Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 516 515 Fornes City
Feng Xiuhu and his group finally arrived in Fornes City, but they were escorted there by the police.

It wasn't that Feng Xiuhu could truly tolerate having a gun pointed at his head, but rather that there was a reason for it.

……

Fang Youliu covered his head with his hands, squatted down and cried out his innocence: "Sir, we were just passing by, we are not bandits."

A patrol captain stepped forward and kicked Fang Youliu on the shoulder: "Whether it's true or false, we'll find out once we get back and interrogate him."

Fang Youliu feigned an "ouch" and then fell to the ground with a thud, forcing a smile at the patrol captain: "Sir, it's really a misunderstanding. Look at us, we don't have any bandit-like airs at all."

The patrol captain turned to look.

First look at Feng Xiuhu, dressed in a Western-style suit and leaning on a cane, he certainly looks like a respectable person.

My gaze shifted again, and I spotted Shunzi.

Shunzi stared back at him.

The patrol captain instinctively took a step back, exclaiming in surprise, "What a shrew! Could this be a bandit leader?"

Feng Xiuhu roared in fury: "Bullshit! If he's a bandit leader, then what am I?"

The patrol captain was even more shocked and quickly looked back: "So you're the bandit leader?"

Feng Xiuhu shook his head: "I'm not."

The police captain sneered, "You say it's not, so it's not?"

Feng Xiuhu then asked, "What if I say yes?"

The patrol captain nodded in agreement: "That's it."

Feng Xiuhu was puzzled: "The bandit leader is the infamous Black Third Sister of Feisha Road. How can you be a patrol captain if you don't even know that?"

The police captain retorted confidently, "Who says I don't know?"

Feng Xiuhu pointed to himself and argued earnestly, "I am a man."

The police captain glared at him: "Who said Black Third Sister can't be a man?"

Feng Xiuhu laughed: "Your mother's..."

The police captain pointed and said, "Hey! Hey! You're swearing, aren't you? I'm arresting you for insulting a public official!"

The facts are obvious.

The police department's premeditated ambush operation failed to capture the bandit leader, Hei San Niang, so they had to capture a significant "villain" to record as a credit.

Shunzi's appearance perfectly matched the police officer's expectations—even if he wasn't the bandit leader Hei Sanniang, if he was brought back to the city and paraded through the streets, and people said he was the second-in-command of the bandits, who wouldn't believe it?

Shunzi reached into his robes to draw his gun. His movement was very noticeable. There was a loud bang, and all the police officers pointed their muskets at him.

Fang Youliu quickly grabbed Shunzi's hand and said urgently, "My body can't stop bullets!"

Shunzi hesitated and turned to look at Feng Xiuhu.

Feng Xiuhu sneered, rubbing the tip of his cane with his fingertips.

The patrol captain said, "I advise you to give up resistance. Firearms don't discriminate. Whether you are good or bad, we'll know once we get back to the police station and have Second Master and Third Master identify you."

Feng Xiuhu paused, looked up, and asked, "Which Second Master or Third Master?"

The patrol captain sneered, "You've been on the Green Forest Road for so long, and you don't even know Ma Erye San?" Feng Xiuhu couldn't help but laugh, "You know what, I really don't know him. Can you introduce me to him?"

……

If you were to ask Feng Xiuhu what his first impression of Fornes City was, it would certainly be a feeling of being exceptionally arrogant and out of place.

This city is like a steel rivet forcibly embedded in the green hills and clear waters—rough, cold, and seemingly out of place in the surrounding picturesque landscape.

Because it was expanded from a county town, Fornes has no city walls.

As you walk along the main road toward the city, the first thing that comes into view is countless towering chimneys. They stand densely in the sky above the city like a steel forest, their brick or sheet metal bodies covered with rust and soot.

The factory was like a tireless behemoth, spewing out thick black or grayish-yellow smoke day and night, dyeing the sky with a gloomy hue that was hard to dispel.

The sunlight struggled to penetrate the thick veil of smoke, and the rays that fell seemed murky and weak.

The air seemed perpetually filled with the pungent smells of sulfur, coal smoke, and burnt metal from smelting, and inhaling it brought a burning, granular sensation to the lungs.

Some of the county town buildings before the expansion were preserved in the city, but the traditional upturned eaves and corners appear small and helpless in this steel jungle, almost completely submerged.

If the sights and smells gave Feng Xiuhu his initial impression of Fornes City, then when they officially stepped into the city, the booming "pulse" allowed him to further understand the city's inner workings through sound.

The ear-splitting din was no longer the hawking of street vendors or the shouts of market vendors, but the roar of countless huge machines.

The steam locomotive's whistle was sharp and penetrating, tearing through the air from time to time; the sounds of machine tools clashing, hammers striking, and gears meshing in the factory merged into a deep and continuous sonic boom, like the heart of a giant beast, making the ground beneath our feet tremble slightly.

The noises of various metals rubbing and colliding intertwined, forming a cold yet exhilarating industrial symphony that drowned out all natural sounds.

The city's layout is almost entirely centered around transportation and production.

The most striking feature is the railway track that winds through the city like a giant python. It is far from forming a network, and is laid out in sections. Some sections are already in operation, while others are just the skeleton of sleepers and rails.

Huge steam rollers and other industrial machinery from the West roared to life, while workers bustled about like ants.

Unlike the wood and stone structures commonly found in other parts of Yu'ai Prefecture, the buildings here extensively use red bricks and steel, are square and rugged, prioritizing practicality and having almost no superfluous decorations.

The crowds on the street were also clearly distinct.

Most of them were workers and laborers with dark complexions, covered in oil stains, and with tired and numb eyes. Some of them were forcibly conscripted, while others came voluntarily to work and earn money.

Interspersed among them were a few foreigners dressed in fine Western suits and wearing hard-top hats. They looked arrogant, walked hurriedly, and gave orders in a pretentious tone.

Of course, not all locals looked miserable. Some speculators, compradors, or bodyguards and supervisors hired by foreigners also mingled among them, trying to get a share of the profits from this steel torrent.

Occasionally, an elderly man in a traditional long gown would walk by, glance up at the unrecognizable city, his eyes filled with bewilderment and resistance, but in the end, he could only helplessly lower his head.

"Brother, look over there."

Shunzi whispered a reminder to Feng Xiuhu.

Feng Xiuhu looked in the direction he was pointing—it turned out that the fierce folk customs of Yu'ai Prefecture were not entirely absent from this city.

Look closely, and you'll see protest slogans that haven't been completely cleaned up on the tall walls; the splattered stains at the factory gate are impossible to wash away; and the police patrols are more frequent here than elsewhere, their eyes scanning the area, alert to any potential conflict.

Feng Xiuhu smiled, his eyes narrowed.

“I guess… this is probably the ‘north’ that Zhou Xiuqing was talking about.”

(End of this chapter)