Cave Refuge

Originally, with the tacit approval of the Imperial Court, the once-secret Affiliated Space gradually became well-known over time.

As more people became aware of the concept of Affiliated Space, many who sought to defy the heavens and change their fate began to search for it spontaneously.

After all, finding an Affiliated Space, no matter the size, could not only potentially be sold at a high price but could also be transformed into a personal sanctuary.

In fact, if things had continued this way, the frenzy over Affiliated Spaces would have gradually faded with the passage of time.

But the turmoil was far from being quelled; just as everyone was starting to take the issue of Affiliated Spaces with a grain of salt.

Suddenly, rumors emerged of someone discovering an Affiliated Space in the wilderness, at least twice the size of the current Imperial Capital Base.

The moment this rumor surfaced, everyone was on edge. As the location of the Imperial Capital, Kyoto had been continuously attracting survivors to converge for the rebuilding of the Imperial Capital since its summons order.

At this time, nobody had forgotten the glory of Kyoto before the Natural Disaster, and the survivors all knew that as long as they participated in the reconstruction, they would have a place in the city once Kyoto was fully rebuilt.

Because most people shared this belief, not only did survivors around the Imperial Capital flock here, but many from great distances also made the arduous journey to this place.

Consequently, to accommodate more survivors, Kyoto's reconstruction was already underway, modeling the pre-disaster five-ring scale.

Although the number of survivors was far less than the former population of Kyoto, the newly rebuilt Kyoto lacked the soaring skyscrapers of the past; most buildings were two or three-story villas.

The design and scale of the housing being built reflected how vast the current Kyoto Base was, and the rumor of an Affiliated Space twice its size immediately caught everyone's attention.

At first, the Imperial Court paid no heed to the rumors, given that unverified gossip of this kind was rampant every day.

But as the rumor spread wider over time and even the Kyoto Constables found many clues, some within the Imperial Court began to grow uneasy.

After all, if the Affiliated Space was small, the Imperial Court might turn a blind eye. Still, if it were as massive as the rumors suggested, it would undoubtedly want to seize control of it.

Since the affair surfaced as a rumor, it could be certain that the Affiliated Space in question was already under development; otherwise, there would be no rumors about it.

The Imperial Court began by inspecting the Affiliated Spaces under its control and then moved on to thoroughly investigating private holdings of Affiliated Spaces.

The self-inspection within the Imperial Court went smoothly since the main aim was to ascertain the actual sizes of the Affiliated Spaces, a task easily accomplished simply by entering and observing the space, thus avoiding any potential disaster.

However, inspecting these privately-held Affiliated Spaces proved to be quite challenging.

While everyone knew that the purpose of the Imperial Court's inspection was to determine the existence of the vast Affiliated Plane from the rumors and merely required entering the space to observe its size, the actual inspectors might still cause trouble due to their greed, as the saying goes, "The devil is in the details." A seemingly simple inspection could lead to unfavorable outcomes.

Not only for that reason but also because many families, after acquiring an Affiliated Space, had undertaken extensive renovations as if it were their private property.

Mere lavish decorations were the least of it; any number of unseemly acts could be filed and archived by the court's inspectors, who, while current reports might not pose immediate issues, kept records that could later be used as evidence for random selections, especially during the annual court audits.

Though the chances of such an occurrence were not minor, it was not a grave issue, as those chosen as "yearly pigs" could save their skins if willing to bleed for it.

However, some people who obtained Affiliated Spaces began treating them as their private territory, indulging in the lifestyle of feudal kings and leading to those domains becoming morally squalid.

Drinking and feasting were the least of the concerns; because Affiliated Spaces only had one entrance and exit, many owners used them as highly private spaces to reveal their true natures and practice suppressed vices from the outside world unreservedly.

Therefore, even though the Imperial Court had preemptively notified everyone about the impending inspections, fully renovating an Affiliated Space to personal satisfaction was no small undertaking.