Steel steam and flame

The old butler put his hand on the table and intertwined his fingers. He stared quietly at the blood vessels on it that were swelling with age. Next to it is a pile of neat documents, stamped with bright red seals, which have not yet been processed, and are a thick stack.

Then he opened his hand, his fingertips still bulging, and he began to tap the table rhythmically, making a "dong-dong" sound. His eyes returned to the front, looking at the big bronze clock on the wall in front of him, until the second hand approached the "twelve" scale on the dial one by one, and then he watched the second hand and the minute hand overlap. At this time, the time reached four o'clock in the afternoon, and the tapping sound of fingers also stopped.

The old housekeeper reached out and picked up the receiver, adjusted the frequency to a unique frequency, pressed the button to apply for communication, and waited quietly in the silent room for the call to come through.

During the long process, as time passed, the old butler's face became darker and gloomier. Finally, there was no luster on it, as if it was hidden in a black shadow. He really wanted to hang up the application, but his body had stopped moving due to his age.

"Hello, old housekeeper." A normal voice sounded over there, almost like a machine reciting it. A faint echo could be heard, as if it was in a huge empty room.

"Yes, sir," the old butler responded quickly. He had something to say, but was interrupted on the way.

"Good news? Is the matter with the goods over?" There was a faint questioning tone.

"We set off on time, but it seems there was a little problem in the middle." The old butler's mind was racing, thinking of words that would not make the other party angry but could calmly accept the content of the words.

"I don't want to hear about the process. What was the result? Did it go smoothly, or was it something else? I don't have any extra time here."

"The re-train departed smoothly, but the time was a little earlier." The old housekeeper said in a calm tone, "It's just that Norenter's side couldn't be contacted, and the re-train was also... maybe because of the weather. The heavy snowstorm here hasn’t completely stopped yet.”

"Do you think it's possible? Old housekeeper." There was mocking laughter from the other side, and then it quickly turned into anger, "Everything will be according to my orders! You must know the consequences of disobeying orders! I will be back in two days, and I hope that the good news that will reach my ears at that time will be perfect."

"yes,,,,"

"Also, tell Norentel that he doesn't have to come back." The communication was hung up here, and a murmur of noise poured out of the receiver.

The old housekeeper was still frozen in place. The words "He may not come back" were also stuck in his throat, and he never had the chance to say them out.

After thinking about it, the old housekeeper contacted another person.

"Old housekeeper, I haven't seen you for a long time. Didn't you follow the commander to Visaya Fortress?" It was a man's voice that was quite majestic. It should be at the edge of the shooting range. The violent gunshots could be heard, "What's the matter?"

"Someone has to handle things here. We can't leave." The housekeeper smiled and hesitated for a moment, "Norenter is dead, I need some manpower."

"Old housekeeper, I'm still busy with something here. I'll come over to talk to you later. The gunshots were too loud and I couldn't hear you clearly." The voices over there were really getting quieter, and the gunshots took over the scene in an instant. All communication spaces.

"About a year ago, I remember that a batch of supplies came to the volcano base, with nearly fifty carriages. Later, there was an accident on the way. It was said that more than a dozen carriages encountered heavy water on the way and were all scrapped. The documents were very complete. , the military department doesn’t care about it, and the volcano base doesn’t seem to have detailed storage records..."

"Old housekeeper," the voice came back with a smile, "we are training here. They are all powerful soldiers. There is no place for them to use their strength. The shooting range is too boring for them. I don't know about you. Is there any good place over there where we can train them?”

"Of course. Thank you in advance. This is a small matter, and we should help each other." The old housekeeper exchanged a few words with each other again, and then hung up the communication with a gloomy look on his face.

"Huh..." He always felt like there was something in his chest that he couldn't spit out, and his fingers unconsciously tapped the table again. I took a document and opened it, but not a single word on it came into my eyes.

He stood up, picked up the cup on the side, and drank the water in one gulp. When he put down the cup, he was already standing in front of the file cabinet next to the table. There is a hidden box inside the cabinet. It is very small and cannot be seen without breaking the cabinet open.

Inside was another pocket-sized communicator, wrapped neatly in anti-static plastic and looking like it had never been used since leaving the factory. The old housekeeper opened it and pressed the button. Soon, someone on the other side connected, but no one spoke, only the faint sound of breathing could be heard.

"In the coastal area, don't we have a residence there? Soon, there will be a long holiday here at the military headquarters. I am going to go there. You can go and stay here first. It will only take a few days. It's better to hurry up. I'll fly The airship will pass by much faster than you, don’t wait for me to arrive, you haven’t passed by yet.”

There was no talking there, and then the old housekeeper hung up. He picked up the large briefcase on his desk and placed the pocket machine inside. There was a knock on the door. He put his briefcase under his arm, walked over and opened the door. A woman in military uniform stood there and saluted the old housekeeper with a standard military salute.

"Hello, sir, I am..."

The old butler waved his hand: "Just lead the way. This is an urgent mission. I will lead the team myself."

In less than ten minutes, dozens of airships rose steadily from the airport. The wind blew high in the sky, and the airboat began to shake violently. I wanted to apply for a military airship again, but during non-war times, even the highest officer of the volcano base needs a series of cumbersome procedures to dispatch, and all documents must be submitted to the Imperial Military Department and entered into super analysis. The machine is stored as a file. He didn't have the power at all, and he didn't have the appropriate method. The ship that Norenter and the others drove away had already consumed too much of their energy to deal with it.

,,,,,,

He is sorting out the processed documents. One copy was put aside alone. He picked up the document at this time, threw it into the shredder, and watched it being ground into powder. Just as he was holding a bag to pack the powder, someone knocked on the door. There was only one sound, and before he could respond, the door was opened.

Himya walked in, closed the door, and then threw the latest notice in her hand on the table.

"It should be vacation time in school now." She said, pulled up the chair in front of her and sat down, watching as Bo poured the powdered paper from the shredder basket into the bag, and then kneaded it. It turned into a ball and put it in the pants pocket.

"What age are you now? You're still thinking about this." Bolei responded, flattening the bulging trouser pockets.

"I'm just an adult woman under fifty years old." Himiya said, "Don't you know how tired you are? Another day is passing. I feel that living longer is also a burden." He sighed indifferently, but his eyes He glanced at Bie's trouser pocket.

"According to the age of the surgeon, you are still an energetic young man." Borde picked up the file that Himiya threw on the table and looked at it.

"Are you so busy during this period? Was this the case before?" After asking two questions in a row, Himiya looked at Bo.

"I don't know. In the last war, I was a soldier running around on the battlefield, and it was only a few decades ago that I entered the military school. I have no idea what the military school was like at that time. Let's treat this situation as It's fine as long as it's normal." Borde said, "Are those people from the extreme area coming back? The time seems to be a little earlier. I thought it would have to wait until at least after the New Year. Manoma is already in chaos now, and the people above Do you really want to add a little more vitality to this place?”

"I don't know. In short, no matter how chaotic it is, it won't affect their level. It's just us people who are in trouble. Look at the last thing. In their eyes, what is the position of the military school?"

Bordeaux skimmed through the tedious instructions in the middle and turned to the end of the document. It was an attachment with the title "Decision on Personnel Placement", which began with a series of process-style instructions. Bordeaux naturally ignored it and finally focused on a few lines of words.

"The first batch of personnel totaled 150,000 people. In view of the loss of students in the military school, the idle dormitories will be used to house these personnel." Himya said, "This document talks about such an important thing , the results will be given in one week.”

"Just leave it to the super analysis machine to distribute simple things. It's a small calculation that takes less than a minute." Bolei didn't care at all.

"With such a simple solution, maybe the military school will be more lively than Manoma during the New Year." Himiya didn't understand what he meant, "Be serious!"

"Don't worry, most of the dormitories in the military school are empty all year round." Bolei didn't care, "But in our own detention building, there are more empty places. Will there be insufficient space there? This question is completely Don’t think about it. Just put people in there, and no one can beat you.”

Himya smiled and shook her head, speechless for a moment.