Chapter 40: Infinity and Eternity
Thus, the London train wore two faces.
Throughout the week, the train bustled with suburban workers being ferried into London. Poor laborers were packed into the iron beast without room to even stand properly, treated worse than livestock as they were shuttled to factories and workplaces.
Unable to secure lodgings in London, they spent their nights in cheap shelters with nothing but a roof and bench, waiting for daybreak. After toiling until the Sabbath, they would carefully pocket their meager earnings as if they were precious jewels and board the train home. Then, when the next week arrived, they would return to London on the dawn train once more.
Though these two faces appeared different, they shared the same essence—neither could escape London’s grip.
London was always there at the beginning and the end.
London is truly a city that has achieved infinity.
—Clack-clack, clack-clack…
The train rumbled beneath the black sky. Pale steam billowed from the chimney, dispersing behind us, each wisp of vapor twinkling like distant stars.
On the red wasteland stretching to either side, gusts of wind would raise dust clouds several meters high, rising and falling in rhythmic patterns. It was as if an invisible giant were playing with the earth.