Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

”Wasteland City?”

”Yeah, a废弃都市.”

Facing Saten Reiko’s curious question, Feli gave a flat explanation, then turned to Fang Zheng.

”A Wasteland City is very dangerous. Not only are there likely to be Contaminated Beast nests, there might even be Fallen Nobles. Ordinary people going there is basically just going to their deaths.”

”Fal... Fallen... Nobility?”

”Fallen Nobles are existences formed by the Transformation of the Wasteland City’s Digital Elves.”

At this point, Feli fell silent for a moment, then added another line.

”Extremely dangerous.”

”It’s fine, but thanks for the warning anyway.”

Fang Zheng merely nodded in thanks at Feli’s advice. As for the other three, they weren’t going to back down because of this either. Misaka Mikoto and Kuroko Shirai went without saying—LV5 and LV4 weren’t just for show—and Saten Reiko had combat experience too, she wasn’t going to give up just because of a couple of sentences from Feli.

Feli didn’t say anything more either. In fact, she was very curious about these people, and now she was even more curious. Feli was no ordinary person; she was also born into the ruling class of a Mobile City, so she naturally knew a thing or two about these matters. Of course, Feli herself didn’t like that life. As an outstanding Nen Aura Ability User, her parents had pinned their hopes on her from the moment she was born. Having her life predetermined like that made Feli quite dissatisfied, so she left her own city and went to Jernie where her older brother was.

What Feli didn’t expect was that even after coming to Jernie, her brother still obediently followed their parents’ wishes in arranging her life...

To be honest, tagging along with Fang Zheng and the others was an accident for Feli. At first, she became interested in Fang Zheng because she saw him go head-to-head with her brother without falling behind. On the contrary, that brother of hers, who always seemed to have everything firmly under control, actually looked a bit at a loss when facing Fang Zheng.

This sparked Feli’s interest in Fang Zheng, but everything that happened afterwards only deepened her suspicions.

Take the current Kuroko Shirai and Misaka Mikoto for example—Feli had actually checked the entry records of the Mobile City, and their names weren’t on there at all. In theory, under the strict inspections of a Mobile City, sneaking in was supposed to be very difficult. But after seeing Kuroko Shirai’s ability with her own eyes, Feli’s questions got their answer.

What replaced them, though, was a different question.

Namely... what exactly were they trying to do?

In Feli’s view, if these people had some shady intentions, then they should be acting very cautiously. But that wasn’t the case at all. They were swaggering around the city in broad daylight, even with her brother’s people tailing them, and they didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

More importantly, they even seemed to be planning to head out into the outside world...

So Feli followed as well. Of course, the main reason was that Misaka Mikoto and Kuroko Shirai didn’t give her a bad feeling; they didn’t look like bad people, and Saten Reiko was very friendly too.

If they were like some villain, dressed all revealingly, caked in eye shadow, and still wearing a black skintight suit despite being old enough to be a grandma, then it would be another story.

”Achoo!”

Far away somewhere, Precia let out a fierce sneeze and rubbed her nose.

For a wandering bus, this might be quite a long journey, but for the Void Radiant Ship it was only a matter of minutes. Very quickly, Fang Zheng piloted the Void Radiant Ship to hover above the Wasteland City. A flash of Radiance streaked past, and in the next instant everyone vanished from inside the Void Radiant Ship and appeared on this abandoned land.

A freezing wind swept over them.

As they recovered from the warp, everyone’s first impression was cold and death. Looking out, the entire city was like the remains left after being consumed by flames, layer upon layer of dark shadows covering everything. Broken weapons could be seen everywhere, and here and there were even weathered white bones.

”This is...”

”This is what happens to a city when it’s breached by Contaminated Beasts.”

Feli looked calmly at the scene before her and spoke in a low voice. Even Misaka Mikoto, Kuroko Shirai, and Saten Reiko, who had originally come with a bit of a tourist mindset, found themselves speechless now.

The death of an entire city, that kind of heaviness hit them head-on, leaving them at a loss for what to do.

”Miss Feli.”

Fang Zheng looked quite calm. After all, for him, scenes like this were already an everyday sight.

”May I ask if you know where the core part of this city is?”

”You want to go to the Core Zone? But there shouldn’t be much left there now.”

”Just a small experiment.”

”......Fine.”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s answer, Feli merely pondered for a moment, then lifted her foot.

”Follow me.”

Although the structures of Mobile Cities varied, the general layout was the same. It’s like a car: no matter how flashy you make the exterior, inside it’s still axles, engine, and tires, and their positions won’t really change. Feli knew this quite well, so she quickly led Fang Zheng and the others to an emergency access point and then headed deeper into the Mobile City.

However, what was puzzling was that the farther in they went, the fewer signs of battle there were, which made everyone feel a bit strange.

”Why are there almost no traces of fighting here?”

After going down another level under Feli’s lead, Kuroko Shirai looked around in confusion and finally couldn’t help asking.

”Normally, the more important the area, the more people you’d station to protect it, right?”

”It’s meaningless.”

Feli walked in front as she answered without looking back.

”Once a Mobile City’s defensive line is breached, it’s total collapse. If we can’t defeat the Contaminated Beasts before they enter the Mobile City, then the fall of the entire city is only a matter of time. So after the defenses are broken, what people focus on is taking shelter and escaping from the city.”

At this point, Feli’s voice grew a little heavier.

”Of course, most people don’t make it out in time.”

”............”

This time, no one spoke again.

Fortunately, this city had been abandoned for many years and hadn’t become a Contaminated Beast nest, so along the way the only trouble they ran into was the occasional collapsed road or bridge due to long-term disrepair.

And these problems were nothing in the face of Kuroko Shirai’s Spatial Movement.

”Classmate Shirai, you really should go be an adventurer. With a talent like yours, any secret like the treasure of some ancient Inca Empire would be a piece of cake.”

After being Spatially Moved to a safe area again, Saten Reiko grinned as she offered her suggestion. She had also noticed the atmosphere among the group was getting too heavy, so she decisively put her mind to work and tried to lighten things up.

”Haa...”

Faced with Saten Reiko’s suggestion, Kuroko Shirai was at a loss for words.

”Classmate Saten, abilities are not for playing around, and why would I do something like that? If you want treasure, can’t you just buy it with money? Grave-robbing is a crime, you know.”

”Uu... that’s such an outrageously inhuman thing to say...”

Hearing Kuroko Shirai’s answer, Saten Reiko finally remembered that the girl in front of her was a pampered Young Lady, not a broke commoner like herself...

So this time it was Saten Reiko’s turn to feel depressed.

”It’s right here.”

In the end, after circling around who knows how many times, Feli finally led Fang Zheng and the group into a circular room. In the middle sat something covered in dust that looked like a coal stove, except this thing had clearly been abandoned for ages and was basically useless now.

”Hmm...... I need to run a check first.”

Fang Zheng walked up to the coal-stove-like device, opened his personal terminal, and started scanning it. At the same time he waved his right hand, and two detectors appeared out of thin air, shooting off in all directions to begin scanning the entire structural core of the Mobile City.

With Fang Zheng busy at work, the other three girls had nothing to do and started looking around. Misaka Mikoto and Kuroko Shirai could still sit tight, and they were pretty interested in the power systems of different worlds, so they were happily studying the devices around them.

The lively Saten Reiko was a different story. She wasn’t a study monster like Misaka Mikoto and Kuroko Shirai, and she had zero interest in these power units. After circling around twice and having her sense of novelty completely worn out, Saten Reiko started getting bored. She looked left, looked right, and her urge to go exploring kicked in again.

”Mr. Fang Zheng, can I go check out other places?”

”Go ahead, just be careful.”

At her question, Fang Zheng waved his hand. Saten Reiko at least had some self‑defense ability; otherwise Fang Zheng wouldn’t have brought her along. And hearing Fang Zheng’s permission, Saten Reiko immediately perked up. This was her first time exploring a city like this—this was basically treasure hunting in the ruins... way too fun!

And this was the Core Zone, so there had to be some good stuff hidden around!

Saten Reiko was naturally fond of treasure hunting. Now that she’d gotten Fang Zheng’s okay, she nodded and looked around.

”You guys wanna come?”

”.........”

Feli, who was spacing out nearby, glanced at Saten Reiko and shook her head. As for Misaka Mikoto and Kuroko Shirai, they were still arguing non‑stop over what kind of energy this Mobile City used to run. When they heard Saten Reiko’s question, they just waved her off.

So Saten Reiko had no choice but to go exploring on her own.

”Hmm... doesn’t seem like there’s anything good around here.”

After leaving the core control room, Saten Reiko followed the corridor and checked out all the rooms nearby, but found nothing interesting. She didn’t dare touch any machinery-looking things; she’d at least watched enough adventure movies to know that lots of traps were triggered that way. What she wanted were souvenirs with some kind of commemorative value—like gemstones or some special craftwork—something to mark her trip to this world.

But after another fruitless search of a room, she turned around and spotted a tightly closed Daimon at the end of the corridor.

”Hm? What’s this place?”

She ran over excitedly and took a closer look at the dust-covered nameplate—only to realize she couldn’t read a single word on it.

”Mm, my radar’s reacting. There’s definitely good stuff in here!”

Muttering to herself, Saten Reiko reached out and tried to push the door open with all her strength.

”Uuugh.........”

But the steel Daimon didn’t budge an inch.

”So heavy... Oh, right!”

She shook out her sore hands, eyes lighting up. Then she quickly grabbed the fruit knife at her waist and gave it a flick, turning it into a sharp blade. Facing the Daimon, Saten Reiko raised the Longsword high and swung it forward with force!

”Swish!!”

The Wind Blade flashed past, instantly slicing the thick solid steel door into fragments.

”YEAH! Nailed it!”

Seeing this, Saten Reiko snapped her fingers in excitement. She’d wanted to do something like this for ages but never had the chance. But here was different: this city was already abandoned, which meant she could mess around however she wanted!

Just imagining cleaving open a Daimon felt awesome; actually doing it felt even better.

”Let’s see what kind of goodies are in here... Oh, it’s a warehouse!”

She walked in with her flashlight and, seeing the piles of crates before her, got even more excited. She hurried to one crate and pried it open. But to Saten Reiko’s surprise, there was no gold or jewels inside, no rare accessories—just piles of what looked like some kind of ore.

”What’s this?”

Saten Reiko picked up a piece of ore, turned it over in her hand, then tossed it back. This stuff held zero interest for her!

”Uuuh... don’t tell me there’s no treasure or anything fun at all?”

Flashlight in hand, Saten Reiko opened a few more crates, only to find weapons and damaged armor. For Saten Reiko, those were also completely pointless. On top of that, all her rummaging had left her covered in dust.

”Uuugh... *cough cough cough*... this is awful... Man, looks like there really isn’t anything good...”

She waved her hand helplessly and was about to turn and leave, when her flashlight swept past something—a rectangular box tucked in the corner against the wall not far away.

”Hm? What’s that? I’ve got a feeling there’s something good in there!”

Seeing the rectangular box, Saten Reiko perked up again and walked over curiously. Once she got closer, she realized that calling it a box wasn’t quite right; it looked more like a huge coffin. There were also very elaborate patterns carved on it, though thanks to the thick layer of dust she couldn’t make them out clearly.

”Hmm... how do you open this thing?”

Murmuring to herself, Saten Reiko reached out. The moment her hand touched the box, the surface lit up in a sequence, a faint glow sliding along it and disappearing in under two seconds.

”What was that? So cool—is this some kind of puzzle lock?”

Her eyes sparkled at the sight. She immediately raised her right hand and pressed, one by one, the spots where the lights had flashed just now. As she did, the round Crystal-like spheres on the surface lit up in sequence and then...

”Click......”

With a soft sound, the lid of the box slid open on its own, making Saten Reiko jump.

”Uwah!”

The light from inside the box startled her again. She reached in carefully and picked up the glowing object.

”What is this thing...?”

She stared at the lock-shaped object in her hand, scratching her cheek in confusion, then raised her flashlight again and shone it into the box. The next second, Saten Reiko practically leapt into the air.

”Eh? A person? A human?!”

In the flashlight’s beam, lying inside this strange box was a beautiful girl in a dark blue dress with long blue hair. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she lay there just like the heroine from the fairy tale ”Sleeping Beauty”!

”What is going on here?”

Faced with this scene, Saten Reiko was completely stunned.