Deep Sea Embers

Duncan was telling the truth—after saying goodbye to Shirley, he actually went to the store near the cross block to buy a bicycle for Nina.

By the way, do something that was planned long ago, but has been delayed until today due to various delays: open an account for yourself in the bank.

In the Pratt City-State Bank, Duncan was waiting for the clerk at the front desk to prepare the last form for him. The waiting process was boring, so he focused his attention on observing the surrounding environment.

Perhaps it was because it was not a day off, and there were not many citizens in the upper and lower urban areas who needed to handle banking business. The small bank lobby seemed quite deserted, and three of the five service windows were idle. The staff in black uniforms were chatting behind those unoccupied windows, and the bright electric light shone on the glass of the counter, giving off a lazy halo.

Duncan moved his gaze upwards, and saw long cast iron pipes stretching out near the counters. The pipes went straight to the ceiling like tiny pillars, and were neatly arranged in the sky, extending to somewhere behind the hall, a low and rhythmic sound The clicking sound came from the floor under his feet, as if some kind of mechanical device was operating underground.

The clerk who prepared the form finally confirmed the last item. She handed the form to Duncan and said routinely: "After confirming that it is correct, sign at the end, with your account and seal on it. Anonymous accounts are required The handling fee is 6 sola and 5 pesos."

Duncan took the form, looked at the content curiously, and spontaneously came up with many conjectures about the civilization and economic system of the world's city-states, but he is not an expert in this field, so after thinking wildly for a while, he focused on At the end of the form—after memorizing the short numbers above, he signed his name and handed the form and the handling fee to the opposite side.

The clerk took the form, glanced at it casually, and placed it on a punching machine. With a brisk click, the punching machine punched a large dazzling array of holes in the blank frame on the edge of the form, and then The paper was rolled up by the clerk, stuffed into a metal cylinder, and dropped into a pipe next to the counter.

The sound of metal colliding, followed by the closing of the pipes, the hiss of steam pressurization, and the sound of objects sliding rapidly through the pipes reached Duncan. One of the bent pipes trembled slightly—the document was sent somewhere far away.

"Wait for a while," the clerk behind the counter said casually, "If there is no fault in the pipeline today, and the machine on the opposite side happens to be in good condition, you can get the receipt within half an hour—but if the fault light next to it is on , then you have to come back tomorrow.”

Fantastic process.

For Duncan, all of this is not very efficient, but for this world, this is already the advanced achievement of the city-state civilization after the advent of the deep sea era.

He looked at all this with curiosity and emotion, and at the same time heard the conversation between the clerks—the young man behind the counter next to him was sighing: "I heard that the Institute of Truth is in contact with the head office, saying that they want to install a What new machine can increase the processing efficiency of the head office several times..."

"It's called a large difference engine - Moco's city-state bank has long used it, and there are actually a few smaller ones in the city of Puland. There are a few smaller ones at the tax bureau and the Institute of Mathematics, and there are also in the cathedral. I heard it is It’s used to manage files,” the clerk sitting across from Duncan picked up the topic casually, “If you ask me, the head office just remembered this matter now, which is enough to be slow.”

"That has nothing to do with us," another clerk with nothing to do joined in the chat, "That thing is expensive and bulky, including the steam core as the power source and the supporting punching machine and analysis machine, A set of differential machines can fill the entire hall..."

"It is said that the Academy of Truth is also organizing manpower to research the next-generation difference engine? It seems that the size can be reduced by half, and the performance is almost the same as the current mainframe, and it is powered by electricity..."

"Electricity? No steam core? What if the machine is bewitched by an evil spirit while it is running? That thing needs to continuously calculate a large amount of data. Without the protection of sacred steam, the bearings and gear sets are too easy to attract evil spirits, right?"

"I don't know... Maybe there is a priest standing next to the machine. While the machine is counting, the priest is lighting incense to give the machine Mass..."

"...Then it feels like miniaturization doesn't save much trouble, instead it takes up an extra priest..."

"Hey, how much space is occupied by the pastor, how much space is occupied by half a difference engine, how expensive is the housing price in the city center..."

It seems that no matter which world they are in, people's gossip is the same when they are fishing at work. The content of the small talk was so strange and interesting to Duncan - he was so fascinated by it that he even forgot the boredom of waiting.

But the small talk didn't last long. With the bang sound coming from a nearby transmission pipe, everyone's topic of "which one is more expensive, the house price or the priest", was finally interrupted.

The clerk opposite Duncan opened the copper pipe next to the counter, and took out the small metal tube inside—this small metal tube was obviously not the same model as the one sent away before, it looked thicker, and the seal had a complicated locking structure, The clerk fiddled with a special tool for a long time before it opened the lid and took out the contents.

It was a rectangular metal plate half the size of a palm, with letters and symbols stamped on it, and holes of different sizes randomly arranged on the edge. The string of numbers Duncan just memorized was printed on one end of the metal plate .

"This is your signature card," the clerk handed the metal plate to Duncan, "it can be used in any bank in the city-state of Pland, or in the banks of the Boundless Sea Chamber of Commerce in other city-states-but the deposit and withdrawal business in other city-states There will be a delay of three to seven days, which is the time for trans-sea telegrams or spirit communications."

"Thank you." Duncan took the metal plate and looked curiously at this creation that seemed to represent the technological level of the city-state civilization. A machine that reads this metal plate.

These technological creations, which are completely different from those on the earth, but also represent the wisdom of the world, are the "footprints" of the city-state civilization in the deep sea age all the way to today.

"Is there anything else you can do?" came a questioning voice from behind the counter.

"Ah...not anymore, thank you," Duncan woke up, he showed a smile, and got up from the chair, but before he left, he seemed to suddenly think of something, so he couldn't help but stop and asked casually, "By the way... Can machines really be possessed by evil spirits?"

"Of course, what's so strange about it?" The clerk behind the counter immediately replied, as if it was a question that didn't need to be considered by her at all, "Everything in this world can be polluted except for the subspace. Isn't it common sense?"

Duncan was stunned. He was just asking casually, but the other party's answer touched his thoughts for some reason, and made him feel a glimmer of light somewhere in his heart.

After a while, he nodded lightly: "...Indeed, everything in this world can be polluted except subspace."

He then left the bank.

According to the plan, he still has a big purchase to make today - besides buying a bicycle for Nina, there are also a lot of things on his purchase list that can scare Nina into a mess.

The income from selling the dagger to Mr. Morris before, plus the bonus for reporting the cultists, add up to enough to support a family of three living comfortably in the lower city for a year or two, and most of the money is now Still untouched, Duncan decided it was time to put them to use.

So in the next half day, Duncan almost swept through the markets and shops near the cross street...

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, in the shadow of an alley near Cross Street, Duncan put the last package of things on the ground with a bang, and let out a long sigh of relief.

He looked at the pile of things piled up in front of him with satisfaction.

Flour, vegetables, seeds, spices, fresh meats, marinated ingredients, various dried mushrooms, wine - and cheese.

Edible, normal, cheese younger than him.

There's even a whole bunch of pots and pans and a lot of stuff that "Duncan thought might be useful".

Transport these things to the ship, and the living environment of the Lost Homeland will definitely undergo earth-shaking changes.

At the very least, food for people can be produced stably in the kitchen.

Duncan nodded in satisfaction, and greeted casually: "Ai!"

The sound of splashing came from the sky above the nearby buildings, and Ai landed firmly on his shoulder.

The next second, the pigeon took a look at the things on the ground and exclaimed, "Aren't you entertaining yourself!"

Before the words were finished, the bird tilted its body and fell directly to the ground—although Duncan hadn't said what to make it do, the bird was clearly aware of its situation wittily.

Duncan just smiled, and caught the free-falling pigeon in mid-air: "It's okay, I can't go back once, you can do it a few more times..."