Suddenly, the muscles in
His heart was full of shock and suspicion, and uncontrollably, several guesses flashed through his mind: "Are the residents of
"Or did the platform attendant realize I was lying, but deliberately pretended not to notice and let me go because he didn't want to deal with me? But why?
"Hmm, taking my suitcase to the platform restroom could be explained by the fear of losing my luggage, but the entire platform is sheltered, so there was no need to take out the umbrella in advance, and besides, the rain had stopped long ago..."
Wendel's gaze unconsciously turned to the window, only to see the sun shining brightly on the current platform. Travelers were waiting in line quite orderly behind the safety line, a stark contrast to the gloomy and dark atmosphere of Utopia.
Sigh... he exhaled, his body suddenly relaxing a bit.
This isn't Utopia... I've already left.. Wendel muttered to himself, raising a hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
When he recalled his oversight earlier, he felt as if he had fallen into a nightmare from which he couldn't wake up.
After calming down for a while, Wendel stood up and decided to go to the platform to smoke a cigarette to ease his mood.
The tobacco soothed him well, allowing him to review his experiences in Utopia again.
In this process, he had an inspiration about his encounter: "Maybe because I sincerely helped
Compared to the idea that all residents of Utopia are monsters in human skin, Wendel preferred this explanation.
Just then, from the corner of his eye, he saw the train conductor talking with a group of people in a corner.
Wendel approached a few steps discreetly, wanting to hear what they were saying.
With his supernormal hearing, he vaguely caught a conversation from a distance that wouldn't arouse suspicion: "Last night we... platform... Utopia..."
"The kingdom... none..."
"Please keep it confidential..."
Wendel's eyebrows moved slightly. Combining the description of the document in his pocket, he roughly understood what those people were saying to the conductor.
They were saying that there was no such station as Utopia within the kingdom, and that the steam train's status last night was "missing"!
At that moment, a strong sense of fear welled up in Wendel's heart again, feeling that being able to leave Utopia alive was the greatest fortune.
... ...
Alfred spent nearly a week to return to
This was because he visited the families of his deceased comrades, old friends, elders on vacation at their estates, and some business partners of the family along the way.
"This is more exhausting than participating in a battle," Alfred complained to his father, Count Hall.
Count Hall smiled and pointed to the top of the stairs: "Go to your room and rest for a while. We'll talk later in the study."
He was quite satisfied with his second son's mental state and growth.
Alfred looked around and asked with a smile: "Where is the most dazzling jewel of Backlund?"
He paused and added: "And, Hibbert?"
Count Hall chuckled and said: "Audrey has gone to her foundation. She will come back in the afternoon. She has been complaining that you couldn't provide a definite itinerary, so she didn't know when exactly you would arrive.
"Hibbert is now a Cabinet Secretary, very busy."
Alfred nodded, said no more, went back to his room, took a shower, and changed into a shirt, waistcoat, and formal suit.
"I prefer the casualness of East Balam," he said to his adjutant, looking in the mirror.
"This makes you look more aristocratic," his adjutant said as he handed him a file. "General, this is from Military Intelligence Section 9."
"Military Intelligence Section 9?" Alfred broke the seal of the file thoughtfully. "So soon? Do they have investigation results on Utopia?"
Before finishing his words, he pulled out the file and flipped through it.
In the process, Alfred's page-turning movements became slower and slower. Finally, he went back to the beginning and read it again.
The main content of this investigation report was divided into two parts: First, the members of Military Intelligence Section 9 who escorted Alfred's report accidentally entered Utopia, witnessed a murder case, and forcibly left in the middle of the night, returning to the steam train. Second, there was no Utopia station on any railway line from Diccy Bay to Backlund, nor was there a port called Utopia within the Raging Sea. Subsequent investigators found no traces.
Neither of these circumstances went beyond Alfred's ability to handle. What surprised and startled him was the criminal in that murder case: Her name was Tracy, the owner of an inn. She had received a secondary education, graduated from a grammar school, and later became a merchant's mistress. Recently, she was trying to get rid of that identity.
This matched the Tracy, the owner of the harbor inn that Alfred had met, with every detail consistent.
Therefore, Alfred concluded that the murderer was that Tracy, the well-educated beauty who played sad music at night.
"Is this the story behind her?" Alfred silently murmured to himself.
This made the residents of Utopia seem extremely real, not the illusions Alfred had imagined.
In other words, after the outsiders left, the residents of Utopia still had their own lives, their own love, hatred, pain, and sorrow, and a variety of experiences.