When the suspended intercity carriage passed through the city on the arched viaduct, Rozim and others once again had the opportunity to gaze at the huge space in the distance.
It contains countless commercial areas, residential areas, manufacturing complexes, administrative areas, churches, squares, etc. When the carriage flew through the smoke and dust that enveloped the city, the vast tracts of buildings disappeared from his eyes - viewed from a high altitude.
Going there, the entire urban area of Terra is almost flat. Legend has it that as early as the era when the Great Crusade was just launched, almost all the mountain ranges were leveled, except for the Himalayas. As the foundation of the imperial palace, the Himalayas have remained almost completely unchanged.
The Earth's oceans have long since dried up, and from one side of the horizon to the other, the entire continent has been pieced together into an indescribable megalopolis.
So for most of the residents of Terra, even though they live in the safest, most glorious, and greatest place in the human empire, few people can see the borders of the city in their lifetime, except for those who have been conscripted into the army.
In addition, for most people, his life may even only include his own neighborhood and the throne that can never be seen behind the eternal gate. In the most fortunate state, that is, on a few clear nights.
, you can see the stars in the sky and the twinkling low-Earth orbit station rotating in the sky.
"Give way, give way."
"Please show me the ticket."
This kind of intercity suspended train is not something that anyone can ride casually. You must be a local resident and have a proof of residence to purchase a ticket. From time to time, crew members and police officers even randomly check the tickets of passengers, discreetly reminding passengers that they are crossing the city illegally.
Possible punishments at the border - Terra's household registration system is extremely strict, and you are not allowed to travel between different urban areas at will.
The entire carriage is a mixture of Empire and Mechanicus design styles. Half of the carriage is occupied by seats. There are small lamps decorated with crystals placed on the table. They will jingle every time the carriage turns or slows down.
However, Rozim and the others only had standing tickets, so they could only stand on the other side.
The Eternal City is one of the urban areas closest to the Royal Palace. If you just look at it from a distance, you will feel that this city is very grand and neat, but this does not mean that it is always as bright as it looks. For example, when you leave Assam, you can see
In a no-nonsense zone, although the boundaries of each administrative district are strictly demarcated, due to illegal construction and overlapping jurisdictions, this kind of urban overlapping area can easily lose management and be covered with large areas of decaying steel waste.
Huge polluted drains and deplorable slums occupy the area.
But such a place does not exist on the map. It is a blank space on the map. Slums cannot be allowed to appear in the sacred capital of mankind. This is a desecration of the glory of the throne.
Therefore, this kind of place is also called a ghost area - invisible to the "human" eye.
After passing through the ghost district, the train arrived at the boundary of the City of Prayers. This is a huge building complex located on the outskirts of the Royal Palace. In fact, it was originally part of the Eternal City. However, with the continuous expansion of the imperial bureaucracy, it became the imperial era.
The number of public officials serving is also increasing day by day. Initially, it was designated as a residential area for middle- and high-level public officials because it was close to the palace. Later, it developed day by day and finally became an independent city.
Nowadays, there are more than 30 billion residents living in the City of Prayer. They are basically civil servants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Military Affairs and other imperial agencies. Some of them have lived here for dozens of generations, which means that they are in the empire.
lived in the bureaucracy for dozens of generations.
For the vast majority of Terra residents, being able to live in the City of Prayers is enough to represent a kind of honor and status.
When Rozim turned his gaze to the window, he saw the most beautiful and advanced city on Terra.
The tall buildings stacked on top of each other blocked the view to the distant horizon outside the city. The huge display screens and stereoscopic projection equipment installed on the buildings showed many characters and slogans that he did not understand.
The rail train they were riding was at the same height as the middle floor of the building, so his sight was quickly saturated with various lights. They also penetrated into the carriage, everything in the carriage, the passengers, Rozim's eyes,
His hands and clothes were all soaked in the bright and intense light, which made him couldn't help but move his painful eyes away and look down.
Through the gaps in the network of tracks, highways and suspended viaducts, Rozim saw all kinds of tiny people walking through the streets, doing their own things.
Some of them are luxuriously dressed, some are dignified, some are ragged, some are coquettish or ruffian, and of course, the rest are ordinary.
The largest number of them are people wearing various uniforms. Their clothes are monotonous, but they are all dyed with colorful colors by neon, street lights and car lights.
The buildings are gorgeous and the people are colorful, making this city exude a kind of magic that seems to lure people here forever.
Then Rozim took two steps, wanting to have a better view of the city on the throne from the air.
In a sense, it really looks like a huge museum composed of a complex giant spider web, with giant statues with gorgeous decorations, huge buttresses supporting super large buildings, and various dirty and gloomy giant electrical equipment.
.
"That's the Church of the Emperor's Saviour."
When an exaggeratedly magnificent building appeared in sight, Scyna came to Rozim and softly introduced the history of this church, which was known as the most magnificent church in the empire.
There is no doubt that Rozim was also shocked by this huge building. This was probably the largest church he could imagine. The huge vaulted roof like the bow of a spaceship stood above all buildings, and was even
Condensed water vapor obscured it - according to law, in the City of Prayers, no building is allowed to be taller than the Cathedral of the Emperor's Savior.
This church stands like a colorful mountain surrounded by buildings. Groups of priests and attendants in robes move back and forth in various side halls and aisles, like busy ants in an ant nest.
For the first time, Rozim realized that the word hive was so suitable to describe these huge human settlements.
At this time, all the exits of the church were covered with hundreds of meters high flags - they were a little tattered, but they still exuded ancient colors, and the multi-toned light filtered through and shone on the murals depicting one battle after another.
Glowing, the vast building was now filled with an atmosphere of feverish activity, without any trace of the calm of prayer and contemplation.
This also made Rozim suddenly realize something, it was still night, although it was already approaching morning.
With a slight shaking, the train stopped.
When the train door opened and Rozim stepped onto the platform, a wave of senses hit him.
The smell of hot oil and grease around the track, the damp smell of garbage and chemical-laden rainwater were so real but so strong, and more importantly the smell of human bodies, as there were so many people around.