A DAY IN CHANGYE
Changye was a platformed city shaped like a bagua. The center of the city had a platform that rose above the rest, called Upper Changye. Upper Changye stood above fifty-story buildings. They set the platform that held Upper Changye within the eight sectors, where giant pillars and struts kept the platform from tilting. The pillars and struts forced the platform to remain centered. Each pillar and strut had underground dampers that moved with the plates and made it durable against earthquakes. The shock absorbers regulated the pillars. Someone once told me that the platform was based on a genius idea from an architect named Hiroki Chen-Liu, who designed it after seeing a gizmo made with floating compression in mind.
Below the Upper City was Lower Changye. The Lower City was the old city, where most people had lived before they constructed the platform above it. Upper Changye was like a bird's nest where a ferocious bird named the Otherside Bureau protected it.
Make no mistake, though. The dual layers of Changye didn't mean they concentrated all the important infrastructure in the Upper. Most of it was still in Lower Changye. The buildings on top were where the universities and the headquarters of the many branches of the Otherside Bureau were located.
Changye was composed of eight sectors and six districts.
I lived in Lotus Lane, close to Asobe Street. I moved there after getting my back pay from my previous employment. With my fifteen-month debt paid and gone, I used the pay from the previous agency to get a room in Lotus Lane. It was a 1DK apartment, with the entrance hall having a washing machine space by the door. One bedroom with a closet, one space for the kitchen, and a living/dining area. At the side of the bedroom was a balcony with a view of Lotus Lane and its inhabitants. There was a plastic chair there and six pots of potatoes I was cultivating.
The building was called Toma Apartments, a three-story building. I lived in 304, on the last floor, next to the storage area and the water filtering system. I got lucky since the last tenant didn't return, so most of his stuff became mine.
Lotus Lane was always busy. It was full of multinationals who had gathered from all over the world to make a living in this city. These days, everyone wanted to be inside Changye, since there were only so few places outside fortified cities that were still populated and as defended as Changye.
There was no wasteland outside, but it was rare to find anyone actively trying to stay beyond the cities when there were constant monsters roaming. It didn't help that CODE BLACK, a reality warper, appeared in Shanghai for a few years. It spread from China to Russia, and the German agents of the Fourth Reich finally defeated it in Görlitz by subduing it.
The containment status of the warper was unknown. After they defeated it, it vanished from the containment field where they had locked it.
What happened next was that there were a lot of spawns appearing in the area. The ripples created by that incident were numerous, and you could say that the pits of flesh were one of them.
Changye had a population of one hundred million. It was a very crowded city that was continuously expanding.
Every city now was like this. Maybe the Fourth Reich was slightly different, since they rarely let any colored people enter their borders, and they were one of the few remnant countries in the world that could contain their monsters and cryptids.
Beyond the city, there was a pale fog that confused people. Nowadays, the only proper way to travel between cities was through the use of railways crossing oceans and planes flying in the stratosphere, where commercial flights now operated. The troposphere was full of flying cryptids, and most aerial convoys were heavily guarded because of this.
Trains had become a popular way to get around because they had a destination you would arrive at. Planes these days had a tendency to get lost, and sometimes they just disappeared completely.
I stopped walking and looked at the information board occupying an entire wall. Anomaly PSAs. Advertisements approved by Changye's Head of State and warnings from the OB, also known as the Otherside Bureau, about recent sightings all over the city — from monsters to anomalies.
I noticed one of the job advertisements was about hiring flesh pit miners. The same kind of flesh pit where my previous employers died, swallowed and chewed whole. Flesh pits were strange meat-caves that weren't human or animal at all. They were otherworldly flesh that spread through tunnels and consumed everything they could.
Flesh miners were popular among people living in the Destitute Depths' Misery Lane, those who couldn't afford long-term jobs or fight like agents and hunters did.
Food could be hard to find in Changye if you didn't have the money, and many preferred buying artificial food instead of real produce, which was priced high and often double what artificial food cost. Personally, I didn't buy artificial food, since I knew where most of that meat came from. I could eat it if I wanted to, but I would rather not if I had a choice.
I pressed on toward the next tenement block of the Arcadia Towers. It was in the transitional area between Upper Changye and Lower Changye. High-rise complexes housed diverse residents in a densely populated neighborhood, full of mixed-income people who were irritatingly proud to live there. It was a mess, honestly, ill-maintained buildings with limited access to resources and services. The residents there were usually tribal, but they didn't care as long as you bought their products.
I went into a noodle shop. I bought a bowl of noodles with pork broth and two meat buns and was full as usual. My back pressed against another person's, and I had to be careful not to elbow the ones on my right and left. After finishing my meal, I placed cash on the tray. The waitress took it and put the bills in the box where they kept most of their money.
I left the noodle shop, breathing in air that smelled of acrid fumes and car exhaust. I looked at my databank wristwatch and saw that it was nearing 12 PM.
I took the service train and commuted to Nyota Plaza, where Asobe Street was located. I walked along the plaza. A priest holding a worn-out bible was preaching to a crowd. A group of hunters crowded around an info and bounty board, talking about hunting low-level monsters outside the city to earn food for the day.
I stopped next to a billboard that had a message from one of the many affiliates of the OB. It was the usual public announcement, with their contact number in the center of the display, telling people to fight for them and for the world.
"Conquer through perseverance!"
That was what these liars usually said.
----
"We're not chasing after a draugr."
"But Boss… I don't have any money!"
"That's not my problem, Eta."
Eta's food consumption seemed to be higher because of how augmented her body was. She was tall and toned. I could tell she was continuously training so that her physical body could keep up with the force that the augment provided, which was probably why she constantly needed food. It made me wonder why she wasn't going fully prosthetic.
I sat at my desk and prepared the documents they gave me for the day. I entered the data that Eta handed over and compiled them into an external drive. Usually, I entered a lot of data on the rugged laptop they let me use. I rarely took it out of the office and just left it on the desk, despite Kei telling me it was fine. I wasn't going to risk losing it. I looked to the side.
Eta was sitting on the sofa where we usually conversed with clients. She usually took care of fieldwork and bodyguard duties. But with me around, I could take care of the paperwork while she maintained the weapons and gadgets the office used when we went out.
It was 2 PM. A client, a student named Kim, entered the office. Eta stood behind Kei and put on a business smile, while our boss put on her best professional expression as well.
"You want us to find out what's happening with your aunt?"
"Yes!"
Kei checked the request again.
"It says here she lives on Samudra Street. Have you checked it yourself?"
The client was still in high school. She wore a short skirt and stockings, and her blazer uniform was far too clean to be just cosplay. On her back, she carried a katana from a workshop that sold them at quite a price.
I guessed she was one of those students being groomed to be part of a university that trained people like her to join a unit. I said this because I couldn't smell the usual acrid scent of the city from her, and she carried that sterile fragrance from Upper Changye. How she hadn't been robbed while coming here was a mystery.
"Okay. I will note it. May I ask who recommended my office?"
"I think it was a Von-Abel ad. Why?"
Kei thought for a second.
"It's nothing. I will contact you after the task is done."
I showed the student out of the office. She left quietly. I noticed she left no trace, no sound of footsteps at all.
"Von-Abel?"
Kei growled. She crossed her legs and gritted her teeth at the mention of that name.
"I should be happy they are doing this. But it's tiresome."
I had no clue who they were. I asked Eta, and she gave a faint smile.
"You can say that we had bad dealings with them a long time ago."
"Bad isn't the right word," Kei added. "They almost gutted us because they thought we had something they believed was theirs. After a tiresome process, we worked it out, and as compensation, they recommend my office in their catalog."
I could tell there was something personal there, but I kept my mouth shut and memorized the address instead.
"Address is Saras Street, building 5-103."
Eta took her weapons out of the storage closet. She retrieved her two-handed sword and inserted it into her dimenbag.
"Oh, you can have this."
She handed me a longsword with wiring along the blade that allowed it to heat up. I swung it lightly to gauge its weight and could tell it was workshop-made. No enchantments, though. Just the usual tech-blade you could find anywhere.
"I don't really need it… but is it really okay to keep this as a spare?"
"You can!"
Eta thumped me on the shoulder. Kei shrugged lightly and offered a brief warning.
"It's a one-time thing. Don't get used to it."
"I won't, Ma'am."
"Just call me Kei, will you? I'm not that old."
I tied the spare sword to my belt and kept it alongside my main sword and pistol. Unlike me, Eta kept her weapons inside her dimenbag, a dimensional bag she carried around. It was probably the most expensive piece of equipment the office had, and something you rarely bought—more often, you took it from someone else's hands.
I walked along Saras Street with the two of them. My balance felt off with an extra sword hanging at my waist, but I got used to it after a while. As we pressed on, we entered the next street. Samudra was a lively area. Like every other street in this city, it was densely populated. We pushed through the crowd and found the house where the student's aunt lived. Kei led the way, while Eta kept her hand on the hilt of her weapon, ready to react.
"Come in!"
It was a weak yet sweet voice. Kei entered first and greeted the woman who opened the door for us.
There was a ticking in my head. Eta leaned close and whispered into my ear.
"It's weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Oh my, you have such tall friends with you!"
Eta kept a smile on her lips while I gave a small nod to the aunt. Kei took her attention, and they sat together. Eta stood behind Kei as usual, while I stayed near the corner.
"So what brings you to my house, if I may ask?"
"Your grandchild requested that we check up on you on her behalf. She wanted to know why you haven't called lately."
"Oh my, is that true?"
I noticed it then. Eta's smiling face turned serious at the sight of a visible darkness shifting along the corner. Kei subtly glanced at the shade and continued talking to the aunt, keeping her attention fixed while Eta moved slowly to avoid drawing notice.
"I think you should call her right now. She's worried about you."
"Oh really? I didn't think my grandchildren would be so thoughtful."
She took out an old dial phone. The darkness behind her crawled forward and retreated whenever her mood shifted. I wondered if it was even connected to a line.
"My grandchildren would love to have a word with you!"
She offered the receiver to Kei.
"Then are you settled?"
"Please, I don't mind the charges."
"It's alright, Madam. We are only here to check if you're alright. It's good that you are. We are quite busy, so we would like to leave now."
"Please, I insist you use this to call her. There is no need to be shy."
"No, it's alright."
"I insist."
The aunt's voice echoed, bouncing off the corners of the room. Kei smiled amiably and took the receiver.
"Ça va."
She placed the phone back down. Eta thanked the aunt for her time, and I followed them out of the house.
After we walked out of sight, Kei suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood and groaned weakly on the pavement.
"A creeping darkness is in her house."
"A-are you alright, Boss?"
Eta patted Kei's back.
"I'm fine. We should have left as soon as we confirmed she was alive."
I called the Bureau and informed them of the creeping darkness. We kept watching the house from a distance. After a while, OB agents arrived, fully armed, and moved directly toward the aunt's residence.
It seemed the creeping darkness had been there longer than we thought and had already grown wary of Bureau agents.
Four agents died. The creeping darkness swallowed the house and two nearby apartment buildings before a Graded Agent took it down. The Graded Agent retrieved the aunt's corpse, studied and contained it, and then neutralized it completely.
The OB invited us for interrogation about what happened and released us after taking our firsthand account.
We later received the payment from Kim. She visited us after hearing what happened to her aunt. She was happy listening to our account, and her steps were light as a feather as she left the apartment building.
I guessed she wasn't exactly the caring grandchild Eta thought she was.