Ch.167[Episode 167] Gacha World

Don Castello carefully opened the manhole cover and looked around.

The alley was deserted, making it perfect for moving around in secret.

Don Castello cautiously pushed the manhole cover aside and slowly emerged from the sewer.

“Good thing I made a secret passage.”

Everyone thought Don Castello had fled outside, but in reality, he had headed to the wine cellar inside the villa.

That’s where he had built a secret passage for situations like this.

Unable to even turn on a light in his current situation, Don Castello moved stealthily while waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

He made his way to where the massive oak barrels for aging wine were stored.

Then he grabbed and pulled the lid of the third oak barrel from the right.

A secret passage appeared.

No one would have ever thought there would be a secret passage in such a place.

After entering the open oak barrel and closing the lid, Don Castello finally let out a sigh of relief.

“…So I can’t make calls anymore.”

Don Castello first checked his mobile phone.

He had been in contact with Sir Dominic just moments ago, but since then, the phone had stopped working.

Where the signal strength indicator should be, there was an X mark.

It seemed that not only was he deep underground, but the enemy also had someone with jamming abilities to prevent outside communication.

Don Castello decided to think positively.

Even if calls were possible, there was a risk of being tracked.

It’s actually better that calls aren’t going through.

With this self-assurance, Don Castello began moving through the secret passage toward the agreed meeting place.

After walking for quite some time, he briefly got lost in the sewer that merged with the secret passage, but ultimately managed to emerge in an alley quite close to the meeting place.

“Now, where do I go from here…”

Don Castello looked around.

He noticed areas where alleyways intertwined like a maze.

“…If I head toward my destination, I should find a way.”

Don Castello turned his head to see if there was any visible landmark.

Fortunately, in the distance, he could see the tall, bizarre spire of System Industries.

I should go in the opposite direction, Don Castello thought.

The place he had in mind required heading to an even more remote location from this already secluded alley.

“I just hope Sir Dominic arrives on time.”

Don Castello said as he strode into the alleyway.

With his back to the System Industries building.

…

An urgent cry.

A suddenly disconnected call.

Sir Dominic thought the current situation wasn’t good after receiving the sudden call from Don Castello.

“What happened..?”

“It seems something has happened to Don Castello.”

“Really?”

Sir Dominica tilted her head.

“Shouldn’t we go right now?”

“But something seems strange.”

Sir Dominic said while searching for something on his phone.

“The address is… quite far from here.”

“Huh?”

Sir Dominica looked at Sir Dominic’s phone.

“…Is it really here?”

“Yes.”

“…Can I come too?”

A place that made Sir Dominica want to tag along.

The location marked was truly an unexpected place.

…

“I got lucky.”

Don Castello had successfully navigated through the maze-like alleys, fortunately without any pursuers.

Don Castello looked at something visible on the distant horizon.

“So it’s still here. As expected.”

Though not clearly visible due to the dense vines, the place appeared to be full of buildings with peeling paint, tents worn to tatters, and broken lights and mechanical devices.

“I hope restoration won’t take long.”

Don Castello quickened his pace.

Having confirmed his destination and its condition, there was no time to waste.

…

“Damn it. Where did he disappear to?”

The man called Boss anxiously bit his fingernails.

He had anticipated that Don Castello might escape, but not being able to find him for this long was unexpected.

“It’s getting harder to control the streets. What should we do?”

Z stood beside the Boss and spoke.

“What do you mean, what should we do?”

The Boss took out a cigar and lit it.

After inhaling deeply and exhaling the smoke as if lamenting, the Boss spoke.

“We have to find him no matter what.”

Don Castello was essentially the second-in-command of the Black Group, the son of Don Citadello.

Don Cartello was also his son, but clearly, Don Cartello was the one at fault in this situation.

It was obvious whose side Don Citadello would take.

‘It’s nothing. Don Citadello is famously devoted to his sons. If we brainwash his sons… no, let’s skip the eldest. Too expensive. He’ll come around with just a few compliments. The problem is the second son… once we capture him, I’ll brainwash him myself. How about that, isn’t it a pretty good proposal?’

“What’s good about that proposal, you gorilla-like woman.”

The Boss gritted his teeth so hard that a cracking sound was heard.

He had prepared backup plans B, C, D, and even J for a strategy that seemed full of flowers in his head, but as they say, the first thing to die in actual combat is the plan.

The Boss crumpled all the plans he had made in his mind and threw them into a mental trash can.

The atmosphere was so tense that even the incompetent and tactless Don Cartello was watching his step.

That’s when it happened.

“Boss! We found him! He’s in the outskirts!”

“The outskirts?”

Z said to the subordinate.

“Do you mean that abandoned place?”

“Yes! That’s right! They say that’s his expected destination!”

“My goodness.”

The corners of the Boss’s mouth turned up grotesquely.

“Not downtown, but heading to the uninhabited outskirts? This is practically advertising for us to kidnap him.”

The Boss turned his head and gave orders to his subordinate.

“Tell all pursuit teams. The destination is the ruins in the outskirts.”

After saying that, the Boss looked at his watch.

Time was a bit tight, but in a way, there was enough.

“Capture him as quickly as possible. They say brainwashing takes some time, so we need to finish everything before Don Citadello finds out.”

Z shouted to the subordinates.

“Maximize information disruption. We need to buy as much time as possible.”

“Yes!”

The subordinates listened to the Boss and Z’s orders and went outside to spread the commands.

In an instant, hundreds of trackers began running toward the ruins in the outskirts as if flying through the air, followed by thousands of organization members gathered in squad units in trucks mounted with machine guns.

[“We inform you that today’s raid has been canceled due to emergency maintenance-“]

[“Materials for T5 equipment refining are being sold at 50% off in the market area-“]

In the downtown area, fake news was spreading, causing confusion among people.

[“There is currently a combat power test of a super-large bipedal robot in the industrial district. Once again-“]

And mixing in some truth to cause even more confusion was just a bonus.

The scene looked more like a military expedition than a pursuit.

Why were they so serious about this Don Castello kidnapping plot?

Well, that was still unknown.

…

“Turn left!”

“Not here! Turn left after one more block!”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were heading to the agreed location on an airship.

They had urgently brought out the previously heavily damaged airship, paying extra for emergency repairs.

Currently, Sir Dominic had equipped the [Rider] trait and was walking a tightrope with the speed limit of the sky road.

He was going as fast as possible within the limits of Gacharand’s traffic laws.

Behind the airship was a brass spider tank.

The location marked on the map app was in a vast wasteland, and something felt off.

[You have entered Sky Highway 17. Maximum speed is 170km/h in this section.]

Perhaps thanks to the Rider trait? Despite having obtained his license not long ago, Sir Dominic flew through the sky with godlike piloting skills, barely staying under the maximum speed limit.

After about 30 more minutes of driving, they were able to reach their destination.

The aircraft slowly descended from the sky and gently landed on the ground.

Sir Dominic put the gear in neutral and monitored the rear, preparing for any possible accidents.

The rear-view camera turned on to support Sir Dominic.

Finally, Sir Dominic completed parking.

Surprisingly, this was the first time Sir Dominic had successfully parked properly since arriving in Gacharand.

Whether Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica knew this fact or not, they got out of the airship and surveyed their surroundings.

Vines that had grown and then withered, twisting into ugly shapes on the outer walls.

Buildings with peeling paint revealing cracked cement underneath.

Tents torn and weathered down to just their frames.

And… mechanical devices left abandoned and rusted from rain exposure.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica finally saw the huge sign symbolizing this site.

[Welcome to Gacha World, Gacharand’s best amusement park!]

A sign that was clearly once magnificent, now rusted and fallen apart in places.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica stared blankly at the sign before suddenly realizing someone was there.

A person clumsily painting, unaware that paint was splashing all over his clothes as he worked even harder.

It was Don Castello.