Just looking at the people resting here, it was roughly half the number Bauer had mentioned. At that moment, Lauren seemed to notice the same thing and murmured.

"There seem to be fewer people here than I’d expect, though."

"The ones who aren’t here are all out securing food. They’re inside the gate."

That cleared things up.

Walfred and Lauren nodded in understanding, and Bauer pointed toward the upper floors.

"Follow me. I’ll show you the gate next."

"...You’re going to show us the gate?"

Walfred was genuinely surprised.

A gate was the heart of a shelter and one of the most essential elements for survival.

That was why, at the Newark Galleria Shelter, no one could go anywhere near it without Hector’s permission. And yet here Bauer was, readily offering to show it to outsiders?

"Are you sure that’s okay? We’re outsiders."

"Doesn’t matter. We’ll be in the same boat for a while anyway. Nothing to hide."

Bauer smiled as if it were no big deal.

He then led them up to the auditorium on the fourth floor. There, at center stage, a blue vortex swirled and shimmered.

’So that’s...’

A gate.

Seeing a gate for the very first time in his life, Walfred involuntarily swallowed hard.

"Let’s go in, then. Oh, before that..."

Bauer had been striding toward the gate when he suddenly stopped. He pointed at Walfred and Lauren’s outfits and said,

"You’ll want to take off your coats."

"Huh? Why?"

"It’s hot in there. You’ll be sweating."

Hot? Walfred found that hard to believe, but he followed Bauer’s advice and removed his parka. Lauren took off her coat too and draped it over a nearby chair.

Then, following Bauer’s lead, the moment they stepped into the blue vortex.

[Notice: Entering Gate]

[F-rank Gate: Blue Hole]

A system message appeared and his vision flashed white.

And then.

Shaaaa!

The sound of crashing waves hit his ears.

A sharp, salty ocean breeze stung his nostrils, and a wave of warm, humid air washed over him.

A moment later, the sight that unfolded before him drew an involuntary gasp.

"Whoa..."

He couldn’t help it.

An endless horizon, emerald waters, and white sandy beaches greeted him.

A landscape utterly impossible on an ice-age Earth. A picture-perfect summer resort, plain and simple.

Walfred gazed around in a daze.

Along the shore, people with their shirts off were casting fishing lines.

On another side, people wearing swim goggles were hauling something out of the water, and on a stretch of the beach, others were busy cleaning fish.

Just then.

"F-rank gate, Blue Hole."

Bauer repeated the gate’s name and followed up with a more detailed explanation.

"Most of its total area is ocean, and it’s teeming with fish and seafood. They’re not Earth species, but they’re non-toxic and taste great."

Was it the mild climate?

Or, as Bauer said, the abundance of food resources like fish?

Everyone gathering food inside the gate wore bright, cheerful expressions.

"There’s no arable land, so farming is out of the question, but the seafood alone is more than enough to live on. The gate’s maximum capacity is fifty people, too, so there’s plenty of room."

As Walfred listened in silence.

People who’d been fishing in the distance recognized Bauer and began approaching him one by one.

"Oh! You’re back, chief?"

"Must’ve been freezing out there. Thank you for your hard work."

"Look at this, sir. I caught a big one. You can look forward to dinner tonight."

"Ha ha, will do. I’m looking forward to it."

Bauer mingled with the people effortlessly.

In that scene, there was no trace of the wall that usually existed between hunters and the unawakened. The very air was different from the Newark Galleria Shelter under Hector’s rule.

As Walfred quietly watched all of this.

Bauer caught the look in his eyes and smirked.

"You look like you can’t believe what you’re seeing."

"...I’ll be honest, it’s a bit unfamiliar. This is the first time I’ve seen hunters and unawakened people getting along like this."

"I bet. Ever since the ice age hit, the world’s been ruled by the law of the strong."

Bauer shrugged.

"I was in the same boat as them at first."

"What? You mean..."

"Yeah. I awakened after the Antarctica gate was liberated. Same goes for Deputy Rosa over there."

Bauer gestured toward Rosa.

Then he gazed out at the distant sea, a wistful expression crossing his face as he continued.

"We were living in a shelter at the industrial complex near Tech Row Station. And like I just said, it was a place ruled by the law of the strong."

"And then you awakened late?"

"Yeah. Three months ago today, exactly."

Bauer nodded.

He spoke as though tracing back through old memories.

"After I awakened, I tried my best to reduce the discrimination between hunters and the unawakened, but I failed. So I left the shelter with the people who shared my ideals, and we came here."

Three months ago, Bauer and his companions left the Tech Row Industrial Shelter and took over the Lower Manhattan Tech District Hall building, which had been completely empty at the time.

Meanwhile, as the story reached that point.

Lauren suddenly tilted her head.

"Huh? So that means nobody was using this place as a shelter before?"

"That’s right. It was completely empty."

"That’s strange. A gate with this much food and such a mild climate is rare. People would’ve been fighting over it..."

Lauren’s question was perfectly reasonable.

No matter how low-ranked an F-class gate was, the idea that nobody had tried to claim one this hospitable was baffling.

Bauer let out a short laugh and tapped the white sand with his foot.

"Simple. Originally, there was no land here."

"...What?"

"The moment you entered the gate, it was nothing but open ocean. Not a single patch of ground to stand on."

"Th-then this beach is..."

"I made it."

The moment those words left his mouth.

A plume of dust rose from Bauer’s fingertips.

"I awakened with the earth attribute, after all."

"...!?"

"I pulled up the bedrock from the ocean floor, crushed it, and made land. It took quite a while, but as you can see, it worked."

Now it all made sense.

In the beginning, with no land in this gate, there would’ve been nowhere to rest, nowhere to set down supplies.

And since nobody could just swim around indefinitely, this gate would’ve been useless to any hunter without the earth attribute.

"When we first set up the shelter, there were only about thirty of us. It was the perfect size for living quietly."

Thirty people was a small enough group that they could’ve all lived inside the gate instead of the underground parking garage.

Bauer wore a wistful expression, as if reminiscing about those days. But it lasted only a moment before his face darkened.

"Then, about a month ago, people from around Tech Row Station flooded in, and things got a lot bigger."

"What happened to..."

"The White Dome."

Bauer said it plainly.

"Before we came here, that unidentified white barrier we saw outside earlier. Commonly called ’the White Dome.’ It all started when it swallowed up Tech Row Station."

At those words, Walfred’s eyes lit up.

At last, the information he’d been waiting to hear was coming from Bauer’s lips.