Shackles of Humanity

Longyang County was one of the five major commandery cities in the Xingma Kingdom, with a population of hundreds of thousands. Its industries were highly advanced; the industrial districts under its jurisdiction could manufacture advanced steam-powered railcars and super-cannons, making it the most important industrial center in the Xingma Kingdom. The Commandery City was adjacent to the Nili Long River and had an excellent commercial port. Its freight transport was also highly developed, able to serve the entire Xingma Kingdom.

The city’s main urban area was surrounded by a massive wall about ten meters high. Inside, streets crisscrossed in a complex network, and tall buildings were everywhere. Being there felt like stepping into another world.

Luo Kai was reclining under an overpass, dozing off. Next to him was a worn-out, secondhand tricycle—his tool for making a living. He couldn’t stand the constraints of a factory or other organized workplaces, so his only option to support himself was to work for himself. He had spent two hundred Star Dollars on the tricycle, which he used to haul both goods and people. If he was lucky, he could earn over a thousand Star Dollars a month. Given his appetite, that was barely enough to fill his stomach.

He had already been in the city for over two months. His original plan was to go directly to Shangjing City in the Dongyuan Upper Country, but he soon discovered that long-distance travel in this world was not easy. The Xingma Kingdom strictly controlled the movement of its population. To leave the country, one needed to obtain an exit-entry permit—the equivalent of a passport from his previous life. However, only people employed by large merchant guilds could apply for these permits, making it extremely difficult for ordinary citizens. Of course, with enough money, anything was possible. An ordinary person could pay a merchant guild to arrange one, but the price was around one hundred thousand Star Dollars.

The Star Dollar was a universal currency among human nations post-Cataclysm, issued by the most powerful nation, the Dongyuan Upper Country. To avoid having their economies controlled by the Dongyuan Upper Country, the other Lordship Kingdoms also used a metallic currency made of Gold Coins and iron coins, which were minted from an alloy of precious metals. This metallic currency was also widely accepted.

This was, in essence, a form of financial predation. However, the other Lordship Kingdoms frequently fell into turmoil. Their regimes were unstable, and they lacked the public trust required to support a fiat currency like paper money, leaving them no choice but to accept the situation.

The annual income of a lower-to-middle-class household was between twenty and thirty thousand Star Dollars. This meant an average family would have to go without food and drink for several years to save up enough money for the permit.

Transportation in this world was highly developed, not at all inferior to his previous life. An extensive network of railways, highways, and waterways interconnected the human nations. Of course, there was also air travel; large steam-powered airships could carry several hundred passengers at once and were unaffected by terrain or other hindrances.

With developed transportation came a corresponding rise in bandits and highwaymen. The South Sea Pirates were the most infamous among them. The Xingma Kingdom’s navy wasn’t strong, and after suffering a major defeat last year, coastal shipping had fallen almost entirely under the pirates’ control. Merchant ships had to pay an exorbitant toll each time they wanted safe passage.

The main modes of transportation within the city were railcars, along with a small number of steam-powered taxis. The other option was man-powered tricycles. This was Luo Kai’s trade; he was a rickshaw driver. He was too lazy to put on a fake smile to solicit fares, so business was terrible. He could barely even support himself.

Of course, when things got especially difficult, he would go to the Nili Long River docks and work as a porter, hauling sacks. He could make eighty to a hundred Star Dollars a day that way, so survival itself wasn’t a huge problem.

The sky gradually darkened. As night fell, the Fluorescent Stone Lamps at every intersection began to glow, casting a pearly white light. The entire city was enveloped in a hazy white luminescence, a magnificent and dreamlike sight.

...

He had slept through another day without realizing it. Luo Kai stretched, hopped onto his tricycle, and began pedaling toward his rented room. Watching all the different people on the streets along the way, he finally had the feeling that he was, in fact, still alive in this world.

He didn’t know why, but ever since using his Qi and Blood Surge ability, he had become incredibly lethargic. His mind was in a groggy stupor all day long. It had persisted for over two months and had only just begun to ease up recently. This was one of the reasons he didn’t put much effort into making money.

He lived in a place called Lobster Lane, on the outer ring of the main city district. It was part of the urban-rural fringe, surrounded by all kinds of small industrial workshops. The rent there was cheap, and it housed many low-wage laborers like himself.

He passed through a gate in the city wall, arriving in the Outer City. An hour later, to the CLATTER of his old tricycle, a dilapidated street appeared before him. The concrete road was riddled with large potholes. The street was lined with all sorts of shops—hair salons, eateries, bathhouses, clinics, and more—all with worn-out iron doors for storefronts. Caked in grime, the Fluorescent Stone Lamps cast a dim, murky light. Stray cats and dogs ran wild all over the street.

This was the southwest corner of Longyang County. It used to be a graveyard, but in recent years, as Longyang County expanded, it had transformed into a hub for all kinds of small handicraft workshops.

Deeper in the alley, a small, two-story building came into view. Four old women were playing mahjong in the ground-floor corridor. The game of mahjong had become the primary form of entertainment for modern humanity. At night, the entire street would echo with the clacking of tiles, making one feel that even if civilizations rose and fell, this pastime would likely never fade away.

Luo Kai greeted one of the old women, the one with a large mole by her eyebrow. He then struggled to hoist the tricycle onto his shoulder and squeezed past the women amid a torrent of their complaints. After setting the tricycle down in the small courtyard and locking it, he headed up to his room on the second floor.

This two-story building was a residence someone had built themselves. It contained over thirty rooms in total, each one only forty to fifty square meters. The rooms had no toilets, and certainly no kitchens. Inside, the ceilings and walls were blackened with soot from cooking fumes. The tenants didn’t mind, though, because it was cheap. A room here was just over a hundred Star Dollars a month.

Luo Kai, of course, didn’t mind either. Compared to the prison cells on Nanya Island, this was a massive improvement. At least here he had a bed and a dilapidated coal stove. A long stovepipe vented outside. The stove was for cooking, but since it was now winter, the small furnace also provided heat.

He lit the stove to cook. Dinner was simple: a large pot of plain noodles with some greens, oil, and salt thrown in. He slurped down the bland vegetable noodles noisily. He had a huge appetite and would often feel hungry again less than an hour after a meal. When one is starving, any food becomes a delicacy.

After eating, he fell into a heavy sleep. The one silver lining to his lethargy was that he finally wasn’t having dreams anymore.

Early the next morning, Luo Kai went to line up at a nearby market. He was there to buy meat. Strange as it was, meat was very expensive in this world. A pound of ordinary pork cost around eighty Star Dollars, and it was rationed—each person was limited to three pounds per month. Beef and mutton were even more expensive. The market only received a small supply each month, and all of it was pre-reserved by large restaurants and taverns.

Of course, those with money could simply eat at restaurants. The larger establishments had direct connections with livestock farms, so as long as you could pay, you could eat an unlimited amount.

Luo Kai’s body currently required high-energy, high-protein meat to stay vigorous. That was why he had to claim his monthly ration of the relatively cheaper meat. On a normal day, if he had no meat, he had to consume large amounts of carbohydrates like rice and flour as a substitute for protein. For him, life in this city was not easy.