Steel Steam and Flame

The mood is probably the biggest change, and the relaxed feeling makes Cassia look forward to the next journey. There is no mission, no purpose, just a simple return to the place where he should be staying. The time is also very generous, the itinerary will not be very tight, and there is no longer a worry that the time will not catch up.

Along the way, you can think about a lot of information accumulated in your head, of course, you can also not think about it at all, and 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 exhalation. I don't know what it will look like in the future, but at least for the short time now, it is what I want to live, and I live without worries. It seems to be integrated into the surrounding air. In fact, it is a completely independent individual, but it is not known by others. .

When the whistle sounded, Cassia was already sitting on a chair in the airship room, and the books from No. 0 were neatly placed on the table. When the airship resumed its smooth sailing, he picked up the kettle and spent a few minutes filling a pot of boiling water in the middle-level dining room. After returning, he watched the scene outside the round window for a minute or two.

There are still large dark gray rain clouds gathered under the airship, one piece is connected to the other, there are not many gaps, only the ground that has been cut can be seen - with a little golden scene - the rest is all. Immutable dark grey. The heavy rain more than a month ago is only the beginning after all. The weather will reverse, and then rain will become the norm, and it will be intermittent when it is sunny or when there is no rain.

When the time on the bronze clock in the house just pointed to three o'clock, Cassia withdrew his gaze, turned back to the table, poured a glass of boiled water and drank it directly, took a book, and said in his mouth, "It seems that number zero is very important to history. I am interested in the related book”, open it and read it.

There are very few passengers on the airship, and more products and supplies are being transported everywhere. In a week, even if the right time is chosen, whether it is to turn on the water or to fill the stomach, there will not be many people in the cafeteria, and it is normal for nearly four-fifths of the dining space to be vacated.

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

There are only six people boarding the airship here, and all that needs to be busy is the large amount of cargo on this medium-sized airship. When I went to the cafeteria, I was alone in the empty restaurant, and the sound of the air circulation system could even echo around.

Of the other dozen or so people, most of them are surgeons. Even those who weren't, hired surgeons as their protection. It's just that the surgical stage is generally relatively low, and there is only one of the three stages. Cassia can only give such an evaluation.

During this time, the Empire and two other large countries strengthened the management of their borders. Cassia knows the reason why a large number of passengers leave before the last stop. The connecting airport will verify the identity and documents passing through the border. For passengers who do not have it, going there is just going to spend more money and return.

Optically encrypted ID cards and documents are far more difficult to counterfeit than repurchasing a rationalized identity of the three giant nations, and there is a risk of death if discovered.

But for a period of time in the future, there will still be groups of people rushing to the small countries bordering the frontier of the empire, stopping at the transfer airport, and turning to other ways to go to the seemingly safer empire. The frontier 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 smuggle into the empire under the protection of firearms—most people think so .

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

"Whether it goes well and whether you can enter the territory of the empire, everything depends on the managers of the frontier regions. Sometimes, the so-called vacancies and routes are actually left on purpose. There is also a checkpoint, but standard documents and identity cards are not required. , just enough money."

Two days later, the airship docked at the transfer airport. Arrived in the morning and officially set off at 4 pm, all kinds of small and medium-sized commercial airships that came here one after another brought less than 150 passengers. In the next few months, the number of people on the airships returning to the empire will be even smaller each time. When the time point arrives, it is not impossible to stop it completely.

During the waiting time, Cassia used her perception to probe once, only about twenty people were ordinary people, and the rest were all surgeons. However, even with a small number of people and very little cargo to be transported back to the Empire, a large commercial airship was still arranged.

With the sound of the clear whistle, the dark gray clouds above the transfer airport also waved ripples that were impacted by the sound waves. Then the cloud layer was penetrated by the airship, and when it closed quickly, the humming sound of the lift device also left far away.

The next journey is exactly the same as a few days ago, the difference is that there are no commercial facilities around the transfer airport, and naturally there is no bookstore. Cassia asked many airport staff, collected some self-read books from individuals, and with permission, took a lot of outdated magazines and newspapers, etc. Coupled with some readings on commercial airships, although it is not enough to support the airship to reach its destination, it should be no problem for a few days.

Repeating it a few more times seems to be a rationalized solution too.

The time to return to the interior of the empire is the longest part of the trip, and there are two stops in the middle, but because they are all close to the border of the empire, there are not many new passengers. The final destination is an industrial city within the Empire, the center of a transit system of re-trained, high-speed trains in a region.

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

I got off the airship, dragged my luggage out of the airport and went to the big square in front of me. There were loud noises again, and the crowd was shouting. The wet road ahead was covered with a faint layer of white steam. The sound of car horns also rose and fell, and a large number of limousines moved slowly as if they were crowded on the road. The sight in front of her made Cassia sigh for a long time, and the air rich in water vapor still smelled of oil and gas accumulated over the years.

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