There is no slum area in Lunweiting, and Qixingpan District is just the poorest among its thirty-two administrative areas. Even so, the living standard of residents is still several times better than that of residents in the same area in other cities. So we can
It is concluded that in the most prosperous city in the world, there is no need for slums to exist. The poor are not eliminated, but transformed.
——Sorensen Esther, "Where Have All the Poor People of Old London Gone?" 1812 edition.
Ringer didn't know whether this statement was correct, but at least when he left the dim underground and stepped onto the streets of Renwithin for the first time, the scene in front of him was indeed very different from the slums he imagined.
They said goodbye to the ferryman Gerne at the oak station, watched his back disappear at the other end of the waterway, and went to pick up the next batch of passengers. Then they followed the guidance of the wooden signs and stepped on the moldy and damp steps to arrive.
When we reached the ground, the exit was located in a narrow alley with few people passing by, so it was extremely hidden.
In the long-abandoned dilapidated shrine, the secret door controlled by the lever mechanism opened silently, and a group of people poured out of it. They finally breathed in the fresh air from the ground, but it was mixed with a smell of rot, dead algae, and rust.
The odor of dust and animal carcasses is like mold spores invading the respiratory tract unscrupulously. This smell is not as good as the turbid air in the underground world. At least there is water vapor filtered by the underground river, which makes people not feel so uncomfortable.
Medien wrinkled her nose into a bitter melon, Leticia pinched her nose gently, and Xemmy lay on the pink-haired girl's head and retched, obviously unable to accept the air quality here. The others did not show any signs of it.
It was so obvious, but he also subconsciously frowned or covered his mouth and nose. Linge didn't care. He walked at the back. After leaving the passage, he looked back and found that the secret door had been closed and the statue was enshrined in its original position.
The statue of the saint, holding a baby in his arms and nursing a baby, is awe-inspiring, but his head is missing, and half of the wings of the angel behind him are missing, making it look a bit weird.
There are towering stone walls on both sides, and the view is only a line above the head, which looks particularly depressing; behind is a dead end, but the high brick wall is already crumbling, and might collapse if hit by a stray cat; in front is a road
The steep stairs lead to the ten-meter-high street. The slope is almost vertical. I am afraid that you need to climb very carefully to avoid the tragic ending of falling after losing your footing.
Old Pancras extinguished the short white wax on the candlestick, placed it on the altar of the shrine, and then whispered: "Please come with me, I will take you to see the person in charge of St. Anville Cross Church."
Although the believers of the Spiritual Prayer Society collectively evacuated the Land of Renkwell, iconic buildings like St. Anvil's Cross Church still need someone to stay and manage them, and Ringer guessed that the person in charge must be the same as Old Pancras.
, are all believers of the True Spirit Sect.
He led everyone up the stairs to the streets, and allowed the outsiders to see the street scene of Lunweiting City for the first time. Although many Lunweiting people were not willing to admit that Qixingpan District was also an urban area, they felt that it should be the same as Kennweiting City.
It is only right that Kerver Green is divided into suburbs - the name of the Seven Stars District comes from the seven streets that run through this block, which just form a complete star map, roughly including Hoarfrost, Centauri and the Queen.
The night sky surrounded by stars, and St. Anville's Cross Church is located exactly in the center of this star map.
The first thing that caught everyone's attention was this magnificent classical-style church. They had already seen a replica of it in Sanshanjie, but the original building was even grander and more spectacular than they imagined. It was so huge that it dazzled people with light.
The falling shadow covered three streets, including the one at your feet, causing the residents of these streets to live in darkness for most of the day. It is impossible to see its entirety from this direction, even if you break your neck.
Only the dome in full bloom like a flower can be seen, extending straight upwards, as if it has the tendency to fly into the sky; the well-proportioned towers are hidden deep in the leafy atrium, with statues of saints standing on the spiers of the towers.
Perhaps there is a bell tower in it, which is the area managed by Pancras, the bell ringer in the past.
Before everyone even got close to the church, they already felt like an ant beneath its feet. Feelings of oppression and awe arose spontaneously. At this time, the distance was infinitely shortened by the volume, as if there was indeed such a formula in physics. Metty
En expressed his amazement with a "Wow", his eyes wide open and unwilling to move away at all, as if he wanted to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the church in front of him and his own Tianxin Church in all aspects - although in fact,
There is no comparison.
Leticia lost interest after taking one look at it. She felt that the only advantage of this church was its height. It would be cool to hang the dome and bell tower eaves upside down. Other than that, she couldn't appreciate the other styling, artistic connotation, and religious significance...
Come. Little Bat glanced to the right out of boredom and found that the alley they left was right next to a cemetery. It should be the public cemetery of the church. There were many pale tombstones, like a monotonous field.
forest.
Why do the entrances and exits of secret passages like to be set up near cemeteries? It was the same the last time I escaped from the secret passage in Forozer Castle. Could it be that this type of building naturally has a hidden and secret attribute? She
I couldn't help but fell into deep thought.
Others were looking at churches or cemeteries, while Ringer was observing the scene on the street.
This is a particularly bleak street. The paved floor tiles have long since rotted and cracked. The weeds squeezed out of the cracks are yellow and haggard. The bare street trees stand silently. The fallen leaves dried by the sun are rustling in the wind... It is still midsummer.
The season seems to have entered late autumn early, and people can't help but wrap up their clothes tightly, fearing that the howling cold wind will get into their necks.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The street on the left is a row of wooden houses. They seem to be carved from the same mold. They are exactly the same from height to width to shape, and
In order to save materials, every two rooms share a thin wall, which probably can't block anything except light. It looks like stacked matchboxes. From the window facing the street, you can see the busy residents living inside.
They looked like women who were busy doing housework or children who were helping to stuff cotton wool or cut old newspapers. There were no adult men in sight, so most of them were going to work.
The pedestrians were lonely, and the few passers-by who occasionally passed by were also in a hurry. Sometimes, like the residents of the house, they thought they were very hidden and cast wary glances at these strangers. However, after seeing the figure of old Pancras,
, and quickly withdrew his gaze, no longer paying attention to the movements of these people. That feeling is not so much a habit, but rather an effort to pretend to be nonchalant and avoid unnecessary troubles - this is life
People in the ghetto are self-taught.
Everything I saw was old, ancient, and full of the smell of decay and mold, but it was surprisingly clean. There were no garbage, sewage, stray animals or carcasses of cats and mice that can be seen everywhere in slums in other cities.
The smell of the air is just weird. In addition, the infrastructure is also very complete, including sewers, drainage channels, street lights and public fire hydrants. The lack of gas pipes and water pipes may be because of the residents here.
Unable to afford it.
Do they live a very difficult life? Maybe, from the old patches on their clothes that are mended but still leaking, from the mediocre inferior boiler and half a piece of black bread in the kitchen, from the children who have no skills since childhood but still have to work hard to help...
...you can see it in the details; but are they living well? Maybe, because at least they live in simple wooden houses, live on a street that is not to say safe, at least it is clean, and they can see everything as soon as they look up
Seeing the iconic buildings in this neighborhood is the dream life of many urban poor, beggars and homeless people.
What a strange place.
Ringer couldn't help but think: No wonder Sorensen Ester said there was no ghetto in Renwithin.