A city could never remain alone forever, just as Scourges would never come only once.
The nation was developing, the population was growing, and cities were constantly expanding in scale.
Mobile cities powered by Originium energy ultimately had their limits. When their vast metal treads could no longer support the city's expansion or provide housing and jobs for the swelling population, building new cities became inevitable.
Vrasas, Siracusa's new city.
The Originium-powered mobile core of this young mobile city had yet to bear the burden of tens of thousands of tons, making it exceptionally light and swift as it carried the new city along.
Around the newly built three- and five-story buildings stood makeshift shacks everywhere. The boundary between workers' housing and the slums was far from clear. Those drifting through them were not the quality citizens recognized by Siracusa, but Infected who could barely survive only by paying exorbitant protection fees.
Little Tommy carried his daily wages from the construction site in his pocket. He was not yet an adult, but Siracusa had no laws prohibiting child labor. Bosses who valued profit more than human lives loved employing children like them, because their small bodies could squeeze into places adult workers could not reach.
Not to mention... their wages were only one-fifth of an adult worker's. They could not be counted on for exhausting heavy labor, but they handled odd jobs and small tasks with great care.
Little Tommy hurried across the street and plunged into a dim alley, running straight toward the bakery he remembered as selling the cheapest bread.
There was no fragrance of bread along the way, only the scent of sour liquor stinging Little Tommy's nose. That was the smell of those cheap loaves.
Panting and drenched in sweat, Little Tommy smiled when he saw