Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 637: Iron Hand

At the edges of those large and small platforms in the middle of the Giant Wall District, the shaky landing pads built by clumsy craftsmen and scavengers can almost be described as a miracle of engineering and makeshift ingenuity—

The construction materials found from various waste piles are haphazardly stacked with the ancient giant wall structures, and the uneven welding craftsmanship is often complemented with iron wires, rivets, expansion bolts, and astonishingly, expired glue. They protrude from the high walls, facing dust and mist, soaked in industrial exhaust and dim sunlight. If the city of Iron Nest were to be considered a grotesque, bloated creature, then these platforms would be like teeth growing in the creature's stomach, each shaking as if they might loosen and fall at any moment, plummeting into the boiling gastric acid below.

Incredibly, these seemingly unreliable structures rarely have direct incidents of falling into the underlying layers. Even if they creak and sway in the rising hot winds every day—Luo always found this quite incredible. Sometimes, she even suspected these irrational buildings below the city had something to do with Black Spirit Ability and Subspace... Anyway, neither were rare things at "Happy Home".

Under her exquisite piloting skills, the shuttle landed steadily on the landing pad of the Grey Iron Landfill—the entire pad trembled twice with the shuttle's engine impact, and her heart fluttered twice along with it. Subsequently, a group of curious figures appeared near the exit of the landing pad.

Luo disembarked from the shuttle with her Guard Captain and four soldiers. At the first glance, she saw those figures hiding among the waste piles—it was a group of ragged children, evidently from the nearby Gathering Point. Among them, a few appeared slightly older, wearing dirty protective gear, possibly "workers" of the landfill—or as they are called here, "junkyard kids".

As soon as the guards appeared, these figures scattered in a rush.

Having a high-ranking figure come down from the upper district by shuttle was a big deal for the residents here. It often meant new business, resource allocation, and even the possibility of migrating to the upper levels of the giant wall—but if armed soldiers appeared, it was another matter entirely, for a fatal misfortune might occur in a mere glance.

Luo didn't pay attention to the "locals" who scattered in haste; she was still busy sending messages via her data terminal. After finishing, she looked up at her Guard Captain: "Have you informed 'Iron Hand'?"

"Informed," the Guard Captain frowned, "but I doubt he dares to meet you..."

"No point in hiding," Luo put away the terminal, raising an eyebrow. "Ah, look over there, he's already here."

A few figures appeared at the far end of the landing pad, led by a tall, robust, dark-skinned man.

They walked towards them, the leader's gaze fixed on Luo. There seemed to be a hint of complex emotions hidden in his eyes, yet as he approached, he still managed to maintain a calm expression, meeting Luo's gaze openly.

"Boss..."

The man nicknamed "Iron Hand" called out cautiously, clasping his hands over his belly—his left hand was a rugged mechanical arm, its steel framework and enhancing muscle bundles exposed to the air. This intimidating prosthetic was the reason for his nickname and was also the gift Luo gave him back then.

Back then, he was just a "junkyard kid" expelled from the Gathering Point, with an arm crushed by machinery.

"Things change," Luo remarked softly, looking at the tall figure before her. "Back then you were like a monkey, now you've become somebody."

"Iron Hand" twitched his facial muscles, seemingly wanting to speak subconsciously, but before he could, Luo waved her hand: "Let's find a quiet place to talk first."

"...Alright."

The group passed through the loading area in front of the landing pad, traversing the sorting stations and conveyor lines of the landfill, finally arriving at an independent platform near the inner side of the giant wall—this area was elevated above the entire Grey Iron Landfill. A small two-story building sat on the platform, and the roof platform provided a view of the whole landing pad area.

Compared to the massive structures that comprised the "Giant Wall," this small platform and the two-story building on it resembled a louse on a giant's body.

Inside the two-story building, an air filtration system was installed, and directly opposite the entrance, a water feature wall was set up. The filtered clean water trickled down the wall, making a rustling sound.

"Iron Hand" carefully observed the expression on Luo's face, only to find that her gaze was not fixed on the furnishings here, but instead she wore a thoughtful demeanor, seemingly a bit worried.

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then waved a hand to dismiss his subordinates, who moved to stand guard outside the door.

Luo let the Guard Captain and the soldiers wait outside the building, then went to the Reception Room on the second floor with "Iron Hand".

The furnishings in the room were unremarkable, the most striking being a gigantic oil painting that looked like a poster, hanging on the wall opposite the door—its bright colors showcased content that was completely out of place on this planet: an ancient Knight Order clad in ragged armor traversing through dim ruins, led by a young man holding a flag and a golden spear. The painting also included a white-haired scholar and a guide mage with elven traits, resembling a scene only found in classic stories, yet it exuded an almost eerily authentic atmosphere.

Luo's gaze lingered on the oil painting for a few seconds before "Iron Hand" promptly explained beside her, "This is the 'Recovery Knight Order' from the bottom of the Great Rift Valley, the most... well, the latest one."

Luo didn't speak immediately, just furrowed her brow.

She had heard about them—the layers upon layers of giant cities on the Gray Dwarf Star, beneath which in the desolate ruins and mine shafts, some ancient indigenous people had survived. Since the day steel warships descended to destroy the kingdom on this planet and covered its primitive rivers and mountains with a steel dome, they had wandered the ruins left by their ancestors, languishing for hundreds and thousands of years until a figure known as the "Prophet" arrived, selecting brave warriors from the deformed and mutated remnants to raise the banner of restoration, leading to the emergence of the "Recovery Knight Order".

These "remnants" wandering the ruins are the greatest source of chaos in Iron Nest's lower levels. Countless Cleaner robots, scavengers, and abandoned people died in those caverns and ruins every year. Occasionally, the Knight Order would seize abandoned drilling platforms and heat pump stations in the lower levels, establishing temporary kingdoms in the dark tunnels and engine rooms, only to soon be eradicated by new Cleaner robots, retreating back into the dark ruins.

And those living on the upper layers of the Gray Dwarf Star… paid to watch.

The city's lower caves and abandoned factories were filled with surveillance devices, controlled by mid-level zone gangs and upper-level zone warlords behind countless small and large "media groups", profiting immensely.

One can only say that in this Dark Meteor Domain, everything happens; anything is possible.

"I hear you're planning on doing 'big business' recently?" Luo shook her head, dismissing irrelevant thoughts, and turned to look into "Iron Hand's" eyes, "Not satisfied with dismantling those abandoned household robots and armed mining machines here?"

"...One must make long-term plans," "Iron Hand" seemed to want to squeeze out a smile but ultimately failed under Luo's gaze, opting instead to sit sheepishly in a chair, "You know, the recycling business in the mid-level zones is increasingly hard to do, and the planet's last geothermal energy is slowly drying up. When the earth's veins completely stop flowing, only core energy collection will remain, by then, two-thirds of the population will be driven out from here..."

Luo raised her eyebrows: "That's at least two hundred years away; can you live that long?"

"Iron Hand" opened his mouth but failed to utter even a syllable.

"Let me say it for you," Luo's gaze swept over the person in front of her, "A little operation from the Black Dot Group, along with a few doses of genetic potion, right? You could live many years longer... Who promised you this? That piece of iron? Old Qiao? So you have to make 'long-term' plans now, is it?"

"Iron Hand's" lips moved, finally squeezing a few syllables out from his throat: "I didn't seek him out, but he came to me... I, I couldn't resist, you know, I'm just a small figure..."

He paused as if trying to salvage something, quickly adding, "I didn't betray you, even though he inquired a lot about you, I didn't say anything! Nor did I disclose any of your other contacts here..."

Luo casually tossed the data terminal onto the table, and a holographic projection instantly lit up above it, displaying a cargo list and a series of Star Gate jump codes.

"But you sold a trade line I gave you—through several modified addresses and signatures, a set of crucial devices and data units destined for Node Star YN-135 was sent to some Black Domain Star System, using your disguise code."

"Iron Hand's" face turned deathly pale in an instant.

He stared dumbfounded at the images on the data terminal, his mind seemingly blank for a moment, before finally squeezing out a few words: "I... I didn't expect this... The people who came said they just wanted to sneak a few cargo items along and asked me to add a drop-off location. I... I didn't anticipate that ship would lose contact directly after leaving Gray Dwarf Star! I really just added a location on the jump path and cleared a spot in the cargo hold..."

"Kid," Luo suddenly spoke softly, interrupting the other's near-rambling words, "You used to be quite honest."

"Iron Hand" folded his hands on the table, his face wrinkled as if about to twist, while the muscles of his mechanical arm screeched.

"You weren't honest when you should be, nor smart when needed," Luo looked at him, sighing softly, "Indeed... no growth whatsoever."