Chapter 275 Chapter 274 The Miserable Civilians.

Summer has gone and autumn has come. Caldic City has not seen the sun for a week. Under the gloomy sky, the black smoke from the factory rises sparsely. Camus patted his frozen face and looked at the yellowed golden oak leaves calmly.

"Spring has gone and autumn has come. I have been here for half a year. I wonder how Lux is doing."

After a while, Camus returned home with vegetables. This week he went to Su Lan's place every day to learn Sumera, and then bought vegetables and went home to cook. Su Lan has become more and more anxious these days. He has seen it all. He plans to discuss with everyone tonight to see if he should confront Su Lan.

"Huh..."

When Camus just got home, he saw that there was a newspaper stuffed in the mailbox in front of his house. He walked over with his things and walked into the house with the newspaper.

"You're back? It's really cold. To be honest, I think it's better to stay at home." As the door opened, a cold wind blew into the house. Kaxiu, who was sitting by the fireplace, whispered. Kaxiu brought the things to the kitchen. The cook in the kitchen was making lunch. When she saw Kaxiu buying vegetables, she quickly took the vegetables.

"Mr. Kaxiu, how can you come here for such a thing? The weather is too cold. Go to the fireplace and warm yourself up."

"It's okay. You should also keep warm." Kaxiu smiled and replied?

"Cats are afraid of cold too?" Camus walked to the sofa and looked at Kaxiu who was huddled together, and spoke softly.

"Cat people are not cats. I don't have his thick fur." ​​Kaxiu rolled his eyes and spoke unhappily.

"Lacus should be here. I wonder if Akali and the others have gone back?"

"Almost. She should be here. We'll know at the meeting tonight."

Comforted, Camus stopped talking. He turned over the newspaper he had brought. On the first line of the newspaper, there was a line of words, "What is the future of the homeless?" On the ground, there were drawings of homeless people who were not dead. They were skinny and huddled together on the cold ground.

"Doesn't the government of Caldecott care? Just let them starve to death?" After reading the text for a while, Camus pointed at the newspaper and spoke in shock. He had also seen a large number of homeless people on the road these days, but he had never thought it was so serious.

"It's like this every autumn. It's not that the government doesn't want to care, but that it doesn't have the ability to care. Do you know where these homeless people come from?" Kaxiu glanced at the newspaper and spoke lightly.

"They are laid-off workers from factories, most of them are from cement factories, aluminum factories, steel factories, and glass factories in Caldecott City. Most of them are older workers. This kind of atmosphere eliminates old workers and gives young workers a better chance to survive. Moreover, due to overload and lack of protection in the factory, most of these workers suffer from serious diseases. Perhaps for them, death is the best way to help their families reduce the burden."

"They are only in their forties, right? How can it be so serious?" Camus looked at the ink painting again and spoke in a low voice. In his opinion, the homeless man huddled in a ball in the portrait is only in his forties. How can he be considered an old man?

"Come with me." Seeing that Camus looked a little strange, Kaxiu closed his clothes and took Camus out of the house. Kaxiu took Camus to a remote box. Camus immediately saw several homeless people wearing thin linen clothes huddled together and shivering. A frozen man was lying on a newspaper not far away. He was blue and purple and looked like he had been dead for a long time. Kaxiu walked over without saying anything. He took out more than ten copper coins from his arms and threw them to the homeless people, speaking in a low voice.

"Leave here and buy some food." Seeing the money on the ground, a group of people immediately scrambled for it. After they got the money, they hugged their bodies and left here.

"Clang..." Seeing that the people were gone, Kaxiu took out his cane. As he pressed the button, the top of the cane popped out a sharp blade. He gently cut open the belly of the corpse. Camus immediately saw the internal organs full of black stains, which looked very disgusting.

"These are all exhaust gases they inhale. They have no money for treatment. They will die sooner or later anyway. It's better to die early to avoid suffering."

"This..." Seeing this scene, Camus turned his head away and said nothing.

"You may ask, knowing that the pollution is so serious, why do they go to work in factories? I tell you that they have no choice but to work in factories. They have no land, no houses, no educational resources. If they don't go to factories, they will starve to death. And every year, countless young people will be added to replace these old people. Many people outside the factory are jealous of this job. After all, they can live at least 20 years in the factory. If they don't go to the factory, they will not live more than three days."

At the end, Kaxiu's tone became more and more low. He was once a member of this group. The darkness of the underground black market was even worse than these. He watched the people around him disappear one by one. Some died, some were eaten, and some were sold. He had long been numb.

"I'll take you to a place to see." After a while, Kaxiu picked up the newspaper to cover the body and spoke in a low voice.

"Aren't they committing crimes?" Camus asked in a low voice, looking at the skinny, dark-skinned corpses on the ground. A person can do anything when he is forced into a corner. During this period of time, he found that these homeless people would leave on their own if they couldn't get money, and he didn't react too radically.

"Because they have families. If they rob, the government will kill them and force their families to pay compensation. If they don't pay, according to the Draf Citizenship Act, you can handle their life and death with full authority." Kaxiu pulled his clothes, exhaled a breath of cold air, and then spoke in a low voice.

"This, is the law of the kingdom like this?" Camus spoke in disbelief. He didn't know about it because he had never been exposed to it.

"Because they are lower-class civilians, they are not protected by the Draf Citizenship Act. The act protects real citizens, not them. They are losers in the Third Age, and they will be losers for life." After speaking, Kaxiu stopped a carriage and walked up first.

Camus didn't say much. He was very curious about where Kaxiu was going to take him.

"Slave market." Seeing Camus get on the car, Kaxiu said in a low voice. The driver turned his head and nodded gently.

"Okay, sir."

"Didn't the kingdom abolish slavery? Is there a slave market in Kadic City?" Hearing the word slave, Camus looked at Kaxiu in surprise.

"Yes, it has been abolished, but many people are willing to be slaves, especially in autumn and winter." Kaxiu took a deep breath and spoke lightly.

"Why?"

"Because, winter is a time when pirates are rampant, sea transportation is inconvenient, and farming does not grow anything, so materials are expensive. Some families with savings will stock up some food in the summer, but there are still some families who can't afford it, such as those who have no chance to be selected to work in factories, so they can only sell themselves." At this point, Kaxiu turned his head and looked at Camus.

"Didn't you pay attention to the price when you bought vegetables today? Didn't you find that those vegetables are many times more expensive?" Camus heard it and immediately remembered that he spent about two silver coins on buying vegetables today, which is ten times the usual amount. Because he had money recently, he didn't pay attention to these small amounts. He immediately remembered that the monthly salary of ordinary people in Caldic City is about 1.8 silver coins. So they can't afford to eat these foods at all.

"It's unfortunate." Camus murmured in a low voice.

"The world is like this, but you just don't pay attention to it. We are not from the same world as them, and we have always been." Kaxiu said meaningfully. He had thought about changing before, but even if he wanted to change, he could change one person. Could he change thousands of people?

"Sir, you are here." As the crowds of people were bustling, the driver's voice also rang out. Camus and his partner paid the fare and got off the carriage. He immediately saw that this was a street in the port area. There were many men and women on the street. There was a card on their chests with the price written on it. Most of them were wearing thin clothes, their skin was dark and dull, their skin was rough and dark yellow, and their eyes were numb. Looking at the endless flow of people, Camus took a breath of cold air.

"So many?"

"This year is indeed more than in previous years. Don't forget that the lower-class streets are destroyed. Many people are still homeless. Although the government is rebuilding houses, the speed is very slow. In my opinion, it will take at least half a year for the lower-class streets to return to their previous scale." Kaxiu smelled some unpleasant odors in the air and spoke calmly.

"Who will buy them? What will they be bought for?" Looking at the crowds on both sides of the road, Camus spoke in a low voice.

"Men are bought to mine and work as sailors, women are bought to be servants, and children are sent to be trained as grooms or farmers. Those who can buy slaves at least have some conditions. They don't look down on these lower-class civilians. Even if they want women, they will choose from the civilians." Because Camus and his friends were dressed very decently, some people were eager to move towards this side. They also hoped that Camus would buy them. Looking at the increasing number of people around him, Kaxiu spoke softly without changing his expression. Camus was silent for a moment before speaking in a low voice.

"Leave, I just thought that the lower-class civilians were poor and destitute before, but now it seems that the problem is more serious."

"Oh... whatever you want." Kaxiu heard that Camus wanted to leave, and he shrugged and spoke lightly.

"Gentlemen, please wait a moment, my master wants to see you." Just as the two were about to leave, a short cat man in an ill-fitting suit pushed the crowd away anxiously and walked out. When he saw the two, he quickly bent down and spoke in a low voice.

"Who?"

"Crowley Hank, my master said that he would like to thank Mr. Camus for saving his daughter last time. He had prepared a generous gift, but Mr. Camus left after he came back. I didn't expect to see you here." Hearing these familiar names, Camus immediately touched his chin and thought about it. He suddenly remembered that the Crowley family was the culprit who summoned the Greedy Star. His beautiful daughter had pitted him badly. After thinking about it, Camus spoke softly.

"Last time, the lives of several noble ladies were sent away with dozens of gold coins. I want to see what he gives me. Lead the way." Hearing that Camus was willing to go, the man dispersed the crowd and took the two to a luxurious manor. The manor was not far from the port area. From a distance, there were many buildings and bright lights inside, and occasionally there were faint laughter.

Seeing this scene, Camus spoke in a low voice, "How did your master know that I was in the slave market from such a distance?"

"Mr. Camus, my master just came back, and he specially sent down your portrait, telling us that if we meet you, we must invite you over." After hearing the explanation, Camus glanced at Kaxiu, who nodded to him, and the two immediately stepped into the luxurious manor.