An hour later…

A Holo-signboard floated in the sky outside the Town.

[Welcome to Larton Town]

Larton in terms of land size was barely bigger than Wurzburg, but that was where the comparison between both Towns ended.

Larton was a far more advanced Town technologically than Wurzburg.

Larton had a massive concrete wall that surrounded the whole Town. The wall was heavily fortified with machine guns, turrets, cannon launchers, and a type of flamethrower gun with massive muzzles to spit fire at targets.

Every 10 meters around the top of the Town wall, there was an observation post manned by at least 2 local police officers.

Unlike Wurzburg that's more of a self-governed Town, Larton is a Town directly under the jurisdiction of the Geneforge Clans hence the massive technological difference between both Towns.

It is also the reason why Larton Town has a rail line leading directly to the Minor City of the Geneforge Clans, Leviathan Quay.

When Leon arrived in front of the metal gate, he met police officers who asked him for his identification details in a professional manner.

Just like he did in Wurzburg, he gave the story of how he lost his identification details. Leon didn't know if the police officer bought it or not but the young police officer, a Geneform sternly warned him to be more careful next time before hitting him with a whopping 10 pounds fine.

Leon winced when he handed the money to the police officer but if he wanted to enter the Town, he had no choice but to pay the money.

Unlike Wurzburg, he had zero confidence in singlehandedly taking down the defenses of this Town.

It wasn't his intention, but it was normal to simulate the limits of his current strength in his head. And when he did the simulation, Leon saw himself dying 100 times out of 100 if he ever tried to singlehandedly bring down Larton Town.

Apart from the advanced defenses of this Town and the clearly well-trained and drilled local police, he had no doubt that there were multiple Ascended in the Town leading the local police.

After paying the fine and entering inside the Town, the first thing he saw was an eye-catching pole proudly flaunting the flag of the Geneforge Clans.

The buildings in Larton Town were mostly modest on the surface, the biggest at most being a single story or 2-story building.

The singular largest building in the Town was a 3-story building at the West side of the Town, Leon guessed that it was either the Mayor's house or it was the DPO (Divisional Police Officer's) house.

The reason why the buildings were so modest didn't elude him.

Just like in Wurzburg, he was pretty sure that the bigger parts of these buildings were subterranean and built underground.

"Davis, the railway".

DING!

With the help of his A.I, Leon easily located the railway without having to ask the locals and then he quickly paid for the ticket.

The attendant stamped the ticket before handing it over to him.

[Ticket No. 097]

Once again, Leon winced when he recalled the amount he had to pay for the train ticket.

The ticket from Larton Town to Leviathan Quay cost 5 Neo Credits!

When Mary told him the truth back in Community G, he was left in disbelief. And now, he had no choice but to believe when confronted with reality.

And just like that, the money the couple gave him was now less than a Neo Credit. 'I'm so f*cking poor'.

The next journey was scheduled for 12:00noon, meaning Leon would have to wait for more than 3 hours since it was still just 9:00am.

Within those hours of waiting, he got accustomed to a very important facet of Geneform culture, food.

It was clearly not Neon Beast meat, yet somehow, these Geneforms managed to get clean meat that they used in cooking all kinds of meat delicacies- roasted, grilled, fried, and even vacuum-cooked.

The recipes that these guys used were so godly that even Leon who was now poor and impoverished could not help his salivating throat.

The aroma could make a man cry.

'F*ck, dammit! We only live once!'

With that thought, he confidently stood up and walked towards one of the stalls in the railway that processed one of these meat recipes.

Despite how tantalizing the aroma was, though he was immune to ADE corruption, he was curious. "These are not Neon Beast meat, right?"

The seller, a shirtless Geneform with a blue apron and chef cap laughed. "Brother, you're new to Larton right?"

Leon nodded.

The seller laughed louder. "Brother, this is not Neon Beast meat, this is lab meat".

Leon was alarmed. "Lab meat?"

"Of course brother! This one came fresh from the laboratories in Leviathan Quay, I'm telling you brother!"

Leon was taken aback as he felt even more alarmed. "You mean they create these meat artificially?"

"Haha," the seller laughed. "Of course brother! Very sweet meat, very soft, very tantalizing!"

Leon felt apprehensive but in the end, he shrugged. 'It's not as if even Neon Beast meat can corrupt me, so what am I even scared of?'

"How much?" He asked.

"10 pounds for 10 slices brother".

"10 what…?" Leon almost choked on his own saliva.

"Haha," he laughed and scratched the back of his head. "I think I'm suffering stomach ache, so I don't think…"

"Brother, lab meat cures stomach ache". The seller said seriously.

Once again, Leon was taken aback. "Really?"

"Of course brother. Brother, why will I lie to you?"

"Wow". Leon was genuinely impressed. Convinced, he winced slightly as he counted out ten 1-pound notes and handed it to the seller.

The seller smiled and quickly sliced 10 tiny cuts of meat for him, wrapping it up with used newspaper before stabbing two toothpick to the paper.

'Is that hygienic?' Leon thought instinctively on seeing that but he didn't raise a fuss about it.

Instead, seeing just how tiny the sliced parts were, he winced again but then he convinced himself. 'They can even cure stomach ache, it's worth it'.

After returning to sit down, he hesitantly opened the newspaper wrap, picked one of the toothpicks and with it he dipped into one of the meat, raised it, and gently put it inside his mouth.

He chewed.

The first thought he had was. 'It's so soft… and spicy… wow, it's tasty!'

He quickly picked another one with the toothpick and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and savoring the spicy taste.

Before he knew it, Leon forgot about the toothpick completely as he dipped his hands into the newspaper and ate directly with his hands.

"Ahh!" He moaned with satisfaction at the end. "It's worth it," he mumbled but then he quickly became cautious.

'Is that the trick?' He thought warily. 'It's clearly tasty, but him saying it can cure stomach ache, that was a bluff right?'

He suddenly felt stupid for believing such an obvious scam. 'F*ck! No matter how tasty it is, no amount of tastiness justifies 10 pounds for just 10 slices, that's f*cking daylight robbery!'

On one hand, since he already made the financial mistake of splurging money on the lab meat delicacy, he felt tempted to just splurge another.

Afterall, what's the difference? He already did it before, right?

But Leon quickly shuddered and covered his pockets tightly. "That's the Devil's whisper," he looked around cautiously as if demons were lurking nearby. "And that's how you become completely broke really fast".

"Dammit, this place is a den of temptation!" He grumbled under his breath.

For the rest of the waiting period, Leon struggled with the different aromas saturating the air, making him sweat like a man in heat.

'F*ck!' He cursed for the umpteenth time. 'They should have put a signboard outside saying only rich people are allowed inside this railway'.

After 3 agonizing hours, finally, it was 12 noon.

Even before the announcer started calling, Leon directly stood up with his bag and rushed away from the busy area where different sellers sold food like there was an infectious plague there.

A few more minutes later, his ticket was called.

"Ticket number 95, Coach 7".

Having taken his bike towards the luggage Coach of the train already, Leon climbed over the guideway and finally entered inside the maglev train.

Inside was neat, sleek, and luxurious.

There was a neat space at the top by the side of the train for him to keep his bag but considering the contents that were inside, Leon preferred to keep it close.

The seat directly in front of him had a TV screen through which he could choose any entertainment station that he wanted through the 40 minutes period of the journey to Leviathan Quay.

The same applied to every other seat in the maglev train.

About 5 minutes after Leon entered the train, the Engineman spoke through the speakers and addressed the passengers, then Leon felt a slight pull.

The maglev train started moving.

Finally, Leon's journey to Leviathan Quay was on its last lap.

At that moment, he noticed what was being shown in the channel on the TV screen directly in front of him.

["The Terrorists strike again…"]

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