The coastal town unfolded before Cheng Yunze and the others, winding along the mountain’s contours and the rhythm of the waves.
The streets of this medieval world came into view before the team. Surrounding them were onlookers from the coastline, all watching the scene.
On both sides were ochre-red rooftops, with most buildings seemingly haphazardly piled with stone. Only a few had human-shaped statues supporting the roofs on their exteriors.
A courtyard wall overgrown with wild roses appeared before them.
Migicaleg was the name of this man, who bore the typical face of a seafarer. His arrival commanded respect from the people around, as he was the librarian of a nearby library.
Here, few were literate, and even fewer could understand ancient languages and scripts.
“Regarding strange historical tales, I have quite a few indeed. Do you want to hear about our ancestors who first arrived here, or about this land itself? ” the man asked Cheng Yunze.
“Is there a difference? “
“Of course there is. When our ancestors first came to this continent, it is said the land was largely perilous, teeming with roving demons and the ‘Drowsy Folk’. “
“The Drowsy Folk? “
“They could also be considered a type of demon, but supposedly, they were beings you could communicate with. Of course, these are all just legends. “
It was a bit different from the legends he had imagined. Hearing so many lately of how the Fogfolk sought Cheng Yunze, who might bring change to the current world, he was not content to walk away so easily.
He added, “So, does this town have any strange legends of its own? Preferably ones that are true, or extraordinary. “
“Who exactly are you? “
“Since you understand the script of another continent, you should have heard of the ‘Fogfolk’. “
At Cheng Yunze’s words, Mig Clyg instantly held his breath.
“So you are indeed those people recorded in the books. “
The men and women gathered around murmured among themselves. After a moment’s thought, the man looked up and said solemnly:
“Our town of Arendelle does have a rather famous story, or rather, place. “
He raised his hand, pointing to an old, somewhat worn-down watchtower stone building standing in the center of the town against the night sky.
“Legend has it that it was built during the era ravaged by the Black Death. The clockmaker at the time confined all the severely ill inside it to stop the plague from spreading. Since then, that place has become a byword for curses and demonic legends. “
“They say strange noises sometimes come out of there, but nothing is ever found when anyone goes to check. “
At night, after registering at the town’s Foreign Population Archive—which is also the only library for several surrounding towns—Cheng Yunze and his group headed straight to the stone tower.
“The legend sounds a bit frightening. “
Mig Clyg told them that the stone steps of the tower had collapsed, and many who climbed it returned to fall gravely ill. Combined with the curse handed down through more than a century, the townsfolk rarely went up anymore. If it weren’t the property of an old baron and the fear of being cursed, the tower might have long ceased to exist.
Inside the pitch-black, cluttered, weed-strewn ground floor of the stone tower, Zhang Zhiquan, who was beside Cheng Yunze, glanced upward, then planted his foot against the wall and leaped up in a smooth turn.
As soon as he landed, a dreamlike voice suddenly rang out.
{Even if this is redemption… Two hundred years have passed… At last, someone can see me. }
“Who’s there? “
An icy chill instantly washed over the few people below and Zhang Zhiquan, who was now on the upper floor.
A somewhat ethereal figure was nailed to a mast-like wooden beam at the top of this floor.
Gradually, overlapping spectral forms materialized around him, their faces blurry and indistinct, clad in transparent garments styled from the fifteenth or sixteenth century.
They gathered in a calm yet vengeful circle around the old man, who was nailed to the higher mast.
The old man opened his eyes, a hazy halo tilted within them, and spoke with painful effort:
{I am Eiss, who once halted the spread of disease… I earnestly implore you… Could you build a tilted throne for me, who still holds onto a shred of glory? }
……
“General Odlef has declared the founding of a nation. “
The next morning, Yang Zicang and the others woke up to receive this news first thing.
In this office, Dereiano, Hei Yang, Ying Renyu, and others were discussing newly gathered documents on the organizational procedures.
“Stivfen still has some troops that have gone over to the General. “
Yang Zicang answered while eating an orange-yellow cheese sesame twist in his hand, looking at the thick stack of documents placed before him. Many of his fellow villagers had stayed up all night, drafting a proposal that was now handed to him.
“Has he had any thoughts about establishing a country? “
The realm, temporarily named the ‘United Democratic Republic of Odreve,’ was located in the one-third of Greater Craig’s territory that had fallen, plus the hundreds of square kilometers of land in the northwest, cut off from Stephen, where the Victory Triumphant Fortress stood.
All told, it was close to the area of a small empire province.
“With so much land taken, it’s more than enough to move the early defectors along with their families over. There might even be some surplus. The problem is the shortage of supplies. “
“Don’t even think about getting involved. ” Yang Zicang looked up and said.
Some low chuckles came from around them.
Zhao Xuemei walked over and sat down beside Yang Zicang. Watching the young man eat while being completely absorbed in the documents in front of him, she hesitated for a moment before asking in a low voice:
“Buchen. After you rested last night, Cheng Yunze contacted us. “
“When are they coming back? “
“Probably in a day or two. He said if we can find a way to solve the World Ark’s problem, he wants to save the ‘Radiance’ investment and just send Mr. and Mrs. Farrow back before moving on. “
“This… ” Yang Zicang pondered for a moment. “Without our great star, a lot of thingswouldbe inconvenient. But right now, I feel it’s paying more attention to Cheng Yunze and the others. “
“Well, it’s a Dream Devil. What else can you expect from it? “
“As for him leaving… hmm, actually, I wanted to invest in him last time. But I was afraid it was too early and didn’t make it in time…“
Just as he was speaking,dong dong. An imperial government official walked over and knocked on the open door.
“Good afternoon, esteemed gentlemen.” A man in a uniform of cyan fabric with gold epaulets stepped in and handed a document with a black leather cover to Yang Zicang.
“Mr. Buchen, this is an internal message from the Prime Minister’s Office that I was asked to pass on to the honored World Ark.“
“Thank you.” Yang Zicang said, then opened it and began to read.
“What does it say?” Hei Yang, who had arrived in the room earlier than Yang Zicang, asked.
Noticing the curious glances from around him, Yang Zicang glanced over the document and gave a faint smile, then said to Zhao Xuemei:
“Speak of the devil. An ancient party called Weijiu has informed us that its subordinate organization will provide a guarantee for the investment in this upcoming Scientific Vein General Conference in Sdefen.“
“Guarantee?“
They all looked at the open document in the young man’s hands. There was another line of larger text below.
—The Weijiu Angel Foundation will distribute the deserved rights and dividends to the generous heroes of Wubang.
Below it was a flamboyant signature.
—This is the wealth you deserve.
Even though that last sentence was only a handwritten copy, all of them felt a strange sensation from it.
Yang Zicang closed the document—which was only supplied to senior imperial officials—and handed it to Dereiano and the others beside him.
“Indeed, it is exactly the same as the investment process of the Scientific Vein in the last era, Land. “
“The Old Angel Foundation, could it be…? “
“It is clearly an organization of the Holy Ring Council similar to a shell company on this continent. “
“Yes, the Old Angel Foundation will issue a special regeneration permit for the Radiance consumed in investments related to Scientific Vein events. “
This is the wealth you deserve…
Thinking about this choice of words, Yang Zicang couldn’t help but recall the related information about the High Ring Bloodline that he had heard from Lucius, the secretary of the sage Serafiel.
Wealth…it was probably an expert who had fully awakened the “Ring of Wealth. “
He could actually underwrite matters related to Radiance.
If only I could pry more information from the distributors.
But… Yang Zicang glanced at the ring on his hand.
The intelligence about the effects of Radiance obtained from this Layer Seven distributor actually came with such severe restrictions.
Moreover, aside from the one Radiance I obtained due to causing a misunderstanding with Dean for some unknown reason, never once did a Radiance ever materialize from acquiring such critical information from the distributors.
“Manager Mus also warned me that I’d better not use that Radiance. “
But soon after leaving the inn, I was forced to use it.
Looking out the window at the pigeons still lingering about, Yang Zicang suppressed in his heart the plan to always try to profiteer from the Moon People.
……
The news of Grand Duke Oldřikov’s declaration of the founding of the nation finally brought a clear turning point to the current crisis at Storvon.
Faced with the increasingly stable domestic affairs, the Prime Minister began to angrily purge some traitors.
Strangely enough…
The Scientific Heritage Preparatory Committee announced that it would no longer accept investments from any Fogfolk, under the current situation where the Fogfolk had deeply participated in and, in a sense, helped rescue the Prime Minister’s control over the country.
Only the high-ranking officials of the Empire knew that this meant the heritage was instead being maintained by some ancient family members and factions from within the Empire.
These were all Fogfolk extended family members who had integrated with the locals in Imperial history, never participated in politics, and had quietly lived in the Empire.
……
Wind seeped through the cracks in the window into the underground laboratory, carrying the damp smell of coal ash. Beside the dim yellow bulb, the flag of the Golden Shell Federation still hung on the wall, but its golden shell had long faded, leaving only a blurry outline.
The desk was piled high with notes.
A head of slightly graying hair was buried within them, the hands, filled with youthful force, rapidly calculating formulas using tools. Soon, another person walked in and they sat down to talk, huddled around a solitary lamp.
Vald Goas, with his graying hair, stood up and walked over, his gaze clear and focused:
“Many changes have been happening in the world lately. It’s hard to believe that someone has created scientific artifacts that shouldn’t be possible with the technology of this era, just like us. “
The other few people sighed subtly and nodded.
Marika Stein, sitting across from them at the small round table, murmured:
“With the encouragement of the one-armed Mr. Motova, I really feel that our plan could succeed. It’s just that, the times…“
“You’re talking about how the core team of the T-Engine almost got wiped out in the Kruhn explosion, right?“
“Exactly.” Marika Stein nodded. “According to our Mistmen friend, if it weren’t for that Mistman named Dereiano who protected the great scientist Mr. Motova at the critical moment, the key personnel of this technology might have died.“
“Well, their celebration might be quite lively, but let’s first discuss the matter of the stability ring.“
“We’re still missing the last piece of alloy.“
Wald, wearing a worn-out, shiny old uniform from the Federal Institute of Physics, hummed in acknowledgment and nodded, saying: “If the chaos in the north continues, we’ll have to smelt it ourselves.“
“Why not use the steel from the old furnace?“
“That would disintegrate before reaching the critical point. The last experiment nearly blew the entire underground level apart.“
A moment of silence. The light bulb flickered twice, emitting a faint hissing sound. Lane Kelvik, sitting in the corner, flipped through a thick notebook:
“Even the electricity is hard to sustain. Really, trouble’s everywhere.“
His hands were steady, though he had once flown the earliest jet-powered aircraft of the Federation, he now looked more like an old man keeping watch in a graveyard.
“If we don’t succeed,” the old man said softly, “there will be no underground left. So let’s give it a try, as long as we keep proper control.“
Kim Fairman glanced at him.
The older man seated in the main seat was the eldest among them, his face now lined with wrinkles like a dried-up riverbed.
He had once been the principal of the Kim Falls Polytechnic Institute, and after the collapse of the Federation, he had gathered like-minded people during his exile, spent all the funds he could find, and quietly built this underground laboratory.
The lights suddenly went completely dark.
But soon, the backup generator emitted a low, rumbling vibration.
Line closed his notebook, gently stroking its cover with his fingers.
“I was wondering, ” he said, “if we actually succeed, should we leave a letter to tell those who come after why we did it? “
He took a neatly folded piece of letter paper from his pocket. The handwriting was done in ink.
“If something goes wrong, I plan to hand our project plans over to that stateless organization that’s been mentioned most often in the newspapers these past two days. “
“Stateless… ” Kim Feldman pondered for a moment and sighed.
“What a beautiful word. “
Kim Feldman slowly got up, walked to the iron cabinet in the corner, and took out a yellowed map. Drawn on the map were the old borders of the Federation, now nothing more than lines that remained only as memories.
He circled a small spot in the north-central part of the continent with a pencil:
— Oswell.
This lab, unknown to anyone, which carried the efforts of the older man and the spirit of the Federation, was where they currently were.
“We no longer have a country, ” the older man sighed and said:
“But this land is still holding us up. Brothers, let’s try again. Look at how capable those young folks from the World Ark are. When I saw in the newspaper that the relay station was thrown into the ocean by them to serve as a signal relay, you have no idea how thrilled I was—by damn! “
“Yeah, I really want to see those flickering images for myself beneath the legendary ‘World Ark.’ “
“What a futuristic scene it is. It’s hard to imagine witnessing the beginning of it in our lifetime. “
The older man who spoke was lost in a vision—hovering above sprawling cities, over rocky, towering high-rises, countless airships equipped with Tivi machines drifting amidst the air, their sides broadcast large, sound-enabled black-and-white moving images, a portrait of an ultra-futuristic world.
“As for the problem of radio broadcasts interfering with each other, I think dividing them into a few zones could solve it. ” He muttered with his eyes half-closed.
Amidst the buzzing hum of the equipment’s electric current, a few faint sobs,—perhaps of bittersweet tears of joy—trailed through the air.
“Old Córdova’s signal station design… is actually being used. “
Gathered from Golden Shell’s past, these old surviving loyalists felt as if they were personally part of something monumental, absorbing good news they hadn’t heard in many, many long years.
Those technological creations locked away for decades, from the Golden Shell Federation, were now reborn at someone else’s hands—redeployed for something this important, this filled with honor!
This was something they had never dreamed of!
“That’s right, just use the materials from the old furnace and melt them down. “
Suddenly a figure at the edge of the table spoke:
“Even if we fail, that Radiant One of ours will hand over the technical documentation we’ve left behind and the plans we’ve drawn up to that Mistlander from the World Ark. I believe they will do as they promised and protect as many people as they can on this land. “
“Yes, I also believe those kids from the World Ark can do it. “
“But, ” the only female theoretical physicist at the small round table in the basement, Einar Geels, took off her protective goggles:
“It would be best if we didn’t have to trouble them. I still hope that the future burned away by Kimbel’s engines can be continued by us old folks who’ve already begun to be called by the grave. “
“Whether it succeeds or fails, it’s all coming to an end soon. So, let’s call this action plan… “
“Operation Kimbel’s Legacy, then. “
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