Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

“WHAT?” Ceres stood up in outrage. The grandfather of Chad was the owner of the planet?! How the hell did that happen?

Wasn’t the ownership of planets limited to the four Dynasties and the Loeric Dynasty under the pre-arranged Consortium? Why did the Dynasty of Hawthorn let Oliver Athen be in charge?

“Yea, and what's even better is that legally now, all your so-called ‘outers’ are considered second-class citizens on Athen. Your entire precious outer zones have been labelled as a lower form of humanity. Not like I give a shit though, this whole planet is a lower form to me. You know, seeing you know how shit of a situation you are in actually makes me feel better.” The instructor laughed to himself.

Ceres’s mind was in complete turmoil. How did the political landscape change this drastically in five years? Sure, he was aware of certain divides between the outers and inners even during the competition, but wasn’t everyone equally a citizen of the Loeric Empire?

What happened to Erik, Braton, Trissa, Lisa and Ardan? Was Zone 17 okay? The realization that five years have passed suddenly hit him fully like a truck, causing him to plop back down onto his chair like a rock, staring at the floor.

If five years had passed, what the hell happened to all his friends? Were they labelled as second-class citizens too?

“Hey, why are you so upset? You’re not a second-class citizen!” The instructor cheerily smiled.

“What do you mean? Am I not an outer too?”

“You’re D-E-A-D. DEAD. You’re not a citizen of anywhere. For all legal purposes and records, you’re a ghost right now. ID, gone. L-credits, gone, probably taken by the Five Families. Just like everyone else in this town. You think everyone in this town is here because they want to be? Most likely you’re on the wanted list right now.”

Ceres’s mind finally put the pieces together as to how the instructor got here. “You avoided the arrest and ran down here to avoid being captured by the enforcers!”

“Looks like my former student still has his head on his shoulders. I’m a wanted criminal now for ‘inciting mass riots and violence’ as well as ‘assisted murder of a certain orphan’. There’s even a bounty on Cardenia’s head to bring her to trial. No thanks to you.”

“Is she here too?”

“You really think a former scion of the Dynasty of Hawthorn is going to lower her to this level? No, she must have found some comfy doomsday bunker somewhere and is waiting it out to blow over, or she’s already off-world laughing her way to the bank. Either way, she’s definitely not hurting.” The instructor scoffed.

“So is that what the whole rebellion is about? Fighting back against Oliver Athen?”

“I don’t know anything about the rebellion, I’ve spent the last four years hiding down here, so even I am in the dark about certain things on the surface.” The instructor sighed. “I’ve already resigned myself to die down here unknown. My life has been exciting enough. All I can do now is protect those here to the best of my ability.”

That statement from the instructor caused Ceres to recall the humans chained to the floor of their houses. “I saw on the way here that there were disabled elderly people chained to the floor and left to fast.”

“They are the elders of the town. Due to the lack of resources, the elders usually restrict their own intake of food to ration it for those who still work. The chain is self-imposed to ensure they don’t go crazy until the expedition returns. This subterranean town has already existed for 200 years since the founding of New Saint, I’m like a newcomer here. If you want more details, go talk to Oswa or any of those fasting, they know much more than me.”

Ceres was surprised that this town was as old as the city, with the society lasting this long while contending with such a hostile environment.

The instructor sighed: “Such is life in a degrading subterranean town. They were already doing it when I came here. Right now I’m also limiting myself to one meal a day. We’re fine in terms of water and power – there’s plenty of that underground, but food is a major issue.”

Despite how terrible the situation was in the town, Ceres honestly has only been here for less than half a day. His emotional attachment to the people was not high. He decided to compromise with the instructor – getting to the surface was more important.

“I can help out in this town for a while, but I have to go to the surface and New Saint as soon as possible.”

“And do what? Give yourself up to an entire planet searching for you? The enforcers already know you’re on the loose based on what you explained earlier. Exposing yourself now is not the best move. And when you expose yourself, who knows if your trail will lead them back to me? I won’t allow you to leave to the surface!”

Ceres tried to come up with a counterargument, but he didn’t have one. If he really left the town soon, he would run the risk of crossing the enforcers again and getting captured. He barely escaped the last time thanks to the self-destruct sequence of the research lab, but how many times can he repeat that?

He also recalled how his hunger got the better of him and made him almost go feral, attacking the closest living thing that was a grodaw. Would he turn feral again on the way to the surface?

“Kid, the best move is for you to stay here in the town for the time being and help out. We trade with Rockhold City every few months by sending a convoy up, so we’ll help you source for information. Just know that when we start asking around, people are going to be curious about us as well, potentially exposing us.”

“That’s fine, I just need your help finding someone.” Ceres described the young man he saved from the research lab, slightly confident that he didn’t fall with him into the chasm. The instructor wrote it down in a dirty notebook that he took out from his breast pocket. “The ‘White Fang’ huh… sounds dangerous enough.” The instructor muttered.

If Ceres managed to find that human, he could get more answers as to what the vat was and what was the rebellion all about. He made a plan to eventually make it to Rockhold City, but not before he got his bearings. He still wasn’t accustomed to subterranean life, which would make him stand out among others.

“So, I assume you’re now a willing member of this town?” The instructor grinned.

“A temporary one. I’m not going to stay here forever. A few months at most.”

“Good, because we have a distinct lack of useful young men in this town.”

“I noticed when your guards are essentially teenage soldiers who are barely trained. Aren’t you supposed to be a good instructor?”

“Well, then why don’t you make me some prosthetic limbs to train them huh? And if you’re thinking you can train them yourself, don’t. You may have sheer strength and agility now, but your technique is sorely lacking, especially in working with others as a team.” The instructor waved his stubs, reminding Ceres that the instructor could not make his own.

“I could use the mawsie’s armour shell to make you one. I’ll need a workshop plus whatever materials you have. I already have a plan to upgrade all your weapons.” Ceres had been made aware of the strength of the mawsie’s shell during the fight, and already had some ideas. He needed to look around the town and see if it was feasible.

“Mawsie shell huh, that’s interesting. You can use our workshop in the meantime. I’ll let Captain Kai guide you there. We’ll talk more about what you can do for the town after Captain Kai gives you a proper tour.”

Captain Kai entered the room upon hearing his name, holding the door open for Ceres. Ceres instead walked towards the instructor, who stared warily and slowly tried to back away. “What are you trying to do? Don’t get any funny ideas. We’re not that close. I already have a few kids.”

Ceres used his fingers to measure the instructor’s remaining arm, as well as the circumference of it. He took note of the various measurements, especially the leg stumps. “I’m taking in the details of your prosthetic limbs of course. Otherwise, I would have made legs for a 1.3-meter tall midget.”

“Don’t you fucking dare.”

Ceres smiled as he walked out the door with Captain Kai following behind him. Despite the tragic situation that the instructor was in, Ceres was sure that with the new prosthetics that he was about to design, the instructor would be as spry as he was five years ago. And vulgar.

“Five years ago…” Ceres murmured to himself as he left the building, still thinking of everything that could have changed.

Are his friends okay? Does the Gladius still exist? What about the dumpling store? Uncle Dawn’s workshop? Ceres’s eyes widened as he recalled the most important thing – the mysterious white box.

Ceres had to calm himself down to prevent him from rushing up to the surface.

Most likely from what the instructor said, the entire surface and outer zone of the city should be crawling with enforcers. He had no allies or known friends anywhere, so if he was caught out alone, he would be dead or taken back as a research subject.

For now, he could only hope that nothing happened to the workshop or the mysterious white box. He had to focus on making sure he was in the best state before resurfacing again, and perhaps this hidden subterranean town was the best place to do it.

And maybe once he found the ‘White Fang’, everything would be resolved.

“Ceres? Are you okay?” Captain Kai asked concerningly as Ceres kept silent, seemingly staring into nothingness.

Ceres was startled but eventually nodded. “Sorry, I’m fine now. Let’s do this.”

“Sure, follow me. We’ll head to your workshop first. I’ve already ordered the haulers to bring the mawsie corpses here.”

The town was laid out in a simple circular fashion, conforming to the cavern’s shape. Ceres’s workshop was not located too far from the centre of the town, being a simple high-ceiling warehouse-like space with a series of rundown workbenches. A few broken-down exosuit hung on racks along the wall, while an old 3D printer and a large electric furnace were placed right in the middle as the centre attraction, dominating most of the space inside.

Not many tools were left, and as Ceres inspected it, he realized that he might have to make quite a few toolsets prior to starting work on the instructor’s prosthetics.

“Sorry for the state of the workshop, the last person in charge of it hasn’t returned for about a year now.” Captain Kai apologized.

“A year? Is the person missing?”

“She was sent off on an expedition. This is the main reason why you only see old men or teenagers here. All the capable ones had no choice but to go explore in order for the town to continue to survive. We usually send the able-bodied ones on a trade convoy to Rockhold City as well.”

“How far is this Rockhold City?”

“Hmm, about one to two months?”

Ceres sighed, knowing that even if he wanted to leave right now, he wouldn’t be able to convince the instructor to give him enough supplies for that long of a journey. What if he turned into a hungry crazed fanatic that attacked anything living again?

Even if he made it to Rockhold, from what he recalled, it was a land of gang violence. He needed to fully understand himself first, lest he spark yet another incident there and gets hunted by the enforcers who were no doubt watching the planet for him.

“When does the expedition return?”

“We expect them to return in about three months or so, but don’t expect the team to come back unscathed. With the increasing number of mawsies outside, I expect their trip to be perilous. Not to mention the chances of conflict with the Chosen.”

Before Ceres could ask about the Chosen, the haulers arrived with the stripped armour shell of the mawsie corpses, the meat having been sent to the nutrient paste dispenser. While they unloaded the chunks of armour, Ceres stared intently at them, examining the haulers.

The haulers were all about fifty years old with a few young boys spread out amongst them. When they finally left, Ceres felt like the age distribution in the town was extremely weird for such a big town.

“How large is the population in this town?” Ceres asked.

“160. If you’re wondering how many we sent on the expedition, it was about 75 of them.”

If Ceres was drinking water, he might have to spit it all out. “Holy shit! You mean this town only has 75 people between the age of 21 and 50? Hasn’t this town been around for 200 years?”

“200 is near the limit this town can support; generally we try not to even go near the limit. This is why you have those people chained to the floor. They are the previous generation who can no longer work and willingly restrain themselves from consuming too many resources and food. But once the expedition comes back, we will have enough to feed 200.”

Ceres was shocked. He had never seen a place limited by resource constraints. Sure, he was relatively poor in Zone 17, but under the care of the Military Orphanage, he didn’t have to worry about food, water, or shelter.

“If you send off all the young people, then who’s left to defend the town?”

“That’s why you have me. I’m nearly 47 now, and the other three guards are younger than 21.” Captain Kai replied with a tinge of despair. “That mawsie horde that you attracted shows that the threat of a wildlife attack is growing every day. In the past, we only had to deal with maybe one or two mawsie trying their luck but having that many mawsies within an hour’s reach of the town makes it dangerous for us.”

Captain Kai placed his hand on Ceres. “Coming in and fending off all the mawsies with your improvisation will really help the town. But if you need to return to the surface, you’re more than welcome to. You don’t have to hold yourself accountable for our safety, we’ll find a way out ourselves.”

Ceres remained silent, not wanting to commit himself beyond his capabilities. Even if he wanted to save the town, would he even be able to?

The limited resources of the environment already placed a hard barrier on the town’s population, would he being a simple exosuit repairer be able to do anything? Even if he could become the town champion, he couldn’t punch hunger away.

“Captain Kai, do you mind if we do the tour of the town tomorrow? I need to settle down into this workshop first and figure out the problem with the mawsie armour shell. However, if you do see Oswa, tell him to wait for me before he heads back to the grodaw farm.” Ceres still intended to trace his way back to the collapsed research lab to see if he could find anything of value back there.

“Okay, I will pass on your message. If you need anything just head back to the town chief’s office, there’s a radio there to communicate.” Captain Kai pointed to a fixed radio on the wall before leaving.

Standing in the workshop with the armour shell stacked in a pile at the back of the workshop, Ceres paced around slowly as he tried to plan his next move. His previous goal of winning the competition seemed like such a joke to him now that he learnt what happened afterwards.

Ceres felt like laughing at his old self, who naively believed that by winning the competition, everything in his life would go smoothly. He had ignored politics or social strife back then, chalking up to individual incompetency. He recalled being angry at Maddy for hurting Erik, but he was only angry at the individual rather than all inners.

However, his friends were either missing or forced to be second-class citizens, his instructor and patron hunted like criminals, his own identity declared dead to the rest of the world, and being used for unknown purposes in a vat. The sinking feeling that the events happening were beyond his control struck him hard.

Ceres could not accept the fact that it was simple chaos that led to this outcome. He had a nagging feeling at the back of his head that there must be a mastermind or at least multiple masterminds behind this chain of events.

For him to be kept alive in a vat for five years, someone somewhere must have valued him greatly.

Was the competition rigged to cause him to be captured? Did he inadvertently throw his friends into the fire? Was it really his fault that a city-wide riot occurred?

“What a laughable joke I was. I tried so hard for the competition only for myself to fall this far.”

Regardless, now the goal was clear to Ceres: to find out the truth of what happened to him and his friends. It was not going to be easy.

“And the best lead is the ‘White Fang’.”

M.G.Driver

Every follow, favorite and rating counts!

Read up to 40 advanced chapters on Patreon.

That's right, new tier revealed + even cheaper chapters. That's 40 days ahead of the curve!

Rumour is that patron goals might increase that number...

Join Discord! 17/25 members - mass release one chapters.