Volume 1 Crime and Punishment in Fog City Chapter 1 Unpleasant Communication
The communication of the nobles is often cumbersome and complicated. These people who have won honors by their birth or hard work are fickle and sensitive, and always show their uniqueness and elegance in various places. Otherwise, they may even feel that their bloodline and hard work are offended by others.
And they are often so strange when dealing with people. Maybe they will show it when they are noble or safe, but in an emergency, or when they need help from others, this roundabout attitude will become more prominent.
Sometimes they even spend hours, days, or even dozens of days showing off their elegance and tradition, while putting the real issues aside.
This problem is particularly serious among the hereditary aristocrats who claim to be noble. They may have the best education, but they definitely cannot make the best choices.
Perhaps this is why, after a certain period of time, revolutions always succeed.
Because the nobles don't even know how to resist and fight, they only know how to communicate with each other using their own elegant rules. This elegant way of speaking can range from the weather to the scenery to the dog at home and then extend to the changes of a certain era. This is a good habit in normal times, but if it really matters, it is undoubtedly the only way to make people angry.
"...You have no idea how much I spent on this antique. Legend has it that this thing was once worn by heroes and has unspeakable magical powers. I believe that a master like you deserves this noble amulet."
"This is a fake. You can buy five of them for fourteen yuan at a street stall, and one of them comes with a fake old drug."
Can we buy into the main topic quickly?
Watching the noble enthusiastically introducing the crudely made amulet in his hand, Li Lin felt a slight pain in his head.
Although he had been mentally prepared when he first knew he was dealing with nobles, Li Lin still didn't expect that these self-proclaimed elegant people would send such a person to negotiate with him. For a full hour, they didn't say anything except a few scraps, but simply boasted about their experiences, their passion for archaeology, and their pride in the Fog City.
Oh my God, telling an archaeologist about your great love for archaeology?
"I will not mention your shallow archaeological knowledge for the moment."
Glancing at the slightly depressing lead-gray sky outside the window, Li Lin rubbed his brows and sighed deeply.
"From the time you said you wanted to give me news until now, I only know that there are cultists in this city, and there are quite a few of them. Other than that, I don't know anything else. Can you say something meaningful?"
"Then you really hurt my heart, Lord Lilyn."
Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, the nobleman with blue eyes and a well-groomed moustache smiled with his hands spread out.
“Oh, I must reiterate that we are mainly here for friendly exchanges, out of the friendship between Kuwait University and the Fog City. As for those scum crawling out from underground, they are nothing but scabies—”
'boom!'
Before the nobleman finished speaking, a dull roar was heard in the distance. Gray smoke spread straight out from the ground. Countless people were panicking and shouting outside, "The cultists are coming!" "The air purifier was blown up!" "The guards were killed!" and other disturbing words and phrases scattered in all directions.
And as if the noise wasn't loud enough, there were dull explosions one after another in the distance. The faint air and sound waves made the windows buzz. Countless garbage and debris were thrown from the ground into the sky by the impact of the explosion. And this destructive explosion brought more riots and small-scale explosions. Sharp screams and the sound of steam sirens rang from all directions, surrounding the magnificent hotel below.
"...scabies?"
Are you sure?
After looking at the huge piece of mechanical structure weighing at least eight or nine tons that was blown into the sky, Li Lin turned around and looked at the noble and asked seriously.
"Well... As you can see, it may be a bit of a headache, but it won't hinder our friendly conversation."
The experienced noble raised his eyebrows and said naturally:
"In fact, I can prove to you that it was just a small accident. Perhaps this accident may have caused you to have some unpleasant misunderstandings about Fog City, but I can assure you that the rich culture and connotations that Fog City will show next will definitely open your eyes."
'Those who cause riots will be executed on the spot! All citizens of Fog City please wait for news at home and do not spread unfounded information! '
As if to confirm the nobles' words, policemen wearing steam armor rode heavy motorcycles and came around the streets with their horns blaring.
Several police steam locomotives several meters high could be deployed to completely block a street. The police locomotives running along the track opened their barriers to block the entire street. Before the locomotives stopped, police officers wearing dark gray capes and pig-mouth respirators poured out from both sides of the locomotives and took out well-maintained guns from the secret compartments behind the steel barriers.
These guns looked different from the guns in Li Lin's city. The dark gray pneumatic guns were connected to the steam locomotive furnace and repeatedly pressurized through a copper-clad sealed container. After being pressurized during the driving process, these steam guns were obviously able to shoot. The policemen who came down from the steam locomotive were well-trained. They put the muzzles of their guns on the shooting holes of the artificial bunkers and pulled the safety to aim at the people who ran out of the explosion area.
The sound of the fuses being pulled in unison obviously had some kind of deterrent effect. A small number of people were startled by the sound, but the vast majority of people were still running around and screaming, gradually spreading the chaos.
"...Everyone, fire!"
After a round of almost useless warnings, the police opened fire on the rioting crowd without warning.
Under the high-pressure steam, birch bullets have amazing lethality within 30 meters. Sitting in the hotel, Li Lin saw with his own eyes that the police carried out boxes of sorted birch bullets from the carriage. These woods with good expansion and toughness were ejected from the barrel under the push of high-pressure steam, and the muzzle velocity was even close to the speed of sound. The cork that had been planned in the bullet had opened up a stable structure within 0.1 seconds with the pressure of steam, as if small spiral cones bloomed and rotated in the air, and then nailed into the human body like nails .
It is convenient, safe, pollution-free, and extremely effective in treating human trauma. Just one shot of a wooden nail bullet can turn an adult's arm into a spiral of minced meat.
With the sound of steam puffing, the people walking around outside in a daze fell down in groups like wheat being cut. Dark red bloodstains gradually spread to every corner along with the cries and wails. It seemed to be in line with the dark gray sky of the foggy city.
“I think it really opened my eyes.”
Looking at the police officers who maintained the three-stage shooting, Li Lin's eyes twitched slightly.
These police officers wearing gas masks and capes seemed to have no unnecessary emotion such as mercy. After killing or injuring the adult men and women who posed a slight threat, they aimed the wooden nail bullets at the dazed children accompanied by the humming sound of the pressurized steam engine.
Then there was another round of muffled gunfire, and children fell down in droves. Only then did those who had recovered from the shock realize what had happened, and they screamed and cried as they ran to the corners of the street or to the direction where there were no police. However, they were killed one by one by the police, leaving no one behind.
"The people in Fog City are really simple and honest. We don't need to continue playing guessing games. Let's talk about what happened here."
"Hmm, well, this looks like the reverse side of the medal is showing."
Looking at the civilians falling down in groups outside the window and the wounded crying, the noble shrugged unmoved with a calm expression.
"But this is also a necessary journey. Have you heard of the Steam Church that was popular hundreds of years ago? If you know anything about it, you will definitely approve of our actions."
"Steam cult? From 1238?"
"No, it's from 1447."
After watching the police outside shooting all the people in the crowd, even the children crawling on the ground, Baron George patted his white gloves with satisfaction, stood up and straightened his body, looking very elegant.
"But maybe we can go downstairs and have a bite to eat and chat. What do you think? I guarantee on my family's reputation that the best wines produced in our Fog City are kept by me personally. This will be an unforgettable feast for you."
"…Okay. But I hope your appetite will be a little smaller so you can talk more."
If he doesn't say something practical, I'll just blow his head off.
With a malicious glance at the greasy head of the handsome nobleman, Li Lin nodded dully and followed him out of the hotel room.
Outside the window, the gray-clad policemen dragged the twitching bodies lying on the ground into the steam locomotive in a dull manner and put them into the combustion chamber as part of the steam engine fuel. The bloodstains also penetrated into the masonry along the grooves on the track. The remaining bloodstains were blown away by the nozzle of the steam gun with adjusted power and disappeared without a trace.
In just a few minutes, the streets were cleared. The police returned to the steam locomotives, blew the whistles and drove in other directions. The bricks and rails where dozens of people had died shone brightly under the steam, as if they had just been built.
