Deep Sea Embers - Chapter 158

[Chapter 158 The Captain’s Big Purchase]

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 on it 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 he thought wildly After a while, he focused on the end of the form—after remembering the short string of 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.”

Wonderful 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 kind of new machine can improve the processing efficiency of the head office by more than several times…” “

It’s called a large difference machine–Moco’s City-State Bank has long used it, and there is actually one in Puland City, the Tax Bureau and the Institute of Mathematics. There are a few smaller ones nearby, even in the cathedral, and I heard they are used to manage files.” The clerk sitting opposite Duncan picked up the topic casually, “If you want me to say, the head office just remembered this matter now, It’s already dull enough.”

“That’s nothing to do with us,” another clerk who had nothing to do joined in the chat, “That thing is expensive and heavy, including the steam core and The supporting punching machine, analysis machine, and a set of difference machines can fill the entire hall…” “

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

“Electric power? No steam core? What if the machine is bewitched when it is running? That thing needs to continuously calculate a large amount of data. Without sacred steam protection, it is too easy to attract evil spirits in the bearings and gear sets?” “Where am I?

” I 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, but takes up an extra priest …”

“Hey, how much space is occupied by a priest, how much space is occupied by half a differential engine, and how expensive the housing prices in the city center are…” It seems that

no matter which world they are in, people’s gossip is the same when they are fishing at work Not far from north to south, the topic of several bank clerks quickly shifted from the difference machine to the housing prices of the city-state, but on the other hand, what they were chatting about was so interesting to Duncan—he was fascinated by it , and even forget the boredom of waiting.

But the chat didn’t last long, and 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 only 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 that 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. His eyes looked at the fine holes, and on the bank counter, he found a 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 regained consciousness, 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 the machine really be possessed by evil spirits?”

“Of course it will, 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, “There is nothing in this world except subspace , Everything can be polluted, isn’t this common sense?”

Duncan was startled, 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 the subspace.”

Then he 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…

Around four o’clock in the afternoon, in the shadow of an alley near the cross street, Duncan “bang” the last Putting the bag on the ground, he 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!” A

splashing sound came from 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 in surprise: “Aren’t you entertaining yourself!” Before the

words fell, the bird tilted its body and fell directly to the ground—even though Duncan hadn’t given up yet. What does it do, but this guy has clearly realized his 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…” (End of this

chapter)