Olan sat down directly on the small mazha provided by the vendor to the customers: "Answer a few questions, and the money will be given to you."
"Just ask!" the hawker said, already hiding the money. You don't need to spend any money or energy on it. It only takes a long time to answer.
"Are there too many refugees over there?" He didn't look and pointed, and his goal was clear enough.
"You don't know, this is still a small amount. It was called a lot when the railway was first opened. Now many of them have been recruited by people from the junction city to work."
"Are the rest waiting to go to work?"
"That's for sure. If you are recruited, your family will be settled, right? Even if you can't be recruited, you will be waiting for odd jobs at the station. As long as you can do it for one day in three to five days, at least you won't starve to death."
"Why don't you go by yourself? Junkou City is only six or seven days away from here." Six or seven days is walking speed, and it only takes more than three hours to get here by train across Heishui.
Before answering this question, the vendor looked around and then spoke in a low voice: "Six or seven days is long enough, and there seems to be someone among them who takes money from members. If you run by yourself, your legs will be broken."
Oran frowned: "If someone is hired as a worker, do they have to pay if they want to take their family members with them?"
"Hey, it's good that you know."
Olan took one look at the shanty town and shook his head.
There are at least tens of thousands of people living in that shantytown, maybe even more. Once a habit is formed, even if this wave is controlled, replacements will come out later. There might be some big players in the city involved. Even though Olan is a fourth-ring mage, it would be too difficult for him to take care of this kind of thing.
He took out another dollar and said, "Get a piece of cake."
There are only two and a half phoenix coins, and you have to pay nine and a dime to buy a cake. Most people are not willing to buy from hawkers like this, but if you ask an adult to reward you with one yuan, you will have to ask someone at the station to exchange for more change at night.
"Take the cake...and your money." The cake and money were served twice, and the big shots seemed to be particular about the availability of these.
A piece of cake and a few cents were quickly distributed by Olan to the waves of beggars on the road.
He himself only tore a small piece from the bread and ate it.
There is bran in the cake, and it looks like there are sawdust in it. It has a very special sweetness, like windy corn-flavored sugar.
The so-called sugar water is a new method that I only learned during this trip. Maybe it’s because the days are so nice and free. There are vendors in the Phoenix Kingdom who sell the sugar made from the sacred tree sugar water in different places. Phoenix can be bought everywhere. City, but not necessarily in other places. It depends on the local sugar water production and management methods. For example, the terrain of Dongshan Road itself is relatively rugged and there is little agricultural land. Their sugar water is still under control, and sugar production and export are not allowed.
The ones that are really easy to buy, except for the two basic flavors in Phoenix, are Fenggu, Lukou and Xincheng. Fenggu sugar has the lowest acidity and has a peach flavor, making it easier to distinguish.
Sugar is added to the cake, which shows that the hawker still wants to make the cake better, but the taste of bran and sawdust is obvious, maybe this is what the food seller sells.
Entering the city, I quickly found my junior sister.
Junior sister and teacher Liv are of the same race, that is, blood elves, wanderers among elves. They are now forty years old and are still considered minors among elves.
"Olan!? Weren't you spoiled by the Phoenix King? Why are you so willing to come back?"
"We only met once and just exchanged a few words. Teacher Liv is too good!"
"Keke, come in." After a few words of fighting, the junior sister felt much better and invited people in.
"Isn't the teacher here?"
"Teacher went to the snowy mountains in the south."
Snowy mountains? Run so far.
The Southern Snow Mountain is about more than a thousand kilometers away from the Luna River. It was not originally called the Southern Snow Mountain because the name was too long. Later, it was gradually called the Southern Snow Mountain.
It is a plateau covered with snow all year round. According to the altitude calculation taught by Caroline, it is estimated to have an average height of four or five thousand meters. It is difficult for normal people to survive there. There are only two plateau ethnic groups. Rumor has it...
"Isn't the teacher looking for the dark elf?"
"I don't know, I don't like to ask."
Forget it if you don’t know, Olan doesn’t have to know.
The teacher is not here, so as a senior, you have to take on some of the teacher's responsibilities... It wasn't Olan who took the initiative, but the junior sister got into a learning state when asked.
The average talent of elves as mages is not very good, but immortality will bring various advantages. For example, through time, they can easily accumulate total magic capacity, and they also have enough time to learn basic knowledge across factions, etc. .
The junior sister now only has the third level. This is the time when the most types of magic are involved and the most problems arise. Later, she will have to choose a specialization direction, which is more conducive to self-study.
It's a pity that Olan himself is not an immortal. He does not have enough time to study comprehensively like the elves, so he can only give limited answers.
During the study breaks, the two of them would also chat about recent events, talking about what Olan saw when he returned to Pang Xun.
"Although I'm not optimistic that the Phoenix Kingdom will be able to survive, if I look outside, I'm afraid it will collapse even faster."
"What is the relationship between refugees and collapse?" The junior sister didn't quite understand.
"It's not refugees, it's food..."
The cake Oran took a bite of outside the station is very telling. Adding sugar requires extra cost. This is evidence that the hawker wants to do well. If he can buy better quality food at an acceptable price, he will probably buy it because Adding a little bit of sugar will not make it any sweeter than a cake made with good ingredients.
It was probably a matter of food sales. During his stay with Junior Sister these past few days, he also took the time to go to the market and take a look. Either there was no good food, or it was exorbitantly expensive. The cheaper food was at least 40% gluten.
Although it used to be mixed with some messy things, now the proportion is too large. Compared with the taste of the hawker's cakes, the price of raw materials is 40% higher than the lowest price, which is not bad anymore.
Relying on money to open the way, I learned from the grain store clerk that grain production everywhere is now reduced and prices are rising. In order to make it affordable for ordinary people, there is no way to mix in more bran... Of course, the grain store owner has to make some money.
"These places are already short of food even before they are attacked by the demons. When the demons really spread, I don't know how many people will starve to death."
The junior sister is also heartless: "What can I do? Let alone a mage, even an alchemist can't change food."
"But it can make the food grow faster."
The junior sister asked: "Even if you are willing, how much more land can you increase production and how many more people can you feed? Even if we find a hundred more people like you, what will change?"
Oran was silent.
Indeed, nothing can be changed.
The junior sister comforted him in turn: "Olan, don't think about this. If there is a way, the masters will come up with countermeasures. This is not the responsibility of little mages like us."
Yeah?
This kind of comfort reminded Oran of the Research Bureau, where the level of mages was not very high. They were all solving small problems, and maybe they could finally gather the power to solve big problems...
"I still want to do something, but there is no help here. Junior sister, why don't you come back to Phoenix City with me?"
The junior sister stared: "Okay - wow! The teacher is right, you really came to trick me!"
Olan spread his hands: "Forget it, it's a pity that you haven't seen what a good city is like when you grow up."
Even if the junior sister is dead or alive, there are still others who can be found, so the teacher can't just warn them one by one.
