What’s going on inside?
Even though the Truth Department strained their ears, they couldn’t clearly hear what was being said inside.
After all, no one would specifically choose to enhance their hearing with cybernetic implants, so as long as it’s functional, it’s good enough.
Present, only Lewis and A2 could hear the sounds inside the room, but it was difficult to understand what was being discussed beyond a few words.
However, Lewis could understand the latter part very well; it was mostly some kind of flesh trade happening inside.
Seeing the confused expressions of the three members of the Truth Department, Lewis couldn’t say anything and just shook his head, gesturing for them to continue moving forward.
The group continued to crawl forward slowly.
After passing through several more grates like the previous ones and going through a few slopes and turns, they quickly found themselves in a new area.
They were so sure because this time, the grate was right below the passage, allowing them to see clearly.
It was a bright corridor with a floor so smooth it seemed to have been waxed a dozen times, with rows of doors on both sides stretching out as far as the eye could see.
Most astonishing was that the doors and walls were transparent, making everything inside the rooms visible.
There were fluffy princess beds, full-length mirrors, rows of wardrobes, large bear plushies with styles ranging from romantic to classic, modern to formal, everything from Victoria to the cyber age was included.
The only common thing was that each room housed a female, lying on the large bed with what seemed like sensory devices resembling dreaming machines on their heads.
They ranged in age from six to sixteen.
Their living arrangements were completely one-way transparent, seemingly for the purpose of being observed.
Lewis’s cyber eye camera was clicking away, and the moment he saw this, he had already guessed what this place was for.
Shocked, but not surprised.
Perhaps he had already figured out what this place was when he heard the description from that homeless person.
An underground Crystal Palace.
The three from the Truth Department had their mouths agape, too shocked to speak.
The limit of their imagination might be somewhere like Lolita Island, yet each girl here seemed to be custom-made.
From personality to appearance, even private data, were meticulously tailored to what someone else desired.
Perhaps the people here, from a young age, had been under the control of that device, growing up under these dream machines, believing whatever was fed to them to be the truth, to be right.
Further ahead, the players even saw a masked man in red shoes, holding onto a chain, with the other end attached to a 14-year-old brown-haired girl.
The girl was dressed in a dress with a pearl crown on her head, walking on all fours, occasionally stopping to lick the man’s fingers like a dog.
All the players could think was
Do the people of Night City play this excessively?
That was their only thought.
Lewis found it very puzzling.
Because if this was all there was to it, it wasn’t worth hiding underground with so much effort. Even though he hadn’t been, as a reporter for Channel 54, there were some things he knew.
What you see here, you can also enjoy at the Crystal Palace, even better.
And those who can come here, naturally, can’t be unable to go to the Crystal Palace.
So there must be something here that he hadn’t uncovered yet.
He signaled for everyone to continue forward.
Sure enough, there was another row of rooms for males further ahead, but the scenes were too eye-popping, so they were left undescribed, and the players didn’t look.
How could a 200-plus pound Tiger I tank dare to crush a wobbling car less than eight years old off the factory line?
However, the decor here certainly lived up to the word luxury, with rare live green plants from all over the city, even some seasonal flowers were blooming while maintaining a 26-degree indoor temperature.
Robots holding trays of fruit and wine were everywhere, their variety exceeding even Lewis’s understanding.
Of course, it was pretty average to the players, perhaps even less than the fruit market downstairs.
Do rich people eat this?
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The surprising thing was, what they saw earlier was only an appetizer, and the main event was just beginning.
At six o’clock in the afternoon, the clarity of the bell echoed throughout the underground building, and everyone heard it, including the players in the ducts.
Just as they wondered if there was any need to announce the time here, the people dressed in expensive formal wear started leaving their rooms in unison, heading in one direction.
Only a fraction of the rooms were occupied, making it seem like the number of people present was only a small portion of the total.
Yet their outfits were remarkably consistent, wearing the same masks, most in white cloaks, a few in black, with red shoes underneath.
The people in the air duct exchanged glances and quickly followed, though not knowing where these people were headed, following them would surely lead to a critical point.
was just the bounty, and everyone knew that beyond the bounty missions, there were also items to be had.
This hidden dungeon, almost comparable to a version quest, was exciting enough just thinking about what it could yield.
They turned left and right, climbing up and down nearly losing their way, but fortunately, hooded people would occasionally pass by below, preventing them from getting lost.
Initially walking alone, these people began dragging or leading their ’female companions.’
It was a hall, shaped much like a place for worship in a church.
In the front of the hall stood a statue of a metallic four-armed deity, which was often seen in the city, though no player could ascertain from which religion it came, and related elements other than the statue were scarce in the city.
Neither priests from churches, the NCPD, nor anyone else had words for it, only shaking their heads.
A statue unknown to religious figures and policemen alike was built in the city without any priests or names.
Could anything be stranger than this?
Before the statue was a podium, where someone clothed in a red robe repeatedly tapped a small bell, sending the sound throughout.
Before the podium were rows of white stone blocks, each about the size of a one-meter-high table. The cloaked people gathered around these stones with their ’female companions’ and sat.
They seemed to be participating in some kind of religious ritual, but this time, the duct was too high, high such that neither the players nor even Lewis could hear what was being said below.
However, they could see clearly.
A person in black robes led his female companion onto the stage; she seemed to be the oldest among everyone present, though at most sixteen years old.
The red-robed figure appeared to be bestowing blessings upon her, even placing a crown and a pair of white bionic angel wings on her.
Muttering a lot, only the last sentence was amplified using a loudspeaker, allowing the players above to hear.
"The Ascension Ritual is about to begin, please prepare yourselves for the ceremony before the Lord."
Then, the people above witnessed a large-scale brawl below, though the players saw it in a pixelated version, they could only imagine through the pixels, while Lewis witnessed it all clearly.