Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 118: Welcome to World 0001

Julien lay flat against the freezing stone ground while his brain tried to figure out if he was still alive after that terrible interdimensional trip.

His entire body felt like it had been run over by a runaway cargo truck and then thrown off a very high cliff into a pile of sharp rocks.

He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the agonising pain of the spatial crush to slowly fade away into a manageable dull ache before he even tried to move a single muscle.

The air here tasted completely different from the ruined commercial sector they left behind, carrying a strange scent that smelled a lot like old dust and dried leaves rather than the usual city pollution.

He carefully opened one eye, then the other, to make sure his vision was actually working properly in this new place.

So the very first thing he did was lift his hands to his face and wiggle all ten of his fingers just to confirm they were still attached to his body.

He let out a long breath of pure relief when he realised his favourite merchant coat was completely ruined, but all of his physical limbs had somehow survived the spatial pressure without getting ripped off.

’We are definitely not in the military base anymore,’ Julien thought to himself, staring straight up at the sky and feeling a very cold shiver run all the way down his spine.

The sky above him was not the normal comforting blue or even the cloudy grey of a terrible rain storm that he was used to seeing.

It was a deeply unnatural shade of red that looked like a red gate had been stretching endlessly across the horizon.

There were no stars and no sun visible anywhere in that creepy red expanse, leaving the entire area bathed in a very eerie and unsettling twilight that made it hard to see far into the distance.

Julien groaned loudly and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position so he could check on the rest of his rescue team.

He looked to his left and saw Maya pushing herself up from the cold stone ground with a very confused expression on her face. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Her dark scavenger cloak was covered in grey dust and a few questionable stains from the portal tunnel, but she was already checking her hidden daggers to make sure none of them fell out during the chaotic journey.

Kyle was lying on his back a few feet away, taking up a lot of space on the stone floor and breathing in very heavy, ragged gasps that echoed loudly in the quiet space.

The mercenary still had a white-knuckle grip on the hilt of his completely shattered black sword, proving he was ready to keep fighting even while flying blind through an unknown portal.

But Aiden was the last one to sit up, and he honestly looked incredibly terrible compared to the rest of them because of how much energy he spent keeping that protective blood shield active.

The poor guy was completely exhausted and pale, leaning heavily against a carved stone pillar while his unique system skill worked quietly in the background to restore his severely depleted health bar.

"Is everybody still in one piece after that crazy ride?" Julien asked out loud, keeping his voice carefully low just in case hostile enemies were hiding nearby in the strange shadows.

"My head feels like it is going to split right down the middle, but I think I am okay," Maya whispered back, rubbing her temples and looking around the strange area with wide, cautious eyes.

"Where exactly did Commander Lena’s doorway send us?"

Julien finally took a good look at their immediate surroundings and felt his stomach tie itself into a very tight knot of pure anxiety.

They were expecting to find another modern ruined city or maybe a forgotten military bunker filled with advanced technology they could salvage and sell. But the place they crashed into looked like it was ripped straight out of a very dark history book.

They were sitting right in the middle of a sprawling cobblestone courtyard that was surrounded by towering Gothic buildings.

The structures were built from smooth black stone and featured incredibly tall spires that reached up toward the creepy red sky like sharp needles.

Everything was decorated with intricate gargoyles and highly detailed statues of terrifying winged creatures that seemed to watch their every single move from the high ledges.

There were no modern streetlights or electrical signs anywhere to be seen in the winding alleyways branching off from the main square.

The only illumination came from a few flickering iron lanterns hanging near the heavy wooden doors of the nearby buildings, casting long, dancing shadows across the uneven cobblestones that made it look like the ground was actually moving.

"This place gives me a seriously bad feeling," Kyle grunted, slowly getting to his feet and tossing the ruined hilt of his black sword onto the ground because it was completely useless to him now.

"It feels like someone is watching us from those dark windows, and I do not have a real weapon to fight them off if they decide to jump us."

Julien completely agreed with the mercenary because the entire town was way too quiet for a place that looked like it should be bustling with regular people.

No merchants were shouting about their goods, no scavengers digging through the dirty alleys, and no military patrols marching down the main streets to keep the peace.

It was just an eerie silence that made the strange gothic architecture feel even more threatening to a group of stranded outsiders.

He stood up and dusted off his pants, taking a careful step toward the centre of the courtyard to get a better view of the towering castle looming in the distance.

The place looked ancient and highly fortified, sitting on top of a steep rocky hill overlooking the rest of the dark town.

It was the exact kind of place that practically screamed danger and boss fights, which was the very last thing a humble travelling merchant ever wanted to see after surviving a near-death experience.

Aiden walked over and stood right next to Julien, staring up at the terrifying black castle with a very grim expression on his tired face.

"Well, we definitely escaped the crazy commander and her death squad back at the bunker," Aiden pointed out logically, keeping his voice quiet so the sound would not carry across the empty public square.

"But I have a really strong feeling that the locals living in this creepy place are not going to be very welcoming to a group of strangers falling out of the sky."

Julien opened his system interface, praying that his merchant shop was still functioning properly in this completely new dimension so he could buy some decent gear for the team to use.

But before he could even scroll to the cheap weapons page to find a replacement sword for Kyle, a giant blue screen popped up right in front of his face.

The sudden alert blocked his entire view of the gothic town and forced him to read the bright white text flashing across the screen, bringing a whole new set of complicated problems to their already terrible situation.