As the suspended intercity car traveled across the city on an arched viaduct, Rozim and others once again had the opportunity to gaze into the vast space in the distance.
It contains countless commercial areas, residential areas, manufacturing complexes, administrative districts, churches, squares, etc. When the carriage flew through the smoke and dust that shrouded the city, the blocks of buildings also passed before his eyes. Disappearance - From a high altitude, the entire city of Terra is almost flat. Legend has it that as early as the time when the Great Crusade was just launched, almost all the mountains were leveled. Except for the Himalayas, which serve as the foundation of the imperial palace, the Himalayas have remained almost completely unchanged. Pass.
The Earth's oceans have long since dried up, and from one side of the horizon to the other, the entire continent is pieced together into an indescribable super-city.
So for most residents of Terra, even though they live in the safest, most glorious, and greatest place in the human empire, few of them can see the boundaries of the city in their lifetime, except Except for those who are conscripted into the army, for the vast majority of people, his life may even only include his own neighborhood and the throne that can never be seen behind the eternal gate. On many clear nights, you can see the stars in the sky and the twinkling lights of the low-Earth orbit station rotating in the sky.
“Give way, give way.”
"Please show your ticket."
This kind of intercity suspended train is not something you can ride casually. You must be a local resident and have a proof of residence to buy a ticket. From time to time, crew members and police officers even randomly check the tickets of passengers. , discreetly reminding passengers of the possible penalties for illegally crossing the city boundary - Terra's household registration system is extremely strict, and it is not possible to travel between different urban areas at will.
The entire carriage is a mix of Empire and Mechanicus design styles. Half of the carriage is occupied by seats. There are small lamps decorated with crystals placed on the table. They will jingle whenever the carriage turns or slows down. ring.
But Rozim and the others only had standing tickets, so they could only stand on the other side.
The Eternal City is one of the urban areas closest to the Royal Palace. If you just look at it from a distance, you will feel that this city is very grand and neat, but this does not mean that it is always as bright as it looks. For example, when leaving Assam When you are in a district, you can see a "Three No Matters Zone". Although the boundaries of each administrative district are strictly demarcated, due to illegal construction and overlapping jurisdictions, this kind of urban overlapping area can easily lose management and be Vast expanses of decaying steel scrap, huge polluted drains and deplorable slums take over.
But there is no such place on the map. It is a blank on the map. Slums cannot be allowed to appear in the sacred capital of mankind. This is a desecration of the glory of the throne.
Therefore, this kind of place is also called a ghost area - invisible to the "human" eye.
After passing through the ghost zone, the train arrived at the boundary of the City of Prayer, which is a huge building complex located on the outskirts of the imperial palace. In fact, it was originally part of the Eternal City. However, with the decline of the imperial bureaucracy, As the city continued to expand, the number of public officials serving the imperial era also increased. Initially, it was designated as a residential area for middle- and high-level public officials because it was close to the palace. Later, it developed day by day and finally became an independent city.
Today, there are more than 30 billion residents living in the City of Prayer. They are basically civil servants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Military Affairs and other imperial agencies. Some of them have lived here for dozens of generations, and some of them have lived here for dozens of generations. It means that they have lived in the imperial bureaucracy for dozens of generations.
For the vast majority of Terra residents, being able to live in the City of Prayers is enough to represent a kind of honor and status.
When Rozim cast his gaze toward the window, he saw the most beautiful and advanced city on Terra.
The overlapping tall buildings blocked the view to the distant horizon outside the city. The huge display screens and stereoscopic projection equipment installed on the buildings showed many characters and characters that he was unclear about. slogan.
The rail train they were riding was at the same height as the middle floor of the building, so his sight was quickly saturated with various lights. They also penetrated into the carriage. Everything in the carriage, the passengers, Rozim's eyes, hands, and clothes were all soaked in this bright light, which made him couldn't help but move his painful eyes away and look down. Through the gaps in the network of tracks, highways and suspended viaducts, Rozim saw all kinds of tiny people walking through the streets, doing their own things.
Some of them are luxuriously dressed, some are dignified, some are ragged, some are coquettish or ruffian, and of course, the rest are ordinary.
The largest number of them are people wearing various uniforms. Their clothes are monotonous, but they are all dyed with colorful colors by neon, street lights and car lights.
The buildings are gorgeous and the people are colorful, making this city exude a kind of magic that seems to lure people here forever.
Rozim then took two steps, wanting to have a better view of the city on the throne from the air.
In a sense, it really looks like a huge museum composed of a complex giant spider web, with giant statues with gorgeous decorations, huge buttresses supporting oversized buildings, dirty and gloomy of various giant electrical equipment.
“That’s the Church of the Emperor’s Saviour.”
When an exaggeratedly magnificent building appeared in sight, Scyna came to Rozim and softly introduced the history of this church, which was known as the most magnificent church in the empire.
There is no doubt that Rozim was also shocked by this huge building. This was probably the largest church he could imagine. The huge vaulted roof stood like the bow of a spaceship above all the buildings. The buildings above were even obscured by condensed water vapor - according to law, in the City of Prayers, no building is allowed to be taller than the Cathedral of the Emperor's Savior.
This church stands like a colorful mountain surrounded by buildings. Groups of priests and attendants in robes move back and forth in various side halls and aisles, just like busy people in an ant nest. Ant.
Rozim realized for the first time that the word hive was so appropriate to describe these huge human settlements
At this time, all the exits of the church were covered with hundreds of meters of The tall flags - they were somewhat tattered but still exuded ancient colors, multi-hued light filtered through and shimmered on the murals depicting one battle after another, and now the huge building was filled with a frenzy The atmosphere of the event was completely devoid of the calmness of prayer and contemplation.
This also made Rozim suddenly realize something, it was still night, even though it was almost early morning.
With a slight shaking, the train stopped.
When the train door opened and Rozim stepped onto the platform, a wave of senses hit him.
The smell of hot oil and grease around the tracks, and the damp smell of garbage and chemical-laden rainwater are so real, but so strong, and more importantly, the smell of human bodies The smell, as there were thousands of people walking around in passionate silence.