NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 550: Grimdark World
"The lifeforce in this slime goo was weird, though… It felt impure, like it was tainted," Alex mumbled, but Vesa didn't respond as she was busy with her own task.
Normally, pure lifeforce was colored green, but this one was tainted with other colors—some yellow, some black, or even mixed with others. Alex tried to infuse his life energy into it, and the result made him frown. This feels like emotion…
At that moment, Vesa finished her analysis. "The way they use lifeforce is very different, King. They somehow use this taint to solidify and change the nature of the life force, turning it into other materials. As for this formation, it feels like a mix of the old magic system in King's world with our own runic system."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "I see…" With this result, the possibilities shifted once more, leaving him feeling more confused.
He then opened his palm and closed his eyes, focusing his mind on his storage ring. Alex began selecting some materials. A metallic liquid appeared on his palm, then began to condense and contort, forming a small mosquito. Alex sat cross-legged and sent part of his soul into it.
The mosquito's wings started flapping, and it flew toward the exit. Right now, Alex preferred to confirm things rather than waste more time speculating. The tunnel was quite large, enough for a two-story bus to pass through without a problem. It was also very long, with many turns, making it look like a maze. Some areas were caved in, making the exits smaller, with scars of battles evident everywhere.
"The regeneration is not perfect," Alex muttered. "These caved-in walls are trying to regenerate without fixing their positions, turning them into new walls. It seems the area MingYue and I came out of is abandoned because of this."
The rubble tried to heal itself, making the entrance smaller and creating choke points that would make it difficult to pass. In Alex's mind, they would need to completely disintegrate it, leaving no particles behind to prevent regeneration. Another method was stopping the flow of lifeforce in the region of the wall, but that would be even harder given the pipe's design. There were no valves to shut down specific areas.
Flying through a tiny gap in the wall, Alex entered another part of the sewer. This section had water flowing through the middle like a river. The liquid was murky, filled with trash, filth, and even human body parts. It was clear to Alex that human life in this area wasn't good—or, at the very least, it was considered cheap. "This is worse than I thought…" Alex muttered.
Deep down, he hoped this situation was isolated to this area and that the rest of the world was fine. But his rational mind knew that was impossible. This place had been taken over, and he knew the Hunter Association would have intervened if too much time had passed. For this to be possible, humanity had truly been beaten down, and even if some form of community still existed, it would likely be in dire straits. I hope Alice and the others are alright, he thought.
Continuing his journey, Alex found a small opening that allowed him to fly outside. The atmosphere changed immediately. The sound of machinery grew louder, and the disgusting smell of the sewer disappeared, replaced by fresh air. He was greeted by the sight of massive machinery stretching into the clouds. Each machine connected to others, producing some kind of parts that were then carried away by legions of drones flying through the sky.
But that wasn't all—Alex noticed that the mana in the atmosphere was nearly depleted.
"Each of these drones and machines runs on lifeforce. I wonder what they do with all the mana then…" Alex muttered. He observed the few remaining mana particles around him being absorbed by one of the machines, which then sent the energy elsewhere. His eyebrows rose as he saw the drones consuming the green goo, leaving behind lifeforce residues to power themselves. "Do these drones have a way to consume all that tainted lifeforce?"
Curiosity grew in Alex's mind, but he knew that taking one of the drones for disassembly would quickly raise alarms. He was certain they were all connected, forming some sort of hive mind, just like the many sci-fi novels he had read. "I could try to isolate one from the network, but that's still risky. They probably have countermeasures to alert them if a drone goes missing."
He continued exploring, searching for any sign of humans. The presence of fresh body parts in the sewer indicated humans existed in the area. But no matter how much he searched outside, he couldn't find a single one.
It was only machines—more machines and drones maintaining everything. "A self-sufficient machine powered by lifeforce… Amazing. Even the vampire race doesn't use lifeforce like this," Alex commented.
"King, it's not that we've never had machines like these. In the past, we had an entire era where vampires focused on creating such machines. But it ended up making them dumb and retarded," Vesa's voice chimed in. "With everything taken care of by machines, fewer vampires wanted to think or understand how things worked. They became lazy, entrusting everything to the machines. The Old Progenitor at that time decided to destroy this civilization and reset everything, knowing it was only a matter of time before the species became extinct if it continued."
Alex frowned. "You mean Alucard, right? All this life force must come from somewhere. Where did it come from during that era?"
"That era started after a war period when vampires conquered many sub-races without their own progenitors. These sub-races were enslaved, but uprisings kept happening. In the end, a vampire created a solution to utilize them solely as lifeforce sources while everything else was managed by golems, robots, or these types of drones," Vesa explained, making Alex more certain of his conclusions. This mean human in this current world or at least place is treated as some kind of cattle in a way far worse than the Dragari.