MPWATMBC Chapter 95

The elevator descended in silence. Ryan calculated the depth in his mind: one hundred meters, two hundred meters, three hundred meters… one thousand meters… The temperature around them grew increasingly higher, proving they were getting closer to the underground magma. What a crazy and thrilling action!

Ryan casually leaned against the elevator wall, as if he hadn’t found his footing properly. Bandner instinctively asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Ryan wiped the fine sweat beading on his forehead, struggling to catch his breath from the heat.

The manager saw the group drenched in sweat and gasping for air. The smile that had just appeared at the corner of their mouth froze, then quickly disappeared. Damn it, even when a good-looking person looks disheveled, it’s still charming!

Jealousy—how unfair of heaven! Why, when it gave them beautiful faces, did it also have to give them perfect bodies?

When the manager met Ryan’s sharp gaze, their heart trembled. They dared not show any jealousy and forced a smile, flattering as they said, “Our city lord likes excitement and believes that the heat enhances people’s senses, stimulating their desires. That’s why the City of Desire was built deep underground. In the City of Desire, you can see the beautiful sight of magma flowing beside you. The crimson color can evoke the most primitive impulses deep within one’s heart.”

“Can safety be guaranteed?” Harriet questioned, like a pirate who licks blood off a blade, yet still cautious and careful.

“Your Majesty, please rest assured. It is absolutely safe. The underground buildings have been reinforced multiple times, and there’s a significant distance from the magma layer. The magma you see in the City of Desire is diverted. Our city lord has lived in the City of Desire for years; how could safety not be well ensured? Please be at ease, Your Majesty. Once you enter the Paradise World, just follow your heart and enjoy,” the manager answered Harriet’s question with utmost caution, ensuring that no unwanted emotions were revealed. “Please feel free to indulge inside. Paradise World has a top-tier medical team providing round-the-clock service.”

Only then did Harriet slightly relax, “Oh, where is the trading hall?”

The manager’s eyes flickered, “Does Your Majesty need to purchase something?”

Harriet smiled faintly, “Do you really need to know?”

The manager immediately turned pale, and seeing everyone’s eyes on her, she quickly waved her hand, “No, no, I’m not curious.” Not only was she not curious, she practically wanted to seal her own mouth—why did she have to say something, why did she have to speak! “The trading center is at the end of the corridor. I’ve heard that you can buy anything there.”

“Heard?” Derrick forced a smile on his face.

The manager wiped her sweat with her hand, her garlic-shaped nose almost rubbed raw, “I’m just a small manager, I don’t have the qualifications to enter the trading hall, I only know that you can get anything inside. You can trade with gold and silver, or trade items, it will definitely satisfy you.”

Harriet nodded, “I see. Being a small manager isn’t easy, working here every day and never having the chance to enter the trading hall and broaden your horizons.”

These words stirred the manager’s inner pain. She bitterly said, “There’s nothing I can do, under the rule of the city lord, the hierarchy is strict.”

As they made their way, from taking action against the onlookers outside the door to pressuring the manager during the elevator descent, everything was creating an impression of them being difficult to provoke, establishing a dominating presence and setting the tone. Ryan believed that only by doing this could they catch the attention of the city lord in the shortest time. The buzzcut guy, Rennie, was the one the city lord had favored and taken away.

The city lord’s tastes were niche, and Rennie, who thought he was safe and secure, became the victim. Bandner, who thought he needed to be extra careful, turned out to be safe and sound. So, the world is always changing and full of excitement. Never try to judge others by your own thoughts, because, unexpectedly, you could become a victim of society.

The elevator descended at a rapid speed, and after half an hour, they had reached twenty kilometers below ground. The temperature around them was even hotter, but it wasn’t suffocating. The design had taken ventilation into account, and the airflow made the underground environment bearable. The elevator was no longer just an elevator, but rather a ship traveling through the Earth’s core, bringing everyone to the City of Desire, the Paradise World, with outstanding grace.

The crystal-made elevator doors opened, and a wave of heat rushed at them. The air in front of them nearly twisted, and the scorching lava flowing along the outer walls made one feel parched and dry-mouthed, with a metallic taste rising in the throat.

The manager humbly bent down, “Welcome, Your Majesty, to Paradise World. Whatever you need here, we can accommodate.”

“How about killing someone?”

The gentle voice echoed in their ears, and the manager’s scalp tightened. With a stiff smile, he said, “That’s also available in Paradise World. Whatever kind of person you’re looking for, it’s all on the menu. We’ll definitely satisfy you.”

Ryan stopped speaking, his gentle eyes now cold as ice. What is paradise? It is the joy of a few, and the pain and wails of many others.

Harriet stepped forward, the temperature of the ground seeping through the soles of her shoes, burning her feet. Her toes curled inside her shoes for a moment. Harriet just wanted to quickly find the person named Rennie, and then leave this damned place, detonating the explosives they had planted here earlier, sending a lifetime’s worth of fireworks to the pirates here, turning this sinful star into nothing but stardust in the universe. Damn pirates.

“Let’s finish the transaction first, then enjoy ourselves. Let’s go, take us to the trading hall.” Harriet pushed away the “clingy” Fan Lanting, disgustedly saying, “It’s so hot, so hot, get away from me.”

Fan Lanting quickly rolled to Ryan’s side, pinching his voice into a soft, delicate tone and said, “Your Majesty, if you ever need anything, be sure to call on me. I don’t want to add any more brothers or little brothers, you know.”

Ryan, Derrick, and Jack: “…” Their hearts were quite complicated. Even though they had asked Fan Lanting to practice using a fairy-like, sticky voice before the mission, hearing it now still made their heads throb.

Harriet, who was the focus of attention, held back her stomach pain and smiled, saying, “Darling, if you have brothers, won’t you be less lonely?”

Fan Lanting tossed a flirtatious glance as if his eyes were cramping, “So annoying.”

Harriet, “…” She felt her stomach ache even more.

Stepping out of the elevator, there was a wide corridor outside, about five meters in width, made of black rock, so deep in blackness that it couldn’t reflect any light, as if it was the color of blood that had solidified, representing evil. The corridor was not only wide but also high, with a height of over four meters. There were no lighting fixtures embedded in the ceiling, and no artificial lights on the walls. The illumination came from the flowing, scorching lava between the walls, providing both light and heat, and contributing to the mystery and unpredictability of this underground city.

“Take us to the trading hall,” Harriet urged.

The manager nodded and bowed, “Yes, yes, Your Majesty.”

The trading hall was at the end of the corridor. It took about the same amount of time to walk there as it had to spend in the elevator. No, perhaps it took even longer because of the intense heat, making every step an agony. Even the well-trained soldiers felt it, let alone Bandner, who was just an ordinary person. On the other hand, the steward, who appeared to be the least competent, walked ahead with ease, breathing steadily, with normal sweat on his face. Perhaps it was because he had been here long enough that his body had already adapted to the sauna-like temperature.

Along the way, there were many doors on both sides of the corridor. There were no intersections, so these doors likely led to different functional areas. Some doors were slightly ajar, but most were tightly closed, leaving no clue about what was going on inside. Through one slightly open door came excited and fervent voices, the sound of agony and pain, the crying of children, the voices of women and men… all kinds of sounds mixed together, resembling hell on earth.

Everyone controlled their facial expressions, but their hands hanging at their sides gradually clenched into fists. As a father, hearing the innocent cries of a child made Ryan’s heart twist into a knot. In his mind, he had already passed a death sentence on the “Cranberry.”

The manager didn’t understand why the atmosphere had suddenly become even heavier. She kept her head down, not daring to speak, determined to play the part of a good quail. Don’t open your mouth, don’t speak—silence is golden. She had a feeling, an instinct, that silence was the only way to preserve her life. Serving unpredictable guests in Elysium¹A state or place of perfect happiness, or paradise, the most important skill was reading the room. She had been working here for three years, which already made her a senior employee. Most people in her position didn’t last a year before they mysteriously disappeared, “neither seen alive nor found dead.” She never saw them again. She used to have a close friend who vanished just like that. Since then, she had stopped making friends in the underground city and in Elysium. Ensuring her own survival became the only thing she focused on.

Amid the group’s silence, they finally reached the end of the corridor. A heavy brass door was embedded in the somber black rock. Its intricate patterns appeared at first glance to be a tangle of vines, but closer inspection revealed they were formed by countless human-shaped figures woven into lines. The design exuded a primal tension, fitting for a place like Elysium, radiating the most unrestrained and primitive desires of the human heart.

The manager bent at the waist and said, “I don’t have the authority to enter. Once inside, there will be new attendants to guide you. I wish you an enjoyable time.”

Harriet nodded, gesturing for the manager to open the door.

The manager was evidently terrified of the trading hall beyond the door. As she opened it, her back bent so low it was nearly touching the ground. She didn’t dare glance into the widening gap, as though even a fleeting look would reduce her to ashes. This deep-seated fear heightened Ryan and the others’ vigilance. The moment they stepped through the door, their fate would be uncertain.

Once the brass door fully closed, the manager finally let out a long sigh of relief. She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she stood upright, completely ignoring her stiff, sore back from bending too long. Only after walking over a hundred meters away did she truly slow her pace, leisurely making her way toward the elevator. Though her body had moved on, her thoughts lingered behind, imagining the trading hall behind the brass door. Once inside, everyone was both merchandise and customer. As long as one had money and power, they could do whatever they pleased.

Ryan and the others quickly grasped this reality as they entered the trading hall. While finding seats, they witnessed a striking scene: an individual, clearly a customer, suddenly became a hotly contested item of trade. The reason? The customer possessed cascading black hair that shimmered with an enchanting, mysterious sheen under the searing light of the lava.

The black-haired customer tried to resist. “Wait, I’ll redeem myself!”

According to the rules of the trading hall, those who become merchandise have a chance to redeem themselves by entering a bidding phase. As long as they have more money than the opposing party, they can buy themselves back. Isn’t it ridiculous? But this is the rule of the Paradise World—once you’re here, you follow the rules. No one is an exception.

In the end, the black-haired guest couldn’t come up with the money to buy himself back and became merchandise. Amid her screams, her head was severed by the masked guards of the trading hall. The lustrous black hair, along with their wide-eyed, lifeless face, was handed to the buyer.

What was the point of doing this?

Perhaps it was to fulfill some psychological need.

After all, this place exists to fully release oneself—perverse, twisted, and entirely devoid of reason.

The blood was swiftly cleaned up, and the seat was restored to its previous state. Ryan and the others, unable to find any other open seats, filled the vacancy.

Bandner sat down awkwardly, unable to shake the feeling that the sofa beneath him was sticky and damp. Uncomfortable, he lowered his gaze, and it almost seemed like he could see traces of blood, still not fully dried, seeping from the seams of the leather upholstery. The blood, sprayed from the severed arteries of the woman earlier, appeared to have splattered in this very direction.

“Sit properly,” Ryan said in a low voice. “If you don’t want to end up as merchandise, don’t act like you’ve never seen the world. We don’t have the money to buy you back.”

Ever since they’d entered, they had been the target of bold, unrestrained gazes. Showing the slightest hint of weakness would be like inviting these “hyenas” to pounce.

Bandner forced himself to sit upright, mimicking Ryan’s calm and composed demeanor. With a steady voice, he said, “You spent money to save my friend. However much it was, I’ll repay you.”

“Hah, kid,” Harriet said, lounging boldly on the sofa and pointing at him with the hand holding her wine glass. “It might be a whole lot more money than you can even dream of. You wouldn’t be able to pay it back. Learn something here—make yourself look like someone no one would dare mess with.”

Bandner fell silent for a moment. He was, in truth, dirt poor and couldn’t come up with a fraction of what they might have spent. But he had something money couldn’t buy—resources others couldn’t possess. “I’ll take care of myself,” he said, ensuring he wouldn’t drag the group down.

“Good.” Ryan nodded. Here, completing their mission was important, but so was ensuring their own safety.

The trading hall spanned an area roughly the size of a football field. Its ceiling rose an imposing sixteen or seventeen meters high, and the massive elliptical dome above was alive with swirling, molten lava. Embedded in the dome were countless black gemstones, which, illuminated by the fiery lava, gleamed like dazzling stars in a night sky. There was no artificial lighting here either; the glow came from the lava above and the streams of molten rock flowing across the floor.

The heat was oppressive, but even more unsettling was the restless, primal agitation it stirred deep in their hearts. The searing, crimson lava seemed to awaken the most primal emotions buried within—a burning tension that made the air itself feel alive.

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Hello everyone!! As this year draws to a close, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you. This year has been one of growth, challenges, and inspiration. Nevertheless it brought us a hope to look forward to another year of adventures, challenges and achievements. Thank you for being a part of this journey. Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead! Love you all!!