Free Web NovelChapter 95: Chapter 94: Sights and Sounds
The newspapers were meant for other guests, but Fu Juemin spent two silver coins to send the waiter off to fetch another set, keeping the entire stack for himself.
Back in his room, he drew open the curtains, letting the winter sunlight spill in. He sat by the window with the newspapers, eating and reading.
The Chinese food served in the restaurant aboard the Haiyan consisted mostly of Hubei, Cantonese, and local Shanghai-style cuisine. As for Western fare, apart from the usual steak and bread, everything else was Russian.
Fu Juemin picked up a slice of jellied pork with his chopsticks and started flipping through the thick stack of newspapers.
North-South Peace Talks Utterly Collapse! Lingbiao Army Dignitary Assassinated!
In the first paper he picked up, the *Xilin Times*, a headline caught Fu Juemin’s eye.
He put down his chopsticks, picked up the paper, and read the entire article carefully.
The news was already two weeks old. The assassinated official from the Xin Republic’s Lingbiao Army had died in his residence, located in one of Shenghai’s concessions. There was no direct evidence that the North was responsible.
Beneath it was another story about the bombing of the Pukou railway, which had sparked outrage in the business community.
Fu Juemin lifted his head and gazed out the window. In the distance, a few white sails drifted slowly across the river’s surface.
He knew a little about the North-South peace talks. The negotiations had started last year but had yet to yield any results.
Now, with a high-ranking official assassinated and a railway bombed, the talks were probably over for good.
Then he thought of the secret letter in his possession, a message from the Northern Army to Song Zhenyuan, the Governor of Yangping Province. With that in mind, this outcome was something many had probably foreseen.
’The Xin Republic’s Government hasn’t even been firmly in place for three years, and already there are signs it might be overthrown...’
Fu Juemin didn’t feel much of a sense of belonging to the so-called Great Xin Republic, but if the Xin Republic collapsed, war would surely break out again in the south, which was not something he or the vast majority of people wanted to see.
WHOOSH—
Fu Juemin let out a soft breath, his appetite suddenly fading.
He stirred a bowl of thick abalone sauce into his rice and ate slowly.
He had originally intended to find news about the Southwest Rebel Army’s invasion of Yangping Province, but after looking through all the papers on politics and current affairs, he realized he’d overlooked one thing.
The timeliness of newspapers in this era couldn’t compare to his previous life. Information spread slowly, and being on a ship isolated him even further. Many of the papers before him were from two weeks, or even a month, ago.
There were plenty of reports on the great disaster in the Southwest. The situation was far more tragic than what Fu Juemin had heard back in Luan River. Two weeks prior, the number of victims had already surpassed one million; he could only imagine what kind of hell on earth it had become by now.
The rest were just tabloids full of entertainment gossip, mostly detailing the romantic escapades of wealthy Shenghai merchants and celebrity dancers. There were also some film advertisements, but none of it interested Fu Juemin.
There was also a pile of foreign-language newspapers. The only one Fu Juemin could read was the *Sun Daily*, written in the Viliduo language. The publication dates on these were even more absurd—the oldest one was from six months ago.
Fu Juemin flipped through it briefly and found a short blurb on the bottom-left corner of the second page that piqued his interest.
The report stated that a pharmaceutical company in Viliduo Country, named "Otto," had a subsidiary biological laboratory that had developed a humanoid biochemical weapon called "Reproductive People." It was claimed to be Immune to Blades and Guns, possess immense strength, and could even have gunpowder-based firearms implanted within its body...
Reading this, Fu Juemin was suddenly reminded of the Demon corpses his second uncle, Fu Guoping, used to ship to Shenghai and Jinhai—the ones that were always collected by Westerners.
’Could it be... that they created these things by messing around with the flesh and blood of Demons and Demon Fiends?
That’s one seriously messed-up tech tree!...’
......
「Nine days later.」
On the top deck of the Haiyan, near the bow.
In the warm, gentle sunlight, a figure in a white suit and white leather shoes reclined on a lounge chair, leisurely sunbathing and reading a newspaper.
Nearby, a man in a wrinkled tuxedo meticulously played the violin, while a grim-faced youth stood by in a bodyguard’s stance.
When the violinist finished a piece, the grim-faced youth pulled a silver coin from his pocket and handed it to him. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
A lazy voice drifted from the lounge chair, "Give him more."
The violinist paused in surprise before giving a standard Western bow. "Thank you," he said, his face a picture of grateful elegance.
The newspaper was slowly lowered, revealing a fair and handsome young face. With the corners of his lips upturned in a slight smile, he had the perfect bearing of a wealthy young scion of the Republic.
It was none other than Fu Juemin, who had already been on the Haiyan for nearly ten days.
"Young Master, you seem to be in a good mood," Cao Tian, who had just paid the violinist, remarked.
Fu Juemin didn’t say anything, just smiled and handed him the newspaper.
Cao Tian took it and scanned it. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he whispered, "The Xin Republic’s Government plans to strip Song Zhenyuan of his governorship?"
"Just speculation among the populace. Nothing to be taken seriously."
Fu Juemin smiled and shook his head, but he couldn’t hide the delight in his eyes.
He’d had someone buy the newspaper three days ago when the Haiyan docked for supplies. He never would have imagined it—after the Southwest Fire Cloud Army entered the province, Song Zhenyuan had somehow managed to lose nearly half of Yangping’s territory in less than two weeks.
He was a provincial military governor with command of over a hundred thousand troops, yet he fought worse than a three-year-old—or so the newspaper scathingly put it.
Whether the news of his dismissal was true or not, the Central government was certainly furious. The secret letter in Fu Juemin’s possession—proof of Song Zhenyuan’s secret collusion with the North—hadn’t even been delivered yet. Now, it would be little more than the icing on the cake.
’I wonder how Second Uncle is doing now?’
With that thought, Fu Juemin casually asked Cao Tian to bring him the other newspapers.
Lately, he’d become fascinated by a tabloid called *Folklore and Strange Tales*. It was filled with strange anecdotes and curiosities, such as tales of a cat-faced old woman, a white fox maiden, a fire-breathing Centipede Spirit, and the ghost of a midnight songstress.
Many were obviously fabricated, but some were told with such convincing detail—even providing the specific time and place of the supposed event—that they felt plausible.
Naturally, Fu Juemin wasn’t reading these tabloids just for amusement; he had an ulterior motive.
’Even a small place like Luan River had so many Demons and Demon Fiends. Logically, a major city like Shenghai should have even more of these fiends causing trouble...’
’I don’t need every story in this tabloid to be true. If even a tenth of them are real, it would save me an incredible amount of work...’
Fu Juemin had long planned to form his own Demon Hunting Team. Back in Luan River, he could rely on the resources of his second uncle Fu Guoping’s Civil Affairs Bureau whenever trouble arose. But times had changed, and now he had to rely on himself for everything.
And a stable and reliable source of intelligence was the first step in implementing this plan.
The publisher of the copy of *Folklore and Strange Tales* in his hands was based right in Shenghai. As he flipped through the tabloid, he began to make a preliminary mental list, planning to pay them a visit as soon as he was settled in the city.
Just then, a sudden commotion erupted from below.
Fu Juemin put down the newspaper, listened for a moment, then slowly walked to the nearby railing and looked down.
The noise was coming from the second-class deck below.
He saw several men in their thirties gathered together. One of them, who wore glasses, was holding a letter high in the air. His face beaming with joy, he exclaimed, "Wonderful! Brother Gui Zhi writes that Mr. Mingyi will be arriving in Shenghai any day now!"
At these words, the intellectuals gathered around the man in glasses cheered excitedly, looking greatly encouraged.
One man, filled with righteous indignation, cupped his fist. "It will be a relief when Mr. Mingyi arrives! To think that the fruits of our struggle, for which we all risked our lives, have been snatched away by the Xin Republic’s Government..."
Before he could finish, someone clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Watch your words! Watch your words!"
The man whose mouth had been covered instantly realized he had spoken out of turn, and the group quickly dispersed.
Meanwhile, on the deck directly above them, Fu Juemin activated his Yao Ling ability. He proceeded to listen in on the rest of their conversation as they continued it in the privacy of their room, catching every last word.
After listening to it all, Fu Juemin wore an indescribably peculiar expression.
’This ship... is actually hiding a cell of the Revolutionary Faction?!’
