"I know you have dreams, and dreams can be conquered and changed by yourself. William, we are all standing in the corner of this great era, and we all have our own ambitions, but the path of becoming a god cannot help you realize all your dreams If you are ambitious, you will suffer even greater constraints after becoming a god. Have you ever thought that if you want to realize your ideas, can you really succeed only by saving the world? I have seen a history longer than you In fact, there were quite a few successful saviors in the past, but few of them were able to change the world, all they could do was stand high in the sky and overlook the earth.”
"You're not a god, how do you know I can't do it?"
Jenkins asked the Gear Guy, who looked at Jenkins:
"Because it is obvious that God means sublimation, and sublimation is the self."
"It's also very good, all I want is to sublimate myself."
"What about ideals and ambitions?"
"That's a secondary goal."
Jenkins answered honestly, his original goal was to become a god, and this has never changed. It would be ridiculous if the difference machine made him who had almost reached the end give up with a few simple words.
"Okay, stop talking nonsense, let's go, let me have a look at the story of this weaving woman."
After speaking, he jumped into the map first with the cat in his arms. Seeing Jenkins leave, the gear man didn't stay for long, and immediately jumped up and was sucked in by the map.
The two had just disappeared, and in the still antique shop, Dad suddenly put down the newspaper.
The blood on his face that was originally normal immediately receded. He groaned in pain, and then he held his heart for a long time before standing up from the rocking chair:
"Bevanna didn't say that this ceremony was so painful... But fortunately, it finally came in. It's a crazy idea, but I didn't expect it to be successful."
The old man staggered to the counter, holding the counter with his right hand, exposing his thick knuckles. The old man looked a little weak. In Jenkins' eyes, he had always been the kind of old man who was not very strong, but he was very energetic, but now he was like an ordinary old man.
This may also be due to the loss of the evolutionary key.
First, he checked the map and confirmed that he could not enter those places like Jenkins, so he looked at the backpack left by Jenkins on the counter. After thinking about it, he didn't move Jenkins' backpack, but turned and left the antique shop, disappearing into the rain.
Since the last location is the Clock Tower, Dad intends to go directly to the Clock Tower. Although it is not clear whether this strange place really fully restores Nolan, and whether he can move the position by feet, but the old man wants to try it after all. If he could really reach the clock tower one step earlier, then he could prepare in advance for the final battle.
Although there are large-scale factories in all districts of Nolan, the steam factories in the east of Nolan next to the mining area are the most. In addition to being convenient for the transportation of coal and other fuels, it is also convenient to buy land because the land near the mining area is the cheapest.
Jenkins, with the cat in his arms, landed on the street with Cogman. There are large factories around here, and because the time of this strange scene is only a whole year away from the outside world, so at dusk, people are everywhere on the gravel-strewn streets. Even if factory owners want workers to work 25 hours a day, workers will always have to eat.
Although civilians are accustomed to eating only two meals a day, for night work, dinner must be stricter. Now is the time to eat after work, that's why there are so many people.
The rain has become lighter, so there are few people with umbrellas on the road. People kept their movements frozen and still, frozen in a certain moment.
"It's really lively."
The Gearman sighed, and led Jenkins to the interior of the factory with the sign of "Sick and Rousseau Cotton Mills". The two walked against the direction of the flow of people. Fortunately, people didn't move, so they walked smoothly:
"Williamt, the savior, do you know the resident population of Nolan?"
"I don't know the exact number, but it is definitely more than three million. It is difficult to count the floating population in the slums, and even the city hall cannot give a truly correct number."
"Then do you know, among at least three million people, how many people belong to the so-called bottom class, and how many people at the top are supported by these bottom class people?"
"I still can't give exact numbers or proportions, but it's probably pyramidal."
He gestured with his hand.
"Yes, and the spire of the pyramid is very tapered."
The two turned along the aisle between the factory areas. The scale of these cotton textile factories is not small, and the target person is in the factory area behind.
"It was you who asked me just now, and now I want to ask you. What should the social structure look like after your ideal land of steel descends?"
Jenkins took the opportunity to ask.
"It certainly won't be as exaggerated as a pyramid. What I hope is a complete plane, and everything is in order. I control everything, so there is no need to set up different levels. Below me, everyone is ordinary, and all machines All equal, a gear and a pinion mean nothing different to a machine."
"Although it seems idealistic, it is actually just that you want to control the world. The actual social structure is even more backward than it is now."
he scoffed.
"You also think you are behind now?"
"What I said, the point is that your structure is more backward."
The two did not continue their debate because they finally saw the target.
Now it was time to get off work and eat, and the target female textile worker also walked out among the crowd. If you hadn't seen her in advance, it would be hard to tell the difference between this haggard middle-aged woman and others.
Her image fully satisfies the identity of a "poor textile worker". The clothes on her body are coarse skirts with a patch on the waist. But the color of the patch is very similar to the dark color of the skirt, so you can't see it unless you look closely.
The still walking appearance is subconsciously loose shoulders, making the whole person look even less energetic. The frozen eyes were dull, without any emotions.
"She looks like she is about to go out. Are we going to follow her? Is the scale of this strange place that big?"
Jenkins questioned the Gearman, suspecting that the true extent of Treacherous Lands included only Papa's Antiques and seven locations.
"Don't worry, the scale of this strange land includes the entire Nolan and surrounding areas. If it's as small as you think, where can I hide part of my body and core so that it won't be discovered by you?"
the gear man asked back.
It saw that whenever Jenkins went to a place, the first thing he did was to look around. Even if it doesn't know the secret of the "Eye of Reality", it can tell that Jenkins is trying to search for its core.
"You think too much, I just want to know if I can keep up with her."
Jenkins pointed at the woman. Immediately, the still crowd began to flow, and the noisy sound of getting off work made the space that had only the slight sound of rain nearly broken by the vibrating air.
The weaver girl continued to walk forward, her walking posture seemed to be rubbing forward. She looked tired and sleepy. A woman's bone frame is very big, but because she usually doesn't have enough to eat, when she walks now, to be exaggerated, it looks like a skeleton is dragging its flesh forward.
Jenkins took two quick steps and squeezed beside the woman. The woman didn't pay any attention to the handsome young man who suddenly appeared beside her, after all, the interaction hadn't started yet.
Although the target acquisition is "heart of hard work", Jenkins will not be stupid enough to ask "are you tired?" or something like that. He asked:
"Where are you going to eat, ma'am?"
"Go home, the kids are already cooking."
With a typical Nolan accent, this is a native Nolan, maybe his ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years.
As for cooking by the kids, it's no surprise either. Children from poor families can cook for themselves when they are very young, because adults often have no time because of tiring work. The memory of the original owner shows that when the Williams family was still running a small shop at the port, Newman, the eldest brother of the three brothers, was usually in charge of cooking.
"And what about your husband?"
Jenkins asked again, wanting to investigate the other party's family situation. But the woman didn't answer right away. Just when Jenkins thought that the husband of the other party had passed away, the woman said:
"A few years ago, I ran away with someone, and I don't know where I went."
The following question and answer allowed Jenkins to barely know the woman's family environment. Just as Jenkins thought, from the generation of the woman's grandfather, the family came to Nolan and has always been the bottom of society.
A woman has a total of six brothers and sisters, but only four survive to adulthood. When she was young, the woman met her husband, a young man who was idle without a regular job.
This kind of introduction is somewhat similar to the original owner Jenkins, but the difference is that the original owner Jenkins has a relatively good background, can read and understand some simple mathematics, both father and mother will guide the life of the original owner, and the original owner is also planning to change that under the discipline of his father Robert Life. But the boy the woman met was born in a slum. His mother died early and his father was a bad gambler.
But such a "bad man" somehow attracted the young and ignorant girl at that time.
So, despite the opposition of her family, she insisted on marrying that guy. After the woman gave birth to three children five years after marriage, the man ran away with other women as expected, and was never heard from again.
So the woman can only raise three children alone. Besides working in the factory, she also does laundry and mends clothes for others. Fortunately, the eldest girl is 8 years old this year and can take care of her younger siblings and do some simple housework.
The women's brothers and sisters are also not doing well, their parents passed away two years ago, and poor people generally don't live long. Therefore, she is now working entirely on her own and raising her three children independently. The reason for the haggard face is due to physical fatigue on the one hand, and mental fatigue on the other hand.
She can't see the future, not only her own future, but also the future of her children, because it is impossible for this family of four to have money for their children to learn to read.
This reality of having no future but still having to live is a torment every day when I open my eyes. But life has to go day by day, and a woman has to live strong. She can't imagine what will happen to her three children once she disappears.
During the question and answer about the woman's family situation, they had already left the factory and stepped onto the street. The woman's home is in the slums of Nolan East District. Although Nolan East is more prosperous than Nolan West, it is only in the core area of the city, and the periphery is actually similar.
People in the slums in the west of the city mostly work at the train station and docks, and people in the east mostly work in factories and mining areas. These areas absorb the vast majority of Nolan's labor force.
There was still time on the way, and Jenkins also asked about how to make women have a "hard-working heart". Just like the previous few people, paint a bright future for her, and then inspire her to live hard for her children.
According to the character of the woman known from the conversation, she will definitely "work hard" for the bright future depicted, just to keep her children from living like herself.
But Jenkins doesn't want to do this, not because he hates using the same routine twice, nor because he suddenly feels sorry for others. It's just because the difference engine's joke was too much. When he asked for "never fatigue" from the miner just now, he was a little annoyed. Now he asked the poor woman for "hard work", and he directly ignited his anger.
People can not pity others, but they cannot laugh at others. Even if you are laughing at others, you must never use the other person's weakest point to laugh at others.
Jenkins believed that this strange place was originally Nolan's scene, but he also believed that the details of the mission were definitely manipulated by differences. He knew that the Difference Engine could guess that he could figure out a way to "paint the future," and he knew that the Difference Engine wanted to see him do it.
But that kind of approach is very hypocritical, drawing a big cake, let poor people spend their lives to fight, even in a strange environment, this kind of behavior is enough for Jenkins once, and there will be no second time.
They turned the corner, and the woman's eyes flicked over the window of the cake shop, but her footsteps did not stop. The workers who came out of the factory were diverted by the streets and alleys, and returned to the life of the city in the late summer evening.
The light rain that lasted for half a day had stopped, and the dark clouds disappeared quickly, allowing the brilliant sunset to shine on the city. Let the two people walking on the uphill street facing the rolling sunset seem to be emitting golden light.
At this moment, everyone is equal. They are all part of this city, a character of this era, and a corner of the picture scroll. After briefly giving up thinking about everyone's own life, a moment of beautiful scenery can completely relax the mood, as if blending into this brilliant light.