(Heartfelt thanks to Liunian Cheng Shang Love for the 1,888 reward, and to Yume no Shouyou, Heartbroken Soul, and Yunqi Qinggu for their rewards!)
"Whooo—"
The long whistle of the train echoed clearly through the surroundings. The train's rumbling gradually died down as it slowly decelerated, pulled into a domed station, and came to a stop.
"Hiss—"
Steam burst from various parts of the train, accompanied by a sputtering sound like water being poured onto flames.
At the same time, uniformed station guards arrived around the train and began bustling about.
The train doors opened one after another. Passengers carrying their luggage stepped down amid the clamor and dispersed throughout the station.
Before long, Wu Yan, Ikaros, Astrea, Natsuki, Natsuoto, Nagisa, and the others disembarked from one of the train's doors and arrived at the station exit.
However, unlike those who had come from afar or returned from a long journey, this group had also traveled a great distance, yet they carried not even a scrap of luggage. Empty-handed, they looked nothing like first-time visitors to the city and more like people waiting to pick someone up.
Standing at the station exit, the group of six began surveying the city.
This was a city shrouded in steam from end to end.
The buildings around them differed from the skyscrapers and residential homes they remembered, leaning more toward classical styles such as auditoriums, churches, and cathedrals.
On the streets, bulky sedans that seemed popular only in the 1980s traveled at a speed Wu Yan and the others found extremely slow. Horse-drawn carriages also passed by under the crack of whips, their hooves striking the ground.
The people were all dressed rather formally, with no sign of casual wear at all, giving the impression that they had returned to the past.
Backward!