Chapter 157

  Jake sprihrough the rown streets, heading for the Los Demonios’ base. After extrag information from the st gangster he had sin, he learhe exact location of the base. His Enhanced Intelligence funed much like a GPS, f a detailed mental map in his mind and guiding him to his destination.

  The base was situated in a part of the city where he had not been in quite a while. The st time he visited that area, there had been no base, as there had not been a signifit presence of Los Demonios iy at that time. This meant the gangsters must have established the base only retly. The realization sparked numerous questions in Jake’s mind, and he hoped to find the answers soon.

  After watg several days’ worth of the gangster’s memories, Jake discovered that the man had joihe gang just a few days ago. By that time, the gang had already set up their base, leaving Jake without crucial information about whely it happened or where its resources came from. He hoped that he would eventually piece together those missiails.

  As he neared his destination, Jake slowed down. His Cloak was disabled, as the ability ed a signifit amount of mana, especially during active movement, w in overdrive to keep him cealed. For this reason, Jake only activated Cloak wheruly o hide himself a it turned off while simply navigating the city. Now, drawing closer to the Los Demonios base, he activated the ability, rendering himself nearly invisible as he transitioo a jog.

  At some point, Jake halted pletely to gather his thoughts. The base was situated about half a block ahead. He recalled there used to be an opehere. It had likely been a small park before the Colpse. From what he had gleaned from the gangster’s memories, this once-open space was now home to their base. Rather than sprinting out into the open and risking beied, Jake decided to take a different approach.

  He approached one of the high-rises on the right side of the street and jumped, activating Gravity Leap. As he reached the peak of his ast, he executed a sed jump, as if pushing off an invisible solid surface. He soared a few more meters up, defying gravity until his upward momentum started to wane. Quickly, he pressed the tips of his fingers and toes against the building wall, employing Adhesive Secretion. The glue-like substance oozing from the small pores on his textured body anchored him securely to the wall. Moving like a giant i, he began to crawl across the facade.

  When he reached the er, Jake propelled himself off the wall, exeg a mana-infused jump. Dashing through the air like a powerful projectile, he flew across the gap to the building. Upon hitting its wall, Adhesive Secretion took effece more, firmly anch him to the surface. Jake crawled across the walls of the buildings, jumping from one high-rise to anradually closing in on his destination. At one point, he activated Cloak as he he base and wao avoid dete.

  Finally, he reached the st building in the block. He crawled from oerior wall to the one overlooking what had once been a small park. As expected, he was greeted by the sight of the Los Demonios base, which occupied the entire area where the park had once been. The base was surrounded by sturdy crete walls, several meters tall, obsg his view of the inside.

  Uerred, Jake crawled a few floors up the side of the building until he achieved a bird’s-eye view of the base. He turned around so as his back was to the wall behind him now, still pressing his hands ao the building. ging to the wall, pletely motionless and invisible, he studied the plex below.

  Ihe tall crete walls sat several buildings, along with various strange-looking structures and rge traptions he had never seen in his life before. He could only specute on what they were used for. Dominating the ter of the base was the rgest building, a boxy two-story crete structure with a ft roof. Encirg this main facility were smaller buildings, an array of strange meisms, and a few tents scattered about.

  Walkways ran along the inner sides of the perimeter walls, patrolled by armed guards who surveyed the area outside the base. At the ers stood watchtowers fitted with turrets, which seemed to be operated either autonomously by an AI or remotely by aor, possibly stationed in the main building or one of the smaller structures. The turrets had the capacity to rotate a full 360 degrees, though their barrels were currently aimed outward. Jake noticed the barrels slowly sweeping from side to side, sing the surroundings for any potential threats. He couldn’t shake the feeling that these turrets were fully operated by an AI.

  Jake couldn’t help but marvel at what he was seeing. Back when he was a survivor, he had learhat there was a crafting system in this world. While he had never had the opportunity to learn how it worked, he had assumed it would let him create small items or simple traptions. However, the base below, he realized the crafting system allowed survivors to struot just makeshift items, but entire fortified bases equipped with advaeologies like those sophisticated turrets that could automatically target threats.

  Jake also couldn’t help but wonder where the resources for su advanced base came from. The regur survivors he had entered te in various rooms of existing high-rise buildings. This base was somethiirely different—it had been built from scratch, having e ienly a couple of weeks ago. Jake was eager to learn how Los Demonios had mao create such a facility while the average survivors seemed uo aplish anythiely simir.

  He knew his ultimate goal was to obliterate Los Demonios, erasing that bandit anization from existence. Yet, he found himself intrigued by the inner ws of the base and was eager to learn how everything operated within the base. Instead of immediately charging in to recklessly wreak havoc, he felt pelled to gather more information. Therefore, he chose to stay put for a while, taking the time to scrutihe facility and discover how things worked within its walls.

  There were people milling about ihe base, engaged in various tasks that kept the pce running smoothly. Scattered throughout the camp, various structures and traptions hummed with activity, produg an array of items. Jake, feeling a mix of curiosity and awe, pressed himself against the cool stone wall of the building. Captivated by the hustle and bustle, he ily watched the daily routine py out within the base down below.

  Happy New Year! :)