It was a harsh winter up north. It got dark early, but there were at least pockets of time where the sun still shone brightly. 31 December. Yiershi Town was blessed with radiant sunshine today, ushering a beautiful day in the snow-capped winter.

The warmth of the sunbeams drove away some harshness of the cold winter. Its remote location meant that Yiershi Town wasn’t a fast-developing place. However, the fact that they were located near the customs also meant that they weren’t too bad either. At the very least, one could see the emergence of some European-style buildings, including clock towers, interspersed between the more typical Cathayan buildings.

The azure skies were pure and pristine, and they acted as the perfect backdrop to accentuate the red-brick facade of European buildings around. Few cars chugged along the main roads of the town. In fact, one could oftentimes see more farming vehicles and motorcycles shuttling about rather than regular cars. And it was precisely because of the state of normalcy that the silver BMW hurtling down the avenue attracted the curious attention of several passers-by.

The car drove all the way out of the state highway, and for another ten minutes, before another tall building appeared right in the middle of the snow-covered tundras.

The surroundings had clearly been artificially flattened out. The building wasn’t...