Dusk streetlights illuminate the way home.

The last bus came from one end of the street and stopped for a moment in front of a dilapidated apartment building.

【Fugai Apartment】

This kind of apartment building, because of its extremely incomplete internal facilities, is rented at a low price, and is generally rented out to aspiring young people who have just arrived in London but are shy about making a career.

Julien got out of the carriage.

A dark, damp cold wind blew across his cheeks, and he wrapped his coat tightly and strode into the apartment.

The old gas lamp sizzled overhead.

Walking down creaking stairs and avoiding cigarette butts and confetti on the ground, all sorts of strange smells fill your nasal passages.

The smell of food, the sour smell of sweat, the stench of overflowing urinals, the ubiquitous old dirt and the musty smell from peeling walls are all things that cannot be blown away by any kind of wind.

Yu Lian feels unwell every time he comes back.

I really want to move out of this ghost place tomorrow, like a rich man, and live in a big house with clear windows and high-end carpets. I'm fed up with this room packed with the poor, with a suffocating smell of cloudiness all day long from top to bottom.

The apartment has five floors, and Yu Lian lives in the corner of the top floor.

Take out the key and open the door, and before entering, reach out and twist the gas light switch on the wall.

The gas flowed down the pipe into the glass cover, and the light was dimly lit, but the warm light did not bring warmth.

Due to poor thermal insulation, Victorian Britain was prone to feeling cold even indoors.

The light-lit room was very small, with only one bedroom and a bathroom, making it a standard budget apartment.

But unlike the dirty mess of the corridor, it is neat and clean, and there is no peculiar smell.

Ordinary sofas and faded carpets, cabinets with rough surfaces, beds that take up a third of the room, all furniture wiped clean;

The originally mottled and dirty walls were pasted with pasted wallpaper with blue flowers on a gray background, the curtains were white and flawless, and every fold was straight and regular;

Books were neatly stacked on the bookshelf by the window, and a small one-cornered round table beside it was a globe pendulum clock held up by a kneeling statue of Atrasi, and the spherical watch was not stained with a trace of dust.

The limited space and shabby furniture, under the ingenious placement of the owner, highlight a neat and fine modern engraving style, which can give people a glimpse of the owner's clean and tidy image and his rational and calm character.

The stacked books and the spotlessly clean globe embody the owner's studious and spirit of exploring the world.

If he is willing to invite, there must be many female classmates who are willing to stay here for the night.

Hanging up the college robe he had taken off, opening the window for ventilation, Yu Lian came over with a glass of water and sat at the desk with his elbows propped.

Outside the window is the River Thames, and the sound of whistles of varying lengths pierces the night sky from time to time, some close at hand, some barely audible.

He grew up at the mouth of the Seine.

The sound of the steamer's whistle can bring back many of his childhood memories, such as his childhood sweetheart with beautiful long orange hair who is obedient to him.

And his "vicious" "stepmother".

"Ha~"

Yu Lian yawned slightly.

It's still early to go to bed, and the more I think about it, the more I think about it, the more lonely I feel, so it's better to read a book to pass the time.

There are two books on the table.

"A Tale of Two Cities" and "How to Save Yourself by Encountering Low-level Demons in the Wild".

One was written by Dickens, and the other was also written by Dickens.

There is not much difference between the historical trend of this world and the world in Yu Lian's cognition, only some differences in details.

The biggest difference between the two worlds is that the occult in this world is no longer a metaphysics that cheats money, but a powerful discipline that can truly use extraordinary power.

Occultism, a general and broad concept.

Magic, divination, alchemy, potions, item enchantment, occult creatures......

All mysterious forces that are not known by logic, are not limited by laws, and cannot be analyzed;

All the ancient knowledge that is hidden and hard to find, and the extraordinary that is rejected by reason, is within the scope of the study of the occult.

Before he was admitted to the University of London, Yu Lian had already learned enough basic theories of occultism, but he still had the last and most important step before he could officially become an occultist-Awakening Phase.

Essentially, the occult is the discipline of sensing, controlling, and stimulating energy.

Only those who have awakened their phases will be able to sense the special energy contained in natural phenomena - magic energy. And through rituals, greetings, prayers, and other specific ways, these magical powers are used.

Awakening phase is hard.

Not only does it cost a lot of money to hold an insight ceremony, but the probability of success is hopelessly low.

But he will not hesitate on this path.

The cost of materials and labour to conduct an insight ceremony adds up to about £100.

In the first year, an average worker earned less than £40 a year.

Yu Lian came to London for half a year, and almost every night he went to high-end clubs to play the violin for the rich woman, and the money he saved by his hard work was almost 60 pounds.

"Whew~"

Go for it!

Try to save up £100 before summer!

Yu Lian exhaled lightly and opened "A Tale of Two Cities".

[It's the best of times, but it's also the worst of times......]

※

London in 1850 was in a chaotic zone between light and darkness.

It's close to heaven and it's close to hell.

It is the Colosseum where capitalists and proletarians, conservative religion and new ideas, theocracy and regime, reason and madness collide.

The dazzle of the times and the billowing smoke brought by the Industrial Revolution have turned the city into a hungry beast, a man-eating beast.

Early spring mornings are always cold.

Julien overcame the cold, got rid of sleepiness, and got out of bed.

There is a coal stove in the apartment, but the cost of burning coal for heating every day is difficult for ordinary people to afford, so he rarely burns coal for heating.

"Wow~"

In the bathroom, Yu Lian picked up a handful of cold water and slapped it on his face.

Similarly, in these days, only wealthy families were able to bathe in hot water every day.

A washbasin, a flannel towel, a little soap and tooth cleaner will suffice most people's washing needs.

At this time, soap already had various scents such as lavender and violet.

On some occasions, the scent of chemistry becomes a unique medal, an honor for bathers.

You must know that at this time, even if a piece of soap is small, the price is about equivalent to the living expenses of a family of three for a day, and a family that follows the bathing trend will use up three to four bars of soap a week, which is far from the cost that ordinary people can afford.

Yu Lian naturally doesn't have much money.

But he loves cleanliness, even to the point of being a little clean, and even if he is hungry, he keeps his money to buy soap.

His tooth cleaner is also a relatively expensive cuttlefish bone meal, which can be said to be toothpaste, and the effect of whitening teeth and cleaning the mouth is better than that of ordinary people using coal ash and charcoal to make tooth cleansers.

Clean and tidy is the greatest and the elegance that everyone can have.

After washing, Yu Lian looked at the small mirror and carefully arranged his clothes.

A black bowler hat with a solemn black robe and a school emblem based on the Kabbalah Tree of Life is pinned to his chest.

He wears a crisp white turtleneck shirt underneath his coat, slim white trousers, and tall brown riding boots.

Yu Lian touched the metallic school emblem and nodded with satisfaction: "Ye is so good-looking!" ”

By the time the eastern sky began to whiten, he had finished his light breakfast and stood in front of the apartment building gate waiting for the bus to school.

Today, London is still shrouded in fog.

Newspaper vendors, flower girls, and street performers walk by;

Elegantly dressed gentlemen, ladies with swaying skirts, tired night shift workers and beggars in shabby clothes.

The various human beings are like pieces of a puzzle that are disparate but interdependent, piecing together a picture full of contradictions and cracks in the city......

The city is lined with chimneys, constantly spewing puffing pungent smoke.

The chimney is a symbol of industry, a symbol of the supreme power and wealth of the empire.

Although London's air quality is getting worse, workers who work more than 14 hours a day all year round are puffing out the pungent smoke more diligently.

The bourgeoisie, which holds public opinion, constantly strives to instill in the masses through the newspapers the consciousness that:

"If the factory doesn't run 24 hours a day, then who will support the army? Who pays the taxes? Who will maintain the glory of Great Britain? Who's going to bully those frogs into making you laugh at your beer? You workers, don't always think about going out into the streets to make a big news together, the wealth of capital is the wealth of the whole nation, the cause of capital is the cause of the whole nation, and the monopoly and expansion of capital is for the benefit of the whole nation. If you dare to have an opinion, then you just don't love this Britain! ”

Under the brutal exploitation of the capitalists, the British Empire became the world's first industrial country.

Under the brainwashing of the newspapers, even the poorest patriots in the East End of London could not help but puff out their chests at the thought of the industry and wealth of the Empire.

Of course, Yu Lian will not be proud.

After all, he was a "French frogman".

At this time, he was sitting in a public carriage from East London to West London, planning how to complete the system perfectly.