Chapter 385

Chapter 385

Zhang Wuhang stood with his arms crossed, looking out over Neo Seoul.

The place he was in was a guest room on the fifteenth floor of City Hall.

Of the City Hall building that rose more than fifty floors high, this was only a middle floor. The scenery visible from here was also only a portion of Neo Seoul.

To those who lived in Neo Seoul, it was not a particularly special sight. But to Zhang Wuhang, this place looked like a new world.

High-rise buildings stood so densely packed together that not a single gap seemed visible, and vehicles and people moved along the streets.

The cars moved smoothly, and the people’s clothing was refined.

Inside Neo Seoul, protected by various barriers and magic circles, the air itself felt refreshing.

“How can the colony of a small nation be this advanced? I don’t understand. At this level, it isn’t simply that they restored the civilization from before the Great Cataclysm. Haven’t they raised it even higher than that?”

It was something his common sense could not understand.

He had thought the colony in his homeland was quite advanced too, but it seemed it did not even reach Neo Seoul’s toes.

Feeling an unnecessary sense of inferiority, Zhang Wuhang pressed his lips together.

“This makes no sense. What kind of Magic did they really use?”

Just by looking at the lodging in City Hall, he could tell this place’s level.

A soft bed and all sorts of electric appliances.

They were things one could not even see in Sichuan’s underground city.

If he took such things back, everyone’s eyes would flip, and they would rush at them without restraint.

“Damn it! It’s surprising enough that the colony of a small nation survived, but how could they build such a highly developed civilization?”

Thick tendons bulged over his clenched fist.

In his heart, he wanted to smash the window of the lodging right now, go outside, and run through every corner of the city.

His desire was to uncover all of Neo Seoul’s secrets that way and take them back to his homeland.

It was then.

“May I come in?”

The voice of an Awakened guarding the entrance outside was heard.

In that instant, Zhang Wuhang recovered his original expression, as if he had never been agitated at all.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and the Awakened entered.

“The mayor has permitted an audience.”

“Right now?”

“Yes! Please follow me.”

“Understood.”

Zhang Wuhang followed the Awakened into the elevator.

As the elevator rose toward the mayor’s office, Zhang Wuhang’s pupils shook without pause.

That was because the higher they went, the more splendid the scenery became.

Countless lights illuminating the city made it resemble a city that never slept.

Zhang Wuhang asked the Awakened,

“No, even with so many lights on, monsters don’t attack?”

“Neo Seoul has never once suffered a direct monster attack.”

“What is the reason? What sort of secret do you have......?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything. Even if I did, I would not be able to speak of it.”

“Mm!”

At the Awakened’s firm answer, Zhang Wuhang’s eyes turned cold.

In truth, while being guided to his lodging, he had asked others many times about the things he was curious about. But not a single person had answered him clearly.

Because of that, anger was boiling inside him.

Zhang Wuhang struggled to suppress his rage.

This was not his homeland.

It was the colony of a distant foreign land.

He could not behave however he pleased as he did back home.

He had to suppress his emotions and never let them show.

Ding!

While he was swallowing his rage, the elevator arrived at the mayor’s office on the highest floor of City Hall.

When the elevator doors opened, Seo Tae-ran, wearing a red two-piece suit, came into view.

“Welcome.”

“You’re here too?”

“I am the mayor’s secretary. I am always with him for official duties.”

“I see.”

At Seo Tae-ran’s indifferent answer, Zhang Wuhang nodded and stepped out of the elevator. Before him, a massive full-length window appeared.

In front of the window, which offered a full view of Neo Seoul, stood a man in a suit with his hands clasped behind his back.

It was Jin Geum-ho, the ruler of Neo Seoul.

The moment Zhang Wuhang saw Jin Geum-ho’s back, he felt a pressure as if a gigantic boulder were pressing down on his entire body.

At the overwhelming presence, unlike anything he had felt from anyone he had met until now, Zhang Wuhang flinched.

‘There was a figure of this level in a small nation? Well, I suppose it’s because he’s that kind of figure that he built a city like this.’

Zhang Wuhang forced himself to put on a calm expression.

Seo Tae-ran bowed to Jin Geum-ho and said,

“I have brought Mr. Zhang Wuhang from Sichuan, Mayor.”

“Is that so?”

Only then did Jin Geum-ho turn around.

Jin Geum-ho looked at Zhang Wuhang with a good-natured smile.

“You must have suffered greatly coming from so far away. I am Jin Geum-ho, the mayor of Neo Seoul.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Zhang Wuhang from Sichuan’s underground city.”

“So your colony is underground.”

“Yes! Since the surface cannot be lived on, we built a city underground.”

“Impressive. That you survived even in such a way.”

Jin Geum-ho nodded.

Right now, the most precious resource on Earth was humanity.

To repel the monsters that ruled the desert and turn it back into human land, the more people who survived, the better.

Zhang Wuhang said,

“The truly impressive one is Great Hero Jin.”

“Great Hero?”

“In our underground city, we call someone worthy of respect and following a Great Hero.”

“Is that so?”

“Mayor, you are a man worthy of being called a Great Hero.”

“I wonder what you are trying to say, flattering me like that.”

“I speak sincerely.”

“For now, I will take it that way. So, you say it took you a full year to reach this place? It seems your city’s circumstances are not good.”

“Shamefully, that is true.”

“Tell me in detail.”

Jin Geum-ho pulled out a chair for him and asked.

Zhang Wuhang sat in the chair Jin Geum-ho had offered and continued speaking.

“More than three hundred thousand people live gathered in a cramped underground city.”

“Three hundred thousand? Is the city large enough for that many people to live together?”

“As I said, it is cramped. Originally, it was a bunker built in preparation for nuclear war. It was made for the Party’s major figures and their families to take refuge in.”

“For that, is it not excessively large?”

“The bunker was large to begin with, but as the number of people increased, we kept expanding it.”

“Impressive. To think it can accommodate three hundred thousand people.”

Jin Geum-ho was honestly surprised.

Neo Seoul’s total population, including the slums, was twenty million.

Frankly, he thought it was a miracle that so many people could gather and live in this small city.

At least Neo Seoul was built aboveground, so even with this many people gathered, no major problem had erupted.

In any case, there remained room to expand by raising the floors of buildings. But underground was different. No matter how much one expanded, there was a limit.

The ground where the underground city existed was quite solid, but if they dug carelessly, the ground could collapse, and sand could pour in and bury them alive.

The population kept increasing, but there was no space to expand, so various problems were erupting one after another.

Because of that, as a desperate measure, Zhang Wuhang had come out into the world with his subordinates to contact an external colony and solve the problem.

“You lost all your subordinates on the way here?”

“Yes! We were attacked by monsters......”

“Even so, reaching this place alive by yourself is impressive.”

“Heaven’s fortune followed me. In truth, I didn’t even know a colony like Neo Seoul existed here.”

“Of course. We had no idea that so many people had survived in such a distant place either.”

“Honestly, I never imagined a city with such an ultra-advanced civilization could exist in this era. So, if I may......”

“It seems there is something you want.”

“I know it is an unreasonable request, but I would be grateful if you would pass Neo Seoul’s magitech engineering on to us.”

“Magitech engineering?”

“Isn’t it because of magitech engineering that the city is safe from monsters? If we had advanced magitech engineering, where Magic and civilization are fused, our underground city could quickly grow like Neo Seoul too.”

“Interesting! And what would be the price for that?”

“Could you not show mercy out of love for humanity? Once our underground city develops, we will surely repay this favor.”

“So you want me to pass on magitech engineering, the very foundation of Neo Seoul, on credit.”

“I am ashamed. But we of Zhonghua never forget a favor once received. If you pass magitech engineering on to us, we will repay it a hundredfold, a thousandfold later. I swear it on this Zhang Wuhang’s honor.”

Zhang Wuhang spoke while looking straight into Jin Geum-ho’s eyes.

His gaze was intense enough that an ordinary person would not dare meet it. But Jin Geum-ho calmly received Zhang Wuhang’s gaze.

“Great Hero Jin!”

“I refuse.”

“Pardon?”

Zhang Wuhang blinked.

Because he could not understand the situation after Jin Geum-ho’s unexpected, firm refusal.

A moment later, having gathered himself, he opened his mouth with difficulty.

“What do you mean?”

“I will say it again. I cannot accept your proposal. Asking me to teach you magitech engineering is the same as asking me to hand over everything Neo Seoul has accumulated over the past hundred years. That is nothing but daylight robbery. I will pretend I did not hear your proposal. However, from a humanitarian perspective, we will provide a certain amount of support.”

“But Great Hero Jin......”

“I have finished speaking. If you have anything further to say, speak with my secretary.”

“This cannot be. Do you know what it took for me to get here......?”

“No matter how much you plead, what cannot be done cannot be done.”

“But......”

“I have another appointment, so I would like you to leave now. Tae-ran, see our guest out.”

At Jin Geum-ho’s words, Seo Tae-ran nodded and stepped forward.

“For now, let us return to your lodging.”

“But......”

“The mayor dislikes repeating himself.”

At Seo Tae-ran’s firm words, Zhang Wuhang rose with difficulty.

His face was twisted hideously with humiliation.

Zhang Wuhang glared at Jin Geum-ho with frightening eyes, then immediately took the elevator down.

After he disappeared, Jin Geum-ho muttered,

“They have not changed.”

“What do you mean, sir? They have not changed?”

“I mean their habit of coveting what belongs to others, despite having nothing of their own. Even before the Great Cataclysm, they sucked the marrow from other countries’ spines like that, and they still have not abandoned that nature.”

“Still, were you not too firm?”

“With them, one must be. If you offer half-hearted kindness, they cling viciously and suck the marrow dry.”

To Jin Geum-ho, the safety of Neo Seoul’s residents was far more important than three hundred thousand people in some other country.

They could call him cruel if they wished, and they could curse him as a heartless man if they wished.

Criticism was something he was already used to.

“Above all, he is not clear.”

“What do you mean?”

“He is hiding something. Something is concealing that bastard’s essence and deceiving my eyes. I do not trust such a sinister human.”

---

“Aaaargh!”

After returning to his lodging, Zhang Wuhang threw room furnishings and let out a monstrous cry.

Thanks to the excellent soundproofing, those outside did not notice Zhang Wuhang causing a disturbance at all.

Only after venting his anger for quite some time did the rage that had risen to the top of his head subside somewhat.

“Haa! Haa! He dares ignore me just because he has a little power?”

When he thought of Jin Geum-ho, the anger he had barely managed to calm tried to surge again.

“That doglike old bastard. I’ll endure it for now, but one day, I’ll bring all the city’s forces here and destroy this place.”

Zhang Wuhang calmed his rage while vowing revenge.

“It’s hopeless to draw cooperation from that old man. I need to find another move somehow.”

The underground city in Sichuan was currently oversaturated.

Because they had expanded the underground city recklessly, fissures were forming in countless places.

Surviving monster attacks was a secondary concern; at this rate, the underground city might collapse first.

To maintain such an underground city safely, they needed Neo Seoul’s magitech engineering, which combined Magic and engineering.

At the same time, he had to discover by any means the secret technique that protected this massive city from monsters.

If he could only uncover Neo Seoul’s secrets, Sichuan’s underground city could create an ultra-advanced civilization equal to Neo Seoul’s, no, far greater than Neo Seoul’s.

Just as they had done in the era before the Great Cataclysm.

“Jin Geum-ho, laugh as much as you like. Right now, it may seem as if you are the victor, but in the end, the one laughing at the last moment will be me. No matter what move I must use, I will uncover every secret you have hidden away.”

Zhang Wuhang was no ordinary Pathfinder.

If he had been, he never would have survived and reached this place.

His official title in Sichuan’s underground city was scout.

One who scouted ahead of the main force.

He was skilled in assassinating key figures, gathering intelligence, disrupting, and sowing discord.