2026-08-27 20:49:13
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 85
"The gates are already down," Lara said, her voice cutting through the roar of the mob with the cold precision of steel. She didn’t shout, but every word carried across the raised platform, freezing the frontline rioters in their tracks. "Every last one of them. We bypassed the locks twenty minutes ago."The man holding the iron coupling-pin blinked, his arms dropping an inch. "You... you opened the silos?""They’re wide open," Lara confirmed, hefting her pry-bar onto her shoulder. Her knuckles were bruised purple, her coat stained with grease and soot, but her dark eyes were fiercely steady. "The grain is pouring into the courtyards right now. No vouchers. No taxes. No names required. Go get your share before the rats eat it all."For a fraction of a second, the vast sea of desperate, starving humanity held its collective breath. Then, a collective shockwave rippled through the crowd. The mob didn’t cheer—they stampeded, turning away from the scaffolding in a massive, churning tide,
Chapter 84
"Hang him! Hang the bloodsucker!"The scream did not come from a single throat, but from ten thousand. It was a physical force, a wall of hot, sour breath and pure, unadulterated fury that hit the raised wooden platform like a gale.Arto lunged forward, his hand catching the collar of a rioter who had managed to claw his way halfway up the scaffolding. "Back down! Get back!""He starved us, Halloway!" the man yelled, his eyes bloodshot, his face blackened by soot from the burning tax houses nearby. "You showed us the papers! You showed us what he did! Let us have him!""We need him alive!" Arto shouted back, his voice hoarse, cracking under the strain of a three-day siege of his own lungs. "Vane has the keys to the grain reserves in the Upper District! If you tear him apart now, those vaults stay locked!""They won't stay locked if we burn the gates down!" a woman screamed from the front row, brandishing a heavy iron coupling-pin.Lara stepped between Arto and the surging crowd, her p
Chapter 83
"Move," Arto growled, shoving Vane through the heavy iron grate.They stumbled out of the damp, echoing drainage tunnels and directly into the blinding glare of a dozen burning oil barrels. The Grand Plaza of the Low-Brass was a boiling sea of humanity. Thousands of hollow-cheeked citizens, their faces smeared with soot and grease, filled every square inch of the cobblestones. The air was thick with the stench of cheap coal smoke, stale sweat, and the electric tension of a mob on the verge of tearing the city apart."Get your hands off me, Halloway!" Vane hissed, twisting in Arto’s grip. His ruined silk doublet was torn at the shoulder, dripping with grey sewer sludge. "You think these savages will spare you once they’re done with me? You’re a Halloway. To them, your name is just another brand on their backs!""We’ll let them decide that," Lara said, her boots crunching on the glass-strewn pavement as she stepped up beside them. In her hands, she clutched the heavy, leather-bound ledg
Chapter 82
"Get up, Vane."Arto’s boot shoved the disgraced magistrate hard between his shoulder blades. Vane sprawled forward into the freezing slush of the spillway exit, his ruined silk doublet soaking up the grey, chemical-tinged water of the lower canal."You're making a mistake, Halloway," Vane gasped, coughing up a mouthful of coal-grit. He rolled over, his face smeared with grease, his once-immaculate hair plastered to his forehead. "You think those animals out there care about justice? They want blood. And once they’re done drinking mine, they’ll drink yours!""I’ll take my chances," Arto said, his grip tightening on the collar of Vane’s coat as he hauled him to his feet."Don't touch him more than you have to," Lara warned, her hand resting on the hilt of her pry-bar, her eyes scanning the dark mouth of the iron gate ahead. "He’s still looking for a neck to bite. Keep moving.""You’re both dead fools," Vane sneered, stumbling as Arto dragged him forward. "The Guild controls the transit
Chapter 81
"He’s up ahead!" Lara’s voice sliced through the thundering, metallic echo of the spillway. "The low sluice—he’s heading for the old drainage junction!""He knows these tunnels," Arto panted, his fingers clawing for grip on a rusted iron rung as he swung himself over a rushing torrent of grey wastewater. "The Halloways built them a century ago. But he doesn't know where the collapses are. Keep close, Lara!""I’m right behind you!"They scrambled down a steep, slick masonry incline. The air grew thicker, tasting of sulphur, ancient lime, and the sharp, copper tang of industrial runoff. Above them, the distant, muffled boom of the rioting city vibrated through the brickwork, but down here, the world was a claustrophobic throat of wet stone.A loud splash echoed from the darkness ahead, followed by a wet, desperate curse."Damned... ungrateful... filth!""That's him," Arto growled, his jaw tightening. He lunged forward, his boots churning through ankle-deep muck. "Vane! It's over! There'
Chapter 80
"He went down the spillway!" Lara screamed, her voice cutting through the thundering roar of venting steam. "Arto, the footprint in the soot—it’s polished calfskin! He’s running for the river sub-tunnels!""Kray, hold this pressure lock!" Arto barked, kicking aside a twisted brass pipe. "If his private security tries to collapse the entrance behind us, blow the emergency shear pins!""I’m on it, Halloway!" Captain Kray yelled back, slamming his heavy iron shield into the corridor frame. "Don't let that spider reach his escape barge! If he gets to the open water, the Guild fleet will pick him up before dawn!""He’s not reaching the river," Arto growled, pulling Lara through the narrow rusted archway.They dropped into the pitch-black spillway, their boots splashing through ankle-deep slurry. The air here didn't just smell like grease and rust—it reeked of copper, raw rot, and the unmistakable, suffocating stench of decaying canal weed. This was the dark underbelly of the upper district
You may also like
The Clan Head System.
Great52.8K viewsMyriad Returning System
Rex Magnus45.5K viewsBecome a Super Rich With Crazy System
BOSSSESamaaaa171.9K viewsMartial God Gamer
CrazeNovel141.2K viewsThe 42-Dollar God:Spent It All, Owned It All
Victory Smyle 301 viewsApocalypse System: The Disabled Doctor
Orion315 viewsEndless Evolution as an Undead
MIP~105 viewsZero Rank Commander
Queeny18 views