Chapter 24: Highway Ambush
[If what you're saying is true, then what do you think happened?] the System asked, its curiosity evident.
"I don't know. That's exactly why I need to investigate," Maximilian replied, glancing at the nearby clock. The digital display showed 9:23 PM - already late at night.
Tomorrow would mark his first training session with Ricardo and his gang. The timing worked perfectly; he could question them about potential leads regarding Blood Mongoose's daughter.
While Ricardo's crew were just common street thugs, they possessed one key advantage over more connected individuals: numbers, underground connections, and intimate knowledge of the city's backstreets. They might surprise him yet.
With this plan in mind, Maximilian bid the System goodnight and prepared for sleep. Tomorrow would require an early start.
— Meanwhile - Wild Land —
Under the moonlit night, the moonlight glinted off the metallic canopy of the shielded highway. The long, shielded highway stretched across the horizon, where abandoned buildings and a dilapidated old highway stood crowded with the wreckage of thousands of vehicles.
This new shielded highway was built in the 2030s, years after the war with the aliens. By then, humans across the world had regained their foothold, fortifying their city-states into near-impregnable fortresses.
The shielded highways served as the main trade and transport routes, connecting the city-states of the North American continent. One route even extended into South America, running alongside the newly built railways that spanned the continent. Together, they functioned as the lifeblood of this new world.
The highway was called the Sonic & Camouflage Shielded Highway (SCS Highway), while the railway was the Sonic & Camouflage Shielded Railway (SCS Railway). Both SCS routes were equipped with sonic emitters that released frequencies to ward off mutated creatures. They also featured shielded camouflage covering the entire length of the pathways, protecting travelers from the bioelectric vision and scent detection of predatory mutated creatures in the Wildland.
Beneath the canopy of the SCS Highway, a convoy raced toward the west coast of what was once America. There, in the middle of Crater Lake, Oregon, stood Purgatory—the Super Maximum Security Prison for Villains.