Universal Sign-in: Ascending to Godhood With My 10x Rewards!-Chapter 52: A Den of Criminals

Marcus, really, do you want to smell shit every day? We just escaped the station, bruh.

The man grunted as he stood up. "In the future, don’t forget my good gesture."

"We won’t," I said.

"Great. This is a good investment, it’ll make up for my nighttime you ruined." He said, "Now, let’s sign you all up and take you to your new living space."

I was honestly quite surprised. The man turned out to be a really flexible person. Not a good person, of course. But flexible.

Maybe greedy old men weren’t so bad after all?

Yeah, right. Can never convince myself that they are. He only saw us as another product to invest in for high returns in the future.

They see people as tools for their benefit. And if they can’t benefit anything from a person, they’ll consider them trash.

I know because I lived as trash all my life.

We all wrote our names on the documents and signed, including Katie and her mom, and he led us to our new living space.

On the way, we asked him a couple of questions.

"How exactly do we ascend sectors? No, why are there different levels in the first place?" Jerry asked.

The man carefully explained, saying, "The sectors were formed to encourage people to put in maximum effort in whatever jobs they perform, to get a chance for a better living and lifestyle. Sector D is for the lowest of the low. The dregs of society all live here, people who were thugs, criminals, struggling families, hippies, you name it. They’re stuck here. But if they really want to, they can get jobs. Sell at the marketplace, clean up pipelines, work in higher sectors as cleaners or the rest, and after two weeks, their performance would be evaluated, and they can rank up sectors."

What a long wall of text.

"That seems pretty straightforward." I calmly interjected.

"That’s because it is." Park replied, "It all depends on how you contribute to the development of the safe zone. Your best bet for now would be to enter the marketplace and utilize the trade by batter strategy. After all, every week, large amounts of food and resources are shared amongst citizens of every sector. If you can somehow save yours and sell during other people’s desperate times, you can gain solidity in the marketplace and maybe rank up to sector B."

This man is a damn genius.

"Clean idea." Said Marcus, "Really clean. But still dirty nonetheless."

Quite contradictory, huh.

"But Sector A is exclusively reserved for the wealthy. High-class citizens. Senators, governors, rich businessmen, you name it. The list is endless. They’re our VIPs. They bought the tickets to the safe zone months ago, before the apocalypse."

My eyes widened.

Huh?

"Wait. What?" Jerry asked.

"What do you mean? They knew the apocalypse was coming?" Asked Marcus.

"Eh," the man raised a hand awkwardly, "No. They just secured positions in case. We’re in the twenty-first century, you know. Anything could happen. It was COVID last time. They just wanted to secure a safe zone, and the government was willing to give it to them for a high price. So they secured Sector A with their money."

I narrowed my eyes.

Of course.

But I still don’t buy it.

"Hm," Jerry hummed. "I see."

Yup, he doesn’t buy it either.

"What about Sector S?" Marcus chimed in.

"Oh, that?" The old man cleared his throat. "It’s exclusive."

"To whom? Or what kind of people?" I asked.

"I can’t say. It’s confidential."

Fuck you.

"Dude, do you know that this just completely invalidated the cover-up you made a second ago? How am I supposed to believe you now?" I growled.

"You’re not supposed to believe me. You’re meant to be grateful that this place even exists in the first place, else you’d be monster meat. Now, we’re here. Stop asking questions you aren’t meant to know."

The man paused. We followed suit.

We stood in front of a small brown door.

Park brought out a key from his pocket and shook it, making a rattling sound.

"Here."

Park handed the key to Jericho.

"That’s your place now. My job is done."

Katie, who’d been quietly following behind us with her mother the whole time, held my leg from behind.

"Mr. Nameless..." she spoke with a shaky voice.

I turned my neck, eyes flickering as I glanced at her small frame with raised brows. "What is it?"

She pointed her index finger around.

I traced it, spotting several rough-looking men around this place. Some stared at us with bloodshot eyes and blood-stained brown clothes; the others hung around the alley near this house, smoking and whispering as they stared at us.

A den of criminals, huh.

"Tch. Damn Sector D," Park spouted.

"Language." I reprimanded him.

"No need to be afraid, Katie." I held her, warming her back. "Those people aren’t scary at all."

I recognize them all.

Bloody scavengers.

I gave them a cold, deadly glare.

I’ve survived in dens filled with people like them for years. Gangsters and other bastards.

"Okay."

Clack–

Jerry had already begun unlocking the door. He didn’t even see them as threats.

Marcus hummed behind him.

"Ah, notice how every one of them is dressed in brown outfits? All Sector D citizens wear brown. Colors change if you ascend. At Sector A, you’ll even wear white. But," the man patted my shoulder as he turned to leave, "I trust you guys would make it to Sector S. That’s why I invested in the first place."

I frowned.

Scratch whatever I said previously, I don’t like this man.

I held Katie’s hand, "C’mon, let’s go in."

"And before I forget, report any strange dreams or nightmares you get to the telephone hanging next to the TV in your house. Or better yet, just come to my residence. Ciao!" Park waved and walked away.

I walked inside with Katie and her mother as Jerry and Marcus had already walked in.

"Rubber duck."