Sorry for the Trouble
"This is really a mess!"
Back in Infinite City, Feng Xue stood on the stairwell of the Tower of Babel, gazing at the flames of war in the Residential Area, a slight smile playing on her lips.
Although Hundred Tales - Tamamo-no-Mae and Great Tengu, the two deputy leaders of Hyakumonogatari, are still alive, they no longer have the ability to monopolize the Residential Area after Aoyagi Lantern absconded with the funds.
Thanks to the increasingly frequent exchanges between Infinite City and the real world in recent years, some organizations that have been able to gain a foothold in the four major Landfill Area received relevant intelligence almost simultaneously. They immediately stormed into the Residential Area, tacitly eliminating the forces left behind by the Hundred Tales in the Residential Area. Meanwhile, some well-informed peripheral forces also entered the fray, starting to remove those managers who occupied the peripheral Landfill Area through nepotism.
However, due to the lingering popularity of the Hundred Tales, many administrators became Weird Tale during this Midsummer Night Festival. As a result, a few Landfill Area were still able to maintain their self-discipline and even form their own groups.
According to Feng Xue's estimation, once the Weird Tale Hundred Tales that have digested the Progenitor Supernatural Tale have recovered (meaning resurrected), they will probably begin to form their own small forces and slowly shed the Hundred Tales's mark. But at least for now, they have to face round after round of purges.
Of course, there will still be some special cases that will be recruited, such as the one who was just resurrected, who is definitely a hot commodity that all the major organizations want to win over.
However, these effects on Feng Xue are limited to the fact that he often encounters group fights when he wants to buy things. When Feng Xue encounters such situations, he usually takes out an electric guitar that is plugged into a switch and asks everyone present to wait quietly until he finishes buying what he wants before continuing.
"Tsk tsk, it looks like it'll be quite a while before order is restored."
Feng Xue uncapped the bottle of freshly made Lucky Milk and gulped it down, while simultaneously pondering what to do next.
Old Li's explanation cleared up many of his doubts, but it also left him feeling confused about what to do next.
Before knowing all this, his goal was simply to embed himself in the history of the Yan Kingdom, then create two Supernatural Tale Entry of immortality, or even cultivating immortality, so he could live a life of idleness and waiting to die.
But as the secrets of the Infinite City were revealed, Feng Xue felt a sense of urgency.
Fear stems from the unknown, and the unknown expands as one's knowledge increases.
When he was nothing, he didn't care whether the Infinite City had consciousness or what that consciousness wanted to do, because the priority was to gather enough [consciousness] to survive, rather than the Infinite City's goals.
But as he gradually became Weird Tale, and even gave the Hundred Tales a push on the collapsing cascade of legends, that intense unease began to emerge.
The reason is simple--
The Hundred Tales and the Infinite City are so similar.
Aoyagi Lantern created and guided the Hundred Tales, but in the end, she also devoured the vast majority of Hundred Tales members, thereby achieving a state that Feng Xue could hardly comprehend.
And isn't the Infinite City itself a kind of seemingly collective Weird Tale?
Is Mu really just something randomly picked up when Infinite City was collecting trash? And is there some commonality between Infinite City lending the Tag to Mu and Hundred Tales's use of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons Picture to turn Mu into Supernaturalized?
If that's truly the case, then will there come a day when the Infinite City will devour the entire Infinite City, just as Aoyagi Lantern devoured Hundred Tales?
Although there was no actual basis for such speculation, it was hard for Feng Xue not to think so after witnessing the "sublimation" process of Aoyagi Lantern.
And so, a new goal slowly began to emerge in his mind—
To become Weird Tale like Great Tengu or Tamamo-no-Mae, who can survive even if the Hundred Tales are swallowed up.
He didn't know how to do it, nor was he sure if the two great Weird Tale that had escaped the Hundred Tales could also escape the Infinite City, but he figured he'd understand once he kept climbing.
"Surtur, Sugawara no Michizane ..." Thinking of these two names he had heard from Old Li, Feng Xue couldn't help but look up. How did these two Weird Tale, which had a history of at least a thousand years, appear in the Infinite City, which had only a history of fifty years? And why did they live here? Feng Xue felt that this might be related to his current unease.
The renowned management guru Dio once said that people live for peace of mind, and nothingness is the most unsettling existence because it can disappear at any time. Therefore, one will never be at peace and will always continue to strive upwards.
There is only one way to achieve peace of mind.
"Victory, then domination!"
Thinking of this, Feng Xue lifted his foot and stepped over the Stairs leading to the 21st floor. He was determined to continue climbing!
The moment Feng Xue stepped onto the stairs, it meant she had given up her chance to challenge rooms below the 20th floor, but that wasn't a problem for Feng Xue, who had already made up her mind.
He stood quietly on the open plain, gazing at the cavalrymen raising dust in the distance. A red Orca Pillow popped out of his Guitar Case and he gently picked it up.
With a flick of the toes and a twist of the waist, the phantom of an orca flew out from the cushion, unleashing Wave Power that swept outwards. The hundreds of cavalrymen, before they could even muster the momentum to charge, were struck head-on by a strike powerful enough to disintegrate kilometers of reinforced concrete, turning into nothingness.
The scene before them crumbled instantly as the cavalry vanished, leaving only the familiar, dimly lit stairwell and the door to the 21st floor.
Feng Xue didn't push the door open, but continued walking upstairs. The guards in the 21st to 30th floors posed no threat to him, and he had no interest in the owners of the apartments on that floor.
Alternatively, if you don't plan to settle down, placing your property in the 11-20 floor range is a good choice. After all, most Weird Tale, even if you start challenging them, will not be challenged beyond the tenth floor due to the setting that you can't go back after advancing to the next stage. This means that you are unlikely to be challenged by too many Weird Tale.
As for experts, Feng Xue's current need for the Tower of Babylon is not actually that high. After all, he can travel to the Cyberpunk and Lovecraftian Wuxia worlds at any time through the Descent Rule. The former can Create Memes at any time, while the latter has a solid Benchmark. In addition, given that the Yan people know martial arts, unless a wave of aliens from Deus Ex Machina comes and blows up the entire present world, Feng Xue's basic survival should not be a problem.
Feng Xue passed through the guards on the 30th to 40th floors without feeling any pressure. These guards couldn't even force him to make a second move, which made him realize that he had unintentionally suppressed his level.
"This is really..."
Feng Xue gained a new understanding of the rapid expansion of the power within the Supernatural Tale System. However, imagining that Old Li had once relied on his [Qigong Master] skills to fight his way up to the sixty-seventh floor, his pride gradually faded.
"Don't get too cocky!"
Feng Xue muttered to herself as she stepped onto the stairs leading to the sixty-first floor...
Hahaha, this is hilarious! Someone, probably reading a pirated copy, posted online saying they'd read dozens of chapters and that I was constantly arguing with readers at the end of each chapter, padding the word count, and that it's no wonder nobody reads me... They even asked why I don't write comments in the chapter notes... They've really exposed themselves...