"Where does this lead?" Kates was carefully avoiding puddles of water on the ground, covered in green sludge.

"Right behind the Penscar pumping station, it should be." Nick said.

"Should? I thought you had been. Janeko said.

"I've been here, but that was a year ago, and I don't know if the pipes have changed."

As they walked on, the road under their feet gradually raised its head, turning around in the rock formations. The cliff began to shake, and the sewer pipes were squeezed and creaked.

"The cliff is talking again." Kates said.

"What did you say?" Wen asked.

"Who knows. Mother Elody said the rocks have been sad to this day since they cut through the earth to open the canal. She said that at any time, if the grief accumulates too much, the cliff will cry, so the earth will shake. ”

"So according to you, the outlet of this water pipe could be a wall or a pile of broken copper?"

"Possibly. But I don't think so. See. ”

Nick pointed to a small patch of light in front of him, particles of dust dangling in the backlight. Wen saw a rusty ladder leading to a square opening in the top of the pipe.

"Looks like we've found an exit," Nick said.

Wen Chang has only been to the middle level a few times, but each time he has left an unusually vivid impression. The middle level lies beneath the ambiguous border between Picheng and Zaun, and this line is actually constantly changing. Exchange malls, food and beverage clubs, lecture halls and fireworks abound, making the middle level one of the most densely populated urban areas. The people who live and work here are also accustomed to regard the middle level as the actual place of Zu'an in the true sense of the word.

The group burrowed from the pipe to the ground, quickly blended into the crowd, and groped their way to a certain avenue. Only Wen Keates was literate enough to read the signs, so he led them down a crowded wide street. Wen saw the most beautiful group of people he had ever seen in his life.

Men and women from Phi City and Zaun are happily roaming the cobbled streets. They are dressed in colorful costumes and hats with long feathers. The women wore pleated skirts with hoop collars and bright ribbons. The men wore robes and shiny boots – they wouldn't have lasted even a day in the garbage heap below.

"They're all happy, everybody's smiling." He felt the corners of his mouth become infected and couldn't help but want to turn up.

"If you didn't have to worry about eating every day, you'd laugh too." Janeko said.

Wen just wanted to talk back, but saw Nick shake his head. Janeko was older than most children when she arrived at the House of Hope, and it was now on the eve of leaving the orphanage to earn a living on her own. So it's not surprising that he's sarcastic.

Wen understood the bitterness in his heart. After all, who wouldn't want to be able to have more? Who doesn't want to have the ability to live better? The coldest reality of this world is that whether a person lives decently or not is completely determined by his purse. Most people have an improvisation attitude towards their situation, but what Wen longs for is somewhere, where he can hold hands with a beautiful girl, go for a walk, watch a play together, and enjoy a good meal together in the moonlight, whatever he wants. He longed to spend his life like this.

He excitedly shook Kates' hand, and she didn't pull away. His heart was beating much harder than the first time he screamed. Nick took the lead, and a group of people walked in the middle of the road, as if they naturally belonged here. While it was true, the sights they attracted from their dirty, ragged clothes were self-evident - they were still unwelcome even though no one was going to kick them back underneath.

For a moment, Wen couldn't help but fantasize that they could stay here forever, strolling down the streets lit by alchemical lumens, and the people around them would tell them which deli sold the best crispy duck, or which cinema they couldn't miss. He imagined himself dressed as a handsome man, politely greeting each other with the people around him, and taking off his hat to the big names of the family group.

"Is that a culture tower?" Wen asked, pointing to the edge of the cliff in front of him. There was a glass dome enclosed in iron nets, and the fog was steaming inside.

"I guess so. I've only seen it from below, though. Cates said.

Tight steel cables hold the glass dome to the rock, protruding out into an iron bridge. They paused and admired the beauty in front of them. Behind the glass is a small jungle with tall trees with thick foliage. A robed gardener works in the woods, with tattoos on his bald head. The flowers blooming in a place, red, golden, and blue, are particularly gorgeous against the backdrop of a verdant landscape. Wen had never seen such a beautiful view. He waved at the gardener, longing to walk through the jungle with Cates and smell the flowers and feel the soft blades of grass brushing his feet.

The gardener smiled, waved at him, and went on with the job at hand.

A string of bells rang. Wen counted them, a total of seven.

"Let's go, the show is about to start." Wen said anxiously.

Janko asked Nick, "Do you know where that place is?" ”

"Babeta? Of course, I know. Nick covered his mouth and coughed again. I took Alisha to it once. I had won a drinking contest against a Bergunn merchant and made a little money. ”

Wen distinctly remembers watching in disbelief that night as his brother poured cup after cup of Kuesi wine, which the Shurima say was made from fermented goat's milk. In the end, it took twenty glasses to drink the merchant down. After that, Nick got drunk for a full week before getting up and squandering his winnings.

"Right there." Nick said, leading them into a cavernous plaza dug out of a cliff.

The open square was crowded with people, noisy and shouting, each holding their own opinions, talking and laughing and arguing. Several men with metal augmentations were walking through the square, each with the insignia of some alchemy baron. Although there are only a few people, they attract far more than the vigilant eyes of people with hearts.

At the end of the square, stands a stately building, full of light and noise. Ticket sellers are working tirelessly to sell tickets and hand out flyers to passers-by for the show. The black marble pillars are inlaid with gold bars, propping up the grand portico, and topped by statues of beasts, dragons, and warriors in armor, all of which come to life in the light of the green alchemy lamps.