He Ao exited the photo viewer and glanced at the timestamp on the photo. It was October 757.
Calculating the time, that was just shortly after the Rock City incident.
By then, the Rock City Miners Mutual Aid Society had already completed its reorganization and was being managed by Nell's two elder brothers.
But He Ao had not expected Elian to have gone to Rock City.
Hawk did not know either.
In fact, in June 757, Hawk had gone to Wellens and met Elian. He had argued with his son over the matter of "K."
Geographically speaking, Wellens was in the northeastern Federation. Heading northwest from Wellens, passing through Xikailan, one could soon reach Rock City.
Of course, "soon" was relative to cities in the Federation's south and west.
After entering university, Elian had stopped asking Hawk for money. If he traveled by airship, he could only afford the cheapest option, and it would still take at least several days to reach Rock City.
If he traveled overland with a caravan, the journey would take months.
Judging by Elian's academic schedule, he had likely begun arranging his trip to Rock City soon after arguing with Hawk.
He Ao opened the photo again and flipped forward.
Elian seemed to have stayed in Rock City for quite a while. From the looks of it, he had been hired as some kind of "miner," gone deep into the front lines of the mines, and spoken with all the workers.
The photos showed more than just scenes of them holding bonfire parties together. There were also pictures of mining in the snow, eating in the cafeteria, and participating in internal Miners Mutual Aid Society votes.
At the end of this set of Rock City photos, there was even a picture of Elian with Nell's