Red dragon: in charge of natural disasters

The Burning Empire.

In the southeast of the Anzeta Wasteland, there is the city of Hector, known as the "Iron City".

At four o'clock in the morning, the conveyor belts of the assembly line made regular clicking sounds. Those huge machines were like giant beasts gnawing on steel, chewing up the breathing of the female workers into a unified rhythm.

"Two hundred and twenty-seven, two hundred and twenty-eight"

Workwoman Irene counted the 230th bullet shell as it slid across her palm, and the copper filings embedded in the cracks of her fingernails gleamed tiny lights under the gas lamp.

When she put her cracked thumb into her mouth, she tasted the rusty smell of bullet oil mixed with blood. She knew that her fingers were bleeding from being rubbed, but she couldn't stop for a moment.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Amid the roar of the steam hammers, the factory director yelled at the top of his voice: "We must complete the targets given by the superiors before dawn! Remember, we are making a contribution to the empire!

The more bullets we produce, the more land our soldiers on the front lines will be able to capture, and the Burning Empire will be able to move forward towards your majesty's grand blueprint!"

"For the Empire!"

Several young workers raised their hands and shouted hoarsely, their tired eyes revealing excitement that was difficult to conceal.

The factory manager nodded with satisfaction and said, "Very good, keep it clean. The factory is like a battlefield, and you are fighting for the empire!"

Irene also wanted to be like those young workers, work hard to show herself and get the appreciation of the factory manager.

But Irene was too tired. The work on the assembly line had occupied her entire mind, so that she could not hear anything and could only repeat the actions numbly - and many more workers were like her.

The steam pipes wove a spider-web-like cage above his head. Condensate mixed with machine tool cutting fluid dripped into the back of his neck, staining the collar of his work clothes a blue-black color like mildew.

Every five seconds, a 7.92mm rifle bullet would slide into the pine box at the end of the conveyor belt. On the lid of the box, the words "Specially supplied to the South" were painted in eye-catching black paint.

The so-called Southern Territory refers to the vast area south of the Anzeta Wilderness. Almost everyone in the empire knows that the Southern Territory is a rich land flowing with milk and honey, with infinite possibilities.

Merchants can sell their wares there wantonly, reselling them back and forth to earn mountains of gold coins, while soldiers can fight hard there, gain military merit, and become the lofty dragon-blood nobles.

But unfortunately, Irene is just a woman from a poor family. She does not have the financial resources to do business, nor the strength to go to the battlefield.

Several years ago, Irene's husband died in the Abyss War. Although he had no military merit, she received a generous pension. Although she had no job, she was able to support her two children.

But the good times did not last long. The war in North Essel intensified, and a large number of personnel, food and equipment were transferred to the south. The prices in the empire rose rapidly, and Irene's life became increasingly difficult and difficult to maintain.

In order to continue to support her two children, Irene chose to respond to the call of the empire and entered the factory to become a glorious female worker, receiving a salary of five silver coins every month.

"Three hundred and seven, three hundred and eight," Irene counted silently, watching the bullets pass through the conveyor belt.

She knew that the empire was about to start another war.

As a female worker, she was particularly aware of this because urgent orders in ammunition factories were often a sign of the coming of war.

While in Hector City, Irene could always get good news from the front lines through newspapers and radio, and learned that the Empire had successively occupied North Essel, the Shield Dwarf Plateau, and the Ugo Prairie.

As a citizen of the Empire, she would often puff out her chest, feeling genuine pride and joy, but she would occasionally wonder - when would the war stop?

Ever since His Majesty Cassius led his soldiers to the south in search of the "land under the sun", a series of wars have been like the north wind of Anzeta, endless and seemingly never stopping.

"Erin, what on earth are you doing? You actually let the deformed bullets appear in the box!"

The supervisor's stern voice came from behind, interrupting Irene's unintentional thoughts and making her sweat profusely. She quickly responded.

"I'm sorry, sir."

The supervisor picked up the deformed bullets in the box and said coldly, "You shouldn't apologize to me, but to the entire factory. Don't you know that the higher-ups are going to conduct a military quality inspection?

If I hadn't discovered it in advance, the entire Thirteenth Factory would have been punished and everyone would have been disgraced!"

"sorry"

Irene's fingers were shaking as she picked out the bullets, and she seemed a little flustered.

The supervisor glanced at her and his tone became a little more gentle: "Okay, work hard and stop thinking about it. I will deduct one silver nar from your salary this time. This will not happen again."

"Yes, sir."

Irene lowered her head and responded in a somewhat numb and listless manner.

A fine of one silver nar may not seem like much, but it requires her to work hard for several days to get it.

Next month, we will have to live frugally again.

"The damn conveyor belt is stuck again!" Martha at workstation 37 suddenly screamed. Irene watched as the semi-finished warheads piled up into a small hill at the seam of the conveyor belt. The brass-colored avalanche buried Martha's rubber shoes in no time.

When the sound of the supervisor's leather boots blasted down the iron stairs, the backs of all the female workers' necks tensed up again, with sweat dripping down their necks.

"Damn idiot!"

Under the angry scolding of the supervisor, the new girl Sophia sat down next to her, half of the banned book was exposed in the pocket of her overalls, and she whispered: "Because the machine can't identify the duds, but the hungry female workers can."

Irene stared at the bruise on the girl's wrist and said nothing.

"when--"

At this moment, a loud bell rang from afar, which made the workers on the assembly line feel as if they were suddenly awakened, and the factory became a little noisy.

"What happened?"

"It's the big bronze bell in the square. It's only rung on important occasions, such as Coronation Day and Christmas Day!"

"But there's no holiday today?"

"Then I'm afraid something big is going to happen! Could it be——"

Listening to the discussions of her co-workers, Irene had already guessed what would happen next, and she couldn't help but recall some sad memories.

The last time the big bell rang during a non-holiday period was two years ago, when His Majesty Cassius personally gave a speech and transformed into a huge magical image that appeared above the city, declaring war on the demons of the abyss.

Soon after that speech, there was no news of her husband again—until Irene learned that he had been killed by the devil.

Irene felt a little sad about her husband's death, but she also felt proud from the bottom of her heart. After all, her husband died in a battle with demons and was a hero who sacrificed himself to protect the people of the empire.

At this moment, the crisp sound of leather boots hitting the ground was heard, and the factory manager strode into the factory, clapped his hands and said, "Okay, we can stop work!

There is a big announcement today, everyone will have half a day off and gather at the city square."

"Very good!"

"I've been working for eleven consecutive days. I can finally take a break!"

Upon hearing the news, the workers were overjoyed, and Irene was no exception. She hadn't had a rest for a long time since the batch of expedited orders came in a few days ago.

Even when she walked out of the factory and saw the sun in the thick smoke, Irene was still a little dazed, as if she had just walked out of another world.

She took the train and headed straight to the city of Hector. More than a year ago, she used the pension left by her husband to buy a property in the city and lived there with her children.

Due to the heavy workload, Irene hasn't been out with the children for a long time, so this vacation is a good opportunity.

Hector City.

By the fountain in the town square, Irene stroked the silver cross medal left by her husband on her chest and held the hand of her eldest son Daniel.

Little Daniel looked at the surging crowd in front of him and asked curiously, "Mom, why are you all here?"

"Because the Empire is going to announce something big."

"What's up?"

Irene smiled gently, "Mom doesn't know either, but I guess the war is about to begin."

Little Daniel lowered his head and whispered, "In this case, Daddy won't be able to come back again. You said he was a great hero who had been fighting for the empire."

Irene sighed softly and reached out to touch the child's head: "Yes, your father should still be preparing for the war now, let's not disturb him."

Little Daniel's voice was a little choked: "Then, then when can we see him?"

"Maybe after the war is over, when dad becomes a world-famous general, he will come back to see you."

"When will the war end?"

Irene shook her head, unable to bear looking at Daniel's expectant eyes. She looked into the distance with a dazed look on her face: "Kid, I don't know either."

Perhaps the war in the empire would never end - she only knew that her husband would never come back.

“Look!”

"It's a steam tank!"

"Get out of the way, get out of the way quickly, don't block the road here!"

The crowd in front of her suddenly became noisy, and then parted like waves, mixed with the angry shouts of the city guards.

The whistle sounded, and twelve steam tanks were seen slowly driving across the square. Their tracks rolled over the hard road, making a dull sound.

These steel behemoths are extremely large, with a height of more than four meters and a length of nearly ten meters. They are like moving hills, giving people a great sense of oppression. The alloy armor that has been polished to be extremely smooth sparkles under the sunlight.

"This is the heavy tank produced by Hetok City!"

"Haha, only our Iron City can create such a huge war beast!"

People were talking about it, all of them were shocked by its majestic power and felt very proud of it.

And in the slums two kilometers away, behind a window with a statue of Misha, an eight-year-old boy named Thomas was spying on the monster with a monocular telescope left by his father.

"It's so beautiful! I want to be a tank soldier in the future!"

"Show me now!"

"Humph, you little bean sprout want to be a soldier, but I want to be a dragon knight!"

The kids in the slums were clamoring for the binoculars, all wanting to feast their eyes and watch the military parade in the distance.

“Look!”

"What is that?"

"It's the Empire's Dragon Knight! No, there's another big guy!"

The sound of air being torn apart resounded through the sky. People all looked up at the sky and saw two-legged flying dragons wearing armor flapping their wings.

Then, an even more shocking scene appeared: huge creatures flew across the clouds like a school of whales swimming in the sea of ​​clouds, casting shadows that enveloped people.

These behemoths have angular abdomens with thick gun barrels sticking out, while the huge balloons on their upper parts are painted with the imperial emblem with vertical pupils and flames.

"Casius, now the big guy can actually fly!"

"It's an airship! That's the Empire's airship cluster! I saw it in a military brochure!"

Looking at the groups of "giant whales" in the sky, even Irene marveled at their magnificence, and couldn't help but imagine in her mind - when these behemoths dropped bombs and poured out artillery fire, what kind of devastating scene would be caused?

Little Daniel hugged Irene tightly, trembling under the power of these killing machines.

Irene sensed her son's fear and quickly comforted him, "Don't be afraid, kid. These are weapons from our Burning Empire. They are used to protect us. They are Dad's comrades-in-arms."

Little Daniel pointed at the airship in the sky and asked timidly, "Mom, you told me that you worked in a military factory. Did you make all this?"

Irene smiled and shook her head: "Of course not, everyone has their own division of labor, and mom is responsible for making bullets."

"So that's how it is." Little Daniel pondered for a moment and looked up at the sky again: "I want to be like my dad in the future, to be a glorious soldier and a hero as described in the newspapers!"

Irene's smile froze on her face. Thinking of her dead husband, she couldn't help but persuade him, "Child, that's too dangerous. Besides, you have to pass a strict assessment to join the army. Not everyone can become a soldier."

"Is that so?" Little Daniel lowered his head and thought, then clapped his hands: "Then I want to be like my mother and make a lot of powerful weapons and equipment to help my father fight better on the front line!"

“.”

Looking at the child with the innocent expression, Irene stood there for a moment, feeling mixed emotions.

She knew very well that what she was doing was something that could take people's lives. It could smash a person's head into pieces and turn the insides into mud in an instant.

Her job was not decent either. She needed to do repetitive labor day and night in a dark factory until she was exhausted, and she had less than ten hours of rest time each day.

Is her child going to follow the same path?

“Keng——”

In the center of the square in the distance, five hundred trainee officers drew their swords at the same time, and the half-dragon general Hohenzollern tapped the reviewing stand with his cane.

"Soldiers! Residents of Hetok City! Today, we are about to usher in a sacred and glorious moment - the supreme Majesty Cassius is about to give a speech in person!"

"Long live the Empire!"

"Long live His Majesty Cassius!"

The enthusiastic cheers of the people resounded through the sky. In such an atmosphere, those who were not excited enough became the odd ones out, so Irene also followed the crowd and shouted.

Even little Daniel was infected by the atmosphere. He waved his little fists and made childish sounds.

"Long live His Majesty Cassius——" (End of this chapter)