Steel steam and flame

Mood was probably the biggest change. The sense of relaxation made Cassia look forward to the next journey. There is no mission, no purpose, just a simple return to the place where I should have been. The time is also very generous, the schedule will not be very tight, and there is no need to worry about not being able to catch up on time.

You can think about a lot of information accumulated in your head along the way, or you can not think about it at all. Staying in the room on the airship is also a very good option.

Cassia smiled at this moment, taking a deep breath followed by a soothing exhale. I don’t know what it will be like in the future, but at least for the short period of time now, it is what I want it to be like, living without worries, seemingly blending into the surrounding air, but in fact I am a completely independent individual, just not known by others. .

When the whistle sounded, Cassia was already sitting on the chair in the airship room, and the books taken from Zero were neatly placed on the table. When the airship resumed its flight smoothly, he picked up the kettle and spent a few minutes filling a full kettle of boiling water in the middle-level restaurant. After returning, he looked at the scene outside the round window for a minute or two.

Below the airship, there are still large layers of dark gray rain clouds, connected one to another. Between the few gaps, you can only see the ground that has been cut - with a bit of golden color - and the rest is It's all the same dark gray. The heavy rain more than a month ago was just the beginning after all. The weather will reverse, and then rainy days will become the norm, while sunny days or no rain will be intermittent.

When the time on the bronze clock in the room pointed to three o'clock, Cassia withdrew his gaze, turned back to the table, poured a glass of boiling water and drank it directly, took a book, and said, "It seems that No. 0 is interested in history." "Interested in related books", he opened it and started reading.

There are very few passengers on the airship, but more products and supplies transported to various places. Within a week, even if you choose the right time, whether you are going to open water or fill your stomach, there will not be many people in the canteen, and it is normal for nearly four-fifths of the dining seats to be empty.

The expressions of the other passengers did not look relaxed and leisurely, but were wrapped in a film of worry. During the last stop before going to the transfer airport at the border of the empire, Cassia suddenly discovered that during this stop, almost all the original passengers on the airship had left. Except for the crew members, there were only thirteen people left. .

There are only six people boarding the airship here, and all they need to deal with is the large amount of cargo on this medium-sized airship. When I went to the cafeteria, I was the only one in the empty restaurant, and the sound of the air circulation system could even echo around me.

Most of the other ten or so people are surgeons. Even those who were not, hired surgeons as their protection. It's just that the stages of surgery are generally relatively low, and there is only one of the three stages. Cassia can only give this evaluation.

During this time, the empire and the other two large states increased their border management efforts. Cassia knows the reason why a large number of passengers leave before the last stop. The connecting airport will verify the identity and the documents for passing the border. For passengers who do not have it, they will just spend more money to return there.

Optically encrypted identity cards and documents are much more difficult to forge than purchasing a new rationalized identity card for one of the three major national governments, and they also need to bear the risk of death if discovered.

But in the future, groups of people will still rush to the small countries bordering the empire, stop at the transfer airport, and use other methods to reach the seemingly safer empire. The border stretches for a long distance, and there may be vacancies in control and guarding. It will not be difficult to find such a place and successfully smuggle into the empire under the protection of firearms. This should be what most people think. That’s it.

This has always been a good business. Compared with the forest belt on the border of the Flame Alliance where there are a large number of second-category creatures, the Empire and the Far Sea Commonwealth are naturally much safer. In the dark world, a large number of first- and second-stage surgeons, coupled with people who have undergone a short period of training in using firearms, can become a very reliable leadership team.

"Whether everything goes smoothly and whether you can enter the empire depends on the managers of each border area. Sometimes, the so-called vacancies and routes are actually left on purpose. There is also a checkpoint there, but it does not require standard documents and identity cards. , just need enough money.”

Two days later, the airship docked at the transfer airport. Arriving in the morning and officially departing at 4 p.m., the various small and medium-sized commercial airships that came here one after another only brought less than 150 passengers. In the next few months, the number of people on the airship returning to the empire will be even smaller every time. When the time comes, it is not impossible to stop it completely.

While waiting, Cassia used her senses to investigate once. Only about twenty people were ordinary people, and the rest were all surgeons. However, even though the number of people was small and the goods that needed to be transported back to the empire were very small, a large commercial airship was still arranged.

As the clear whistle sounded, the dark gray clouds above the transfer airport also made ripples affected by the sound. Then the clouds were penetrated by the airship, and as they closed in quickly, the buzzing sound of the lift device also left far away.

The rest of the journey was exactly the same as a few days ago. The difference was that there were no commercial facilities around the connecting airport, and naturally there were no bookstores. Cassia asked many airport staff, collected some self-read books from individuals, and with permission, took a lot of expired magazines and newspapers, etc. Coupled with some readings on the commercial airship, although it is not enough to sustain the airship until it reaches its destination, it should be no problem for a few days.

Reading it several times seems to be a rational solution.

The journey back to the interior of the empire was the longest part of the journey, and there were two stops along the way. However, since they were both close to the border of the empire, there were not many new passengers. The final destination is an industrial city within the empire, a transportation system center for heavy-duty and high-speed trains in the region.

When we arrived here, fourteen days had passed since we stopped at the connecting airport.

After getting off the airship, I dragged my luggage out of the airport to the large square in front. Noisy sounds and crowds were heard all around again. There was a layer of light white steam on the wet road in front of me. Impatient greetings The sound of car horns was also rising and falling, and a large number of limousines moved slowly as if they were completely crowded on the road. The sight in front of her made Cassia let out a long sigh. The air rich in water vapor still smelled of oil and vapor accumulated over the years.

"This is the empire, and nothing has changed."