Chapter 585 - 74: The Visitor (Part 3)
Moreover, from today’s observations and experiences on the island, this place indeed doesn’t seem like an ancient place, as if it only recently emerged.
Most of the people living around the port at the island’s edge reside in wooden houses.
However, the ruler of the island and the house where I currently reside use a different kind of building material that I’ve never seen before; the entire building is seamless, with no visible joints on the surface.
Besides, there are also some wooden-stone structured houses on the island.
These building materials clearly divide the island’s populace into different classes: the lowest class lives in wooden houses, the middle class in wooden-stone structured houses, and only the ruling class has the privilege to reside in such sturdy and beautiful houses.
While observing the buildings, Kilian also took note of the island’s layout design.
Although he was under surveillance from the armed island personnel and couldn’t openly tour, even with a quick glance, he could see that the urban planning here was orderly.
Chen Zhou referred to modern cities, planning wide and straight main roads connecting various parts of the island.
The island had the spaciousness characteristic of modern town construction, and although the buildings weren’t as intricately crafted and splendid as medieval European towns, the layout gave the whole place a unique aesthetic appeal.
Public buildings like hospitals, schools, and police stations are located at the junction of residential and commercial areas, making it easy for islanders to reach their destinations shortly after leaving home.
With the advent of bicycles, their price gradually decreased as carpenters on the island increased, and now most workers own their bicycles, cycling swiftly along the roads during morning and evening commutes.
This peculiar machine was also a source of curiosity for Kilian, and he had a premonition that if he could introduce this machine to Europe, he’d surely make a fortune.
Apart from these, looking at the three iron ships on the sea outside the island, Kilian always felt like he might be dreaming, trapped in a long dream.
"The world’s most backward architecture and the world’s most advanced technology both appear on this distant island.
How ridiculous this sounds, yet it has happened and is vividly present before our eyes."
The root cause, Kilian ultimately centered all his focus on that towering ruler.
Chen Zhou, like the islanders, had a slightly yellowish skin tone, but anyone with experience could tell at a glance that he was not of the same kind as the islanders.
In appearance, his skin was whiter, his facial features more defined than the other islanders, his teeth were white and neat, lacking the uncivilized, savage traits of the natives, such as slightly protruding mouths and broad jaws like monkeys.
Moreover, he was tall and robust, a rare herculean figure even in Europe, and his complexion was rosy, clearly revealing his upper-class origin.
What was even more remarkable was the ruler’s aura.
Aura is something indescribable; Kilian had seen all sorts of people, but no one ever gave him the same special feeling as this ruler.
Whether it was the members of the royalty or the clergy serving the church, none had the ruler’s unique aura of seeming indifferent and disdainful of everything.
Others might achieve detachment because of their high status or spiritual influence, looking down upon ordinary people.
But this ruler exuded a sense of genuinely not caring about the world, even leading Kilian to a bold hypothesis—
"He doesn’t belong to this world at all."