Late at night, east of Hebier, unknown station.
Angelus pulled on his coat and lit a cigarette in the deserted station. The night wind was strong, and the hem of his clothes was rustling. The Iron Maiden cross badge on his collar reflected the dim light of the cigarette, as if dancing in the bottomless night.
In the wind, the sparks were howled and blown away, drifting into the distance little by little. Angelus then looked around and saw that the lights of the city in the distance formed a hazy band of light, dividing the sky and the earth, just like the dividing line between the living and the dead.
Angelus looked at the light and imagined the people in that city. The children come home from school and write their homework quickly at the table, then play the newly bought board games. The workers took off their safety helmets and lifelines, opened a bottle of rare wine, drank amidst the crackling of bubbles, and felt the delicious taste of life. The business owner is looking at the numbers on the financial board, scratching his hair and thinking about the return on investment, while the secretary rings the doorbell and delivers fragrant coffee.
Those lives were far, far away from him, as if they were another world.
They would never have thought that on this same night as tens of thousands of times in the past, an unknown train would arrive in this city, and the goods in this train would completely change the Western world.
Angelus is the youngest son of the Medici family. This family is known as the Patriarchs of the Confederacy, a large family that supported the Confederacy before the Civil War. During the civil war fifty years ago, the Medici family lent a large amount of gold coins to sustain the war, and then controlled transactions and currency circulation in the federation.
So Angelus was considered a child born with a silver spoon in his mouth. However, as the youngest child in the family, he was not favored by God. Not only that, it also gave him a big burden.
Angelus family gradually discovered that he had poor empathy and almost never felt sad. When he was a child, his mother gave him a bunny as a birthday present, but he brutally dismembered it the next day. When the maid screamed and called his mother, they learned under questioning that Angelus simply saw the rabbit unable to eat and thought it was sick, so he killed it to free it.
If this incident can be attributed to the innocence of children, thirteen-year-old Angelus can be described as horrified. That day, he accidentally saw a senior student threatening his classmates, so he stepped forward to question him. The man knew that Angelus was a child of the Medici family, so he did not dare to say anything. But when he saw the soot scars on his classmate's body, Angelus curiously asked the classmate why he did this.
The other person just replied and thought it was funny. Angelus also believed what he said. There was no good or evil in his world, and no emotions, only reason.
So Angelus stabbed the classmate to death one by one, and he didn't stop no matter how much he begged for mercy. Because he also wanted to try to see if such behavior was interesting.
Afterwards, the Medici family suppressed the matter, but they didn't know how to deal with the whereabouts of Young Master Angelus.
And Angelus himself knew that he was in trouble. Although he didn't understand the reason, he understood it from everyone's words. He even made his eldest brother, whom he thought was very powerful, feel embarrassed for the first time.
So Angelus proposed that he wanted to join the Tribunal.
The eldest brother was furious that day, and the family later found out that there was a servant who hated Angelus and told the young master that the trial court was suitable for him. After that the servant disappeared from the house.
Of course, the eldest brother would not let Angelus enter a hellish place like the Tribunal. As the most mysterious department among the three major federal departments, the Inquisition Bureau will hunt down anti-federal criminals and hostile forces that threaten the core family. It has existed as a shadow of the Federation for hundreds of years.
But Angelus himself also knew that he was not suitable for the Medici family's business. The eldest brother is good at managing finances, but they also need someone to help them manage things behind the scenes.
The eldest brother entered politics or the financial street, and he became a sharp sword and entered the violent institution of the Inquisition Bureau.
This is the best choice.
A few years ago, the former trial director died, and Angelus also rose through the ranks on the recommendation, finally taking the position of director last year. At only 28 years old, he became the youngest trial director in history.
Jingle, jingle, jingle.
The sound of an old mechanical gas bell came from not far away, and Angelus followed the sound. A black freight train was slowly approaching. Its headlights light up slightly, but they are not ostentatious. You can't see them clearly from hundreds of meters away, and you would think they are small fireflies.
The steam train was completely black, with a dark red metal plate placed on the front, and a golden "06" engraved on the plate. This is an ancient steam train with car number 06. The black train drove quietly on the rails. It was obviously the oldest model, but it made almost no sound, like a ghost in the night.
The car slid into the station, slowly slowed down, and finally stopped in front of Angelus. The radiator panel on the front of the car opened, and a huge amount of steam gushes out. Angelus could feel the humidity in the waiting room suddenly increase.
When he looked at the opened car door and was about to walk in, there was a clicking sound behind him. It's someone's footsteps.
Angelus turned around with caution. After seeing the incoming person, his caution dropped by eight points.
The visitor was an acquaintance, the current deputy director of the Bureau of Investigation, and a former classmate of Angelus. The thin boy who was bullied by the senior class, his name was Cyrol.
Who would have thought that after so many years, there would be a director of the Trial Bureau and a deputy director of the Investigation Bureau in the same class?
"Ange, have you been waiting for a long time?" Sirol smiled.
Angelus shook his head coldly.
The other party didn't mind, he just smiled bitterly. He has known Angelus for so many years, and he has always been so cold, eating coldly, and killing people coldly.
"The train has arrived. Oh my, those old guys really care about this thing. They even used silent rails and disguised the car as an old freight train. Wow, what a generous move." Sirol said.
"A gift from the East, they say," added Angelus.
"Oriental stuff? Didn't we lose contact with the East hundreds of years ago?" Sirol asked, "Have you been to the East?"
"Been on missions around there." Angelus replied.
"Then you must have seen the 'Great Wall to the West'. It's really spectacular! I really don't know how the Orientals built that thing. It is said that hundreds of years ago, the westernmost country in the East was covered by a wall called 'The Great Wall' overnight. Surrounded by the huge wall of the Great Wall, there are black metal gates at the sea entrance. Those gates only allow Easterners to enter and exit, and Westerners cannot even get close. The East has since lost contact with the West, and only Eastern merchants will enter and exit through those gates. , trading some small things with Western ships. We built a trading post on the edge of their Great Wall. The last large trading country that still existed was called Andujia. Unfortunately, it took the wrong side in the civil war and was destroyed by the Federation. "
"I've seen the Great Wall, it's very beautiful," Angelus said.
Even Angelus, who rarely showed much emotion, couldn't help but call it "beautiful", which means that the scene was indeed shocking.
"But don't you think Easterners are very arrogant? Although there is no record in the literature, Westerners all believe that we failed in the war hundreds of years ago. We lost to the Easterners, and they closed the door with us proudly. This group of people did the segregation and they traded porcelain art and jade craftsmanship for our labor, and they still do it today."
"You hate Orientals?" asked Angelus.
"Don't you hate it? In their eyes, we are probably worse than bugs." Sirol spat.
"I don't hate or like it. But if they threaten Medici, I will kill them." Angelus said lightly.
"Humph, you are worthy of it." Sirol smiled bitterly, "But there is no need for your general to take action. I think the Orientals are no longer our opponents. It doesn't matter that they are the descendants of gods, but they have no technology."
Nearly two hundred years ago, the Western world discovered something more valuable than gold, and they called it black water.
The first person to discover Black Water was a missionary preaching in a border town. That day he entered a metal mine to exorcise evil spirits from his son-in-law. However, that day, due to the missionary's unintentional act, a string of flames was brought into the cave, and then the town was abandoned forever.
He, his daughter and son-in-law were forever turned into ashes in the flames and remained underground.
The town came to be known as "Evermark Town," and eternal flames burned beneath it, burning on the black water.
This incident then spread throughout the Western world. The Archbishop of Saint Rosetta went to this town like crazy and declared the place a holy place. This flame was the legendary "Eternal Fire".
But the gold diggers who came here were more calm. They secretly brought back the black water, sold it on the black market, and changed hands several times before it was taken over by an inventor named Yoder. Ten years later the inventor produced the first and last steam engine, and the Western world advanced by leaps and bounds.
Sirol did not think that the Eastern world, which had been closed off from its own country hundreds of years ago, could obtain these technologies. Westerners are technologically ahead of the times, and those Easterners simply cannot win.
And now they get this. Sirol eyes moved to the train.
The oldest secret of the East is hidden there. Everything related to God is placed in that long metal box, and they then become the first witnesses in the Western world.
Witness the power of the gods stolen by humans.
At this point, Sirol lips curled up. He slowly approached the car, but a big hand stopped him.
Angelus stood before him and stared at him coldly.
"What do you mean? As the pick-up person, we need to inspect the goods and ensure that the goods are complete."
"Because there is a problem with your identity. I received a contact not long ago saying that the real Sirol is dead. Who are you?"
Angelus calmly drew out his long sword and musket, pointing directly at Sirol eyebrows.