Chapter 696: A Glimpse of Blood Harbor
Beatrice lay within the Furnace Chamber, her eyes gently closed. Rarely, she had fallen asleep.
Transcendents generally did not dream. Dreams were always tied to secrecy and disorientation; those who sank into them were often not far from losing control.
Yet this time, she dreamed. She dreamed of many things.
Childhood laughter. Flowers beyond the fence. A small bird streaking past the window. Beatrice giggled, bright and carefree.
When she turned around, Hela, her face veiled in black gauze, held up the Triple Crown with both hands. A dark mass of people stood behind her, all gazing toward her.
Blood. Screams. Pupils dilating. Shattered stained glass. Thick layers of snow. Countless fragmented images twisted together into a distorted beast that roared as it chased after her.
Beatrice gathered her long skirt and ran with all her might. Before her lay a sea of flames—yet without hesitation she leapt straight into the raging Steam Engine that cursed and roared.
She turned and shut the furnace door behind her. The noise and quarrels were sealed outside.
Beatrice let out a long breath and sat inside the Furnace Chamber, hugging her knees.
Perhaps fate had tormented her for too long. Even this cold, unyielding steel now felt warm.
As a child, she had always wanted to grow up—wanted to see the world, to play in the creek, to become a bird flying across the sky.
Now, she only wanted to lock herself inside thick steel and never come out again.
It was warm inside the steel. Safe. No one forced a crown upon her head. No one scolded or rebuked her.
She wished she could sleep like this forever.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A knocking sound rang out, interrupting her beautiful dream.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
Her pretty brows knitted together. Her eyelids tried to open, but her eyes firmly refused.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Open the door, Beatrice! Stop sleeping and open up!!”
Beatrice shot her eyes open in fury and shoved the furnace door wide. “What are you yelling for?! The furnace door wasn’t locked from the inside! You could’ve just opened it!”
Zoe scratched her head awkwardly outside. “Uh… I did want to open it. But the Steam Engine wouldn’t agree. It said this is your home and that it needed your permission.”
Beatrice had finally managed to fall asleep and had intended to vent some morning temper, but seeing the heavy dark circles beneath Zoe’s eyes, her mood inexplicably calmed.
“Those are some serious dark circles… What happened? Didn’t you sleep well either?”
At that, Zoe proudly puffed out her chest. She had always believed it was her call within the Connection that had saved Beatrice. Although she couldn’t speak of it, just thinking about having done something good made warmth swirl in her heart.
Fortunately, she truly couldn’t say it aloud.
“Well… there are very deep reasons for that. Let’s not get into it. I’m here to wake you up. Look—”
She stepped aside slightly. The Passenger Cabin of the Airship wasn’t very large. Beside Beatrice’s Steam Engine was a porthole.
Beatrice looked down through it.
“We’ve arrived at Blood Harbor!”
Outside the porthole was pitch-black. At first, Beatrice thought it was storm clouds. Looking closer, she realized it was smoke. As the propellers driven by the Steam Engine churned the air, the smoke dispersed—and the entire city burst into view before her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a tall smokestack, the plume from it just having been flung behind the Airship.
The chimney wasn’t far from them, giving her the fleeting illusion that they were still close to the ground.
But the next moment, she saw it—the dense forest of steel.
Long, flat buildings stretched one after another, filling the entire industrial district like neatly arranged pastries.
Between those “pastries,” small ants scurried back and forth. At first she thought they were pedestrians, but upon closer inspection, they were cargo vehicles.
Rail Tracks ran like blood vessels, dividing the industrial district into orderly grids, pumping raw materials and Pollution into them like blood, filling the entire city with vitality.
Beatrice’s eyes slowly widened.
She rubbed them in disbelief and turned her gaze elsewhere.
Towering skyscrapers rose from the earth like giants standing upright.
It wasn’t as though she had never seen tall buildings before. Upper Rhine itself had been built upon lofty heights; when she occasionally looked down from a window, she could see only the pointed spires of cathedrals stretching one after another.
But those cathedrals were nothing like the skyscrapers before her.
The churches of Upper Rhine were like exquisite sculptures, inlaid with jewels.
They were sacred places to be admired from afar, never to be profaned. Yet no matter how the holy hymns resounded all day long, they could not conceal the lifeless stagnation beneath.
The high-rises below, however, were like bamboo shoots piercing the soil after rain—vibrant and full of life.
People hurried in and out among them. Occasionally, they lifted their heads toward the sky, smiling and waving at the Airship.
Beatrice felt an inexplicable tremor in her heart. She quickly averted her gaze, as though the vibrant scene might scorch her if she looked too long, and turned her attention toward the distant harbor.
The Port District of Blood Harbor had been completely reshaped. The once natural deep-water harbor now bore many artificial traces.
The square docking zones clearly were not nature’s handiwork. The lead-gray Cement formed the harbor’s foundation, supporting the entire city.
On one Gantry Crane after another, Steam Engines sang. From the Airship above, the massive Cargo Ships resembled floating mountains.
Beside the seaport was the Air Harbor. For Blood Harbor, even the sky was within reach. Navigators waved flags in their hands, guiding the Airship into berth.
Busy. Crowded. Yet orderly in its own way.
At the nearby Train Station, rows upon rows of Rail Tracks lay side by side. If the railway network were likened to blood vessels, then this place was the city’s heart—its greatest artery. Countless Trains departed from here, pumping in ore and fuel, pumping out steel and production capacity.
The entirety of Blood Harbor was like a colossal beast crouched beside the sea. With each inhale and exhale, it created miracles beyond mortal imagination.
Gazing at everything below, no industrial knowledge was required. No introduction from others was necessary. Merely seeing it was enough to feel its greatness.
Beatrice felt as though half the blood in her body had frozen, while the other half burned. Mixed together, they formed a trembling excitement she could not suppress.
“Blood Harbor… Blood Harbor…” she murmured.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” Gaia walked over. She looked down as well, a smile lifting the corner of her lips.
“I grew up in Blood Harbor. Perhaps I should count as one of the Blood Harbor People. But when I was very young, I followed my father to Castel. Do you know why we went?”
Beatrice frowned and thought for a while, then shook her head.
“It was dangerous at sea, wasn’t it? And the Pirate King’s Court…”
“Yes. It was dangerous. But there was no choice.” Nostalgia flickered in Gaia’s eyes. “We were refugees.”
“Refugees?”
“Yes. A famine struck Blood Harbor. People had nothing to eat. You either starved to death or tried your luck elsewhere. My father still had a small boat then, so he carried us to Castel. At that time, Castel was still a barren island. But we survived on Sweet Fruit from the trees and fish from the sea.”