Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 55: Journey to District 5

Ten minutes later, the sound of heavy tyres echoed through the ruined factory courtyard.

A massive black corporate transport vehicle rolled to a halt, filled by a squad of heavily armed mercenary hunters.

They didn’t wear the standard, flashy guild armour but tactical corporate gear, their faces completely shaded by dark visors.

Maya stood by the open back doors, speaking quietly with the squad captain, rapidly assessing the situation and handing over a digital datapad.

Julien, sitting on his wooden crate, tilted his head.

Even through the thick, grey haze of his hijacked vision, he could hear the distinct sound of the heavy transport doors locking open, and Maya’s boots remaining firmly planted on the concrete.

He leaned slightly to the side, bumping his shoulder against Chris.

"Hmm? You aren’t coming?"

Maya glanced over her shoulder.

"If I go with you to play politics, who is going to clear this massive Red Gate before the second wave hits?"

Julien frowned, the chains around his wrists clinking as he shifted.

"Don’t worry, partner," Maya said, a hint of her usual smirk returning to her voice.

"We have so much to discuss when I get back. Try not to get executed before then."

She waved her hand dismissively as two of the silent mercenaries stepped forward, grabbing Julien by the arms and hauling him into the back of the transport.

Chris and Alice followed closely behind, their faces dark.

The heavy doors slammed shut, plunging the back of the vehicle into a red gloom.

Julien, Chris, and Alice were shoved onto one side of the metal bench. Directly across from them sat five massive corporate soldiers, their assault rifles resting casually but dangerously on their knees.

The engine started, and the transport violently moved forward, navigating the ruined streets of District 9.

An uncomfortable, heavy silence filled the back of the vehicle for the first ten minutes.

Julien shifted awkwardly.

He couldn’t see the heavily armed death squad sitting across from him, but he could absolutely feel the oppressive tension in the air.

He raised his hands, the heavy, mana-suppressing steel cuffs loudly clanking together.

"Uhmm... sir?" Julien asked, flashing his most innocent, customer-service Merchant smile toward the general direction of the soldiers.

"Is this really necessary? I’m literally blind right now."

The soldier sitting directly across from him simply nodded once.

No words.

Julien couldn’t see that.

He slowly lowered his hands and nudged Chris with his elbow, slightly leaning in, lowering his voice to a terrible whisper.

"Hey. Can you break these?"

Chris let out a harsh, exhausted scoff, rubbing his heavily bruised ribs with his good hand.

"I would absolutely love to, man... if you hadn’t been actively trying to cave my skull in like five minutes ago."

Julien winced.

"Ah. Right. Sorry about that."

He turned his head slightly toward the pale woman quietly beside them.

"And you too, Alice. Sorry for... You know. Squeezing your soul."

"It’s okay," Alice sighed, her ethereal form flickering slightly with exhaustion.

She pulled her knees up to her chest, looking at the blind guy. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"So... what exactly is that Beast? When we were fighting you, it had no real shape. It was just an ocean of shadows and these terrifying yellow eyes."

"Yeah, I wish I knew too," Julien muttered, leaning his head back against the cold metal wall of the transport. "

Nothing about this System’s scaling makes any sense. Actually, speaking of things that don’t make sense..."

Julien turned toward Chris, his merchant brain instantly overpowering his current hostage situation.

"That Iron Skin potion you drank. It was merely a low-grade batch we bought from the ruined shop. How the hell did it manage to stop a direct, fully-charged attack from the gun?"

Chris blinked, caught off guard by the sudden pivot to inventory management.

"I... I don’t know. The blue aura layered with it perfectly."

"Right?" Julien said, nodding excitedly, his blind eyes staring completely in the wrong direction.

"It’s either that the high-tier Blaze party bought a completely fake weapon, or our low-grade potion is actually incredibly busted. Do you have any idea how much we can mark up the price on those if we survive this? We could rebrand it. ’The Mythical Choice’."

Chris just stared at him.

"We are currently chained up in a black-site corporate van, and you’re thinking about profit margins?"

"Hey, the apocalypse doesn’t pause capitalism," Julien shrugged.

"Did you at least give the Beast a name?" Chris asked, shaking his head.

"I don’t know," Julien sighed.

"I thought I would call him Sunny, but I couldn’t even see him before he just possessed me and completely hijacked my optic nerves. The guy is a terrible roommate."

Julien turned his hazy gaze back toward the silent guards.

"So... where exactly are we going?"

To his surprise, one of the soldiers actually answered, his voice deep and mechanically filtered through his helmet.

"District 5. Lady Gina has arrived there to coordinate the Red Gate rescue efforts. You are to be brought directly to her."

"We will meet Kiara there, too," Alice noted softly, her voice laced with relief.

The three of them collectively slumped back against the metal wall, the adrenaline finally leaving their systems completely.

It had been an incredibly long day.

******

They reached District 5 after five agonising hours.

Thankfully, the predicted second wave of the Red Gate hadn’t started in the meantime.

The transport rolled smoothly onto paved roads, a stark contrast to the cracked, cratered rubble of District 9.

The first wave had indeed caused some heavy damage here, but District 5 was built differently.

Almost every high-end shop, corporate building, and major intersection was laced with localised mage reinforcement magic.

There were some deep cracks in the buildings, and overturned cars littered the streets, but it wasn’t the total apocalyptic mess they had left behind.

The transport finally pulled up to a massive, imposing glass-and-steel skyscraper:

The District 5 Hunter Association.

The back doors swung open, and the mercenaries hauled Julien out onto his feet.

Standing right at the entrance of the building, accompanied by two Association guards, was Blaze.

The high-ranking Awakened did not look happy. He wasn’t smiling.

His armor was scorched from holding the first wave, and his heavy arms were crossed over his chest.

His sharp eyes immediately locked onto Julien as the corporate mercenaries marched the trio forward.

Julien, hearing the heavy, familiar footsteps of the hunter, turned his head toward the sound.

He looked at Blaze menacingly.

At least, that’s what it looked like to Blaze.

Because Julien was completely blind, his eyes were just locked in a dead, unblinking, hazy stare perfectly levelled at the hunter’s face.

Julien wasn’t trying to be intimidating; he literally just couldn’t see where the man’s eyes were, so he was staring blankly into space. but the sheer, unbothered intensity of the pupil-less gaze was terrifying.

Blaze, a hardened veteran of countless dungeon breaks, was genuinely taken aback.

What is wrong with this kid? he thought.

"You’re here," Blaze grunted, forcing his voice to remain steady.

"She’s inside."

Julien completely ignored the ominous tone. "Is Kiara okay?"

Blaze blinked, thrown off by the casual question.

"Yeah. The mages were fast enough to stop the wave before it breached the inner residential blocks. The damage was less than expected. She is safe."

"Good to hear," Julien said smoothly, his terrifying, dead-eyed stare never breaking.

"Lead the way."

Blaze swallowed hard, turning sharply on his heel.