"My father was a soldier in the army during the World War. After the Gastrea War happened, he was hit by shrapnel that cut across his eyes, leaving him permanently blind."
"So why did you leave him at the hospital? With your financial situation, caring for one more person who is nearly immobile all day shouldn't be difficult, should it?"
Rentaro had quickly scanned the house. Although not wealthy, they were definitely middle-class, and could easily afford to support a family of four.
Regarding this issue, the bald man gently shook his head, then hesitated before explaining.
"Well... he didn't act like that before..."
"Oh... so how did the old man behave?"
"After losing sight in both eyes, my father gradually started acting very strange. He prayed more often. Sometimes he would say things that were... incoherent. I'm sure you understand, right?"
"It could be due to immense mental pressure, or just senility in old age. That still isn't the main reason you abandoned him at the hospital, is it?"
"Yes, if it were only those things, I could completely accept it. But... my father actually instilled the idea of suicide in Tatsuya's head! The boy was only seven years old at the time! Seven years old!"
Recalling that scene, the bald man revealed a face full of sorrow. To make him make such a decision, the old man must have done that many times.
"My wife wanted to kick him out. I didn't listen at first... but when I saw that scene, I had no choice but to do so..."
"Alright, I understand, sir."
Rentaro didn't want to delve any further into the matter; knowing the reason was enough.
"So, do you know why your father... changed like that? There must have been a reason, right?"
"That..."
The bald man paused for a moment, seemingly trying to recall long-buried memories and organize them into words. About a minute later, he spoke.
"What I'm about to say... I hope you don't laugh at it..."
Rentaro nodded.
The bald man sighed.
"My father used to say that when he went blind in both eyes, he could see... things that normal people couldn't see."
"He said he saw... the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons..."
"..."
Rentaro frowned.
"Basically, everyone who died and was mutated after the Gastrea War was officially marked as dead by the government. But in my father's words, they never truly died; they were only... transformed into demons."
"He said he saw them, all of them, right beneath his eyelids. They were no longer human, just non-living, non-dead demons that merely exist. The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons is the march of all those fiends."
"He said that heaven is very far away from us, very, very far, but hell is too close, so close that it's only a few layers of earth away."
"He said that... the Gastrea War is not over yet."
"..."
Finally, the bald man fell silent, and Rentaro also sank into silence.
Finally, he stood up first, breaking the heavy atmosphere.
"Thank you for your help."
"By the way, your father passed away at the hospital today. He committed suicide."
A flash of pain crossed the bald man's eyes, but he still managed a smile, thanking Rentaro for the news. But just as Rentaro was about to leave, the man seemed to remember something and told Rentaro. The content was unclear, but all that was known was that after hearing it, Rentaro, although outwardly calm, revealed a momentary look of horror in his eyes.
Finally, he left.
As Rentaro reached the door, a small echo came from inside the house.
"God save us..."
Rentaro turned his head alertly, but the sound seemed like an illusion, impossible to pinpoint the location of.
After walking out, Rentaro looked up at the sky, feeling the warm sun on his face, yet the coldness in his heart did not diminish at all.
Just then, Rentaro's phone played its familiar ringtone.
It was Kisara calling, but this time it was not good news. It was bad news.
What Kisara sent him was the base of a Monolith, but it had been corroded and turned stark white.
Rentaro rushed away. Because he knew this was no laughing matter.
"My father once said that if one day he were to kill himself, that day would surely be the day the gates between the human world and hell were opened."
...
After punching through and jumping down, Asahi landed in a desolate corridor.
The place was covered in dust, the walls were cracked and eroded, and objects were scattered haphazardly everywhere. Combined with the heavy darkness twenty meters underground... Even the wall right near where Asahi descended had writing on it. Written in something that could have been blood or some other liquid, but it had dried stiff.
God save us, was the phrase written on the wall.
Everything combined to create a horror scene, enough to challenge the hearts of the bravest.
Despite this, Asahi felt nothing. He could casually walk through scenes many times more terrifying than this, let alone this one.
So Asahi walked on calmly. His Dragon Senses gave him visibility that was not much different from daylight, allowing him to move normally.
However, what surprised him was that the place was much larger than he had imagined, like an underground kingdom. Initially only twenty meters deep, Asahi felt he had descended at least a hundred meters as he explored.
And this place did not only contain research areas as Asahi had thought. It integrated countless other types of facilities, from residential homes, schools, hospitals, supermarkets... even an amusement park.
One thing was quite noteworthy: the phrase "God save us" occasionally appeared in his line of sight. It was smeared in almost every kind of location, sending shivers down one's spine.
This forced Asahi to overturn his previous assumptions.
This place... was not as simple as he imagined.
This was clearly not a simple research facility. A plan even grander than he had thought had once taken place here. Otherwise, who could explain the existence of this entire underground city system?
He searched for a long time, finally finding some related documents. And a name appeared in Asahi's sight.
Project Underworld.
He could not find the complete documents for this project, only capturing a few names. However, just hearing the name suggested this was an underground project.
Asahi continued to spend three full days combing through the secret facilities, like a detective gathering every clue. After that time, he finally had a comprehensive overview of what was called "Project Underworld."
Project Underworld, literally "Underground Integrated Urban Development Project," was developed by the Japanese government as a measure to create a fully equipped refuge area in case a World War broke out again and nations started dropping nuclear bombs on each other. This project was heavily funded, even building down to a depth of two hundred meters. It created a colossal three-story city that could house up to a million people.