"Really? You're not lying to me, are you?" The water carrier stood up and looked at Wang Xiaohai carefully. "You don't look like a rich second-generation, and you get five taels of silver for showing me the way?" Five taels of silver was equal to his weekly wages.

"Do rich second-generations have to wear a gold chain around their necks and put gold rings on all ten fingers?" Wang Xiaohai asked back.

The water carrier shook his head, then nodded after hearing what he said. He suddenly felt that what Wang Xiaohai said made sense. These second-generation rich people who like to show off their wealth have long been robbed by others! It’s better to keep a low profile.

"But you're right, I don't care about rich second-generations." Wang Xiaohai earned all his money himself. "But I have money. Stop talking nonsense. Do you want to do it? If not, I'll find someone else."

"Do it, do it, why not do it?" The water carrier thought that even if he was cheated, he would only lose some steps, so he might as well take a break from get off work early.

"Take it." Wang Xiaohai threw over a silver ingot.

The water carrier caught it with both hands, took a bite, and found that it was indeed real silver, so he put it in his pocket happily.

"If you give me the money first, aren't you afraid that I will take the money and run away?" said the water carrier.

"Run if you want. It's just five taels of silver." Wang Xiaohai said, "I believe you."

"Then I'll take these two buckets home first and then take you there," the water carrier said. "You can wait for me here, or come home with me."

"I'll go back with you." Wang Xiaohai said, "Is your home far from here?"

"It's not very far, just a few dozen minutes' walk." said the water carrier, "It's just a bit simple." As he spoke, he picked up the empty bucket and walked to the right.

"How long have you been working here?" Wang Xiaohai followed up and asked. This was what he wanted to know. Although he was very confident in his reasoning, he always felt uneasy when he was uncertain about something.

"I've been working for almost a year." said the water-carrying uncle, giving Wang Xiaohai a definite answer.

Wang Xiaohai was so happy that he asked again, "How much do you make a year? How long has this place been open? I've never heard of it before."

The water carrier didn't doubt it. He said as he walked, "I work hard and earn twenty taels of silver a month, but I spend ten taels, which means I can only save half of that. I work twelve months a year, earning about two hundred and forty taels, and saving one hundred and twenty taels. Alas, I came here three months after this place was discovered."

It seems that silver is not too rare on this continent. This is probably because it has entered the steam industrial age. Machines allow ordinary people to mine gold and silver mines.

Wang Xiaohai sighed, "I came here for tourism. I've traveled all over the mainland and only heard about this place occasionally. It really does have a different scenery."

"Actually, it seems like there are quite a few people here. In fact, not many people know about the thousands of countries under the jurisdiction of the Dingwen Church. Only dozens of industrial cities are talked about. I heard that the government wants to dig up some rare metals with radiation, and the steam drivers who come to help have subsidies from the Dingwen Church." The uncle carrying water said, "The government told us ordinary workers that if we work here for three years, we will also receive a subsidy of one hundred taels each." No matter how fast he walked, Wang Xiaohai could keep up. He thought the young man was in good health. After all, he did physical work every day and naturally had strong endurance.

"It sounds good, but at your age, it would be tiring to work for too long. Have you ever thought about retiring?" Wang Xiaohai asked.

A steam coal truck rumbled past them, its tires caked with sand.

The water carrier greeted the steam train driver. There were more than 200 permanent steam train drivers in this small area, and he knew most of them.

"What rare metal are they digging for?" Wang Xiaohai asked. "Has anyone ever found one?"

"I don't know about that. Ordinary people like us aren't allowed into that area," the water carrier replied. "Only professional steam excavator drivers can enter, and once they're in, they can't leave. Registered coal and water refuelers are also allowed into the central yellow warning zone, and once they're in, they can't leave."

Wang Xiaohai knew that the Steam City was divided into green alert zones, yellow alert zones and red alert zones. He had seen the signboards for each zone when he was in the air. Now he knew that he could only enter the medium or high risk zones from the low risk alert zones and could not go back the other way.

"You can enter the yellow alert zone, and you can probably earn more money than in this green zone." Wang Xiaohai said casually.

"I know, but the further you go in, the smaller the scope of movement becomes, the less freedom you have, the more restrictions you have, and there's even the possibility of losing your life," said the water-carrying uncle.

"How do you know it's so dangerous in there?" Wang Xiaohai asked.

"One night, I was working overtime and carried water five times in a row. I was so tired that my eyes were dark and I could hardly see the road. So I just found a steam locomotive and lay down for a while." The water carrier's eyes were a little scared. "Guess what I saw? I saw two cars in the yellow and green areas handing over each other. People and steam cars in the yellow area can't leave this area at will, so there is a buffer exchange area. That day, I happened to be lying next to a steam car on the edge of the exchange area."

"What did you hand over?" Wang Xiaohai felt that the water-carrying uncle had gone astray. He said so many words but didn't get to the point. It might be because he was a little tired today, or because he hadn't found anyone to chat with for a long time, so he chatted a little more.

"We've handed over dozens of bodies! They were all covered in white sheeting, but I could tell they were dead based on the shapes underneath!" The water carrier's voice trembled. "All the bodies handed over from the Yellow Alert Zone to the Green Zone are corpses! It's horrifying. Every day, so many people voluntarily register to enter the Yellow Alert Zone just to make a killing. Logically, there should be enough staff there, but the regional registration office is still recruiting people every day."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!