The Ancestral Legacy Begins in the Wild West

"Kongbang wa." At the same time as this greeting came, a person walked over, stepping on the stepping stones in the courtyard. The steps were quick but inexplicably unsteady.

Zhang Ansheng immediately confirmed his idea: "Thanks to countless unknown teachers, I actually understood this sentence, 'Good evening.' So this is indeed the Japanese island."

A person walked in through the door, wearing a light blue haori with white mountain-shaped patterns on the cuffs and hem, a short black kimono underneath, dark bottoms, hakama, and white tabi socks and straw sandals.

A katana was tucked into the left side of the white belt around his waist. The scabbard was plain black and unremarkable.

But when he looked up, he saw that the young man in front of him had a shaved blue forehead and his hair at the back was tied into a small bun, clearly a standard chonmage. This hairstyle originated from the samurai class.

However, this person not only had a delicate face but was also somewhat pale, and his body was not very strong, so even though he carried a knife, he was not frightening.

"Judging from his appearance, he's probably around twenty years old? But he has calluses on his hands and a unique gait; he might not actually be someone who knows how to use a knife." Zhang Chang'an made this judgment, unconsciously frowning.

The hunting skills incorporated into the Grim Reaper's Eye, along with his now extremely powerful eyesight, allow him to easily see through countless details about this person.

Most importantly, this man's physical condition was not good. His lips were pale, and with each breath, a hissing sound like metal equipment passing through the wind could be heard from his chest.

Zhang Chang'an pondered for a moment, then quickly unfolded the family tree, skipping the import and immediately looking at the ancestor's personal ability page.

"[Introduction to Japanese Whale Oil Machinery] (Common Product)"

Price: 150 Time Fragments...

"[Basic Japanese] (No Level)"

Price: 100 Time Fragments

Zhang Chang'an didn't continue, and decisively took out his money.

The young man bowed slightly: "It's me, Okita, Mr. Tesshu. I'm bothering you again."

He was speaking Japanese. But now Zhang Ansheng can understand him.

"It's nothing." He returned the greeting quite naturally, while taking the opportunity to observe his surroundings.

Looking down, you see a pair of hands covered in grease, with a precision brass wrench beside them.

This ancestor was wearing a gray-brown coarse cloth kimono with a half-wrap over it, and had many tools hanging on it.

This was a workshop of moderate size, about thirty or forty square meters. The walls were made of old, dark wood panels, and various tools and parts hung from several thick wooden beams.

The lattice windows were covered with translucent washi paper, letting in a faint moonlight that mingled with the whale oil lamp, illuminating a row of wooden frames along the wall, along with the copper pipes, gears, and sealing rings on them.

"Oh no, I've become A-Ming." Zhang Chang'an hadn't even checked the instance information yet, but just by glancing at it, the identity of this ancestor couldn't be clearer.

"Mr. Okita?" Memories of his ancestors were slowly returning to Zhang Chang'an's mind, so he had a general understanding of the situation: "You're here for repairs again?"

He had just received some memories, but he already had a vague description of the person in front of him; he seemed to be a regular customer.

Okita listened to his words, gave a wry smile, raised his hand to unbutton his shirt, revealing something on the left side of his chest.

It was a mechanical lung with large sections of metal protruding from its skin. Constructed of brass and mild steel, it was connected to the damaged lung by tiny tubes, and black steam escaped with each breath.

"After all, it's a very useful thing, but it's still not perfect enough."

Zhang Chang'an had seen a lot of steam technology in London, but seeing this still made him frown: "Mechanical organ? I've never heard of such a thing in London."

If it were simply a matter of surpassing London's level, that wouldn't matter. The key issue is that the surface of the mechanical lung in internal medicine is not as smooth and new as it used to be.

Near the edge, several dark rust spots were slowly spreading, and the surrounding blood vessels and muscle tissue were also slightly blackened, which looked extremely creepy.

As Zhang Chang'an observed, the instance information flashed before his eyes once again:

"The Rift: [Disaster Relief] 1086 (74th Generation: Tie Zhou Gong)"

The first year of Yuanji, 1864, Kyoto, early summer.

"At this time, the island nation of Japan was in the final stage of the Shogunate's rule, eleven years after the British Black Ships forced open their doors."

The Japanese were unconcerned about the humiliation of opening their seas wide; they only coveted Western technology. Leveraging their advanced whaling industry, Japan rapidly forged a path of radical steam technology.

With the introduction of new ideas and clashes between old and new personnel, the sharpest blades of the shogunate—the Shinsengumi, the pro-imperial and anti-foreign faction, and the Meiji Restoration faction—fought fiercely in Kyoto.

Mr. Tetsuzu lives here. He was a rare watchmaker at the time. He left to make a living in a big city and ended up in Japan by chance.

Using his prior knowledge of mechanics, he found a livelihood here that was completely different from that of his compatriots.

"It really is Kyoto at the end of the Edo period." Zhang Chang'an had a premonition beforehand. The steam technology era of Japan was nothing more than the Meiji and Taisho periods.

If the traces of Westernization are not obvious, then it is most likely from the early Meiji period, the late Edo period.

"So, this is..." Zhang Chang'an pondered the background of this era and unconsciously looked up at the owner of the mechanical lung.

His surname is Okita, and he has lung disease. In this era, there is only one celebrity like him.

As the Rift states, during this period, the entire political situation in Japan was extremely chaotic, which led to the birth of the Shinsengumi, an armed ronin organization in Kyoto to maintain order.

Many of the great swordsmen who emerged after the Warring States period in Japan came from this region.

One of the first captains was named Okita Souji, who was highly talented in the Tennen Rishin-ryu swordsmanship.

However, he was also a notorious tuberculosis patient. He was a master swordsman, but his body was weak, and he died of tuberculosis at a young age.

"This one... seems to be free from this problem." Zhang Chang'an looked at Mr. Okita in front of him, and his gradually filling memories quickly confirmed his thoughts.

"The Japanese had no awe for foreign steam technology, only the ambition to quickly absorb and even surpass the West. Therefore, they abandoned many things, including caution about the dangers of steam technology and conscience."

They abandoned the process of treating or stabilizing various whale oils, thus achieving higher energy release, and abandoned the addition of safety features to machinery, thereby creating entirely new technologies that were not yet available in London and the West.

As a famous swordsman during the late Edo period, Okita Souji had early access to their research results in human implant technology.

Mechanical lungs replaced the original alveoli, and black whale oil flowed through them instead of blood.

"When was the last time you came here?" Zhang Ansheng sat at the counter, carefully examining the mechanical lungs and rust spots across the table.

With his other hand, he reached for the wooden shelf beside him and took down a brass soft brush, a can of special sludge-removing oil, and several pieces of suede cloth.

However, although his movements were extremely skillful, his gaze never left his hands.

There, on the wristwatch face, the veins were clearly a bluish-black.