Under the glare of the dazzling sunlight, yellow sand rose over the vast desert. A locomotive billowing thick smoke pulled a long train along the railway, speeding all the way until the distant horizon at the end of the railway.
In the front section of the train, within a luxurious carriage in one of the forward cars, Sister Vanya, dressed in a white nun's habit, was sitting in her seat, praying silently with her eyes closed, praying for a future that was extremely unclear.
Suddenly, the Sister who was praying with her eyes closed paused slightly, then slowly opened her eyes. Having just received a familiar voice in her heart, she couldn't help but murmur.
"Miss Dorothea... are you asking me to look out the window?"
Murmuring, Vanya turned her head to look out the window to her right. She then spotted a small glimmer on a small Stone mountain in the distance outside the window. After using her ability to look closely, she clearly saw the specific details of the glimmer.
'That person over there... looks like just a regular local. Although he's looking at the train with binoculars, he doesn't seem to be doing anything unusual. His clothes are a bit worn. He looks no different from the local commoners of North Wu outside the foreigner residential area in Kankdar City...'
After clearly seeing the glimmer in the distance, Vanya thought this in her heart. She then continued to watch the local person observing the train until the train moved far away and the local person faded out of sight, without seeing any unusual movement from him.
'He didn't make any unusual moves... It seems he really is just an ordinary curious local...'
Thinking this in her heart, Vanya then closed her eyes and used the form of praying to Aka to transmit the information she had detected to Dorothy, who was on the same train.
...
'It was just a local person in ordinary clothes secretly observing with binoculars?'
Inside her own carriage, Dorothy, sitting by the window, couldn't help but think this after receiving Vanya's words. She had initially thought it was a sniper with a sniper rifle lying there, aiming, and the reflection was from the scope. She hadn't expected it to just be a local person with binoculars in the end.
'He didn't make any unusual moves from beginning to end, just watching? He doesn't seem like a hostile enemy... Was I overthinking things? But things like binoculars are quite expensive in this era. North Wu's economy is far from as good as the countries on the Main Continent. Can a local person in ordinary clothes... afford something like binoculars?'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. Having stayed in Kankdar for several days, she knew the overall economic level of these so-called locals.
The areas of Kankdar outside the foreigner residential zone can almost be called slums, packed with large numbers of North Wu locals. Almost all of them are in the impoverished class, struggling in poverty, engaging in the hardest and most tiring labor, providing a large amount of cheap labor to Kankdar, this huge port connecting the Main Continent and North Wu. Their greatest hope is to get a good job serving foreign masters at close range in the foreigner residential zone with better conditions.
People like this using binoculars? Although this world has entered the industrial age, it hasn't reached the level of the Second Industrial Revolution. Many goods are not mass-produced industrially. For example, things like binoculars are clearly still handmade in various fine workshops. Compared to the impoverished North Wu locals, the price is quite expensive. Although it hasn't reached the point of being completely unaffordable, for them, who struggle even with daily life, things like binoculars are unnecessary. Except for a few occasions like exploration, navigation, and war, binoculars are not necessities.
Therefore, a seemingly very ordinary North Wu local possessing an expensive pair of binoculars raised a slight doubt in Dorothy's heart. However, this doubt wasn't significant, because it was also very possible that the binoculars were obtained through some chance encounter, and then taken out for a look after accidentally seeing the train in the wilderness.
'This minor point of doubt about the binoculars, ordinarily I might have directly ignored it, but under the current special circumstances... it's better to be a little careful...'
Dorothy pondered this in her heart. Based on special considerations during this special period, she cautiously sent a message to Vanya, asking her to tell her guards to heighten their vigilance regarding the environment on both sides of the train. If they discovered anything unusual, they should use """wen hai hang zhi""" to inform her. If the situation was urgent, they should immediately use Aka to convey a prayer.
After sending the message, Dorothy temporarily withdrew the bird corpse puppet in the sky, then lay down on the bed in the carriage, planning to take a nap and rest.
After napping for a while, Dorothy slowly opened her eyes in the gently swaying carriage. After scratching her head, she sat on the bed and looked at the scenery outside the window, which was still unchanging desolation.
After finishing her nap, Dorothy checked the time on her pocket watch, confirming she had slept for about two hours. Rubbing her eyes, she stretched, then sat back down in the seat by the window. Here, Dorothy took out her """wen hai hang zhi""" to see if Vanya had discovered anything. After turning to Vanya's contact page, Dorothy indeed saw Vanya's handwriting on it.
"Miss Dorothea, I have followed your instructions and asked the guards assigned to me by the Church to pay more attention to the environment around the train. As of now, the time I am writing this to you is three in the afternoon. Until this point, neither I nor anyone else has discovered any major unusual phenomena.
"Although there have been no major unusual phenomena, there are still some minor points of concern. For example, the local person who observed us before has appeared two or three more times since then. Like before, they were watching us from a distance using binoculars. Some were alone, some were in pairs, all dressed as locals. Some of them were also holding pocket watches, looking at both the train and their watches, which feels a bit suspicious.
"Regarding these locals who have been observing from a distance, my guards have been vigilant for any unusual moves from them. However, the result is that they, like before, just watched from afar, with no intention of making a move. They didn't try to chase after our train moved far away, so we didn't react."
Vanya's writing appeared on the pages of """wen hai hang zhi""" like this. Dorothy examined the pages before her and couldn't help but fall into contemplation for a moment.
'As expected, there's something fishy going on. It's not just one person doing the secret observation; one or two more appear every so often along the way. This is clearly not just accidental encounters followed by curious observation; this is obviously intentional peeking, and it's not just one person, but a group of people...'
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Stroking her chin, Dorothy thought this in her heart. What she wanted to know most now was what the purpose of this group of people was.
'Whatever they intend to do, they're certainly not here just to watch the train run; they're not children. But if they had malicious intentions, they haven't made any dangerous moves from beginning to end, just silently watching like that, with no sign of making a move.'
Dorothy pondered this in her heart. Although she found that group of people very suspicious, she couldn't just act against them because they were suspicious. The entire train was currently moving forward continuously, and she didn't have time to track them to see what they were trying to do. But if she completely ignored it, Dorothy's heart couldn't feel at ease.
'Hmm... Thinking carefully, these guys are observing the train from a distance... What exactly do they want to do? If they want to probe the special envoy group's intelligence, they are too far away, aren't they? From their distance, besides seeing a train running in the distance, it's impossible to see the contents inside the carriages. It's impossible to probe for intelligence.
'Unless they possess some extraordinary ability or item that I don't know about, capable of remotely obtaining information from inside the train from such a distance, otherwise I really don't know what they could possibly be looking for out there. But if they really have such abilities or items... then there would be far too many people who can use them. People secretly peeking are seen every so often; do all of them have this ability?
'Or perhaps I am overcomplicating things. Maybe they don't have any extraordinary abilities; it's simply that the information they want to obtain can be acquired just by looking at the train from a distance. And one look isn't enough; they need to look multiple times, once every so often.'
Leaning back in her chair, Dorothy pondered while watching the scenery rapidly passing by outside the window. In her contemplation, she increasingly felt that her latter assumption was more likely, meaning she believed the information these suspicious individuals wanted to know shouldn't be much, and could be obtained simply by seeing the train from a distance every so often.
So, what kind of information fits these conditions? What kind of information can be seen at a glance?
Having cleared her thoughts, Dorothy immediately followed this line of thought and continued to ponder. And before long, a possibility emerged in her mind.
Dorothy in the carriage placed her gaze on the tabletop. There was a thin booklet there. Illustrated on the cover of the booklet was an iconic locomotive, and the title on the cover was written in Faloro.
"""desert arrow""" Viewing Guide
Looking at the manual on the table, Dorothy picked it up and opened it, browsing casually. She found it was a promotional brochure focusing on the luxury express train """desert arrow"". The """desert arrow""" was exactly the train she was currently riding.
The """desert arrow""" is a luxury train funded by the Kankdar Train Company, specifically for upper-class individuals traveling from the Main Continent. It is a well-known project of the Kankdar Company. To show goodwill towards the Church, they voluntarily offered this train to the special envoy group, allowing the Church special envoy group to travel to Adis in the most comfortable environment.
This manual provides information on all aspects of the """desert arrow""", from the locomotive model, year of manufacture, average speed... to the various entertainment facilities in the train carriages, and clear records of the scenery along each route. The specific time required from one station to another, and so on, are all clearly recorded. Most of the information about the entire """desert arrow""" can be found in this manual, and this manual is not unique; there is one in each compartment.
This manual is promotional material, meaning the information in it is completely public. If one wants to check, it can be easily found. If that group of suspicious locals really wanted to know the basic information about the """desert arrow""", they should be able to find it very easily, and there would be no need for such peeking every so often.
However, if they are not obtaining information about the """desert arrow""" from public sources, but are instead observing on-site, it means that the public information is not helpful to them. The reason is simple: the current """desert arrow""" has been reorganized.
Due to Vanya's request, the original Kankdar high-speed luxury express train was directly reorganized. After removing many entertainment carriages, more freight carriages were added to transport a large amount of supplies to aid the common people of Adis. This means... the parameters of the """desert arrow""" after reorganization are completely different from the original """desert arrow""", and the original information cannot be applied at all. One of the parameters that changed the most is probably the speed.
'Those suspicious guys, arranging people to observe us every so often along the railway line, are probably trying to measure the speed, to measure the current speed of the """desert arrow"". By arranging observers at different points, recording the time the """desert arrow""" passes each point, they can then calculate the speed of the """desert arrow"". The more points arranged, the more they can eliminate errors and obtain a more accurate number.
'Logically, the speed data for all operating trains is public, and the same applies to the """desert arrow"". This is easy to find, so there's no need to specifically measure it. But the current """desert arrow""" is different. The original """desert arrow""" was a luxury passenger express train for tourism, but now it's a mixed passenger and freight train. With a large number of freight carriages added behind, transporting a large amount of supplies, this inevitably leads to a significant decrease in the speed of the """desert arrow"". The """desert arrow""", originally expected to reach Adis in two days, might be delayed by one or two days due to this large-scale increase in weight.
'So, will it be delayed by one day or two days? No one knows. The """desert arrow""" hasn't run with this much cargo before. All the supplies were quickly gathered from various places in Kankdar within a very short time, and were loaded onto the carriages without even having time to be weighed. This means no one is certain exactly how long the """desert arrow""" will take to reach Adis carrying such a heavy load. Anyway, due to the war, there are no other trains running on the railway to Adus besides the """desert arrow""", so the """desert arrow""" can take as long as it needs to arrive.
'Therefore, under these circumstances, if they want to know the speed of the """desert arrow""", they can only measure it temporarily on-site.
'Because it is the special train for the Church special envoy group, and there are no other trains running on this railway, all the train stations along the way, regardless of who controls them, are strictly blockaded and serve only this train. Therefore, this group of guys can only find places to watch from a distance where the railway passes.
Watching the scenery rapidly passing by outside the window, Dorothy thought this in her heart. At this moment, she already had a complete line of thought to explain the actions of those suspicious locals.
'Due to Vanya's suggestion, the """desert arrow""" was temporarily reorganized. Because a large amount of cargo was added after the reorganization, the speed of the """desert arrow""" significantly decreased. The arrival time at the destination is at least one or two days different from the original expectation. Some guys cannot accept such a large discrepancy, so they need to temporarily measure the speed to obtain the current average speed of the """desert arrow""", in order to know the approximate time the """desert arrow""" will reach a specific location, eliminating the potential error of more than one day.
'And after knowing this time, what do that group of people want to do next?'
Dorothy continued thinking. At this moment, she silently shifted her gaze back to the table, looking at the simplified North Wu map in the train manual, and looking at the border of the Adus Kingdom.
At this moment, a Chinese place name buried in her past life's memory emerged in her mind: "Huanggutun".