Chapter 112: Outsider (Seeking monthly votes)

A gray-white city wall about 3 meters high stood in front, extending to both sides until the end of Lu Mian's line of sight.

Many box-style carriages, four-seater carriages, open-top carriages, tandem carriages, and cargo carriages lined up, waiting to pass through the city gate.

There, tax officials in blue uniforms and police in white shirts and black vests were checking one by one, occasionally asking passing pedestrians to take out identification documents or open their suitcases.

Lu Mian, carrying a brown suitcase, looked out there, occasionally looking around, trying to find a way to avoid the checkpoint.

Not long after, a man who noticed his behavior approached.

"What's wrong, friend, I feel like you're very troubled?" This man was slightly shorter than Lu Mian, but his width was twice his, and the flesh on his cheeks bulged, squeezing his blue eyes very small.

As soon as he approached, the scent mixed with sweat and cheap perfume drilled into Lu Mian's nose, making him unable to help frowning.

Lu Mian pointed to the entrance and asked with a blank face:

"What are they doing there?

"Looking for wanted criminals? But why only check those entering Trier and not those leaving the city?"

The man with messy yellow hair and a blue short jacket that was stretched a bit bloated looked at Lu Mian twice:

"My friend, are you from a small city or a village or town?"

Seeing Lu Mian nod, he sighed and said:

"This is collecting taxes! Entry tax!"

"Tariff for entering the Trier market?" Lu Mian asked back.

The man nodded:

"Yeah, this circle of city walls surrounds the entire Trier, with 54 large gates, and every large gate has tax officials and police, and by the way, they will also catch wanted criminals."

"Is tax collected on all goods?" Lu Mian asked curiously.

The man touched his blue short jacket made of canvas and said:

"Almost, only grains and flour don't need to pay entry tax.

"There used to be, but wasn't there a war a few years ago? The price of bread in Trier went crazy, causing many citizens to take to the streets to protest and riot, eventually making the government cancel the entry tax on all food.

"Hey, why don't you say the drunks dare to do this? Now the tax rate on spirits, wine, and champagne is the highest. Many people run to the suburbs on weekends to find small taverns to drink tax-free alcohol. They call this 'city gate wine'."

"Is that so..." Lu Mian nodded thoughtfully.

The man looked left and right and lowered his voice:

"If you have anything on you that you don't want to pay tax on, I can take you into the city, you only need to pay me a little reward."

"Do you want to bribe them?" Lu Mian pointed to the tax officials and police at the city gate with his chin.

The man sneered instantly:

"Their appetites are more exaggerated than elephants.

"I'm taking you into the city through a small path without checkpoints."

"Isn't the entire Trier surrounded by city walls?" Lu Mian did not hide his confusion.

The man smiled:

"You'll know in a while."

He then said in a teasing tone:

"Respected sir, do you need my service?"

Lu Mian thought for a while and said:

"How much?"

"3 Ferkins." The man smiled enthusiastically, "If you are willing, we can set off now, and you can pay when we arrive in the city."

"Good." Lu Mian pressed his dark wide-brimmed hat, carried his brown suitcase, and followed the fat man toward the place far from the city gate.

A quarter of an hour later, the two arrived on a hill where vegetation and soil were overturned, revealing gray-white stones.

There were scaffolding, rotten sleepers, and many obvious pits, seemingly an abandoned mine for a long time.

The fat man led Lu Mian through piles of messy stones and arrived at the entrance of a mine tunnel.

"Is this the small path?" Lu Mian asked with a vigilant face.

The fat man wearing a blue short jacket laughed:

"You really don't know anything about Trier.

"Haven't you heard a saying? The Trier underground is even larger than the Trier above ground!"

"No." Lu Mian shook his head.

The man explained simply:

"The Trier of the past was much smaller than it is now, and the surroundings were all quarries used to build the city. Later, there were more and more people here, and the city had to develop outward, so it wrapped these quarries in. The underground is full of dug-out voids and mine tunnels.

"Plus the Trier that sank to the ground in the Fourth Epoch, the sewers the government built, the subways dug, and the gas pipes buried, isn't this larger than the above-ground part?"

Lu Mian showed a sudden realization:

"Are you taking me into the city through the Trier underground?"

"Right." The man turned his body and asked casually while bending down to enter the mine tunnel, "How should I address you?"

"Charles." Lu Mian touched his golden hair at his temples, "You?"

"Just call me Lamaye." The man, who was almost twice as wide as Lu Mian, fumbled in a pile of stones in the corner of the mine tunnel and found an iron-black lantern.

This lamp was clearly made of metal, with rust on the surface. It was cylindrical overall, with the upper part narrower than the lower part by about the width of a finger, and the bottom was a black rubber base.

At the connection between the narrow cylinder and the wide cylinder, a trumpet-shaped metal object was embedded. It was wiped very clean and polished very smoothly, but it still had rust in several places.

Lamaye took out a matchbox and fiddled with it for a while. Orange-colored flames with a hint of blue appeared at the metal trumpet instantly, illuminating the depths of the mine tunnel.

"What is this?" Lu Mian asked with a face that didn't understand and asked.

Lamaye carried the iron-black lamp and walked toward the ground, chattering:

"Carbide lamp.

"A group of people from the Cave Association came up with it. Many miners are using it. I don't know why it glows either. Anyway, just put some stones and water in, put them in the bottom and top separately, and when you want to use it, press here, then strike a flame to light the trumpet mouth."

Carbide and water react to generate acetylene, and acetylene burns to emit light? Lu Mian recalled the chemistry knowledge he was still reviewing a few months ago.

He was silent for a good while until he followed Lamaye into the underground and walked forward along a remaining mine tunnel before continuing to ask: "Cave Association?"

"Trier Cave Association, a group of people who like to explore caves and study caves came up with it. Now it seems they are even involved in mine tunnel matters." Lamaye tilted his head and looked at Lu Mian walking beside him, asking with a smile, "Why didn't you take the steam train into Trier? The checkpoints at the train station have never been very strict, just random checks."

Lu Mian recalled and said:

"I mainly wanted to experience the last bit of romance left from the classical era."

"Stagecoach?" Lamaye laughed, "This is much more expensive than a steam train. I hear your accent sounds like it's from the Lim, Leiston area. From the southernmost part to Trier, it should take about 120 Ferkins? And it takes four and a half days! If it were a steam train, a third-class seat is less than 50 Ferkins, and you can arrive in less than 20 hours. Hehe, what last bit of romance from the classical era, it's just to cheat people like you... Uh, you spent a lot of money, right?"

Lu Mian answered honestly:

"It is quite a lot, only 267 Ferkins left on me."

Lamaye looked at him again and took back his gaze:

"What a waste..."

He carried the carbide lamp cast in metal, passed through a place shaped like an archway with the illumination of the orange-blue flames at the trumpet mouth, and turned into another road.

Lu Mian looked up at the top and saw that the high place was stones sleeping in the darkness, occasionally dotted with moss, with seeping water droplets dripping down.

The road under his feet was pitted, with stone pillars standing on both sides, supporting the cave roof.

Between the pillars were piled stones and other things, like parallel wall panels, clamping out a "street" that could accommodate six or seven people walking side by side.

Because of the illumination of the carbide lamp, a steel nameplate appeared on a stone pillar, written in Intis on it:

"Right Street".

"There are street names here too?" Lu Mian asked in confusion.

Lamaye, carrying the carbide lamp, chuckled:

"Didn't I tell you? This is the Trier underground.

"Well, actually, it was set up during the municipal renovation decades ago. Those people above wearing fake collars felt that the underground was too chaotic, like a maze. Whether it was rioters, murderers, smugglers, or those engaging in evil cults, they all hid here, so it had to be managed. Moreover, many houses collapsed and subsided because of the quarry voids underground, so they needed reinforcement. Therefore, City Hall spent nearly ten years building pillars, building foundations, and connecting the originally independent quarries, underground ruins, catacombs, and sewers.

"In order not to let the workers get lost, they specifically made correspondences with the ground during the renovation. Roads, squares, and alleys were all restored here, and then corresponding street nameplates were hung, and names were marked. If they need maintenance in the future, just report the street name."

"In other words." Lu Mian pointed to the top with his right hand that wasn't holding the suitcase, "Is the one above the real Right Street?"

"Right." Lamaye continued to move forward, "This is the Trier underground. Well, there is an anti-smuggling wall ahead. Those quarry police often come to patrol, but don't worry, I will take you through a small tunnel to bypass it. Hehe, those people wearing fake collars and full of lies thought they could manage the Trier underground like they manage the ground, but they only know about half of the entrances and exits and renovated roads..."

While speaking, he led Lu Mian to the end of a dead end, then found a narrow gap and drilled in, with Lu Mian following closely behind.

Two or three minutes passed, and they drilled out of the small tunnel. In front was a "wall" composed of stone pillars and the "street" clamped out by them.

At this time, a burly figure was standing by the stone pillar carrying a carbide lamp and said to Lamaye:

"Is this our guest?"

Lamaye turned his body and smiled at Lu Mian:

"Outsider, I changed my mind, the reward is 265 Ferkins. How about it, am I very merciful, still leaving you money to buy bread and stay in a hotel today?"

"What if I, I don't give it?" Lu Mian looked terrified, but also with a bit of stubbornness.

Lamaye laughed until the fat on his face shook:

"What do you think will happen?

"Didn't your mother tell you not to trust others too easily when you go out?"

He and the burly man approached Lu Mian step by step from two directions.

Lu Mian smiled along, bent down, and put the suitcase aside.

He walked toward Lamaye and his companion.

In the swaying firelight, more than ten seconds passed quickly, and the carbide lamp was in Lu Mian's hands.

He squatted beside Lamaye, who was bruised and shivering, pulled out all the banknotes from the other party's wallet, and counted them seriously in the orange-blue light.

He then patted Lamaye's right face with the stack of banknotes and said with a smile:

"Now there are only 319 Ferkins left."

After speaking, Lu Mian put away the banknotes and walked toward a road that seemed to lead to the ground.

The stone pillar there hung a nameplate with two rows of Intis on it:

"Honest Market District, Night Pot Street."

Among them, "Night Pot Street" was scratched by stones, and a name was added next to it:

"Chaos Street."

PS: Normal update today, adjusting, there will be additional updates tomorrow and the day after, seeking monthly votes~

PS2: Thanks to book friend 20230421181603541 for the Silver Alliance reward.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 113 =====