Superhumans of the Dome City

Gongsun Ce opened his pocket watch to check the time.

The current time was 7:25 am. After traversing nearly half of the Fixed Wing District by pigeon, the two stood in front of the gate of the district's wastewater treatment plant.

"The target's name is Takizawa Yoshikazu, a former researcher from Zero Island. We suspect he's in the Divine Realm, but his specific abilities are unknown."

"Did Mo Yuankai mention any details?"

"The information dealer deduced the target location from anomalies in the water flow. From his description, it looks like we will be facing an enemy who uses water in combat."

Gongsun Ce took Alice over the gate, flying above it. At this time, his superpower proved exceptionally useful.

"Using water in combat… Is this enemy a Strange Phase Mage?"

While riding the pigeon earlier, Alice had informed him about some basics of the Impermanence Skill.

He had already encountered the Desolate Form twice, characteristically enhancing physical abilities, and Alice's own Brahma Form controlled space or time. The hunter's description this time reminded him of the strange phase in Impermanence Skill.

According to Alice, Strange Phase Mages often excelled at manipulating their surroundings or could generate fire, lightning, or energy orbs as means of attack. They were like mages in fantasy novels. To make a comparison with the superpower users of the Sky City—they were like those commonly seen as energy emitters.

Alice shook her head, "Not necessarily. Water, being readily available, is a convenient material. Quite a few Spiritual Image Mages might use water as a medium to activate their powers, deploying illusions or spiritual attacks. Judging abilities by fragmentary information before seeing the enemy is not feasible."

Spiritual Image's Impermanence Skill often manifested as illusions, mental suggestions, or psychic control. The means of Impermanence Law Enforcers seemed unexpectedly diverse.

"We've arrived now. I should remind you, this place is no small ramshackle factory in an old city district. A modern wastewater treatment plant covers at least 25,000 square meters, equivalent to more than three large soccer fields. That's just the land area; if we include buildings like pump rooms, labs, and dehydrator rooms, it could take us all night to search this place thoroughly."

What Gongsun Ce said was true, they were now walking along a pathway in the middle of greenery. On both sides, they could see neatly arranged, huge circular sewage pools, and many more facilities they usually wouldn't come across waiting ahead. Alice Adar visibly shuddered at the sight of these buildings—each circular pool was covered by a flat layer of the so-called Biochemical Meat Wall; the grey-blue chunks of flesh, glowing green in the darkness, undoubtedly proved their origin as biochemical creations of this city.

Alice swallowed nervously and said, "Tell me what these Biochemical Meat Walls are first."

"They're scientifically known as Purifying Biochemical Meat Walls, similar in the middle to Biochemical Horses and Biochemical Pigeons, but we usually omit these details when talking about them."

"They're literally called Biochemical Meat Walls?! How many such biotech creatures have I seen today, and why do the researchers here always mess with this stuff?!"

"How should I know? Maybe the nuts in Cecil Laboratory think that giant pigeons, horses, and chunks of meat are cooler and handsomer than laser guns, satellite lasers, and giant robots."

Gongsun Ce could understand the hunter's confusion; he also thought that giant robots were much more impressive than these messy biochemical products. However, those white-cloaked research outcomes did have some practical value—as they walked by the sewage pools, they hadn't noticed any strange smells, thanks to these biological tissues.

Alice twitched the corners of her mouth, "Both robots and biochemical monsters are strange, aren't they… Do you know the layout here? What's the first step in processing wastewater usually?"

She doesn't like giant robots; what's up with this woman!

"I visited here once in high school. The wastewater treatment plant in Sky City also uses the activated sludge method. A few years ago, the white-cloaked created new species of water-purifying microorganisms. Along with the Biochemical Meat Walls you just saw, they greatly enhance the water purification efficiency—we usually call that stuff..."

"I guess it's called Purifying Biochemical Mud."

"You're becoming more like a local." Gongsun Ce clapped his hands in encouragement, "Based on the little memory I have left, wastewater flows into a large sedimentation pool before being purified by the microorganisms."

"Then let's start by examining where the wastewater flows in. If he really used his abilities here, we should be able to see some traces… God, I fought with Tierlos before dinner, and now I'm messing around with sewage next to biochemical chunks after dinner; this mission's tougher on my stomach than my brain."

Look on the bright side, at least your heart hasn't stopped beating.

"On the bright side, at least you didn't eat stinky tofu, durian, or fermented tofu tonight."

"There's no need to force yourself to speak if you can't think of anything nice to say." Alice gagged slightly.

They kept walking, occasionally checking their map to confirm their directions and running for some time before finally spotting what the superpower user called the sedimentation pool—a row of square pools separated by railed walkways.

The murky wastewater surged through the pool, filtering out sediment quickly. Although the workers at the sewage plant had evacuated before their arrival, these large facilities were still operating automatically.

This time, there were no biological tissues on top of the pool; the peculiar smell of wastewater rushed into Gongsun Ce's nostrils. He noticed some gray-blue meat roots remaining on the edges of the square pool; it seemed that workers took away the Biochemical Meat Walls during the evacuation. Perhaps, due to the haste, they hadn't managed to complete the process…

"Wait for me a moment…"

Alice took out a piece of paper, drew a symbol resembling the sun on it, and tried a few times to touch it to the sewage without success, her face green with frustration.

"Show some gentlemanly deportment, will you?"

"If you need help, just say it early."

Gongsun Ce pointed to the sedimentation pool. The piece of paper in Hunter's hands drifted down and touched the sewage. A second later, an invisible force pulled it up.

The sky was pitch dark under the crescent moon, but fortunately, Gongsun Ce had gradually adapted to the dark environment. He saw that the sun symbol drawn with a black pen was gradually turning into a bright red.

"I guess this is a sign of a reaction."

Alice tore off the paper in one swift motion, "Anyone could see that. Be ready—the worshippers of the giant dragon have arrived first, he might—"

"He might attack us at any time! No, no, young lady. Before that, there are more important things for you to worry about."

A strange, mocking voice reached their ears.

The voice sounded somewhat muffled, as if something was blocking it, yet the speaker made no attempt to hide. Although the speaker's volume wasn't very high, his words overshadowed the noise from the pool and were clearer than the conversation they had just had.

Gongsun Ce and Alice turned around simultaneously; a tall figure was walking out of the darkness.

"Did you hear that? Not bad, at least your ears aren't deaf yet!"

Alice drew a short arrow warily, "Who are you?"

He was a tall man who was slovenly dressed. He wore a white shirt, business trousers, and the buttons at the shirt's collar were unfastened, almost revealing his chest; a black coat hung from his shoulders, and he wore a silvery-white mask on his head, showing no contours of facial features, except for the messy black hair visible above the mask.

The eerily dressed man sauntered towards them, pointing at their faces with his finger from a distance, "Look at your foolish faces. A bizarre hunter leading a stubborn student, wandering around here, focusing entirely on the stinking pool without even noticing someone behind them. Hahaha!"

The masked man didn't respond to Alice's question, just laughed uproariously in a very disrespectful manner which greatly displeased Gongsun Ce, as he detested such disrespectful individuals.

Gongsun Ce frowned, "You—"

"I came here intending to handle matters, but I ended up watching a comedy show the whole way. It killed me!"

He was interrupted as soon as he started speaking, the masked man didn't even focus on the superpower user. He turned his head to the empty darkness and said, "What do you think, girl?"

"I think you're quite rude."

A cold female voice came from the dark, causing Gongsun Ce and Alice to tense up immediately. They had been alert when the man appeared but had not noticed the presence of a fourth person at the scene!

"Nobody cares about your opinion! All you need to do is agree with me."

"To continue, I think you lack decency."

"Will you stop nagging, young lady?"

Another silvery-white mask emerged from the darkness. The second masked owner stepped out from behind the man.

She had long black hair and wore a tight-fitting combat outfit. She was well-proportioned and not at all frail, holding a dark long-handled greatsword in one hand. Unlike the arrogant man, Gongsun Ce clearly felt this woman's gaze. Even though he couldn't see her expression through the mask, he was sure she was watching him.

The masked man dug at his ear, disdainfully noting, "What are you still standing around for, get lost!"

Alice ignored the man's roars. She calmly stated, "I am Alice Adar, a hunter of the kingdom, currently investigating dragon worshipers infiltrating the City of Sky with this collaborator. Unknown masked person, might I ask why you have come here?"

"Minor characters dare to blabber nonsense, what in the world!"

For the first time since his arrival, the two felt his stare. It seemed like only then did he begin to take the hunter and the superpower user seriously.

The masked man pulled a wooden token from his pocket and waved it in his hand.

"Imperial Rites Department business, unrelated persons and riffraff must clear off."