Dominion's End

Dominion's End V2C6: City of Aberrants

Dominion's End Volume 2: Aberrant City

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 6: City of Aberrants—translated by Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)

I leaned against the utility pole, tipping the bloodstained evolution crystal in my hand into the hip flask. The palm-sized hip flask looked like it was made of silver, a beautifully wrought piece of art, and there was even the name "Feng" engraved on the bottom in ancient Chinese. I had no idea what possessed Jin Feng to put a small hip flask in my backpack. Did she want to give me some liquid courage?

Anyway, once I drained the alcohol inside in one gulp, the hip flask became the perfect container for holding evolution crystals. By now, the only use I had for these tierless crystals was for healing, so after popping back a few crystals to heal up, I saved up the rest to give the others when I returned.

But I really wasn't planning on accumulating so many. I just wanted to get home ASAP!

Technically, if I could directly run home, I'd probably reach home after running non-stop for a day and a night. But I couldn't travel in a straight line, and there were so many aberrants in the city that my skin crawled. Although I hadn't yet run into more tier one aberrants, a bunch of tierless aberrants could still mob someone to death!

This was the third day after leaving Jin Feng's. I really missed the days when someone would spoon feed me. Jiggling the hip flask caused the contents to rattle softly. It was a rich harvest, with crystals everywhere to be found in this city. This only made me warier of danger. Judging from the looks of things, I'd been extremely lucky to rise to tier one so early in the suburbs. There was just no comparing the dangers in the city to those found in the suburbs.

No, it was the Jiang family's rotten luck that even made the city seem like heaven when compared to the suburbs. Just how many tier one aberrants have I encountered? I killed one myself. Then, there was the brainwight and the two birds, averaging one a month. What the hell? This isn't some monthly cycle like a period, okay?

In my previous life, Guan Weijun had only seen her first tier one aberrant after spending a good six months on the run in the city, and she'd turned tail after seeing it in the distance.

I really didn't know how to feel about this rotten luck. Although it had let me reach tier one even while living in the suburbs, it had also separated me from Dàgē and Shujun... Sigh, whatever. I just needed to get back to them. Come to think of it, I also need to fill in the shoes of the Ice Emperor, so it's not like I can slack off. All right, be as rotten as you want!

Tucking away the hip flask, I pulled out the map to check that I was headed in the right direction. Although I was going to make it out of Zhongguan City soon, it was dark and conditions weren't great for travel. After assessing the various factors, I had no choice but to put aside my impatience in wanting to see Dàgē and Xiaomèi as soon as possible. All right, I'll hole up for the night, and aim to get home before tomorrow night so I can enjoy dinner with my family.

I found myself a residential building. I'd already reached the outskirts of the city, and high-rise buildings were now few and far between, unlike the CBD, the central business district. The majority of the residential buildings were less than ten stories tall, but it didn't mean fewer aberrants compared to downtown. Probably because the black fog had struck at midnight, most people had returned home, so there were actually fewer people in the CBD than in the outskirts of the city.

This was also why my progress was slowing down. I had to be extra cautious every time I moved into a new block of buildings. More often than not, I'd intrude into some aberrant's territory and be forced into combat, and once my special powers dropped past a certain level, I'd be forced to find somewhere to hole up to avoid being found by aberrants. Otherwise, I'd be at a disadvantage instead.