Steel steam and flame

There is no life, and the huge forest does not bring much to the city here, both in terms of safety and economy. Most of the people who stay here are elderly, and almost all the young people have left. It is also rare to occasionally see one or two energetic faces on the street.

Originally thought that this would be a temporary resting place for surgeons, Cassia later learned that there were long-term self-built bases at the edges of each extreme area of ​​the empire to serve the large number of surgeons who entered them every year. The equipment there is very complete, and middlemen for buying and selling are stationed almost all year round - while selling their own high-performance weapons, such as platinum bullets, blue silver bullets, antidotes, protective armor, high-explosive bombs, etc., they also buy them back as soon as possible. The materials in the hands of the surgeon, ores, special organs of second-type creatures, precious plants, etc.

In the empire's surgery circle, there are still many people who have not joined any group. The money for sedatives and the money used to exchange for surgical development project materials all have to rely on their own strength.

Delya came back not long after: "The transportation team has been found, and the iron box you asked to make, leader, has also been found. But because of the special material, they don't have it on hand, so they can only urgently buy it from a nearby big city. Transportation It takes three days to get here. I paid half of the fee up front, otherwise with their funds, they wouldn’t even be able to pay for the materials.”

"Have you informed them of the shipping requirements? It shouldn't be so easy."

"I thought so at first, but their older age gave them courage. They said they were close to the forest, but in fact they were far away. They happened to have trucks they didn't need to use, so they didn't have to drive them back. . The most important thing is that there is nothing that money cannot solve here. The money is enough for them to buy a new truck. They will not agree to it and everything will go smoothly."

"That's good. Help me prepare the potion in the next few days. Once the iron box is finished, we can set off."

Departure was in five days, and the journey from here to the destination of Cassia required several days. After bringing enough stored steam tanks, Cassia set off with a group of old people with mostly half-white hair. Delya did not follow. At the same time, she boarded the airship passing by and headed to another prosperous city in the coastal area. She still has a more important task. After Manoma was abandoned, she needed to find several new footholds as a reference to prepare basic data for development after the new year.

Cassia also told her the location of the sub-frontier she had chosen: "Go there and take a look at the environment, transportation, atmosphere, etc., and focus on observing the status of the imperial management institutions there. Just return to the villa base before the New Year."

The journey was relatively boring. I was able to follow the road for the first two or three days and the road conditions were pretty good. But after leaving the small radiation range of the city, weeds and large tracts of low shrubs took over the entire land. The climate here has just entered autumn. Compared with the winter that entered Manoma earlier, Cassia, who was sitting on the roof of the car, experienced the feeling of two different worlds.

The empire is so large that it can maintain its established pattern for thousands of years. Thinking about it carefully, it really makes people feel a sense of fear rising from the bottom of their hearts.

Soft music could be heard from time to time in the cab, and Cassia could already sing along. A few days passed, and the group of veteran drivers kept cycling and didn't feel bored at all. They can find a different freshness in every repeated song.

"At that time, about thirty years ago, this was a very popular song in a certain region. We were not married at that time, and the singer was the one we all admired. We still remember it now." He dug out a photo from the utility room piled up in front of the car window, wiped it with his sleeve and handed it to Cassia.

She is indeed a very attractive woman, with a beautiful face, slender body, excellent figure and charming temperament. The photographer who took this photo was a good photographer, and he completely captured the woman's features and attractiveness in this photo, Cassia thought, not knowing that she was looking in the wrong direction.

One of the drivers took the photo that Cassia handed back and sighed: "She is as old as us. I haven't seen any information about her for more than ten years. I don't know how she is now. After all, I was so crazy about her back then." .”

In the cab, the topic suddenly came up. Cassia sat on the roof of the car and listened all the way. She didn't stop until she reached her destination.

A few experienced drivers unloaded the off-road vehicle for the return journey from the heavy truck, explained a lot of things to Cassia, and then returned at noon. Seeing the off-road vehicle disappear into the wilderness, Cassia got into the cab. The photo was posted next to the rearview mirror. A woman looked at the camera with a smile, as if she was watching everything in the cab. There is also a signature on the side of the photo - Anasta Verga.

After opening the map to confirm that there was no deviation from the route, Cassia started the heavy truck and rushed on the road. This is more than half of the route to the destination, and he will go there alone.

Turning on the player embedded in the truck, the vinyl record was swallowed, the familiar music sounded again, and Cassia hummed unconsciously. "It really sounds good." He commented, and the car was quickly swallowed up by yellowish weeds and evergreen shrubs.

A few days later, a green wall slightly arched toward the center appeared in the distance. The air is mixed with the astringent smell of leaves and the decaying smell of dead leaves. The mist hanging over the forest was much thicker than when he came here a few months ago. The map showed that he was very close to the range originally designated for Cassie Hei. In one day, he would be able to reach the vicinity if he wanted to.

The number of trees on the wasteland has increased a lot, and driving routes have become very few. Seeing the light dimming, Cassia moved forward again for a while before stopping the truck, getting out of the cab and going outside to get some air.

Stars can be seen in the dark blue sky above, and the moonlight shines naturally. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the starry sky, Cassia sighed, hearing the roars coming from the southern forest from time to time.

"I wonder if Cassia learned anything else while I was away." Cassia returned to the car before thinking about it. As soon as his thoughts started, he seemed to see Cassie Hei standing next to an ancient tree in the forest. When he heard the sound, he immediately turned around, a ferocious smile appeared on his face, and he clumsily waved his hand to greet him.

Her eyes opened in an instant, Cassia took a few deep breaths and stopped thinking about these irrelevant things. Not a pleasant thought, he thought to himself.