At the edges of the platforms of all sizes in the middle section of the Giant Wall Zone, those rickety landing pads built by shoddy craftsmen and scavengers could almost be called a miracle born of engineering and wild guesswork--
Building materials salvaged from piles of scrap had been haphazardly stacked together with the ancient structures of the Giant Wall. Uneven welding was often supplemented with wire, rivets, expansion bolts, and astonishingly outdated glue. They jutted out from the high wall, facing the dust and mist, soaked in industrial exhaust and faint sunlight. If the city's iron nest was viewed as a strange, bloated creature, then these platforms were like teeth growing inside its stomach. Every one of them swayed precariously, as if it might come loose and fall into the stomach acid shimmering with heat waves at any moment.
But, incredibly, these seemingly unreliable structures rarely fell straight to the bottom. Even though they creaked and swayed in the rising hot winds every day, Luo had always found that unbelievable. Sometimes, she even suspected that these buildings defying common sense beneath the city had picked up a trace of black psychic energy and the Warp... In any case, neither of those things was rare in Happy Home.
Under her superb piloting, the shuttle docked steadily at the landing pad of Grey Iron Junkyard. The entire landing pad trembled twice from the impact of the shuttle's engines, and her heart trembled twice along with it. Then, a group of furtive figures appeared near the exit of the landing pad.
Luo descended from the shuttle with her guard captain and four soldiers. At first glance, she saw the figures hiding among the scrap piles. They were a group of ragged children, clearly from a nearby settlement. A few of them looked