Mobile City Farming Guide

Chapter 22 The ultimate steampunk romance: a mobile city flying in the sky! (5.6K)

This mobile city floats above thick clouds, its chimneys spewing gray-white smoke, and the roar of its propellers echoing through the sea of ​​clouds.

Li Ye was stunned.

"Can this mobile city really fly in the sky?"

He rushed up to the watchtower and grabbed the binoculars.

The exterior of this mobile city is made of thick, huge city canvases, which are colorful and have a fairytale-like feel. They are gathered together to form the shape of a hot air balloon.

Through the gaps in the canvas, Li Ye could clearly see its internal structure.

Its main body consists of layers of stacked metal platforms and riveted armor plates, with large and small steam pipes winding through it, transporting high-pressure steam.

Dozens of giant airbags suspend at the bottom of the city, while huge propellers are mounted at the tail, and striking giant mechanical fins adorn the sides, allowing the city to maintain its balance in storms and air currents.

Its vehicles are hot air balloons of various sizes, as well as some small airships.

Li Ye squinted and tried hard to keep watching.

What intrigued him most was how the residents of this mobile city lived.

As the telescope slowly moved, he saw what he was looking for.

This mobile city has more than a dozen layers from bottom to top. The reason it has far more layers than a typical level 1 mobile city is that it floats in the air and is no longer constrained by city height.

Its layer allocation is also completely reversed compared to that of a level 1 city.

The upper level is the boiler and power area, the middle level is the living area, and the lower level is the aristocratic area.

From outside, one can see the giant steam reactor operating on the upper level, where mechanics and apprentices are busy at work.

The streets in the middle level area are made of crisscrossing wire mesh and riveted steel plates, with roads of varying sizes intersecting, and each roadside has gear-driven elevators and conveyor belts. Residents of the city shuttle back and forth on the streets, busy with their own affairs, while some lean against the railings and wave to the people on the ground.

The lower-level aristocratic area is quite small, only about half the size of a football field.

The layout there was unexpected; there was only a simple, old house with a small grassy area next to it, surrounded by a wooden fence.

This mobile city drifted along slowly, under the longing gazes of everyone in the fortress.

As Li Ye watched, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up.

"That's wonderful," he couldn't help but exclaim.

The sky has always been the most romantic thing for humankind to reach.

From the myths of Chang'e flying to the moon and the Greek gods residing in Olympus, to Van Gogh's "Starry Night" with its swirling brushstrokes that ignite the night sky, and then to the science and technology of hot air balloons, airplanes, and rockets.
Humans have always tried to reach the sky in various clumsy yet persistent ways.

Li Ye put away his binoculars, closed his eyes, and began to ponder life in this floating city.

When I wake up in the morning, I open the window and see a flowing sea of ​​clouds.

The morning breeze, carrying a thin mist, rushed in, and the rising sun cast the silhouette of a giant propeller onto the wall of clouds, creating a beautiful reflection.

Beneath your feet lies the flowing earth, with mountains, lakes, plains, and towns all within sight.

Workers in the boiler area chatted idly as they shoveled coal, occasionally brushing the black soot and dust off their clothes. Residents opened their windows, letting in the air mixed with coal smoke and morning dew. They donned goggles and hoods before heading out. On the crisscrossing, suspended walkways, children ran joyfully, holding onto the railings.
Ever since he transmigrated here, Li Ye has been on edge every day because of survival. But now, his mood has quietly relaxed a lot.

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland where order has collapsed and survival has become the highest priority, living in a flying, mobile city would feel amazing!

He suddenly thought that it wouldn't be bad if Tomorrow could become a mobile city flying in the air.

But he could only sigh in vain.

Transforming a mobile city into a flying city is extremely difficult. It requires not only collecting a series of flying accessories, but also a complete overhaul of the entire mobile city.

It requires a great deal of investment in terms of resources, manpower, and materials.

It's extremely rare to find a city in the sky among a hundred cities.

That's why when a floating city appears in the sky, everyone feels it's as beautiful as a fairy tale.

At this moment, everyone in the fortress stopped what they were doing and looked up at the city in the sky.

The aerial city slowly slowed down, began to descend, and emitted two long and one short whistle sounds.

"This means they want to communicate! They want to rest and recuperate at Roland Fortress!"

As soon as he realized what was happening, Li Ye became excited.

Lin Wu, who was inspecting the Tomorrow, seemed to sense his thoughts and couldn't help but speak up.

"My lord, this aerial city is very appealing, isn't it? Would you like to go up and visit it?"

“Yes.” Li Ye nodded, his eyes filled with emotion. “Even if it’s just for a few minutes, just to catch a glimpse of the scenery on the ground while it’s flying, it would be nice.”

"Really? Just thinking about it is amazing! Can I come with you?"

"No, you have to keep working."

As Lin Wu adjusted his glasses in disappointment, Li Ye excitedly rubbed his hands together and returned to the ground via the elevator platform.

At this moment, the aerial city has arrived above Roland Fortress and is slowly beginning its descent.

Its helmsman had carefully chosen the landing spot and announced the landing operation through a megaphone.

The aerial city gradually stopped heating its burners, opened its exhaust valves to about 50%-70%, and slowly descended toward Roland Fortress while maintaining the opening.

At an altitude of forty or fifty meters above the ground, it briefly ignited to mitigate the impact, allowing it to hover horizontally above Roland Fortress in a basket-like posture.

People in the sky city slowly descended to the ground in hot air balloons.

Upon closer inspection, Li Ye discovered that they were all blond-haired, blue-eyed Westerners.

Leading the group was the steward of the Sky City Lord. He was in his fifties, with a rational and restrained expression, a straight back like a ruler, and a perpetually furrowed brow, much like a stern-faced homeroom teacher staring at students from the window in high school.

He then opened his notebook and addressed the crowd.

"Then proceed as I previously planned: procure 2000 units of iron ore, 1000 units of coal, and 500 units of fuel from this fortress."

When he came to his senses, he found that he was surrounded by people.

Almost everyone in the fortress had gathered here.

The butler then introduced himself.

This floating city is called the Adventurer, and it's a level 1 city. His name is Gray, and he's the steward of the city's lord.

It comes from a remote basin region.

According to him, the Adventure is about 300 meters high, about 700 meters in diameter, and its main structure is about 120 meters thick.

With over ten floors, it has a total area of ​​12 square kilometers and can accommodate more than 500 people.

Normally, the Adventurer flies at an altitude of 300-1500 meters, but can continue to take off in case of an emergency.

Its speed is generally 20-50 kilometers per hour, and it can fly continuously for 1-2 weeks.

However, no one was interested in the data presented by the butler.

"Sir, may we go up for a visit?" a child asked, raising his hand.

"The lord would naturally be happy to invite everyone, especially the children."

Gray's expression remained unchanged as he answered.

"But I hate kids because when they're noisy they're like wind-up toys that've gone out of control, and they often make terrible noises of over 140 decibels."

“But butler, you were a child when you were little too,” a little girl said timidly.

Gray shook his head slowly but firmly.

"No, I've always been calm and composed since I was a child, and I've almost never made a fuss. Someone often says that I'm like a boring little adult because of that."

Before he could finish speaking, a long queue had instantly formed in front of him.

Seeing this, Gray frowned helplessly and then added a sentence.

"Lords of mobile cities have priority."

Li Ye then revealed his lord's bracelet.

At this moment, he was surprised to find two hands in the crowd holding up the lord's bracelet.

Those were none other than Li Jin and Lei Jian.

"You're all this age and still have such childlike hearts?" he asked in surprise.

The two looked at the Adventurer above them and spoke excitedly.

"Nonsense! No matter how old a man is, he'll be tempted by this!"

Under the arrangement of the butler Gray, the three lords boarded the Adventure in a hot air balloon.

They arrived at the middle level of the Adventure and first stepped into the core area of ​​the middle level, "Rivet Plaza".

This place is both a market and a social hub.

The repairman at the repair shop was hammering parts in front of his stall, sparks flying onto the metal pavement, producing a faint hissing sound.

The small pharmacy's window was filled with small glass bottles labeled "Height Relief" and "Dizziness Tonic".

Street vendors are selling unique "gear-shaped grilled meat skewers," where pieces of meat are inserted into small propeller shafts and grilled using residual heat.

On the windowsill, residents tend to the cold-resistant plants in the steam greenhouse, their roots entwined in the metal mesh.

Several street performers played a steam organ, the notes rising and falling with the changes in the low-altitude airflow.

The bakery's steam oven emitted its first wisp of caramelized aroma. The crust of the freshly baked bread was exceptionally crispy under low pressure, while the inside remained fluffy and fluffy.

"This is wonderful." Lei Jian looked at the scene and couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "How wonderful it would be if I could live here every day."

Although Li Jin nodded in agreement, he still spoke with some reservations.

What if we encounter strong winds, heavy rain, or thunderstorms?

"Well, saying that now is a bit of a mood killer, don't ruin the atmosphere."

As the two chatted idly, Li Ye walked along the path toward a certain place.

What interested him most was the lower level, with its old little houses, lawns, and fences.

He quickly reached the lower level and looked at the old, dilapidated little house. No matter how you looked at it, it was just an ordinary wooden hut.

With its pointed roof, chimneys, and cream-colored exterior, it looks like a gingerbread house stuck together with rainbow candy.

The door to the cabin was open, and some details could be glimpsed inside.

In a framed picture above the fireplace in the living room, a young couple embraces in front of a small repair shop; the edges of the wooden frame are polished to a shine.

The faded floral sofa has dents from two people, and the left armrest bears the fine marks left by someone knitting a sweater.

On the old, small refrigerator, there were yellowed recipe cards with a series of warnings about healthy eating.

The two pairs of slippers placed in front of the door had their downy lining worn smooth.

One pair was scattered haphazardly, while the other pair was neatly placed to the side, seemingly waiting for someone to return.

Li Ye silently observed all of this, silently feeling the passage of time within the house.

Just as he was hesitating whether to knock on the door to inform the owner, a noise suddenly came from inside the house.

"Huh?" Li Ye looked in surprise and saw an old man who had frozen in place and was secretly stuffing a cake into his mouth.

The old man was about eighty years old, with messy white hair like dandelions, but his eyes were still as bright as a child who had stolen candy.

"Oh, I thought it was Gray." He immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Welcome, young stranger. Please come in and have a seat if you have time."

"Actually, I am here."

Gray appeared silently behind Li Ye, nearly startling the old man so much that he fell over.

He moved with lightning speed, snatching the cake and putting it back on the plate—it's hard to imagine that a butler in his fifties could be so fast.

"Please give up your plans to eat sweets; your body is already struggling to cope with them."

The old man stood there with his hands clasped together, looking as sullen as a child who had made a mistake.

"This is Claude, the lord of the Adventure."

Gray introduced it to Li Ye, who was sitting on the sofa.

As he spoke, he covered his forehead, looking pained.

"He's already 87 years old, but he's still like a child who hasn't grown up, causing trouble and making a mess every day."

"Stop using that helpless, adult tone, Gray. You're over twenty years younger than me," Claude muttered.

The old lord tried to sneak a taste of the cake's cream with his finger while Gray was speaking, but the latter swiftly slapped his hand with his notebook.

"Oh! Be gentle!" he yelled angrily.

"You can't touch sweets anymore. If Madam were still here, she would definitely be angry and hit you."

“Ellie wouldn’t do that, she’s a very gentle person.” The old lord reluctantly withdrew his hand. “Now I’d like to see her every day, even if it means getting beaten up.”

Gray was taken aback when he heard this, and a hint of tenderness appeared in his usually stern eyes.

Li Ye listened from the side, smiling silently.

Claude then noticed the Lord's Bracelet on his hand.

"Oh, so you're a lord after all." He rubbed his hands together and leaned closer. "I wonder how your mobile city is doing, and if you've experienced anything memorable."

Just as Li Ye was about to answer, the old man suddenly smiled and gently patted his shoulder.

"Before you tell your story, why don't you listen to mine first?"

Claude was an orphan from a young age and grew up in a fortress.

A kind-hearted repair shop owner adopted him and trained him to be a mechanic from a young age.

As Claude cautiously and nervously stepped into the repair shop, a little girl burst out screaming wildly and accidentally slapped a thick book in his face.

That was Ellie, the boss's daughter, and the book in her hand was an adventure log of an aerial city written by a lord.

The two children, who were the same age, became acquainted.

The repair shop is always busy. Young Claude squats in the corner, patiently repairing customers' items, while Ellie always laughs and runs wild around him, occasionally making things worse.

When the shop closed, they would turn on the kerosene lamp to read their adventure log, and in their spare time, they would lie by the rainy window and fantasize about life in the city in the sky.

More than a decade later, the repair shop owner passed away, and the grown-up Claude had become a capable and even renowned mechanic.

He inherited his adoptive father's shop and the responsibility of caring for Ellie.

The latter has also grown up, transforming from a wild little girl into a quiet young woman.

She no longer teased Claude as she used to, always making things worse, but instead dutifully helped with the work.

One day, Claude stumbled while tiptoeing to change a light bulb in a shop, and Ellie quickly helped him hold the bulb down.

Their fingers suddenly touched the light bulb, and when their eyes met, a spark flew—it was unclear whether it was an electric current or something else.

There was no dramatic or earth-shattering love story; the two young people simply fell in love.

The couple has supported each other for over a decade in running their shop and raising their children.

In a chance accident, they lost their son and daughter.

Claude was still holding on, but Ellie was on the verge of collapse.

Seeing his wife grow thinner and more haggard, Claude felt heartbroken but was helpless.

One day, while tidying up the house, he suddenly found that adventure logbook.

They unearthed their childhood dreams.

When Claude appeared before her and magically produced a picture of an aerial city from her adventure log, Ellie's eyes lit up, a rare occurrence for her.

The couple rallied and diligently ran their repair shop every day.

While Claude was busy in the shop, he saw Ellie bring back an orphan who had been wandering in the fortress.

He was a little boy who, despite his ragged clothes, held his head high.

Claude brandished the wrench, trying to tease and scare him, but the little boy unexpectedly stepped on his foot, making him howl.

However, even though Claude is a renowned mechanic, and even though he has worked diligently for more than a decade, he still cannot afford to buy a mobile city, let alone transform it into an aerial city.

As the couple grew older, their hair turned gray.

That night, looking at his dying wife and the adventure log in her hand, Claude looked at her with eyes full of guilt.

However, Ellie smiled and shook her head. She closed the adventure log and gently took his hand.

Her gentle eyes seemed to be smiling, as if she wanted to say something.

When Claude asked, a sly glint appeared in her eyes, and she shook her head with a light laugh.

Claude sat dejectedly in front of the closed repair shop, unsure of what to do.

He heard a noise beside him, looked up, and saw that it was Gray who had handed him the adventure log.

This boring little boy has long since become a boring adult, and he still keeps a straight face even when handing over the book.

Cloud slowly opened the adventure log and found that there were new entries inside.

Those were the details of their life together, recorded by his wife over several decades.

From their first meeting, getting to know each other, supporting each other, to falling in love.
Before he knew it, Claude's eyes were already wet.

When he turned to the last page, there was a sentence written on it.

"You are the greatest adventure of my life."

It took Claude a long time to calm himself down.

He closed his adventure log, rallied himself, and stood up to look at Gray.

The two exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.

The repair shop reopened, and the old man and the young man continued to work diligently.

The story of Claude and Ellie gradually spread throughout the basin area.

One day, when Claude was closing his shop, he saw several residents of the fortress walking towards him.

A few units of iron ore, a wrench, and a small piece of metal.
Everyone handed the items to him one by one, leaving him bewildered.

In the days that followed, more and more people visited the repair shop.

Steam pipes, chimneys, mechanical parts—all sorts of things appeared in front of the repair shop, gradually piling up into a small mountain.

Bounty hunters, survivor caravans, and mobile city lords—through the collective efforts of the entire basin region, they managed to cobble together an aerial mobile city over a decade.

Claude thus became the lord, and Gray became his steward.

He then named this floating city the Adventure and moved his and his wife's small house to the lower level, thus beginning a new journey.

"so good"

Upon hearing this, Li Ye couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

Claude carefully stroked the adventure logbook, his eyes filled with nostalgia.

"As you can see, I will continue my adventures in this world until I return to my Ellie."

With a roar, the Adventurer slowly started up and began to cruise around the fortress.

Li Ye stood by the railing, his hair disheveled by the breeze, his eyes shining brightly.

Fields, lakes, mountains, and forests.
At this moment, everything on earth is laid out before my eyes, a breathtaking sight.

Claude was beside him, the old lord gripping the railing tightly, gazing at the landscape below with him.

“Hey, young man! My story is over, what about yours?” he shouted.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Ye smiled gently at the old lord.

"It's just the beginning."

(End of this chapter)