As the warm sunlight smuggled through the curtains, Bill suddenly opened his eyes.

His eyes flickered from side to side, the empty and dim room was terrifyingly quiet, the bedroom door was closed, he was dressed in comfortable silk pajamas, and the curtains were closed.

"When will I be back?"

"I remember that I was stalking the owner of the Ford car company......

With his heavy head still like a swollen and absorbent sponge, Bill lifted the quilt and got out of bed, and suddenly saw a messy note paper on the bedside table, as if someone had given him a note.

Open the curtains and the sun has just risen in the east, leaving only lush trees and a few crows passing by in the deserted area of mountain villas.

When the room was no longer drowsy and depressed, he sat on the edge of the bed and read the note.

"Dear Bill: "

"I've taken care of the aftermath of the car accident you caused, and I've done a lot of things, so I'll be surprised when you go to the city today, I hope you like the gift I gave you!"

"And remember to stay away from those women in the future, I hate dealing with stupid women the most, it makes me sick!"

Flushing the note down the drain, Bill sees Esther, whom he hasn't seen in a long time.

She wore a fashionable and bold sexy wrap-around dress, with bright lipstick and blush on her face, and there seemed to be a bit of blood on her body, but it was masked by the smell of more intense perfume.

"Esther, what have you been up to lately?"

The red-haired woman looked at Bill quietly and pointed to her rosy lips, indicating that she still couldn't make a sound.

"I've been a bit busy lately, and I'll find a way to help you get back on track when things get right at the factory. ”

Esther nodded silently after reacting for a moment, not making any request to the man in front of him, nor refusing the kindness.

She just smiled and watched Bill walk down the stairs, turned back to her room and locked the door.

The villa, which had not been returned for a long time, was spotless, and it seemed that Esther had not forgotten her work, and Bill just had breakfast and did not ask any more questions, changed into clean and decent clothes and left the forest......

“......？”

"Where's my carriage?"

Looking at the empty and overgrown courtyard, Bill suddenly remembered that he had stabbed the horse in the ass with his own hands last night, and although he fainted when he jumped out of the car, according to the note left by the shadow, the runaway carriage should have succeeded in causing the boss of Folford to get into an accident.

But is shadow work really reliable?

Bill wasn't sure, he just knew that the shadow was gradually out of his control, and that he was even more crazy and careless than he was, and that he was full of contempt for the order of this society......

"I'm going to hurry up and go to the city and see what's going on today. 」

"I also want to get a steam car, of course, in my own factory. 」

With no means of transportation, Bill had to go to the small town of Whippet to rent a carriage before heading to Britts.

The residents of the small town of Whitbit greeted Bill warmly, and since the use of clean running water, the disease has gradually disappeared, so they have great respect for Mr. Cliff, who lives at the foot of the mountain.

Wheels creaked across the loess pavement, and Bill saw many skinny poor people, most of them beggars who lived in leaky and dilapidated houses and sewers, and some people with disabilities, being driven out of the city by the police.

They were abused by the police to leave the city limits, not forgetting to spit on the police officers behind them before leaving.

"Is Brittus going to implement a new policy, why is there suddenly a police officer cleaning up the cityscape outside the central block?"

"What, Mr. Cliff, aren't the police doing nasty things all the time?"

The coachman looked at Bill in confusion, he never thought about what the policemen's actions represented, and of course if the coachman became as thoughtful as Bill, he might not be the coachman.

"No, it's nothing, just go to the nearest newsstand and leave me there. ”

Bill gave up explaining the reason to the coachman, and the thin horse led them slowly into Brittus, and soon into a carriage-only street.

Since Brittus widened the road, the horse-drawn carriages that could defecate at any time were disliked by the wealthy, and no one wanted to live in a city full of horse manure, even if there were manure pickers in the capital who specialized in cleaning up horse manure.

After getting off the bus at a newsstand, workers around the newsstand bought a newspaper en masse, wearing old brown-and-gray workers' uniforms, and were responsible for expanding the nearby road.

Workers are smoking cigarette butts they have picked up from the road, squatting on the side of the road to rest, and literate middle-aged workers are reading newspaper headlines word by word.

“...... Do you think this steam car is really reliable, there have been many accidents on the road recently, I think it is safer to take a carriage, and there will be no steering wheel failure. ”

"It's not safe to ride in a carriage, have you forgotten the Crazy Horse incident that happened at the beginning of this year, the carriage was walking on the road well, and as a result, the two horses suddenly went crazy and trampled several people to death. ”

"Haha, if there is no steam car, we will have no place to make money, now the rich people are driving big iron sheets, sooner or later we will have a car!"

"Don't daydream, just rely on the money we make from building roads and transporting steel bars, and we can only buy a steam car for two hundred years without eating or drinking!"

"I can't do it anymore, but I still have a son......

The warm sun shone on the construction road, and the road construction workers were talking and laughing, and suddenly the man who looked like a supervisor walked out of the shade.

He stuck one hand on his waist and pointed at the workers with a newspaper rolled in the other.

"You lazy bedbugs, how long have you been resting here, why don't you hurry up and work for me!"

"I tell you, the repair of the road must be completed within two months, and if you delay it for a day, you won't even want to get paid for the corpse!"

When the workers saw the overseer, they put away their smiling faces and returned to the road with blank faces to continue their work, and Bill went to the newsstand to buy the latest newspaper.

The headline of the newspaper is a row of large characters:

"Is it a distortion of human nature or a moral decay when a mechanical catastrophe strikes?"

「...... Last night there was a serious accident with a steam locomotive in the eastern suburbs, owned by the owner of a famous car manufacturing company, Wotmar Forfer!"

"At present, Mr. Forford is still in a coma and is being treated at the Capital Hospital. 」

"Since the steam car driven by Forford is the best steam car sold by Forford, we not only sympathize with Mr. Forford's plight in this accident, but also doubt the safety of the steam car manufactured by Forford Motor Company. 」

"Combined with the problem of minor problems with the steam cars produced by the Ford Automobile Company some time ago, as well as Mr. Falford's own style problems, we have every reason to believe that the company's steam cars have huge safety risks......

"Mr. Forford's steam car has now been transported to the Royal Norman Academy of Natural Sciences for inspection, and the controversial Volford Automobile Company is about to face a huge crisis of bank termination and mass returns......

「......」

"Therefore, we call on the government to establish and improve the quality inspection system as soon as possible, and conduct quality inspections on all machinery products before they are put into the market for sale, so as to ensure the safety of the lives and property of Norman citizens......

Slowly closing the newspaper, Bill already knew about the situation of the boss of Forford, and there was no mention in the newspaper of the horse-drawn carriage rear-ending the steam car, presumably the shadow had been dealt with.

It's just that I don't know if it did anything on the steam car in Forford, making it seem that all accidents are caused by the poor quality of the steam car.

"Forford is completely finished, their sales will plummet after the accident, and the banks will no longer lend and cash around for outdated companies that have lost the trust of the people. ”

"Without the support of the bank, the car company will soon face bankruptcy, and the most critical thing is that their legal representative is now lying in the hospital and his life and death are uncertain, and I heard that little Forford has just been born. ”

"Hehe, it's pathetic. ”

Bill rolled the newspaper in a circle and stuffed it into the garbage cans that suddenly popped up on both sides of the road, and rented a horse-drawn carriage to head to the northern heavy industrial area.

He had to urge the workers to step up the construction of the factory, and now is the best time for the auto factory to rise.

"I just don't know how the Norman Royal Academy of Natural Sciences judged the monopoly application of the two-wheeled bicycle under the autonomous control of the human body. ”

"The question of the length of time, if Ford Motors declares bankruptcy, it will lose the ability to pay the follow-up costs of applying for a technology monopoly and lose the technology monopoly. ”

"A boring mall is like a battlefield, as long as you are ruthless, you will have everything. ”

Soon arriving at the most remote plot of land in the northern industrial area, Bill saw that the factory had begun to take shape, and a faint sense of satisfaction rose in his heart.

After seeing Bill, Lao Wei seemed to have some uncertain emotions on his face.

Langus and his men looked proud and excited when they saw Bill, and the accountant still held the newspaper in his hand to show Bill, but Bill was also a little apprehensive when he saw that Old Wei was about to stop talking.

"Does Lao Wei already know that I did the Ford Automobile Company?"

"Does he feel uncomfortable?"

"It's best to explain to him that it was Forford who stole our ideas first......

However, neither Lao Wei nor Bill spoke first, they still talked about the construction of the factory, and when it was gray, the errand researcher sent a letter to Bill from the Royal Norman Academy of Natural Sciences.

There was only one short sentence on the letter:

The deep opening is done with protective clothing, please come to the institute as soon as possible for inspection.

This is the second good news Bill heard today, it seems that everything is going well, except for Lao Wei's suspicion of him, Bill almost thinks that today is his lucky day!

Following the errand researcher's steam car to the special car of the Royal Norman Academy of Natural Sciences, thick gray smoke came out of the exhaust hole, and the institute quickly stepped on the accelerator......

The images of the trees on both sides hurriedly passed by, layers of loess rose behind them, and the crimson moon suddenly rose from the ground level, snatching the earth from the sun's hands as quickly as a snatch.

The steam car was running as fast as it could through the city, on the newly built roads outside the city, and Bill could tell that the errand runner seemed anxious, but he didn't say anything.

"The power of the steam car is really sufficient, and the quality and performance of the steam car made by the research institute itself is really amazing!"

It was the only thought that Bill had on his steam locomotive at full speed, and he had no idea that the coal business had been going on in just the past week or so.

And it is a major situation that threatens the survival of a city.

Finally, he saw the wall and the large iron gate separating the outside world from the Royal Norman Academy of Natural Sciences, and the doorman saw the wind-like steam cart and hurriedly opened the door.

Whoosh –

In front of the steam locomotive passing through as fast as it could, the doorman felt only a vague shadow linger in front of him......

The Dean and Professor Bedoli had been waiting for Bill to arrive in the conference room, and Bill had almost run through the dark hallway to the door of the conference room under the leadership of the Institute.

More than a dozen gas lamps pressed side-by-side on the ceiling flickered with blazing light, and the bright light made Bill temporarily lose sight the moment the door opened, and he struggled to adjust to the sudden light.

In the chaos of noise and trance, he seemed to see people he knew and people he didn't.

Government officials and researchers sit in two separate areas of the ramp seats, and although they sit in a scattered manner, the number of people has exceeded Bill's imagination.

They looked up at Bill almost at the same time, scrutinizing and distrustful, with no kindness in their eyes.

Professor Bedley sat in the front row, while Mr. Dean was presiding over the meeting from the podium, waving quickly to Bill when he saw him.

Coming to Mr. Dean's side, Bill also looked at the people below the podium, and he suddenly saw a man with a long beard in the pile of government officials.

Savoy ......

"He seems to be in a bad state of affection. 」

Although Shawe was equally surprised to see Bill, Bill turned away and pretended not to know him.

After the dean quieted down in the slightly noisy conference room, he quickly introduced Bill to the crowd.

"This is our new scientist at the Royal Norman Academy of Natural Sciences, Mr. Williams Cliff. ”

"Despite Mr. Cliff's age, he has been working for the institute for some time, and he is the best at materials science, and he has contributed to Norman with his unique vision that is ahead of his time. ”

"The Institute's new equipment for safe coal mining is in Mr. Cliff'......"

"It was completed with the joint efforts of the Institute, so I think this major event should be discussed by Mr. Cliff, and everyone applauds and welcomes it!"

Bill nodded slightly, stepped off the podium and sat down next to Professor Bedley.

As Bill sat in his chair, he saw something strange written on a blackboard behind the podium, and the assistant to the dean immediately sent Bill a copy of the paper.

Raising his eyes to see the photo printed on the information, Bill instantly dilated his pupils!

In the black, white and gray photographs, the steam cart resembles a cultist's altar, with unnatural forces leaving terrible pits on it.

In the photographs, lit only by gaslights, severed hands are discarded haphazardly under the desolate weeds, and the back-tingling clammy cold beneath the steam engine is shrouded in darkness......

！！！