Chapter 174

  Jake g motionlessly to the ceiling, his gaze fixed downward as he took in the se. It was a small security trol room. One wall housed a bank of monitors: some dispyed feeds from various security cameras, while others dispyed footage from mae gun turrets. This made Jake realize that even those turrets recorded everything they captured with their 360-degree sers.

  The remaining monitors showcased a range of data ing the base’s structures and devices, detailing their dition, operational status, produ levels, remaining energy, etonitor in particur caught Jake’s attention. It showed several traptions with extremely low health bars. It was clear that those were the devices that had retly been severely damaged by the death knight.

  The Asian man named Minh stepped toward the monitor and typed a few ands into the adjat keyboard. Information flickered onto the s, prompting him to lean in for a closer look. When he finally straightened, a noticeable sense of relief washed over his features.

  He gnced over his shoulder at the two panions behind him and said, “Looks like everything’s fine. We’ve got plenty of resources on hand to repair all the damage.”

  Dominid Patrick visibly rexed at the good news. It was obvious that none of the three were eager to face the fury of their leader, Miller, firsthand if they failed to make all the necessary repairs that day.

  Miyping ands into the puter while Dominid Patrick stood behind him. Jake remained pletely motionless, securely anchored to the ceiling above the three bandits, studying them.

  Dominic was the one who Miller had given the Skeletoo. Before the trio entered HQ, Dominic had the key clutched in his fist. Now, Jake could see that Dominic’s hands were empty. Had he slipped the Skeleton Key into his pocket? Or perhaps he had stashed it somewhere on the first floor?

  Jake pted dropping to the floor and using Mind Reader on Dominic to access his ret memories and discover the location of the Skeleton Key. However, that would expose him, which he wao avoid at this moment. He had another idea brewing anyway. While watg the three bandits below, he tio think it through, pieg together a pn of a in his mind.

  While Minh tio work on the puter, Dominid Patrigaged in a heated discussion behind him.

  “I ’t believe hoeople we lost and how many resources we’ll burn fixing all the damage—just so Miller could get a Skeleton Key as a reward for this stupid defense mission,” Patrick vented. “We don’t even have any use for the key, damn it.”

  “Boss said we’ll be able to use it ter, remember?” Dominic replied.

  “Still, it sucks,” Patrick grumbled. “There wasn’t any rush to get the Skeleton Key right away. He could’ve waited until we were stronger before initiating this mission.”

  “He assured us we were ready for this mission,” Dominic argued, standing up for their leader. “And look—he was right. We pulled it off successfully.”

  “We only succeeded because of him,” Patrick pointed out. “He’s at a much higher level than any of us, and he’s crafted that power suit for himself. If it weren’t for him and his power suit, the death knight would’ve wiped us out and wrecked the whole base. We should build power suits for all of us. It’s not fair that only he gets to wear one.”

  “Creating a power suit takes a ton of resources, you know that, right?” Dominic replied. “We ’t even afford to make another one for the time being.”

  “Yeah, I get that,” Patrick replied, clearly frustrated. “But it’s still annoying.” He then ged the topic. “I ’t help but wonder where Los Demonios came from, anyway.”

  “We are Los Demonios, dude,” Dominic pointed out, emphasizing “are” in his tone.

  “I meant the people who formed the gang in the first pce,” Patrick expined. “We were recruited here, in this city. But Los Demonios didn’t start here. They came from somewhere outside instead.”

  “You’re right,” Minh replied without looking back, still w on the puter. “From what uys have told me, the inal members of Los Demonios came from another city.”

  Dominic raised an eyebrow. “How’s that possible?”

  “You see, the System didn’t revive everyone from stasis all at once,” Minh crified. “There are other cities like this one, and in some of those, people were brought back long before us.”

  “Why’s that?” Patrick asked. “How e the System didn’t wake everyone up at the same time?”

  “I have no clue. I don't know why the System operates the way it does. Nobody does.”

  “So the people whinally created Los Demonios were revived in another city long before us, huh?” Dominic remarked. “That makes se expins why Miller and the ang leaders are so much higher-leveled than we are.”

  “Yep.”

  “Why did they decide to e to our city, though?” Dominic asked.

  “Somethi down in their own city,” Minh replied.

  “What happened?” Patrick asked.

  “Not sure. But things must’ve gone really downhill over there. Most of the survivors died. Los Demonios mao survive and flee their city—at least some of them. They set up a new base somewhere, the searg for other cities aually stumbled upon ours. And as you know, sihen, they’ve been taking trol of our city, g it as their territory. Their gang’s extremely powerful and definitely not something to mess with.” He turo look at his panions, smirking. “Only fools would try to challehem. Smart people like us choose to joihose who refuse to be recruited by them... well, I think you both know what happens to them.”

  “You sure know a lot about Los Demonios,” Dominic remarked, a hint of jealousy creeping into his voice.

  “Yeah," Minh replied, his gaze still fixed on the monitor before him. “As I mentioned, I talked to guys from different bases at oime. I picked up some information from them.”

  “What about the Skeleton Key?” Patrick asked. “Do you know when we use it? And where?”

  “Yeah. There’s going to be an upgrade in our city soon. That’s when we’ll get to use the key.”

  “What do you mean?” Dominic asked, intrigued. “grade?”

  “The System is going to upgrade our city,” Minh said. “This means that all the mutants will beuch more powerful, aypes of dangerous creatures will appear.”

  “Oh geez,” Patrick thought. “And here I thought we have finally learned how to survive in this mutant-ied world.”

  “Yeah,” Minh replied. “Soon, it will beuch more dangerous iy. We’ll feel the same way we did when we first awoke in this altered world, where danger awaited around every er.”

  “Oh, I see,” Dominic responded. “That’s why the leaders have been providing us with scrolls to help us level up more quickly.”

  “That’s correct. They want us to be prepared and strong enough to face the hreats. If we’re not strong enough by the time the city upgrades, the beefed-up mutants will tear us apart. And by the way, I personally think that’s exactly what happened iy the inal members of Los Demonios came from. Survivors likely weren’t ready when their city’s mutants were upgraded to much more powerful versions of themselves. That must be why Los Demonios has been putting so much effort into building bases in our city, recruiting people, and gathering resources. We’re gearing up to front whatever is going to e at us after the city undergoes an upgrade.”

  Siletled in for a moment, as Dominid Patrick grimly mulled over what they had just heard from Minh.

  “That’s why we’re not going to the dungeon, even though we’ve already gotten the Skeleton Key for it, huh?” Dominic asked, shattering the silence.

  “Exactly. Ohe city gets an upgrade, the dungeon’s level will rise as well, and the rewards for pleting it will be signifitly better.”

  “Whely will the city’s upgrade take pce?” Patriquired.

  “Only the System knows. But it should happen very soon. At least, that’s what I gathered from overhearing Miller talk with the leaders of some other bases when they visited us the other day.”

  “You listen in on our leaders’ versations?” Dominic asked, his voice ced with disapproval. “They wouldn’t be pleased if they found out someone ying on them.”

  “I wasn’t spying on them,” Minh said hesitantly.

  “Then what were you doing, huh?” Dominic retorted, his tone critical.

  Minh fell silent, uain about how to answer. Before he could gather his thoughts, Patriterjected, “Do you know where the dungeon is?”

  “Only Miller has that information,” Minh replied. “And possibly a few of the other leaders as well.”

  Both Dominid Patrick looked like they were going to ask something else, but before either of them could say anything, Minh said, “Alright, I’m done here. All the structures are set to be repaired. Let’s get out of here. It’s so cramped it makes me feel custrophobic.”

  Without waiting for a response, he headed for the exit. He pressed a button oouchpad, and the door slid opeepped out of the room, with his two panions following closely behind. After they left, the door slid shut.

  Jake remained where he was, ging to the ceiling. He could have followed them out of the room, but he had something else in mind. For a moment, he stayed motionless, refleg on what he had just learned. Listening in ohree sub-bosses had provided him with some useful information.

  So he now khe System was going to upgrade the city soon, making all mutants more powerful and introdug some new mutant types. It was good news. It meant he would be able to earn more XP and level up faster. The fact that the city the inal Los Demonios had e from had been overrun by mutants after the System’s upgrade was a bit discerting, though. However, since he was much more powerful than humans, he probably didn’t have much reason to worry.

  The Maze of Torment was set to beuch more difficult after the System upgraded the city. However, he wasn’t sure yet whether the dungeon would even allow him to enter. For all he knew, dungeons were designed specifically for human survivors, not mutants like him. The fact that survivors o plete a special mission to receive a Skeleton Key added weight to that theory. Still, he was determio try to ehe dungeon after the city graded.

  He also learhat regur members of the gang weren’t aware of where the main base of Los Demonios was located. Only the inal members khat. So, all he o do to discover the main base’s location was to use Mind Reader on one of the inal members. And identifying them was very simple. Like Miller, some of them should be in charge of various smaller bases, and they also had to be high-leveled.

  However, log their main base was a task for aime. For now, he o focus on obtaining the Skeleton Key. Now that he was alone in the security trol room, it was time to set his pn in motion.