After outfitting the Golfer with a Level 3 Helmet and Armor, followed by a Ghillie suit, Mo Shao dug her way out of the Underground Desert.
Heading south, they soon reached the edge of the desert, as they had already been near its boundary.
The terrain south of the desert was...
“It’s the ocean again.” Mo Shao looked at the sea before her and shook her head with a sigh. Seven Hills City’s security had just increased another notch.
It really was a chosen land!
However, there was a place that looked like a volcanic island not too far away.
“Let’s go take a look.” After flying over with the Golfer, Mo Shao discovered that the center of this “volcanic island” wasn’t a crater.
It was a massive abyss.
“It’s the Abyss,” Mo Shao realized.
A gargantuan vertical pit from 《Made in Abyss》, it was divided into seven layers according to depth, ranging from small to large and shallow to deep.
It was a fairly decent resource point, containing ruins of unknown civilizations and countless relics with various functions.
However, exploring it was quite nauseating due to the “Curse of the Ascent.”
When a human ascended more than 10 meters vertically within the Abyss, they would experience various adverse reactions. The deeper the layer, the more severe the reaction.
Returning from the first layer caused mild dizziness and nausea, while returning from the seventh layer meant certain death.
The items there weren’t so good that she absolutely had to go... At any rate, Mo Shao had no intention of going down. It was truly not worth the effort.
In the time it would take to go that deep, she could have traveled who knows how far on the surface. Besides, coming back up was an immense hassle.
...
However, it was quite a good place to set up camp.
The variety of monsters inside was rich enough, and it was surrounded by the sea on all sides.
As long as the number of people stationed on this island wasn't ridiculously high, the Chaos side would completely ignore the area.
This was because the influence of the Chaos side within the Abyss far outweighed that of the Order side.
As long as one didn’t proactively descend, the creatures inside the Abyss wouldn’t come out to cause trouble. It was essentially a safe zone.
Unless one was incredibly unlucky and got caught in some high-level battle between divine beings later on and wiped out by an AOE, this place would probably remain safe until the end.
“What do you think?” Mo Shao asked the thoughtful Golfer after explaining the nature of the Abyss.
“Let’s keep going a bit further.” After hesitating for a while, he shook his head. “If I go down now, I won’t be able to come back up.”
“Fair enough.” Mo Shao nodded. Bypassing the edge of the Abyss didn't involve any troublesome monsters at all.
The entrance to the Abyss was only about a thousand meters in diameter, so they circled it quickly—though that was just the entrance.
They had to bypass the entire isolated island and cross another stretch of ocean before they truly left that particular Phantom Realm.
...
Continuing south, the location Mo Shao saw was a massive cluster of cities... extremely strange and unsettling to behold.
After looking around briefly, Mo Shao understood what this place was—it really was “An Unsettling City”!
This was Level 28 of The Backrooms Cluster C.
A city with a bizarre layout, covering an area of approximately 50,000 square kilometers, with an overall landscape that appeared distorted.
It featured high brightness, high saturation, and harsh shadows, looking more like a promotional lithograph of reality than a real city.
Day and night cycled irregularly within, but there was no sun or moon; the light came from unknown natural sources.
The city layout was erratic; sprawling building clusters would suddenly stop, turning into a patch of low-rise houses or wilderness.
Skyscrapers, large shopping malls, and other buildings that should have been in the city center appeared on the city’s outskirts with no transitional structures.
Meanwhile, the city's perimeter was enclosed by a ring of black iron fences, though some roads leading to the outside remained.
“This is actually a pretty good place to stay,” Mo Shao said. She wasn’t kidding; it was genuinely safe here.
The main monsters inside were Facelings and a small number of Hounds.
There were many types of Facelings, but even the most dangerous ones—Child Facelings and Pink Dress Facelings—tended to limit their hostile behavior to mild pranks. In the apocalypse, they were practically a joke.
Hounds were also easy to deal with; you just had to shine a light in their eyes. Compared to other places, this could be considered Easy Mode.
...
The key was that this place had fully functional urban facilities, including large shopping malls, entertainment venues, public toilets, and grocery stores.
There was a complete supply of water, electricity, and natural gas. The Wi-Fi signal was good and stable, and the furniture and facilities in the residences were intact and usable.
It could be called an excellent camp. Mo Shao knew about this place because it had appeared on the Skyscreen.
[A Settlement That Perished Due to Overpopulation]
As long as it didn’t rain, this place was indeed safe.
However, it occasionally entered a torrential rain state, during which it would become pitch black, though the streetlights and other lights would still work.
Once the heavy rain started, monsters would begin spawning.
Smilers, Deathmoths, Clumps, Hounds, Skin-Stealers, Acid-Spitters... a host of dangerous monsters would appear, lasting from six hours to two days.
They would attack anyone outside of buildings or vehicles. However, as long as one hid inside a building and closed the entrances, they would be fine.
The rule here was that monsters could not destroy buildings.
Precisely because of this, more and more people ended up staying here. After all, the security level was extremely high, and the environment was pleasant.
However, once the population reached a certain limit, there wouldn't be enough monsters during the non-rainy periods, and Chaos would “notice” the place.
A swarm of monsters would attack directly at night. That might have been manageable, but the critical issue was the sudden onset of torrential rain when the monsters arrived.
The combined assault from both sides wiped the place out.
...
“Then I’ll stay here.” After Mo Shao finished her explanation, the Golfer made his decision immediately.
“Alright.” Mo Shao nodded. Even if he hadn't said anything, she would have had to drop him off here; any further and she wouldn't be able to make it back in time.
However, she would have to come back here later.
Since there was Wi-Fi, she naturally had to come back to download some data. Her memories didn’t contain everything; for instance, she had felt a bit lacking this time.
Identification wasn't omnipotent. It was fine for identifying a single item, but for a comprehensive identification of the entire environment or world rules...
Mo Shao wasn't strong enough for that yet.
Although it was just a local area network, she could still do some simple things. There was a lot she could work with.
Furthermore, many people would eventually come here, allowing her to trade for things that weren't available near Seven Hills City.
And there was one more thing: a very suitable Transformer would arrive here soon—March 7th from 《Honkai: Star Rail》!
When the time came, she would see if she could snatch her away!
Rate on N.U.
