Chapter 520

“Complaints have increased significantly,” Casey was saying, squinting through the camera to stare at Arthur. He grinned a little in reply to her, while she glared at him across the gulf of the Internet. Thankfully, of all the changes that the Towers had caused, the Internet had not. “If you were adding a new sense for everyone, it would have been appreciated if you had informed them about it beforehand.”

“So long as no one died, I’m going to call it a win,” Arthur said.

“None we know of, so far,” Casey acknowledged.

Not to say there were no accidents. One vehicular, mostly just individuals stumbling around or falling over when the Tower had triggered the burning sensation of the new upgrade to the Clan Seal and then, the new sense rolling outwards. The car accident had been – thankfully – at relatively low speeds, and the Climber within had been more bruised than injured.

Not so much the other participant, but that was what insurance was for. A concussion was not great, but they would pay it out and move on with life. In some ways, the payout would mean more for the poor driver with the way UBI was growing less each month.

“The government still not going to increase the UBI payments?” Arthur said, curiously.

“The papers say not,” Casey said. “Don’t change the subject, Arthur. Why did you choose Heat sense rather than something a little less disruptive?”

“I didn’t want a Clan of pyromaniacs.”

“Arthur…” Casey said with a sigh.

“The other options just weren’t that useful. It didn’t give us an edge, just stopped us from getting hurt. This gives us an edge,” Arthur replied. “It’s fine, lah.”

“I know, some people are really liking it. You probably will to, in the Tower.”

“No use in the next one,” Arthur said, snorting. The next Tower was weird, in that it was a very small Tower, only four floors. However, each floor was rather long, since the requirements to pass were extremely long-winded. After all, the first floor had everyone in a gladiator cage, pitted in multiple battles – with rest times in-between – that progressed in difficulty.

Useful for training, but very competitive and the battles, in the third and fourth floors were to the death. Since the variety was mostly set-up as constant combat, in different ways mind you, for clearance, it was not as popular as the ‘easier’ first Tower.

It also didn’t help that one had to engage in melee combat which was, for obvious reasons, less preferred. You could use ranged weapons – and many did just bring their pistols and go guns blazing through it – but if you lost the pistol or were unlucky enough to be stuck in one of the more complicated terrains, Climbers could – and did – die.

“I’m going to be gone for at least six months in that one,” Arthur said, grimacing. “I’m tempted to say we should skip it…”

“Don’t,” Casey said, firmly. “The cores there are much, much better – and you get free techniques too. Even if you choose not to use them, the Clan can always use more technique scrolls.”

“Yeah, surprising how strong the cores can get. But not much place on the first few floors for the Clan.” Because of the way the rooms were set-up, there was no use for there to be a Clan building. The good news was that they’d get a free Clan building on the fourth floor, the bad?

Well, it was on the last floor. Even if they utilized it to empower and upgrade their cultivation speed, and even if the Tower itself seemed to have been adjusted to concentrate the energies of a full Tower in the four floors such that a floor one beast core was worth a floor three or four one in other Towers, it was still not ideal.

“You all going to be fine, that long?” Arthur said, eyes narrowing.

“We’re good lah,” Casey said, brightly and weirdly for her. He narrowed his eyes, and she let out a long sigh. “It’s fine. We have it dealt with, though the family is frustrated a bit with the losses. The TG group have their own international supporters.”

“International? Who?” Arthur said. “China?”

“Dubai. Qatar. The Middle East,” she replied.

Arthur grunted. “Not good. They’ve got a lot of money.”

“It’s fine, it just depends on how much of it they’re willing to spend.”

“True,” Arthur said, let out a long sigh. “So you’re making more losses than you’re gaining?”

“Financially, we’re fine. It isn’t happy but Grandfather says we can take it. He’s willing to back me for now but…” She trailed off, growing grim. “It’s the other problem.”

“What is?”

“Their attacks on our people. None of the family have been killed yet-” and it said something, about how the Chin’s worked that that was the defining line for them, “-but their growing bolder. Accidents, beatings, even a few murders. Inspector Li is working as hard as she can, but she’s getting blocked. Not enough resources, and there’s no real proof...”

“So they’re treating them like gang attacks?”

“Or random ones. Until we can get proof, the gangs can do what they do. They’re suffering, of course, with some people thrown in jail. They got smart though, started using a lot of cut-outs, hiring people who are willing to get their hands dirty. They’re easy to catch but….”

“But there’s always someone else who’s desperate.” Arthur grimaced.

There was a reason why the gangs, the triads and everything else had grown so strong. It had very little to do with the Towers – if anything, they were a relief outlet for something that would have been a lot worst without them – and had everything to do with automation, with the income inequalities of large megacorporations.

Sometimes, Arthur thought, the idiots in charge had watched cyberpunk shows and went ‘that’s a great idea’ and then ran with it. Creating a dystopia where the governments were generally weak, at the beck and call of the richer corporations, where people were desperate for money but just had enough to survive. Barely, most of time.

Add in climate change, the pressures of various immigrating populations – again, some of which were pinned in place because of the Tower presences – and the world was tough. The gangs gave a method of escape, of progress and ascent to a life beyond scraps.

So did the Towers, of course, but the gangs at least were something that could be explained. The Towers were an unknown, and depending on which religion or group you listened to, might or might not be a test or devil worship or alien technology that altered individuals going in.

Arthur had thought those things too, but practically, it mattered little.

“Sorry to hear that,” he said. “Did Uswah and my Seniors…?”

“She did what she could before she went over. As are your Seniors. We’re not doing anything… yet. Mostly because we’ve had quite a few visits too.”

“From?”

“Other government agencies. Other investigators,” Casey said, eyes narrowed. “All of them waiting for us to make a mistake.”

“Have we?”

“Nothing important,” Casey said with a wave. “But that’s slowing us down too and costing more. Having everything checked and double-checked so that the government can’t hurt us.”

“Bagus,” Arhtur muttered. “But sounds like we can’t do much beyond endure. Are we hurting them at least?”

“A little,” she said. “We’re looking at other options. Building up a position in some of their public businesses.”

“Huh?” Arthur said, confused.

“Takeover,” Casey explained. Or tried to, since Arthur just continued to stare at her. She sighed and went on. “If we buy enough shares, we can oust their directors. Change what they’re doing, fire their people who are working for them. Make them take deals with us.”

“Bad deals?”

“No, generally not. But if we make them an offer that is good already, if we force them to take ours, it cuts off another source of funds.”

“Right…” Arthur sighed. “Can I say that it’s good that you’re dealing with this, and not me?”

“I’m sure you have,” she smirked.

Arthru grimaced, rubbed the back of his neck. “You coming over anytime soon?”

“To run another Tower or two?” Casey asked and he nodded.

“No.” She shook her head. “Maybe a litte later. The faster ones at least, skipping the onees that take too long. But I can get stones from you and that’s helping me upgrade myself even without going in. Why?”

“Don’t want you to lose your edge,” Arthur said. “Not before we go into the Intermediate Tower.”

Casey’s lips pressed tight at that, and he frowned. Suspicion bloomed but she was choosing not to answer him, so he left it. Better not to push the matter, not till she mentioned it herself. He had always been worried, a little, if she would ever join him on the climb.

After all, her path, her power was all based in the real world. Not like his own…

Not like Rick, in a sense. Who was climbing as much for the thrill as anything else. Though, there was something to be said about the absolute strength one gained from being a Climber, not just because of the disparity in funds a single Intermediate stone could generate.

“Alright, what else do we have?”

Casey smiled, a little, happy that he was moving on. She clicked a few buttons and a screen share appeared, a simple excel sheet with a graph on it.

“Details of the Climbers coming out, and what we’re hearing from within the KL Tower.”

Arthur leaned forward, eyes drinking in the information. He would trust them to keep the Clan running, and he would do what he could to keep climbing. Two more Towers here, and then maybe one more in another country.

Then, maybe, he’d be ready to try the Intermediate Tower.