Half-elf Notebook

Chapter 208 Sewer

The sewer was unusually humid, but surprisingly, it was warmer than the temperature outside, and after going a few meters deeper, there was no more condensed white frost on the ground and the surface.

Instead, there is an almost invisible layer of moss, which is so slippery that it feels like walking on ice.

The bright flame inside the lampshade could illuminate very far in the dim space. Through it, Ina could even clearly see the depths and corners of the corridor hundreds of meters away.

Under the unique orange-yellow light of the flame, she keenly discovered some inconspicuous things on the side road - a pile of ashes that were not completely burned out, and a half-burned firewood.

It looked like someone had once made a fire here.

Bello naturally saw Ina's discovery quickly and explained calmly:

"These are traces left by vagrants. There will be no sheriffs in the sewers to chase them away, and there are very few hooligans who beat them up. Many times, they will choose to roam in the sewers, especially in the cold winter."

Ina held up the oil lamp in her hand and looked around the fairly spacious tunnel, the dark, moss-covered stone brick walls, and the sewage channel that connected from the top to the ditch in the middle, discharging waste and dirty water.

She suddenly felt that everything in front of her was much more pleasing to the eye.

Looking at it from another perspective, what Bello said was indeed true for her in the past.

The living environment is relative.

There is a roof to cover your head, keeping you warm in winter and cool in summer.

Compared to the sub-zero temperature outside, the sun and rain, and the risk of being evicted and relocated, this is undoubtedly a rare and good place to stay for homeless people.

As for the stench, filth, and dampness, the homeless are all acceptable.

In the slums of Leishi, these problems are equally prevalent.

There were no ditches for drainage, and no utility trucks to transport feces and domestic wastewater to each household.

These were mixed with other sewage and were dumped directly onto the mud floor, which was neither cement nor paved with bricks, after the drunkards vomited every night.

In warm summers with plenty of rain, they stink and are very likely to cause cholera and plague.

In comparison, the smell of the sewer can even be considered mild.

The two walked along the ditch for quite a distance.

Walking in the darkness, with only light footsteps left, Ina suddenly asked curiously:

“Shouldn’t all this water be sewage and groundwater produced by residents?”

"These are also the waters of the tributaries of the Rodelde River."

Bello did not ignore Ina's question, but answered it patiently.

In this depressing space filled with unpleasant smells, chatting can obviously relieve the mood a little more than silence.

"They flow from the upper reaches of the city's rivers into the city's sewer network and then re-enter the river in the middle or end of the city."

"There is no groundwater inside. The groundwater is deeper, and the depth of a normal sewer tunnel is generally no more than ten meters."

"Because it uses water from the Rodelde tributary, during the ice melt and rainy season every year, the water level in the sewer rises rapidly and is no longer suitable for entry."

"Some of the roads are built low, and the crossings near the river will be completely submerged in water, and there may even be stone falling off and small-scale landslides caused by corrosion..."

"But at the same time, as the flow of water increases, the city authorities will not have to send people to clean up the sediment in the sewers as often."

Bello pointed to the wall beside him with his chin and talked about the common sense of this city.

"In large cities, it would be difficult to force every resident to pay for the wages of workers to clean out the sewage storage tanks and the transportation costs of horse-drawn carts."

"Although its construction cost is high, compared with other solutions, the sanitary environment it brings and the effect of solving urban rainwater problems, as well as the subsequent financial expenses for maintenance and repair, are obviously more acceptable to city managers."

Looking in the direction indicated, Ina indeed saw some special things that she had always overlooked.

At the bottom edge of the gray-black stone wall that projected the firelight and human shadows, roughly at the same level as her thighs, a boundary appeared on it that was not noticeable at first glance, but was extremely clear upon closer inspection.

Above the boundary is a normal gray-black wall. Even though there is some moss growing on it due to the humidity around it, it is not much overall.

And below the boundary is green visible to the naked eye, with more moss and moss...

It was as if the water in the ditch had flooded here.