Chapter 9: Illegal Alien (7)
"It's not that there's no way at all."
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"Just a moment ago, you told me to wake up from my dream."
"It's not a dream. It's a nightmare."
Harune pulled a small metal flask from inside his coat and took a drink.
The thick stench of alcohol slowly drifted into the air.
"Going all the way to the surface is impossible, but getting close to it happens occasionally."
"How?"
"Waste backflow."
Kael repeated the words under his breath.
"Waste backflow…"
"The surface doesn't only dump garbage down to the Lower Levels. Sometimes, items sorted down here go up. But only when it's worth reprocessing—when components a corpo needs to recover get mixed in, or when improperly discarded equipment is found."
"A salvage transport route?"
"Yeah."
Harune pointed a finger toward the ceiling of the Lower Level.
"LL-15, Discarded Magitech Device Processing Plant No. 17. They've got a heavy-duty salvage lift that runs straight up. A person can't ride it. It's strictly for salvage."
"What about security checkpoints?"
"There are damn near endless checkpoints, obviously."
"Then how do you bypass them?"
"Simple. You get registered as official salvage."
Harune merely shrugged under Kael's gaze.
"Funny, isn't it? A human cannot go up, but a pile of scrap metal can. In this city, expensive components hold a higher status than human beings."
"Typical for Magiterra."
"Look at you, sounding like a local."
Harune lowered his voice, leaning in.
"There are guys who hold the authority to register salvage. Plant supervisors, corporate subcontractor managers, and salvage brokers. A few of them will alter a shipping log if the price is right."
"You aren't suggesting I register myself as salvage?"
"Didn't think you'd say something that stupid. Trying to disguise a human as cargo gets you caught instantly."
Harune jabbed a finger at Kael's chest.
"You aren't going up. You're sending up something you fixed."
Kael fell into thought for a moment.
And it did not take long for him to grasp the meaning behind those words.
"You mean we repair an item connected to the surface?"
"Exactly."
Harune grinned.
"Something those surface bastards would be desperate to retrieve. Something expensive, rare, dangerous, and painful to lose."
"Bait?"
"I knew you were sharp."
Harune rummaged through his pocket again and pulled out a worn metal piece.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary piece of scrap metal, but a faint emblem was engraved on its surface.
[Seraph Industries]
"This came in a few days ago. A high-tier medical circuit component. Something like this ain't supposed to end up down here."
"Was it improperly discarded?"
"Or someone threw it away on purpose."
Harune tossed it over.
Kael caught it and examined the surface, tracing the faint outline of a circuit.
"…"
It was entirely different from any piece of work Harune had tossed him before.
"Why are you only showing me this now?"
"Because until you brought up the surface, I had no reason to show it to you."
Harune's lips twisted into a smirk.
"And frankly, I didn't want to. This doesn't smell like money, Kael. It smells like blood."
Kael did not take his eyes off the metal fragment.
The circuit was heavily damaged, but not dead.
And inside, there was a somewhat familiar gap.
His fingertips paused.
"This is no ordinary medical device."
Harune's expression hardened.
"What?"
Kael flipped the piece over to show part of the engraved circuit.
The lines were so minuscule that they were barely visible without a magnifying lens, but he could see them clearly.
"The outside looks like a recovery circuit, but the inner structure is different. Rather than healing, it resembles a container used to preserve something."
"Preserve what?"
"You mentioned earlier they traffic organs down here, right?"
Seeing the blood drain from Harune's face, Kael spoke quietly.
"Just a theory… but I think this was built to preserve a human brain."
Harune shut his mouth as the realization hit him, then swore softly under his breath.
"A brain?"
"Yeah."
Seraph Industries.
High-tier medical circuit.
A component that never should have drifted down to the Lower Levels.
It was the first tangible thread leading upward that Kael had found.
Harune glanced around cautiously before leaning closer.
"Can you restore it?"
Kael did not answer right away.
Instead, he traced the faint residue of mana trapped inside the alloy.
The damage was severe, but not irreparable.
A faint smirk touched the corner of his lips.
"I can fix it, but…"
At his words, Harune's eye lit up.
"But what?"
"Fixing it isn't enough."
"What are you on about now?"
"If we just fix it, they will simply retrieve it. And we walk away with nothing."
Kael looked down at the metal fragment.
"If this is our bait, we need to attach a fishing line."
Harune stared blankly for a moment, then slowly began to laugh.
At first softly.
"Ha…"
Then louder and louder.
"Hahaha!"
He laughed, showing his teeth.
"You're a complete lunatic!"
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It is."
Harune leaned forward.
"What are you going to embed in it?"
Kael tapped his finger on top of the metal piece.
"A tracking formula."
Harune stopped laughing.
"A tracking formula?"
"Yeah. Specifically, a recording type that logs the path the moment it gets retrieved."
"What if you get caught?"
"Are you really asking me that?"
Harune went silent.
"If it succeeds…" Kael added quietly, "we map out our first clear route to the surface."
A heavy beat passed.
"You will need materials."
"Fine crystal powder. Thin silver wire. Insulating fluid. And a stable mana source."
"That's expensive."
"Isn't that pretty cheap for a stairway to heaven?"
Harune clicked his tongue.
"Sounds like you're telling me to foot the bill."
"That's right."
"What about the profit split?"
"This isn't about money."
Kael continued calmly.
"It's about information."
Harune quietly stared at Kael before letting out a sigh.
"Fine. I'll source the materials."
"By when?"
"Three days."
"One day."
"Get them yourself then."
"Two days."
"…I really don't like you."
"As if you ever did."
Harune gritted his teeth and nodded.
"Two days. But if it fails, I'm deducting it from your cut."
"And if it succeeds?"
"You get your hands on the surface path."
"Besides that."
"What else do you want?"
Kael thought for a moment before speaking.
"Everything you know about Seraph Industries."
Harune's face contorted into a scowl.
"Don't drop that name so casually around here."
"Which is precisely why I need to know."
"If you start digging into a MegaCorp... hell, even before you find anything, those bastards erase potential threats on principle. That's how they operate."
"I have lived in hiding long enough."
"Ha. It has only been a year."
Harune spoke firmly.
"I don't know what you're hiding, but anyone who stands out in the Lower Level doesn't live long. And those corporate bastards from the surface? They're even faster. They hunt down their prey far more relentlessly."
When no response came back, Harune clicked his tongue.
"Seraph Industries is a MegaCorp that controls medical tech, bio-circuitry, and cellular restoration. Basically, they handle hospitals, restoratives, artificial organs, circuit stabilizers, and the like."
"And?"
"Unsanctioned bio-experiments, organ harvesting, and kidnapping people with high circuit-compatibility."
Harune checked his surroundings once more before speaking.
"It's just rumors. Officially, their record is spotless. As always."
Kael looked down at the metal fragment once more.
"Hmm."
If research on mana circuits—or bio-circuits modeled after them—was happening anywhere in this city, the answers wouldn't be down here in the dark.
They were up above.
"All right."
Kael tucked the metal fragment safely inside his inner pocket.
"Let's call it a day."
"Leaving already?"
Harune knitted his brows.
"Are you going to pay me overtime?"
"You're probably the only guy in the slums who says stuff like that."
"That's why I've survived this long."
"You certainly have a smooth tongue."
Harune grunted in annoyance, but he did not try to hold him back any further.
Kael briefly raised a hand in farewell and left the stall.
* * *
The sound of iron, glass, and waste swirling together had long since become a familiar noise to Kael.
He made his way toward his dwelling on LL-20.
Then—
Rumble!
A violent explosion of noise shattered the air from above.
Kael reflexively tensed, looking up into the shadows of the massive transport pipe overhead.
People nearby scattered while spitting curses, and Kael stepped back as well.
With a thunderous crash echoing from above, garbage poured down.
He watched the scene indifferently.
It was a common occurrence down here, yet a small shadow caught his eye among the falling debris.
Is that a child's corpse?
However, the small silhouette flailed desperately, trying to break its fall.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
His body moved before his mind could decide.
Even though he could not use mana, his body was forged through years of surviving on the brutal battlefields against the Demon Lord's army.
He kicked off the pavement, diving headfirst into the cascading avalanche of waste.
A jagged piece of metal grazed his shoulder.
Pain flared, but he did not stop.
The small body was falling rapidly.
The distance shrank.
Two steps away.
One.
At the last possible second, Kael launched himself into the air and reached out, but…
His fingertips merely brushed against damp fabric.
It slipped past him.
Gritting his teeth, Kael strained his arm past its limit until his fingers hooked into the collar.
Got you!
He hauled the small figure tightly against his chest, twisting his torso mid-air to cushion the landing.
A split second later, a massive steel crate roared past his heels, pulverizing the floor just inches behind him.
Shrapnel flew in all directions.
Kael slammed onto the concrete, absorbing the impact through his knees.
"Phew…"
He looked down at the weight in his arms.
A small body. Probably a child.
Caked in layers of filth, it was impossible to discern its age, gender, or facial features.
More importantly, the overwhelming stench of rot and chemical waste stung his eyes and nose.
Kael frowned.
"…"
It was alive.
Faintly, but clearly breathing.
He stared at the child for a moment before carefully placing it on the ground.
It was better not to get involved beyond this point.
This was the Lower Level.
A child of unknown origin dropped from the surface meant complications—and Kael didn't need another headache.
He already had enough problems trying to repair his mana circuit and find a way out of this pit.
Right now, he could barely take care of himself.
I did what I could.
Either way, he had saved the child from smashing into the pavement and turning into mush.
Kael reasoned as much.
Sensing the eyes of onlookers nearby, he stood up.
Among them, someone was already sizing up the child, searching for anything of value.
He knew getting further involved here would lead to an endless rabbit hole.
He would achieve nothing if he lived like that.
So Kael turned away, ignoring the scavengers' lingering gazes.
But just as he took a step forward—
Something pulled at him.
The child was holding onto his hem, head bowed.
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