The stars, but they become the gray wind

"A dragon? Did the warriors of this country actually fight against that kind of creature?" Chise obviously had some misunderstanding about the fictional art drama before her.

"Uh"

After hearing Qianshi's words, Charlotte, Beata and the theater director behind them all looked very embarrassed, not knowing how to explain to the foreigner in front of them.

Chapter 54: Searching for the Bomb and Recapture Strategy

While Charlotte was watching a play in the auditorium with Chise and Beata, attracting the attention of the theater director, Ange and Dorothy took the opportunity to sneak into the backstage of the theater and began a secret investigation.

Angel led Dorothy through a quiet corridor behind the theater stage. When they reached the corner of the corridor, Angel heard voices coming from a lighted room behind the corner. Angel turned around and motioned Dorothy to walk lightly and keep quiet. She then leaned her head out from the wall around the corner and observed the direction from which the voices came.

"Come on, can't you just have a meal? It's my treat." A frivolous young male voice sounded from the door outside the room.

"Just stop it! You're clearly in debt, and yet you still have the nerve to try and pick up girls?"

A young theater actress leaned out of the door and mercilessly scolded the young man outside the door who looked and sounded very frivolous.

"Huh! Me!? How did you know..." The frivolous man, whose sore spot was touched, answered in a state of confusion.

"The debt collectors have been chasing us backstage at the theater. You're really causing trouble for others."

.........

"Oh, what? A relationship dispute?"

Looking at the frivolous man who was loudly scolded by the young actress in the room, Dorothy, who always loved gossip, said with an interested expression.

"We're in some trouble. Those two people are on the only way to the warehouse." Angel said, glancing at the corridor leading to the warehouse where the two people were.

"Get out of the way, it's time for me to go on stage." The actress in the room ruthlessly pushed away the frivolous man who was blocking the door.

"Mary!" The frivolous man who was pushed away looked at the actress's receding back, thought about the current status of his receipts and the debts he had not yet repaid, and clenched his fists in dissatisfaction. He lowered his head to think for a while, and finally made some kind of decision and ran to a room on the other side of the corridor.

"Oh, how pitiful," said Dorothy, who was hiding in the corner and watching the gossip, with a happy expression.

"Okay, let's go, Dorothy." Seeing that the corridor in front of them was empty, Anjie decided to call Dorothy and continue to move towards the warehouse.

"okay!"

After passing through the corridor, the two came to a skylight that led directly to the underground warehouse. Angel held Dorothy's wrist with her left hand and opened the C-ball tightly held in her right hand. She climbed over the railing in front of her and jumped into the skylight. The anti-gravity field provided by the activated C-ball allowed the two to slowly descend to the bottom of the skylight, which was right on the ceiling above the warehouse.

"How long can we use this place?" A slow, middle-aged male voice came from the warehouse below.

"It can be left here for as long as you want. No one will notice it. It's just a dumping ground for waste anyway."

"Really? That's great. I won't stay long."

Angel and Dorothy used a ventilation grille on the ceiling below them to see the true face of the middle-aged man who was talking in the warehouse below.

"Hey... that person is..."

"Yes, that's the Johnson Carter in the photo." Angie nodded to Dorothy.

.........

The middle-aged man in the warehouse below inspected the warehouse and ordered the warehouse manager in front of him, "Okay, open the boxes and inspect the goods."

"Yes."

The warehouse manager in overalls opened the side cover of a huge wooden box in the warehouse, revealing the spherical body of the anti-gravity bomb.

Seeing the anti-gravity bomb in the box, the middle-aged man waiting on the side slowly walked forward and carefully touched and inspected the spherical anti-gravity bomb.

"It hits the mark..." Dorothy exclaimed as she hid on the ceiling and peeped below.

“It would be best if all three were here.”

"There are three boxes of different sizes, right?" Anjie noticed that next to the box containing the anti-gravity bomb body, there were two equally large boxes of different sizes.

"Let's double-check later," said Dorothy.

Just as the two were speculating whether the remaining two anti-gravity bombs were here, a familiar frivolous male voice suddenly came from outside the warehouse door below.

"Boss!"

"Ah, are you busy?" The frivolous man who was scolded by the actress before stood by the warehouse door, watching his two superiors discussing something in front of a strange spherical object.

"Billy! What are you doing here?" The warehouse manager, who was his superior, scolded the frivolous man called Billy mercilessly.

"Um... I wanted to advance you my salary."

"What? Be smart, I told you I'll pay the rest after we move! You..."

The warehouse manager, who was quite displeased with Billy, a frivolous man, wanted to continue scolding him, but the middle-aged man Johnson Carter next to him raised his hand to signal him to be quiet.

"No problem, little brother. Your name is Billy, right? Well, come and talk to me."

"Hehe, that's right." Billy, who has always been frivolous, showed a shifty expression.

"D reported that the location of the bomb and its control device had been found. The three stolen bombs were all there, and the suspect under investigation also appeared at the scene."

In the conference room of the Republic Intelligence Organization's control room, 7, who was the assistant to the leader L, calmly reported to the other people in the conference room.

"Vickers Steam Theater? It's hidden in such a place. The enemy is quite thoughtful about it." Dolly Shope, a fat uncle with a beer belly, said after listening to 7's report.

"Now that you know, why don't you send someone to get it back? If the control device is thoroughly studied, the Republic will lose its dominant position." The colonel sitting opposite Dollyshop, who had no patience, urged.

"It will be difficult to recover it secretly through the facilities within the kingdom. The bomb is too large and should be destroyed on the spot." 7 on the side made a more sensible suggestion.

"But the order from above is to recapture it! Not destroy it," the colonel retorted in a serious tone.

"We are very clear about the instructions from the military. Let's check the performance schedule of the theater. I will organize the team to recapture the bomb." L, who was presiding over the meeting under pressure from the orders from above, frowned and made the final decision to recapture the bomb.

"I understand." Seeing that L had made up his mind, 7, the assistant, stopped trying to dissuade him.

(To be honest, I've come up with some ideas about that idea. I probably won't make it that easy to travel faster than light. Superluminal travel is possible, but just like in reality, it requires stellar-level energy output. In other words, we need at least Type II civilization-level energy output to popularize superluminal travel technology. Civilizations below Type I can only slowly achieve interstellar colonization at subluminal speeds. I'm currently refining some technical and data details related to the Alcubierre Drive spacecraft settings.)

Chapter 55: The Smoky Steam World: I have something to update later.

I'll update later if something happens.

Chapter 56: The bomb capture operation begins (4000 words long chapter)

On the street in front of the Vickers Steam-Powered Theater, Anjie and Chise, disguised as little girls selling flowers, sat on the roadside opposite the theater, observing the situation of the theater not far away.

In a house diagonally opposite the theater, Beata and Dorothy were chatting during a break from work, watching the theater through a telescope from the third-floor window.

"Miss Dorothy, how long will this surveillance last?" Beatr took his eyes off the eyepiece of the telescope and turned to ask Dorothy who was sitting in front of another window in the room.

"This concert will end in a week and we will prepare for the next performance."

"By then, several teams will gather together to carry out the task of retrieving the bomb." Dorothy, who was sitting in front of the windowsill, said calmly with one hand supporting her cheek.

"This... won't be a problem, right?" Beat asked uneasily.

"This time, it seems the higher-ups are willing to cause trouble, Liu Pa (Nine) Wu Dad Affairs Jun... Sheep, just to get the bomb back."

"Miss Dorothy, you don't have to go, right?" Beat asked worriedly.

"Well..." Just as Dorothy was hesitating about how to answer Beatrice in front of her, there was a knock on the door of the room.

Dorothy signaled Beata to be quiet, and she walked to the table, picked up the loaded revolver on the table, and walked to the door, pointing the revolver at the door. If any accident happened, she could shoot outside the door at any time.

"Who is it?" Dorothy asked the person who knocked at the door.

"Wedgwood Insurance Company." The male voice outside the door answered.

"My husband is not home now." Dorothy exchanged the code words with the person knocking on the door.

"Well, can you let us go in and wait?" After the two people knocking on the door said the last corresponding code, Dorothy opened the door with confidence and winked at the two colleagues who came to replace the shift standing outside, indicating them to come in.

"It's time to change shifts." Dorothy reminded Beata, who was still sitting next to the telescope by the window in the room.

"Yes... yes," Beat answered stutteringly as he looked at the unfamiliar colleague who came to take over his shift.

In the palace, Prince Edward, who had just presided over an important political ceremony, slumped tiredly on the sofa in the lounge and let out a long sigh.

"Your Highness, the next step is 30 minutes later..."

The Duke of Normandy stood in front of the sofa with his hands behind his back and a stern face, reminding Edward in front of him.

"I understand... Next up is a speech at the Sailors' Association and an awarding ceremony, and dinner with the Prince of Zanzibar in the evening." Edward waved his hand, signaling the Duke of Normandy not to remind him.

"Richard's assassination has caused some unrest in the country, and the current situation doesn't allow me to complain."

"Perhaps the speech to the Crew Association can be handed over to Mary." The Duke of Normandy in front of Edward suggested expressionlessly.

"No, let her start adapting from the ceremony on the ship three days later. This time, let's follow the plan and I will handle it." Edward said to the Duke of Normandy standing in front of him while taking the hot tea handed by the waiter.

"After all, compared with your uncle's studies and work on imperial power, what I do cannot be considered hard at all." Edward took a sip of hot tea and said to the Duke of Normandy in front of him with a tone of great admiration.

"Thanks to your tenacity, Edward. See you in 30 minutes." The Duke of Normandy also praised Prince Edward in front of him, turned around neatly and walked towards the door of the room.

"Yeah." Edward agreed while enjoying his few moments of rest.

.........

In the Queen's bedroom in the palace, the Queen, leaning on the hospital bed, was having a cordial conversation with her grandson Richard who came to visit her.

"I'm so sorry, your condition is obviously worse." The Queen said, looking at Richard's arm and shoulder that were still bandaged.

"It's nothing at all, just a pain in my shoulder. You should take care of yourself, grandma." Richard replied to the queen with a smile.

"I've been full of energy recently, maybe because I saw you." The white-haired queen leaned on the hospital bed and said with a kind smile.

"That's good. It's worth it for me to return home this time." Seeing the smile on his grandmother's face on the bed, Richard replied happily.

"Actually... I didn't want to send you to the New World at first." The queen on the hospital bed reached out and slowly held Richard's left hand beside the bed and said in an apologetic tone.

"There's nothing I can do. This is my uncle's decision. You don't have to worry about it."

"Come to think of it, I invited Charlotte to the dinner party, and it's a bit awkward for her to have to take on all these hassles."

"After all, these are extraordinary times. I think she will understand." The queen sighed on the hospital bed.

"As my uncle said, what happened to me...I'm afraid it won't end here. As of now, we still don't know who the murderer is. Maybe he'll target someone else."

Hearing her grandson's words, the Queen on the hospital bed showed worry and comforted Richard beside the bed: "That's William's job, you don't have to worry about it."

"Don't worry, grandmother. I have the army to pacify the New World." Richard said in an optimistic tone, but then immediately changed the subject and continued with the next sentence in a serious and sharp tone.

"If anyone dares to harm this country and my family, I will not hesitate to use the army." Richard said in a cold tone.

Looking at her grandson who showed a hint of murderous intent, the queen's face became even more worried.

“It’s really stressful.”

"Ah."

Charlotte and Beata, who had just had an important political meeting, were walking in a corridor of the palace, lamenting the political meeting that had just ended.

"Your Highness Charlotte!" Suddenly, a familiar female voice came from behind and called out to Charlotte and Beata who were walking in the corridor.

Charlotte turned around and saw her sister Mary's personal maid, Olivia, standing at a fork in the corridor, looking at her with a hesitant expression.

.........

After some communication

"You mean Mary?"

"Yes..." Olivia replied slowly.

"Ever since what happened with His Royal Highness Richard, Her Royal Highness Mary has become even more depressed than before. Recently, she has been burdened with many complicated official duties that she needs to handle alone. I can't even be by her side."

"So I hope Your Highness Princess can help Her Highness Mary!" Olivia asked Charlotte in front of her very sincerely.

…………

Twenty minutes later, the Indian secretary of the Duke of Normandy looked at Charlotte with a questioning expression.

"Are you saying... that we're going to the important ceremony tomorrow on the royal cruise ship?"

"I don't have any other plans anyway, so I want to attend the ceremony too." Charlotte smiled and replied to the secretary who was taking notes in front of her.

"How is it, is it okay?" Charlotte smiled and tilted her head to ask Mary who was sitting on the sofa behind the secretary.

"Okay... okay." Mary, who was sitting on the sofa with a reserved look on her face, stood up from the sofa happily and answered after hearing Charlotte's question.

"Okay, I understand." Hearing Princess Mary behind her agree to Charlotte's request, the female secretary skillfully recorded it in her notebook.

"The number of security personnel on board will be increased accordingly tomorrow. Let me explain the process of the ceremony on board. Please take a seat." The female secretary put down the notebook in her hand, opened the chair beside her, and began to explain the relevant procedures of tomorrow's ceremony to Charlotte.

At night, in Charlotte's bedroom, Anjie sat on the table, watching her lover change into pajamas in front of her and tell her what happened during the day.

"So you made a last-minute decision to attend the ceremony on the royal cruise ship?" Angel asked gently as she looked at Charlotte, who had changed into pajamas and was sitting on the bed.