Steel steam and flame

When Ye Jielin accompanied Cassia to the hotel to get the gift, and then took the late-night train that ran every hour to return to her temporary residence, it was around four in the morning.

In this quiet area, you can see the shadows of limousines and roads from time to time. For some reason, the number of railway lines has also been reduced a lot.

The train drove slowly from the noisy industrial area to the building complex that smelled of sulfur. It seemed as if something had cut through it. The number of high-rise buildings in the visible range was reduced a lot, and most of them were two to three-story houses. . Dark yellow lanterns are hung on the outstretched branches of the house, in the corners, and in the courtyard of the room.

The coldness of the night caused the steam to stick together into a ball, and slowly hit these lanterns, becoming separate fragments, and rising up into the deep blue night sky, connected with each other.

"This used to be a famous tourist spot nearby because the geothermal resources are very rich and there are many hot springs on the hillside here. The temperature is very suitable for ordinary people. I heard that there are many hot springs in early spring and late autumn every year. People came here, and these clusters of two- and three-story houses were built on a whim at that time." The two got off the train, still one or two kilometers away from their residence. There was no pedestrian on the road, and Cassia was carrying her luggage. , Ye Jielin held her hands behind her back, and the two of them tacitly chose to walk side by side on the stone road full of up and down stairs. Above them the night sky was clearly visible.

Neither of them deliberately controlled their own power. In the quiet night, the gentle rubbing of footsteps echoed the sound of the hot spring water in the surrounding courtyard, wrapping the two of them in it.

"More than ten years ago, those factories didn't move in, and the aboriginal people relied on these hot spring businesses for their livelihood." Ye Jielin said with her head tilted slightly upward, looking at the dark yellow lanterns. The paper covering the lamps inside was painted with various patterns in brighter colors. Although it had faded, she looked at it carefully.

Cassia just stared at Ye Jielin's side face, and the light passed through the bridge of her nose and left a faint shadow on her side face. She had never seen this look in Cassia's memory. The sharp temperament wrapped around his body has disappeared, and it has become much gentler now.

"Not long after, the geological prospector from the Imperial Mining Company heard that the hot springs here were good. He came here for fun, but he discovered the huge energy hidden underground. You can probably imagine what happened next."

"So the Three Primary Colors Group, which is almost an alliance company, moved in here and built the giant steam emission tower." Cassia continued Ye Jielin's words. On the giant tower behind her, a stream of rich steam rushing into the sky was also dyed by the night. Dark colors.

"I heard the old people at home talking about this place." After a while, after walking a long way, Ye Jielin turned her eyes to the road in front of her and looked carefully at the two people who would appear on the ground next to each other from time to time. The mottled shadows together, "There are other more valuable things under the steam tower, which were transported away in the name of building the steam tower. They were all railways built by the Imperial Mining Company. The reason why the railway lines were built here was all for Transporting those things. Maybe it’s something buried deep underground. The old people in the family are always very concerned about something when they talk about these things.”

"Dragon bones?" These things appeared subconsciously in Cassia's head. At the underground station in Brino, he still clearly remembers the characters that were engraved on the dragon fossils.

There was no answer, and Ye Jielin said nothing more. The two of them continued walking like this. At some point, Cassia felt that the atmosphere around her became a little strange. She wanted to say something, but turned her head and saw Ye Jielin's blurry face covered by light and shadow, so she swallowed it all.

The distance of one or two kilometers seemed too short for the two of them. Ye Jielin stood in front of a three-story house that was growing moss, and for some reason, she sighed heavily. Cassia couldn't figure out Ye Jielin's thoughts from the side, looking at the rich steam floating from the side of the house into the night sky, with the same heaviness as Ye Jielin's sigh. The skin on his face felt the heat escaping from the steam and remained silent.

The temperature of the hot spring here seems to be a little different from that of other small buildings.

Ye Jielin opened the iron door with some paint in front of her and stepped in first. Cassia quickly followed and closed it smoothly.

"Geothermal heat will continue to transfer and is not static. Here is an example. There are several natural springs next to the house. The homeowner said that the temperature of the hot spring water suddenly increased a lot two years ago and is completely unsuitable for humans. It soaked in. Because of this, it is difficult to rent out the house." Ye Jielin brought Cassia into the hall on the first floor. The air circulation system has been running, but it has not been able to get rid of the musty smell accumulated inside in three days. , “Actually, even if the temperature is normal, very few people come here.”

Ye Jielin turned on the light. There were only a few chairs and a large wooden table in the hall. Several commonly used weapons were naturally placed on it, and the two forged steel swords were polished very brightly and reflected a faint light.

"We usually rest here. There are many rooms. You can choose any one." Ye Jielin said, walking to the table and pouring a glass of cold water. "The communication machine is in the corner. It has not been turned on in recent days. I originally Thought you and Selmer would spend a lot of time there.”

"Delline is dead?"

Cassia nodded, and Ye Jielin breathed a sigh of relief, finally completing something worthy of joy.

"That's good." She said, putting down the cup and talking about another thing, "Didn't I say there might be something you want here?"

Cassia was stunned for a moment, looked around the room, and looked at Ye Jielin with a puzzled face.

Ye Jielin waved her hand again: "After your hands begin to shed their skin, if you don't use some cosmetics to disguise them and suppress the darker skin, it will be easy to be discovered. In the military school People have sharp eyes. Whether it is a group of coaches or the logistics department staff who maintain the daily operation of the school, there are many people who have been inserted by other forces. It may not be obvious in the early stage, but in the later stages of the development of the operation, there is no The dark brown hand skin will stay with you for a long time until it’s done.”

"New students may not know what this means, but those people are different. Their heads are like small mobile libraries. It is impossible not to see that you are developing surgical procedures."

Cassia smiled dryly and nodded. He really didn't pay attention to this aspect.