Endless Debt

Chapter 1246 - 62: Forge Furnace Volcano (2)

It fell silent for a moment, saying nothing more, then turned and moved forward with the other employees, carrying various sundries, some even pushing carts.Bologue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, trailing at the end of the line.

It seemed now, that these employees determined friend from foe in much the same way as humans do, largely through visual identification... As it should be, after all, they were mimicking humans.

Not only mimicking human behavior but also replicating their flaws.

"This place feels like a large role-playing park, or perhaps a madhouse."

Bologue thought to himself, continually attempting to place himself in the perspective of these employees, but it was proving somewhat difficult... Bologue wasn’t skilled at playing dumb, and he couldn’t see all this mess as some sort of material resources.

Damn, one of those employees is even carrying a roll of toilet paper, and Bologue is curious about what it might look like through its eyes.

Following the group onward, Bologue witnessed numerous signs of spatial dislocation, with buildings from different areas crudely pieced together, some modern structures, others ancient palaces or abandoned factories.

This spatial distortion and architectural patchwork weren’t seamless, creating a sense of discord and strangeness. The connections between buildings were full of cracks and chaos, as if forcibly pieced together without fully merging, resembling layered three-dimensional design models.

Bologue tried to find signs indicating the boundaries of these areas, but the numbers on these signs weren’t continuous, and some had simply disappeared.

"Damn it!"

Bologue cursed inwardly, starting to doubt if he could find Mamo’s secret laboratory.

You see, Mamo had retired many years ago, and the Scholars within the Sublimation Furnace Core even thought he had died, but in fact, Mamo had lived secretly in the shadows, only reemerging and becoming active in recent years.

Which means, everything about Mamo’s past was top secret, leaving Bologue with a blank understanding of it all.

Now Bologue could only hope for a stroke of luck, hoping to stumble upon a record in the signs and find that secret laboratory.

Suddenly, a wave of scorching air surged from the front, interrupting Bologue’s thoughts.

Bologue instantly became alert, noticing the whole team’s progress had halted, the employees hung their heads, steadied themselves against the heatwave, and resumed their advance as if this were an everyday occurrence for them.

After another ten minutes’ walk, Bologue reached the source of the heatwave at the end of this dislocated zone.

At the end of this complex labyrinth stood a gigantic furnace, towering like a High Tower, akin to a searing iron-cast mountain, with blazing light spilling from the metal seams, flickering like slender flames, while burnt debris had accumulated into blocks, paving a path of ashes leading inside.

The employees, like pilgrims, bore absurd loads of sundries arduously mounting the steps.

This time Bologue couldn’t keep up with the group; he stood there frozen, his gaze greedily sweeping over every corner of this furnace volcano, trying to capture its every detail.

It resembled a tumor of steel and magma, dwelling above this Ruins District, with thick pipes intertwined like tentacles, surface rusted, revealing signs of erosion over time.

They twisted and bent, spiraling towards the furnace core. At their ends, the pipes branched into numerous offshoots, extending into the surrounding buildings of the furnace.

Bang—

A deep sound emanated from within the furnace, accompanied by a slight tremor under Bologue’s feet, as scorching air periodically escaped, causing nearby buildings to emit faint noises from the impact.

Someone gave Bologue a gentle push from behind, a voice devoid of emotion spoke.

"Time to work."

Only then did Bologue come to his senses, advancing as he gazed at the climbing cables, resembling relentless iron vines, sprawling throughout the dim interior.

"Forge Furnace Volcano."

Bologue mentally recited its name.

The Forge Furnace Volcano was the most colossal furnace in Extraordinary history, its magnitude akin to a high mountain embedded within the Cultivation Room, hence it was no longer recognized as a furnace, but named as a volcano.

It once powered the entire Cultivation Room, until the secret war fractured the Cultivation Room, birthing the Ruins District, while the Forge Furnace Volcano, owing to its formidable size, couldn’t be relocated and was ultimately abandoned in the Ruins District.

In the current Sublimation Furnace Core, many Scholars who had witnessed the Forge Furnace Volcano still yearn for it, claiming that if the Order Bureau could reclaim the Forge Furnace Volcano, then their research and the entire Cultivation Room’s energy supply would leap to new heights.

Bologue thought this wasn’t so much an advancement, but a return to former glory.

"I see... They even mimic this?"

Bologue scrutinized the group ahead, as radiant flames gradually engulfed their figures, reducing them to mere blurry black dots.

After the Ruins District fell into chaos, many self-maintaining devices requiring employee upkeep had long since broken, but not all were so fragile; in the Scholars’ designs, the Forge Furnace Volcano was a self-operating large-scale device, requiring no employee involvement.