Underworld.
An abandoned street already eroded by the Rift.
Zeig stepped out from the light curtain. Upon seeing the surroundings, he was stunned.
"How did this place turn into such a mess?"
He scratched his head and looked around.
Collapsed houses.
Cracked ground.
Rift creatures burning fiercely.
An old pair of underwear half-buried in the soil.
"Did I come to the wrong place?"
Zeig pulled out Judgment of Shamash in confusion, swatted a Rift creature attempting to attack him with one swing, then wandered around.
"Hey hey hey, anyone here!" he shouted loudly.
With a casual wave of Judgment of Shamash, a large swarm of Rift creatures charging from the side instantly turned to ash.
He continued forward in silence.
He vaguely remembered that back then, he had been standing at this exact intersection, surrounded by people watching him drive a tractor.
Zeig crouched down and touched the marks on the ground.
Upon closer inspection, he could still make out the tire tracks left by the tractor.
But they seemed to be quite old.
Just as Zeig stood up, preparing to continue searching, footsteps sounded behind him.
A girl's voice rang out.
"Huh? How is there still someone else here? Stop, don't move! I've never seen you before—are you a vagrant?"
Zeig slowly turned around.
The one calling him was a long-haired young woman. Her long clothing was bluish-purple, with a red silk ribbon tied around her arm in a butterfly knot.
She carried a scythe, her attitude extremely arrogant.
Upon seeing her, Zeig's first reaction was shock:
"Hiss—why are your shorts so short? Aren't you cold?"
The girl's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly:
"Please, this is the Underworld. There are even miners who just sleep on the ground. Besides, with the protection of a Path, I don't feel cold at all."
"But you—" The girl raised her large scythe and pointed it at Zeig. "What normal person stares at shorts?"
Zeig cried out in shock:
"You actually discovered my secret!"
"Heh, you're pretty interesting. But for a vagrant like you to stay so calm upon seeing me—quite courageous."
"Who are you?"
"What? You don't even know me, Seele? I'm at least Wildfire's main combat strength."
Seele's gaze toward Zeig grew increasingly strange.
"Oh, I get it—you're from the Overworld too, right?"
"Ugh, you little smarty, you figured it out again." Zeig said bashfully.
"…"
Seele silently examined Zeig's clothing and became even more certain:
"Heh, judging by those clothes, they must have cost a lot, huh?"
Zeig immediately reached to the hem of his coat, felt around, and flipped out a price tag.
"This is fake goods I bought on Pinduoduo—ninety-nine credits with free shipping. Take a look—how's the imitation? Doesn't it look really expensive and cool?"
Seele leaned in to glance at the price tag and immediately nodded: "Whoa, the imitation is actually pretty good. I thought it was expensive. But why didn't you remove the price tag? Wouldn't that make it easy to spot as fake?"
Zeig thought it made sense, quickly tore off the price tag, threw it hard onto the ground.
And stomped on it a few times. "You're right."
Seele: "…"
Zeig: "Alright, now there's no more evidence that it's fake."
Seele: "…"
Suddenly, Seele spotted half a gold pocket watch sticking out of Zeig's coat pocket.
"Whoa, you've got a gold watch too? This isn't fake as well, is it?" Seele asked suspiciously.
"You really are a little smarty—you figured it out again."
Zeig bashfully took out the pocket watch and showed it to Seele.
The hands didn't even move.
He tapped it, producing a tinkling sound.
"Actually, it's just coated with a layer of gold paint. But if I don't open the watch, no one can tell it's fake, right?"
Seele nodded and said disdainfully:
"Yeah, why are you so vain? If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Why use fakes? Isn't it more embarrassing when people find out?"
"Who says I can't afford it?" Zeig said scornfully. "Clothes are just for show. Since I can achieve the same effect with something cheaper, why must I use the expensive ones? Is my money blown in by the wind?"
Hearing this, Seele gave a few scornful laughs:
"Isn't that just how Overworld people are? To show they're superior, they have to leave food on their plate when eating at restaurants. To display their elegance and taste, they buy flashy but useless bags. Ironically, some genuine ones are made of paper—worse quality than the fakes."
"You seem to hold quite a grudge against Overworld people," Zeig said in shock.
Seele huffed:
"What else? Ever since the Overworld and Underworld were sealed off, what kind of life have we Underworlders been living? Overworlders must be far more comfortable than us country bumpkins, right?"
"Yeah, they're really no good. I've been fed up with them for a long time."
Zeig clenched his fists in agreement.
"When the lockdown is lifted one day, I, Zeig, will make those Overworld bastards pay."
Seele nodded, quite satisfied.
"Not bad, not bad—full of spirit."
Zeig immediately stood beside Seele and continued:
"Hmph, I, Zeig, swear to be at odds with the Overworld. Have you seen my two teammates and a little girl with triple turbo boost?"
"Huh? You know those three?" Seele asked in confusion.
Those three seemed to have been brought by Sampo.
"Hey, you're not a spy sent from the Overworld to trick me, are you?" Seele asked suspiciously.
"Injustice!" Zeig cried like a startled rabbit, hurriedly explaining. "I was forced—I swear, listen to me…"
…
Underworld.
Boulder Town.
Seele brought Zeig here.
Along the way, listening to Zeig's experiences, she gnashed her teeth in anger.
"That damn Supreme Guardian—knowing you're from the Underworld, she still made you an Executor to torment you!"
"Yeah, yeah." Zeig whimpered delicately, dabbing at the tears in the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief.
"She even made me heal those Silvermane Guards—if I didn't, she'd spank me, woo woo woo woo."
At this point, Zeig cried even louder.
He lay on the ground, wailing wildly.
Residents of Boulder Town passing by whispered among themselves.
"Who's that? A grown man lying on the ground crying—how embarrassing."
"How can you assume his gender? What if it's a woman?"
"Hiss, he looks so familiar. Kluzer, don't you think that guy looks a lot like the physician your wife met years ago?"
Noticing that Zeig's behavior was drawing attention from those around, Seele quickly pulled him up from the ground:
"Damn, do you have to? Stop—stop crying. It's good you're back, it's good you're back."
Seele didn't know how to comfort people and could only coax him haphazardly.
"Waaah waaaaah!! I swear I'm at odds with them!!" Zeig cried even louder.
At that moment.
A young woman wearing a Silvermane Guard captain's uniform approached from ahead. Three long strands of silver curly hair hung down her back.
She looked uncertainly at Zeig, who was lying on the ground wailing.
She said blankly:
"Executor Zeig, is that you? Why are you crying? You just… said you're at odds with whom?"
"Huh?" Zeig abruptly raised his head.
The crying stopped instantly.
…