Volume 1, Chapter 36: Secrets of the Wasteland City Revealed—Linked to the Ancestors of Guardian Murong!

Lin Yao had long heard that in this age of catastrophe, the world inside a city and the world outside are as distinct as night and day.

Take Northwind City as an example: within its walls, order is maintained by the Garrison Command, the Military Department, the Public Security Bureau, the Beastmaster Association, and the Dawn Base. Even a powerful tycoon like Wang Guangyang would not dare to run rampant or place himself above these five pillars of authority. Even a high-ranking official like Chairman Han Qu, a level 40 powerhouse, would find himself thrown behind bars for embezzling 300 million credits.

Outside the city, however, is a true lawless zone. Within the walls, a murder—even of a commoner—is a major criminal case that cannot be ignored. But outside, lives are lost everywhere, almost every second of every day. Even if the various law enforcement agencies had the heart to maintain order, they simply lack the capacity to do so.

Yet, what Zhao Wuji and his cohorts have done this time remains lawless to the extreme. Once their deeds are brought to light, they will not be met with the applause reserved for those who "slay one to be a bandit, but ten thousand to be a hero," but rather a global Class-A arrest warrant.

Lin Yao never expected that only six or seven days after leaving the city, he would stumble upon such a monstrous case. In exactly seven hours and forty-nine minutes, it will have been eight full days since he departed.

In these few short days, Zhao Wuji, Qin Tanlang, and Su Longtao have displayed the most sinful aspects of human nature to the fullest. And it is not just these three scoundrels; other beastmasters, realizing they have no way to escape, have also descended into madness. Lin Yao himself had to intervene, using energy blasts to turn several beasts who were attempting to assault a female beastmaster in the street into mists of blood. The air was instantly thick with the stench of carnage. However, he soon realized that such atrocities were everywhere, and he could not possibly stop them all on his own.

Currently, Lin Yao and his group are sheltering in a dilapidated manor far from the ruins of the city. Though decrepit, the manor contains a wealth of documents regarding this small pocket dimension. After browsing through them, Lin Yao confirmed that this place is the "City of Dreams" mentioned in history textbooks.

Built two hundred years ago, the city’s exact location had remained a mystery. It existed solely to serve five hundred socialites and elites of Northwind City. One can only imagine that those five hundred people lived lives of decadent luxury, akin to feudal emperors.

A lawless land of debauchery and excess. Lin Yao dared not even imagine the shocking depravities those elites engaged in. Fortunately, he did not have to rely on his imagination. The owner of the manor had kept a diary, recording the details of the extravagant and dissolute lives of the upper crust.

After reading a few entries, Lin Yao learned the owner's identity. Her name was Song Xiyan. She was only nineteen when she wrote her first entry, a young lady from a top-tier wealthy family. For her nineteenth birthday, her gift was to hire five male models with perfect physiques to indulge in a seven-day, seven-night frenzy of debauchery. It is said that if Lin Yao were interested, he could even find the visual records of those scandalous times within the manor, as Miss Song had recorded her unbridled and hedonistic youth on a crystal card designed to last a millennium.

Of course, Lin Yao was not studying Miss Song’s diary as some sort of instructional manual. His true goal was to find the specific location of the Rose Treasure and the method to access it. Two hundred years ago, Miss Song Xiyan had encountered the Rose Treasure with her godfather, but the diary made no mention of what happened afterward. Lin Yao speculated that perhaps her godfather, in a bid to hoard the treasure for himself, had murdered her—a flower of wealth and beauty withered in her prime at the age of twenty-one.

As Lin Yao was searching the diary for clues about the Rose Treasure, Xia Yumeng walked into the study, clutching a small notebook with an expression of great excitement. She was not the only one there; Xia Mengying, Zhu Zhihan, and Liang Xiaofei were also gathered, scanning through the documents.

Seeing Xia Yumeng’s inability to hide her excitement, Lin Yao asked casually, "Looking at that face, did you discover some earth-shattering secret?"

Xia Yumeng nodded excitedly. "A major discovery!"

"What major discovery?" Xia Mengying couldn't help but press. Zhu Zhihan and Liang Xiaofei also turned their attention to her.

Xia Yumeng, eager to share, didn't hold back. "Miss Song Xiyan is very likely the ancestor of the Northwind City Garrison Commander, Murong Nanci!"

Lin Yao found himself amused and bewildered. "If I recall correctly, Miss Song Xiyan died at twenty-one, right? Did she have time to get pregnant and have a child?" Being a mother at twenty-one is not unusual, but given that Song Xiyan spent her nights in constant revelry and obsession with carnal pleasures, when would she have had the time?

Xia Yumeng retorted indignantly, "You didn't read carefully! Miss Song cryogenically preserved an egg at nineteen, which was later used to cultivate a child named Murong Tiansheng."

"The ancestor of the Imperial Capital's Murong family is also named Murong Tiansheng, and his origins are a mystery! I've heard he’s still alive—a 90-level old monster."

Lin Yao shot Xia Yumeng a glare and then respectfully bowed toward the direction of the Imperial Capital. "Do you know nothing of showing respect to one's superiors? Even if you are young and ignorant, you cannot address Commander Murong by his full name."

If that old monster Murong had perished like his hedonistic mother, then perhaps such etiquette wouldn't matter. But since he is still alive, who knows what heaven-defying abilities a beastmaster of that level possesses?

Xia Yumeng’s instinct for self-preservation had always been strong. She immediately and dutifully bowed in the direction of the Imperial Capital. "My apologies, Commander Murong! I was... I was just helping you look into your family history... hehe."

But her laughter died quickly, as Liang Xiaofei revealed a truly terrifying piece of information.

"It is said... only rumored, mind you... that the City of Dreams turned to ruins overnight, and not a single soul survived."

"Calculating the timeline, Commander Murong would have been around level 50 to 55 back then."

"If a powerhouse of that caliber were to strike..." Liang Xiaofei left the thought unfinished, and a chill ran down the spines of everyone in the room.

If they were in Murong Tiansheng's shoes, they would surely never want outsiders to know that his mother was a woman of such loose morals as Song Xiyan. It was precisely because Murong Tiansheng had wiped out everyone in the city that the City of Dreams had become a wasteland. Consequently, for nearly two hundred years, no one had known the true origins of that legendary patriarch.

"Big Brother, Zhihan found a lead!" At that moment, Zhu Zhihan raised her hand with an adorable, blank expression. In one of Song Xiyan's diary entries, she had found the account of the first time Song Xiyan and her godfather explored the Rose Treasure!