Isis walked along a dusty road, with Eve following behind her.
The area was full of construction sites. Countless workers bustled about as a steady stream of dump trucks and construction equipment moved along the road, kicking up clouds of dust and noise. The whole place was a hive of activity.
"Machine City has changed quite a bit."
Isis had passed through Machine City once before. Back then, it had been a lifeless slave society that hadn't interested her enough to stop.
Now, though, Machine City had been reborn. Signs of vigorous life were everywhere.
This was the kind of place Isis liked, because a vibrant city meant vigorous life and healthy blood, whether in the city or its people.
She and Eve walked along the broad road, yet the countless workers and passersby around them paid them no mind, as if they couldn't see them at all.
Even the dust in the air couldn't settle on them.
In the blink of an eye, the pair had crossed a great distance and reached the center of Machine City, where they stopped in front of an apartment building.
"I don't sense any vampires in the city."
Isis sized up the unremarkable apartment building before them and said to Eve, "There are only two ordinary people inside. Are you sure he lives here?"
Eve bowed slightly. "According to the intelligence, after Fang Cheng left Tokyo, he and the women around him went into seclusion in Machine City. But he's been going out a lot lately."
"Then I suppose we're out of luck. We've arrived while he's away."
The Maldives weren't far from Area 11. Isis could have arrived last month.
But something had come up along the way and delayed her. She had only just swum here.
"Since we've made the trip,