Volume 4 Chapter 11: Eternal Gathering Island
The morning sunlight passes through the gloomy fog, weakly falling on the quiet and cold city, without a hint of warmth, looking dull and lifeless. The salty cold sea wind blows, making the thin wooden houses creak, even the trees shrink in the wind, filling people's hearts with desolation and oppression.
This is the great capital that rules over 900 million people across two oceans, Luoxi City, the first city of Yongju Island. For centuries, the leaders of the Elf Kingdom have been issuing orders here, dominating the fate of half of the Western world.
"Ugh... I'm so sleepy, I really want to sleep for another one or two hours."
Daniel yawned as he walked out of his apartment, stretching his waist in the cold morning air, feeling sore all over, seemingly due to not sleeping enough last night - it was not yet 7:30, and he usually slept late. But there was no way around it, today was the first day of the week, and he had to go pick up his own rationed food; if he arrived late, he might not get anything. Thinking of his stomach, Daniel struggled against drowsiness as he took big strides towards the food distribution station three streets away.
This winter on Yongju Island was both cold and snowy, and even though it was already mid-February, there was still no hint of spring in the air. The streets were very quiet, with few pedestrians, mostly women and old people carrying baskets. The road seemed to have never been swept, with dirty residual snow and trash scattered everywhere. In a small alley that nobody paid attention to, several emaciated stray dogs were digging through the snow piles at the corner of the wall, desperately searching for anything edible. One of the dogs even stared at Daniel with its reddened eyes, scaring him so much that he shuddered and quickly ran away.
This is Lusipia, the capital during wartime, where everyone struggles for food, cold and suffocating.
The empty streets had no signs. There were no shops, not even vendors selling breakfast, only tightly closed doors and windows. Since the implementation of the new material distribution system, all business activities in the Elf Kingdom have been explicitly prohibited, so the supply of daily necessities has to rely on the government. As the war continued, various living materials and the figures of young men disappeared from the city together. Only a group of old, weak, women and children were left, barely surviving on the increasingly scarce rationed supplies.
After passing through a narrow alley and turning two street corners, Daniel finally arrived at the food supply station closest to his home, which was the only bustling place in the city. Tens of thousands of women, elderly people, and children gathered here, carrying baskets and forming long queues, waiting for the supply station to open so that they could receive their share of food. Several militiamen wearing uniforms carried long wooden clubs and walked back and forth between the queues, as if searching for hidden "thought criminals". Whenever they arrived at a certain place, the queue there would instantly become quiet.
Although it's still a while before the supply station opens, the citizens who came to line up don't feel bored. They seize this opportunity to discuss some trivial matters, or quietly exchange various true and false rumors and urban legends. Since the government issued martial law a year ago, ordinary people's gatherings and exchanges have had to risk being locked up, and only when lining up at the supply station can they chat with their neighbors relatively freely, slightly relaxing their repressed minds.
Daniel and a few acquaintances exchanged greetings before joining a relatively short queue to collect their own special rations from the window marked "Noble Use Only". Normally, someone of his status would have left such menial tasks to servants. However, several months ago, the government discovered that many servants were stealing their masters' rations, and as a result, a new regulation had been in effect since last month: unless one's rank was above Earl, goods could not be delivered to the door; otherwise, all rationed supplies had to be collected in person at the supply station.
Unfortunately, Daniel, although belonging to the aristocratic class, has not yet mixed with the earl and had to replace his own maid's work, going to various supply stations to queue up early in the morning, receiving allocations: food in the morning, cloth in the afternoon, industrial products and fuel in the evening, sometimes even getting up in the middle of the night to grab freshly arrived fish and vegetables. This tedious and hard work quickly made Daniel, who was used to being pampered, exhausted, but he could not escape.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, with a loud ringing sound, the supply station opened on time. Behind the dozen small windows facing the street, the employees' expressionless dead faces appeared. The citizens at the front of the queue waved their certificates and shouted loudly towards the small windows, as if this would get them more things. The military police had to become even more tense, running back and forth between the queues, occasionally pulling out a few over-excited queuers from the line to maintain order.
Although also in line, the elves obviously have more elegance, not one of them making a racket. They all stand quietly in their positions, waiting to receive their rations. Occasionally they would glance at the chaotic citizens beside them with disdainful eyes, then immediately shift their attention back to the small window ahead.
"Special Ration Coupon No. 8341, Special Food Supply - Please Keep It Safe!"
After half an hour of waiting, Daniel finally got his ration from the small window. He hugged a large paper bag full of various foods and squeezed out of the crowd under the envious eyes of several ordinary citizens, came to a relatively empty corner, and began to inspect this time's harvest.
Flour, beans, edible oil, white sugar, refined salt, smoked meat, and milk. There was also a small package of dried fish and two cans of jam. Although the quantity of each item was not too much, it could be said that it was a fairly sumptuous feast in the war-torn capital. The only regret was that there was no coffee or tea, which Daniel wanted most. He puckered his mouth, stuffed the food into his spatial ring, and then walked away whistling.
Today's next stop is to go to work, Daniel's workplace is eight streets away from the food supply station, and he should have taken a horse-drawn carriage. However, two months ago, his coachman was conscripted to the front line along with the horses and carriages to transport ammunition, so now he can only walk on foot, treading through the snow and garbage that fills the ground to go to work.
Although it was morning, the air quality in downtown Lusipara was still very poor. The sky remained gray and hazy, with fog that didn't dissipate as the sun rose, but instead grew thicker, like a dense lid covering the exhaust fumes from factories and coal smoke from residents' homes. After walking just two streets, Daniel felt short of breath, his throat hurt, and he was extremely uncomfortable all over. He leaned against the wall and coughed for a while before feeling slightly better.
"What a filthy city, it's not fit for elves to live in!" He cursed, kicking away the broken tile on the ground, and then was irritated by the choking fog, sneezing and even bringing out snot.
Daniel couldn't help but envy his brother, who worked at the palace. Although the royal family's daily life was far from luxurious, working at the palace wasn't a lucrative position either. However, at least he could move to the suburbs with the royal family members, breathe in the fresh air, listen to birds singing, smell flowers, and even eat fresh and juicy fruits frequently. Unlike him, who was trapped in a polluted industrial city, enduring terrible air quality every day; didn't have to walk under a gloomy sky, trudge on dirty roads to and from work; and didn't have to line up at the supply station from dawn till dusk just to receive his meager ration.
The dense fog slowed down Daniel's walking speed like glue. By the time he arrived near his workplace, the hands of his pocket watch had already passed nine thirty. Obviously, he was late again today. But who cares? He carelessly put away his old pocket watch which had already grown rusty and continued to move forward after identifying the direction.
As he turned another corner, the air quality in front of him seemed to have improved significantly. The road surface was also very clean, and there were large areas of green plants that were rarely seen in the city during this season. This was a street where government agencies were concentrated, and in order to ensure the quality of work for officials, many pollution-resistant flowers, grasses, and trees were planted around all the houses. There were not a few evergreen ones, even in early spring when the snow had not yet melted, they still showed their vitality. Daniel couldn't help but take a deep breath of the cold air filled with the scent of plants, feeling much more comfortable in his chest, and even his footsteps seemed to have become lighter.
He walked past a series of brick and stone high-rises or fancy treehouses with signs that read "Ministry of Health", "Ministry of Heavy Industry" and "Department of News Management". Apart from exchanging a few pleasantries with some acquaintances, he didn't linger anywhere. A few annoying constables were wandering around between the departments, occasionally using their batons to intimidate those they thought were slacking off. Not wanting to get hit, Daniel hastened his pace, almost jogging out of sight of the constables.
Daniel finally stopped in front of a three-story small building with an elegant but dilapidated exterior on the edge of the government district, where he was about to re-enter the polluted residential area. He looked at the metal sign covered with rust and spider webs, sighed, brushed off the dust from his hair, and walked inside. The long-rusted sign read "Fairy Kingdom Ministry of Foreign Affairs".
