The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

"Have you heard? A group of refugees from Miria City fled to Wine Barrel Town."

"Didn't the guys from the empire block the tunnel?"

"I heard they crossed the Dibia Mountains."

"impossible!"

"It seems that there is a secret passage."

"I think there is a problem here. There may be no secret passage at all. In fact, the empire deliberately let these people come here!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Don't forget that there seems to be a plague in the city of Miria now, so some Miria people have fled to our side. Could it be that those guys from the empire deliberately let the plague-infected people come here so that we can also be infected by the plague? infect."

"I'm afraid those big shots have thought of this too. I heard from Jason, the delivery man, that the Royal Army has sealed off Jiutong Town, and now they are sending some doctors there to check for the plague."

"Why not just kill them, isn't that much easier?"

"I heard that some of those people came from some big families."

"Oh~~!"

...

In the old shoe upper tavern, the group of porters drank cheap sour wine and chatted about the latest hot topics. This was the only entertainment they had during their breaks. They needed to relax and regain their strength as soon as possible until the next whistle sounded and the train came into the station.

Button Town is located in the north of Lanxi. Because it gradually formed a small town centered on the button factories opened by several businessmen, it was named after Button Town. It's just that the button factories have been relocated to other places now, most of the land in the town has been built into cargo holds, and almost all the workers in the original factories have become porters for the railway station.

The change in Button Town started when the French Empire army raided Miria city half a year ago. The United Kingdom built fortifications in the Dibia Mountains to resist the imperial army's victory and southward invasion. However, Lanxi is too far away from the front line, and it is impossible to respond in time if any changes occur. To support the front line, the United Kingdom transformed several towns north of Lanxi and near the Dibia Mountains into paramilitary towns to support the front line.

For example, the nearby Musaizi Town has been transformed into a recruit training base, Bison Town has also been transformed into an equipment repair center, and Button Town is located at the intersection of several railways due to its geographical advantages, so it has become a material center. center.

At the beginning, the people in Button Town were very dissatisfied with the urban reconstruction. In their opinion, the identity of their workers was much higher than that of porters, and the work of porters was much more tiring than that of button workers. What savings, the residents of the town may have already left.

However, with the completion of the laying of several new railways and the start of operation of the newly built railway station, the number of trains has increased, and a large amount of supplies have been transported here for centralized distribution. The originally desolate town has also become prosperous. Residents with property in the town quickly realized the benefits brought by the town’s renovation, one of which was rising housing prices. The arrival of a large number of new residents also made the originally vacant rooms available for rent collection, and those button factories that became porters The workers also found that although their work was a bit tiring, the money they earned was ten times more than before, and the original disgust and dissatisfaction disappeared.

However, prosperity brought not only money, but also chaos. In the past, the most serious crime in the town was just fighting in taverns, but now in less than a month, there are There were four homicides, and the people in the small town couldn't get used to it. Many people had decided to move out after earning enough money.

Some people can leave if they want to, but some people can't leave if they want to. The old shoe upper Peter, the owner of the old shoe upper tavern, is such an unlucky guy.

Old shoe upper used to be a soldier of the United Kingdom. He had to be discharged because of a leg injury and a disability. However, he was taken care of by his old comrades in arms. He got a civil servant of the Kingdom government and was assigned to be the station master of the old railway station in Button Town.

The old train station in the past is not as good as it is now. There is only one freight train passing here every two days, and one special train for the button factory stops here to load goods every three days. Therefore, being a station master at such a train station can only get a little civil servant Salary, it is impossible to have any extra oil and water.

Until the reconstruction of Button Town, the old train station began to expand, and several new tracks were added, and the old shoe upper felt that the train station was going to be prosperous, and his pocket as the station master should also be fattened.

It's a pity that before the old shoe upper could think about how to use the position of station master to make money, his position as station master was replaced by another person, and all he got was a fairly good amount of compensation.

Lao Xiehang is a smart man, he did not pursue the position of the station master over his own strength, but took the compensation, and borrowed a sum of money from the bank, opened a tavern near the train station, specializing in supplying some porters Affordable cheap sour cider.

Because of the good location, you don't have to be far from the train station when you have a break, the price of wine is also very low, and there is enough food to fill your stomach all day long, making the old shoe upper pub quickly become a favorite of porters and neighboring residents. resting place.

Originally, the old shoe upper thought that he could rely on this tavern to live a peaceful life, but he never thought that more than a month ago, a secret department under the Kingdom government found him, recruited him to the department, and made his tavern a An intelligence station was set up, and three low-level intelligence officers were specially assigned to assist him in collecting intelligence.

Lao Xiehang himself did not want to be such an intelligence station chief, but faced with the strength of the kingdom government, he had no choice but to benefit from his status as the station chief, which allowed him to know some secret things that ordinary people do not know. And these things could even save his life in some cases.

For example, in the sealed warehouses built in the town, there are actually no supplies at all, and all the supplies are disguised.

From the perspective of the United Kingdom military, if the French Empire army is going to formally attack the defense line of the Dibia Mountains, it will inevitably send airships to fly over the Dibia Mountains first, and directly destroy the material distribution town supporting the front line just like attacking Miria City. , So the kingdom deliberately set up a fake material center called Button Town, specifically to attract the attention of the empire. The real material center is actually elsewhere.

Although Lao Xiehang was very dissatisfied with the Royal Government's practice of putting the residents of Button Town in a dangerous place, he also knew that he could do nothing, because the three low-level intelligence personnel were his subordinates in name, but in fact they also secretly monitored meaning. As long as he reveals a little bit of dissatisfaction, maybe what is waiting for him that day is a dagger that cuts his throat.

Old shoe upper can't use his own information to help the civilians in the town, all he can do is to use his foresight to help himself, so he pays special attention to the various news that the porters and civilians in the tavern talk about, because in these There may be some signs of war in the news.

At the same time, he also pays special attention to some new faces, because he knows very well that if the empire wants to launch an attack, it will definitely send spies to investigate Button Town in advance. After confirming that this is the material center, it will launch a series of devastating blows.

Some rumors circulating in Button Town in the past two days, in the eyes of ordinary people, are just chatter after dinner, but in the eyes of the old shoe upper, these rumors are signs before the emergence of war. Because if the secret road that allows ordinary people to cross the Dibia Mountains is true, it means that there is a fatal loophole in the defense of the United Kingdom, and the imperial army will be able to bypass the defense of the Dibia Mountains and directly attack The Lanxi area, and Button Town, the famous material center, is naturally the primary target of the imperial military.

For this reason, the suspicious old shoe upper paid special attention to the new faces who had just appeared in the town and eavesdropped on their conversations. This practice really allowed him to discover a few spies, but these spies were not from the empire. , but some mysterious forces that he doesn't know.

Today is the same as usual for the old shoe upper. The bartender who replaced last night stood in front of the counter, pouring a glass of sour wine for the night shift porters who just got off work, and then eavesdropped on these people complaining and chatting about rumors.

After the drinking porters changed two batches, a tall figure who just walked in from the door caught the attention of the old shoe upper, and also made the old shoe upper vigilant.

"Soldiers, they must be professional soldiers." The old shoe upper quickly made a judgment in his heart.

Although the old shoe upper's ability to collect and sort out information is mediocre, his eyesight is excellent. A long period of begging career when he was a child gave him the ability to judge a person's identity and occupation from his behavior. He has never told anyone about this.

Whether it was the walking posture or the temperament of the tall figure who came in, the old shoe upper immediately thought of soldiers, and then he habitually guessed whether it was a spy sent by the imperial army.

The reason why the old shoe upper did not think about the soldiers of the United Kingdom is because in the United Kingdom, except for soldiers with disabilities like him, any other soldiers, even freelance mercenaries and caravan security guards who have received sergeant training, are all banned. The United Kingdom called up. After a little training, these soldiers were deployed in some key areas outside the Black Forest to prevent the French Empire from relying on the special barrier of the Black Forest to play a surprise attack.

When there are no current professional soldiers in the United Kingdom, it is doubtful that this professional soldier wearing shabby clothes to hide his identity suddenly appeared in an important material center town like Button Town.

While feeling suspicious in his heart, the old shoe upper also tapped his fingers as a signal to inform other intelligence personnel in the tavern to pay attention to the strong man in front of him.

It's just that what the old shoe upper didn't expect was that after entering the tavern, the strong man walked directly to the bar, and then put a kingdom gold flannel with a new hairstyle of the United Kingdom on the table, and said, "Give me a glass of wine, by the way A little to eat, and the rest I'll ask for a message."

The old shoe upper accepted Jin Falan, brought a glass of ordinary wine and a set meal of white bread, and asked casually, "What do you want to ask?"

The strong man took a sip of the wine and asked while eating the bread set, "When is the train to Port of Lyon here?"

"Going to Lyon?" Hearing a question that was completely different from what he thought in his heart, the old shoe upper was stunned, but soon returned to normal, and said: "If you want to go to Lyon, it is best to go to the Central Station in Lanxi, where there is a special train station. The train to Lyon runs three times a day, or you can take a boat. There is no passenger train to Lyon in Button Town, only freight cars."

"You can also take a truck." The strong man took out another gold flange and put it on the table, explaining: "I heard that Lanxi's Central Station was affected by the wartime system, so buying a ticket requires a certificate issued by the Kingdom government. I'm afraid it will take some time to get the certificate. Sometimes I go to Lyon, and I don't have so much time to waste, so I can go by freight train."

The old shoe upper was silent for a while, took Jin Fran, took out a coaster, wrote a few words on it, handed it to the strong man, and said: "There is an empty train going to Lyon this afternoon, you can go to the train station Get Bucktooth Bailey and give him this and he should be able to get you into the car, but it won't be cheap."

"Thank you." The strong man took the coaster, put it in his pocket, quickly ate the set meal and ale in front of him, then turned and walked out of the tavern.

"Looks like another idiot who is scared by the empire!" An intelligence officer disguised as a tavern waiter walked up to the old shoe upper and said disdainfully.

In the past few months, countless people have been frightened by the French Empire's offensive. Many people secretly transferred their property, and then made various disguises to escape from the United Kingdom and seek refuge in foreign countries.

At the beginning, the United Kingdom paid special attention to this matter, and even issued a series of prohibitive wartime laws, but they soon discovered that doing so could not effectively prevent those who wanted to leave from leaving. Those who left caused some trouble, so many temporary wartime decrees were cancelled, leaving only a few targeted decrees.

Obviously, the intelligence officer regarded the strong man as a cowardly deserter, and thought in his heart that what the old shoe upper did just now was a bit of a fuss.

The old shoe upper did not accept the judgment of his subordinate, and still ordered according to what he thought in his heart: "Send someone to follow him, contact the railway and Lyon, and focus on monitoring him until he leaves the United Kingdom .”

Seeing the old shoe upper make such a decision, the intelligence officer couldn't help shouting in a low voice: "You are crazy, wasting manpower..."

Before finishing speaking, the old shoe upper turned cold and said to the intelligence officer: "Don't forget, I am the person in charge here, you just need to follow my orders."

"Of course, you are the leader, you have the final say." Even though the intelligence officer disdains the old shoe upper in his heart, he still dare not have any resistance in the face of the institutional relationship between superiors and subordinates, and honestly follow the old shoe upper's order. Do.

Seeing that his subordinates were suppressed, the old shoe upper also breathed a sigh of relief. Although he insisted on monitoring the strong man, in fact, his judgment of the strong man's behavior was no different from that of his subordinates. He thinks that the other party is not a spy, but an ordinary person who wants to leave here one by one. It's just that his intuition told him that this person was a bit weird, that's why he made the decision to monitor. As for whether his proposal would be carried out, it was none of his business.