The group moved forward along a corridor covered in ice and snow. In the end, they arrived at the edge of a deep pit.
Guardrails were set up here, and within the pit was an enormous mechanical structure of incredible precision and complexity. A broken yet massive cross-shaped bridge was held aloft by the machinery, allowing people to walk across it.
The group stopped by the guardrail.
Serval said, "See that mechanical bridge in the middle? Once you cross that bridge, the other side is hell on earth."
"What's on the other side?" Stelle asked.
"An endless Rift, a group of exhausted Silvermane Guards, and… air filled with the stench of death. If you want to keep heading north, you have to pass through that hell. Are you ready?" Serval said.
Stelle thought for a moment, then said, "We're already here…"
March added, "Yeah, there's no room to back out anymore."
"Then let's go. First, we need to figure out how to get across the bridge," Serval said. "I participated in writing the underlying logic for this kind of bridge. It's controlled jointly by several terminals. Let's go look for them."
After that, under Serval's lead, the group continued forward. Along the way, they occasionally overheard idle chatter from the Silvermane Guard, like talk about the "Mechanical Heatwave" band, or how they'd switched to Pela as the lead singer, and so on…
Unfortunately, after checking two terminals in a row, neither could be used. At that point, Serval suddenly realized the Silvermane Guard's strategy, the front line was using this extreme method to prevent deserters from appearing and to stop Rift monsters from flooding in if the front collapsed.
Seele was moved by this as well.
After circling around again, Serval led everyone to an energy hub that was tightly guarded and locked behind an iron gate.
"That's it, the thing that looks like a big iron ball," Serval said.
"Its official name is the Mechanical Energy Hub. With so many pipelines connected to it, I'm guessing the entire Silvermane Guard restricted zone is powered by this single device."
"Mm… no wonder it's so heavily guarded," Dan Heng said.
March pouted. "And there's even an iron door. Why does everything have to be such a hassle…"
Seele frowned. "One machine controlling everything? That's asking for trouble. We've already learned that lesson."
It was hard to say whether she was taking a jab at Svarog or the Engine of Creation.
"As long as we obtain authorization for this device, we can operate the mechanical bridge terminals," Serval said.
Stelle asked, "Won't doing this cause a big commotion?"
Serval smiled. "That's why I told the guard we're here for emergency maintenance! Besides, aside from the rear, the front line must have equipment that needs maintenance too, right?"
March said with a look of realization, "So that's how it is. As expected of you! I thought you just made that up on the spot."
"Let's go ask that Silvermane Guard over there and see if he can let us in," Serval said, pointing at a guard not far away, and immediately moved into action.
She led everyone over and greeted him. "Yo! Evening, soldier!"
"You're the engineers here for emergency maintenance?" the guard said. "I've seen you wandering around nearby for a while. Have you found the problem?"
"No, everything looks normal so far," Serval said. "I suspect the issue is with the energy hub. Please let us go in and conduct a routine maintenance check. I've been involved in iterations of this kind of equipment…"
Without even thinking, the guard immediately rejected Serval's request and said very seriously, "No! Without the captain's key, no one is allowed near the energy hub."
"Not even if the Supreme Guardian came?" March asked.
"The Supreme Guard, " the guard was about to respond, then realized what was going on. "Don't play dumb! Without the key, no one gets close!"
Hearing this, March lowered her head with a grave expression and muttered to herself, "Crap, he's a smart one…"
Dan Heng lowered his gaze, looked at March talking to herself, and let out a long sigh.
After a brief moment of thought, Serval asked, "You want the key, right? Which captain should I go find?"
The guard replied, "Captain Dunn is resting up ahead. Go find him yourselves. If he agrees to authorize you, I'll let you through."
"Dunn… Dunn?"
Serval rolled the familiar-sounding name around in her mouth twice. Memories surged up, and she suddenly understood. She visibly relaxed, and a faint smile appeared on her face.
"Oh, you should've said so earlier! Alright, alright, then it's fine, we'll come back for you later."
With that, Serval led everyone further ahead.
March noticed the change in Serval and asked curiously, "Serval, that Dunn guy… you know him?"
Serval said in a relaxed tone, "Of course I do. An old acquaintance. He's pretty easy to talk to, leave convincing him to me."
———
[Outskirts Snowfield]
Not far from the original landing spot of the four-member Trailblazing squad.
In a corner that the patrolling Silvermane Guards hadn't noticed.
Sampo was here, lounging in a relaxed posture.
A few days ago, he had received his junior colleague and the others from the Astral Express here. He hadn't expected that today he'd need to help pick up someone else again.
An Flamespawn sat by Sampo's side. He had handmade it himself, modeled after the Warm Buddy.
'Gotta say, this thing is pretty useful.'
He looked up. As far as the eye could see, everything was white. The biting cold wind carried icy flakes drifting everywhere, cutting like knives against the skin.
Sampo had been waiting here for quite a while already, but he still hadn't seen anyone yet.
From time to time, thoughts like "Did the person I'm supposed to meet get caught by patrolling Silvermane Guards?" popped into his head.
Not seeing anyone again just now, Sampo took out his phone and glanced once more at his chat history with his junior colleague.
[Junior Colleague: Did you pick up Mr. Yang?]
[Junior Colleague: Oh right. You don't know what Mr. Yang looks like yet.]
[Deep Blue Hotline: Didn't pick him up. Sampo's been standing here forever and still hasn't seen anyone.]
[Junior Colleague: I see.]
[Junior Colleague: Then please wait a bit longer!]
[Junior Colleague: After you pick up Mr. Yang, take him straight to find Stelle and the others.]
[Junior Colleague: They should be following Serval into the Silvermane Guard restricted zone right now.]
[Junior Colleague: You're in charge of your own stage anyway, you should know where to go, right?]
[Deep Blue Hotline: No problem. So you're not with them right now? What are you planning to do?]
[Junior Colleague: Made a new friend!]
[Junior Colleague: There's something I need to take care of. It'll also really help our Rift industry plan.]
[Junior Colleague: Where did you put the Outer Universe Flame?]
[Deep Blue Hotline: In Rivet Town's...]
Sampo quickly put his phone away, rolled his neck a bit, then looked off once more into the snowy distance. A small curve formed at the corner of his mouth.
"Finally here. You really made old Sampo wait until the flowers wilted…"