The city was still operational, people could still go to a restaurant to eat some food, even go to a café that offered many different beverages, many of which had not existed in the past. With the appearance of the system, even though electronics didn't function anymore, with mana and mana crystals, people actually had access to many things that they once had, some that were even superior.
Do you want to have an espresso?
Fine, here you go, an espresso machine that works just like the old one, only that it is now powered by mana instead of electricity.
Do you want to drive a car to get around the city faster?
Nah, you can't do that, but, you can rent either a small vehicle that is reminiscent of a car that is powered by mana or you can even rent a monster from the monster transportation building that the Butcher had created.
Most things were still there and even though people either had to go out and hunt monsters in order to earn S Coins or took out a loan through the system, they could start a business once again.
Compared to how it was at Doncaster, life here in this city was more reminiscent of how it was in the past, but the military power they possessed was lower thanks to that as most people didn't fight but did miscellaneous jobs that paid some S Coins.
Of course, overall, the city had more combatants than Doncaster, but thanks to the fact that even the largest group of them, the ones belonging to the Butcher were always at odds and did their best to get better results than others in order to get more benefits, their teamwork was not as good.
The other players, those that hunted in order to survive were alright and there were some strong combatants amongst them, but if the city truly was in danger of being taken over by a different territory that possessed similar strength, Reign was certain that most would stab the Butcher in the back as some of the conversations he heard when the gang left the restaurant were all negative toward them and the city lord.
If the two cities were to fight against each other, Reign was certain that they could win, but the number of casualties would be astonishing, if the Butcher could somehow gain the help of most of the residents of the city, then Reign believed they might even lose, of course, that was a big if, not to mention the fact that the main factor that would decide the result was the power the Butcher had.
If Reign could immediately fly over to the Butcher and fight him one on one, potentially killing him at the start of the war, then half of the war would already be won as the enemy would be left without their leader while the 10 so-called 'heads' would probably do their best to become the new leader, which would negatively affect morale and would lead to the army collapsing, allowing Doncaster to win easily.
As they walked through the streets of the city, Reign and the others did their best to keep a low profile. There were multiple places where one couldn't enter without having the necessary documents, which were actually just badges given to researchers or members of the gang that ruled the area.
"It's weird, it's like everybody is just living their life like they previously did, without caring about the monsters that exist on the planet now, nor that Earth will get destroyed if nobody manages to ascend," Shadow said in a low voice as they walked through the street.
"It's only natural, these people are afraid of fighting outside, most people would be, especially since they don't need to fight and are protected by the dome."
"Compared to how it was for us back in the castle, without going out to hunt, the students, as well as the staff from the university wouldn't have enough S Coins to pay for the rent that Eldar was demanding, they had to fight at least a little bit in order to be safe."
"In Doncaster, almost nobody had a choice, with monsters suddenly appearing, they had to fight as they would die otherwise, even reaching a safe zone was a perilous journey, one many were unable to finish," Wolf said in a low voice as he looked around the street.
"None of these people need to fight, they don't have to pay any S Coins to simply stay here, and they can do some miscellaneous jobs to get enough coins to buy food, it's simple, but enough for them to live, hence why so many of them are still wearing old clothes, not to mention that you can see that some haven't had a shower in a while," Wolf said as he glanced at a couple of people who were wearing dirty T-Shirts.
"Do you think we should try to sneak into one of the places where the gangs have control over, to check what they're doing there?" Reign suddenly asked as Wolf nodded at him.
Their main goal during this trip was to get as much information as they can before planning their next step. They wanted to avoid going to war with the city, but from what they could see, if the Butcher finds out about Doncaster, he will definitely want to conquer it, just like he had done to every other territory his men had come across.
"They're lucky that there is a mountain between them and this place, it's only now that people are managing to reach Tier IV that some would try exploring it," Shadow said as he thought back on the territory they had allied themselves with. It was very close to the city, but a large mountain on which Tier IV monsters could be found was between them, making it impossible for the two territories to learn of each other's existence previously.
"Hey, do you think the Butcher and his group were a part of some of the challenges we took part in before?" Beast suddenly asked, making the party silent.
"It's … possible, but he also might not have wanted to take part in it, he might be the secretive type that likes to keep his power hidden until he attacks someone," Wolf said as the others nodded.
The challenges they had gone through before had some good rewards, and it was highly likely that the Butcher would get tempted by them, leading to him taking part in the challenges with his group.
They might have already seen the Butcher a couple of times in the past, just had no idea who he was.
As the party walked through the streets, they made a turn before heading to a small alley. The street adjacent to the alley had been closed and was controlled by the local gang. Nobody except for members of the gang could enter the street as they had demolished a couple of houses and created a large building with the help of the system there.
Whatever they could find in the building might prove to be helpful to them when it came to dealing with the Butcher or perhaps thinking of what their next step was.
As they entered the alley, men appeared from behind and in front of them, closing all routes and making it impossible for them to escape.
"Hey you guys, you seem a bit lost, care to tell me w-" Before the man leading the group was able to finish speaking, Reign and the others had made their move.
"They're only Tier II, let's finish this quickly and quietly." Reign said as he suddenly appeared in front of the leader of the group. Before the latter was able to respond to his sudden movement, Reign had already struck him.
A good punch in the solar plexus made the man bend over while the knee to the head broke his nose. That, coupled with a strong punch to the chin made the man lose consciousness. As for the members of the group that had tried to do god knows what to Reign and the others, they were also taken care of, none of them managing to even fight back before being knocked unconscious.
"It seems the public security in the city isn't that good." Reign commented before they quickly started climbing the side of a building. It was a residential building and had a fire escape, so it was a simple and easy task for Reign and the others to jump up and land on the stairs before making their way to the roof.
They didn't pull down the staircase as they didn't want people to hear them, the previous fight was over in mere seconds and nobody was able to say a thing before being knocked out.
After they managed to climb onto the rooftop, Reign and the others observed their surroundings before looking in front of them.
The building that the gang had created was about 7 meters away from the apartment building on which Reign and the others stood. A 4-meter-tall wall surrounded the building, making it impossible for anyone to climb over as there were numerous spikes on the top of the wall.
"So, do we jump down?" Shadow asked as he looked at everybody.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦