As expected, the tremors stopped again.

The unstoppable blood-red tidal wave suddenly seemed to have run out of power, slowly receding like the tide.

The metallic behemoths within also ceased their rampage, letting themselves be carried by the tide, drifting farther and farther away.

Silence returned.

Phew—

Logan Clark let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that inside the cube, it really was possible to block those shock beasts’ perception.

Looking at the girl again, she was already lying on the ground, unconscious. At this moment, Logan Clark also felt a bit of regret for carelessly tossing out the black horn—he had been too reckless.

What’s going on?

Where exactly does this black horn lead?

After waiting a while, Ryan Clark still didn’t wake up, so Logan Clark had no choice but to pick up the black horn and examine it again.

That feeling of attraction struck once more, pulling Logan Clark’s thoughts inward.

This time, Logan Clark didn’t resist. Glancing at the unconscious Ryan Clark outside, Logan Clark made up his mind and let himself slide inward along the pitch-black surface.

……

Where is this?

When Logan Clark came to his senses, he was already standing on a bustling street at night.

I’m standing?

Logan Clark felt that his perspective was a bit strange, but his mind seemed unable to turn the corner, as if he’d forgotten something.

A thought appeared in Logan Clark’s mind:

He felt he shouldn’t be standing—he should either be sitting or lying down.

And it wasn’t just this odd thought; he didn’t recognize this place at all.

Everything felt out of place.

Looking up, he saw towering skyscrapers with no visible tops, covered in dazzling, ever-changing lights and patterns.

Various aerial tracks connected the buildings, with cool flying cars zipping through at high speed.

The signs outside the buildings were dazzling, flickering projections casting three-dimensional ads, with lifelike women enthusiastically waving at him.

A futuristic car pulled up to the curb, and a robot stepped out, extending a hand to help a lavishly dressed lady into the vehicle.

Pedestrians on the roadside wore bold and unusual outfits, chatting enthusiastically under the bright streetlights.

Looking around, the sense of dissonance only grew stronger.

Who am I? Where am I?

Logan Clark was stunned.

At that moment, a robot by the roadside walked over, bowed to him, and asked in a magnetic voice, “Hello, do you need any assistance?”

Logan Clark wanted to speak, but found he couldn’t utter a word.

He could only wave his hand at the robot.

“Why can’t I speak?”

Logan Clark started walking down the street, noticing that his steps felt a bit awkward.

How strange.

He came to the window of a cake shop and looked inside.

The glass window reflected the streetlights, and Logan Clark suddenly saw his own appearance.

A blockhead?

?

Wearing messy pajamas, with a metal cube on his head, the edges of the cube neatly slicing across his neck, with no sign of connection.

The cube reflected the lights, and he just stood there dumbly.

The moment he saw the cube, the sense of dissonance in Logan Clark’s mind finally broke through his mental block, and memories flooded back.

Is this the place the black horn brought me to?

Logan Clark’s memory was fully restored, but he was still full of confusion.

An unknown city, and his own bizarre form.

He hadn’t walked in a long time—no wonder it felt awkward.

And his vision.

Logan Clark’s vision was no longer confined to the cubic space as before; he could truly see things with his eyes.

Logan Clark looked around curiously, savoring this regained freedom.

In the distance, a sign on a magnificent building caught his attention.

“Dawn City Library.”

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 12: The World Inside the Horn

===========================

Chapter 12: The World Inside the Horn

Is this Dawn City?

Logan Clark recalled what Chief Bennett had said when he first entered the monitoring station.

Dawn City should be the city above the Abyss.

Could it be that this black horn brought me out of the Abyss?

Following the road, Logan Clark walked into the Dawn City Library.

The interior of the library was still incredibly luxurious, with high ceilings and sunlight streaming through the glass windows.

It was the same kind of glass as at the monitoring station—tiles from the outside, glass from the inside.

On the first floor of the library, there were many reading machines. Logan Clark walked over to one of them.

Sitting in front of the chair, the machine began to introduce the operation in a very user-friendly way, and soon Logan Clark had mastered how to use it.

Opening the search box, Logan Clark entered the term “black horn.”

The information that popped up was basically the same as what Ryan Clark had found earlier.

Logan Clark then tried entering Ryan Clark’s name, but no information appeared in the info bar.

“So you really can’t look up citizen identities.”

Thinking for a moment, Logan Clark typed in “hunter rank” in the input box.

Countless pieces of information popped up:

“A hunter refers to those who explore the Abyss.”

“At first, there was no ranking system for hunters; it was a mixed bag.”

“But as exploration of the Abyss deepened, someone discovered that the Abyss had layers, and descended to the second layer, bringing back a relic called the ‘Scales of Judgment.’”

“This relic could grant each hunter a nameplate, on which the hunter’s rank and the title bestowed by the Abyss would automatically appear in the Abyssal language.”

“Dawn City took this opportunity to regulate all hunters’ behavior. Anyone wishing to enter the Abyss had to carry a nameplate for management purposes.”

“The hunter rank on the nameplate would increase as deeper layers of the Abyss were reached.”

“From Rank 2 onwards, hunters would be granted a title by the Abyss.”

……

So that’s why everyone carries a nameplate.