Chapter 344 Mysterious Chorus
The next day, at six o'clock in the morning, Gothe, who was sleeping in his clothes, woke up from the bed on time.
He stood up and went to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out.
The sunrise in Lagos is very early.
The sky is already bright at this moment, the golden sunshine shines on the street, and the figures in twos and threes are stretched slender in the morning light.
The small vendors on the street have begun to be busy. Vendors pushing carts put fried plantains and bean cakes on the stalls. The air is filled with the smell of grease and spices.
Women in long robes were walking among the crowd carrying baskets on their heads filled with fresh bread and fruits.
Several dilapidated carriages were parked on the side of the street, and the coachmen were trying to attract passengers.
Gao De put away his gaze and looked back at the little girl who was sleeping soundly on the bed.
· Climbing an uninhabited snow-capped mountain, you will meet an arrogant "man". During a normal mission, you will inexplicably pick up a little girl on an airship.
How come such weird and dramatic things always happen to me?
It’s a wonderful thing.
What’s even more amazing is that it’s obviously the first time they meet, but this little girl has enough trust in herself to sleep so deeply next to a stranger without any warning.
Of course, what surprised Gothe even more was that this five-year-old girl knew so much.
But this is not important to him.
Because his character is like this, now that he has made up his mind and agreed to help Anna find her sister, he actually doesn't care that much about the other person's family background.
Just like when he met Du Wei on the snowy mountain, he also knew that Du Wei's origin was not simple, but so what?
He once asked Du Wei, "Do you still want to be the emperor?" This was both ridicule and an attitude statement. Even if the other person was a "prince", it would not affect his communication with him.
The same is true now. Even if Anna is a "princess", it will not affect Gothe's promise.
Of course, this is an exaggerated assumption.
Gothe shook Anna who was still sleeping.
「Brother.?」
“Eat breakfast, and then go to bed after eating.” Gao De chuckled and used the usual “evil” sayings of parents.
Then, he took Anna's hand, who was still confused, and went to the hotel's restaurant to enjoy the free breakfast provided by the hotel: bread sprinkled with finely crushed salt, a small plate of jam, and a steaming cup of wheat tea.
As a traditional agricultural city, even if it is declining now, the foundation is still there after all, so the bread is made of fine wheat flour, not rye, and has an excellent taste.
But for Anna, this is still food that is difficult to swallow.
Looking at the little girl who was not yet fully awake, trying to swallow the bread, Gothe missed Lady Flora inexplicably.
After all, he has been away from the North for two and a half months.
After breakfast, Gothe sent the little girl back to the room, rubbed Anna's hair fiercely, and turned it into a messy "bird's nest". Then, ignoring the "resentful" look from the other party, he warned: "Wait in the room for your brother to come back, don't run around. "
The order of the Plantagenet Dynasty is far from comparable to that of the Principality of Sean. At least in the city, Gothe is not too worried about Anna's safety. He is just afraid that her "naughty child" nature will relapse and she will run out to find her sister.
Putting on his cloak and slightly covering his sea sentry uniform, Gothe left the Palm Tree Hotel and headed straight to the north of Lagos City.
Although Makoko District is called a district, it seems to be a part of Lagos City.
In fact, it was a very long distance away from the city of Lagos, outside the city limits of Lagos, so Gothe took a carriage to save time and energy.
The closer we get to Makoko District, the more shabby and desolate the scenery on the roadside becomes.
Stone roads were gradually replaced by cinders and mud. When the wheels ran over potholes, mud splashed up and stuck to the car body.
However, before setting off, the coachman had already agreed in advance that there would be an additional fee for traveling to Makoko District, and Gaode agreed.
Hence, the coachman did not complain about this, but raised his whip to urge the horses to pass through this area "even mice find it unlucky".
The stench in the air became stronger and stronger until it hit your face.
A gray lagoon (xi) has come into view.
This is the northern inlet of Lagos City and the starting point of Makoko District.
There are several scrapped and beached fishing boats leaning on the edge of the lagoon.
The hull of the ship was covered with barnacles, the canvas was as torn as a cobweb, half of the ship was soaked in sewage, and covered with blackened shellfish.
Behind the fishing boat, there is a large and unorganized group of shacks protruding from the water, like a deformed forest growing out of the sewage.
This is Makoko District, a huge slum built on the lagoon.
The land route ends abruptly here.
After the coachman received Gaode's money, he hurriedly turned around and left as if to avoid evil, as if staying here for a moment longer would pollute himself.
Gao De frowned slightly, covered his mouth and nose, and approached the shore.
In the lagoon, brown-gray sewage is rolling, and green bubbles pop up from time to time.
On the surface of the water, fish carcasses with white bellies, rotten vegetable leaves, and various garbage floated. The stench assaulted the nostrils, which can be described as "so refreshing" that it made people want to turn around and flee immediately.
It is no wonder that no Sea Sentinel Mage is willing to take on this mission, which is not difficult but has double military merit rewards.
There are no roads in the traditional sense in Makoko District. The crisscrossing rivers are the "streets" of the residents.
The residents here usually rely on boats to move around.
Gothe does not have a boat, but in a place like the slums, there is nothing that money cannot solve.
He saw a dark-skinned man holding a boat not far away, and quickly waved to him.
The man heard Gothe's shout and saw Gothe's gesture, and slowly rowed the boat over.
He was shirtless, his skin was tanned and shiny, and he had an expression of vigilance and curiosity on his face.
Gothe took out two silver dragon coins from his arms and waved them in front of the man. At the same time, he untied his cloak and revealed the sea sentry uniform underneath. He said, "I have accepted the task of expelling water beasts and am here to exterminate demonic octopus and putrid water salamanders. If you serve as my guide for a day, the money will be yours."
The man looked at the two silver dragon coins and his eyes lit up instantly. However, after glancing at the silver dragon coins greedily, he waved his hand and said respectfully: "Master Mage, you came to drive away the water beasts for us, how dare I accept your money." The Silver Dragon Coin was pushed directly into the opponent's hand, "This is what it should be."
The man was really frightened by the two Silver Dragon Coins, and said in a trembling voice: "Sir, you are trying to scare me!"
"Let's go, take me to see where you have found water beasts recently." Gothe waved his hand, directly skipped this topic, and got to the point.
Seeing that he couldn't refuse, the man couldn't say anything more, so he had no choice but to row the oar and take Gaode towards the depths of Makoko District.
Since Gothe boarded the boat, he had already opened Mandora's Magic Eye, cast [Detection Magic+] at the same time, and carefully observed the surrounding water surface, looking for traces of water beasts.
While observing, he chatted with the man to learn about the situation in Makoko District.
The man's name is Shama. He was born in Makoko District and grew up in Makoko District.
Since Makoko District was established, there has been no so-called planning at all. The rivers were also spontaneously formed by the residents here. Therefore, they are sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, and crooked. The narrowest point can only allow a small boat to pass through, and the widest point is only a few feet.
Here, the simple and narrow boat driven by Shama, which is slightly wider in the middle and slightly pointed at both ends, is the main means of transportation in Makoko District.
But even so, the daily traffic in Makoko District is still extremely congested.
Not long after Shama and Gao De had just rowed, they encountered two "traffic accidents", both caused by small boats colliding in the narrow river.
The second traffic accident even caused a small boat to overturn. The people on the boat fell directly into the smelly sewage, which made Gao De frown.
But the person who fell into the sewage didn't care about it. He turned the boat over with a curse, and then climbed on the boat like nothing happened, as if he was unaware of the nausea on his body.
Looking at this scene, Shama was very calm.
Because in the Makoko District, it is normal for a ship to collide and fall into the water.
"If you fall into this water, wouldn't it be inevitable to drink a few mouthfuls of this sewage?" Gothe felt uncomfortable all over when he thought about this scene, and his stomach began to churn subconsciously.
"Sir," but Shama was extremely calm, "There are no people here who have never drank sewage."
"Children in Makoko District grew up drinking the sewage here."
Gao De raised his eyebrows slightly, and his first reaction was that drinking such sewage full of microorganisms, parasites and bacteria, shouldn't it be a disease?
Why do the residents here seem so lively and lively, with no signs of illness at all.
Then, he understood that human beings have strong adaptability. People who grew up in such an environment should have evolved a strong immune system long ago, making them almost invulnerable to all poisons.
In other words, let Gaode jump into the sewage and take a few gulps. With the powerful ability of [Adaptation], he can have the same strong immunity as the locals in Makoko District in a very short time.
But Gothe shook his head violently, not daring to think about that scene, and only felt a chill.
Seems to have noticed Gaode's curiosity about the Makoko District. Along the way, Shama also enthusiastically introduced the local characteristic buildings to Gaode.
"You said, that's your toilet?" Gothe asked, pointing to a simple shack not far away, his brows raised subconsciously.
“Yes.” Shama nodded seriously.
According to what he just introduced, the shack is the only toilet shared by more than 100 people in the nearby 40 to 50 households. It does not need to be flushed, because it leads directly to the water below, and the excrement directly enters the sea water.
In other words, there are a lot of feces floating in the water nearby.
In terms of structure alone, this place is actually somewhat similar to Venice, the famous water city in Gothe's previous life. It is also a floating community and is also accessible by boats.
But the difference is that the former is a city on the water, while the latter is full of shit on the water.
What made Gothe most incredible was that he saw with his own eyes a child of about five or six years old emerging from the sewage next to this toilet, with a "bright" smile on his face.
“Is he playing with water?” Gothe confirmed to Shama.
Shama nodded affirmatively.
Invincible Gothe could not describe the shock in his heart. Everything in this place was not only beyond his knowledge, but also beyond his imagination.
In addition to the water toilets, along the way, he also saw simple schools, restaurants, medical clinics and other public facilities, and even pubs.
Of course, they are all very simple.
For example, schools, according to Sharma, there are only two schools in the entire Makoko District, with a population of two to three hundred thousand, which can only accommodate 200 children.
"What do you do for a living on weekdays?" Gothe couldn't help but asked curiously.
"Collecting garbage and fishing." Shama replied.
It’s easy to understand how to pick up garbage, because the entire city of Lagos discharges sewage and garbage here.
· Among the large amounts of garbage, there are always some "good things" that the wealthy people in the city despise, but can be recycled.
Collect these good things, transport them to the land, sell them, and use the money from the sales to exchange for some daily necessities such as bread and clothes.
But this work is usually done by children and women.
Men's main occupation is fishing.
"Fishing? Are there fish here too?" Gothe asked, pointing to the rolling brown-gray sewage.
"There are none here, but if you drive the boat further and reach the area where the shanty towns have not yet extended, you can catch fish." Shama explained.
“No, those are the little fishes.” As he was talking, he happened to pass by a shed, and a woman was smoking fish outside the shed.
In the huge oil pan, the small fish connected end to end were fried until golden and made a sizzling sound.
"Smoke them well and sell them on the shore. One piece can be sold for one copper and stone coin." Shama introduced.
Looking at the familiar "squid ring", Gothe almost couldn't help but vomit.
Just the next moment, he ignored the nausea, his expression became solemn, and his eyes flashed.
In Gothe's unique vision, there is a little magical light swimming in the turbid sewage ahead.
There is no doubt that it must be a water beast.
Gaode's heart moved, and as his mana surged, he followed the newly constructed magic power and quickly reached the sea of spells, activating the spell model.
However, on the surface, no magical phenomena appeared.
"Stop." Gothe called to stop Shama who was still rowing without realizing it.
"Sir, what's wrong?" Shama immediately stopped rowing and asked subconsciously.
However, he was quickly stunned.
The water in front of the ship rolled, and a dark green lizard-like creature emerged.
"Rancid water salamander" Shama pointed at the "lizard" and said with a trembling voice.
Had it not been for Gothe, who was wearing a sea sentinel mage on board, he would have been scared to death at this moment.
These water beasts with extraordinary strength are extremely dangerous and terrifying creatures for poor people like Shama.
Gaode, however, looked calm.
The putrid water salamander with its head popped up did not move at all. It just popped its head up and remained motionless, seeming to be very "friendly".
【Mysterious Chorus+】.
This is the spell that Gothe cast just now.
(End of this chapter)