Skyhold

Two people stood outside the door.

Dong Yan knew one of them: Luo Hao, an Upper Citizen officer and deputy commander of their Gathering Team.

The man, whose crown was already slightly bald and whose hair grew thinner every year, was an easygoing sort. With only seven or eight years left before an honorable retirement, Luo Hao was usually friendly and approachable.

Now, however, his face was filled with shock and anger. His body, grown flabby from a lack of exercise, squeezed into the cramped dormitory, then lunged forward with a speed that belied his size.

He grabbed Dong Yan and his companion, pulled them apart, and gave each a slap.

"What do you think you're doing? How dare you treat Mr. Tianyang like this! Apologize! Apologize right now!" The deputy commander's roar echoed through the small dormitory.

Dong Yan and his companion froze.

Mr. Tianyang? Apologize?

They almost thought they had misheard.

Tianyang looked at the other man outside the door. The middle-aged man with slightly graying temples and a resolute face was Ling Feng's adjutant.

He had introduced himself when he delivered the supplies earlier. Tianyang remembered that his name was Lin Yang.

The deputy commander's current attitude was probably due to Lin Yang's presence.

That was indeed the case.

Otherwise, Luo Hao would never have flown into such a rage. Neither Ascenders nor the Nightwalkers were people the gathering troops could afford to provoke.

Luo Hao was relieved he had arrived a moment early. Had Dong Yan and his companion actually attacked, heaven only knew whether the Nightwalkers would make life difficult for their gathering troops.

Seeing the two soldiers still standing there, Luo Hao grew even angrier. "Don't make me say it again! Apologize!"

"We're sorry, Mr. Tianyang."

"Louder!"

"We're sorry!"

Only after several apologies did Luo Hao plaster a smile on his face. "Mr. Tianyang, will this do?"

Knowing that Lin Yang had serious business to discuss with him, Tianyang could not be bothered to pursue the matter with Dong Yan and his companion. He nodded.

Luo Hao immediately summoned several soldiers and had Dong Yan and his companion taken into custody. Clearly, the relevant departments were already dealing with the plot against Tianyang.

Only after the Gathering Team members left did Lin Yang enter. He handed Tianyang a box. "Your new identification card is in here. An application has been submitted for an apartment in Upper City. It should be arranged within a week or two."

"Also, Chief of Staff Ling has booked you an electronic eye implantation procedure at the Fortress Medical Center. If you want a more advanced model, you'll have to pay for it yourself. A high-speed train happens to be returning to the Fortress shortly, and I've reserved a seat for you. Pack your things and head to the station."

"Go back to the Fortress and rest for a few days. If there's a new assignment, I'll send someone to notify you."

Tianyang saluted. "Yes, sir!"

Lin Yang nodded and left the dormitory.

Once he was gone, Tianyang let out a cheer, quickly packed his belongings, and hurried to the base station.

He took the high-speed train to the rear base where the Klaft Gate stood. After passing through the dedicated Ascender passage and undergoing a brief inspection, Tianyang arrived near the Klaft Gate.

The black steel arch stood open, with vehicles and pedestrians passing through it between the Inverse Realm and the Fortress.

The light beyond the gate was bright, in sharp contrast to the gloom of the Inverse Realm.

Tianyang took a deep breath and headed toward the gate, walking faster and faster until he plunged into the light.

Crossing between the two worlds always gave him the strange sensation of stepping through a curtain of water. After taking a moment to adjust to the light outside the gate, Tianyang saw the Fortress's Transfer Platform.

Before the Fortress was built, this enormous Transfer Platform had been nothing more than an empty stretch of mountainous terrain.

One day, Klaft Gate No. 127 had appeared without a sound. Only after people discovered it did they build a fortress city here.

In fact, most fortress cities had come into being this way.

Skyhold, where Tianyang had been born, was relatively young compared with the other cities, with a history of only a little over a hundred years.

As a result, Skyhold's buildings and equipment still looked fresh and full of vitality.

Tianyang carefully avoided the vehicles, especially the heavy transports carrying construction materials. Like steel behemoths, they carried vast quantities of resources into the Inverse Realm in a steady stream to support the construction of the third Outpost Base.

He also took care to avoid some people dressed in peculiar outfits. They wore no standard uniform, and their equipment varied wildly.

Without exception, they all exuded an air of danger.

They were Gold Hunters.

Every Inverse Realm was vast, too vast for any single fortress city to explore completely. Thus, the profession of Gold Hunters had emerged. These people who feared no death always poured into the Inverse Realm in groups, gambling their lives for treasures that might not even exist.

The Fortress used their efforts to fill in its maps of the Inverse Realm. At the same time, they had to pay the Fortress twenty percent of any earnings they made there.

Even so, Gold Hunters kept coming in an endless stream, and the lucky few among them inspired more people to enter this dangerous line of work.

Tianyang's home was in Lower City, so after leaving the Transfer Platform, he boarded the Circumferential Train.

It was an important means of transport between the districts. After all, not everyone could own a car, nor could just anyone drive freely through the Fortress.

The Circumferential Train, which ran every fifteen minutes, had therefore become the residents' first choice for getting around. Of course, it could not reach every corner of the city. In Lower City, for example, it had only three stops.

After getting off, people mostly had to cover the remaining distance through the district on their own two feet.

As the train passed along the outer ring track of the upper district, an almost boundless sea came into view through the windows.

Skyhold had been built near a bay in a rainy region. Clear days like this were rare.

Tianyang gazed out the window. The blazing sun lit the sea, its surface glittering gold as though strewn with gems. This was his favorite sight. Whenever he looked at the ocean beneath a clear sky, all his worries seemed to melt away.

Suddenly, the light outside dimmed.

Tianyang knew the train had entered the Fortress's dome passage.

Because of the rainy climate, enormous circular domes covered Skyhold's districts. On clear days, their outer coverings retracted, allowing sunlight to fall into the city.

During storms, the domes' streamlined design drained rainwater and reduced wind loads, protecting the buildings beneath them from violent wind and rain.

The circular domes also had numerous rainwater collection pipes. The collected water was channeled into storage reservoirs at the desalination plant, where it underwent distillation and desalination before being sent to the various districts for the residents to use.

After the train emerged from the dome passage, a brilliant beam of light shone into Tianyang's eyes, almost blinding him. It was the glare reflected from the windows of the watchtowers atop the dome.

Below the observation decks, rows of turbine gun turrets stood in rings, symbols of military might. Multipurpose tracks beneath them ensured they could move to face any direction around the Fortress.

As the observation decks and gun batteries receded into the distance, the train entered a tunnel. That meant Upper City was now behind it, and the train was heading toward the Fortress's middle and lower levels.