Steel steam and flame

At the small station, under the cold and dim lights, the questioning had been going on for nearly an hour. Following the officer were two other people, a thin man who seemed to be the officer's guards. One is an ordinary-looking woman with a sharp face, holding a notepad. The light gray pen in his hand was quickly scribbling on it, recording the nearly one-hour conversation in detail.

"That's all. The train drove directly from here without stopping at all. It looked a bit strange. There were many square cone-shaped fortress-like things on it, and there seemed to be some signs of damage on it." The administrator recalled. With a poor memory, although he has recalled it many times, the officer in front of him always asked the same thing and dug into the details.

The officer nodded, and the shadow mark on his face became heavier, like an iron mask covering it. Without speaking, everything around him fell into silence and became quiet. Only the sound of the wind came, making the place feel a bit gloomy.

The officer thought for a while, sorting out his thoughts and details of the entire interview to see if he had missed anything. Finally, a stiff smile appeared on his face, as if the melt marks on the steel after heat treatment had no relaxing factor at all.

"Thank you for your cooperation." The officer said, and the thin man behind him and the woman with a sharp face also bent slightly and said thank you.

When the three people left, the administrator realized that his back was already covered with cold sweat.

"It's really... it's really..." he muttered several times, but he couldn't think of a suitable adjective.

The officer and two of his men got into a military chariot. The chariot was parked outside this small town, and no one noticed it.

In the car, the woman with a sharp face was still writing something on a notepad, probably perfecting the final report.

"Tell other troops to focus on searching the area between this small town and the foot of the mountain. The last people left on the rearrangement should have left from there. There is no need to block the road, just send someone to keep an eye on it. The goods are still there. Even if there is a loss, there is no need to calculate it. The key point is to find the main culprits in this matter and figure out what happened." The officer said, and the skinny man acted as a liaison, using a radio device to transmit information The officer's words.

"Also," the officer continued unhurriedly, "those who are waiting at the following stations to be re-listed, it is best not to deal with these matters personally. The order and location of the re-listed stations must be used. Some methods should be as hidden as possible. It is not something that can run around in the sun. If it can reduce the probability of appearing in people's eyes, it is better to reduce it as much as possible."

"Before dawn, the train should pass through a station again. There is not much time, so the people there must restore the train to its original state, and the official number on the train must also be sprayed and made old."

The information was accurately sent out through the radio device. Teams in different areas and dealing with different matters received the communication one after another.

At the same time, another team was collecting specific clues along the railway line. Not long ago, they had found a major battlefield after leaving Xuefeng Base. Many airships crashed there, and the bodies were not disposed of.

At night, they used a human-powered rail car to speed along the railway with bright flashlights.

"There!" someone shouted. He was a very observant person with a strange light in his eyes. Wear contact lenses, otherwise there should be a pair of bright red cross pupils.

They once again found the body of a woman, lying in the snow not far from the railway, with a special dagger-style tactical knife stuck in her head.

"People from the Far Sea Common Country." The captain of this team recognized it at a glance. He had many exchanges with people from the Far Sea Common Country and was proficient in the language. "Wrap the body back, especially the tactical knife. It should be possible to find out the owner of this weapon.”

The captain thought, and the men behind him were searching the surrounding area. Soon, a messy footprint that was not completely covered by the snow was discovered, and there was blood spattered there.

"Shovel it back." The captain gave the order simply. The surrounding area was quickly cleared, and they once again boarded the human-powered rail car and headed towards the endless front of the railway.

It was probably early in the morning, when some light had already fallen, and the surroundings were so gray that it was barely possible to see the surrounding things clearly. At this time, they had entered a wilderness, a desolate area covered with snow.

A piece of iron plate entered their eyes, and the old housekeeper's face, frozen white, faced the light blue sky with fluttering clouds. The distracted eyes opened slightly, as if they had been staring at something.

"Get through to the base and tell the top officer that the old housekeeper's body has been found."

,,,,,,,

It’s not early morning yet, because it’s winter, and it’s usually after 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning until it gets completely bright. Thordar looked at the clock. The hour hand pointed exactly at four o'clock. He took out the warm cigarettes from his arms, took out one, lit it and started smoking. The fatigue and depression that covered his face were reduced a lot in the rising smoke.

He was a porter and also worked as a welder at the station. Every time he worked the night shift, he would always find a place to sit, smoke a few cigarettes, and think about the present in his free time. He is already quite old, but he has never been to far away places. From birth to this age, my footprints have been limited to a few small cities around me. Every time he listened to the conversations of the passengers on the train, he had never seen any of the novel things in the big city.

Is it time to go out for a walk? It was a question, and Thordar was unsure. Just as his thoughts were drifting away, he felt something on his sensitive buttocks sitting on the ground. It was a vibration, coming from far away. There must be a train coming into the station, he thought. It was still a big and heavy one.

Is this his personal secret? A pair of butts that sit on the ground all year round have developed feelings for the ground? This is how he often explains his keen awareness of trains coming into a station.

Sure enough, in less than a few breaths, there was the sound of shoes dragging on the ground behind him.

"Sodar, there's a rearrangement coming. Go and prepare the tools. The stationmaster said it needs to be dismantled and repaired. There doesn't seem to be much time."

"I know." Sodar sighed, took a last puff of cigarette, and stood up.