The Gentleman at the End
Chapter 418 - Chapter 418 Chapter 417 Light City

Chapter 418: Chapter 417 Light City Chapter 418: Chapter 417 Light City “The Ascaris Car will stop in the area 15 kilometers outside of Light City – Ignacy; it is recommended that you complete the final distance on foot,”

“Ignacy, being the largest lighting city of the Old World, experiences a large influx of people every day. The recent arrival of the Duke has led to a peak in visitor numbers.”

“Aside from the identity checks and city entry procedures I’ve mentioned before, the whole city has cranked up the ‘City Wall Lights’ to their maximum brightness, causing strong illumination within a ten-kilometer radius.”

“Those who are weak to light exposure and do not possess protection can purchase ‘sun protection suits’ from outside the city for about two hundred coins each.”

“Only those who can disregard the light and reach the city gates qualify for an identity check.”

“This effectively filters out those external visitors who have the financial strength and manages the city’s flow of traffic well.”

Yi Chen just listened silently, without offering any opinion.

The Ascaris Car arrived.

As Yi Chen descended from the car, a surge of intense light immediately enveloped him, but his gentleman’s clothes had been prepped for protection, with even a thin membrane adhered to his eyeballs, causing no serious problem.

Even though the Light City was still 15 kilometers away, the vicinity was sparsely filled with visitors eager to enter the city,

and some were clearly ‘gamblers,’ hoping to gamble with the Duke for a chance to turn their fortunes around; they mostly hunched or crawled with their bloated bodies, seemingly prepared for the prospect of carrying the Duke on their backs should they fail.

Looking ahead,

one could see patients braving the harsh light on their way to the city. Most of them were running, using their own diseases to resist the intense light, especially protecting their eyes.

For example, one cancer patient let the skin of his eyelids undergo a widespread, thickening proliferation with pus-filled swelling like chunks of metal hanging before his eyes, blocking out the light to reduce exposure, while his body curled into a ball to minimize the area illuminated, using appendages developed from his feet and lower legs to walk.

“Little Grape, I’ll leave the light resistance to you later on,” Yi Chen said.

Yi Chen joined the crowd heading towards the Lamp Holder, only his speed was much faster than theirs; he did not intentionally minimize his physical form but ran in a normal human posture, gradually tilting forward at a 45-degree angle in his sprint.

A Light City employee selling sun protection suits, his head topped with a metal diving cap, nearly got knocked flying by the swiftly sprinting Yi Chen.

But he did not curse, nor dared to curse, because anyone capable of sprinting into the light at such speed was surely someone he could not afford to provoke.

Along the way, many were amazed at Yi Chen’s sprinting speed, and some also noticed that the clothing he wore came from the Skin Factory, yet it seemed of inferior quality; it was odd how such an ordinary Skin Slave could be fearless of the light.

As Yi Chen got closer to Ignacy, the intensity of illumination skyrocketed, and both his gentleman’s clothes and eyeballs became covered in patterns of Embers,

instead of showing discomfort from the light, they absorbed the strong illumination to increase the content of Embers, though the effect was negligible.

The real Evil Sun is not something that can be compared to such illumination.

Yi Chen even looked up quite comfortably, gazing directly at the largest lighting city of the Old World,

“Hmm! What is this structure?” As the city walls came into view, Yi Chen was so shocked that he almost stopped in his tracks.

The walls, rising over a hundred meters high, were covered with a honeycomb pattern of recessed niches, innumerable and dense.

Each honeycomb niche was sealed with transparent glass, within which special illuminating candles were placed,

These candles were vastly different from those Yi Chen had seen in human society, burning with a brightness a thousand times greater than ordinary candles,

and the light was reflected through the polyhedral structure inside the niches, which then converged on the transparent glass of the niche surface to emit intense light.

It might have been Yi Chen’s illusion, but he thought he could see detestable faces flickering on the surface of the candles.

Within the city, there were also specialized ‘Candle Swappers’ who timely replaced any candles that were nearly burnt out from inside the wall, ensuring that at least 95% of the niches had candles burning in sync.

This 95% is a maximum limit value; on major festivities, such as the arrival of the Duke’s Chamber of Commerce, the burn rate of candles would be maintained at this level.

Under normal circumstances, only 40% of the city wall candles needed to be lit.

Above the city walls, a huge hemispherical net membrane illuminated, enveloping the entire Light City within it, completely sealed off from the outside disturbances.

By the time Yi Chen arrived at the city gates, there were already quite a few people queuing.

Among them were four Open Source Level bearers, carrying a red sedan chair on their shoulders, inside which sat a Patient whose status must be quite high.

It seemed to sniff out an otherworldly scent on Yi Chen that didn’t belong to the Old World,

from the sedan chair’s side window, a head covered with a red veil peeked out,

with a chin completely striated with blood and flesh, no lips in sight, and gums fully exposed, the occupant was observing the intriguing young man through her veil.

Yi Chen also noticed structures resembling insect mandibles at the torn corners of the woman’s mouth.

“Some sort of insect-related disease?”

At that moment, a hand extended from the depths of the sedan chair,

wrapped in bandages, exposing only relatively intact skin while the limb ended in a bifurcated hand, slender and somewhat grey.

She flexed her fingers and, from her mouth, emitted three tongues of varying lengths, hoping the young man would climb aboard her sedan for some amusement.

Yi Chen made a polite gesture and declined her invitation,

The woman did not insist, and from beneath the white veil, a hissing sound was heard as both hand and tongues retracted, and no further movement was made.

Yi Chen breathed a sigh of relief; he didn’t want to get in trouble before even entering the city, where he was a stranger and being surrounded would be dangerous.

The queue moved at a decent pace, allowing passage once identities were confirmed.

When it was finally Yi Chen’s turn, he discreetly revealed the “Transaction Seal” on the back of his hand and was instantly granted entry to the city.

As he walked under the city gate and through the cramped corridor, the blinding light was no more, replaced by ordinary candles embedded in the corridor walls, guiding newcomers into the city.

Stepping out of the corridor, he could finally take in the full panorama of the Neutral City.

A city made predominantly of metal, it was an eclectic mix of the Old World’s bizarre, blood and flesh, ancient and modern elements, unaffected by the blinding light outside the city walls.

Lamp City – Ignacy, a fully enclosed city, roughly had three types of continuous light sources spread throughout:

1. The most ordinary were the kerosene wall lamps hanging at every household’s door, varying in style and designed to represent the type of business through their containers.

For example, a wall lamp made of many fingers represents a nail salon where, after treatment, customers’ nails could be bestowed not only with beautiful patterns and hardened structures but could also burn for an extended period for lighting purposes or even deal fire Attribute damage when scratching.

2. The “Skull Lamp,” which provided public Illumination and could be rented out privately for a fee, spanned the entire city.

Skulls with wings sprouting from their ear holes flew around every corner of the city, their heads filled with lamp oil (both mouth and nose sealed, with a transparent membrane across the eye sockets to check the oil level directly).

With a wick running through the skulls’ interior, they provided long-lasting Illumination.

When the oil dropped below 20%, these skulls would fly back to the supply station for refueling,

and any passerby simply had to signal to them, and they’d swiftly fly over, wherein inserting an Ancient Coin into the slot on top would grant an hour of personal use,

which could be held in hand or allowed to fly alongside.

If one summoned the Skull Lamps without paying, merely as a prank, some might respond with a kamikaze attack.

3. At the central peak of Lamp City Ignasi, amidst indescribable metal and flesh structures, sat a huge spherical object resembling an “Underground Sun.”

This sphere was quite dim, providing a faint glow that irradiated the entire city, seemingly an original prototype of the Underneath Sun, incorporated into the central building as a symbol of Ignacy.

However,

the little grape’s eyes could pick out the “Gleam” of the original sun amidst the multitude of lights, which hid many eyes used for peering out, causing the little grape to drool.

Yi Chen, however, felt uncomfortable, “So anyone under this gleam would be subject to surveillance… truly unsettling.”

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