Cyber Era Witch

"You must find it difficult to understand the current situation. As for what happened in the past, I'll tell you later." Xu Yang walked toward the outside, peering into the darkness outside the shuttle machine.

After the mining site was destroyed by the electromagnetic pulse, there was not a single ray of light anywhere; nothing could be seen, and it seemed like no other thing had come to investigate, as if this deep underground pit had been completely forgotten.

Xu Yang could feel the so-called "miracle" of the Witch temporarily keeping him alive, preventing him from dying. But those damaged implants were still inside Xu Yang.

Sooner or later they would continue to deteriorate and completely consume his life.

He must leave this place quickly to find somewhere that could repair the implants.

Xu Yang walked over to the shuttle machine's control panel and issued a command.

"Head to the exit of Aizu City's Underground City, and if possible, stop at a Prosthetics Clinic in Number 26 Highland or Katagi District."

"Warning: The machine has been locked due to the lack of proper biological verification for a long time," the shuttle machine's artificial intelligence responded. "Visitors do not have the authority to manipulate this machine's route. Please pass biological verification or present the relevant credentials."

That's right, this thing is a product of Black Fire Innovation; it only obeys the company personnel and those few mercenaries. It's impossible for just anyone to control it.

Damn it! If he had Digital Mind, he would have cracked this thing by now.

Unfortunately, Xu Yang was almost like a normal person without implants at the moment, and even more miserable at that. A normal person simply lacks implants, but Xu Yang had a bunch of unstable, burnt implants inside him, which could explode at any moment.

The power of the electromagnetic pulse was too horrifying. Especially the products used by large corporations are fully capable of breaking through most electromagnetic protection systems, even Matteo was instantly destroyed.

Xu Yang sighed inwardly.

He walked out of the hatch to look outside. It was pitch black all around, without a hint of light; the fire on Matteo's body had extinguished on its own, leaving the stench of burnt machinery and synthetic skin in the air.

If he wanted to pass fingerprint verification, he would have to grope in the darkness for a finger belonging to one of the mercenaries, but that would be too difficult.

Moreover, the shuttle machine was equipped with artificial intelligence, not a fixed program; it could distinguish between the living and the dead, so surely a dead person's finger would not pass verification.

"Ah..." Xu Yang walked over to the chunks of Bax's corpse and couldn't take his eyes off it for a long time.

"What are you doing?" Farosa poked her head out.

"You killed a poor soul." Xu Yang looked at the ink within the blood. "She had her own pursuits."

"I've killed too many people in my life, and there are several chunks just next to you," Farosa pointed to the other chunks of mercenaries' corpses in the darkness, "Why differentiate so much? Why don't you worry about whether they're dead or alive?"

"She called herself 'Bax,' a Witch, your kind."

"Death is the path we all must take. I'm just helping it along."

"You nearly died yourself."

"And weren't you the one who saved me? To survive is everything. To survive means you can point fingers and give orders to the dead."

"Have you never thought about controlling your power?"

"I enjoy watching heads explode, is that my fault?"

"...What on earth have I saved."

"I'm a good kid. You've done a good deed. In the future, when historians write the legend of my story, you will occupy the major part of the first few chapters." Farosa poked at Bax's chunks of flesh. "Don't look at her like this; I can save her, you know."

"How?"

"The Law of Recovery at its peak can restore things to the state they were in 7 days ago," Farosa said. "That is, it can turn rotten flesh back into a living person. If you care about this guy, help me recover my power quickly."

"To bring the dead back to life... Such power is too great. What about the side effects? It can't be without a price."

"It is indeed the case," Farosa laughed. "From various perspectives, I am also a 'Reality Manipulator,' aren't I?"

Farosa, by now, had found some spare clothes from the mercenaries to put on, and she looked somewhat awkward in them. The outsized coats and camouflage pants simply couldn't cover her full figure.

Still a monster that should be sleeping in a coffin.

Now is not the time to delve into why she was asleep in that ancient tomb.

We have to go.

As long as we avoid the company's people and safely reach the ground, there will be more money than we can ever use.

"Let's go," said Xu Yang. "We'll take everything we can from the shuttle machine and then leave."

"I can't recognize any of these iron sheets, and I hate phantoms. You deal with this stuff."

Xu Yang turned the shuttle machine upside down, searching for the supplies the mercenaries had stored within.

Farosa sat in a chair, patting the leather surface.

"Feels quite comfortable, huh? You can be my attendant from now on," she said.

"You're different from any Witch I've ever met," Xu Yang fumbled around for usable things, "The previous person was right; there are only three types of Witches nowadays, bitches, slaves, and psychopathic killing machines. You just have odd manners, but you seem not hard to get along with."

"Because I don't like to complicate things. You tell me how to survive in this era, and I'll be your friend, just that simple."

After a thorough search, Xu Yang found four bottles of purified water, three large packs of military rations, two combat knives, two pistols, a submachine gun, some ammunition, and other assorted tools and miscellanea.

He took a multi-pocketed tool vest from the spare clothes on the wall, stuffed the items into the vest's pockets, and put it on.

The weight of the clothes had never been so heavy.

Xu Yang stepped out of the shuttle machine and looked into the distance.

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The excavation site was connected to Aizu City's Katagi District, but from a distance, as far as the eye could see, the Katagi District appeared lifeless, engulfed in darkness, without a single light visible.

"It's so dark," Farosa also came out, "I remember it wasn't this dark before."

"..." Xu Yang remained silent.

It was too eerie.

Previously, the slums at least had some electric lights on, but now there was nothing.

"Do you have any clue?" Farosa asked.

"It's like the world has ended," Xu Yang said.

Why had the city gone dark? The underground city didn't differentiate between day and night, it was supposed to have power 24 hours a day.

What on earth had happened?

Or was it that the electromagnetic pulse blast at the mining site had destroyed all the power supplies around it?

Impossible.

He had a premonition that they had been delayed for so long, and still nothing else had approached...

Perhaps the people from Kyoto Infinity would never send anyone to check on the mining site ever again.

The city had plunged into darkness; certainly, something else had happened.

"Let's go," Xu Yang took Farosa and left the mining site, "There used to be lights in the Katagi District, but now it's pitch black – something must have happened. We need to go check and leave this place as soon as possible."

"Let's go!" Farosa seemed to be in good spirits, "I saved you, and you saved me; we need to keep helping each other."

Xu Yang was not the least bit happy.

These two unfortunate souls... one was a cyber-hacker with a defunct implant, completely unable to use technology, the other was an ancient witch whose magic power had been sealed, only capable of small miracles, and seemingly especially prone to causing disasters.

Two such people, who even could not trust each other, merely hoped to return to the ground, let alone change the situation. Without Digital Mind, they couldn't find out what was happening around them; should they encounter pursuers, it would be disastrous, with no means to fight back.

He was still concerned about his cash card; with a billion funds on it, that was close to true financial freedom. Even affording a brand new set of implants would be no problem! How could he die underground?

Xu Yang first checked the small station at the fissure where the mercenaries had previously stationed, finding nothing valuable except for immovable equipment.

Farosa knew nothing about technological products, regarding them as statues and treasures of a different religion and insisting on leaving. Xu Yang found a flashlight for them to explore the path in the darkness, heading back to the underground city.

The outermost region of Aizu City's Underground City was Katagi District, where the poorest people, like ants, nested and dwelt in this suburban underground region, scraping out a living in an area with a high crime rate.

It was about 5 kilometers from the Katagi District to the mining site.

Previously, Xu Yang had come over in Matteo's off-road vehicle, which felt like the blink of an eye, but that car had been blown up at the earlier mining site. Now, he was walking on foot, and, with his injuries, he was soon gasping for breath.

Feelings of fatigue and hunger surged.

His stomach felt completely empty. Xu Yang thought. But with only so much food on his back, it was best to conserve. Even if he made it to the Katagi District, there might still be no stores open.

He took another look.

The entire Katagi District was dead as could be, a place already devoid of hope, now even more decrepit. Not even a single operational advertising billboard was visible.

Had the entire city lost power?

Noises and screams emanated from within, heightening Xu Yang's anxiety. What had happened? Was there conflict somewhere? Where had all the electricity gone?

Moments later, he saw a few lights in the city, initially a surprise, but then they quickly sank his heart.

They were the lights of a fire.

Bright yellow flames emerged from the windows of an apartment, violently licking the surroundings. The building was six stories high, resembling a grotesque pillar or a metal birdcage, its top and the screen of the underground city's dome still a distance apart.

The fire soon consumed the entire building.

"You look really bad," Farosa initially led the way but turned back to see Xu Yang and immediately stopped.

"There's a fire ahead."

"I'm not talking about that! I mean your morale!"

"What?"

"You look like a beggar on a pilgrimage." Farosa observed.

"That analogy is ancient. I'm just hungry, that's all. Let's keep moving," Xu Yang felt incredibly tired.

All he wanted was to find a hidden and safe place as quickly as possible. Escaping the mining site was only the first step. He needed to find a secure place to recover. There should be somewhere to hide in the Katagi District; he must finish this stretch of the journey.

No sooner had he taken a step forward than Farosa grabbed his arm.

"If you're hungry, you need to eat. Let's not go any further; let's rest here now," Farosa stated decisively.

As she spoke, she seemed like a compassionate saint guiding the suffering, yet with her characteristic craziness.

Xu Yang cast his gaze toward Katagi District, still dim and lightless, the darkness seemingly boundless.

Indeed, they should rest first before reentering the underground city.

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