Inside The Black Mist

The next day, Tianyang walked out of his bedroom, ready to apologize, but found his mother had left, leaving a simple breakfast on the table—a nutritious cereal in a thermos and a fresh egg.

There was a poultry farm inside the fortress, but eggs were a luxury item in the Lower District. This egg might have cost his mother a whole day's worth of salary.

Looking at it, Tianyang felt idiotic.

He drank the cereal but couldn't bear to eat the egg. He carefully opened the egg white and took out the yolk, and when his mother returned, he could steam it lightly and serve it to her.

Tianyang ate a few mouthfuls of egg whites and looked around. The ground had accumulated some dust; his mother probably didn’t have time to clean it recently. So, he searched for a broom and started cleaning.

He went into his mother's room. Nanfei's bedroom was very tidy, with even a small potted plant on the window sill and a photo frame on the shelf next to her bed.

Inside was a photo of her and Tianyang, but in the photo, the now ascender was a baby held in Nanfei's arms. The photo was clearly cropped, and from the photo, there seemed to be another person standing next to Nanfei.

Could that be my father?

Why was he cut off?

Tianyang picked up the photo frame, lost in thought.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door, and Tianyang assumed his mother had returned. Hurriedly putting the photo frame back, he accidentally dropped it, and it fell apart.

"Excuse me, does Mr. Tianyang live here?" A man's voice came from outside the door.

Tianyang glanced at the broken photo frame on the floor and was relieved that his mother hadn’t returned. He quickly left the bedroom.

Opening the door, he saw a tall and thin man outside. The man's gray hair was neatly combed, and his uniform looked somewhat ill-fitting. He tried to be serious, but he looked ridiculous.

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"Who are you?" Tianyang didn't recognize the man at all.

The man smiled and said, "I'm from the registration office of the Upper District. Congratulations, Mr. Tianyang. Your registration in the Upper District has been processed. As per the rules of the fortress, you can add two more people under your registration, but only for immediate relatives. The office has sent me to assist you with the registration."

"In addition, according to the procedure, I will read out the rights and obligations of the Upper Citizens to you, although you may already know them."

Tianyang invited him in; the man complied and after looking around, he cleared his throat and began to read, "According to the fortress' rules and regulations, Uppers, especially Ascenders with upper citizenship, have the following rights."

"Firstly, the right to reside in the Upper District, where you can enjoy all the convenience services provided by the fortress."

"Secondly, the right to select a spouse. It should be noted that this should not be confused with the rights that all citizens enjoy. Ascenders only have the right to select their spouses. This means that you can marry any woman you choose, and she can’t refuse you unless she is willing to leave the Sky Tower. This includes women from upper-class families as well, though I doubt that anyone would turn down such a wonderful opportunity, lol."

"Of course, you can only choose one spouse, as the fortress' marriage law strongly insists on monogamy."

Tianyang chuckled. "I don't have any plans to get married yet."

"In addition, each Ascender also has the right to a companion, and there is no limit on the number. Even if you already have a family, this right can still be maintained. This is due to genetic optimization; as you know, there is a high chance that the offspring of Ascenders will also become Ascenders."

"If you have accumulated more than 100,000 contribution points, you will also have the right to establish a clan. You can choose a surname for yourself, and your descendants shall inherit it. The first three generations of this family can inherit your surname, as well as the status, property, and rights of the Upper Citizens, and so on..."

The man read out all the details for about ten minutes, and Tianyang almost fell asleep. Just as the boy was thinking of shooing him away, the man finally finished.

He then placed an electronic key on the table.

"This is..." Tianyang looked at the key.

"This is the vehicle assigned to you, an electromagnetic unicycle. It's parked outside and has unlocked access for most areas. I hope you'll like it."

The registration officer finally left, and Tianyang went outside to see the unicycle, very excited. He couldn't help but let out a cheer.

This unicycle used an electromagnetic engine and could be charged on the electromagnetic charging panels available generously on city streets.

The vehicle used a gyroscope balancing system, which even beginners could easily operate. Although its maximum speed was only 60 kilometers per hour, it was sufficient for use within the fortress.

After the biological module was written into the system, Tianyang was registered as the vehicle owner. Although he wanted to take it for a joyride, he returned to Nanfei's bedroom.

The fallen picture frame still needed to be repaired. His mother treasured the frame, and if she came back to find it broken, it would likely result in another storm.

Tianyang picked up the pieces and planned to find some glue to fix the frame. Suddenly, he noticed a piece of paper.

It was placed behind the photo, and he probably wouldn't be noticed unless the frame was broken.

He opened it, and it was a receipt from the Sky Tower Storage for the Upper District. The receipt indicated that someone had anonymously stored something in the storage facility.

It had been stored for 50 years, and the fees had already been paid in advance.

Looking at the date on the receipt, it was issued 17 years ago!

"17 years ago, wasn't that when I was born? Who went to the storage, was it mom?"

"What was stored? Why hasn't it been retrieved yet?"

Looking at the invoice, Tianyang suddenly had a bold idea.

Could it be that what was stored had to do with my father?

Once this idea arose, he couldn't be stopped.

Tianyang quickly fixed the photo frame and put it back, then took the invoice and left.

The electric motorcycle's system had a built-in navigation system, and even though Tianyang had never been to the Upper District, he was able to find the storage quite easily.

Entering the storage house’s gate, a woman in simple clothes, with a professional smile plastered on her face, stared at Tianyang with surprise and disdain.

The surprise was at Tianyang's look, which didn't look like that of an Upper Citizen but rather that of a Lower Citizen. It was indeed surprising that a Lower Citizen could come there.

The disdain was also due to his Lower Citizen status. After all, this storage was mainly open to the Upper Citizens. Speaking of which, could a Lower Citizen even afford storage fees?

Although she was only a commoner, her status was higher than that of these Lower Citizens.

A sense of superiority rose within her.

"Good afternoon, sir. May I ask what you need?" Despite her sense of superiority, the woman was obviously still here to serve customers and wouldn't drive Tianyang away foolishly.

Tianyang took out an invoice and said, "I'm here to retrieve something."

The woman took the invoice and looked at it leisurely. "Can you show me your personal identity card?"

Tianyang nodded and took out the new identity card that Lin Yang had issued him.

The woman took it and lightly placed it on an electronic scanner on her wrist. Through the chip on the identity card, she could read the information of most people in the city.

When the words "Ascender" appeared on the instrument screen under Tianyang's name, the woman almost dropped the card.

To the common populace, Ascenders were almost unattainable big shots.

What the woman couldn't understand was why such big shots needed to come to retrieve things on his own?

Moreover, this Ascender seemed very young, and his clothes were too... Well, too plain!

Fortunately, she hadn't said anything wrong just now. Otherwise, she might be dead.

The woman's attitude changed drastically. Warmly taking Tianyang's arm, she said, "This way, Mr. Tianyang, we need to verify and inspect the item you want to retrieve, which may take some time. Please follow me to the waiting room. If you need anything, just let me know."

The mature woman pressed her chest against Tianyang's arm, making him uncomfortable. He wasn't used to being so close to females, so he quickly withdrew his arm, finally being able to breathe normally.

15 minutes later, a password-protected box was placed in front of him. Upon opening it, there was only one thing inside.

A diary!