Chapter 595

After leaving the club, Xia De returned to the Home for the Blind to inquire about the location of the local black market from Ms. Michelle. Then, holding the travel map of Midhillburg, he walked toward the black market while strolling around the city.

It is conceivable that before truly rescuing Priest Ao Gu Si, Xia De still needs to have many adventures in this city. Therefore, he wants to become familiar with this place as soon as possible, at least knowing which roads are convenient for him to escape.

Unlike Tobesk and Coldwater Port, which Xia De is more familiar with, as an inland city in the Old Continent near the mountains, Midhillburg's urban style is more inclined toward modernization and industrialization. It doesn't have the long history and political role of the capital, nor is it constrained by maritime trade like Coldwater Port, so the city's development is inclined toward the docks.

After the advent of steam industry, Midhillburg was able to wholeheartedly develop industrialization. Relying on its important transportation status and the abundant mineral resources at the northern foot of the West Carl Mountains, the urban area of this mountain city has become larger and larger in recent years, and the economy has also become better and better. But correspondingly, despite being close to the mountains, the air pollution level is only slightly better than Tobesk.

Most of the historical buildings with towering yellow walls along the street are less than a hundred years old, and the further one moves toward the north away from the mountains, the more one can observe that the municipal infrastructure is becoming newer and newer. This is highlighted by the fact that there are unified steam meters and gas meters at the street corners, and the metal pipes climbing on the walls are mostly not rusted.

After all, Midhillburg does not have the conditions to expand the city toward the Rommel mountain range in the south. Therefore, although the steam factories and the traditional city center are in the South City, the living conditions in the North City are actually better.

Black smoke spewed into the sky, making the noisy city look gray, but this is also the norm of this era. As one of the most important transportation hub cities in the eastern part of the Old Continent, besides hearing various languages communicating on the streets, there are also many ring warlocks stationed locally and passing through, which gave birth to a huge underground black market.

Similar to the situation in Coldwater Port, among the black markets of all sizes, there are always some that are very reputable because of their good credibility. The one Ms. Michelle introduced to Xia De is one of them.

The black market in Xia De's impression is usually a tavern or hotel, used to cover up the strange phenomenon of strangers coming and going frequently. And the one Ms. Michelle introduced to Xia De is inside the Midhillburg train station.

Xia De followed the map and turned at the corner of Hankwood Street. At this time, he could already hear the train whistle coming from inside the station. The transport capacity of the Midhillburg steam train station is extremely huge. Trains coming and going pass through the Rommel mountain range to the south and enter the Kassenrick United Kingdom on the southern plains of the Old Continent, and to the north, they travel within the Delarion Kingdom in the north of the Old Continent.

When the outsider appeared at the station entrance with his head down and holding a newspaper, no one paid any attention to him, who was plain and unremarkable.

"It's actually bigger than Tobesk train station......"

Xia De sighed softly, and then entered the station with the passengers carrying suitcases or backpacks beside him.

Midhillburg train station is located in the southeast of the city and is responsible for both freight and passenger transport. The inside of the station is extremely noisy and crowded, the buzzing sound is particularly annoying, and there is a thick, choking smell of coal burning in the air.

Amidst the noise in his ears, Xia De first found the ticket office and, according to the information provided by Ms. Michelle, bought a second-class ticket for steam train No. B823.

After waiting for twenty minutes, Xia De, holding a newspaper and reading the news about the Dacheng Player champion, boarded the train at the station entrance.

His ticket was for carriage No. 2, but after the train started moving, Xia De walked toward the front of the train. The first 3 carriages of the entire train were for freight, and the ones behind were for passengers. Between the freight and passenger carriages, there was a metal fence door and a wooden door to prevent passengers from wandering around.

Xia De held his ticket, newspaper, and map, and knocked on the wooden door across the gap in the iron fence with his fingers. Three short and one long, then three long and one short.

Then the wooden door was opened a crack:

"Who introduced you?"

The voice behind the door asked.

This train is a short-distance train, shuttling between Midhillburg and small towns in the countryside every hour. Only trusted ring warlocks and organizations in the city can obtain information, so the introducer must be stated:

"The nun from the Home for the Blind, she also asked me to tell you, don't forget to send the goods ordered last time to her."

"Won't forget."

The voice behind the door replied, and then handed out a mask.

After Xia De put it on, a key was handed out from behind the door. Xia De used the key to open the fence door, pushed the fence door open to one side amid the somewhat harsh metal friction sound, and after returning the key to the gatekeeper, he officially entered the black market of the station.

The first three carriages are all black market areas of the station. Carriage No. 1, closest to the front of the train, is the location for large-amount transactions and requires consent to enter. Carriage No. 2 and Carriage No. 3 are arranged like taverns, with one bartender in each carriage responsible for maintaining order and updating the transaction content on the small blackboard hanging on both sides of the carriage.

Of course, if you don't want to make the transaction content public, you can spend a large sum of money to let the bartender keep the transaction information alone, waiting for a suitable transaction object to appear.

Xia De walked around the carriage and didn't see anyone selling coin-type relics, and he wasn't interested in other information. So, he first found the bartender in Carriage No. 3, explained his requirement for long-term rewards for purchasing coin-type relics, and then inquired about whether there were any other abnormal events in the city since the beginning of autumn half a month ago.

The bald bartender charged Xia De 3 shillings for information before saying:

"Do the anomalies of the Orthodox Church count? They seem to be planning some big action in autumn or winter, and they have been preparing since last year. If you are a ring warlock from out of town, don't provoke the church locally recently, otherwise you will definitely be unlucky."

"I've also heard about the anomalies of the church locally, what exactly are they trying to do?"

But the bartender just shook his head:

"Besides the anomalies of the church, since the end of summer this year, strange missing person cases locally have suddenly increased. I don't know the reason, and it's impossible to investigate at all, just like urban legends in tabloid newspapers."

"Did this kind of thing happen locally before?"

The bartender glanced at Xia De:

"Yes, but the frequency was very low, and it didn't attract much attention. Most of these things happened to ordinary people, and I haven't heard of it happening to ring warlocks."

It seems Priest Ao Gu Si was unlucky this time.

"Also, do you have any commissions for selling special coins here? There aren't any on the blackboard over there."

"There are indeed."

The bartender nodded, and a smile appeared on Xia De's face behind the mask. Sure enough, in a city he hadn't been to, the possibility of finding special coins was greater:

"Where is the trader......"

He suddenly thought that when he bought coins at the Seven Brooms Tavern in Coldwater Port, it was his first meeting with Dac Nisi, and both sides even played a game of Luo De cards. Therefore, Xia De suddenly became nervous at this time:

"Wait, the trader wouldn't be right here, would they?"

"Yes, the trader is me."

The bartender pointed to himself lazily:

"Besides being a broker, we also acquire some low-risk relics for sale. I only have this one here. If you want to buy it, we can trade now."

Amidst the shaking of the train, he pulled out a stack of document papers from under the counter, searched for a long time before pulling one out and handing it to Xia De.

After Xia De thanked him, he took the paper and found a round table by the window to sit down, carefully reading the introduction of the new relic:

【Poet-level relic - Upright Coin, the appearance is a copper coin slightly larger than a one-shilling coin. One side is a purple Juan flower pattern, considered the reverse; the other side is written with the letter "one" in suspected Fourth Era script, considered the obverse.

Characteristic: No matter under any circumstances, when this coin is thrown, it always remains upright when it lands. If the space it is in does not have the concept of "down," the thrown coin will flip infinitely; the holder of the coin will greatly increase the probability of the coin remaining upright when throwing other coins.】

"What kind of characteristic is this?"

Xia De thought suspiciously behind the mask, and then noticed two strangers sitting down across the table, huddled together and whispering.

【Containment method: Stand the coin upright on a plane with an angle of no more than 12 degrees to the ground; slight vibration will not cause the coin to fall.

Negative characteristic: If one side of the coin is pressed on a plane with an angle of no more than 12 degrees to the ground, or if the above problem is caused by strong vibration, then—in the case of the obverse facing up, it needs to be passed on through trading within 24 hours. The trader who obtains the coin will definitely fall from a height and die within 8 hours of touching the coin; if the transaction is not completed, the holder of the coin will forcibly vomit one-third of their internal organs after 24 hours.

If the reverse of the coin is facing up, it needs to swallow at least 10 pounds of dried purple Juan flower petals (about 4.53kg) within 4 hours, and then the coin must be passed on to others through trading. If any of these conditions are not completed, the coin holder will walk into a field of purple Juan flowers and disappear within 24 hours.】

"This can probably be counted as the relic with the weakest characteristics I have encountered."

Xia De flipped through the document in his hand, and then looked at the final price:

"15 pounds 3 shillings?"

Although it was a bit higher than he expected, it was just below his psychological maximum price:

"Should be no problem."

He stood up and returned to the counter, telling the bartender he wanted to buy the coin. The bartender had to go to the front carriage to get the goods, so he let Xia De find a place to rest first.

Coincidentally, someone was talking about the "Dacheng Player 1853" in Tobesk, so Xia De also joined in. Afterward, even after getting the coin, he played two games of Luo De cards with strangers to pass the time before the train returned to Midhillburg.

Although everyone didn't know each other, playing cards was still very interesting, and Xia De could also learn more about the city from the conversation.

By the time Xia De crossed the dense forest of the West Carl Mountains and returned to No. 6 St. Deran Square through the ruined tower, it was already dark outside. Dorothy and Luweiya were both still there, the former writing in the study and the latter debugging her stargazing equipment on the third floor.