Chapter 113: Stranger (asking for monthly ticket) A gray-white city wall about 3 meters high stood in front of him, extending to both sides until the end of Lumian's sight. Many box carriages, four-seater carriages, open carriages, tandem carriages, and freight carriages were lined up, waiting to pass through the city gate. There, tax officials in blue uniforms and policemen in white shirts and black vests checked each car one by one, occasionally asking passers-by to produce their identification documents or open their suitcases. Lumian, who was carrying a brown suitcase, looked over there, and looked around from time to time, trying to find a way to escape the checkpoint. Soon, a man who noticed his behavior approached him. “What’s wrong, friend? I sense you’re upset?” The man was slightly shorter than Lumian, but twice as wide as him, with bulging cheeks that made his blue eyes look very small. As soon as he got closer, the smell of sweat and cheap perfume entered Lumian's nose, making him frown. Lumian pointed to the door and asked in confusion: “What is that doing? "Looking for wanted criminals? But why are you only looking for people who entered Trier and not those who left the city?" The man with messy yellow hair and a blue jacket that looked a little bloated looked at Lumian: "My friend, are you from a small city or a village or a small town?"
Seeing Lumian nodded, he sighed and said: "This is a tax! A market entry tax!" "Tariffs for entering the Trier market?" Lumian asked rhetorically. The man nodded: "Yes, this wall surrounds the entire city of Trier. There are 54 gates. There are tax collectors and police at each gate, and they will also catch wanted criminals." "Are all goods taxed?" Lumian asked curiously. The man touched his blue canvas jacket and said: “Almost, only grains and flour are exempt from market entry tax. “There were some in the past, but wasn’t there a war a few years ago? The price of bread in Trier went crazy, causing many citizens to protest and riot in the streets, and eventually the government abolished all food taxes. "Hey, why don't drunkards dare to do this? Now the tax rates on spirits, wine, and champagne are the highest. Many people go to the suburbs to find taverns to drink tax-free wine on weekends. They call it 'City Gate Wine'." “I see…” Lumian nodded thoughtfully. The man glanced around and said in a low voice: "If you have something you don't want to pay taxes on, I can take you into the city for a small fee." “You want to bribe them?” Lumian pointed at the tax collectors and police at the city gate with his chin. The man sneered immediately: “Their appetites are bigger than those of elephants. "I'm taking you into the city via a path without checkpoints." "Isn't the whole of Trier surrounded by city walls?" Lumian did not hide his doubts. The man smiled: "You'll find out later." He then said in a joking tone: "Dear sir, do you need my service?" Lumian thought for a moment and said:
"how much is it?" "3 Felkins." The man smiled warmly, "If you want, we can set out now, and you can pay when we get to the city." “Okay.” Lumian pressed down the dark wide-brimmed hat on his head, picked up the brown suitcase, and followed the fat man away from the city gate. A quarter of an hour later, the two came to a hill where vegetation and soil had been turned over, revealing grayish-white stones. There are scaffolding, rotten sleepers, and many obvious potholes here. It seems to be a mine that has been abandoned for a long time. The fat man led Lumian through piles of messy rocks and came to the entrance of a mine. “Is this the path?” Lumian asked with a wary look on his face. The fat man in the blue jacket laughed: "You really don't know much about Trier. "Haven't you heard the saying that Trier underground is bigger than Trier above ground?" "No." Lumian shook his head. The man explained simply: "Trier used to be much smaller than it is now, and it was surrounded by quarries used to build the city. Later, as the population grew, the city had to expand outwards, and all these quarries were taken in. The underground was full of hollow holes and mine tunnels. "Add to that Trier that sank underground during the Quaternary Period. The sewers, subways, and gas pipelines built by the government. Isn't that more massive than the above-ground part?" Lumian showed a look of sudden realization: "You're taking me through the underground Trier into the city?" "Yes." The man turned around and bent down to enter the mine, asking casually, "What's your name?" “Ciel.” Lumian stroked the golden hair at his temples. “What about you?” "Just call me Ramayeh." A man almost twice as tall as Lumian fiddled with the rocks in the corner of the mine and pulled out an iron-black lantern. The lamp was obviously made of metal, with rust on the surface. It was cylindrical in shape, with the upper part slightly narrower than the lower part by the width of a finger, and a black rubber base at the bottom. A trumpet-shaped metal object is inlaid at the connection between the narrow cylinder and the wide cylinder. It has been wiped clean and polished very smoothly, but there are still a few places where it is rusty. Ramayé took out a matchbox and fiddled with it for a while. Immediately, an orange-yellow light with a hint of blue appeared from the metal horn, illuminating the depths of the mine. "What is this?" Lumian asked with a confused look on his face. Ramayet held the iron-black lamp and walked towards the underground, mumbling; “Carbide lamp. "It was made by the guys from the Cave Society. Many workers in the mines are using it. I don't know why it glows, but you put some rocks and water in it, at the bottom and top respectively. When you want to use it, you just press here and then draw a flame to light the bell mouth." Calcium carbide reacts with water to produce acetylene, and acetylene burns and emits light? Lumian recalled the chemistry knowledge he had reviewed a few months ago. He was silent for a long time, until he followed Lamaye into the ground and walked forward along an abandoned mine tunnel, and then he continued to ask: "Cavern Association?" "The Trier Cave Association was founded by a group of people who like to explore and study caves. Now it seems to be involved in the mines as well." Lamayet glanced at Lumian who was walking beside him and asked with a smile, "Why don't you just take the steam train into Trier? The checkpoints at the train station have never been very strict, they just do random checks." Lumian recalled:
"I mainly wanted to experience the last bit of romance left over from the classical era." "Stage coach?" Lamayne smiled. "It's much more expensive than a steam train. I hear your accent sounds like you're from Lym or Leiston. From the southernmost part to Trier, it's about 120 fergins, right? And it takes four and a half days! If you change to a steam train, a third-class seat is less than 50 fergins, and it won't take more than 20 hours. Haha, the last bit of romance of the classical era is just a lie to people like you... Uh, you spent a lot of money, didn't you?" Lumian answered honestly: "Yes, I have a lot. I only have 267 Filkins left." Lamaye turned his head to look at him again, then retracted his gaze and said: “What a waste…” He held a metal-made calcium carbide lamp, illuminated by the orange-yellow and blue flame from the trumpet, passed through an arch-shaped place, and turned into another road. Lumian looked up and saw stones sleeping in the darkness high up, dotted with moss and dripping with water. The road under his feet was bumpy, with stone pillars standing on both sides, supporting the top of the cave. Stones and other things were piled between the pillars, like parallel wall panels, forming a "street" that could accommodate six or seven people walking side by side. Under the light of the calcium carbide lamp, a steel nameplate appeared on a stone pillar, with the following words written in Intis: "Right Street". “Is there a street name here?” Lumian asked in confusion. Ramayeh, who was holding the calcium carbide lamp, laughed and said: "Didn't I tell you this is called Underground Trier? "Well, actually, it was built when the municipal government was renovating it several decades ago. Those people wearing fake collars felt that the underground was too messy, like a maze. Whether it was rioters, murderers, smugglers, or cultists, they all hid here and had to be managed. In addition, many houses collapsed and sank due to the hollows in the underground quarry, so they needed to be reinforced. Therefore, the city hall spent almost ten years repairing the pillars, building the foundation, and connecting the originally independent quarries, underground ruins, catacombs and sewers. "In order to prevent the workers from getting lost, they deliberately made correspondences with the ground during the renovation. The roads, squares and alleys were restored here, and then nameplates of the corresponding streets were hung with the names. In the future, when they need to repair, they can just report the place name." “So,” Lumian pointed to the top of his head with his right hand that was not holding the suitcase, “Is that the real Right Street?” "Yes." Lamaye continued to move forward. "This is the underground Trier. Well, there is an anti-smuggling wall in front. The quarry police often come here to patrol, but don't worry, I will take you through a small tunnel to bypass it. Haha, those people with fake collars and full of lies think they can manage the underground Trier like they control the ground, but they only know a little more than half of the entrances and exits and the modified roads..." As he spoke, he led Lumian to the end of a dead end, then found a narrow gap and crawled in, with Lumian following closely behind. Two or three minutes later, they emerged from the small tunnel. In front of them was a "wall" made of stone pillars and a "street" formed by them. At this time, a burly figure was standing next to the stone pillar holding a calcium carbide lamp and said to Ramayeh: "Is this our guest?" Lamaye turned around and smiled at Lumian: "Stranger, I've changed my mind. The reward is 265 Felkins. What do you think? Am I being kind enough to leave you some bread and money for a hotel room today?" "What if I don't give it to you?" Lumian had a look of fear and a bit of stubbornness on his face. Lamaye laughed so hard that his fat cheeks shook: “What do you think will happen? "Didn't your mother tell you not to trust others too easily when you are out?" He and the burly man approached Lumian step by step from two directions. Lumian laughed along, bending down and putting the suitcase aside. He walked towards Ramayé and his companions. In the flickering flames, more than ten seconds passed quickly and the calcium carbide lamp was in Lumian's hands. He squatted beside the trembling Lamaye, whose face was bruised and swollen, and pulled out all the banknotes from his wallet. He counted them carefully in the orange-red and blue light. He then patted Lamaye's right cheek with the stack of banknotes and said with a smile:
"Now there are only 319 Felkin left." After saying that, Lumian put away the banknotes and walked towards a path that seemed to lead to the ground. There was a plaque on the stone pillar with two lines of Intis characters on it: "Candide Market, Chamber Pot Street." Among them, "Chemical Pot Street" was scratched with stones, and a name was added next to it: "Rampant streets." PS: Today's update is normal, after some adjustments, there will be more updates tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, please give me a monthly vote~ PS2: Thanks to book friend 20230421181603541 for rewarding the Silver Alliance. (End of this chapter)
