beautiful fantasies.

Although Ivette knew that utopias didn't exist in the world and that the Origin Civilization was a society with extreme wealth disparity, she was still somewhat lost in thought, moved by the scenery. It reminded her of going to the top of the Shanghai Tower with her family in her previous life. She was young then, full of spirit, and never imagined she'd end up delivering food after graduation.

Fortunately, she'd had a stroke of luck and become a Witch. Whether that was good or bad, she couldn't say.

Then, the following morning, through an intermediary platform, Ivette gave up the hotel and rented an apartment of about eighty square meters in the Wright Apartment Building on Acid Street.

This was an apartment building near a prosperous commercial district in the Blackwater District. The location was good, and the public safety was relatively more reliable. It wasn't like Pixel Street, where you could be halfway through a night's sleep, get up to use the restroom, and then be startled awake by gunfire, causing you to lose control – though she wasn't going to the restroom, nor was she losing control; this was a scientific hypothesis based on past experience.

Looking up from the entrance of the apartment, the entire Wright Apartment Building was a massive, bright yellow honeycomb structure. The upper section was considerably wider, with Magitech Motorcycles constantly taking off and landing on the rooftop platform, indicating extreme busyness. The lower section appeared narrower and more conservative, with rooms lacking balconies and windows fitted with wire mesh. There was only one driveway.

Soon, Ivette entered the elevator with Rosaline and pressed the button for the 18th floor. This was a VIP elevator exclusively for tenants on the 15th floor and above. The rent for these units was higher, and the services provided were naturally better.

"Hello, are you new residents?"

As Ivette reached the door of apartment 1809, which she had rented, she opened it and saw a middle-aged man in a white coat emerge from the room next door. He seemed to be on his way out and greeted them with surprise.

"Yes, we just arrived today," Ivette replied with a slight nod.

"My name is Regal Hoffman. We'll be neighbors from now on," Regal said with a smile, then suddenly pulled a slip of paper from his clothes and handed it over. "This is my business card. Feel free to ask for help anytime if you need it."

Ivette took the card and glanced at it. "Hoffman General Clinic... Are you a doctor?"

"Yes, but my fees are very reasonable, so don't worry. Many tenants on the 15th floor are my regular customers."

Regal checked his watch, waved, and said, "Time is short, I have to go. Enjoy your move-in!"

After he walked away, Ivette entered the apartment, and the door automatically closed.

Meanwhile, Rosaline had already entered the room and was poking at a holographic landscape disguised as a fish tank.

However, her interest waned quickly. Before long, Ivette saw her lose interest in exploring the apartment and instead lie down on the living room sofa. She skillfully scrolled through short videos using the holographic projection function of the Magic Guide Terminal, looking like a salted fish that had lost its fighting spirit.

"..."

Shaking her head, Ivette casually sat on a stool and also started browsing the internet. However, she wasn't looking for entertainment but searching for information about the Silent War.

Information about the Silent War, a major conflict that had once engulfed the globe, was abundant and easy to find online.

According to verified encyclopedia entries online, the war had begun quite suddenly, with no prior buildup. The government forces struck first, and by the time the corporations noticed something was wrong, it was already too late. Therefore, the corporate powers were at a disadvantage from the outset.

However, Ivette noted that only three companies were involved in the initial stages of the war: Spirit Vine Company, Sky Dome Technology, and Black Tower Pharmaceuticals.

The attacking forces were the "New Eden Commonwealth" and the "Future Union." These were the two most powerful nations in the Origin Civilization, and also regional powers of the Black Tide Continent and Silver Mirror Continent, respectively.

First, they suppressed through policy, then intervened with regulations, leading to minor armed skirmishes. Subsequently, other powers joined the fray, fully igniting the conflict, which eventually escalated into a large-scale war between the "Corporate Alliance" and "Global International." This made sense.

Furthermore, curbing the expansion of super-corporations was hardly an unusual decision; it was just that the methods were a bit extreme, and the corporations' resistance was also a bit intense.

She thought to herself.

As for the outcome of the war, just as the Welder had said, both sides abruptly ended the conflict, citing "the desire to avoid further casualties." They both maintained silence, not revealing any more information to the outside world – which was also the origin of the name Silent War.

After a full day of sifting through countless discussions and speculations online, as evening arrived, Ivette sat on the living room sofa, tiredly rubbing her temples. She had found nothing. In reality, even if there had been reliable clues, she wouldn't have been able to distinguish them amidst so many conspiracy theories.

So, she thought about it and decided to change her approach, abandoning the investigation into the Silent War and instead searching for tags related to the apocalypse.

This search scope was indeed much smaller. After browsing various forums for a while and utilizing various AI search engines, one post finally caught her attention.

— A poster with the ID "Firekeeper" claimed that the apocalypse was imminent and had therefore established a sanctuary. The purpose of the post was to ask everyone to collect and contribute the important knowledge they possessed, uploading it to a server as a spark for humanity's civilization restart.

If this were on Earth, it would undoubtedly be fake, similar to those posts about "getting car plates out of thin air." But in the Origin Civilization, considering its exceptionally strict intellectual property protection, the poster's words were quite sincere.

Surely no one would risk going to jail just to post meaningless content.

With that thought, Ivette looked at the suspicious link attached to the post and clicked it. As expected, a risk warning appeared.

Skillfully clicking "Ignore risk, continue browsing," she was presented with a small website with a black background. In the center was an animated image of a burning candle, and below it was an upload module for files no larger than a certain size to be uploaded to the server.

In the upper left corner of the website was a logo shaped like a burning candle, next to which was a name that was likely the organization's name—

Civilization Preservation Society.