Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Trains occasionally pass through the deserted land and come to this small town, bringing a bit of bustle like nutrients through blood.

"Woo woo—" Accompanied by the sound of brakes and horns, the train slowly stops at the station. Afterwards, several mechanical hooks descend from the skeleton of the station, lifting the cargo and then dumping the transported chalk stones onto the vacant lot nearby.

During this loading and unloading process, the accompanying staff also jump down from the train. One of them clenches a cigarette between his lips, and another looks around with a hint of curiosity, seeming to be here for the first time.

"What, are you curious?" his companion asks.

"Yes, it seems like they are building a town here?"

"Indeed."

"Tsk tsk, that's quite rare. Which company is still investing in building large factories in Jade Skirt?"

"It's not a company; they are building it themselves. Anyway, the land here is worth next to nothing, almost nobody wants it." The other staff member shakes his head, passes him a cigarette, and then the two of them walk out.

While smoking, they squat on the steps outside the station, watching the workers and some old-fashioned autonomous mechanical units coming and going on the street, continuing their earlier conversation.

"Where are they from, and why do they want to settle down here?"

"Seems like they are from The East. You must have seen films and TV shows, right? Easterners believe in the Five Phoenixes; their way of life and culture differs from ours."

"I know that, but it feels a bit foolish for them to do this. There are so many abandoned cities in the north of Jade Skirt. They could simply choose any one to settle down in. Why bother building one themselves?"

"I don't understand either, but I've talked with an Easterner I know, and they have a strong sense of homeland sentiment. They don't want to be scattered and apart anymore; a place with family is home, that's what they told me."

"Alright, but this must be quite costly. Where do they get the funds?"

"Part of it came from selling their original assets, some from government support, and the rest from low-interest loans provided by banks."

"The government probably thinks if they want to build a town, they need to buy various materials and hire workers, right? This can at least boost some economic indicators and create some jobs, so they provided some support."

"Look at us, this is the only calcite minefield left in the company now, almost unsellable. Only this place still needs it, to manufacture building materials."

As the two talk, the white chalk calcite brought in by the train is gradually unloaded. Afterwards, trucks transport it to a nearby gravel plant to make cement and concrete.

Watching the dusty construction site, they fall silent for a while.

"I always feel like I'm living in a dream," the taller train attendant extinguishes his cigarette butt on the ground.

"What dream?"

"Dreaming that I'm still alive at the end of the Third Epoch, thousands of years ago."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because what I see now hasn't changed much from that time. Those bustling scenes on the internet, the beautiful starry sky, the towering and powerful starships, the dazzling transcendent beings—they're all too far from my life. They feel so fake, like a con."

"Don't be like that. Remember three years ago when a criminal hid on our train to evade the police?"

"And as we were nearing the mining area, a special military police shuttle caught up with us." The shorter, younger train attendant gesticulates with his arms.

"Military police clad in light gray exoskeleton armor descended directly from the shuttle onto the car. Their invisibility technology was so good that not even the train's surveillance radar detected them until they landed, their gravity change triggering the alarm."

"I thought there was some wild beast or the carriage had flipped or something."

"Then we saw those fully armed military police fighting with the escapee, bullets flying everywhere. Later there was close combat, they even split one carriage in half and it flipped off the track, causing the five carriages behind to derail."

"That was the first time I saw the advanced weapons used by the Federal Army up close. If theirs were cannons, then the guns used by the gangs underground are like water pistols."

"The difference is too big. I bet a full set of their gear would cost several hundred thousand to buy."

"Probably more, those fully equipped military police are generally above Sequence 4." The taller train attendant shakes his head.

"I once heard about a time they cleaned out a gang in the deep mountains of North Fifth District with just a 12-man squad taking out more than 600 gang members, including not a few Sequence 4 experts."

"Sequence 4 transcendent profession specialists focused on combat, equipped with full gear, even if they face multiple transcendent beings of the same rank in a gang, they still have an overwhelming advantage."
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"The military power of the Federation is still incomparably strong, beyond the imagination of ordinary people."

"Let it be, the train has finished unloading the cargo, and it's time for us to return." With that, the two get up, taking one last look at the settlement before them.

"I hope by the time we come again, it will be completed; maybe we could even resell some local specialties or something." The two mutter quietly to each other as they walk towards the inside of the station.

————

North Fourth District, Purple Acacia Mining Area.

In the black night, the cold wind blows across the land full of sand and stones, occasionally a searchlight wavers, illuminating the distant night sky.

In this pitch-black land, the mining area appears like layers of nested ellipses, creating vortexes. High, sharp-edged rock walls separate each layer, with the traces of artificial excavation being especially evident. Occasionally, a large truck spirals down the descending giant circles, its headlights casting two distinct cones that stand out in the night.