Beckland East End, an intersection.

Mike Joseph, seeing a number of children in tattered clothes and poor eyes on the side of the street, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, intending to go over and give them some pennies.

However, his actions were stopped by the former homeless old Kohler:

"Those are thieves!"

"Thieves? What about their parents? Or are they all controlled by gangs?" Mike, a veteran journalist, had never been to the East End, but he had vaguely heard that there were several gangs here that would control street children from stealing or begging.

"Parents? Either they don't have parents, or their parents have been thieves, or they still do, of course, Mr. Reporter, you are right, many of them are indeed controlled by the gangs, and it is said that the gangsters will teach them how to steal, for example, hang a gentleman's coat on the wall, put a handkerchief in the pocket, hang a pocket watch outside, and through repeated practice, you can steal the handkerchief without the pocket watch shaking, heh, this is what I heard in the workhouse when I was a vagabond. "I remember the youngest thief I ever caught on this street was only six years old, well, six years ......old."

He seemed to think of the child he had lost due to his illness, and couldn't help but take out a crumpled cigarette from his coat pocket, but he didn't want to smoke it, just sniffed it.

"Six-year-old ......" Mike was a little shocked by this number.

Klein listened quietly, sighed and said:

"This is the East End. ”

He looked around, adjusted his mood, and said:

"It's closer to the jungle than to human society. ”

"Our interviews have to be treated as an adventure, both knowing how to avoid the territory of dangerous creatures and staying away from the little things that don't seem to be too harmful to you, well, I mean the mosquitoes in the jungle. ”

"Mike, if you expose the thickness of your wallet in front of those kids, even if you protect them well and don't let them steal them, you will encounter a doomed robbery in the next adventure, and if you dare to resist, maybe there will be one more body floating in the Tasok River tomorrow morning. ”

"Mr. Detective, you're so right! There are so many people in the East Side, and a few disappear every day, no one will care. Kohler Sr. agreed.

Mike listened with a calm expression, was silent for a few seconds, and suddenly spoke:

"350,000. ”

"Huh?" Crane's throat was noticeably hoarse due to the cold.

Mike walked forward:

"This is a preliminary count of the population of the Eastern District. ”

"But I know it's a lot more than that. ”

"So many?" said Kohler, Sr. was startled.

Although he had experienced the day and night of the East District, he intuitively knew that there were many residents here, but he did not expect it to be so much.

That's several times the population of the city of Tingen...... Klein subconsciously compared the most familiar places.

He glanced at the intersection a few paces away and said:

"Which way do we go next?"

Old Kohler looked up and said:

"Don't go straight, that neighborhood is controlled by the Zmanga Party, they are very vicious, completely unreasonable, if they find out that there are reporters interviewing, they will definitely beat us up!"

Isn't this the gang that "brainless" caused me to lose 10,000 pounds? What kind of executioner is he, uh, I don't even remember his name...... Fortunately, the 10,000 pounds were finally exchanged for the potion recipes for Sequence 7, Sequence and Sequence 5 corresponding to the "Fortune Teller", in exchange for the "Eyes of All Black", and in exchange for the life of Ambassador Intis...... It is also unknown which force finally obtained the manuscript about the third-generation difference machine...... Klein suddenly remembered what had happened at the beginning of last month.

"The Zmanger Party, the gang, which is mostly made up of Highlanders?" Mike asked thoughtfully.

"Mr. Reporter, have you heard of them?" said old Kohler, surprised

Mike snorted:

"They are involved in a number of cases and have some reputation outside of the East End, and it is said that some members were once involved in an Indis espionage case. ”

...... Next to you are the parties, the informants, the victims...... Klein silently added.

"You decent gentlemen know about the Zmanga Party, why don't the police arrest them all?" asked the elder Kohler, with the thinking of the people at the bottom.

Mike's expression suddenly became a little ugly, and he coughed twice:

"You can only arrest those who have done crimes, and the rest cannot be arrested without evidence, and the eastern district is so big and has such a large population, it is difficult to find anyone who really wants to hide. ”

As he spoke, he sighed and said:

"It is easy to destroy a Zmanga party, but as long as there are highlanders in Beckland, as long as they maintain their fighting traditions and do not find any other way to make a living, it is only a matter of time before a new Zmange party emerges. ”

This is a complex social problem...... Klein pointed to the left and right:

"Pick a side. ”

Old Kohler looked down the street to the right:

"It's the Whiskers who are active there, as long as they don't provoke the girls who do that kind of business on the street and in the bars, well, they won't be noticed, hehe, it's morning, there won't be any problems, they're all still sleeping. ”

The word "Huili" means "outlaw" in the Rune language, and the yakuza who took this name can be said to be quite self-aware.

Crane and Mike had no problem with that, and with their guide, they entered the neighborhood.

The buildings here are relatively good, the street environment is not so dirty, and the smell of oyster soup, fried meat and fish, ginger beer and other food and drinks left by street vendors and the fishy smell of fish and aquatic products is filled.

Walking here, Klein has an inexplicable sense of familiarity, like returning to the city of Tingen, back to the Iron Cross, back to the street outside the apartment where he first lived.

The only difference is probably that Beckland is closer to the sea, the transportation is more developed, and there are quite a lot of marine fish here.

"It's the better apartment in the neighborhood, I've wandered around several times before and found that the gentlemen and ladies inside are comparatively dressed, well, cleaner. Kohler Sr. pointed to a yellowish, three-story building.

The three of them leaned closer and found a sign hanging at the door of the apartment with pocket watches, wall clocks and screwdrivers painted on them, with the words "repair clocks" written on them.

"There's a watchmaker living here?" Klein unearthed a similar scene from the original owner's memory fragments.

At that time, Benson, Melissa and he went to a similar place to repair the silver pocket watch left by his father, but the item was repaired several times, and it quickly broke down until Melissa was completely repaired and became the most decent thing on Klein during that time.

After Klein's "death", this pocket watch, which has dual value of money and feelings, was not buried.

I wonder if he thinks of me every time he takes out that pocket watch...... Crane blinked suddenly, outlining the corners of his mouth.

"It should be. Mike wasn't sure.

If there is a problem with his pocket watch, it is usually sent to the watch shop where he belongs, and the other party assigns it to a subordinate repairman or entrusts it to a long-term cooperative craftsman.

As soon as they entered the apartment, they saw a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard.

The gentleman had just come out of the bathroom and was about to return to his room, when he found three strangers coming in, and hurriedly asked:

"Do you want to fix a clock?"

What a coincidence...... I met the craftsman directly...... Klein was slightly surprised.

Mike took out his pocket watch and said with a smile:

"Yes, my pocket watch has been running out of time lately, you can take a look at it for me. ”

He did not reveal his identity, and planned to do the interview in the form of casual chit-chat.

The middle-aged man suddenly smiled, led them into a two-bedroom room with the door ajar, pointed to the chair next to the wooden table, and said:

"Wait a minute, I'll get the tools. ”

"Don't have your tools at home?" Mike asked, surprised.

The watchmaker shook his head and smiled:

"How is that possible?"

"A set of tools is very expensive, I can't afford it myself, so we can only pool the money and buy three or four sets, and whoever has a business will use it, so we moved together, hehe, it's more convenient, if it's too far apart, I have to spend extra time and public carriage fees to borrow tools. ”

As he spoke, he went out the door and walked to the side.

It turned out that it was no coincidence that we met watchmakers, and many of the residents here are watchmakers...... Klein was stunned.

Old Kohler looked into the room and said enviously:

"Before I got sick, I also lived in this kind of place, my wife would sew clothes at home, two children, two children......"

Mike sighed and lowered his voice:

"I thought watchmakers were very rich. ”

"Me too......" Crane pinched his nose.

............

After cordial exchanges with several residents in the apartment, Klein and the others embarked on an adventurous journey again.

They had walked a hundred meters when they suddenly heard someone arguing on the side of the street.

The two ladies greeted each other hoarsely in a variety of obscene languages, and Klein learned many words that he had never heard before.

The reason for their quarrel was that the woman on the left accused the woman on the right of making the apartment dirty and making noise, while the woman on the right scolded the woman on the left, saying that it was her own problem and that no one had asked her to solicit guests at night and sleep during the day.

"Is that a pulp washer?" Mike asked, frowning slightly.

"Yes, I know her, she is a widow and she is doing laundry with her two daughters. Kohler Sr. replied in the affirmative.

Mike thought for a few seconds and said:

"Take me to see their house. ”

Old Kohler nodded, and led the two around the scene of the quarrel and into a dilapidated house that was obviously inferior to the apartment just now.

As soon as he arrived outside the washer's room, Klein immediately felt the dampness.

A girl of seventeen or eighteen was crouching in front of a large basin, washing bubbling things, while a girl a little younger than her was holding a red soldering iron wrapped in moist linen, carefully handling the items that had been washed and dried, her movements were so careful that she seemed to have been scalded by the steam many times.

This is both their workplace and their place of sleep at night, and the moist water vapor fills the room and soaks into their bodies.

In addition, the stench of various odors mixed with is so obvious.

"Don't you feel bad?" Mike pinched his nose.

Klein replied angrily:

"I have a cold......"

He didn't say this with a smile.

Mike let go of his fingers, walked into the room, and said to the two surprised girls:

"I'm a journalist and I want to interview the washers. ”

The girl who was rubbing her clothes shook her head numbly:

"We have a lot to do and we can't afford to delay. ”

Mike's request for an interview was denied.

He came out with a heavy expression and walked back to the street in silence.

After looking at it, he pursed his lips and said:

"We continue. ”

............

In Silver City, Derrickberg, who had auditory hallucinations, was taken to the bottom of the Round Tower after a detailed examination.

- This is the place where residents who show signs of losing control are housed and are trying to save them by all means.

Walking in the gloomy aisle, he suddenly felt some inexplicable chills.

"Help!"

There was a sudden scream from a closed room.

"Save ......"

The voice stopped abruptly, and there was silence all around.