The eight elevators that connect the upper and lower streets share a shaft that is covered with mossy damp rock on three sides, southeast and west, and only the north-facing side is open to the cliff. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoThe winter morning sun shines into the shaft from the northeast, and after being refracted by the rock, only a small part enters the elevator room, so that the elevator room is unusually dark as it runs downward.

As the elevator slowed down, Alex suddenly noticed that there was a light shining from behind him, accompanied by the sound of bustling people.

He turned around with Lisa, only to see that on the other side of the "cage", there were also two layers of iron fences, through which light and life came in.

"I still have to go up and load the goods, so I can only send you here," the dwarf on the side said in a whisper, "By the way, there are more people here, and even if you don't know how to use the elevator, you can find someone else to help." ”

The dwarf said as he "clicked" down the gate wrench near the fence on this side. The iron fence opened, and the bustling scene of the second street of Foggy City was revealed to Alex and Lisa like a vivid ukiyo-e.

The streets in front of him were unusually open, and even on a winter morning, they looked extraordinarily bright, unlike any northbound city Alex had ever seen.

As he stepped out of the elevator, he subconsciously looked overhead, only to see that the rock mass on the top of the street had been cut out of a huge oblique angle, and it was this oblique angle that brought more daylight into the street. If you stand a little farther away, you will find that every floor of the streets of Fog City now seems to have been carved horizontally with a wedge-shaped giant axe.

Alex no longer had the heart to calculate how much labor it would take to carve out this huge bevel (in fact, it was the effect of the Circle of Dissolved Stones), and his attention was drawn to the wonders of the streets.

On the right side of the street, near the cliff side, the huge stone pillars that support the rock mass above are covered with green vines, and a clear stream flows along the edge of the cliff, skirting the pillars to the end of the street.

On the rocky ground within the stream is a verdant promenade, about two meters wide, apparently a lawn planted with mud and a ditch that has been dug out by hand. Every other section of the lawn is planted with hardy shrubs. The shrubs, about a meter high, were neatly trimmed, like soldiers arrayed on the side of the cliff.

Within the vegetated promenade, four lanes divided by white lime lines start from outside the four large fenced gates at one end and lead straight to the other end of the street. Among these white lines, three solid lines and two dotted lines probably represent different meanings, but Alex doesn't have the heart to understand their respective meanings.

Because, what surprised him even more was the lively scene within the driveway, closer to the small half of the rock mass.

Inside the street, there is a neat row of shops, each with a bonfire burning outside the window, and there is an endless stream of customers coming and going, some carrying baskets in their hands, others putting the food or daily necessities they have just bought, putting them in bicycle baskets, pushing bicycles and continuing to wander between the shops.

And all of them, all dwarfs or dwarves, not a single ordinary human!

Strangely, the doors and windows of these shops were not as low as the dwarven buildings he had ever seen, and even at Alex's height, he could get in and around freely.

Just when Alex was in shock, the dwarf in the elevator behind him added: "This is the college commercial street, because the college is on vacation, so it's quite deserted." Oh, by the way, if you want to see the Fog City Factory, you'll have to go all the way down to Twenty-Seventh Street. Okay, I really have to go, or that Pickville guy will have to speak ill of me to the captain!"

Alex turned around and thanked him, watching the iron fence close and the "cage" rise, before explaining to Lisa what the dwarf had said.

"Usually more lively?" Lisa nodded, glancing at the white clouds floating above the Knight Continent outside the cliff, and in a trance, it seemed as if she had returned to the Magic Continent and returned to the top of the Chiga Mountain.

The dwarf said that the iron car had been driven by a clockwork battery...... I guess it's the same with this cage. Alex added.

Lisa let out a "hmm" and walked down the street. She and Alex, walking between dwarves and gnomes, felt like they stood out from the crowd. However, the diminutive outliers didn't seem to have any extra interest in the two of them, just chatting with their friends or probing into the shop windows.

Walking past a few food shops selling bread or bacon, Lisa stopped in front of a nondescript store, pointed to the sign in front of the store and asked Alex, "What is written on it?"

"The grocery store," Alex explained, "has rat poison for sale. ”

"Rat poison?" Lisa frowned.

"Oh, that's right, because it's dark and damp, and it's a heavy duty for the grain trade, so every city in the north is infested with rats. Alex said.

Lisa nodded, then pointed to the goods in the window, "Have you seen these?"

Alex shook his head and replied honestly, "I don't know." ”

Lisa nodded into the store, and Alex walked into the store first, then looked down and asked a dwarf clerk, "Excuse me, may I ask what ......" He just wanted to point to the window, but found that he didn't know most of the products in the store, so he immediately changed his words: "Can you tell us about the various products sold in your store?"

"You're not from the College of Engineering?" the dwarf shopkeeper looked up at Alex with a puzzled expression.

"We were guests of the Duke of Vene. Alex said.

"Oh," the dwarf shopkeeper's face turned bright, just like the dwarf truck driver before, and not only that, but he slipped out of the counter with a thud, "Say, honorable guest, what do you want to buy...... Oh no, since you are a guest of your master, if you need anything, we will give it away!"

"No, no, no," Alex said politely, waving his hand, "I'm just interested in what you're selling, I'm from outside the city, and I don't seem to have seen these things anywhere else." ”

The dwarf shopkeeper laughed and comforted, "You are not a merchant after all, and it is normal that you have not seen it. ”

Alex couldn't laugh or cry, if he wasn't a businessman, there probably wouldn't be anyone in the world who would dare to call himself a businessman. However, at the moment, he didn't want to argue with the dwarf, so he just smiled and nodded.

"You see, in the window is our hot water bottle. As he spoke, the dwarf shopkeeper dragged a hot water bottle from the window, opened the cork, and said, "This hot water bottle is produced by the Misty Town Glassware Factory, and the hot water is poured into it, and it is still hot when it is poured out, which is perfect for making tea...... Oh, and if you put ice water, the effect is the same. ”

Alex took the long barrel of thin rattan from the dwarf shopkeeper, and looked into the open glass bottle, which was shiny like the reflection of silverware, but he still couldn't understand why such an inconspicuous water bottle could have the miraculous effect of keeping the water warm.

Suspiciously, he handed the thermos back to the dwarf shopkeeper, pointed to something else, and asked, "What is this?"

"Oh, it's a lighter. The dwarf shopkeeper took down an iron lump more than 20 centimeters long, three centimeters wide, and two centimeters thick from the shelf, and took out a thin wooden stick from the cardboard box next to it, stuffed the wooden stick from the end of the lighter, and then turned the knob on the lighter with his thumb, only to see that the wooden stick was automatically rolled into the lighter, leaving only a short section outside.

Then, the dwarf shopkeeper pressed the button on the lighter, and only heard a "zi" sound, like the sound of metal rubbing against ore, and sparks splashed on the head of the lighter, and before long, a small flame jumped on the exposed thin wooden stick.

The dwarf shopkeeper let go of the knob, grinned and shook the flame at Alex, then blew the flame, and slapped his hands the lighter, which was cut off by the charred black stick. At this moment, the dwarf shopkeeper turned the knob that had just been caught in the wooden stick in reverse, and the thin wooden stick came out again. He pressed the knob again, and in the spark, the stick was lit again.

"A fire starter can be used twelve times, and a lighter can be lighted more than 200 times with a full clockwork, and if the clockwork is loose, it can be wound manually. As he spoke, the dwarf shopkeeper pushed the button on the head of the lighter, grabbed the pop-up handle and shook it, "Oh, it's like this!"

Alex was dumbfounded. He had seen what a clockwork battery looked like, so he could think that this so-called "lighter" must have used a clockwork battery to drive a rough iron disc and rub it against the ore to ignite the thin wooden stick. However, he really could not have imagined that a small tool for making a fire could be so ingeniously designed and so exquisitely made.

"This ...... Lighters, I'm afraid they cost a few hundred gold coins, right?" Alex asked tentatively.

"Oh, in the past, it only cost 20 special dollars, but recently there are rumors that the Lingbei Machinery Factory will be shut down for a while, so I'm afraid I won't be able to buy goods in the future...... Hey, since you're the Master's guest, take it!" the dwarf shopkeeper shoved the lighter into Alex's hand.

Alex pretended to be polite before taking the lighter, and asked by the way, "By the way, what does the SAR coin mean? Is it also a gold coin?"

"No, no, didn't the master tell you?" said the dwarf shopkeeper as he reached out and fumbled around the counter for a while, then took out a banknote, handed it to Alex, and said, "Well, this is the SAR coin, which was issued by the SAR Bank. ”

"You mean, this piece of paper is money?" Alex was even more confused.

"Yes, that's money!" explained the dwarf shopkeeper triumphantly, "it's worth more than gold." If I'm not mistaken, the rate of the banks in the Special Administrative Region in the past two days is that one Special District coin can be exchanged for four gold coins and seven silver coins, or thirteen secret bronze coins. ”

"What do you mean by the District Bank?" Alex felt like a dirt bun.

"The Special District Bank, the Special District Bank is ......," the dwarf shopkeeper scratched his head, as if he didn't know how to explain it, "it's ...... It is a place where you can save, exchange and borrow money, and you can earn interest on the money you deposit, and if you want to borrow money, you have to pay interest. Oh yes, and the banks are also responsible for issuing the SAR currency, and when the SAR currency first started four years ago, not many people dared to use it, but now, the factory pays the SAR currency, and everyone knows that it works better than gold coins! And it's more convenient, isn't it?"

Alex is a businessman after all, and it doesn't take much thought to immediately feel what an important institution the "Special Zone Bank" is.

"Is this district bank also owned by the Duke of Vene?" he asked.

"Well...... I've heard that the Far North has a 10% stake, but I don't know exactly how. The dwarf shopkeeper replied.

"Can I exchange the magic crystal for a special zone coin for you?" Alex said as he pulled out an azumine from his bosom and handed it to the dwarf shopkeeper.

"Blue crystal can be exchanged for more than four hundred gold coins in Fog City, which is equivalent to ...... special zone coin," the dwarf shopkeeper groaned slightly, "It's almost a hundred yuan." I'll give it to you!"

"No, no, I'll just buy this lighter. Alex said politely.

"How's that going to work......"

The dwarf shopkeeper put it off for a while, but accepted Alex's kindness.

During the time Alex was talking to the shopkeeper, Lisa had been wandering around the shop by herself, picking up a small object from time to time, looking at it for a long time and putting it down. She had never seen almost any of the goods, and when she walked out of the store with Alex and listened to Alex relay the harvest she had just made, her reaction was no less than Alex's.

......

When Lisa and Alex stayed at the grocery store on College Street, Richard and Lolita happened to pass by.

They haven't returned to Fog City for many years, and the sight of Fog City in front of them also shocked the two of them.

"Richard," Lolita couldn't help but express her feelings and doubts all along, "Don't you think my brother is a little strange? When I was in Fog City, I occasionally heard dwarves talk about my brother...... And they all said that he was God. ”

Richard was stunned for a moment, and even stopped his footsteps, but immediately recovered, smiled slightly, and said: "I have felt that my brother is not an ordinary person since I was a child, do you know? Although my brother always doesn't speak, I don't know why, I just know what he is thinking." But...... I didn't expect my brother to be so powerful. ”

"It's not a question of whether it's great or not. Lolita shook her head slightly, "He has conquered the entire Far North by himself, and even Cynthia and Grunada are obedient to their brothers, which ...... It's hard to imagine. Richard," she glanced back at Richard, "Have you ever thought that my brother might really be the reincarnation of the God of Light?" ”

Richard laughed and said, "How could you believe those rumors?"

"I mean really," Lolita said, "Don't you feel it? The entire Huls Continent is already my brother's territory, so continue at this rate...... Perhaps my brother will become the most veritable emperor Middle-earth has ever seen. ”

Richard smiled and said casually, "I don't think it's these things that my brother cares about." ”