Transcendent Gene
Chapter 249: Scenario Quest [7]

Chapter 249: Scenario Quest [7]

Gio and Serene walked into the City Hall together. The building was untouched by the chaos the monsters created, but it was not free from chaos.

There were papers all over the floor. Broken glass and pieces of wood that broke off of the building’s foundations were scattered around with them, along with trails of a long-dried brown substance that had to be blood.

Serene frowned.

"This is a part of the scenario, right? It doesn’t look like somebody got here before us."

She was correct. This was how the building was created after the terraforming ended. They were meant to find it in this state.

"Everything is at least years old. The apartment didn’t look this worn, though..."

Gio knelt down over one of the dried bloodstains. It was practically a part of the wood floor by this point, but he still pressed his hand to it and tried to sense anything from within.

"I’d believe this city was abandoned after something big happened if I was just looking at this, but the rest of the city doesn’t look like this."

The City Hall was an artifact that didn’t fit within the city. Even the streets and buildings they walked by when they were going to the apartment building were in pristine condition.

The elevator in the apartment only didn’t work because this city wasn’t connected to a power grid. In contrast, the wood on the ceiling, around the doors, and on the floor was rotted and dead.

In the main area alone, there were papers and electronic devices that had been ruined by liquids, only some of which could be identified as blood.

He walked deeper into the building and started exploring its rooms. Serene did the same, moving in the other direction to cover more ground.

Most of what Gio saw was about the city’s finances. None of those matters necessarily mattered if he wasn’t trying to expose corruption.

’The city was called New Renis. It was a large city in that time and was known as an economic center...’

He could understand that much from the documents. The amount of money flowing through the city was preposterous, and the amount of that money flowing into the pockets of people who didn’t earn it was just as insane.

’The city was in a rough place, but that doesn’t have anything to do with what happened in the City Hall.’

Rather than the documents, the artifacts left in the building became most important.

There was a coat on the ground that had been dropped by someone who was in a rush to escape the building. In its pockets, Gio found keys to a car that definitely didn’t exist and a wallet containing cards, old paper currency, and an ID card.

’Paul Rivera, born in August 2650.’

’The room we found the yearbook in clearly belonged to a child below the age of ten. Even if that yearbook was a couple years old, it should still be within a few years of 2650.’

However, there was someone born in that year working in the City Hall?

’This ID expires in 2682. Paul was over thirty by the time this happened.’

A chronological inconsistency. In the context of a Scenario Quest, this location was now guaranteed to be something important.

After checking a few more rooms and finding nothing that could provide him more information than he already had, he walked back towards the main area, where he found Serene waiting for him.

"Did you find anything?" He asked.

She nodded in affirmation.

"There’s a lot of weird stuff going on. I think this building is from a different time than the rest of the city, if that makes sense."

"I was thinking something similar, but there’s really nothing else, huh?" Gio responded with a small sigh.

"Not on this floor, at least," Serene said.

"We could go up to the second floor, but I don’t think we’ll find anything new up there. Instead of that...follow me."

She turned around and walked back the way she came with Gio in tow. The two of them took a turn at the end of the long hallway and walked until they reached a grey metal door that didn’t match the wooden structuring of the rest of the building.

"I thought it was just a maintenance closet," Serene said as she pushed it open.

"But, look..."

There were no mops or cleaning supplies beyond the door. What took their place was an ominous staircase that led into darkness. It wasn’t even that the electricity didn’t work. Gio couldn’t see any attempts at lighting on the walls or ceiling.

"That doesn’t look good..." he muttered.

"It doesn’t," Serene agreed.

"But doesn’t that mean there’s probably something down there?"

She had a spark in her eyes that surprised Gio.

"What happened to being afraid?" He asked teasingly.

Serene looked away with some rosiness climbing up her cheeks.

"I mean, I was afraid at first, but this is different. When it comes to mysteries and investigations...let’s just say I really like detectives and detective work."

Hurriedly changing the topic, she walked into the darkness and ushered for Gio to follow her.

"Enough about me. Let’s get back on topic."

’I don’t know what she’s so embarrassed about, but this is good ammo.’

He wanted to see what would happen if she tried to fight with words again.

The two of them descended using Gio’s energy as a light source. The staircase ended after they had moved down three stories or so, leaving them in a corridor that ended in another staircase leading deeper underground.

The walls of the corridor were made of smooth steel that was cold to the touch.

’Hidden door.’

Gio sensed it almost instantly. The technology was primitive, after all.

He called Serene over and broke the wall down, revealing the hallway beyond.

"Do we go in there first, or do we go down to the bottom?"

"Why not both?"

"You want to split up here? It might be dangerous."

"Hmm..."

She frowned as she looked into the hallway.

"Can the Scenario Quest create living beings?"

"It can’t. The only exception is if the being in question is a part of the quest. In that case, though, they aren’t technically living; they only present themselves that way."

Serene hummed in understanding.

"I think I’ll be fine, then. Would you rather go that way or go down?"

"I’ll go down."

Gio could feel something strange from the bottom of the stairs. The hidden corridor was suspicious, but it was secondary in his mind.

While Serene entered the hallway, he shot to the bottom of the stairs like a speeding bullet.

’So there was something.’

He walked through the space at the bottom of the stairs and arrived in front of a heavily secured vault door.

"Do City Halls usually have things like this?"

They certainly did not. This entire staircase seemed like it was inserted into the City Hall where it didn’t belong.

’Another inconsistency.’

[Aura Explosion]

Boooooooom!

Gio let his energy loose, melting the center of the door away and forcing his way through.

He didn’t expect to find an immediate answer to the strangeness he felt.

But it was there waiting to be discovered by the first person who walked inside.

’This...’

A dark cloud formed over Gio’s face.

The scene he was looking at should not have been possible.

Especially not in the year 2680.

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