Deep Sea Embers

Duncan was telling the truth. As soon as he said goodbye to Shirley, he actually ran to the store near the cross street to buy a bicycle for Nina.

By the way, I did something that I had planned for a long time but had been postponed until today due to various delays. Open a bank account for yourself.

In the Prudential City 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 on observing the surrounding environment.

Perhaps because it is not a holiday, and because there are not many citizens in Xiacheng District who need to handle banking business, the small bank hall itself seems quite deserted. Three of the five service windows are idle. Staff in black uniforms chatted behind the unused windows, and the bright light of the electric lights shone on the glass of the counter, giving it a lazy halo.

Duncan's eyes moved up and he saw long cast iron pipes extending near the counters. The pipes went straight to the ceiling like small pillars and were neatly arranged in the sky. They extended to somewhere behind the hall. A low and rhythmic sound. A clicking sound came from the floor beneath my feet, as if some kind of mechanical device was running underground.

The clerk who prepared the form finally confirmed the last item. She handed the form to Duncan and said in a routine: "After confirming that it is correct, sign at the end. It has your account number and seal pattern on it. It is required for bearer accounts. The handling fee is 6 solas and 5 pesos.”

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

The clerk took the form, glanced at it casually, and placed it on a punching machine. With a brisk clicking sound, the punching machine punched a large dazzling hole in the blank box on the edge of the form, and then The clerk rolled up the paper, stuffed it into a metal tube, and put it into a pipe next to the counter.

The sound of metal colliding came, and then the pipe closed. The hiss of pressurized steam and the sound of objects sliding rapidly in the pipe reached Duncan's ears. His eyes followed the sound and moved up to see those connected to the ceiling. One of the bent pipes trembled slightly - and the document was sent to some distant place.

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

Fantastic process.

To Duncan, none of this is very efficient, but to this world, this is already the advanced result of the city-state civilization's efforts to develop since the advent of the Deep Sea Age.

He watched all this with curiosity and emotion, and at the same time heard the chatter among 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 and said that they are going to install a What new machine can increase the processing efficiency of the head office several times?"

"That's called a large difference engine - the city-state bank in Moco has long used it. There are actually some in Pland City. There are a few smaller ones at the tax bureau and the Institute of Mathematics. There are also some in the cathedral. I heard they are "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 quite slow."

"That has nothing to do with us," another clerk who had nothing to do joined the chat. "That thing is expensive and bulky. Counting the steam core used as a power source and the supporting punching machine and analysis machine, A differential engine could fill this entire hall..."

"It is said that the Institute of Truth is also organizing manpower to study the next generation difference engine? It seems that the size can be half smaller, the performance is almost the same as the current mainframe, and it is driven by electricity."

"Electricity? No steam core? What if the machine is possessed by evil spirits while it is running? That thing needs to constantly calculate a large amount of data. Without the protection of sacred steam, it would be too easy for evil spirits to be attracted to the bearings and gear sets, 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 and saying Mass to the machine..."

"·Then it feels like miniaturization doesn't save anything. Instead, it takes up one more clergyman."

"Hey, how much space does a pastor take? How much space does half a difference engine take? How expensive are the housing prices in the city center..."

It seems that no matter which world they are in, people's small talk when they are fishing at work is always the same. The topic of several bank clerks quickly moved from the differential engine to the housing prices in the city-state. But on the other hand, what they all The content of the chat was so strange and interesting to Duncan that he was so fascinated by it that he even forgot about the boredom of waiting.

But the chat didn't last long. With a clang coming from a nearby transmission pipe, everyone's conversation about "Which is more expensive, house prices or pastors?" 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 seemed thicker and had a complicated locking structure at the seal. The clerk fiddled with a special tool for a long time before opening its lid and taking out the contents.

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

"This is your seal card." The clerk handed the metal plate to Duncan. "It can be used in any bank in the city-state of Puland, or the Bank of the Infinite Sea Chamber of Commerce in other city-states. However, the deposit and withdrawal services in other city-states can be used. There will be a delay of three to seven days, which is the time for cross-ocean telegrams or spiritual communications.”

"Thank you." Duncan took the metal plate and looked at it curiously, which seemed to represent the technological level of the city-state's civilization. His eyes were looking at the fine holes, and on the bank counter, he found something for A machine that reads this metal plate.

These technological creations are completely different from those on earth, but they also represent the wisdom of the world. They are the "footprints" of the city-state civilization in the Deep Sea Age all the way to today.

"Do you have anything else?" A voice asked from behind the counter.

"Ah... no, thank you," Duncan woke up, showed a smile, and stood up from the chair, but before leaving, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and couldn't help but stop and asked casually, "Speaking of... ····Can machines really be possessed by evil spirits?”

"Of course, what's so strange about this?" the clerk behind the counter immediately replied, as if this was a problem that she didn't need to consider at all, "Except for subspace, everything in this world can be contaminated. Isn’t it common sense?”

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

After a moment, he nodded slightly: "...Indeed, everything in this world can be contaminated except subspace."

He then left the bank.

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

The income from the dagger sold to Mr. Morris, plus the reward for reporting cultists, is enough to support a family of three in the lower city for a year or two, and now most of the money is They hadn't been touched yet, so Duncan decided it was time to put them to use.

So in the next half day, Duncan swept through the markets and shops near the cross block almost like a sweep.

Around four o'clock in the afternoon, in the shadow of an alley near Cross Street, Duncan placed the last package on the ground with a clang and let out a long sigh of relief.

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

flour. Vegetables, seeds, spices, fresh meats, pickled ingredients, various dry goods and fungi, wine and cheese.

Edible, normal cheese for someone younger than him.

There was even a pile of pots and pans and lots of other things that "Duncan thought might be useful." Transporting these things to the ship will definitely change the living environment of the Lost Home.

At the very least, the kitchen can steadily produce food for people.

Duncan nodded with satisfaction and greeted casually: "Ai Yi!"

A thumping sound came from the nearby building, and Ai landed firmly on his shoulder.

The next second, the pigeon glanced at the things on the ground, and suddenly exclaimed: "You are trying to amuse yourself!"

Before he finished speaking, the bird tilted its body and fell directly to the ground - although Duncan hadn't said what it was going to do, it was obvious that the bird had wisely realized its situation.

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