Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 503 - 340: Journey South (Part 1)

Chapter 503: Chapter 340: Journey South (Part 1)

```

The route at Sharval Cape was the only passage to Farole from the south of Sydney—the massive transverse mountain range blocked any railway lines heading south from other locations. Malin had read a story from the Tech Hunters’ books.

Someone had once discovered caves left over from the primal era before the Great Destruction, big enough for trains to run through.

The only problem was that the caves were so profound that they housed many Spirits, and even humans who had become completely mutated.

Corpse Ghouls.

That was the name given to them by the Tech Hunters.

These humans had no skin and moved like beasts on all fours, attacking the Tech Hunters—they had entirely lost their reason and intelligence, leaving only pure animal instinct.

So, more often than not, they were called zombies—because their biological characteristics were very similar to those of the Undead, such as Ghouls, but the Tech Hunters had captured zombies by family units; they had genders and could even give birth to offspring.

It sounded as though this world should have already been overrun by such monsters, but they seldom managed to leave the mountain ranges, as Spirits, Chaos, and even living humans were hunting them.

Whether for sustenance, for a few more trophies, or simply to survive.

At Sharval Cape, sometimes one could see these zombies as they would chase after trains, but the locomotive heads were generally fully enclosed, and the cargo was usually stored in metal boxes, so the zombies had little to gain.

This time, Malin’s carriage filled that gap, and Malin saw the zombies as the train was about to leave the cape.

They looked just like the beasts seen during the deep dives of the Great Destruction Era.

They must be pitiful beings from the Great Destruction Era, having completely lost their senses.

Malin didn’t take action, while Lillim and Clovis managed the group of zombies with their firearms; their bodies could resist the round lead bullets used by muzzle-loading guns a hundred years ago, but they could not withstand the flat-nosed bullets fired from the new breech-loading firearms. The rifling gave these bullets the most precise trajectory, and the two girls used them to kill seventeen zombies, with two others shrieking as they fled the battlefield.

The train continued along the coastline, and Malin occasionally saw some small villages.

Faye said that these villages were in the gray area between the borders of Sydney and Farole, mostly inhabited by fugitives who had washed their hands clean of gold, runaway slaves who couldn’t pay rent, and some unlucky folks who had fled for some reason (usually for killing someone they shouldn’t have).

They established villages in these places that neither country cared much to govern.

Latter, the Mage Tower and Engineering Guild struck a deal with them: they were responsible for maintaining the rail tracks in the region where their villages were located. In return, the Mage Tower and Engineering Guild gave them a legitimate status and would also provide materials and supplies. The arrangement was mutually beneficial.

Therefore, the train would not stop; it would keep moving forward until it entered the territory of Farole.

As for whether any village would think of robbing the train, well, that was simple—they just had to face a cruel reality: earning money is one thing, but living to spend it is another.

The efficiency of the joint action teams of the Mage Tower and Engineering Guild in hunting down those with ill intentions had always been ahead of any other in the world.

So, the journey was safe and uneventful, and Malin also noticed that children from some villages would play by the railway. When they saw people like Malin, they didn’t seem surprised; perhaps occasionally, others would also ride this way on a carriage.

```

Whenever Malin encountered children, he would toss some boxed snacks down to them. Perhaps due to growing up in these ghastly places, most of the little ones were able to catch the snack boxes, and even if they couldn’t catch them, it was no problem, as Malin would wrap the boxes with Spiritual Energy and let them fly towards the children.

After four days of walking the straight road, Malin finally saw the Sharval Cape’s big turn—past there was Farole’s city of Saint Pedro. When the train stopped at the station, a messenger from the Mage Tower boarded the train. He brought Malin some news—the Mage Tower’s scouting team had noticed Malin’s benevolence, and they informed the higher-ups, who in turn sent word to Malin through the Mage Tower in Saint Pedro.

The message was simple: don’t be too ostentatious with your generosity.

After all, most of these villages had their issues, and there was often only a thin line between simple customs and malicious intent.

Sometimes, even the children were problematic, as they might band together to stealthily take a very small amount of cargo from the train—mostly easy-to-store specialties. They didn’t take much, and the Mage Tower would sometimes turn a blind eye.

Malin thanked the messenger for delivering the message.

Although he wasn’t too worried about someone robbing the train—after all, they had fought active zombies that ran on all fours, so there was no reason they couldn’t hit bandits that ran on two legs.

But, anyway, it was always better to be reminded by friends than to be laughed at by foes.

The train stopped here for supplies and maintenance, and Malin took the girls for a tour around Saint Pedro—it was an old city, and although it was the first stop after the train entered the nation, the local church members said that when the number of zombies in the mountains became very large, they would come down in droves. At that time, the villagers would either sail out to sea or seek refuge in Saint Pedro.

The zombies would sweep through the nearby areas, devouring everything they could eat, and then driven by hunger, begin to besiege towns.

This was why, before entering the city, the train passed through an area resembling a barbican, with two large gates, one at the front and one at the back.

"But you don’t have to worry, outbreaks of zombies generally occur every six years or so, and it’s been less than five years since the last one," the young church member consoled.

Malin wasn’t too worried about that—following firepower was probably the stupidest thing zombies in this world could do. After all, they were living creatures, and since they were alive, they were bound to have moments of weakness.

After resting in Saint Pedro for a night, Malin boarded the train with new groceries and the girls.

The train left the city and continued to head south.

At the same time, the railroad began to move away from the coastline—the next leg of the journey would see the coastline become very gentle. To prevent sea monsters from charging onto the land and having a grand confrontation with the train, this was a necessary precaution.

Moreover, the spirits from the Raging Sea were basically all tainted with chaos mutations.

Even though they lost the scenery of the sea, Malin was still very pleased with the view presented by the train as it traveled across the plains—although it was the end of spring and the beginning of summer, the wheat fields on both sides of the railroad still displayed the farmers’ hopes and dreams to everyone.

Every now and then, they could see groups from the Church of the Goddess of Harvest moving through the wheat fields.

"This is why the Goddess of Harvest is the most popular," Faye would always happily exclaim to Malin.

Malin deeply agreed with this sentiment.

After all, food is the paramount necessity of the people.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.