Chapter 79: The Undercity
There are seven famous families, each with its own unique characteristics. What made the Viola Family so prominent that it established itself as one of the great families, enough to stand alongside the rest of the bigshots?
The answer was pretty simple. Underworld.
The Viola Family holds the largest underworld in the world, where all kinds of deals take place. One might encounter a member of some gang from one street to another if they continue walking through the Viola Family’s territory.
Whether they are part of a small or large gang, one will eventually come across a gang member. In fact, someone close might even be one.
That’s what made the Viola Family famous that solidified their position among the other families.
Cillian entered an inconspicuous house with his dad, Leo, leading the way at the front.
"Wear this."
Once they were inside, Leo handed Cillian a robe for convenience, which he accepted without another word.
Once they were done wearing their respective robes, they entered a metallic elevator from a room on the second floor of some house. After Leo pressed the button for the ground level, the elevator began descending.
The elevator steadily descended. It passed through the house’s interior, then the basement, and then, darkness surrounded their metallic elevator. It only lasted for a few seconds before lights began to appear below them, and there were hundreds of them.
"The Viola’s Underworld, Undercity. I believe this is your first time coming here."
The Undercity sat beneath the Viola Family’s land. Streets emerged from the darkness. Buildings rose between the columns that supported the city below. Bridges connected rooftops suspended over the open spaces of the buildings.
The city had expanded over the decades until it became a sprawling underground settlement.
Eventually, they reached the bottom, and the metallic elevator opened, revealing the people moving through the crowded streets. Merchants shouted from their stalls. Smoke drifted out from those cracked chimneys. Somewhere in the distance, music echoed, which was enough for the two of them to hear.
For Cillian to see it directly with his own two eyes, he couldn’t help but be amazed by the city’s... atmosphere.
It was something else.
"It’s not being affected by the Runic Gates’ appearance, and the earthquake that followed?"
"The Undercity is being held by those reinforced columns that are filled with ancient magic of the previous era. The people living here also secretly made this place safe because, well, half of these people called this place their home."
The two left the elevator as Leo began to introduce the Undercity to Cillian.
"Even though gangs, criminals, and people living outside the law are all here together, there are still laws established here. They are not actual laws, but we call them survival laws. Breaking them doesn’t get you arrested. However, you get robbed, beaten, or killed. Basically, it’s for you to remember."
Leo paused as Cillian listened intently.
"Ask no names. Touch no marks. See nothing."
Cillian, who felt that saying was important, couldn’t help but ask.
"What about those three phrases? Are they the most important survival laws here?"
Leo watched someone get beaten up from the side as Cillian also glanced in that direction, yet no reaction from the onlookers. They merely passed by and treated the interaction as normal.
Then Leo began to answer Cillian’s question.
"Rule 1, Cillian. Never ask who someone works for. If they wanted you to know, they would’ve already told you."
In the Undercity, affiliations are dangerous knowledge. Asking which gang someone belongs to, who they’re delivering for, or who owns a territory is considered either spying or a challenge to the one behind them. Many killings start with a simple question.
A smart person accepts what they’re told and moves on.
"Rule 2. Respect the Markings. The walls you see around are already speaking before the people do."
Every district, alleyway, and building carries symbols. Some mark gang territories, some warn of about the traps, some signal a safe house, and some mean a debt was owed. Touching, crossing out, or ignoring a marking can be interpreted as trespassing, theft, or a declaration of hostility.
A veteran in the Undercity learns to read walls before they read maps.
"Last but not least is Rule 3. Never witness for free. If you saw something, then somebody saw you seeing it."
The Undercity runs on secrets. Witnessing a deal, a murder, a smuggling operation, or even a conversation creates a problem for everyone involved. Something that doesn’t involve you becomes part of you merely by becoming a bystander.
You now know something.
Either you’re paid to forget it. Paid to keep quiet. Removed entirely. Or was just given a chance to ignore it at all.
When violence breaks out, experienced residents of the Undercity immediately look away and keep walking. Not because they don’t care. Because surviving tomorrow matters more than knowing what happened today.
A prime example of this rule is the guy they saw getting beaten up earlier. Cillian didn’t know what kind of thing he deserved to get beaten up for, but it wasn’t his business.
He merely ignored the poor person.
Even Leo didn’t pay any attention to it a second later.
’What I’m still amazed by is how this big city continued to hold, even though a lot of earthquakes are happening due to the Runic Gates, with Elsewhere in Time being the nearest one here. The residents here might be hostile to each other, but they wouldn’t allow this place to be destroyed. After all, it was the perfect place to run a business.’
Cillian mused inwardly before hearing Leo calling to him.
"Do you understand the rules now, Cillian?"
Cillian nodded once and calmly stated.
"Ask no names. Touch no marks. See nothing."
Leo nodded once.
"As long as you understand."
Cillian continued walking. Eventually, they soon reached a building with a huge signboard named WB, short for Whisper Broker.
The moment they entered, Cillian saw an old lobby meant for people entering the building. There was a receptionist desk, seating areas where people could sit down, and paths that led to other parts of the building.
"This is one of the main branches of Whisper Broker. I hold this place. Usually, higher informants have access to these kinds of buildings and are only allowed to look through the information they stored here, but if you want to know more about the Undercity and get curious about certain people you want to know, then you have to look through the main headquarters’ information tab. However, you have to earn it. But it’s not what you want today."
Leo glanced behind to see his son getting curious inside before he said.
"You want a job, right?"
Cillian shook his head up and down.
Cillian was in dire need of a job to earn money. Even though his real purpose for coming here is to become one of the Whisper Broker’s main informants to gain access to information, he would still need money to buy things whenever he needed to.
"If you want a job and also like to raise your informant status in the gang, then you have to tackle missions. Take this and that. Raise your value level, and eventually, you’ll reach a certain position like mine. Yes, you get to own a building if you do well."
’Would that give me passive income?’
Investing in a building in this place? Yeah, it was not happening.
Cillian would rather invest his time in becoming the best informant possible. A building, passive income, and other material gains were nothing compared to the information he could uncover from this city.
"Is there an available job for today?"
Cillian asked with a confident tone before he saw Leo signal the receptionist to grab a stack of paper. He then said.
"The mission tasked to us by the Lord takes priority over the rest. Always remember that the Lord comes first before these requests."
After receiving the stack of papers coming from the receptionist, who had gone back to doing their own thing by looking through a bunch of papers in their hands, Leo handed over the stack of papers to give Cillian the freedom to choose which he liked.
"What comes after completing the job?"
Cillian asked before hearing an answer right away.
"Then, you can do another job. It’s a repeating cycle of going home, going to your job, going back home exhausted, and repeating."
’Spoken like a true father.’
Cillian commented inwardly before he skimmed through the stack of papers to find out what type of job he was willing to do. After all, information gathering isn’t the only strength this gang had before. It was just what they mostly do.
Eventually, he came to a decision.
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