novelraw Chapter 316: Ferment
Chapter 316: Ferment
At four in the afternoon, the Jones brothers emerged from the cave.
Stones and earth were piled neatly by the entrance. Lu Li planned to use them later.
Since they would be continuing their work the next day, the brothers left their tools—pickaxes, baskets, and the like—inside the cave. They wiped the sweat from their brows with makeshift towels fashioned from old clothes and climbed back into the carriage.
The work was progressing well. The main excavation into the rock face was nearly complete, but the cellar was proving more difficult. Only one person could dig in the narrow shaft at a time, and its depth had not yet reached a full meter. However, once the shaft was finished, they could begin widening the cellar space, and the work would speed up considerably.
They still had another full day, so there was plenty of time.
As the Jones brothers settled into the carriage for the ride back to Belfast, the eldest brother sensed something was off.
The feeling didn't come from the oppressive atmosphere of the forest, but from Lu Li, who was driving the horses.
Even the eldest brother, who had spent relatively little time with Lu Li, noticed the change. Anna, of course, felt it far more keenly.
In the month and more they had spent together, she had learned to perceive the subtlest shifts in Lu Li's mood. He had, for instance, been gradually becoming more like an ordinary person. Though he remained quiet and reserved, he no longer regarded the world with the same guarded wariness as before.
As if he were an outsider looking in.But now, that indifference and wariness had returned.
"Did something happen...?" Anna asked quietly, a sense of unease creeping into her voice.
Lu Li didn't answer, merely tapping a finger on the newspaper lying beside him.
Anna followed his gaze to the paper. The carriage jolted along, the light from the oil lamp flickering, but she could still make out the headline.
"They actually..."
Anna, accustomed to relying on Lu Li, wasn't fond of overthinking things, but that didn't mean she was incapable of it. Especially now, after spending so much time by his side, she had unwittingly adopted some of his ways of thinking.
She understood the implications of such a story appearing in the newspaper.
"How could they...?" Anna whispered.
The Jones brothers were dozing, leaning against the back of the carriage. It had been a long, hard day.
"Perhaps something even more serious has happened, something we don't know about," Lu Li said calmly, his eyes fixed on the bumpy, muddy road ahead. "Something that forced them to reveal a part of the truth."
The tip of the iceberg.
The most unsettling part of the situation wasn't the news itself, but the reason for its release. The Council of Elders would never allow the papers to publish something that could incite widespread panic.
Perhaps that terrible, faceless giant from Zenster had struck again. Or maybe something else had happened—perhaps the reason for the loss of contact with the Fallow Lands had finally been discovered.
"We were already moving so quickly..." Anna said softly.
They truly hadn't wasted any time. In the two months they had been here, they had accomplished a great deal.
Their haste might have seemed like paranoia, but reality always outpaced their plans.
Fortunately, while they weren't completely prepared, the bulk of their preparations was finished.
...
Around five in the evening, the carriage emerged from the gloomy Elm Forest and onto Elm Street.
The contaminated houses had been demolished. Only ruins remained, which workers were hauling away in carts. A crowd of residents had gathered, watching as members of the Alliance sifted through the debris.
They whispered among themselves, their faces etched with anxiety.
The deeper the carriage traveled into Belfast, the more people they saw crowding the streets. They were all talking, and every face wore a look of anxiety and fear. The noise grew louder.
The loss of contact with the Fallow Lands hadn't caused this much alarm. Most people considered that continent a wild, unsettled place.
Besides, the Fallow Lands were too far away; almost no one from around here had ever been there.
But Zenster was on the Allen Peninsula, only three hundred kilometers to the northwest, and now it was confirmed that the city had been attacked by a monster, with almost no survivors.
And it had been a port city with a population of over one hundred thousand people!
Somewhere in the streets, the sound of sobbing could be heard—someone who had lost family in Zenster.
Lu Li understood that this was only the beginning.
The beginning for the people, and for the monsters.
In time, monsters would appear more and more frequently, attacking cities. And the fear and anxiety of the people would inevitably lead to the collapse of the established order.
One could foresee chaos descending on the city in the near future. Price gouging and lawlessness were only the most obvious consequences.
All one could do was hope the Council of Elders could maintain control of the situation.
The Jones brothers began to stir, roused by the noise and shouting in the streets.
"What's happened in the city?" the eldest brother asked.
"The newspapers will tell you everything," Lu Li replied, unwilling to get into a long explanation. It would take too much time and would certainly lead to more questions.
The eldest brother reined in his curiosity and asked nothing more, simply watching the streets with his brothers.
A short while later, the carriage stopped at their house. The Jones brothers got out, and the eldest paused by the carriage to say, "I'll go get that person you were looking for."
He hadn't forgotten Lu Li's request.
"I'll go with you," Lu Li said, stepping out of the carriage with an umbrella.
"Alright," the eldest brother replied, leading Lu Li toward a dilapidated wooden house nearby.
The house was squeezed between two other buildings and seemed tiny, especially on the inside, where every available space was crammed with parts, tools, junk, and trash.
The only clear spaces were the bed and a narrow path to the door.
The old man the eldest brother had recommended was rummaging through a heap of junk, an alarm clock in hand, trying to find a suitable part.
The eldest brother introduced Lu Li to the old man, then said to Lu Li, "He can make anything."
Lu Li didn't comment on the claim.
His mission accomplished, the eldest brother left the house, leaving Lu Li alone with the old man.
Unable to find the part he needed, the old man set the alarm clock down on a cluttered table and asked Lu Li what he wanted.
Lu Li explained that he needed a device for distilling seawater.
"Evaporating seawater?"
The technology for distillation certainly existed in this world, but it was typically only used by haughty aristocrats.
Though the old man was surprised, he still replied, "Of course, I can. What kind do you need?"
"One that fits in a fireplace. Sturdy and reliable."
The old man thought for a moment, then nodded. "Come back in three days. Since Big Jones brought you, you don't need to pay a deposit."
"I need it urgently."
"When?"
"Tomorrow."
The old man frowned, but before he could say anything, Lu Li added, "I'll pay double."
"It'll be ready tomorrow morning," the old man replied.
Lu Li nodded and left the house.
Having settled the matter of the water supply, Lu Li returned the carriage to the rental stable and headed for the detective agency.
An unexpected visitor was waiting for him there.