The underground sewer system of Huashan City was not called “maze-like” without reason.
In fact, its construction history could be traced back nearly a hundred years, even before the Great War.
Back then, Huashan City had only been a dense forest region — a typical woodland village where people lived among the trees.
As Taro rose into power and development accelerated, Huashan City was designated as a centralized expansion zone.
The very first thing built was the drainage system.
The elephant and camel clans searched for water sources and underground rivers.
The mole and aardvark clans excavated and dug the sewer tunnels.
The oxen, rhinos, and gorilla clans handled construction.
Together, the various races built the first underground drainage network in history to exceed ten thousand square kilometers.
As the city above continued to expand over the decades, the sewer system beneath it expanded as well.
Some older sectors were abandoned or sealed due to age and disuse, while others were renovated and rebuilt.
In some places, entirely new sewer systems had been constructed directly over the old ones.
Unless someone possessed the original sewer blueprints from the Wastewater Management Bureau, anyone attempting to explore these tunnels would get lost far easier than wandering through mountain caves in the wilderness.
Inside the sewers, Lidi had completely lost his sense of time.
When a person spends too long in an environment without any reference to time, their perception of it stretches endlessly.
He no longer knew how long he had slept, nor how long he had been wandering underground.
Step after step, he continued forward, listening to his own footsteps echo endlessly against the thick concrete walls around him.
The constant reverberation assaulted his ears until they drooped down unconsciously.
His fur was scorched in several places.
His clothes were torn apart and stained with dried sewage residue.
His eyes were lifeless, like a walking corpse moving forward without purpose.
There was almost no light in the sewer, but thanks to his fox instincts, he could still see clearly in the dark.
As if this place was where he truly belonged.
As if he himself had always been part of the darkness.
Eventually — after who knew how long.
Maybe hours.
Maybe only minutes.
He arrived before a red metal stair.
“Red…” The vivid crimson color immediately reminded him of the clue Wency had found for him earlier.
All the red road signs pointed toward Gallaf Supermarket.
And now this stair felt like another sign.
Another guide.
A coincidence?
Or was some unknown force toying with him?
He don’t know.
Soon after, perhaps the clouds covering the sky had finally shifted.
A beam of sunlight poured down from above, illuminating the top of the stairs in stark contrast against the surrounding darkness.
A stairway to heaven?
Normally, Lidi would have scoffed at such a cheesy thought.
But his face no longer even had the strength to smile.
Nor would he ever smile again.
He simply walked past the stairs.
As the sewer once again echoed with his dead, emotionless footsteps.
Then, Wency’s final words resurfaced in his mind.
“As long as you’re alive, you can always keep moving forward, right?” Like a candle in the darkness.
Its tiny flame illuminated only a small area around it, desperately trying to drive away the suffocating black mist.
The flame was fragile.
It could be extinguished at any moment.
And the darkness began to surge toward it.
Just as the flame was about to be swallowed whole— A hand reached out and shielded it.
It was Lidi’s hand.
His palm rested against the stair’s handrail.
Then another hand reached upward.
And another, another, and again.
Dragging his exhausted body upward step by step, hand by hand.
The heavy echoes of his footsteps no longer remained.
Only the powerful sounds of hands and feet striking against the stairs.
As he climbed higher, the body buried in darkness gradually emerged into sunlight.
Then suddenly— His foot slipped.
His shin scraped violently against the metal steps, tearing open a horrifying wound as though some invisible claw had dragged him downward.
The body that had nearly escaped the darkness was about to fall back into it again.
But his hand still holds on the handrail tightly, not letting it go.
Stopping himself from slipping further.
“Motherfucker… screw your slippery stairs!” Lidi growled angrily as he steadied himself and forced his body upward again with every ounce of strength he had.
“Fuck the Black Guards!” Each step became firmer.
Blood streamed from his leg wound, but it could not stop him.
“Fuck the The Government Alliance!
And fuck your damn virus too!” Finally, he stepped onto the top of the stairs and saw the final climb leading toward the exit.
He was gasping heavily.
His legs trembled violently.
Every muscle in his body screamed in pain.
But he could hear the sounds above him.
The noisy chatter of people.
The electromagnetic hum of hover vehicles.
The countless emotions of everyday life.
“And fuck fate too…” Warm sunlight filtered through the metal cover overhead, driving away the freezing cold that clung to his body.
“I’ll take back everything I lost, that’s the promise I swear from now on!” And in the end— He climbed out.
Out of that cold, pitch-black sewer.
… The metal cover slowly lifted and slid aside.
The blinding sunlight hurt Lidi’s eyes after spending so long in darkness.
He had to squint for a while before finally climbing out of the sewer.
Looking around, he realized he was in the back alley of some commercial district.
Garbage bins were scattered everywhere.
Filthy liquids flowed from drainage pipes into the filthy gutters nearby.
The foul smell of the alley should have been unbearable— But Lidi doesn’t smell it at all.
As the heavier stench of the sewer had already become part of him, this might just be small compared to a big.
[PAH—!
PAH—!
PAH—!] Suddenly, his ears stood upright.
He recognized the familiar sound coming from far away.
It’s the sound from anti-magnetic propulsion devices.
It’s the Black Guards!
He immediately wanted to flee.
But his body had once again entered the same condition as when he first woke up in the sewer.
Burning hot.
Weak.
Powerless.
Unable to do anything else, he staggered toward a large dumpster and crouched beside it, hoping to hide himself.
A moment later, two dark figures streaked across the sky overhead.
Two Black Guards.
But they didn’t stop.
Using the anti-magnetic propulsion, they accelerated again and flew toward another direction.
“Just passing by…?” Lidi muttered to himself.
He had nearly scared the shit out of himself just now.
Thankfully, he managed to hold it in.
But this also reminded him of a serious problem.
His current condition was nowhere near enough to make it to Gallaf Supermarket.
Yes you heard it right, Lidi still intended to follow the original plan.
Find the organization connected to the black-clothed stranger and join them.
This is his only way out now, and also his only way to get revenge from The Government Alliance.
Even though he still had no idea how he was supposed to locate them once he arrived there.
But as Wency said— As long as you’re alive, you can always keep moving forward.
So now he needed a plan.
First, treat the wound on his leg.
If he left it untreated any longer, it would probably get infected.
Second, Change his clothes and disguise himself.
Not only were his current clothes torn and filthy, but the Black Guards had probably already spread his description everywhere.
At this point, he’d probably get spotted by a surveillance camera the moment he walked onto the street.
And then seconds later, the Black Guards would descend from the sky letting out Justice Rains from Above.
Third, figure out his current location and find transportation.
If Gallaf Supermarket was too far away, walking there with an injured leg would kill him before he even arrived.
And not to mention the risk of being exposed.
Taxis were definitely out of the question.
As rides required payment before use.
And the only way Lidi could pay was through the identity chip in his hand.
If he were dumb enough to use it, the system would instantly generate a traceable record.
With the Black Guards’ tracking capabilities, capturing him would take minutes at most.
So for transportation, he had no idea yet.
He needed to confirm where he actually was before thinking about it.
Lidi sat down to inspect the wound on his shin.
He pulled apart the pant leg that was stuck together by his own blood and slowly rolled it upward.
Then he froze.
The wound had healed.
As if unable to believe it, he repeatedly touched the area, even squeezing it to confirm whether it still hurt.
But the injury was truly gone.
If not for the faint scratch marks still visible on his fur, he would have believed the injury itself had been an illusion.
“…Did I become The Wolverine or something?” Lidi originally wanted to keep thinking, but eventually shook the thought away.
“Forget it.
I’ll figure this out after all this is over.” “…Right now, where the hell am I supposed to get clothes?”