Collapse, survive

Those days in the upper echelons will be gone forever.

But don't give up.

Never give up.

you want……

"!"

My butt hurts so much, is someone there...?

Awakened from her sleep, Bronya calmly reached for her weapon and instinctively launched a counterattack.

empty.

There were also jeers.

"Oh ho, you look quite professional, but you're too slow. If I were you, I would have been dead to dust in the lower area by now, Miss upstairs."

Seele withdrew her hand like a scoundrel, her expression disdainful.

"Look at your delicate skin, you must be having a good time up there."

To be honest, this is prejudice, because Seele is more delicate than Rand Duck, but she is strong, which is true.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Bronya looked at the unfamiliar Seele: "Did you save me?"

Escaping to the lower levels, the path to find Jepard is not safe.

Not a creature from another realm, but...

people.

Bronya, dressed in her Iron Guard uniform, was still too conspicuous in the lower districts. Exhausted from breaking through the thugs' encirclement, she barely managed to get some information from someone willing to help her, pointing her towards the subterranean fire…

I was ambushed the moment I turned my head.

Bronya's last memory before falling into a coma was—

I think it was a star?

and who are you?

"Save you? I don't have time for that. I need to make a living. Everyone's busy."

Seele said irritably, "Get up. I promised to go find Chief Oleg. You're coming with me. When we meet the chief, he'll have to decide how to deal with you. I don't want to repeat myself."

Your way of waking people up is really...

Bronya found her disgusting, vulgar and rude.

And he's a scoundrel.

But she didn't say much. She stood up nimbly. After all, she was a soldier trained to be a Great Guardian. If she hadn't been ruthless, she could have defeated those villains with just her stockings. She was just ambushed when she was asking for information.

She touched her head; there was no scar there, as if the merciless blow aimed at her vitals had never happened.

The way those people looked at her...

He is not a hooligan.

She quickly followed Seele out of the clinic, but did not see the clinic's owner.

And then, something was suddenly thrown at me.

Bronya caught it and found it was a can of drink and a twig, the kind with no leaves left.

"Just eat it as is. I made it myself. The bottom isn't as nice as the top."

Seele's tone was proud, with her usual sarcasm: "Or perhaps a pampered young lady like you wouldn't be used to this?"

"I'm just wondering, how...did you make this?"

Bronya had seen all sorts of wild vegetables before, but she was surprised by such a casual attitude.

"None of your business. You're comfortable staying on the ground, aren't you? Do you know what the underground is like? Have you considered the lives of the people on the lower levels?"

Xi'er's tone was naturally harsh. She felt heartbroken just thinking about it. She couldn't grasp Fang Jie and turn him into a seed-planting machine because she was too weak and couldn't keep up.

You still ask!

Bronya retorted seriously, "The Silvermane Iron Guards don't stay comfortably on the ground. The Iron Guards are constantly fighting enemies, defending Beloborg from monsters... protecting everyone above and below ground."

"Hey, all talk and no action. What have you been protecting underground? You've deployed all the Iron Guards up there, blocked all the passageways, and all that's supposed to be protecting the so-called city builders, isn't it?"

Don't tell her this; Seele is a hunter, she remembers it perfectly well.

"The Guardian has her reasons..."

Bronya couldn't refute the blockade, which had started when she was very young, with the Iron Guard withdrawing from the lower districts, until she finally arrived here.

"Hmph, consideration."

Seele stopped talking, sped up, and left Bronya unable to see her cloak.

She quickly followed, until...

She saw the figure that made her buttocks feel a little sore.

Good morning, Seele and Bronya.

The Star Core Spirit hopped and skipped around, waving and greeting everyone, looking innocent and naive.

March 7th's eyes lit up: "Both of you are here! Great! Now all that's missing is Fang Jie and the others."

Star Core Spirit looked grief-stricken, but her voice was innocent and naive: "How could he just leave like that!"

March 7th nodded in agreement: "That's so disloyal of him, still wanting to find him... Wait, could he have given the portrait to Himeko?"

--No!!!!

Snowflakes are falling, it's so cold in Belleburg... Strange, it doesn't seem so cold today.

"gone?"

Seele looked completely bewildered. "What are you talking about? I saw him earlier, even more excited than yesterday. He even invited me to see some 'big treasure,' but I was just too exhausted by him..."

stare~

She was immediately targeted by the two little ones, and even Jepard.

Yes, Jepard was there too.

Bronya had many questions for him.

But Jepard didn't know either; looking at Bronya, he wanted to ask her what had happened.

Dan Heng glanced at them silently and corrected March 7: "Fang Jie and the others went to the train once and returned to Yalilo-VI, but they probably won't be joining us anytime soon. He has his own pioneering work to do."

"What is he going to explore?"

March 7th scratched his head, and the Star Core Spirit beside him looked curious and inquisitive: "Big baby?"

Dan Heng was also very curious, recalling Uncle Yang's casual words: "Perhaps it's a treasure, the 'Thirteen Trials of Uncle Yang' that you didn't complete in the past three months."

"When am I supposed to complete 'Uncle Yang's Thirteen Trials'? When did this thing arrive?"

March 7th felt wronged; she had never even heard of it!

Dan Heng hadn't slept all night waiting for news, otherwise he probably wouldn't have known, so he casually replied, "Just last night."

"Seriously? Why would I need to pass this? Is it some kind of assignment?"

March 7th is unacceptable.

To this, Danheng smiled and said, "Because you asked."

"Never mind what I asked! She asked, so please don't let her get away with it!"

The innocent, obedient Star Core Spirit was shocked: "March, you..."

"Let's go, Miss Seele, please take us to find the leader of the Earth Fire."

After a good night's sleep, they were all full of energy, much like Danheng and the others, and started running.

Super Mini March, pioneering new forms – strike!

Daily Star Core Essence, Expanding Form - Pursuit!

Seele had no objections, and the group prepared to follow her to find the Earth Fire Leader Oleg, making the team a mixed bunch.

Along the way, Bronya also checked the accounts with Jepard.

"...The day before I went to the Goethe Hotel, I saw my mother and Hilva. I went back to report, and Hilva was there too. She was also there to pay her respects to my mother...The Great Guardian told me some things. Hilva seemed perfectly normal at the time. I don't know what happened after I left."

Bronya's expression was somber.

“But I trust the Great Guardian. Until all this happened, she was arranging for me to comfort the people, including the lower districts.”

Jepard: "..."

So Hilva is the root of all evil.

Because he had been driven out of the Builders by the Great Guardian many years ago, he harbored resentment and made friends in all directions, waiting for the right time. When he received news that he and Bronya had been defeated by extraterrestrials, he rose up in rebellion.

Relying on the prestige of the Landau family and the advantage of her status in gaining influence with the Iron Guard, she launched the Belloberg Spring, placed the Grand Guardian under house arrest, and implemented a series of perverse policies, which were terrifying.

Knowing he wouldn't agree to such a thing, he simply kicked himself out. And with Bronya, the acting High Protector, it probably wouldn't be as simple as just kicking him out. Luckily, the butler was there to desperately warn him...

"Even light novels wouldn't use such plot devices as insubordination, family feuds, family destruction, separation by death, and rivers of blood."

March 7th interrupted her silent conjecture, her face full of doubt.

"That's impossible, there must be some misunderstanding."

"Yes, there must be some misunderstanding."

Jepard's expression remained somber: "Gentlemen, I know you want to help us, to help Beloberg, to stop the cold wave and the rift from harming this planet. I am very sorry that this has happened."

Bronya, having let go of her burdens, spoke her mind: "Gentlemen, I've always felt that there's something important being hidden in Berlberg. There's something unnatural about the actions of the Builders, Mother, and the Silvermane Iron Guards."

“I’m sure that my mother had planned to tell me this secret before, and then… these things happened.”

"Clearly, the High Keeper cannot decide everything, just as in the history of Beloborg. A group of builders, Silvermane Iron Guards, and those nobles and capitalists in the Upper District who truly know everything have united to sever the High Keeper's connection with the outside world, expel Jepard and me, and also capture these guests from beyond the heavens."

“Right now, we’re all in the lower zone, the sealed-off lower zone. I have a feeling that only by being with you, here, can I find the real clues—to unravel my doubts.”

Seele sneered: "You're not completely stupid, otherwise why would the higher-ups block off the lower levels?"

"The monster activity in the rift above has intensified, and the battle on the front lines is becoming increasingly difficult. The builders have had to redeploy all their Iron Guards to the front lines to defend against the monster invasion. If they cannot hold the line above, the underground will collapse due to the loss of supplies—that's how the High Guardian explained it to me."

Bronya made no secret of it; she felt she was witnessing a real rebellion.

"After that, the Iron Guard suffered heavy casualties, yet they persisted in expanding outwards. If we look at it from another angle, if there are indeed some despicable individuals, we cannot help but fear this force. Just like the Silvermane Iron Guard, the Lower District has always been the core strength of the City Builders. Under the call of the City Builders, people went underground to mine veins and establish mining areas. At least until the upper and lower levels were sealed off, living underground was an honor. This belief united people and made them work hard for the survival of the entire civilization."

Jepard understood, and that's why he felt pain.

Landau, sister...

What are they hiding? What are they planning? First, they abandoned honor and beliefs, then they trampled on what they protected and sacrificed. Is this still the same Belberger who protects?

Danheng sighed and gestured for March 7, who was about to say something, to stop.

Such conflicts are inevitable everywhere, like with him...

Xing has clear eyes. What are you talking about?

No! I'm still a child!

Seele couldn't understand; she was on a hunting trip.

"Whatever you've discovered, now, come with me. Work... Your superiors have no idea what chaos has descended underground. With the erosion of the rift, many mineral veins have long since dried up, and there's no work left. We've only just had a chance to launch a counterattack. Enough nonsense, come with me to see the leader."

What's the use of thinking too much? We need to take action.

At this moment, those homeless people might be blocking the only way, waiting to rob those who still want to work.

Forget about fight clubs, the mining area no-holds-barred fighting tournament is about to begin!

Just thinking about it makes the weather feel hot, thanks to your pioneering efforts.

……

……

Yalilo-VI, a frozen planet.