Yefutidaolu

Chapter 103 Stink and Wealth

Gao Jian was really curious about where the water came from.

The dirtiness and mess here are more than just a little dirty.

During the time Gao Jian has been walking here, he has not seen any garbage or wastewater treatment facilities.

In other words, garbage disposal relies entirely on burning, and wastewater disposal relies entirely on dumping.

The river turned into black water before, probably because of the sewage from so many people living here.

Mountains of garbage and residents' excrement were all mixed in the water. Judging from what Gao Jian saw, he estimated that the residents here, both adults and children, would only invite each other to take a bath in the pond filled with rainwater when it rained.

"Water? Isn't there a water-gathering formation? Yuezhou is close to the sea, and the moisture is very high. The water here is from the water-gathering formation." The sorcerer explained.

"The water gathering array is not cheap, right? Can every household afford it?" Gao Jian wondered.

"It's not necessary for every household to install one. In an area, everyone can pool their money to install one, and then use the water here together. The water collection array here is basically non-stop, releasing water anytime and anywhere," he explained.

"If it is used on this scale, even if Yuezhou has a lot of moisture, the moisture in an area will be drained out, right? By then, even if there is a water gathering array, there will be no way to continue pumping water, and we have to wait for the moisture to slowly disperse."

"So you have to grab it. If you really can't grab it, then just bear with it. After all, the used water vapor will not disappear. After a few days it will dissipate to the surroundings and can be gathered again." The Jianghu sorcerer seemed to be indifferent.

"Is it the same with you?" Gao Jian asked again, taking a look at the other's dirty robe.

The Jianghu magician pointed at himself and said, "Me? I don't live here for long. This place is not suitable for living. I usually collect enough parts here, and then follow the nearby caravans back to Anshui or Yue'an, and sell the cleaned parts there to earn some money and exchange them for some spiritual supplies."

When he said this, he suddenly slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, by the way, speaking of this, Master, do you want to change your clothes?"

"Why do you need to change clothes?"

He smiled and said, "Your clothes are not cheap, are they? When you come to a place like this, try not to wear too good clothes, because as soon as the wind blows, all the clothes you wear can be thrown away. Fires are burned here every day, and the air is very polluted. Look at my clothes. I usually don't wear such tattered clothes, but because good clothes will eventually be attached to the body by the smoke and ruined."

Due to the accumulated atmosphere over time, if you come here to visit, the locals will ask you to change your clothes to avoid ruining your good clothes.

"So that's how it is. Then let's change our clothes." Gao Jian didn't argue. It wasn't expensive to buy clothes here anyway.

Listen to others and eat enough.

So, the sorcerer brought Gao Jian a set of clothes in just a few minutes, but there were no new clothes here, but Gao Jian didn't care much.

Although they were a bit tattered, it was obvious that the clothes he brought were considered very good in this place, and it was estimated that he had put some thought into them.

Under the other party's guidance, Gao Jian changed his clothes in a house and then continued to explore inside.

As he continued walking further in, the scenery Gao Jian saw basically remained unchanged.

Some unused iron parts and some soil can be built into a house. It is cold in winter and warm in summer, which can effectively improve the tolerance of the residents.

Houses like this were laid out and piled up in the garbage dump, and many people were rummaging through the garbage dump for scrap parts.

Occasionally, you can see some large mechanical beasts or even flying boats flying here, dumping a lot of waste parts, and then slowly leaving.

Obviously, they are the source of this garbage.

Then there was the stench that was everywhere.

The backyard stank of shit and urine.

If someone cooks, the air will be filled with the stench of rotten vegetables and bad oil.

The musty smell of dust, the stink of burning parts that filled the air, the pungent smell of chamber pots, the stench of sulfur emanating from the fireplace, the stink of blood wafting from the alleys, and the sour odor of sweat and unwashed clothes emanating from people's bodies.

The river, the square, and even all kinds of things are full of stench. The area under the bridge and the ground are all smelly. Any human activity here is linked to the stench. From birth to death, there is no life that is not associated with the stench.

The only exception is that occasionally you can smell some sweet, strange smell from the black smoke of the lubricant, but after mixing with this sweet smell, all the stinky smells become stronger.

It stinks like hell.

Gao Jian also saw the cemetery here, the smell of which could almost make a practitioner faint.

It is called a cemetery, but in fact it is just a pit for piling corpses. People brought the dead from various places here. For many years, many corpses were brought here every day on carts, dumped in the long pit, and then buried.

The bones were neatly arranged, stacked layer upon layer.

It is hard to say whether they value the corpses or not, but it is obvious that there is no blood sacrifice like in Cangzhou. It seems that people are just helpless in this spare parts garbage dump and can only bury them in this way. After all, they did not harm the corpses or dump them at will. Instead, they carefully cleaned them, arranged them, and stacked them layer by layer.

After the corpse at the bottom has naturally decayed and dissolved, the pit will slowly lower, and then new ones can be put in. That's it.

Gao Jian was very surprised by this, but the people around him were used to it.

When Gao Jian asked the sorcerer why, he replied, "It's better to bury the body intact than to burn it, right? It's good enough to have one intact body. Look, sir, there are no ghosts around here."

Gao Jian heard this and felt the surroundings...

Indeed, it’s not even haunted.

There are no ghosts in this kind of place, which shows that the people living here really have no objection to such treatment, or... they have given the greatest respect to these dead people within their ability.

The Jianghu sorcerer seemed to think that Gao Jian's expression was not very pleasant, and quickly added: "Also, sir, although this place is so dirty, the people here earn much more than those who farm!"

The quack began to settle accounts with Gao Jian: "They go to pick up spare parts, and give them to us to burn. Then we charge the incineration fee, and spend money to buy their spare parts. Among the pile of parts they pick up, there is probably one that can be used among dozens of them. They sell this one to me, and usually I can sell it for 20 or 30 coins. If I make two more trips a day, I can earn about 100 coins. How can I earn this much by farming?"

"As for me, I collect these parts, take them back, and repair or fill what needs to be filled. This is a technical job that most people can't do. After I repair them, I sell them second-hand. I make money from the repairs and reselling." He explained his income and the income of other local kids.

This is actually all technical work.

Parts are not always reusable, and those children would rummage through a large pile of garbage, looking for junk parts that they thought could be used from the garbage filled with debris and oil.

Then, they carried the broken mechanical parts in backpacks and headed to the incineration site, where they found people like quacks and burned off the runes and oil stains on them.

Afterwards, the sorcerer would check the burned parts. Some parts would be damaged by the fire, while some would have problems themselves, such as cracks, and these would be unusable.

From dozens of parts, you can probably pick out one that can be used.

This one can be sold to a quack. It can be sold for twenty or thirty coins each. If they are lucky, they can sell four or five in a day. Some who are particularly lucky may be able to sell more than ten.

The sorcerers collected these parts, took them back, repaired them with their own skills, and then sold them to other practitioners of the mechanical art who needed parts.

After all, brand new parts are quite expensive. If you just want to practice, it would be much more convenient to use second-hand parts. So there is no need to worry about selling them. There are plenty of mechanics in Yuezhou.

"So you see, although this place is filthy, it's a good place to make money. Here, no matter if you are smart or not, you can have a good life. It's a bit hard, but look at those kids, sir. Do you know why most of the people picking up garbage are these half-grown children?"

"Why?" Gao Jian was also a little curious. There didn't seem to be any adults here, only some half-grown children picking up trash.

"Because ordinary people are not allowed to come in. You see these kids are very miserable, but actually they all have some talent to some extent. Maybe they can enter the immortal gate in the future." He pointed to the 'immortal mountain' composed of huge debris.

The remains of the five realms' machinery, together with these garbage dumps, constitute the 'foundation' of an immortal gate.

To be honest, the style of painting is a bit strange.

"Oh, outer disciples, huh?" Gao Jian looked at the children.

“Well, for outer disciples, picking up spare parts, making money, or even putting together some mechanisms by yourself are all part of the test. The best among them won’t be picking up spare parts all their lives.” When the Jianghu sorcerer said this, there was even a hint of envy in his tone.

These children were all selected by the immortal sects, and only they were qualified to "pick up spare parts".

Because picking up parts is a kind of learning in itself. By picking up valuable parts in the garbage dump and learning without any help, it is easy to tell whether one has talent or not.

The quack seemed to have finished sighing. He immediately looked at Gao Jian and changed the subject: "Master, if you ignore the stench and the garbage dump here, this is actually a normal town. Look, there are people doing small businesses over there, selling fried food and so on."

"The oil seems to be black and smells wrong. Is it mineral oil? This stuff is used for lubrication, right? Can the fried food be eaten?" Gao Jian frowned.

"Hey, no one has ever died from eating it. Just use the energy to circulate it. We all practice martial arts." He seemed nonchalant.

The mortals of the Divine Dynasty are not real mortals. This is a place where everyone has skills to practice. Even the lowest-level farmers have "farming skills". Trackers cannot carry hundreds of pounds of things and run fast without skills. Hunters have to track and fight monsters.

Taking some mineral oil... doesn't seem like a big deal?
So Gao Jian nodded, looked at the garbage dump under his feet, then raised his head and looked at the huge mountain made up of mechanical debris.

The mountain formed by the remains of the Five Realms Mechanism was not very huge, but they extended and built many buildings on it, slowly making the mountain bigger.

By relying on the number of buildings and the many mechanisms they extended, the height of the mountain was raised by several hundred meters.

"Then, what about the immortal gate in Digong Town? Are they just watching it like this?" Gao Jian stretched out his hand and pointed at the mountain.

"No, there are no monsters harassing this area. It's all because the adults of the Immortal Sect are protecting us."

"But it's not free. Whether it's us who burn parts and collect parts, or those locals who look for parts here, we all have to pay them a fee. And let alone us, these parts are actually very troublesome for many counties and immortal gates, and it's also a headache to deal with them."

“So, those wealthy counties and immortal gates will dump the garbage here for the convenience of disposing of it. If they just want to send the broken garbage and scrap parts here, they have to pay. It’s up to each one to get what he needs.” The Jianghu sorcerer explained.

Gao Jian nodded to show that he understood.

People who bring the garbage here have to pay, and people who pick up the garbage also have to pay. The immortal gate in Digong Town controls the garbage dump, so they can reap the income from both sides.

The people who pick up garbage, collect garbage, and throw away garbage have also achieved a certain "each getting what they need" in a sense.

Cruel?
It seems quite cruel because the living conditions here are not good.

But is there a problem? Gao Jian couldn't seem to tell what the problem was for a while.

Whether it is the children who are regarded as the seed bank or the sorcerers who make fire, their income is not low. Working in this garbage dump is actually a high income, which is enough to support their practice.

It seems...there's nothing wrong here?

But if there's nothing wrong, why does it look like this now?
Everyone is good, but their lives are not good. What is the problem?

Gao Jian fell into deep thought.

And the sorcerer, seeing Gao Jian lost in thought, waited quietly by the side.

This rich gentleman came here to collect folk songs. What I just said should be quite new to him, so it is normal for him to stop and record it.

Just as Gao Jian was thinking, a miserable wailing sound suddenly came from the side.

This suddenly interrupted Gao Jian's thought process and he looked towards where the wailing sound came from.

It was a woman's voice, and it smelled just as bad as always.

Gao Jian didn't think and just moved towards that direction.

There is a fish stall over there.

(End of this chapter)