Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1463: Locals_3

Outside, the spring chill was biting, but inside the cave, it was crowded and a bit stuffy.

Every time this donkey brayed, it exhaled a thick mist.

Not just this donkey, all the other draft animals shared the same characteristic; with each breath, they spewed a large amount of white mist.

Clearly, it wasn’t the animals breathing; this was the steam engine venting.

“These must be animals from the Inner State, right? They look like animals, but they’re actually machines.”

Tan Jinxiao shook his head and said, “They can’t really be considered from the Inner State; they’re like Old Chen’s wife — it’s hard to say where they’re really from. Some people say they’re grown from the ground, some say they come from the water, others say they’re transformed from insects. There’s chatter that ever since there were people at Three-Head Fork, there have been these creatures too. When the Inner State invaded, they didn’t interact with them. Even when people from Puluo State came, they didn’t get close to the people of Puluo State either. The people from the Outside Provinces tried to take them for study, but once they leave Three-Head Fork, they don’t get far before they fall apart, both physically and in spirit.”

Li Banfeng patted a cow next to him.

The cow glanced at Li Banfeng with a mix of anger, wariness, and fear; it lowed once and retreated to its owner’s side.

Looking at the cow’s disdainful eyes, Li Banfeng chuckled awkwardly, “They do have quite a distinctive temperament.”

Tan Jinxiao nodded, “They’re indeed different. They only get close to people from Three-Head Fork. If someone has a family there, as long as they hit it off, they’re willing to live alongside them.”

Li Banfeng asked, “Has anyone hit it off with you?”

Tan Jinxiao lowered his head and spoke softly, “If there really was one like that, my kid could run errands by now.”

Li Banfeng lifted his hat brim, astonished, “What did you just say? They can have kids?”

Tan Jinxiao nodded, “Yes! Some are born human, some look just like them, while others form a new lineage that resembles neither!”

Li Banfeng was speechless.

He looked again at the cow, unsure how to refer to such beings.

Calling them machines didn’t seem right.

Robots?

That didn’t seem right either.

“What do you usually call them?”

Tan Jinxiao said, “We usually call them locals, because they never leave Three-Head Fork.”

Locals?

Where do the locals come from?

The name stirred some associations in Li Banfeng’s mind.

“Has no local ever left Three-Head Fork?”

Tan Jinxiao thought for a long while, “Well, there have been some; I can’t remember much from afar, so let’s just talk about recent times. A few years back, a young man who used to climb mountains to collect herbs saved up quite a bit of money and left Three-Head Fork. It’s said that a local, akin to a brother, went with him. As for what that local looked like, there are many tales — some say it was a cat, some say a bird, others a horse, and some claim it was a commonly used gun of his. That’s how the story goes, but whether it’s true or not, I can’t be sure.”

The two chatted as they followed the crowd forward.

After a whole day of walking, Li Banfeng caught a whiff of a fishy scent.

This was the unique fishy scent of rivers and lakes. Continuing for a bit longer, he heard waves crashing against rocks!

The sound of tides!

Li Banfeng followed the crowd, moving faster and faster.

Soon, the narrow claustrophobic tunnel came to an end; the gathering crowd dispersed, as the vastness ahead allowed the weary farmers plenty of space to move.

Li Banfeng stood on the sandy beach, gazing into the distance.

He saw stone pillars reaching from the ceiling to the water’s surface and stalagmites stretching from the water below to the ceiling. He saw mist swirling mysteriously in the darkness.

The scenery was indeed spectacular, but it wasn’t the focus.

The focus was that Li Banfeng saw the sea.

In the tightly confined cavern, he was staring at an endless sea surface.

This was inexplicable, as the cave walls disappeared here, or perhaps extended beyond Li Banfeng’s sight.

Yet Li Banfeng could still clearly see the mottled rocky ceiling and the turbulent sea beneath.

Whoosh!

The waves surged to the shore, the deafening roar of the tides echoing repeatedly within the cave.

Li Banfeng cupped some seawater in his hand; it was cold and clear, crucially without the salty taste of the Outside Provinces’ seas. He turned to ask Tan Jinxiao, “Is it drinkable?”

“Yes!” Tan Jinxiao nodded, “It’s different from Outside Provinces; this seawater is fresh and much cleaner than outside water!”

Li Banfeng planned to take a sip to taste it when suddenly a fight broke out nearby.

“You’re not giving enough soil; I just unloaded the cart, the soil mound’s right there, and you only swapped so much? Let’s compare right here, which pile of soil is higher.”

“All your talk is pointless; we go by the scale, not the pile, a pound for a pound, or take it back with you.”

“Your scale must be off; the price of soil has gone up this year, yet you give less than what it’s worth; this is robbery!”

A farmer and a boat owner were fighting.

Tan Jinxiao whispered, “Seventh Master, this is the soil exchange, trading old soil for new, and paying extra on top of it. It’s not easy for farmers to earn a couple of bucks; sixty percent of the harvest goes as rent, leaving forty percent. Twenty percent is kept for themselves to eat, ten percent sold at the market, and the remaining ten percent is used entirely to exchange for new soil.”

Li Banfeng asked, “Where does the new soil come from?”

Tan Jinxiao glanced into the distance, “From Yangtu Island. It’s quite far; a round trip by boat takes about three to five days. The farmers from the Earth Market take the old soil to Sea City, pay the fee, and exchange it for new soil to bring back,