Chapter 2136 2146

Chapter 2136 2146
Inside the headquarters of Promise Corporation, after Liam and his group stepped through the heavy iron door, they found themselves in a brightly lit room, gathering closely together.
Max was examining the map, while Axel continued to brief Liam and the others on the situation inside the corporate headquarters.
"This Promise Corporation facility is structured somewhat like an inverted tower. Originally, it stood entirely above ground, but because of the massive explosion coupled with thousands of years of shifting earth, it's now buried deep underground. According to legends, the topmost section of the Promise Corporation complex stood over a thousand meters high," Axel explained.
A wave of shock washed over Liam. Standing over a thousand meters tall, surviving a cataclysmic explosion, and remaining completely intact after being buried underground for millennia—the shock-absorption and structural engineering technology of this world were truly terrifying.
"The Promise Corporation headquarters has a total of five hundred floors, cascading downward. Where we are right now is roughly around the five hundredth floor," Axel continued. "All of these entrances can grant access to the headquarters, and once inside, certain areas have been excavated and developed. The deepest level our Ancient Clan has managed to reach and explore is 335 floors down. As for how far other factions have gotten, that remains unknown. We have a detailed mapped route for these first three hundred-plus floors."
"Beyond that, whether the structure remains intact is anyone's guess," Axel added. "Of course, this only applies to the areas we've already explored. Over the years, the vast majority of rooms within these three hundred-plus floors have already been unlocked and looted, though a small fraction still cannot be opened."
"You mean other factions might have explored even deeper?" Liam asked with a hint of skepticism.
"Mhm. Every faction keeps their progress strictly confidential. Besides, people like you aren't rare—many independent factions that manage to stumble upon keys or maps will seek out partnerships with the Eight Great Clans. Still, the cut of the spoils most outsiders get ends up being pretty small," Axel explained further.
Stella chimed in from the side, "In fact, the development of a lot of our current civilization's technology originated right here from Promise Corporation, including the core tech mastered independently by each of the Eight Great Clans. Ever since Promise Corporation fell, people born with the Artisan Trait have become scarcer and scarcer."
"Still..." At this point, Leo suddenly spoke up, "Don't you guys find this whole place eerie?"
"Huh?" Everyone turned to look at him.
"The Promise Corporation headquarters blew up, blasting this region right off the mainland and forming an island, yet the facility itself was buried underground and left miraculously intact. But... what happened to all their people? Not a single skeleton or body was ever found. Don't you guys find that strange?"
Pausing for a moment, Leo murmured, "Keep in mind, people with the Artisan Trait are all at least at the Flame Decay level, and those with immortal bones are virtually indestructible. Yet to this day, I've never heard of anyone finding a single immortal bone down here. These people act as if they simply vanished into thin air."
Axel nodded in agreement. "That's precisely what everyone finds so baffling about this place."
Liam rubbed his chin. "With a corporation this massive, it's practically impossible that not a single corpse was left behind. Do you suppose... those mutants outside are actually former employees of Promise Corporation? We just don't know what specific catalyst caused them to transform."
His words sent an involuntary chill down the spines of everyone present, making the atmosphere feel rather hair-raising.
Stella noted, "Actually, other people have floated that exact theory before, but it's never been verified. Artisan Trait holders in the past wanted to come to this island to conduct research, but once they arrived, they found themselves completely unsuited for the island's environment. As a result, most of them simply hauled whatever artifacts they could find back out to study them externally."
"Forget it, speculating like this doesn't accomplish much. This island is undeniably bizarre," Max said briskly. "Let's just grab the Creation Needles quickly and get out of this place!"
With that, he pointed out, "Look at the top-right corner of this map—there's a number '99' marked on it. If we calculate it based on that, these Creation Needles should be located on the ninety-ninth floor!"
Stella took the map, glanced at it, and nodded. "That should be correct. If we're counting downward from the top, that would be manageable since we have a safe, established route. But if it's counted from the bottom up... that's a completely different story. Based on this conversion, it would be 401 floors down, which means nearly seventy floors below our deepest explored zone haven't been mapped at all."
"If we haven't reached it yet, it either means we never found a downward passage, or... it's simply too dangerous for us to survive down there," Stella said, turning to look at Liam. "If it's the latter, things are going to get complicated."
"Let's make it to the ninety-ninth floor first and worry about that then!" Liam decided.
"Alright!" They nodded in unison. Stella then walked toward the back of the chamber, where an electronic door-like device was installed. She punched in a series of security codes, and with a hiss, the electronic door slid open!
"The passageways we're using now were built entirely by our own Ancient Clan, leading directly into the heart of Promise Corporation's headquarters!" Stella reminded them.
Liam nodded.
The group pressed forward, unlocking an unknown number of doors along the way. Eventually, when the final door swung open, a biting, frigid gust of wind rushed out from the interior, revealing a deep, shadowy corridor stretching out before them.