It seed unlikely that anything could be found from the temporary base Justus had set up.
The double-layered structure that looked like a round cake or a crown, he had also seen in the coal-ash wasteland over a decade later.
It was called a "据点房." A very popular architectural form in the Underground City.
The first floor featured a reception and a lounge, with the latter opening seven doors, leading directly to the kitchen, a storage room that took up two rooms, a power room, and four living quarters. Climbing the circular stairs to either side, the second floor had eight more rooms, totaling twelve residences.
In a wilderness where it was unclear whether a city should be built or if anyone would co, such types of bases were usually the first to be established.
This type of building, with its composite functions, was the kind that wouldn’t be demolished first and could be placed anywhere. Even if the population later increased, it could be converted into a bar, inn, shop, warehouse, dormitory, or safe house.
This could be considered an early form of "population architecture."
Installing five or six of these was enough to accommodate the needs of the pioneering phase.
Generally speaking, the higher the proportion of base houses in a city, the less developed that city was.
After leaving the base house with Justus, Annan saw the desolate streets.
Compared to the coal-ash wasteland decades later, this place barely had a tenth of the area. It was less like a city and more like an encampnt in the wilderness... like those dilapidated towns from Western movies.
Even the sky wasn’t as bright. This was because the layer of dead photuris ants here wasn’t thick enough yet to form a persistently luminescent photuris layer.
The ground here was the dark brown of dried lava, with only three streets, two horizontal and one vertical. The number of buildings was almost countable with just two hands.
At the mont, the streets were eerily empty. Apart from Annan and Justus, there was nothing else—no people, no insect noises, no monsters... not even the wind, it was unusually quiet.
"Looking at the decorations in your room, you haven’t been here long, have you?"
Annan raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Justus, "Is the coal-ash wasteland always this quiet?"
"How could it be?"
Justus frowned deeply. "Before it was subrged in lava, this place was known for its gold and coal mines. It was destroyed by volcanic disaster due to workers’ mistakes that breached the earth’s veins.
"You may not know, but right above us... lies Furnace Mountain in the Saint Felix Province."
"I recall Furnace Mountain is an active volcano, right?"
Annan raised an eyebrow again.
He certainly knew the na.
As a person from Winter, Frederick should also be aware.
Furnace Mountain is one of the few mountains in the Winter Duchy not completely covered in snow and serves as a gambler’s haven for those exiled from the cities—if lucky, after digging through a thin layer of snow, one could find windbreak caves left by predecessors.
The caves of Furnace Mountain have natural geothermal heating, can lt snow for fresh water, allow at to be roasted and water boiled; one could survive comfortably even during the Winter years. In abundant years, Furnace Mountain is known as a famous hot spring region in the Winter Duchy.
The only issue is... Furnace Mountain is not an extinct volcano but one that remains active. This is why there are no cities near Furnace Mountain.
"Typically, when Furnace Mountain is close to erupting, the Tower of Storms takes responsibility for suppression. But that only delays the eruption and provides evacuation ti for nearby residents... Furnace Mountain still maintains an eruption pattern of about every fifteen to twenty years,"
Justus scoffed coldly. "But have you ever considered... where does the magma stopped by the Tower of Storms go?
"—The coal-ash wasteland was destroyed in this way."
"But now, it has been rebuilt."
Annan said serenely.
He and Justus walked slowly and vigilantly down the street, never straying too far from his reliable companion.
Justus, with an eagle-like gaze, also scanned the surroundings.
While searching for any anomalies around, he scoffed, "Who made it produce gold?
"Compared to human lives, the Diggers and the sages clearly value the gold here more. Hence the report... The report states that the probability of the volcano near the coal ash wasteland erupting again is extrely low, and mining operations are recomnded to be resud."
"Extrely low?"
"Extrely low—of course it’s low. When it was still called ’Black Gold Fields’ before becoming the ’Coal Ash Wasteland’, the previous safety report outright declared it ’safe’. In fact, if not for the intervention of the Storm Tower, an accident indeed wouldn’t have happened... but who can tell with these things?"
Justus let out a laugh, pulling a flask from his waist and taking another swig.
He mumbled softly, "When the volcano was about to erupt, the Winter people couldn’t possibly notify us in advance ’the volcano is going to erupt now, we need to act with the Storm Tower’."
"They don’t have that kind of ti."
Annan said quietly.
Justus let out a soundless scoff, "Even if the Winter folk had the ti, the council of sages wouldn’t inform us. The sages have no emotions.
"—Because the cost of disaster relief is too high.
"If they knew that this place could be destroyed at any mont, they wouldn’t send rcenaries in to lead the residents to evacuate... because hiding such information is illegal, and if they disclosed it to the rcenaries, they’d have to pay more.
"No one knows the scale of the disaster that might strike. Will the earth’s veins collapse? Will the mining areas be destroyed? Will lava surge in, and if so, how much, will it destroy the towns, or just fill the underground? Or will it engulf the city entirely?
"If they were to rescue, they’d have to rescue everyone. The cost is too high... anwhile, if the disaster turned out not to be severe, then the mine owners and workers would be the first to complain about ’overreacting’.
"Because the evacuation operation would severely delay their work progress... and might even lead to their equipnt being stolen, sabotaged, or damaged by the disaster.
"The clever people of the council of sages wouldn’t do such a thing. If the Winter people really issued a warning, they wouldn’t pass it on... They might even send rcenaries to push back the people who escaped—especially the mine owners.
"That way, the ’mining permits’ sold by this city could be sold again; since the mine owners would be dead too, there’d be no compensation. Everything would just be an accident... then no one could sue, and things would co to an end."
Justus grumbled non-stop.
His words were filled with sarcasm... and an imperceptible hatred.
Annan paused for a mont.
He decided to take a risk.
So Annan spoke slowly, "You still can’t forget Ingrid."
Hearing this, Justus turned his head, staring intently at Annan behind him.
Annan, however, did not et his gaze.
Instead, he continued forward without an expression.
Because Justus was much taller than Frederick, Annan’s lowered hood covered most of his expressions, making it hard to decipher his emotions.
After a while, Justus caught up.
"...Yes."
Justus said softly, his tone unusually calm.
"I will make them pay sooner or later..."
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