Setting Out to Make an Arrest

Passing through the backstreet freight door of the heavy steam forging workshop on Iron Furnace Street, Lu Yuan was met by the biting wind of a winter night in Watch City, laden with pellets of snow. He tightened his collar and walked out of the base beside Lin En, sweeping his gaze over the streets to either side. Only then did he notice that steam technology was visibly much more widespread in Watch City than in Bronze City.

White steam billowed from joints in the thick copper and iron pipes lining the streets, and even a few steam-powered carriages could be seen on the wide stone-paved roads.

A steam carriage with a small boiler stood by the roadside outside the workshop's freight door, its smokestack pouring out scalding white vapor. Behind it was another steam carriage assigned to follow separately, its outer walls covered in Sealing Inscriptions.

Lin En led Lu Yuan and five fully armed squad members aboard the first steam carriage. Once the door closed, shutting out the wind and snow, Lin En looked at the snowflakes falling outside the window, then turned to explain to Lu Yuan:

"Consultant Lu Yuan, once winter sets in, it's bitterly cold outside Watch City. Ordinary draft horses often can't run fast at night, and they're liable to get frostbite. Fortunately, the city has these boiler-powered steam carriages. We can take one straight there tonight."

Lu Yuan leaned against the warm carriage wall and glanced outside, then nodded and said:

"Sounds good."

The small boiler at the rear of the carriage rumbled with a deep, powerful roar. The two steam carriages drove out of Iron Furnace Street one behind the other, traveling smoothly along the lightly snow-covered stone road. Seated by the window, Lu Yuan studied the night and the streets through