Kill the Sun

"But I know why they did it," Wyntor added.

Nick raised an eyebrow.

Wyntor didn't know who tried to kill Nick, but he knew why?

"The Crimson Sea," Wyntor said.

"The Crimson Sea is a Specter, obviously, and Specters produce Zephyx when they grow more powerful, and when an Extractor is close to a Specter at that moment, they also grow more powerful, right?" Wyntor said.

"Whenever anyone falls into the Crimson Sea, it produces a ton of Zephyx. However, since it's not in a Containment Unit, we can't harvest the Zephyx."

"But Extractors can still grow more powerful by absorbing it."

"This piece of information is highly confidential, but it's not that difficult to figure out, actually. Veterans are already pretty good at sensing Zephyx, and they are bound to feel the burst of Zephyx whenever anyone falls into the Crimson Sea."

"I'm quite certain that someone was trying to kill you so that they could absorb more Zephyx and become stronger."

"You might not even have been their first target," Wyntor said.

"They didn't target you for yourself but for your identity as an Extractor."

Nick's eyes widened.

That might have actually been it!

Even more, maybe that man had been responsible for more deaths before he got to Nick?

At that moment, Wyntor chuckled.

"Remember the name of the Crimson Sea's level?" Wyntor asked.

"Fanatic," he added. "Fanatics are called as such because cults are often created around them."

When he heard that, Nick imagined a couple of people in black robes sacrificing other people to the Crimson Sea.

That sounded quite dangerous.

"I think I shouldn't be surprised, but I still am surprised," Nick said with a slight chuckle.

Wyntor nodded before standing up from his corner.

"I'm going to deal with your issue with Anatomy," Wyntor said.

Nick felt relieved but also a bit guilty.

"Don't stress yourself out about it," Wyntor said when he saw Nick's expression. "You went through enough bad things for one day."

"Get Dark Dream properly running again, and everything's fine."

"Thanks, Wyntor," Nick said as he also stood up.

"Oh, by the way," Wyntor said as the two of them were leaving the office. "The governor will soon announce the new name of the city."

"New name?" Nick asked. "Why?"

"Names for cities are mostly used to create an image of the city in the minds of people who have never seen it. Usually, the strongest Specter in the city is the one that has the biggest impact on a city's perception, which is why many cities are named after their strongest Specters."

"While the Crimson Fungus is technically still the strongest Specter, it is definitely not the most troublesome or the one with the biggest impact."

"However, the Crimson Sea also isn't strong enough to get the entire city named after it."

"Because of that, we decided on a hybrid name."

"Crimson City."

"Crimson City?" Nick asked.

A moment later, Nick thought about the city as a whole.

The underground was crimson.

The mist was crimson.

Even the big fungus was crimson.

"I guess it makes sense," Nick said.

Wyntor and Nick said their goodbyes, and Wyntor went back into the Inner City to get some well-earned sleep.

Meanwhile, Nick stayed in Dark Dream and continued cleaning it.

He didn't feel hungry or sleepy.

He hadn't slept since the ambush on his home, which had happened over two days ago.

Nick felt like the ambush had happened this morning.

Slowly, Dark Dream was getting cleaner and cleaner.

During the morning, only the seventh floor was still in chaos, and a huge hill of debris had been created in front of Dark Dream.

Nick had used the debris from the building to create a ramp leading up to Dark Dream's entrance.

When Nick was finally done cleaning the floors, he looked at the building.

It was much cleaner now, but it was still awkwardly leaning on the side of the megastructure.

"Good morning, Boss."

Nick looked over and saw one of the Peak Newbies arriving for work.

Nick nodded. "Good morning. Jenny isn't here yet. I can assign you some work if you want to earn some money."

The Newbie nodded. "Yes, please."

"Are you familiar with how to work with the Puppy?" Nick asked.

The Newbie's eyes shone in excitement. "Yes!"

"Then, go to the third floor. I'll send someone to get you in eight hours. The Puppy is still in the same Containment Unit as before."

"Thanks, Boss!" the Newbie said with excitement before they left to work with the Puppy.

Everyone wanted to work with the Puppy.

Working with the Puppy was a lot of fun, and time passed very quickly while working with it.

A couple minutes later, three more Extractors came.

They were the three that Dark Dream had gotten from Gemini some time ago.

All three of them were Peak Newbies and were on their way to becoming Initial Johns.

Yet, when Nick assigned work to the three of them, they became terrified.

The Dreamer?!

None of them had worked with the Dreamer before!

The reason was that the Dreamer produced Zephyx based on the level of the Extractor, and Dark Dream used to have plenty of Johns to work with it.

Sadly, that was no longer the case.

Nick assured them that it wasn't dangerous.

He even said that it made no sense to covertly get rid of them since they have been exemplary employees ever since that little revolution a year or so ago.

The first couple of clerks had also arrived, and Nick told the clerk manning the reception to tell the Extractors that he would be back to assign work soon.

Then, Nick took the three Extractors to work with the Dreamer.

He simply talked to the Dreamer a bit and told the three of them how to work with it.

Naturally, Nick wasn't scared that the Dreamer would kill them.

After all, Nick and the Dreamer had had a talk about a year ago.

Two of the people from Gemini left since their shifts would start later.

When Nick reached the entrance again, he saw over five Extractors.

'At least we still have a couple of people left. I thought it would be worse,' he thought.