The city under curfew was not suitable for exploring, so Duncan stayed in the antique shop all night - the excitement of stepping on land drove him to explore the entire building tirelessly.
It is true that the original owner of this body was a cultist, but at the same time he was also an ordinary person who needed a normal social life. He needed the conveniences provided by modern civilization to sustain his survival, needed to communicate with others, and needed various daily necessities.
Need to deal with the entire city.
All of this will leave a lot of clues, allowing Duncan to roughly infer the way of survival in the Plande city-state, as well as the approximate technological level and people's livelihood of this era even when the memory fragments are vague.
He found a small amount of cash in the secret compartment behind the counter on the first floor, including a handful of coins and a few blue and green coins of varying denominations. This was legal tender in most city-states, jointly certified and issued by the city-state governors and the Infinite Sea Chamber of Commerce. The main unit of currency was called "Sola", and "Peso", which was worth one-tenth of the main currency, was issued as a subsidiary currency. The total amount of cash Duncan found was only over 200 Solas, and according to the information he remembered, this amount of money was enough for a family of three to survive in the Lower City for about a month.
It seems that even though the business in the shop was bleak and most of the property was donated to the church, the original owner of this body still maintained a basic standard of living - this shows that this "antique shop" still has its own stable customer base.
The first floor of the entire store has only two parts. Two-thirds of the area is the shop front in front of the stairs, and the remaining one-third is the "warehouse" behind the small door on the stairs. There is another door behind the warehouse, which is the back door of the entire building, and should also be the entrance and exit for purchasing goods.
The structure of the second floor of the store is a bit more complicated. In addition to a bathroom, there are two rooms, one large and one small, and a plumbing room shared with the adjacent building. The large and small rooms are located on both sides of the stairs on the second floor and are kept relatively clean.
In addition, there is a small kitchen on the second floor, but it looks like it was last used at least half a month ago, and everything is covered with a layer of dust.
After checking everything, Duncan returned to the master bedroom on the second floor. He looked at this room which was even smaller than his bachelor apartment and his eyes fell on the small cabinet next to the bed.
There was a photo frame there, and inside it... was a black and white photo.
The photo shows a family of three, including a young couple in simple attire, with a little girl who looks only four or five years old. They are standing in front of a courtyard setting with obvious artificial traces, looking at the camera with a faint smile on their faces.
Duncan came to the photo frame, picked it up and looked at it carefully, constantly matching it with the vague and messy clues in his memory.
The original owner of this body...is not in the photo.
The person in this photo seems to be a relative of this body... a very close one.
While looking at the young couple, Duncan seemed to feel a faint sense of longing emerging from the depths of his memory.
However, more information about this photo is vague, and it seems that... more memories about them have disappeared from this world with the last breath of the original owner of this body.
He put the photo down, wondering what level of consumption such a black and white photo would be considered by ordinary people in the downtown area, what stage the world's photography technology has developed to, and what principles the equipment used is based on.
At the same time, his eyes fell on the neatly made bed, and a hint of doubt arose in his heart.
Would a cultist who has completely fallen into the worship of the sun have enough time to tidy up his room so cleanly on a normal day?
The shops on the first floor are obviously neglected, so how come the bed in the bedroom is so meticulously made?
He walked out the door again and came to the smaller room opposite the stairs, looking at the bed and desk which were also neatly made and clean.
He sorted out the memories in his mind and confirmed that the original owner of this body had left the shop several days ago and went to a secret gathering place to attend a gathering of believers of the Sun God - that was the last time he left, and the memory of the details was fuzzy, but he did not seem to have the impression of cleaning the house before leaving.
That means... there are others?
Is there anyone else living with this "cultist"? Is he a relative?
Duncan frowned slightly, searching for the corresponding clues in his mind as he walked to the desk in the small room. His eyes swept over the neatly stored papers, pens and stationery, and finally landed on a book.
The book was placed in the most conspicuous position on the desk. It had a dark blue cover with a pattern of gears and connecting rods on it, and the title of the book was written in beautiful cursive letters:
"The Art of steam and gears-General textbook III"①
Duncan frowned. He had vaguely realized that this room should belong to "another person", but he still subconsciously picked up the book.
There were no books to read on the Lost Homeland, and no articles to read in the master bedroom or anywhere else in the shop. The book in front of him might help him understand the things in this world.
After opening the cover of the book, the illustrated pages caught his eye - this was indeed a "textbook" that talked about engineering technology and the principles of steam machinery, and many annotations left by the owner of the book could be seen between the paragraphs of the textbook.
The slender and beautiful handwriting seemed to be written by a young woman.
Duncan rubbed his forehead. The original owner of this body didn't seem to have many relatives or friends. Most of the images or "impressions" in his memory were cold and lonely. But after sorting out his memory several times, he finally vaguely "remembered" a person... a girl with dark brown hair.
That seemed to be the only figure that the cultist named Ron was concerned about when he took his last breath.
Duncan's eyes fell on the pages of the book. He did not bother to read the words and drawings involving specific technologies, but instead specifically picked out parts like the editor's introduction and conceptual discussion.
A line of text suddenly caught his eye:
〖… Fire, or more precisely, a specific kind of fire released by burning oils in the deep sea and mineral crystals near the coast, is the foundation that supports the functioning of modern society and protects our civilization…
The prosperity and order of modern civilization are based on flames and steam...Clean and convenient electricity cannot replace the exorcism effect of fire, nor can it make large machines run stably for a long time...Experiments have shown that steam is the most stable form of power when affected by deep space...
In this chapter, we will discuss three typical structures of steam cores and explain their mechanical principles and design ideas...〗
Duncan's eyes froze slightly.
He remembered the gas lamps, torches, and oil lamps that had been everywhere in the sewers, the gas street lamps on the city streets, and he also remembered the doubts in his heart when he saw the electric light in the store.
It turns out... this is the reason behind these seemingly "weird" situations?
Even if there is a certain risk, open flame lamps are used in sewers, and gas lamps are used for outdoor street lighting even when electricity has developed to a certain level. The reason is that "fire" can prevent the spread of certain "dangerous and bizarre" things to a certain extent?
Duncan felt an indescribable emotion in his heart. He continued to look down and saw complex drawings, dense annotations and careful notes left by the owner of the book.
That was a machine he couldn't understand at all.
And it was definitely not the "steam engine" he knew in his previous life.
Those precise gears, those extremely complex cylinders, and the connecting pipes and valves between the various components far exceeded the concept of a steam engine. It was more like some kind of device that popped out of a fantasy illustrated book, revealing a contradictory and bizarre beauty everywhere.
This is the "heart" that supports the advancement of the world's civilization today.
In deep thought, Duncan slowly put the book back to its original place.
Because he totally couldn't understand it.
As an earthling, even if he had been a teacher, he could not understand what those steam-powered machines that had been developed to the extreme state were in this book.
But even so, a vague enlightenment still emerged in his heart:
The development of civilization in this world seemed to be on a path completely different from what he knew.
In order to survive in a world full of crises, the mortal kingdom has also taken on a bizarre appearance. But no matter how weird the world is, as long as it can still be called "civilization", it must have its own reasons and logic for its development to this day.
Those gas lamps burning in the sewers, the electric lights lit in the shops, and the steam engines described in books, which were the result of the wisdom of countless people, all reveal a kind of...resilience.
Notes:
① Steam and Gear Technology - General Textbook III