Hao Ren was curious about the social form in this twilight city.

After three years in the position of censor - although this work experience is not worth mentioning compared to the old fritters like Galazol and Anthony, Hao Ren still cultivated a certain professional quality, and the biggest change is that he is now very curious about various forms of civilization and worldview, and can observe them with a more objective and professional eye rather than just a bustle. He wondered how order was maintained in the Twilight City, how the Steam Council had control over the city, the relationship between the Steam Council and the Lightseekers, and how a city that had been in complete isolation for two thousand years and was still thriving would face a group of strangers from outside the barriers.

When a well-organized society is confined to a city (though the city is enormous) for two millennia, and has struggled with the deadly environment outside, many things can no longer be inferred by common sense.

Wendell and Boken had a lively conversation about the trip to the light and the recent changes in the city, and finally Boken arranged a train for the group to go straight to the upper town.

"There's a locomotive that will depart in a moment," Borken said, writing a note quickly, "and an honest old driver will take you uptown." I can't get out of it right now, but Wendell you should have a way. ”

He sealed the note in a delicate little cylinder and stuffed it into a brass tube next to his desk—a dozen of which were neatly arranged next to his desk. With a slight sound of airflow, the cylinder was carried down the pipe far away. Boken picked up a long-handled microphone with wiring and plugged it into one of the corresponding sockets next to the copper tube: "Kostov." Receive an emergency pass and add it to your schedule before you go. ”

A quarter of an hour later. Hao Ren and his entourage got on the steam locomotive to Shangcheng.

As special guests personally arranged by Boken the Administrator (or rather gagged), they certainly did not have to be crowded with the ore in the carriage, and the group was placed in a clean compartment at the front of the train, which was located at the rear of the cab, which was originally intended as a rest area for the drivers and apprentices, but the locomotive was only full when it traveled in the dark wilderness, and the control personnel only needed less than half of it when returning to the upper city, and the rest area was just empty.

Given the locomotive's sheer size, the lounge appears quite spacious. Hao Ren and his entourage all stayed inside, and they didn't look cramped at all. Lily happily leaned on the window of the car and watched the cityscape speeding by outside, shouting happily whatever she saw, and Elizabeth joined her, but the little devil's focus was clearly more on the locomotive itself. The closest to these two living treasures is Nangong May, and the Siren girl is much calmer, she is as warm as water, she says that her heart has no fluctuations, and she even wants to spit bubbles a little......

May's belly dish soap has not been digested yet.

Hao Ren left his seat and walked to the gate at the end of the lounge and looked inside. Through a dirty glass window, he could see the situation in the cab opposite. He saw that the cab was littered with intricate pipes, valves, pressure gauges, and control wrenches, and that two beefy apprentices were filling the fuel hopper with fuel while an old man with gray hair was busy between the wrenches and the valves. Carefully controlling the locomotive, the old man was what Boken called "Kostov". He is said to have been driving this locomotive for forty years, making countless trips between the Dark Wilderness and the Twilight Capital. And still in good health: this is a great achievement for the crew on the locomotive.

You know, though, drivers and apprentices don't have to work as long hours in the dark wilderness as miners. They had only been in contact with the magical environment for as long as the locomotive had run outside the barrier, and the steam boiler was protected by a very heavy protective shell and runi-encrusted pipes. But after all, they also work in the night, and the pervasive magic energy radiation can always bypass the tightest protection, and even the equipment of the Light Seeker may not be able to protect people, but this Kostov is alive and healthy until now, and when his colleagues have entered the incinerator early to become steam-powered, he is still in this position, pulling those heavy wrenches and valves, and his body is surprisingly hard.

"See what?" Vivien leaned in, glancing through the glass window and saying something seemingly casually.

Hao Ren nodded slightly: "It doesn't seem to be a pure-blooded human, I think his spiritual power is very strong." ”

"Weak werewolf blood, there were many werewolves in the Nordic region, and some werewolves and their human slaves gave birth to half-bloods, and the arrogant aliens did not recognize such half-bloods, so the half-breeds were thrown into the human race - the mythical 'bastards' who were extremely powerful and brave but were never treated by the gods were probably like this. The half-breed is already quite thin, and his ancestor may have been a legendary hero from Norse mythology, or Beowulf, or someone else...... But now he's just a little stronger, a little longer, and more resistant to demonic energy than a normal human. ”

"There's always a sense that the age of mythology is still going on."

"Yes, the Age of Mythology is still going on in this land," Vivien whispered, "The earthlings have thrown myths into the library, but the people of this land are still telling stories of the past, but to be honest, I don't want that era to continue in this form at all: it makes me feel depressed." ”

At this time, the dragon queen Galadrow also came over, but she did not talk about the city, but suddenly said something that was a little clueless: "Good work attitude." ”

"Work attitude?" Hao Ren was stunned for a moment, "Why is this suddenly related to work attitude?" ”

"Some novice censors make the mistake of being impulsive, and the power makes people forget their duties," Garadrow said, looking sideways at the scenery outside the car window, "and they go on a rampage to the target, so they tend to miss a lot of things beyond the target, and these things are often valuable." You don't seem to be: you will be curious about everything that goes on your journey, and without compromising the ultimate goal, you will be happy to participate in the life of every civilization, to observe them, to understand them, which is precious. The censor is the observer, the one who observes and gives feedback - the kind of person who goes straight to the goal will not see the scenery along the way, and your mindset is just right. ”

Hao Ren was embarrassed to let the dragon queen say something, and by the way, he was a little dizzy: "Is there such a high evaluation?" ”

"Of course, because that's exactly why the gods need us," the dragon queen smiled, "and they asked us to help with the affairs of the human world, just because we belong to the human world and can fit into the human world." ”

Hao Ren sighed, revealing a thoughtful look.

Galadrow looked at him with a smile and didn't say anything more, some of the truths he wanted to understand more than he had been told.

Steam locomotives roared, steel monsters dragged spectacular columns of white air over the Twilight City, and dense and eerie complexes of buildings flew past under and on both sides of the locomotive. The windows of some high-rise buildings have been pushed open, and curious children lie on the windowsill and watch the speeding locomotives pass by, which is the happiest moment of the day, and the adults of these children are not too likely to stop this somewhat dangerous move.

The steam locomotive, this rumbling noise monster has an extraordinary meaning in the city, it symbolizes the operation of the city, symbolizes the surging power of the big boiler, symbolizes the fresh blood still surging within the barrier, every citizen born in the twilight city knows the sacred meaning of the whistle, when the column of air gushes out of the boiler, a sense of pride and peace of mind will fill them, this psychological orientation is even part of the education - young children must learn to feel courage and pride from the sound of steam.

Because in a city sheltered by only a thin barrier, there is nothing left to give people a sense of security.

"The city is divided into three parts," Wendell said as the steam locomotive crossed a huge mechanical bridge, "and what we saw before belonged to the Outer Rim, the area that connected to the Dark Wilderness, and up this ramp was the Uptown, where most of the Artisans and the Steam Council lived, and down there, you can look down at the dark and gloomy depths of the city, which is the Lower Town, the oldest part of the Twilight Capital. ”

Hao Ren followed Wendell's instructions, leaned on the car window and looked down, his gaze through the steel beams and stacked roofs, to see the deepest part of the city. The Twilight City is like a strange ant nest stacked in the sky, with newer buildings pressing down on older ones, and relying on some ingenious construction rules, this seemingly precarious structure has been firmly supported to this day. Between the cracks of the city is a deep darkness, and the city of hundreds or even thousands of years ago lies quietly dormant under that dark abyss, lacking change and brilliance, as if forgotten by time.

But there is still life there, and a large population still lives in the lower town today, and the city's oldest cornerstones: the large steam furnace and part of the pressure pipes are buried in the abyss, the massive, rusty gears rumble in the dark, and the original boiler known as the "Heart of Syltel" is said to be still running. The people responsible for maintaining the equipment have lived between the gears and pipes for generations, and even generations have never left those labyrinthine mechanical cabins.

They are almost a different species, a new species that lies dormant in the dark, lives on heat and oil, lives in symbiosis with pipes and steam valves, and some scholars even believe that these people who have maintained the Great Boiler for generations have undergone a metamorphosis during their long-term exposure to the "Spirit of Steam", and are about to become a creature called "Dewar".

A cloud of steam emerged from the dark abyss of the city, obscuring the view of the snooping eye from above, and Hao Ren withdrew his gaze, and he saw that the locomotive was slowly approaching the platform in the upper city. (To be continued.) )