The heavy rain had likewise shrouded Ampton City in a hazy mist. After walking quietly for only half an hour, Zhang Tie saw Ampton City before him.
Ampton City was an undefended commercial city without walls. The thriving trade between the north and south of the Blakerson Human Corridor had made it grow ever larger over the past two hundred years. By today, as the capital and most important stronghold and city of the Free Commercial Alliance, it had expanded into a great city spanning more than a hundred square kilometers.
This city was far more prosperous than Black Flame City.
The surging tide of people flowing south had given Ampton a twisted kind of prosperity, like oil boiling in a raging fire—a world of ice and flame.
On both sides of the city streets, refugees crowded everywhere they could find even the slightest shelter from the wind and rain, setting up crude tents or laying out bedding. Yet right beside or not far from these refugee encampments, advertisements from apartments, hotels, and inns hung everywhere.
"Apartment for rent at 76 Levens Avenue. Two bedrooms and a living room, water and heating provided. Monthly rent: 10 gold coins..."
"Cozy Family Inn. Clean and comfortable. Daily rent: 600 silver coins (Note: breakfast not included!)"
"Black Horse Hotel suites. Nightly rent: 3 gold coins..."
"Stairwell on the fourth floor of Wall Building for rent. Ten-square-meter room. Monthly rent: 2 gold coins..."
To Zhang Tie, rents like these were practically robbery, far beyond what ordinary families could afford. Yet in Ampton City at this moment, they had become utterly commonplace.
Besides the lodging advertisements everywhere, Ampton currently had more swindlers than anything else. Zhang Tie had only just entered the city when he encountered three con men using the