Mysteries: Arcana Wars

Chapter 450 The non-existent person

Backlund time, 2:00 on Winter Ceremony Eve.

There are still 18 hours until the outpost launch.

Church of the Night, Star-Broken Building.

Screens of all sizes glowed with a variety of colors, covering Gloria's face. She stood before this wall of monitors, thinking, like a silent statue.

The Loen Citizen System was Backlund's greatest invention since the fourteenth century.

Any biometric information of a citizen is stored in this small citizen identification code.

Through terminal devices, citizens with citizen identification codes can quickly and conveniently complete various procedures, including transfers, wages, transactions, transportation, and even entry and exit.

The lives of the Loen people are closely related to the citizen identification system.

In other words, everyone's life is recorded without reservation in the citizen identification system.

From the moment a file is created at birth, through growing up, studying, working, getting married, and ultimately dying, in Backlund, where cameras and biometrics rule the land, everyone's life is recorded as rows of data until they vanish from this world, becoming only the last trace they left behind in this metropolis.

The strict regulatory system has made people's lives more convenient, but it has also made it difficult for people without citizen identification codes to move around, and even unable to complete most transactions. They can only hide in the cracks of some cities and rely on flowing cash to conduct transactions.

With the expansion and development of cities, coupled with the recurring extraordinary disasters throughout the millennia of the Sixth Epoch, metropolises like Backlund gradually expanded, and the surrounding villages vanished completely. Cities became a series of isolated islands. Areas without tall buildings—countries, suburbs, and parks—still existed, but they were mostly located on the fringes of urban areas, bordering no-man's land, and still considered part of the larger cities.

Beyond the border lies the no-man's-land between cities, where only wandering scavengers survive. Some are forced into this life, while others simply embrace it.

This situation of urban expansion and highly concentrated human activities is common among the countries of the northern and southern continents, especially Feynaporth, which is completely controlled by various financial groups. Outside the city are vast tracts of oil and fruit fields, as well as a large number of scavenger groups beyond the knowledge of the Loen people.

Although transportation facilities, communication equipment, and artificial satellites closely connected the various cities of the Loen Kingdom, without formal procedures, residents of other cities could not cross the city and thus could not enter Backlund.

The procedures for traveling between cities are actually very simple for residents with normal citizen identification codes.

However, it was extremely difficult for those wanted for criminal offenses, unable to pay transportation fees, seriously dishonest individuals, or those without citizen identification codes. Every year, a large number of people smuggled into Backlund or illegally fled to other cities. Some were fleeing criminal pursuit, some were scavengers from outside cities and villages, some were poor people unable to survive after bankruptcy in other cities, and even more were foreigners who came from abroad, dreaming of Backlund's glory and prosperity, longing for a better life.

Especially, Feynaporte's stowaway.

Unfortunately, Backlund is not an ideal place, but a monster that eats people without leaving any bones.

Now, the monster was running at full speed in front of Gloria, searching every corner of the city and showing it before her.

All the screens were showing different video clips and data records, all pointing to the same person.

【Field Moretti】

This curse that brought disaster actually came to life.

The various experiences of Gloria and Scott, and the various actions of the Comet team, have all outlined the complete life traces of this non-existent person named Field Moretti, formed close social relations, and even had a complete citizen identification code in the citizen system.

Just like a living person.

Then his words came true.

The fictional character was completely revived from the archives.

In any case, for the sake of the curse, Gloria must keep a close eye on this strange Field Moretti.

To Gloria's surprise, Field did nothing after leaving the mental hospital.

He didn't immediately go through the formalities to leave Backlund, didn't explore the dark areas of the underground city, didn't commit any terrorist activities that could threaten society, and didn't even make any preparations for the next assassination as his file indicated.

Like an ordinary labor camp inmate, Field walked out of the prison called the hospital in a daze. Then he found a place, had a meal, and began looking for a place to live.

He was even somewhat bewildered by the development of modern society, and he obediently applied to various apartment complexes. After being rejected numerous times, he finally bought a second-hand rental contract on [Second-hand Zhuanzhuanzhuan] and landed at Rachel Apartments, which required a citizen identification number but didn't require a resume or background check.

Everything is so ordinary and bland, even a little boring.

The only thing worth mentioning was that he passed by a car accident, and the victim of the accident actually... escaped...

It's certainly a strange place, but as Gloria's focus shifts, it becomes clear that things are not simple.

A victim was hit by a car, one died and one was injured. The injured person suddenly had a brain short circuit and ran down the street chasing two dogs, one big and one small.

From here, things got increasingly absurd. Suddenly, a crowd of people appeared from every nook and cranny on the street, chasing the two lightning-fast dogs. Even motorcycles, at full speed, couldn't catch up to the golden retriever carrying the little white dog.

The members of the [Comet] team have spread out across the city, tracking down the escaped victim and their accomplices who continue to emerge.

Coming back to her senses, Gloria couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

She discovered that even if this non-existent person really came back to life, the name [Field Moretti] would guide her to chase some strange clues.

The curse named "Field Moretti" still hangs over Gloria and Scott's heads and has not disappeared even though they have been transformed.

Besides, is Field Moretti really a non-existent person?

Gloria recalled the video clip of the wedding of Scott's only student, the genius engineer Jonathan Venturi who died young, and the future "Valkyrie" Margaret van der Rohe, in which a clip that contradicted the facts appeared.

Scott and Gloria witnessed the wedding together, but the video contained sounds that did not exist in their memories.

Jonathan called this voice "Field Moretti"!

So these two... are they the same person?

Could Fielder Moretti be a historical ghost that has lived from the millennium to the present?

After thinking for a long time, Gloria extracted Field's audio from the system, copied it, hid it secretly, and took it back to compare it with Scott's data.

Personal issues aside, Gloria still has to chase the suspicious car accident victim and two speeding dogs.

The surveillance video continued to play, and the two dogs actually arrived at St. Julie's Church. In the end, the little white dog jumped into Yennefer's fountain and committed suicide, bringing a grotesque end to this absurd farce.

This is... so strange...

Just a car accident exposed an entire criminal gang.

Who are these people?

It had been some time since the issuance of the investigation order, and Gloria believed in the strength of her subordinates, so she drove the terminal.

"St. Julie's Church, I'm Gloria."

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