Epoch of Twilight

The office manager, Chen Xinjie seemed unnoticeable in the ranks of the sword unit. She was hardly evident along side the likes of the mighty Lin Feiyan, and Luo Yuan, who cared about their jobs and nothing more. With such an indistinctive personality, even an ordinary team member could have ordered her to work, and she would simply obey.

The beautiful young lady looked like a housekeeper as she served the members of the Sword Unit. However, her meek and simple demeanor was not to be misunderstood for weakness. With her knowledge and prowess for political gameplay, one could easily tell that this highly-rank lady who seemed ordinary was handling all the back-end jobs as an undercover agent.

She was meant to compile reports on the state of minds and personal political inclinations of every member of the sword unit, as well as any kind of information that would be useful to an interested party.

Without a doubt, she worked with a sense of propriety and her feminine attitude made her seem innocent to all the members of the unit.

"Vice-captain, it has been so long since I last saw you. How can I help you today?" Chen Xinjie said with a smile after she opened the door.

She had a pair of crescent moon eyes and looked adorable when she smiled but Luo Yuan had no interest in her smile right now. He noticed she turned her back to him and seemed like she was going to prepare some tea. Luo Yuan quickly stopped her by saying, "Don’t trouble yourself, I’m just here to tell you some important information."

Chen Xinjie was stunned for a second when she noticed that Luo Yuan had a serious expression on his face. She realized that it was, in fact, a crucial matter. She kept her smile and walked towards the door and locked it. She then asked, "Vice-Captain, please have a seat first. What’s the matter?"

Luo Yuan straightaway told her the incident whereby he discovered the artificial intelligence robot from the extraterrestrial civilization the day before yesterday. He told her every detail including the time and location of the discovery.

Apparently, people from different levels have different perspectives of what is said to them. If this information came from an ordinary citizen, and even if Chen Xinjie did not treat it like a joke, she would have barely paid much attention to the matter unless more evidence was provided.

But Luo Yuan was a super evolved human and the vice-captain. She knew he spoke of only crucial happenings all this while, and he had no history mental disabilities or illness. His words were influential and it seemed impossible for him to be joking with a matter like this.

"Vice-captain, are you sure about this? You can’t possibly be serious." Chen Xinjie said with a stiff smile.

Luo Yuan knew that she did not doubt him but was only in shock of what she heard. If it had been anyone else, they would have thought he was mad. Luo Yuan looked her in the eyes and nodded.

Chen Xinjie exhaled a breath with a heavy heart, "Vice-captain, you are not allowed to speak of this matter outside these walls. This is a matter of great importance and you might need to depart to the new capital city immediately to report to the higher authorities."

Luo Yuan nodded as he had expected the order.

Chen Xinjie picked up the phone in front of her, and hesitated for a second before she dialed a number. By the time she hung up the phone after a few minutes, her forehead was already covered with sweat and she looked exhausted.

After taking a breather, she then called to the train station for ticket reservations.

"We’ll catch the next train and leave immediately."

...

They both hurried to the train station.

Compared to the Desert City’s underground train station, the underground train station of Hope City was much larger. Especially with the nearby freight station which was as big as a few football fields, there where thousands of containers piled up like mountains on each side.

Nowadays, the sea shipping routes had been stopped while road transportation was also only limited to some short-haul deliveries. The most reliable form of transportation was not the underground railroad. Being one of the main cities of the reconstruction area the amount of deliveries taking place here were unimaginable.

Nonetheless, compared to the busy cargo transportation site, the giant waiting hall seemed quite empty with only 20 to 30 sharply dressed business-looking people. The number of people in this small city before the apocalypse could not have been more than the people he had seen just on his way in.

The reason for building such a gigantic hall was simply because of hope that there might come a time when the hall would be filled once the global situation improved in the future. From what he saw, it also functioned as a point for gathering and transporting troops for battle.

Luo Yuan studied his surroundings for a moment and was pessimistic to what he saw. He had no idea how long this false sense of safety could last.

...

They only waited for a short while before the train arrived. Both sat down in the compartment and both gathered their thoughts in silence.

Luo Yuan laid back in his seat and closed his eyes.

What happened these few days had really exhausted him, physically and mentally. He really thought he had already recovered from his injuries, but it did not seem like it. What he had seen the other day still made him uncomfortable. He was heavily burdened by the reality of from extraterrestrial civilization. Albeit a positive mindset, one still would have been deeply affected. That was not something that could be easily put aside by self-consolation or pretending that nothing had happened.

But after he had spoken of his worry deeply buried in his heart to someone else, he felt relieved that someone from the upper management would be able to help in this situation. Some might consider that too as another form of self-consolation. In fact, even people from the reconstruction area were not able to do much in this situation as the extraterrestrial civilization was much more advance in terms of technology as compared to them. With just minimal effort, they could easily destroy the reconstruction area.

Suddenly, Luo Yuan felt a light touch on his arm and was startled awake. Realizing it was just Chen Xinjie clutching his hand, he calmed down but then noticed her body was trembling.

Luo Yuan looked at her and sighed. He held her hand back even more firmly to try and ease her worry. Even he was fretful when facing this situation, and he could not imagine how she felt as she was just an ordinary human being. That was the reason he did not tell this to Huang Jiahui and others was because he did not want them to take on the unbearable burden of such knowledge.

Chen Xinjie did not speak and remained silent with her head down throughout the journey.

They reached their destination after two hours. They walked out of the train station together with the other passengers, and instantly, a strong unpleasant odor greeted them. Luo Yuan frowned as he raised his head and looked around.

They were really shocked by the scene of the New Capital City.

The entire New Capital City stood in the center of two majestic pillars and each pillar was about 300 to 400 meters high. The cement was of a misty-grey design. They could not even tell if they were natural or artificially made.

This New Capital City seemed to have no other ways in or out except for some narrow passages in the gorge on both sides of the hills.

It was no wonder at that time why the upper management abandoned Hope City and made this fortress the new capital of the country. By having cliffs and precipices on both sides, that place was the perfect point to defend the nation. One man could easily hold out against thousands of enemies!

Looking at the stunning scenery, Luo Yuan was finally able to clear off some of the dread in his heart.

However, the air circulation was very bad due to that geographical arrangement. The air in Hope City was considered extremely fresh if compared to the polluted air that surrounded them.

The area was covered by a thick fog and they were not able to see the sky.

There were also an abundant amount industrial buildings which released huge amounts of poisonous smog into the atmosphere. A strong, pungent odor hung in the air. If they were to stay here at a time before the apocalypse, they might not have survived a year.

There was already a small car waiting outside.

The car originated from the time before the apocalypse but Luo Yuan knew these cars were already out of production. These cars were replaced by heavy trucks and armored vehicles nowadays. Thus, asides from some government cars, such cars were hardly seen on the streets.

A big guy in a military uniform came out from the driver’s seat. He proceeded to open the rear door and saluted respectfully when he saw both Luo Yuan and Chen Xinjie came out. "Captain Luo, Director Chen. The Second Chief Minister is expecting you. This way, please."