Inside the Fortress

"Land of Corpse Cold? Pfft, is there really a place with such a stupid name? It seems that since the world collapsed into this current hellscape, the aesthetic taste of these people has collapsed right along with it. Oh, apologies, I've never heard of this place."

Upon hearing the name, the captain couldn't help but make a snide remark. It made him suspect that the young man before him had played too many games during the Old Era and was now projecting those fictional locations onto reality...

Xia Leng shared a similar sentiment, finding the name so ridiculous he couldn't even bring himself to comment on it.

However, the memory fragments in his mind insisted that this was the name, and even provided the detailed underground coordinates for the location.

Underground coordinates—could the base from those memory fragments really be located 40 meters below the surface?

He also vaguely remembered a doctor named Klein saying that he didn't want the world to discover their research, so it was indeed highly probable that their base was situated in an extremely concealed location.

As for such a foolish name, it was likely nothing more than a code name for the base.

"But you can go ask around in the fortress; perhaps someone will know. Our corporation has quite a few knowledgeable scholars who survived from the Old Era," the captain added.

In this era, those surviving scientists, physicists, and the like had become "assets" fought over by the major corporations.

After all, no matter the time, knowledge remains the primary productive force.

"Mm, thank you."

After Xia Leng offered a flat word of thanks, he walked straight through the heavily armed gate, and no one stopped him again.

"Captain, that guy is so arrogant. You're a Tier 3 Baptized One, and he's only Tier 2. Your strength could completely crush a few guys like that, yet he was still so cold to you. If he ends up holding some position in the corporation later, won't he be riding on top of your head?"

Once the cold man had left, the guard finally dared to speak with a disgruntled tone.

"Hmph, if you had the abilities of a Tier 2 Baptized One at his age, you could be arrogant too. Enough, less chatter, and hand over the drinks you just lost!"

Xia Leng stepped into the interior of the fortress. At first glance, the environment was vastly different from the various refugee villages in the wilderness; it was like comparing two different worlds.

The fortress, converted from a former super-mall, consisted of three interconnected buildings arranged in a circle. Each building was about 20 stories high, and every floor possessed vast amounts of space.

The three buildings were divided into three distinct zones.

Building A was the residential area. Ordinary refugees lived on the lowest floors, Komodo Corporation mercenaries lived above them, and further up were the quarters for cadres and Baptized Ones. The higher one's ability, the higher the floor they occupied.

Of course, these precious living spaces weren't provided for free. Every so often, residents had to pay taxes to the fortress administrators, which could be in the form of crystals or trade goods.

The costs were not low, either. If one fell behind on payments for too long, they would be forcibly dragged off to dangerous mining zones to work off their debt for the corporation.

However, compared to having a safe living environment, these high costs were considered worth it.

Building B served as the commercial zone. The goods left over from the Old Era were dazzling, and one could even buy game consoles that had been repaired and were functional, though they were incredibly expensive and all belonged to the corporation.

In addition to the shops controlled by internal corporate staff, there was also a trade market run by the residents themselves, specifically for trading their private belongings. Among them, one could occasionally find valuable treasures.

As for Building C, it was the main office building for this branch of Komodo Corporation.

Except for certified internal staff, other refugees—and even Baptized Ones—couldn't dream of stepping foot inside. Otherwise, the two anti-aircraft machine guns mounted at the entrance would not hesitate to turn you into a sieve.

Xia Leng stood in the center of the lobby, watching the various streams of people passing by: Baptized Ones exuding powerful auras, high-ranking commanders in designated corporate uniforms, and ordinary refugees at the very bottom of the class pyramid.

These people, with their vast disparities in status and social standing, were moving about peacefully, with not a single instance of bullying, fighting, or trouble-making occurring.

Even at the stalls run by ordinary refugees in the free trade zone, those who considered themselves noble Baptized Ones were obediently paying for their goods.

If this were the wasteland outside, those Baptized Ones would have harvested the goods and the lives of those refugee merchants alike...

The reason they could coexist harmoniously now was, naturally, the rules of the fortress and the fortress patrol teams visible everywhere.

Every patrol squad was fully armed, and some squads were composed entirely of Baptized Ones!

They were the embodiment of order within the fortress. Once a violation of the rules was discovered, regardless of the offender's status—be it Baptized One, officer, cadre, or refugee—they had the authority to execute them on the spot!

If a high-tier Baptized One caused trouble and the patrol team couldn't handle it, what awaited them would be a hunt by the top assassin team of the Komodo Corporation.

However, the higher the tier of a Baptized One, the more they tended to cherish their precious lives, so incidents of high-tier Baptized Ones rebelling were rare, unless they were moles sent by rival corporations.

Xia Leng took a rough look at the rule stele standing in the center of the lobby and quickly recorded the detailed fortress regulations into his brain.

It had to be said that only with rules could a society take shape; the hundreds of detailed rules bound this fortress society into perfect order.

Perhaps it was only with such fortress worlds that human society could truly begin to develop again.

"Hello, sir. You are the only Tier 2 Apocalypse Hunter from this batch to obtain an entry pass, correct? My name is Joseph, and I am one of the stewards of this fortress."

Just as Xia Leng was about to head toward the trade zone, a refined, gentle, and magnetic voice suddenly came from behind him.

Turning around, he saw a man with a slender build, dressed in a well-tailored black suit, greeting him with a polite smile.

It seemed that this kind of gentlemanly conduct, which had basically gone extinct in the Old Era, was making a comeback. A renaissance?

"Mm. Do you need something?" Xia Leng replied flatly. The so-called steward before him did not emit any abnormal aura; he appeared to be an ordinary person.

"My job is mainly to handle the registration of new personnel entering the fortress. Your name, ability, the purpose of your entry, and your future plans—please tell me these details."

Joseph maintained his gentlemanly demeanor, wearing a harmless smile as he pulled a notebook from his pocket.

Xia Leng glanced at the required registration fields and told him one by one. Some information was true, some was fabricated; in any case, it was all inconsequential content.

As for his purpose for entering the fortress and his future plans, Xia Leng wrote "passing through" and "no plans."

"Uh, excuse me, sir, but our regulations state that these two fields must be filled out..."

Steward Joseph looked at the entries in the notebook with a pained expression. After all the trouble of obtaining an entry pass to the fortress, the man was only here for a bit of sightseeing??