Chapter 72: The Green Sprawl

While Kaito delved into digital ghosts, Ren found herself increasingly drawn to the tangible world outside Neo-Kyoto's shimmering towers. The Wildlands, once a term for untamed, polluted wasteland, were slowly transforming. Nature, resilient and tenacious, was reclaiming what humanity had abandoned. Great swathes of what were once industrial parks now stretched as verdant, sprawling forests, their concrete skeletons choked by vines and moss.

Ren’s fascination wasn’t purely academic. Her younger sister, Lia, had joined one of the "Green Sprawl" communities – groups of individuals who had chosen to live off-grid, forging a new existence in the reclaimed wilderness. They adapted ancient survival techniques with subtle digital integration, using biodegradable fabrics woven with conductive threads for communication, and harnessing bio-luminescent fungi for light. They were a stark contrast to the city's neon pulse, yet their lives were just as vibrant, if not more so.

Lia's last data-pulse had been weeks ago, from a cluster of ancient, overgrown skyscrapers dubbed "The Vertical Forest." Ren, growing increasingly worried, packed a survival kit, overriding Kaito's protestations with a rare sternness. "He's got his ghosts, I've got my family," she'd stated. As she boarded a repurposed cargo drone, leaving the city's hum behind, the silence of the expanding green felt profound, almost sacred. She knew the Wildlands held new threats, both natural and digital, but the hope of finding Lia propelled her forward.