novelraw Chapter 150: Return to Belfast
Chapter 150: Return to Belfast
The Allen Peninsula Herald
[Hurricane Strikes the Allen Peninsula! Belfast Flooded!]
Valsen Gazette
[Sudden Hurricane—A Harbinger of More Calamities?]
Daily News
[The Kodasserlsen Vanishes Near the Isle of Gaze!]
Aside from the Daily News, the other two major newspapers of the Allen Peninsula had plastered news of the hurricane across their front pages.
Even in Tenebrae, located 200 miles inland, the hurricane's effects had been palpable. One could only imagine the devastation it had wrought upon the coastal city of Belfast.
The last headline caught Lu Li’s attention more than the first two, due to a strange coincidence: just hours earlier, during the storm, he had seen a ship in the sky, sailing against the hurricane's fury.
Lu Li knew of the Kodasserlsen. Reading the papers every day, he was aware that the colossal vessel had embarked on its maiden voyage three days ago. Because of its striking resemblance to the Titanic from his world and its identical "unsinkable" slogan, Lu Li had paid it special attention.As it turned out, the fate of ships called eternal and unsinkable was rarely a happy one.
[The Kodasserlsen lost contact last night... While passing the Isle of Gaze off the coast of the Fallow Lands, the ship suddenly ceased all communication... Onboard were 1,871 passengers and 426 crew members. The chairman of the Royal Hodgkin Sailing Company and Count Levius were also among the missing... The Kodasserlsen was equipped with the most advanced communication system, making its sudden disappearance seem incredible... According to experts, the cause of its vanishing may be linked to its increased speed. The journey to Belfast was originally planned to take 23 days but was shortened to 15... The Queen of the Lennon Archipelago and the Royal Hodgkin Sailing Company are in negotiations with the Fallow Lands, attempting to determine the ship's fate...]
Next to the text was a black-and-white photograph taken on the day of its departure. The massive ship, over 200 meters in length, was a world apart from the old vessel Lu Li had seen on that rainy night.
The Daily News had dedicated an entire page to the disappearance of the Kodasserlsen. The second page detailed the hurricane that had struck the Allen Peninsula.
Lu Li first examined the photograph. It was an aerial shot of Belfast, taken from Sugard Mountain. The city's famous, neatly arranged streets stretched downward, with Port Roadster visible in the distance, most of its fishing vessels already having fled. Farther out, a vast, dark cloud loomed over the sea.
(Before the hurricane)
The caption in parentheses under the photo indicated when it was taken.
The morning papers were printed the previous evening, while the hurricane was still raging over Belfast. The news reports didn't detail the specific consequences, offering only general information and eyewitness accounts.
The hurricane had struck suddenly. By the time it was spotted, it was less than 50 nautical miles from Belfast. Before that, there had been no signs of an impending storm or any official warnings.
Belfast boasted an advantageous geographical location. Over the past century, only three hurricanes had been recorded, all of them striking the city after traveling across the mainland. A direct hit from the sea was unprecedented.
According to the general reports, the first to be hit were the fishing boats that hadn't made it back to port, followed by Port Roadster itself. Fortunately, the relatively low wind speeds had not caused serious damage to buildings, allowing residents to take shelter in their homes and reducing the number of casualties.
But only to a degree...
The fishing vessels that had set out in the morning were caught in the hurricane, and most of them had not returned by nightfall.
By the time the paper went to print, only a few ships—either the larger ones or those that hadn't sailed far—had made it back to port.
Reading this, Lu Li grew pensive.
Missing ships, a ship in the hurricane... It all seemed to fit.
Only the direction was off. The vessel he had seen was sailing from the mainland toward Belfast.
The other two newspapers offered nearly identical information. Their second pages were also dedicated to the disappearance of the Kodasserlsen.
The Allen Peninsula Herald featured more eyewitness accounts, describing how the residents of Belfast had weathered the hurricane.
“...We were all huddled in the church. Lightning flashed outside the windows, and the wind howled like an enraged demon. The church windows shattered, and people screamed, cowering in the corners, trembling in fear. Then a nun led us down to the cellar...”
“...Everyone poured into the street, staring dumbfounded at the terrifying cloud rolling in from the sea. It looked like the end of the world. I thought I was done for, so I ran to hug my wife and tell her I loved her.”
“...It wasn't as bad as I'd feared. My house is made of wood, and it’s a miracle the roof wasn't torn off. The floor just got soaked through. The rain was pouring down in sheets, and the wind wouldn't let the water drain out of the house...”
It seemed Belfast hadn't suffered as much as one might have thought.
The low wind speeds had saved the city from annihilation. The only victims were the unfortunate souls who hadn't managed to find shelter before the storm hit.
The rustle of newsprint.
Lu Li set the papers aside and immediately heard Anna's distressed voice. “I thought Belfast was safe...”
She was worried about the detective agency.
“The sculpture at the agency will take care of everything,” Lu Li said, unafraid of returning to find a pile of ruins.
The sculpture disliked moving, but that didn't mean it couldn't. When necessary, it would act.
“Mm,” Anna nodded, though she still looked downcast.
After reading the rest of the papers, Lu Li took a bite of his cold bread.
The bread from Mrs. Filin's bakery, made with the same finely milled flour, was far more delicious than anything in Tenebrae.
By noon, the downpour had eased into a moderate rain, and it remained that way for the rest of the day.
Lu Li glanced at the sky. Through the dense curtain of rain, he could still perceive the Bloody Tentacles, even from hundreds of kilometers away.
Of the eight tentacles, one had entered his mind and vanished, while he had destroyed three himself. The remaining four stretched down from the depths of the clouds: three reached toward the mainland, and the last extended toward the mountains, behind which lay Belfast and the leaden waters of the ocean.
Lu Li hoped Richard wouldn't keep him waiting too long.
The journey was long and tedious. There were rumors that steam trains were already being tested, but the Allen Peninsula still lacked a railway system. Under these conditions, a 200-kilometer trip meant a full day of travel without a single stop.
Toward evening, less than an hour before sunset, the carriage finally returned to a hurricane-battered Belfast.
The horse's hooves clopped on the cobblestones. The streets were as noisy as ever, but now the clamor was dominated by cries and weeping.
In the rain, residents helped one another clear the rubble of collapsed homes and remove debris from the streets. Nuns and medics were tending to the wounded.
Belfast had not suffered as severely as the newspapers had suggested.
But many had died in the hurricane.
Perhaps, in time, these wounds would heal.
That is, if no new disasters struck.