Half-step Purgatory

For a long time, Malin always felt that Fate had been quite generous to him. Although he had to face that life-threatening job every day, as long as he had the lovely Leopard Girl cooking delicious food for him daily, and as long as there was meat to eat and cats to stroke, life wasn't too unbearable. Working a bit harder and facing some difficulties on the job weren't really an issue for a man.
Moreover, being able to live two lives meant one shouldn't have too high demands, right, Mr. Different-Kind?
Having said that, and without waiting for an answer, the young man snapped his fingers, and the white flame on his fingertip lit the tobacco in his other hand, then he flicked it towards the non-human entity on the stake.
Welcome to Abield, to witness the last splendor of the steampunk era.
And the madness.

Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Then it jumped down from the long table and headed to a corner, completely ignoring the room's three-dimensional holographic image, and squeezed through a gap in the cover plate.


Melo watched a pair of mechanical legs pass by the corridor from the ventilation duct, then it poked its head out, following the automaton that had led its master before. It crawled out into the corridor, staying behind it, hiding in its blind spot as it turned, and then slipping into the cover plate before it completed its turn.


After traversing a long passage, Melo entered a room filled with mechanical bodies. From its open mouth, it retrieved a cylindrical container and placed it in the corner.


Without any attachment, it crawled into another cover plate on the opposite side; Melo knew there were many other places it still needed to go.


Section 404: Mechanical Mind (Part 4)_2