On June 11, after completing a week-long war-zone patrol mission with the Jin-Yun Kingdom airship forces, Zhang Tie transferred to a large airship base codenamed C Base, fifty kilometers behind Wolf City, for rest and recuperation.
This was already Zhang Tie's third time here in the past month or so, so it no longer felt unfamiliar.
Two consecutive days of torrential rain marked the beginning of this summer's rainy season on the Selnes Plains. The downpour had not only affected the airship forces' operations; aside from Zhang Tie, the glider missions from the other airships had become almost impossible to carry out.
As Fool descended, Zhang Tie had barely stepped out of the hatch when several ground-service ambulances sped past less than two meters in front of him, their wheels splashing droplets onto the cuffs of his trousers and his boots.
The shallow standing water on the ground was thick with coal ash, leaving strings of black specks wherever it landed. The filthy water showed no regard for Zhang Tie's status as the Eagle of Selnes; quite proudly, it dirtied the brand-new uniform he had just changed into.
Zhang Tie lowered his head to look at the string of black spots on his trousers and boots, then looked toward the direction the ground-service ambulances had gone. He merely shook his head faintly. Not caring in the least, he headed toward the flagship of the Jin-Yun Kingdom airship forces, where Lan Yunxi was.
Rain still drifted down from the sky, though much more lightly now. Wearing a waterproof rain cape, Zhang Tie strolled along the roads of C Base, surrounded everywhere by airships, while a gloom passed through his heart. That gloom did not come from the mud stains on his trouser cuffs, but from a new development during this past