Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 1005: Section 650: Journey to the Caucasus (Part 1)

Chapter 1005: Section 650: Journey to the Caucasus (Part 1)

The spicy grilled fish was highly praised by the ship crews, to the point that even people from other ships eagerly waited for Sostak No.3 and Jason to rotate shifts to their vessels—how could such a reliable chef be exclusive to the flagship?

No.3 and Jason, though rather lazy, were still willing to show off when all the spices and fish were already prepared.

Meng Quyi remarked that she’d only realized today that the ship crews were masochists. Malin, on the other hand, simply commented that this girl didn’t understand the beauty of spicy food.

Time aboard the fleet felt both slow and fast—slow enough that staring at the sea for over ten hours a day would drive anyone mad, yet fast enough that Malin, who had started writing the final volume of *Biohazard Crisis*, suddenly found that a month had flown by.

During this period, the fleet followed a massive river heading east, encountering a pre-Great Destruction Era city. From across the river, they could see Chaos battle flags and a fortress towering within the city. The fleet fired several rounds of incendiary bombs into the city, ignited the fortress entirely, and conveniently set ablaze what seemed to be a recently repaired shipyard.

This attack was part of a mission taken on by the Thainan envoy leader and the Church of Justice. The fleet’s goal was to destroy the shipyard within the Chaos fortress to thwart their fleet-building efforts, benefiting the Thainan fleet as well—no fleet wants to encounter Chaos at sea, especially when surviving on land is already difficult enough. Running into those bastards at sea? Absolutely unacceptable.

In fact, both the Church of Justice and the Thanan people were actively dealing with the Chaos fortresses along the coasts of Dark Zones between the Western and Eastern human worlds, seeking to cripple their shipbuilding capabilities, even going so far as to drop incendiary bombs into Chaos-controlled forests.

Speaking of which, this river was an artificial waterway created after the geological destruction in the Caucasus region. It was very wide and sufficiently deep, starting from Asov in the eastern Taganrog area and flowing eastward to Rostov-on-Don, then southeast to Armavir, Cherkessk, Kislovodsk, further along Nalchik, Vladikavkaz, Stepantsminda, Dusheti, and finally reaching Tbilisi in the south.

Along the way, they destroyed at least ten Chaos fortresses.

The city of Tbilisi, from the Great Destruction Era, was vast and grand, and even today was still occupied by zombies. When the fleet arrived, Malin noticed that the zombies here had even developed writing, and their writing system facilitated trade.

Since the fleet docked at the zombies’ harbor, Malin saw that the zombies were even wearing animal-hide clothing and were capable of arithmetic. Many of the goods brought by Western human world merchant groups were sold to these zombies.

Later, Malin was taken into the city by Mr. Meng. This city, filled with destruction, decay, and vibrant life, showcased its multifaceted nature. When Malin was on the ship, all he could see was smoke rising from the city. After entering it, he discovered that the city even had a craftsman district, managed by a Thainan craftsman group.

"Sir Malin here is no outsider, and besides, I don’t think you all could take him down even if you ganged up on him," said Mr. Meng, likely noticing the cautious attitude the craftsmen displayed towards Malin, who exhibited the standard appearance of a human from the Western human world.

"What nonsense! Take my hammer, old Sun!" a sturdier-looking craftsman roared, raising his double hammers and swinging one directly at Malin.

As expected, Malin used his Psychic Palm to slam both the craftsman and his hammer into the wall.

Then, Malin proceeded to slap each Great Craftsman one by one, pinning them against the walls as though hanging paintings. Using psychic energy as his hand, he controlled the craftsmen’s hammers to purify impurities from a piece of crude iron and forge it directly into refined steel. Only then did the craftsmen finally understand what Mr. Meng meant by "couldn’t take him down."

"Why didn’t you mention earlier that he was Legendary!" Craftsman Sun grumbled at Mr. Meng, before retreating with his men back to their work.

After all, in times like these, messing with a Legendary was equivalent to digging your own grave.

"We Thinan people have acquired large quantities of refined steel from here. To transport them, there’ll be two additional fleets, and our merchant fleet will also bring accumulated goods back to Thainan upon returning. That’s why all goods from the Western human world will be sold here. The Skinless beings here trade ores extracted from nearby mines for goods from the Western human world," explained Mr. Meng, noting that metal ingots from here had diverse applications. The Thinan people had dispatched a craftsman group specifically to maximize the amount of metal ingots transported within a given timeframe.

"I’m genuinely curious about one thing: why do these zombies here retain their rationality?" Malin was puzzled by the peculiar situation of this place.

"These zombies were once slaves of a Legendary Mage. They obeyed humans, and after that Legendary Mage passed away, they gained their freedom yet continued maintaining orders to preserve the city. Over time, they developed everything you see here. In fact, throughout the Dark Zones, many zombie-controlled areas have developed varying degrees of civilization and order. Surely, you must have witnessed this before too," Mr. Meng replied.

His response prompted Malin to nod thoughtfully: "When the Great Destruction Era began, zombies were twisted by Chaos. How did they regain the rationality that didn’t belong to them?"

"Not all zombies are twisted by Chaos. Many zombies behave more like beasts, though some among them awaken Spiritual Energy. In the Eastern human world, there are numerous tribes of zombies as you call them. They operate outside the borders of the Thainan Union in the west, and some even engage in trade with us," Mr. Meng added.