?Nick had been below the city many times in the past, but he couldn't associate the sewers with what he was currently seeing.
The group of Extractors found themselves on a big platform, which was directly attached to the megastructure's support.
They were directly beside the humongous, chrome-like structure that supported the entire city.
The platform they were standing on was made of metallic plates that extended to about a distance of ten meters from the central support pillar, and from the looks of things, the platform completely surrounded the pillar, making it several kilometers long.
When Nick looked to the outside, he saw a red world, but it looked quite different than the one Nick saw whenever he looked at the city's edge.
When one stood at the city's edge, the next visible thing that wasn't red mist was over a kilometer away.
Because of that, the red mist looked like a red wall.
But down here, one could look at the city's underside.
Nick realized that the red mist wasn't actually as thick as it had seemed.
The underside of the city was still visible at a distance of ten meters, but barely.
At least, this meant that Nick didn't need to be blind while working.
The Extractors all looked at the red mist in silence.
The mist was glowing crimson, and its luminescence changed from time to time.
Sometimes, it was brighter.
Sometimes, it was not as bright.
"Look at the edge of the platform," the assistant said.
Nick did just that.
He noticed that the edge of the platform was actually about a meter higher than the place where Nick was currently standing.
A couple of plates had been put on the edge of the platform, creating a small wall.
"We had to construct this divider because of the size of the Crimson Sea," the assistant said.
"The edge of the Crimson Sea is around 2.5 kilometers away from here, and several people have already died because they saw the very edge of the Crimson Sea."
"And no, the red mist does not block the view of the Crimson Sea."
Nick took a deep breath.
Right, a tall person might be able to view the Crimson Sea from this location if there were no divider.
"From now on, you can't be careless anymore," the assistant said with severity. "If you see even a tiny part of the Crimson Sea below you, you will die."
"Don't even look forward since you might accidentally catch a glimpse of the Crimson Sea's edge."
"Keep your eyes locked onto the city's underside."
"We've already lost over 20 level two Extractors to the Crimson Sea during construction. It would be for the best if you didn't join them," the assistant said.
Naturally, the Extractors were quite nervous.
Any glance downward, even by accident, would kill them.
They were terrified.
"Anthony Hawkins."
One of the Extractors looked with confusion at the assistant, who had just called him by name.
"You start from here," the assistant said, pointing at a spot on the ceiling, which already had four grips attached to it.
The spot was about two meters away from a couple of grips leading into the red world.
The four grips that were already attached were in a side-by-side position, creating two "ladders" that were offset.
If one faced the ceiling while lying down, the first grip would be where one's left foot ended.
The second one would be at the right knee.
The third one would be at the left hip.
The fourth one would be at the right chest.
It was obvious that the Extractors were supposed to continue this pattern.
The Extractor walked to the spot below the grips and gulped.
"Don't start yet," the assistant said. "I will call the start and end of your shifts."
After saying that, the assistant called out more names and pointed them toward more locations.
"Nick Nick," the assistant said as he pointed at four grips.
Nick walked over and stopped below his assigned spot.
The assistant continued assigning spots.
"Hahahahaha!"
The Extractors turned to the side when they heard a distant laugh.
This kind of laughter was very familiar to them.
All of them still remembered the cacophony of laughter from yesterday.
Each time someone laughed, someone died.
"If you were already working, you would all be dead," the assistant said.
Nick's heart nearly stopped.
Right!
If he were already working on the city's underside, him turning his head to the right might have put the Crimson Sea into the right corner of his right eye.
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
Three more laughs came from the red world.
"Laughter rarely occurs alone," the assistant said evenly. "Just like with you all, many people forget the danger, and when someone laughs, they turn to look in that direction."
"Whenever someone dies, between one and four others die as well."
Silence.
While the assistant continued assigning spots, Nick thought back to yesterday.
It hadn't even been 24 hours since the incident.
Nick remembered the red water that had come out of the Containment Unit's edges after he had grabbed the Zephyx containers.
Sure, the red water was dangerous, but it was nothing compared to the endless terror that the current Crimson Sea instilled in the people.
How could something this weak turn into something this terrifying in such a short amount of time?
It just didn't feel real.
"Alright, get ready to start," the assistant said.
Nick shook his head to get rid of the memories of yesterday and looked upward.
Then, he jumped and grabbed two of the grips with his hands.
"Look at the grips and how they have been nailed into the metal," the assistant said.
Nick did just that.
Every grip had four huge nails going through them.
Yet, the nails were not straight.
There was one nail in each corner, and the nail was hammered into the wall in such a way that it diagonally pointed outwards.
"We expect you to do it the same way. If you hammer the nails straight into the wall, the grip isn't nearly as stable."
Then, the assistant looked at the time.
"5:23 p.m."
"Your shift starts…"
"Now!"