Some time later.
Shenjing.
After settling the refugee matters, Bai Qinghan concealed her appearance and slipped into Shenjing.
She arrived in the outer district.
Compared to the areas beyond the pass and the suburban regions within it, Shenjing's outskirts were prosperous beyond imagination. An immense, boundless translucent curtain of light enveloped the entire outer district, blotting out even the sky.
Within the barrier, the air was fresh, carrying a faint fragrance of grass and trees. Warm in winter and cool in summer, it formed a world of its own. Outside the barrier lay the ordinary environment, with few buildings apart from a scattered handful of crude warehouses.
As far as the eye could see, rows of detached little houses built from bluestone and timber stood in neat formation. A complete underground waterway system ensured that every household remained clean. Yankui of every shape and form moved soundlessly through the streets, searching for even the tiniest scrap of rubbish.
These had once all been jobs for people. But ever since the new path of automated Yankui had spread from the Northern Frontier to Shenjing, the city had adopted them with utmost speed, leaving quite a few people unemployed. That, however, was beyond the concerns of the officials responsible for such matters.
The cold wind blew.
Shenjing should originally have been springlike all year round. But because of the recent Cang Linzu incident, and in order to seek out hidden lawbreakers, Shenjing had begun enforcing a harsh curfew.
This curfew differed from those elsewhere. Rather than sealing off the streets, they directly lowered the temperature in certain districts, turning the climate into the depths of winter. The biting cold forced everyone to return home the moment work ended and hide indoors. Anyone who dared venture outside on a winter night would be