Mobile City Farming Guide

Chapter 61 Love in a Mobile City
Ah Chen was woken up by the steam pipes overhead.

The copper ventilation ducts hummed and vibrated, likely conveying scalding hot steam as usual.

This is not part of the daily water supply; the Tomorrow ship does not currently offer such luxurious living conditions.

The steam engines of the mobile city generate a large amount of high-pressure steam when they operate. This steam is converted into mechanical energy through a series of processes, driving the steel tracks and axles at the bottom of the city, allowing the entire city to move slowly and steadily.

The helmsman would use a megaphone to instruct ordinary residents working in the lower power zone to control the opening and closing of the steam valves in order to adjust the output power.

These steam pipes extend from top to bottom to every part of the mobile city, like the blood vessels and veins of this steel behemoth.

In winter, it can temporarily serve as a heating system.

"Time to go to work," Ah Chen muttered as he got up.

He got up from the wooden bed and casually put on the clothes hanging at the head of the bed.

He lived in the middle section of the Tomorrow, in a room that was only 9 square meters in size, furnished with nothing more than a wooden bed, a small table and a cabinet.

Fortunately, there was a small window in the room he was in.

Ah Chen used to like to open this window when he was resting, and put his hands on the windowsill to look at the moving scenery in the distance.

Sometimes when I open the window, a morning breeze carrying the smell of coal dust and engine oil will blow in.

This is mainly because a large chimney happened to be installed nearby.

In fact, Ah Chen should have had better living conditions than this.

Because he was also one of the slaves who followed Li Ye in the uprising.

In principle, given his circumstances, he should have been entitled to better treatment, moving into the upper floors with Lao Zhou and Tang Fang, and receiving more food and fresh water every day.

But Ah Chen stubbornly refused his companions' kindness and moved into the middle-level area by himself.

The reason is simple: he was embarrassed to accept such treatment.

As the lord, Li Ye works tirelessly for the development of the city every day. Lao Zhou, Tang Fang, and A Bai fulfill their duties diligently every day, while the other companions serve as combat personnel, rushing to the front line of external battles.

He himself was just an ordinary person with limited abilities, unable to become a professional like a helmsman or mechanic, and lacking the courage to become a combatant and join the battle.

When the Mole launched its uprising, he didn't have the courage to rush to the front.

Ordinary people have simple wishes: to have food and drink every day, a place to live, and to be able to live a life that is barely human.

Ah Chen walked out of his room and down the gangway toward the lower level where he worked.

As he left, he glanced at the room across the hall; its owner had already left.

On the way, Ah Chen passed by the warehouse and received his dinner.

Two steaming hot steamed buns, a serving of boiled blue potatoes, and a glass of water.

Originally, breakfast was not served on the Tomorrow, but since the morning wheat harvest, noodles have been available in the city.

Steamed buns, noodles, bread, and occasionally stuffed dumplings.

With full preparations underway, the entire crew of Tomorrow is on high alert.

Combat personnel took their positions on the deck one after another, the convoy had already spread out outside, and many residents followed mechanic Lin Wu to carry out the final inspection and troubleshooting.

In the solemn atmosphere of impending war and everyone preparing for battle, Ah Chen descended the gangway, his thoughts drifting away.

He was thinking about his neighbor.

She was an ordinary girl, about his age, with bright eyes.

She came from the fallen Roland Fortress.

At that time, she boarded the deck with everyone, led by Lin Xia, the daughter of the fortress lord.

She appeared extremely panicked at that moment. The hot air from the fire and explosion of the fortress swept across her face, making her feel hot. Her bangs were messily stuck to her forehead, and the cheap earrings on her earlobes trembled slightly in the roar of the Tomorrow.

Although her face was ordinary, she also had a pitiful appearance.

Although Ah Chen, who was present at the time, noticed the other person, he didn't pay much attention to it.

He simply worked with Li Ye and the others to settle the new members, moving furniture in the production workshop and distributing food and fresh water.

Do what you can, just like any other ordinary person.

When he dragged his exhausted body back to his room, he discovered that the empty room across the hall was already occupied—by the girl.

The other person straightened their messy bangs, bit the rubber band to comb their hair into a ponytail, and began to tidy up their room carefully.

Make the bed, sweep the floor, and put your luggage in the small cabinet.

The seemingly ordinary action stirred something within Ah Chen.

With these thoughts in mind, Ah Chen went down the gangway to the lower power engine area to begin his work.

He worked as a boiler operator on the Tomorrow, and his daily task was to shovel coal into the boiler from time to time.

The boiler room was dimly lit, and the shovels made a hoarse scraping sound as they dug into the coal pile. The steam pipes above his head hissed, and occasionally a little white mist would leak out from between them.

Every so often, Ah Chen would tap the pressure gauge with a wrench. The crisp metallic clanging was particularly jarring in the stuffy cabin. He would stare intently at the dial pointer until he was sure it was normal before relaxing his furrowed brow. He didn't find the job arduous; on the contrary, he felt at peace because of it.

Being needed is the main way for ordinary people to cope with the mundane aspects of life.

After putting away the shovel, Ah Chen began to think about his interactions with the girl.

The girl also had a job; she worked as a lookout in the watchtower alongside Lin Xia.

One lived amidst the gasping breaths of the steam pipes, the other amidst the howling winds of the watchtower.

Despite being neighbors, the two rarely interacted.

The real encounter and acquaintance occurred during a malfunction.

During a routine pressurization of the Tomorrow, a pressure valve broke, and scalding steam rushed up the tower, burning the girl's hand that was holding the railing.

Ah Chen rushed up the watchtower, wanting to apologize but not knowing how to begin.

When he nervously looked up, he saw the girl who had covered her hands tilting her head and looking at him.

"Hey, aren't you my neighbor?"

From then on, the two gradually began to interact.

As Ah Chen walked up the gangway to the lower level in the evening, the searchlights on the watchtower would always sweep across the dimly lit road ahead at just the right moment.

In the early morning, he would occasionally bring breakfast to the watchtower to share with the other person. If the other person woke up late, he would heat it up using steam leaking from the gaps in the steam pipes.

In their spare time, the two would gently tap on a megaphone to communicate.

A light tap means good morning.

One short and one long means see you tonight.

Three short and one long represent having lunch together.

Thoughts grew more numerous and gradually spread.

"That's great," Ah Chen thought to himself.

He quickly realized something and looked up at a ventilation duct wall.

The area was covered with counting creases that I had carved out myself with a screwdriver.

At this moment, his thoughts were spinning contradictorily, like stuck gears.

"If everything ends tomorrow, should I let her know how I feel?"

But what good will it do to know?
A voice like this came from the bottom of my heart.

The memory flashes back to a previous time, and Ah Chen recalls the scene of carrying corpses off the deck after a battle.

The deceased was wearing a simple ring; it's unknown which girl this pain and regret belonged to.

Chen unconsciously groped for a small box made from a shell casing in his pocket, where a repeatedly revised note was kept.

He heard a commotion outside and turned to look, finding everyone still nervously preparing for battle.

He realized something and lowered his head in shame.

Everyone is working hard for tomorrow, while I'm tossing and turning over this trivial matter.

When the familiar knocking sound came from the megaphone, Ah Chen hesitated for a long time before finally knocking out two long and two short sounds.

This means see you tomorrow.

However, he was met with two long thuds.

Ah Chen was stunned; this meant he was refusing.

Just as he was at a loss, the voice rang out again, getting closer and closer.

The young man realized something, and his heart began to pound.

He instinctively turned his head and saw the girl standing at the boiler room door, smiling at him.

"Tsk, no wonder this kid was so unwilling to move upstairs, turns out he had someone on his mind."

Looking at the two embracing at the boiler room entrance, Old Zhou said sarcastically.

Li Ye chuckled and shook his head, his brows gradually relaxing.

This little episode on the eve of the great battle surprised him, yet he found it exceptionally wonderful.

In the desolate wasteland where survival is a struggle, the love that ordinary people stubbornly maintain is like a blade of grass swaying in the wind in the wilderness.

They are as fragile as streetlights that haven't gone out in the morning mist.

Yet it is also as resilient as
The dawn that can illuminate the whole world.

(End of this chapter)