The Record of Unusual Creatures

The social structure in Twilight Capital had fascinated Hao Ren.

He had been an inspector for three years. Though he was not as experienced as veterans like Galazur and Anthony Alfonso, he had cultivated a certain professional quality. The most significant change was that he was now full of curiosity about different forms of civilization and worldviews. He was able to observe them more objectively and professionally. He wondered how Twilight Capital maintained its order, and he was curious about the Steam Assembly’s ability to govern the city, as well as the relationship between the Steam Assembly and the Lightseeker organization. Above all, he would like to know how a closed city of 2,000 years old would react to a group of foreigners from the outside world.

When a well-organized society was confined to a city for 2,000 years and continually wrestling with the toxic environment of the outside world, things could not be understood with common sense anymore.

Wendell and Borcen talked passionately, exchanging information about the light-seeking journey and the recent changes in the city. After that, Borcen arranged a train for them to get to the upper city.

“There is a locomotive that will depart after a moment,” Borcen said as he quickly wrote a note. “An honest and reliable old driver will take you to the upper city. I can’t go away now, but Wendell, you should have a solution.”

He sealed the handwritten note into a small, delicate tube and stuffed it into a copper pipe, which was one of a dozen, next to his desk. With a hiss, the tube was sent out far away along the pipeline. Borcen picked up a long-handled wired microphone and inserted the plug into the corresponding socket next to the copper pipe. “Kostov, please accept an emergency pass and add it to your schedule before leaving.”

A quarter of an hour later, Hao Ren and his entourage took the steam locomotive to the upper city.

As special guests, they did not have to sit in the ore carriages. Borcen had arranged a clean compartment onboard the locomotive for them. This compartment was located right behind the cab, a lounge for drivers and apprentices. Usually, the locomotive would only be full when traveling into the dark wilderness. When going the other way up the upper city, the train needed only half of the number of crew to operate, and this lounge would be empty.

As the locomotive was massive, the lounge was quite spacious. Hao Ren and his team could stay there comfortably. Lily rested her head on the window ledge gazing out at the cityscape that flew past her. She would burst with joy when seeing things of interest. Y’lisabet was joining her, but the little demon was more interested in the locomotive itself. Next to the two lively maidens was Nangong Wuyue, who appeared much calmer and reserved. She was so calm that she looked almost emotionless except the urge of spewing bubbles.

She had not fully digested the detergent in her belly.

Hao Ren left his seat and went to the front of the lounge. Looking through a dirty window at the cabin in front, he saw complex pipes, valves, pressure gauges, and control levers. Two apprentices were adding fuel to the fuel tank, while a gray-haired old man was busy at the levers and the valves, carefully operating the locomotive. The old man was Kostov. It seemed that after working on the train for forty years, traversing back and forth between the dark wilderness and Twilight Capital but he was still healthy—it was remarkable.

But drivers and apprentices did not have to work in the dark wilderness for as long as miners did. They would only be exposed to the magic radiation when the locomotive was running outside the shroud. Near the steam boiler, thick protective shells and pipes written with runic characters also protected them from the harmful energy. But working under the night, the pervasive magic radiation could penetrate the thickest protective shell, even the equipment of the Lightseeker might not be able to protect them. Despite all this, Kostov was healthy. When his colleagues had gone into the incinerator becoming the fuel for the steam boiler, he was still here on his post, pulling those heavy levers and valves. His physique was tough as leather.

“What you have seen?” Vivian came up to him, peeking through the window.

“He may not be a pureblood human. I think he has a strong spirit.”

“Half-werewolf bloodline. There were many werewolves in the Nordic region back then. When some werewolves and their human slaves gave birth to multiracial descendants, the otherworldlings, too proud and arrogant at that time, did not want to recognize these mixed blood. So the otherworldlings threw them to the humans. These were the ‘illegitimate sons’ who were brave but not accepted by the gods. The bloodline of this mixed blood has been highly diluted though initially, their ancestors might be a legend in the Norse mythology, hero, or perhaps Beowulf. Now they are merely stronger, more long-lived, and resistant to magic than ordinary humans.”

“There is a feeling that the Mythological era is still here.”

“Yes, the Mythological era lives on in this land,” Vivian said in a low voice. “The Earth people have thrown the myth into the library, but the people in this land are still telling the story of the past. I don’t want that era to continue in this form: it is depressing.”

At this time, the dragon queen Galazur came over. She did not join their conversation about the city. Instead, she uttered something inexplicable. “Good work attitude you’ve got there.”

“Work attitude?” Hao Ren was baffled. “I don’t get it why you suddenly talk about work attitude.”

“Some novice inspectors always make mistakes due to their impulsiveness. Power can make people forget their duties,” Galazur said, looking through the window at the scenery outside. “They care about the end and ignore the mean, the journey. So they often miss a lot of things on the way, precious things. But you seem not like that. You are curious about everything along the way. You are willing to participate in every civilization without affecting your goal, observing and understanding them. Inspector is an observer: observation and feedback. Those who are aiming at the goal only will not appreciate the scenery along the way. You have the right mentality.”

Hao Ren blushed though feeling a little flattered. “That is a pretty high evaluation.”

“Of course, this is why the gods need us.” The dragon queen smiled. “They let us deal with the world because we belong to the world and know them.”

Hao Ren did not say a word, as if he was in thought.

Galazur looked at him, smiling but saying nothing more. Things would become profound when people figured it out themselves instead of being spoonfed.

The steam locomotive roared forward over Twilight Capital dragging along a tail of white steam. Dense and weird buildings swept past the train on both sides. Some windows of the high-rise buildings were open as curious kids poking out their heads watching the train speeding past. This was the happiest moment of their day, and the adults of these children would usually not stop them.

Steam locomotive, the noisy monster had an extraordinary significance to the city. It symbolized the life of the city, the energy of the big boiler, and that fresh blood was still flowing inside the shroud. Everyone born in Twilight Capital knew the sacred meaning of the sound of the air horn. When a column of steam erupted from the boiler, they would feel a kind of pride and peace in their hearts. This psychological orientation was even a part of education: young children must learn to be courageous and proud of the sound of the steam.

Other than the thin shroud, which protected the city, there was nothing left to provide a sense of security to the people.

“The city has three zones,” Wendell said as the steam locomotive crossed a large mechanical bridge. “The area we saw just now was the outer zone. Further out is the dark wilderness. In the opposite direction, all the way up along the ramp is the upper city, where most artisans and the Steam Assembly are; and looking down at the darkness below is the lower city, which is the oldest part of Twilight Capital.”

Hao Ren followed Wendell’s instruction, looking down from the window. His eyes looked past the steel beams and layers of the roof at the deepest part of the city. Twilight Capital was like a weird ant nest in a volley. The newer buildings were on top of the older ones. This seemingly precarious structure, built with some ingenious construction method, had stood the test of time. In the gaps of the city was the darkness, where streets of hundreds or even thousands of years quietly lay. Time seemed to have stopped there in a forgotten, black and white world.

But there was life down there, where a large number of people were living. The oldest cornerstone of the city: the large steam boiler and part of the pressure pipeline were in the abyss. Huge and rusty gears were rumbling in the darkness, where the first large boiler called the Heart of Surtr was said to be still running. People who were responsible for maintaining these facilities had lived among the gears and pipes for generations, and never left the labyrinth of machinery for generations.

They almost evolved into another species, a new species that crouched in the dark, living on heat and oil, and symbiotic with pipes and steam valves. Some scholars even believed that those who had maintained the large boiler for generations and been in contact with the Spirit of Steam for a long time had mutated to become a creature called “Devil.”

A column of steam rose from the dark abyss below, obscuring their line of sight. Hao Ren looked back up as the locomotive slowly approaching the platform in the upper city.