A sudden question came to Arcturus. He turned to Constance. “If Virgo is the one in charge of the Shiftie plant, why is the mayor considered your creator?”

“The building was originally a place where only Cobots were created. When the knowledge of how to create Shifties came to Sirius, Bellatrix made two prototypes–those were my brother-bot and me.” Constance’s words made sense to him, given that she has zero knowledge of Virgo and all of her focus was on the mayor.

“How long does it take for a Shiftie to be created?”

Constance replied, “I was told it took a little over a year for me and my brother-bot to be created.”

“Makes sense, given you were prototypes…” He then asked Hilbert, “How long does it usually take for Shifties to be created these days? You said that they’re preparing an army of Shifties, but can they be made within a day?”

“Well, I’m sure that they had some already made and they’re just programming their commands right now. They don’t need a mass army. I predict they’re bringing around 6 or 7 of them. That much can pretty much dominate the ordinary people here.”

When he looked at the map, Arcturus had some thoughts about how they would reach the Outskirts. He thought about airships as he had seen some and was on one. However, given the whole ordeal before, he wondered if they would still stick with airships or if there were different ways to reach here. He asked this to Hilbert. Fortunately, the inventor had thorough answers for him.

“There’s an underground passageway somewhere in the Shiftie facility that connects to the Outskirts–right in front of the wall, actually.”

“Underground passageway?”

“I installed another map with all the underground passageways. Have a look.”

When Arcturus found the map, his eyes widened with how complex the entire system looked. It reminded him of the train system in Lamina, but with even more lines. He had a hard time understanding where each path connected. It was as if someone had been so intoxicated to create an official map of the underground passageway that they submitted this and called it a day.

However, what bothered him the most was the fact that these underground passageways even existed. How was it even possible? He wondered if this was the same case as the wall because these passageways looked too intricate to be created in just twenty years.

“Why is this map messy? Who made this?”

Hilbert coughed and leaned towards Arcturus. “My assistant Sara made it. She’s obsessed with tunnels, but cannot draw to save her life–this is a secret map, by the way.” Arcturus did not expect the stern Sara to have an obsession and quirk.

“How did these underground passageways come to be? It feels too convenient to have them exist like this. If there are this many, a third party is definitely involved–like how the wall just magically appeared one day.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That’s precisely it. Like the wall, we’re not sure how these tunnels came to be. All I know is that they were just there as we only discovered this a few years ago when we learned that Constance had arrived at the Outskirts using the tunnel system.”

Constance’s ears suddenly flopped down. “Unfortunately, I don’t remember much of how the underground passage systems work. I wasn’t conscious when I was being transported.”

Arcturus became deep in thought. He did think about using the underground system to escape, but given the bizarre map and the fact that the enemies knew how to use it meant he was at a disadvantage. The tunnels magically appearing one day intrigued him a lot. However, an idea came to him–one where he and Nova were safe and gave their adversaries a major disadvantage.

“Hilbert, where is your secret organization’s base? Do you guys even have one?”

“We do!”

“Where is it?”

“You’re standing on it right now–my house is the base.”

“Wouldn’t that be at a disadvantage? Soldiers could barge in and search the house without your consent.”

“No worries. I am an inventor. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves when it comes to avoiding the soldiers and the government.” He puffed his chest as he placed both of his hands on his hips.

He seems like someone who’d purposely avoid filing his taxes to annoy the government. Despite his rather growing doubts, he wanted to trust him.

“If this is a safe place, is it possible for Nova and me to take refuge here? I worry about Sophia and Murphy’s safety the longer we stay here. Not to mention, I do have a plan when it comes to going to the inner city, but it does involve Nova having to be safe for the next two days. If strong Shifties are going to come here tomorrow with the objective to find Nova, it’d be best to find a safer place to protect him and await his awakening.”

Hilbert became deep in thought. “Normally, our leader doesn’t allow any more additions into our liberation organization, but given that you have the Char–Nova, with you, I’m sure she’ll make an exception. I’ll vouch for both of you.”

“What about me?” Constance remarked. “Can I come too?”

“You can, but our leader wouldn’t care whether you do or not because she doesn’t care much for Shifties.”

Constance started pouting; her ears sunk down. Arcturus could tell that the social stigma towards Shifties would take a long time to change as the world had its biases.

Hilbert continued, “Anyways, if you want to meet our organization, return to my house with Nova in the middle of night. That’s when no one is out and about and you’re able to move around safely. Our leader would love to meet Nova.”

Arcturus eyed the clock. It would be midnight in about six hours. There was enough time to return back to the apartment and get Nova. He also needed to say his farewells to Sophia and Murphy, but there was a bit of an uncertainty within him. He knew anyone associated with fugitives or anybody wanted by the government would get heavily punished. He didn’t want such things to happen to kind people like them. Was it possible for them to come with him? Would they even want to come? Given all of the things he had learned from Hilbert, he knew the right words to say, but it’s a matter of conviction from them. If they were willing to leave, they’d be safe. If they weren’t, it’d be another lingering guilt for him. He didn’t want to be doubtful and guilt-driven anymore.

“Hilbert, if it’s possible…”