Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 892: Section 589: The Past (1)

Chapter 892: Section 589: The Past (1)

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Having left Haslow City and moved beyond the range of the Dimensional Anchor, whilst the teleportation channel began to confirm the coordinates, Malin asked Lulu about the matters of the blond-haired person from Koser Town.

Lulu mentioned that the settlement fee provided by Malin, along with the compensation from the State Church, had already been given to the family of the blond-haired youth, who, aside from his parents, also had two younger sisters and three younger brothers.

At first, his family thought their eldest son, who never quite stuck to orthodox ways, had caused some trouble. When they heard instead that their eldest son died in the line of duty, his parents finally shed tears—Lulu had accompanied the Church’s comfort envoy, and upon learning that Prince Malin Gaiate had given them a generous settlement fee, his parents cried even harder.

·Do they think the money isn’t enough?

Ails asked.

"Not at all, they feel that they had wronged their child, and the money from His Excellency Malin made them feel as though their child had been explicitly priced. However, their family isn’t wealthy and the money Malin gave them is enough to buy several shops in their small town, or acquire a large piece of land outside the city." Lulu said with some regret, "Unfortunately, his two older brothers are grown and lack talent in spell formations."

·Such is fate—in this era, everyone’s lower limits are already determined from birth.

"But his youngest sister unexpectedly possesses considerable spiritual energy talent, such a discovery has caused my mentor some worry." There was no joy on Lulu’s face.

Of course, Malin understood that when more and more spiritual energy talent begins to appear in young children, it indicates that the Subspace is getting closer and closer to the universe where this world exists.

In an ordinary family’s eyes, having a child with spiritual energy talent meant a chance for the family to rise.

However, in this era, all large Transcendent families and organizations understand that such a large-scale manifestation of spiritual energy talent among newborns and young children is a dangerous sign.

It signifies that the rules of this world are changing. The profound principles that would take native professions decades to grasp, psychics could accomplish in just a dozen or so years. With enough talent, any individual can achieve legend.

And as the number of contact points between this world and Subspace increases, the quantity of psychics will experience an explosive growth, and then, the reflections that psychics cast in the Subspace will accelerate the contact between their universe and the Subspace.

Until at last, the two embrace each other, and life and death will no longer matter—only suffering is eternal.

·I understand your concerns, my world was destroyed because of this. If I hadn’t turned into a Lich, I would have been destroyed along with the world I was in.

Ails said, reflecting on his past, a past Malin hadn’t heard much about. So, he listened as the Lich recounted his story, in which his homeland was completely destroyed by Chaos Demons, while he, having become a Lich, narrowly escaped such a fate.

·That’s what fate is like. If I hadn’t been a shepherd boy with talent, perhaps I, like my peers, would have worked hard to save the world... But I didn’t. Until the end, I could only watch as my world turned to ashes. Over the long periods of time, I sometimes revisit the cemetery in The Capital, where too many of my friends and foes are buried, and now I have even forgotten what they looked like.

·Many of them were also turned into Undead by the final Guardian after their deaths, so the cemetery has an abundance of various Wraiths. Now that I’ve become like this, I’m afraid even visiting is no longer possible... This is both the opportunity and the punishment that fate has bestowed upon me.

The reflections of Ails reached this point as he turned his head to look at Malin.

·Your Excellency, I have heard of the choices you made at Silent Hill. Many people don’t understand you, but I see why you did everything you did.

Malin smiled and said nothing.

The affairs of Silent Hill, to Malin, were nothing more than a most cruel trade. Mira exchanged her own life, the lives of thousands of survivors who were already infected, and two Church Apprentices, and even voluntarily severed the neural link of tens of thousands of Insectoids causing them to self-destruct, all for Malin to go and kill her traitorous former master.

·Sayer Kate, I’ve heard his name. He was turned at his wife’s behest due to severe injuries... You see, that’s fate.

Ails sighed, regarding it all as yet another mistake in his long life.

"Indeed, transformation would strip Sayer Kate of his most cherished memories. The lady, wishing her beloved to stay alive, preferred that he forget her. Everything she did was for Sayer’s sake, and I understand her choice. But who could have imagined, Sayer lived on, yet he did not forget the memories with his loved one."

·How ridiculous is that, Your Excellency Malin? The lady can only live in pain and anger, the man she loves most does not love her back.

"Yes, when all is settled, Sayer, Mira, and that lady—their foolishness ultimately led to the death of tens of thousands of innocents, and I had to travel a great distance to fight Sayer for the sake of those thousands of citizens who were still alive but beginning to show signs of infection, as well as the two Church Apprentices."

·Essentially, these three fools were harming others and themselves, right?

Ails spoke and lighted himself a cigar.

·So, I’ve got this to say—in my world, there’s a saying that goes "Young folks need not rush into romance. A man who makes enough money can marry any woman."

"That’s not a good saying, Mr. Malin and I are sincerely in love," Lulu refuted Ails with some discontent.

·Right, you two are true love. But what about Sayer and his lady? Sharing a bed with different dreams, just like the song I heard last time in Mark City from a vinyl of unknown origin from Thainan, it’s just a bunch of selfish women, just a bunch of selfish men...

Ails said this, and Malin turned his head to continue—in Thainan language: "Calculating the cost of love, both falling from grace at the edge of the world."

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Ails looked at Malin, first confused, and then as if remembering the little secrets Malin had mentioned before, he lowered his head: "You’ve heard this song, too."

"Yes, I don’t know why there’s a song I’m familiar with in Mark City, but I’m quite happy about it. At least I can witness the remnants of my era. Next time, take me to see it, how about that?"

·As you wish, my lord.

At this point, Lulu came over curiously, holding the little one: "Is that a song, those lines? It feels... quite curious, I’ve never heard Meng Quyi sing a tune like that." She looked at Malin after saying this, then turned to Ails: "Mr. Ails, what place is Mark City, a foreign land?"

·Yes, it is a place that can connect the entire Multiverse, a city wrapped in ambition and desire, with various existences from different worlds and times.

Lulu’s anticipation grew with Ails’ description, she looked at Malin with hopeful eyes: "I want to go see it too, Mr. Malin, may I?"

"We’ll go together next time." Malin had no reason to refuse such a reasonable request from Lulu.

·The transport portal is nearing completion, Lord Malin.

Ails’ reminder made Malin nod, watching the transport portal as it began to open. For some reason, Malin thought of another song.

A song he was very fond of.

Following Ails into the transport portal, stepping onto the beach for the first time, Malin looked at the vast ocean before him and reached out to support Lulu.

·What a majestic Sea of Death, it’s been eight millennia and these things still exist in the world. How were these metals made?

Ails wondered, looking at the huge ship keels and wrecks stranded on the beach.

Malin couldn’t identify the models of these ships that seemed ancient yet much more advanced than any warships he knew, but when he noticed one of the flat-topped ships, he still spotted the somewhat weathered hull number.

Aircraft Carrier Sixteen.

In Chinese.

"Is that Thainan script? Indeed, before the Great Destruction, the Eastern and Western civilizations were in contact. If everything here could be brought back to the civilized world, it would be a discovery that could change the entire course of history," Lulu exclaimed, excitedly taking out her recording crystal, aspiring to be a responsible young Historian.

The little one on her back looked at this metallic graveyard and made a chirping noise.

Malin crouched down, looking at the wreckage half-buried in sand and stones beneath his feet— the exposed skeletons had been completely erased by time, only the bones among the sand and one item that seemed like a soldier’s dog tag proved that a warrior once lay here.

Malin picked up the dog tag, belonging to a soldier named Cheng Cheng, of the Earth Federation Navy.

With the mountain as the hull, crossing the sea for a millennia, burning the human smoke of that time, in the time it takes a flower to bloom.

Malin hummed softly, in the eyes of Ails and Lulu, one wraith after another appeared before the cloud-covered beach. These wraiths, dressed completely unlike the humans of today, were not deformed or twisted. They just listened to Malin hum the Thainan script song to the end, and then they peacefully disappeared between heaven and earth.

"Are they... soldiers from the Great Destruction Era?" Lulu’s face was filled with puzzlement.

Malin nodded, and with a wave of his hand, one dog tag after another appeared before him. He strung them together before placing them into his Semi-Plane.

Eventually, only a few hundred dog tags were collected by Malin—because too many had been damaged.

·Do you collect them for a reason, sir?

Ails was somewhat puzzled by Malin’s actions, so he asked.

"If there ever comes a time, I will take them to where they should be," Malin said, turning to look at the hill behind him, where at its top, a shelter was rising, and on the platform, there stood a tiny humanoid figure.

"Armor? No, it’s not." Lulu said looking at the child.

·Nor is it human, I can’t detect its existence in my infrared vision.

Ails whispered.

And Malin, brushing the sand from his hands, stood up and walked toward the tiny humanoid figure.