Gun of Ashes

Chapter 464: Chapter 80 Dunling Tower

The storm grew fiercer, like revenge that had been long brewing, descending from the heavens to cleanse the sins of this city.

Clearly, this rainy season came with extreme ferocity. Pale serpents of lightning traversed the rolling dark clouds, with each flash bringing blinding light to this dreary world, dispersing those steel leviathans, those beasts that never submerge, which fell one after another. Such terrifying thunderstorms were beyond the current strength of humanity to resist.

It seemed as if eerie laughter emanated from behind those dark clouds, indulging in the scattering of natural disasters.

The fleeting lightning was like camera flashes, illuminating the twisted city, and at the center of it all, the sharp spire still pointed skyward, solitary but indomitable.

Heracles stood at the sewer’s outlet, with rushing water pouring from the channel beside him, flowing into the Thames River below. Due to the heavy rain, the accumulated water was about to overflow onto the banks.

”Truly magnificent, that tower isn’t often visible.”

Heracles was enjoying this stormy weather. He stood in the dark sewer, yet admired that towering spire above.

”I don’t remember there being such a building in Old Dunling.”

Lorenzo leaned against the damp wall, then slowly sat down. He might indeed need a rest, his gaze fixed on the solitary towering spire outside, which was so immense, far surpassing any building in Old Dunling, as if connecting to the Celestial Realm.

”Because normally it’s shrouded in smog. Those dense mists not only obscure the sky but also conceal those tall buildings. Usually, the upper part of the tower is covered by dense clouds, only in such severe weather, when the wild winds disperse the smoke, can it truly be revealed.”

Heracles obviously knew a lot, and then he asked.

”Do you know its name?”

Lorenzo shook his head, his perplexed mind too exhausted to think of anything else.

As if to pique Lorenzo’s interest, Heracles paused for a moment, then continued.

”Dunling Tower.”

Lorenzo slightly raised his head, his eyes filled with confusion.

”That’s right, it’s called Dunling Tower, Dunling Tower and Old Dunling, interesting, isn’t it?”

Heracles said as he sat down against the damp wall alongside Lorenzo, holding a furry rat in his arms.

”Lorenzo, we’re now in a revolutionary city. The things birthed in this city have changed the entire world, and similarly, those things are changing the city itself.”

”You seem to know a lot.”

Lorenzo showed a marginal interest, temporarily putting aside the damned mystery of his identity.

”Indeed, these are secrets from the royal archives, but you know my controlling nature. I wouldn’t allow those secrets to be beyond my cognition.”

He said, pointing at his head, to which Lorenzo only managed a slight smile.

”You haven’t been executed, you’re truly lucky.”

”It’s not that serious; it’s an abandoned project, and perhaps the current rulers don’t even remember such a thing exists.”

Heracles began explaining to Lorenzo.

The rainwater surged in the channel before them, dragging leaves and debris into the Thames River, as the two of them, like rats huddled in the shadows, discussed the things hidden beneath the city’s glory.

”Didn’t you ever wonder about this city’s name? Old Dunling, old Dunling, so where is the new Dunling?”

Heracles gazed at the spire surrounded by thunder behind the curtain of rain.

”This plan was proposed at the end of the Radiant War, nearly several decades ago. Now, those involved are either dead or dying, gradually forgotten by the world... There are many such cases. Those imaginative folks can always come up with novel ideas, but for various reasons fail to realize them, left to collect dust in locked cabinets.

Overall, it was a great transformation after the steam engine. Although the power of steam changed the world, those at the forefront, the Scholars, also realized the steam engine’s shortcomings. They needed a stronger force.

For instance... electricity.”

Heracles gazed at the distant Dunling Tower, the thunder-clouded sky growing even heavier, like a descending iron curtain, slowly approaching the ground until it crushed everything it touched.

”They designated a new district in Old Dunling, an experimental area not recorded on maps, named it Dunling, and planned to conduct initial experiments with electricity supply there. After successful trials, the plan was to extend it throughout Old Dunling, then Old Dunling would be reborn as the new city named Dunling.

The Scholars built the towering Dunling Tower, countless cables entwined around the structure, transmitting electricity. Yet, due to power transmission losses, some technical difficulties, and factors of the era, the experiment ultimately failed, locking the Dunling Plan in a cabinet. That tall tower became shrouded in dark clouds, known to no one.”

Heracles’s words reflected regret as he had personally seen those dusty documents, able to read the ambition of decades past in the blurred text.

”At the time, the steam engine was already a mature and powerful technology, and electricity was merely a speculative future direction. Everyone feared failure, and with the immaturity of electrical technology, rather than betting on it, they focused everything on the steam engine... The result was quite good, the Radiant War was won, and the technology of the steam engine propelled Ingwig to the top of the Western world.