The group of sculptures standing quietly in the darkness was left by the earliest builders of the Twilight City. When they finally stabilized the city structure inside the barrier and were able to smoothly control the opening and closing of the barrier, the past was divided into The group of people in the city left these things outside the gate. Now that two thousand years have passed, these sculptures have been rebuilt and replaced many times, but they still maintain 100% of their original appearance. They stand in the dark, always reminding the survivors of Twilight to remember them All that was gone—the whole world beyond the barrier.
There are many versions of stories about these sculptures, but even if he doesn't know these stories, Hao Ren can see a lot from the faces of the sculptures with different expressions. It is said that each of these statues is a real person, the last batch of ancestors who fell outside the gate when the twilight barrier rose. Wendell is familiar with the stories of these sculptures.
So in Wendell's narration to the sculpture group, a group of people stepped through the door of halo.
Hao Ren felt as if he was passing through a faint wall of wind. The light shield that protected the entire city was actually only a thin layer. When he walked over, he could hardly feel the thickness of that thing. The moment he passed through the barrier, he felt that the scorching breath and harmful radiation that filled the air were completely isolated from the outside, while an unpleasant smell of smoke and dust rushed towards his face.
He looked up and found that the entrance of the city was even more desolate and dilapidated than he had imagined. It was obviously an important gate of the shelter, but there was not even a decent sentry around, and there were few people. There are dilapidated and tall gray-black buildings everywhere. Two crooked towers stand symmetrically on both sides. The outer walls of the towers are mottled and peeled off, revealing the uneven metal structure inside. A wide slope slopes upwards. The road stretches out in front of you, and both sides of the ramp are full of high and low abandoned facilities and buildings with sparse lighting. Metal pipes and steel cables are criss-crossed above the buildings like spider webs, and smoke and dust hover among these "spider webs". It looked foggy.
And the line of sight extends along the sloping upward slope, and you can see that the Twilight Capital is piled up like a spiral upward mound, and the layers of buildings have been piled up infinitely, just like the buildings are too crowded. So much so that the terrain of the entire city was squeezed into a swollen bag. Between those stacked buildings, you can see groups of white smoke rising from time to time, and you can faintly see a huge mechanical device running where the white smoke rises. The rumbling sound echoes throughout the city, monotonous and unnerving. irritable.
"That's a big boiler," Wendell couldn't help showing a smile on his face after returning to his hometown. Although he embarked on a journey to find the light with a heart of no return, human feelings cannot be avoided after all. Yes, being able to come back here again filled his heart with joy, "There are the largest steam boilers there, half of the power of the entire city is provided by a few large boilers."
"Steam boiler?" Hao Ren suddenly realized at this time, "Are you using steam power?"
"Yes, the great steam technology," Wendell said with emotion, "it is said that this thing was originally created by the giants in ancient times, and the king of flames, Shirtel, is the master of all steam power, but when the gods fell , After the collapse of the world, the power of steam scattered in the world, and it gradually became something that humans can control. I used to have a workshop, and I was good at making gear mechanisms—but the workshop closed a long time ago."
Hao Ren snorted and looked around. He noticed that even though the entrance and exit were desolate and dilapidated, it was not completely empty of people. Many people emerged from the dilapidated buildings that seemed to have been around for a hundred years. These people were dressed in tattered clothes, sloppy, and looked weird. They were surprised to see someone coming in from outside the city, and they lingered from a distance, not daring to approach, and then someone finally recognized Wendell as a "seeker for light." ", so the man let out an exclamation, turned around and ran away quickly.
There were several others who ran away with him.
"Don't worry about these people," Wendell said as he walked forward on his own. "They are 'miners' on the outer edge of the city. They have been exposed to the radiation environment outside for a long time. These people are somewhat neurotic. They deserve respect , but still can’t integrate into the society of the inner zone, so they all gather here.”
"Miner", as the name suggests, is the person responsible for collecting resources. But in this twilight city, the work of miners means paying a heavier price.
They are responsible for gathering resources outside the city—beyond the Twilight Barrier.
These people have to wear heavy protective gear and set off every day, take a steam locomotive to leave the city from another exit, and go to the mining field in the vast darkness. Mining sites have low-power protective devices, but they are nothing compared to the powerful twilight barrier: these miners are thus exposed to deadly fel radiation and toxic gases for a long time. These fatal and harmful environments continuously erode their bodies and spirits, eventually causing these people to look haggard and mentally slow, becoming what Hao Ren saw. The Steam Council provides the miners' families with some of the best rations and housing in the city, but the miners themselves...
Their blood is poisoned, their hair and nails are poisoned, even their breath is poisoned—they live only in the outer rim.
However, in order to allow their families and future generations to enjoy a superior living environment, there are still many people who voluntarily come to the outer edge of the city to become miners. Of course, there are also people who are unwilling, that is, criminals who have been exiled here, but they usually have no way to show their faces.
Wendell led Hao Ren and his party away from the avenue, and walked into an alley hidden in the shadow of the building with ease. Hao Ren thought the other party was avoiding something on purpose: "Are you avoiding people from the Steam Council? In fact, we are just not interested in that council, and we have no intention of avoiding them..."
"I didn't avoid them," Wendell shook his head helplessly, "it's just that if you want to go from this gate to the inner city, you have to take this road. The wide road has been in disrepair for a long time. Since the number of light seekers has shrunk, that One road is almost abandoned, and the others are more difficult. I will take you to an old friend, he is the mine locomotive steward, and he can take us to the inner city. You will be able to get in touch with the Lightseeker headquarters."
Hao Ren nodded and said nothing, just followed Wendell silently, walking towards the depths of the dark, filthy building complex that looked like a dormant steel monster, and at the same time observed the building curiously. A strange city in a closed state.
Obviously, after the Twilight of the Gods, the survivors of this world did not let civilization completely stagnate. Although their development path became very weird, and the cities inside the barrier appeared deformed and distorted everywhere, their society still developed tenaciously. . Two thousand years ago, the humans in Midgard were the experiments and playthings of the Nordic gods. They lived a primitive and rough life like other humans in the same period. Today, two thousand years later, they build in the twilight barrier. A city of iron and steel driven by machinery and steam power - Galajol was amazed by this.
In this case, their technology tree is still developing!
Wendell led the group along the winding path, passing through many old buildings that looked abandoned, but there were still sounds from inside. Judging from the slope of the road under his feet, Hao Ren thought he was on the same road. Advance to higher ground.
Finally, they reached an open place.
This is a huge steel platform, which is supported by thick and amazing pillars, and it is completely volleyed on top of several tall buildings, while several parallel steel rails extend from the edge of the platform. One end of these rails stretched straight to the distant twilight barrier, passed through the halo gate on the barrier, and disappeared into the darkness all the way: they obviously led to the mines, and the other end of the rails went all the way. The topography of the city extends upwards towards the top of the cone-shaped city.
This is a major artery.
When Hao Ren and his party arrived at the platform, they saw the "steam locomotive" that Wendell said.
Those were two clumsy but rough and powerful mechanical monsters. They were larger than any train in Hao Ren's impression (including the old-fashioned steam locomotives he had seen in movies). Full of thick pipes and rivets, the dark steel machine looks extraordinarily rough and heavy, and behind this powerful tractor head, several dirty carriages are being towed.
Many men in greasy work clothes are busy around the two locomotives. They are busy grease the machine, adjust the gears, tighten the valves, and write the sacred runes on the front of the locomotive with white paint to bless the steel. The body can return safely in the darkness outside the twilight barrier. A large number of miners are waiting for the train at the back of the car. These miners are wearing heavy protective clothing. The dirty clothes are inlaid with runes with some kind of soft metal wire. Every miner still has an ugly Spherical helmet, the helmet is made of leather and metal, and is connected with the clothes by two tubes.
These heavy protective suits are slightly similar to those worn by Wendell, but they are obviously rougher and clumsier. Although they look heavy, their effects are quite limited. The equipment and amulets of the Lightseeker can allow the wearer to cross the ruins of the Nine Kingdoms, but the protective clothing and helmets worn by the miners can only allow them to survive safely under the radiation of magic energy for ten hours - after this time, they must come back and replace some Key components and recharging the runes.
Therefore, the most important lesson every miner has to take before starting his job for the first time is: he must catch the steam locomotive on the return journey in time. (to be continued~^~)