In front of an intimidating wall of red fog stood two Climbers and a bumpkin. 

"Wow! This is so damn impressive! It really covers the whole city?! I understand why you like this place now! If you build a cool castle in the red fog, it will totally look like a mystical land! Then you could even start a tourism industry. Actually, why haven't they done that?" The candid agent was having a blast. 

That is when a middle-aged approached. He seemed to have endured too much of life already. He had seen their car align near the fog and how young they all seemed. He had left the comfort of a portable camping heater to come warn them. 

"Youngsters, be careful. This place is not one where the living should be. This beautiful red fog is a land of death…." The saleswoman began trembling as she unconsciously took a step backward in fright. "…Or so that's what they used to call it. Nowadays, it's a huge waste of time."

As if on cue, a group of 4 Climbers exited the Tower. They seemed angry. Their fists were clenched firmly, their brows furrowed, and incessant curses were coming out of their mouths. 

"What's happening? Did they lose a party member?!" The Lyrie girl asked with shock. 

"Ah, no. They were 4 when they entered. My guess is that they cleared the Alter Tower but didn't get any decent reward. It took them the whole day too. The Tower inside is the worst. It keeps changing. This means that it is impossible to create a strategy for it as even the best ones quickly become outdated." Kasha nodded gravely. 

"That sounds horrible! Then why are people even entering in the first place?" Lyrie asked, confused. 

"Well, they try their luck once or twice and then never come back. Only fools remain here." He looked into the red fog, his eyes unfocused as he seemed to reminisce. "Yes, fools with stupid dreams or fools with memories."

What was the man trying to see in there? No, who was he trying to see? Loved ones were like that. They would haunt the living even after they were gone. It brought pain, but it also brought bittersweet joy, for one had at least felt alive before.

"I understand! Thank you for the information, mister. Have a great day." Lyrie uttered before retreating quickly to the car, the others following. Josh couldn't help but glance at the man one last time. 

That is when he vowed to himself that he'd bring as many climbers' remains out as possible once this place became his. Would he do it to help these poor people? No. Josh was selfish. He would do it for himself. He would do it for the little part of him that he could perceive in them. 

Back in the car, the estate agent murmured: "Guess that concludes our mission. If this place is worthless, it would be madness to even bother with it." That made Kasha laugh. "What? Did I say anything funny?" 

Kasha ignored her and turned to Josh. "We are still going to D city's MTA, right?" 

"Of course." 

"Why?!" the agent asked.

"Because I quite like the scenery." 

Thus they departed, with the girl in the backseat that kept repeating to herself Josh's answer. She couldn't comprehend it. This was such a waste! Was he some secretly rich guy?! It was one thing to invest, and another to throw money. She couldn't help but glance some more at him. If he was loaded, he perfectly hid it behind that cheap grey suit of his. 

Before long, they arrived in the outer region of Metropolis D. It looked similar to Metropolis C, but the biggest difference was perhaps that there was no huge starship hovering above the city. 

"In our region, only Metropolis C has one. D and E have ambassadors on Arcadia instead. Of the three, our metropolis is the leading one. This is  because we have some pretty strong S-Rank guilds, and also the headquarter of Universal Tech is there." Kasha explained. 

"You mean the company that produces the UW and the HUB, right?" Josh asked. 

"Also a good portion of the U-Bots and many other things. Anyway, we'll park here and go the rest of the way on foot." 

As they kept walking, Kasha would point out various shops, talking about what one could find in them. Cool clothes, delicious chocolate, awful smelling soap, creepy dolls, nice bars. One thing to note was that there didn't seem to be any clear district separation there. Kasha clearly knew her way around the place. 

"You've been here before?" Josh stated the obvious.

"Since they are our allies, from time to time, us Rankers will be sent as support. Our job is mostly to oversee operations. Our very presence renders any mission easier just because of our fame." 

"Makes sense. Right, I heard you hunted a criminal recently. What happened?" 

"Tch, don't remind me about that. We could have caught that gene freak, but he escaped thanks to that bitch from Eclipse. She was too proud and wanted to fight him one versus one."

"Wow, she sounds horrible. What's with the gene thing? Is it strong?" 

"Nope, quite the contrary. It's extremely weak. They take gene strands from various animals and use them to modify the human body. Well, they used to be amazing, but then the Tower appeared. They went from super-soldier to weak freaks." 

"I see. If they are so weak, why couldn't you guys capture that one guy?" 

"Well, he's also a Climber. So yeah, not only did he escape, but we don't even know what he was trying to accomplish. He probably was trying to kidnap more test subjects for his gene research. *Sigh*, but now that he retreated back home, we can't do anything."

"Let me guess. Bribe?" She simply nodded

The MTA where the criminal resided was probably giving the excuse that they were trying their best to catch him. Still, test subjects, was it? This world was similar to the old one. People would exploit others any way they could. The Firgone to make slaves, the shady contract offers, straight-up kidnapping…this was but the tip of the iceberg.

That is when they stopped before a big official-looking building: <D-City MTA>. Josh simply headed inside straight away. 

"Wait, we're just going in?! My nerves are not ready yet?!" The real estate agent stated, panicking. 

"No worries, we already talked about it in the car, didn't we? You just have to check that the contract is in order at the end. Ah, smile and look pretty too, I guess." 

"Wait, I need to rehearse my lines!" Kasha exclaimed next. 

"What lines? Your only job is to smile and look pretty. Alright, let's go!"

****

[A/N] Goal = Win-win (Can click on novel page to see event) = Sell Priv chapters = Promotion in App

3 Tiers of Priv: 

1 coin - 2 chaps 

10 coins - 5 chaps 

100 coins- 8 chaps

(I've been told it's too cheap by many authors but whatever)