It was a cold winter in the Manoma region, and the cold season airflow coming from the right continent passed through the central ocean current zone and was brought here by more magnificent natural forces, eroding the vegetation and ground in the entire area.
The cold wind has been blowing for a whole month, but there is still no sign of letting up. The boiler factory in the west of the city is working overtime, and billowing black smoke rises, covering the sky, making the world in this cold winter seem like there is no dawn. A trip
Gray armored trains carrying black coal came more frequently than in previous years.
Old Roma was sitting in the duty room, holding a hot water bottle tightly in his arms. He turned on the heating supply to the maximum. He stared blankly at the white and gray mottled glass windows embedded in the copper walls, which were covered with cold.
It was so cold that I couldn't see the scene outside the house at all.
There is a low temperature thermometer next to the window, which shows that the indoor temperature is 10 degrees and the outdoor temperature is minus 14 degrees.
"It's really not a human life. I hope the Holy Emperor hears our prayers and lets this damn weather go to hell as soon as possible!" Old Roma cursed, and his hands shrank unconsciously.
Then the bright red indicator light came on without warning, and it wasn't until someone knocked heavily on the iron door that Old Roma knew a train was coming into the station.
The cold wind outside made the dilapidated sheds of the railway station rustle. The biting wind carried ice particles that seemed to cut people's cheeks.
There was reluctance on Old Rom's face, and he was also extremely frightened. If he hadn't been held up by a rock-hard man, he wouldn't have come out of the duty room. But who would have thought that it was almost night time, and there would be a
A soldier came to this dilapidated train station despite the minus 14 degree weather. And without saying a word, he was dragged out by two people.
Surrounded by a group of giant-like soldiers, he tremblingly opened the triple-locked iron door.
On the railway track was a huge black train with no markings on it. Old Rom had been working here for decades, and this was the first time he had seen such a huge train. The body was four meters high and was welded all over.
The hard iron sheet on the car is like a black-scaled python walking on the surface, and the rails are groaning under the weight. The front of the car not far ahead is still spewing rich hot steam, with three giant car lights.
The light broke through the wind and snow and shot into the distance.
The first few cars and the last few cars were all filled with soldiers, and the cargo was closely guarded in the middle of the train. The soldiers were standing by the window looking at Old Rom. And next to the unloading platform, the cargo seemed to be some huge machinery.
Several layers of dark green tarpaulin were randomly and tightly wrapped around it, and they were tightly fixed to the iron frame of the train through steel cables and iron nails. They were bulging high, as if they were about to burst through the layers of tarpaulin at any time. There were three piles in total.
Walking into the platform, Old Rom lit up the gas lamps one by one. By the light, the soldiers behind him were all wearing thick military cotton-padded clothes. Except for the leading captain, the rest were also wearing masks like crows' pointed beaks with convex tops.
The lenses of their spectacles were also covered with a layer of white frost, but this did not hinder the sharp beast-like gaze revealed inside. They carried long-handled muskets on their backs, with sharp military-issued bayonet swords on their waists, and wore black gelatin leather on their soles.
The boots covered the ankles and the lower part of the calf. The leading captain wore gold-rimmed glasses. In addition to the stabbing sword at his waist, Old Rom also saw a short fire weapon.
They are all the elites among the elites in the army, Old Rom muttered to himself, while taking out the password card and inserting it into the difference machine, and in accordance with their requirements, the record of this train's arrival at the station was eliminated.
Meeting the army to receive equipment was not a one-time thing, but according to Old Rom's intuition, the level this time was definitely much higher than the previous times.
Except for the sound of wind, there was no sound at all on the entire platform. Everyone was waiting for Old Rom to clear the record and leave, then start unloading the goods.
Of course Old Rome knew this. He also wanted to finish his work quickly and go back to the duty room to drink a few sips of cheap wine to warm up. But he was stared at by hundreds of pairs of wolf-like eyes. In this cold winter,
In the temperature of minus 14 degrees, a thin layer of sweat oozed from his back.
It's really life-threatening. Old Roma was trembling in his heart.
After finally seeing the differential machine spit out the code card, Old Rom pulled it out, nodded to the leading officer, and immediately raised his feet to leave.
I don't know if it was because of the temperature, but one of the iron nails that held the tarp tightly together suddenly broke. The crisp sound of gold and iron striking quickly spread in the wind, and a corner of the tarp was immediately blown away by the fierce cold wind.
.
Almost at the same moment, the soldiers closest to Old Rom immediately rioted all over. Information was transmitted from the white matter of the brain, and then the information was converted into electrical signals, which were transmitted through the nerves to various muscles and joints in the body, and moved to him.
Behind him, the speed was so fast that it seemed to be synchronized with the knocking sound. It also seemed that at the moment when the rainproof cloth was blown away by the wind, and the scenery below was almost reflected in the eyes of old Roma, the soldier stood
Behind Old Rom, a knife hit him on the back of the neck.
,,,,,,
Old Rom woke up in the duty room. He was lying on a chair at that time, and the water bag in his hand had already become cold. The only sound in the duty room was the whirring of the heating pipes and the ticking sound on the wall.
The sound of a mechanical bronze bell. The bronze bell showed that it was already 11 o'clock at night. There was no sound of wind outside the window, and the cold winter wind finally subsided.
"Why am I here?" Old Rome rubbed the back of his neck that was still aching, then picked up the wine bottle next to him and took a deep sip. Then he picked up the gas lamp, turned off the heating valve, and hurriedly walked out of the duty room.
But it was already dark on the other side of the platform, the huge train parked there had long disappeared, the iron door was locked tightly, and the key was hanging on his waist.
The soldiers have left.
"Hey, what a hell."
Old Rome only felt a headache when he thought about it. He only had a vague impression of what happened a few hours ago. He opened the door to the soldiers, and then deleted the records on the difference machine according to the rules. Then,,, he came back to the duty room and fell asleep?
He always felt that there seemed to be something missing in it, but he couldn't remember it. When he thought about it, his head felt confused, as if it was about to explode, and his tarsal bones hurt. But the alcohol took effect at the right time, and when he returned home,
He fell into a deep sleep and when he got up early the next morning, he had forgotten all about it.
Until one day half a year later, it was already early summer.
It's still the same duty room, the heating supply has been changed to air conditioning, and travelers are coming and going outside the window.
Old Roma was still sitting in that chair. The postman passed by and handed a newspaper through the window. He picked it up and unfolded it with one hand. Several important events were bolded in large fonts:
"The current Holy Emperor Nico Freier has passed away, and the new Holy Emperor is Elro Astus."
"The Kingdom of Mano officially changed its name to the Saint Dorag Empire."
"The King of Saint Dorag Empire, Artu Astus, announced that the Lunar Calendar should be abandoned and that the Holy Calendar should be used. This year's Lunar Calendar 1879 is Year 0 of the Holy Calendar."
,,,,,,
Saint Dorag Empire?
Dorag?
Old Rome looked at the black words printed on the newspaper and whispered these three words that seemed to have some kind of strange magic power.
In a sudden moment, Old Rom felt that the scenery in front of him had changed. He seemed to have returned to that night half a year ago. At that time, he took away the password card, and when he turned around, he heard a sound of gold and iron knocking, and then the rainproof cloth was covered.
The cold wind blew away a corner, and the soldier beside him was so fast that his body turned into an afterimage.
Under the rainproof cloth, Old Rom truly saw a giant claw covered with fine scales like black iron. It reflected the faint light under the gas lamp, like a fine piece of craft art, lying quietly on the iron plate of the train.