North Fourth District, Purple Acacia Mining Area.
The winter sun hung obliquely in the sky, the vast grayish-white land stretched endlessly, and the wind whistled past, with nothing else to be heard.
As the sunlight gradually approached noon, over the interwoven landscape of grayish-white and front brown, a small, black elongated shape appeared, moving slowly across the land, nearly swallowed up by the chaotic canvas of the terrain if not looked at closely.
When one's gaze got closer to this elongated shape, a rhythmic thudding sound was heard, revealing its true nature as a long steel train.
The head of the train bore a protruding pattern of four diamond-shaped wings, obviously cast during its manufacture and impossible to erase. However, the pattern was now full of scratches, with many dents along the edges, some parts of which were especially smooth as if scraped by something.
The train continued its journey, and despite the barrage of noises, the inside of the train remained quite serene. This steel train, stretching over 600 meters, had only 16 passengers on board, and the steel carriages were open to the air, exposing the corroded, rusty steel inner walls.
"The weather is nice today,"
said a train employee resting in the locomotive's cabin, looking at the sky outside where the distant sun shined into the carriage, illuminating the metal shield in front of him. The vibrating shield held an opened can containing well-prepared fish chunks mixed in oily liquid.
"It's rare to have good weather, so we can open up the carriages and give them a good airing out, before it starts raining again in a month or two," commented another train employee, leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head, eyes half-open, half-closed.
"The rain in February is the worst. I hope the company has enough money next year to give this train a good coat of paint," complained the employee in the dark blue uniform, as he prodded a chunk of fish with his fork.
"Forget it, I don't think the company wants to spend that money. Do you remember the last time the train was painted? I wasn't even married then," said the napping employee as he stretched his arm, covered his eyes with his cap, making it more comfortable to nap.
"They have to paint it. If this train endures a few more heavy rains, it'll probably be scrapped,"
"The company's performance worsens year by year. If this train stops too, I'm guessing the next step will be liquidating assets and shutting down," as old employees, they understood the company's situation better than anyone.
"At our age, finding another job will be tough," he said as he rubbed his knee, likely aggravated by chronic work-induced rheumatism.
"Jobs are hard to find. My nephew also graduated from high school this year, and nowhere would accept his resume. He spent quite a lot on rent in the big city, so my cousin had him come back home,"
"What can he do back here? I say it's still better to scramble by in the big city, even if it means being a janitor or a waiter, rather than stay in a dying small city," said the employee preparing for his nap as he shuffled his position.
"Four-leaf Crystal is no good, better to be in a busier Star Domain. I heard my distant aunt married an old man from the Red Birch Tree Star Region just to get away from here. Although the early years were tough, she made it through and now has a son and two daughters, along with several grandchildren."
"They recently came back to visit, and after seeing where we live, the grandkids who aren't very old said that our living conditions are worse than those of the fugitives in the Fifth Epoch that they saw in a movie,"
"That was really hard to swallow, but thankfully their parents understood the situation. They punished the kids and gave them a good scolding, preventing them from going on,"
"Did they mention anything later about how to migrate over there?" After finishing his fish, the train employee tossed the can out, watching it spin through the air, splashing residual oil and water before hitting the carriage with a clang.
"It's difficult. Migrating between Star Domains isn't as easy as it used to be. Residents of bustling Star Domains also resist immigrants now, saying any politician who supports such proposals should step down immediately."
"What happened to the so-called Federation? As expected, self-interest comes first," said the employee nonchalantly, swishing the hot water he was using to rinse his mouth.
"However, it's not entirely hopeless," perhaps unable to fall asleep, the napping employee turned over.
"If you get into a good school, lots of big companies will be vying for you. If you're a student from a prestigious university, you might qualify for a talent introduction program,"
"University students, huh? Can't afford that. My 20-year salary combined probably isn't enough to cover two years of university tuition,"
"After they talked about it last time, I knew it was pointless. I also struggled back in the day; high school, for me, was a stretch to make it to an average district school, and joining this company wasn't easy,"
"My son's 10 years old this year, and he's even more playful than I was, not ambitious at all, his grades are a mess. I can't count on him,"
"If the company was doing well, I could save some money for a good tutoring class for him. But now, I just hope the company can last a few more years,"
"Alas, it's tough for everyone,"
Having finished speaking, they continued to sit in the rest area, gazing out at the sun-bathed barren land, where the naked gray-white terrain was devoid of any vegetation, just white sand and broken stones.
This is the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain, north of Jade Skirt, once known as the country park of the Purple Acacia forest sea.
Several days later, North Fourth District, Qianliu City.
Buildings now rose from the once desolate land, roughly outlining the shape of a small city. Beyond here, the world was still desolate, with only the occasional tracks piercing through the land, connecting this settlement.