Mr. X, the target of the Empire's rescue mission, was not identified in the map left by Emperor Lothar, but after studying the historical facts of the past few years, the brightest group of people in the entire empire succeeded in identifying Mr. X on several missing important people.

Most likely of these are the original dwarf kings, the great craftsman Mekatok, or Varian, the rightful heir of the Stormwind Kingdom, a descendant of the Urion family who left the northern frontier a few years ago. Ureon.

If Mr. X is really one of these two people, then the significance of this rescue operation is really extraordinary.

However, in the Federal District, the identity of this Mr. X is not so mysterious, at least in the Darkblade Intelligence Bureau, but all agents above level 6 know the identity of this "Mr. X" very well, and to some extent, the speculation of those scholars in the empire is indeed correct.

Gerbin. Mecatok, the original leader of the Craftsman Council of Nomorigen, tried to stop the gnomes of Nomorigen when they turned to the Federation, but in the end, after weighing the pros and cons, he maintained a default attitude towards the gnomes' choice, and in the initial business dispute between the gnomes and the goblins, the Grand Artisan also helped his compatriots.

But only that time...

At heart, the Great Artisan is a nostalgic, he doesn't hate the current deep cooperation between the Federation and Nomorigan, and he is optimistic about the cleanup and recovery of the City of Machines, but he hates the undead, and although he thinks that the current system of the Federation is great and perfect, he still hates the dark blade camp that has set off a world war, and hopes to return to the peaceful days of the past.

From this point of view, the great craftsman Mecatok still has some romantic spirit that is deeply rooted in the bone marrow.

However, Mecatok is a democrat through and through, and he will not force other gnomes to be as wary of the Darkblade as he is, and after stepping down as head of the Council of Craftsmen, Mecatok has repeatedly refused the gracious invitations of the Federal Assembly and the Black Iron Regional Council, he is unwilling to use his wits to serve the Darkblade's war, but he is very concerned about the development of various civilian technologies, and he also has the title of honorary director of the Federal Engineering Association.

In the current engineering circles of the Federal District, Mecatok is an idler, but every paper he publishes in his spare time directly causes a great discussion in the whole circle... In other words, even if he is idle at home, this smart and bald dwarf is still an out-and-out "man of the hour".

But the important knowledge contained in his wise brain also caused him some unnecessary "trouble".

Another dwarf master craftsman, Owersback, once swore in the face of a king of the empire that scientific researchers like him were protected by federal law, and that if necessary, the military forces of the Federation would even start a war immediately thinking that he was being harmed, which expressed the Federation's protection of these important people, but also showed the situation of these researchers being monitored.

Mecatok's wisdom is too "dangerous", in the current era of engineering is just starting, he can change the engineering level of a force by himself, between his unwillingness to serve the Federation, between his high position in the engineering circle, even the Governor of the Black Iron District, Myra, has to deal with this "hot potato" properly.

He "protected" the master craftsman and placed him in a semi-imprisoned state on the edge of the Black Iron District, which did not prohibit him from having limited communication with the outside world, but whether he was out for a walk or attending certain activities, Mecatok was bound to be accompanied by at least one Death Lord, as well as agents of the Darkblade Intelligence Bureau who were hiding around him.

And when the Darkblade Intelligence Bureau learns that the Empire is preparing to rescue an important person, Mercatok is properly transferred to another location just before the operation begins...

It was the core of the Federation's rule, and it was also the strongest area of the Darkblade's garrison in Southern Xinjiang... Stormwind

—————————————

"Bang bang bang... Woo! Woo! ”

The sound of wheels colliding with the rails, the sound of the whistle, the terrible smell of burning coal, and the black smoke that penetrated into the sky, a black steam train was speeding along the mountain road from the barren land of the Black Iron District to the Higashiya region, and on both sides of the tracks, some curious farmers could be seen riding horses and following the train.

The enthusiastic and curious young people would also flick their hats at the train, as if to greet the steel monster.

This new type of transportation, which was successfully developed just last year, will attract a large number of onlookers every time it sets off, which is a real new thing, and civilians may not be able to understand what changes the fast train will bring to their lives, but in the speed of the locomotive and the hum of the whistle, they can always feel ignorantly... The power of civilization to move forward.

As one of the most important studies in the Black Iron District, the steam locomotive received strong support from the Federal Assembly immediately after the successful research, and the first railway track from the East Valley to the Black Iron District was laid three months ago, and now three more tracks from the Western Wilderness to the Twilight Federal District, from the Red Ridge Mountain to the East Valley, and from the Twilight Federation to the New Gilneth District under development are being laid at the same time.

The first 20 steam locomotives are being built at the official factory of the newly established Train Authority in the Black Iron District, and it is expected that in two months, the Federation will have a set of railroad lines connecting the major ruling districts, and in the Stormwind City Planning Agency, designers who have received a large order are designing a complete set of complex transportation lines for the Federal Assembly covering the entire Federation.

According to Speaker Van Cleef's ambitious "Great Construction Plan", in the next 10 years, the Federation will have an ultra-long railway line from the Cursed Land directly to the northernmost city of Lordaeron, the original carriage will be completely eliminated, and the civilization of the Federation will enter a new era of "praise new" in the hum of steam locomotives.

The first steam train to run across the land of Azeroth, named the "Federal Mission", departed from the Darkhearth Station and the East Valley Station once a day, one in the morning and the next, and because it was a prototype, it had less power, and could only pull five fully loaded cars at a time, with an additional passenger car.

But even then, it takes at least three times more time to travel supplies and travel at one time than it did at the previous level.

However, from the East Valley to the Black Iron District, you have to pass through the Red Ridge Mountains across the continent, and it stands to reason that it is very difficult to lay railroad tracks through the mountains like this, but this is Azeroth, this is a magical world, and there are many, many ways in this world to easily open a straight tunnel at the bottom of a mountain, and believe me, for the Black Iron Dwarf excavation team, this is not a big problem at all.

At this time, in the passenger compartment of the Federal Mission, the master craftsman in civilian clothes, Gerbin. As Mecatok sat on the couch, looking through the "Engineering and Technology Weekly" in his hand, as a guy at the heart of a storm, the master craftsman was not nervous or angry, on the contrary, he was in a very heartless attitude, while drinking tea, while relish the paper published by the famous goblin tinkerer Gates on "The concept of functional distributed mechanical gear transmission".

Beside him, Darkblade Intelligence Bureau Level 7 Agents Kodana and Marais quietly hid in the shadows, vigilantly fulfilling their mission, and the two young ladies would occasionally sneak a glance at the weekly magazine in the hands of the master craftsman, and the strange symbols and devices printed on the open pages seemed to them almost like the book of heaven.

On the couch opposite Mecatok, the Blood Lord Myra, who is going back to Stormwind to report on his work, is also the Death Lord who protects the Great Artisan, and he also finds a book to relieve his boredom during his boring journey... It was a magazine dedicated to how to take care of the skin in various situations, written by a female "scholar" under the pseudonym "Blood Rose", which, of course, many people know, was actually the pen name of Luminas, the commander of the Hellfire Band.

"I said, can you stay in North County for a few more days this time?"

After reading the paper, it was as if he had eaten the most delicious meal, and he put down the scientific magazine with satisfaction, picked up the teacup, looked at Myra opposite, and said in a shrill voice peculiar to a dwarf:

"The air in that part of Darkfurnace is terrible, and I want to live a few more years, at least until the day when Nomorigen's mechanical gear computer is developed."

"Huh?"

Myra raised her head and looked at the master craftsman, and he jokingly said:

"If you want to have a recuperation, I recommend you go to the Nagrand Grassland or the Shadow Moon Sea in Draenor, those two places have very good scenery, it is said that after a while it will be the gladiator tournament organized by the orcs and ogres, it is the most famous event in the world of Draenor, and now even the gladiator team of Azeroth is rushing there."

"Oh? Gladiator competition? ”

The master craftsman let out a pleasant laugh, he scratched the thinning hair on his head, then picked up the biscuit on the table, took a bite, and nodded:

"Sounds good, so please book a ticket for me... Hey. ”

Before Mecatok could finish his words, he saw a fist-sized creature looking at him next to the biscuit box on the carriage table, which made the master craftsman subconsciously rub his eyes, thinking that he had seen it wrong, he let out a confused nasal sound, and then saw the little thing that looked like a slender and thin poaching dragon raise its front paws and make a silent gesture to him.

And in the claws of the miniature poaching dragon, he grasped an emblem of the Lordaeron Empire, and the moment he saw this emblem, Mecatok's eyes changed, and at that moment, the Blood Lord, who didn't feel anything unusual, turned his head and looked at Mecatok:

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong? ”

"Uh, no, I mean, is there a soda in this car?"

Mecatok's expression did not change, and he looked at the Blood Lord with a comical expression peculiar to a dwarf:

"Ah, I'm really thirsty, can you help me get a glass of strawberry juice?"

Myra shook her head, he knew that the gnomes were more or less neurotic, so he didn't take it to heart, but snapped his fingers, and a high-ranking knight guarding the edge of the carriage immediately turned around and walked to the mechanical refrigerator at the back of the carriage, which was the only "enjoyment" in this modest carriage.

And on this side, under Mecatok's faint gaze, the eerie, purple, two-feathered poaching dragon hidden on the edge of the cookie box tossed a small piece of paper in its claws into the cookie box, and then silently disappeared into a faint cloud of smoke on the table, just as it appeared.

The master craftsman's nimble eyes looked left and right, then pretended to take the biscuit, sandwiched the note between the two biscuits, and took it out.

He lowered his head and nibbled on the biscuit, and with his nimble fingers, which could assemble 20 gears in 10 seconds, he spread out the note, which contained only two sentences.

"Grab the most valuable thing in your hand, and count 3 silently..."

Seeing the first sentence, Mecatok subconsciously grabbed the suitcase that he put aside, it was a treasure that he never left with him, which was filled with all his engineering design drawings and research on the future of engineering in the past few years, as well as some research materials rubbed out of the large library of the Black Iron District.

Then the gnome looked at the second sentence...

"Now... Get down! ”

"Bang"

Under the silent gaze of Myra and the two high-ranking agents, as well as the 15 high-ranking knights in the entire carriage, Mecatok jumped up from the sofa, and then, like a hen guarding the nest, held his suitcase in his arms and lay on the ground.

At the same time, the Federal Mission steam locomotive also let out a sharp whistle, and between the black smoke, it roared into the last large tunnel in the Red Ridge Mountains, and the light in the entire carriage dimmed for a moment at this moment, the fog... The strange dark fog, as if tearing through the space, filled the entire carriage in an instant.

The sword light, shining silver light sword light burst out of the shadow, and in a hurry, four high-ranking knights were stabbed by a short sword mixed with holy silver, and between the sound of weapons colliding, it was like a rich symphony, a figure wearing a gray cowboy hat, wearing a leather hunting suit, deerskin combat boots, wearing a combat short knife at his waist, holding two silver glittering revolvers in his hands, and a lit cigar in his mouth, also walked out of the shadow.

The moment she saw him, Myra entered a state of battle, the cold blood mist escaped, and the Blood Lord stared at the figure that had long disappeared...

"Madias... Shore! ”

Shore shrugged his shoulders in the face of Myrah's vigilance, and the next moment, the special revolver he carried in his hands was swung up, and in a low and frenzied voice, a whistling storm of bullets filled the entire roaring carriage.

"It's not Shore... The Avengers who have returned from hell..."

"Now, undead, I'm going to say... The Cursed..."

"At noon... It's here! ”