"What kind of weird hobby is that?"
Sean grumbled as they resumed their journey after a short rest.
Luo Xi couldn't care less. "I tasted one while picking them earlier," she said matter-of-factly. "I couldn't let myself suffer alone."
"Because you got caught in the rain, you have to rip up everyone else's umbrella, is that it?"
"Nice analogy. It's mine now."
"Sleep with me and you can use my golden quotes for free."
"Next time it'll be a highly poisonous fruit."
"I'm sorry."
As they traded quips back and forth, an unexpectedly flippant harmony began to form between them.
However, as they pressed deeper into the center of the area, Sean lost the mood for jokes.
He scanned their surroundings and murmured, "From here on out, don't use your Ability. And don't activate that Energy Warblade of yours either."
"Why?"
"There's a monster in the zone ahead that is acutely sensitive to energy force fields. It's absurdly strong, and we're just passing through, not here to pick a fight," Sean explained.
Luo Xi nodded, offering no objection.
Sean's directions had been clear and precise the entire way. Since he was more familiar with the area, it made sense to follow his lead.
Even so, her curiosity lingered. "Why are you so familiar with this place when you're so weak?"
Sean rolled his eyes. "You can drop that first part. I already told you, the only sewer pipe leads right into my bedroom. Besides, that monster is only highly sensitive to energy fields, and its primary diet is the ambient energy offgassed by the toxic sediment. As long as we don't provoke it, we'll be fine."
He was the one who had modeled the monster—how could he not be familiar with it?
Luo Xi nodded and continued asking, "Are there other living things here besides that monster?"
"Yes, outcasts. One of Paradise City's punishments is throwing people into the Great Rift. Over time, quite a few people have settled at the bottom of the pit. Because of that monster's presence, the toxic sediment in the central area is much lower, so they live nearby."
"Oh. So how do these outcasts get by?"
"They eat, sleep, and hit Doudou."
"Oh. Who's Doudou, and why do they hit him?"
"Doudou isn't anyone. It's just a rhyme."
"Oh. So how did you find this place?"
"Because I'm smart, handsome, and daring."
"Ew. Then where do they get their food down here?"
...
Their footsteps finally came to a halt before a crumbling ruin. Above the rusted, warped gate, only the sign reading "Municipal Zo_" remained.
The location that had once been a zoo no longer bore any trace of its former self. The animals once caged for human entertainment had long since fled without a trace, leaving only deep purple vines creeping across every surface.
"Oh. Then..."
Sean turned around and looked at Luo Xi, who had been asking questions the entire way.
He took a deep breath. "What did you ask earlier?"
"Earlier? Why haven't we seen any of those outcasts you mentioned along the way?"
"Further back—"
"Then it was why..."
"Not the ones starting with 'why.' The insult you threw at me."
Luo Xi put on a puzzled expression. "I didn't insult you."
Sean remained expressionless. "You called me weak."
"That's just a fact."
"...Say it again."
Luo Xi furrowed her brow. "Why are you so familiar with this place when you're so weak?"
Sean let out a long breath. "I don't know this place at all. Alright, let's move."
Luo Xi pursed her lips and matched Sean's pace.
Out of his line of sight, a strange gleam flickered faintly in her eyes.
He was nothing like the rumored lecherous, incompetent, vile-tempered know-nothing. He clearly possessed a wide breadth of knowledge, along with an exceptionally deep understanding of the Great Rift—something even the people in the Academy couldn't manage.
And, surprisingly, he was very patient... Oh, wait, the lecherous part was definitely true.
Luo Xi flashed an impish little smile and quietly began reviewing the massive amount of information she had just gathered.
Walking ahead, Sean continually scanned their surroundings. He didn't even need to look to know what that wretched woman behind him was up to. Trying to torture me, huh? Sooner or later, I'll make you cry.
After winding through the ruins for a while, Sean, who had been silently comparing and mapping the terrain, finally had his eyes light up with recognition.
Back then, the dev team had hidden an Easter egg at a specific set of coordinates. Naturally, the discrepancy between the game coordinates and the real world was massive. Fortunately, as one of the original veterans of that ragtag startup team, Sean remembered everything from the early game with absolute clarity.
Before them stood a dilapidated little shed. Judging by its layout, it had likely been a breakroom for the zoo's caretakers.
The place had been derelict for ages, and anything of value had long since been scavenged by the outcasts living at the bottom of the pit.
Still, after searching for a short while, Sean found what he was looking for on a rusted, battered tin locker.
On the surface of the locker was a long-faded, nearly illegible sticker.
Luo Xi quietly followed behind Sean, instinctively studying the figure on the sticker—a happy-looking little man giving a thumbs-up.
Was there something special about this sticker? Or was it some kind of marker?
Sean's face, however, broke into joy. The Fallout 4 Vault Boy right before his eyes proved that the Easter egg his dev team had left behind still existed in this real world!
He reached around to the backside of the locker door, felt around for a moment, and his eyes brightened.
He pulled out a Data Chip that looked like a wood sliver but was unmistakably metallic in texture.
He didn't try to hide it, and Luo Xi, with her sharp eyesight, caught a clear view of the Data Chip.
In its center sat an icon of a wooden club, and inscribed beneath it were the words: "World Series Commemorative Baseball Bat."
"A Prosthetic Module?" Luo Xi asked, unable to contain her curiosity.
Sean wiped the Data Chip clean, tucked it safely away, and casually replied, "More or less. But I prefer to call this thing an ability module."
"Is there a difference?"
"A difference? Just a different name." Sean didn't bother explaining further; in truth, he had simply made the name up on the spot.
For the pure Weak Flesh path, combat strength depended partly on the quality of one's various prosthetics, and partly on the matching Prosthetic Modules.
For instance, among the inside squad that had tried to kill Sean, their fire-control prosthetic eye was a combination of a prosthetic eye and a fire-control module.
However, the World Series Commemorative Baseball Bat Data Chip Sean had just acquired was different: not only could it be slotted into prosthetics, it could also be attached to ordinary equipment.
He had no intention of undergoing mechanical ascension. The pure Rejection path suited his future direction much better, which naturally made an unrestricted Data Chip like this far more valuable.
In high spirits, Sean rewarded himself with a few extra glances at Luo Xi's long legs, pulling his gaze away just in time before her expression turned dangerous.
"Let's go. The entrance to the sewer pipes isn't far."
Luo Xi wrinkled her nose slightly and followed his pace with a hint of irritation.
Not long after stepping out of the breakroom, Luo Xi suddenly spoke up. "Up ahead to the left—there's someone there."
Sean smoothly stepped back beside Luo Xi and looked over.
That spot looked like the zoo's old tiger enclosure—a sunken design. Along the rim, a head was slowly poking up.
It was a person... probably?
The protruding head was shrouded in a tattered black hood, revealing a pair of pitch-black, rounded pupils with unnatural purple veins creeping across the whites of the eyes.
Sean furrowed his brow slightly. "A descendant of the outcasts..."
For children born at the bottom of this pit, purple veins across the iris were a defining hallmark, and they often suffered from severe physical deformities.
The figure huddled in the black fabric eyed the two of them timidly before fixing its gaze on Sean, letting out the raspy voice of a young girl.
"Bro... ther..."