Above the mage

Chapter 344 Mysterious Chorus

The next day, at six o'clock in the morning, Gao De, who was still fully clothed, woke up on time.

He got up and went to the window, lifting a corner of the curtain to look outside.

Sunrise is very early in Lagos.

By now, it was already bright daylight, and golden sunlight shone on the streets, casting long, slender shadows of people in twos and threes.

The street vendors were already busy, pushing their carts and displaying fried bananas and bean cakes on their stalls, filling the air with the aroma of oil and spices.

A woman in a long robe carried a basket on her head, filled with fresh bread and fruit, as she moved through the crowd.

Several dilapidated carriages were parked on the side of the street, and the drivers were trying to attract passengers.

Gao De looked away and glanced back at the little girl who was sleeping soundly on the bed.

Climbing a desolate snow-capped mountain, you'll encounter an arrogant "man," and during a normal mission, you'll inexplicably find a little girl on an airship.

Why do these strange and dramatic things always happen to me?

It's a truly amazing thing.

What's even more amazing is that, despite it being their first meeting, the little girl had complete trust in herself and slept so soundly next to a stranger without any wariness.

Of course, what surprised Gaode even more was that this five-year-old girl knew an unusually large amount of knowledge.

But that's not important to him.

That's just his personality. Since he's already made up his mind and agreed to help Anna find her sister, he doesn't really care about her family background.

Just like when he first met Du Wei on the snowy mountain, he knew that Du Wei's background was not simple, but so what?

He once asked Du Wei, "Do you want to be the emperor?" This was both a joke and an expression of his attitude, showing that even if the other party was the "crown prince," it would not affect his interactions with him.

And the same is true now; even though Anna is a "princess," it doesn't affect Gaode's promise.

Of course, this is an exaggerated assumption.

Gao De shook Anna awake, who was still fast asleep.

"elder brother.?"

"Eat breakfast, then go back to sleep." Gao De chuckled, uttering the "evil" saying that parents often use.

Then, he took Anna's still-dazed hand and led her to the hotel restaurant to enjoy the hotel's free breakfast: bread sprinkled with fine salt, a small dish of jam, and a cup of steaming barley tea.

As a traditional agricultural city, even though it has declined somewhat, its essence remains. Therefore, the bread is made from refined wheat flour, not rye, resulting in an excellent taste.

However, for Anna, this was still food that was difficult to swallow.

Watching the little girl, who wasn't fully awake yet, struggling to swallow her bread, Gao De inexplicably felt a pang of longing for Lady Flora.

After all, he had been away from the North for two and a half months.

After breakfast, Gao De took the little girl back to her room, ruffled Anna's hair vigorously, turning it into a messy "bird's nest," and then, ignoring her "resentful" gaze, instructed her, "Wait in your room for your brother to come back, and don't run around."

The order of the Plantagenet dynasty was far superior to that of the Duchy of Sien. At least within the city, God was not too worried about Anna's safety, but he was afraid that her "bratty" nature would resurface and she would run off to find her sister again.

Donning a cloak to slightly conceal his sea sentry uniform, God left the Palm Tree Inn and headed straight for the north of Lagos.

Although the Marcoko district is called a district, it seems to be part of the city of Lagos.

In fact, it was quite a distance from Lagos city, outside the city limits, so Gaode took a horse-drawn carriage to save time and energy.

The closer you get to the Marco district, the more dilapidated and desolate the scenery along the road becomes.

The stone-paved road was gradually replaced by cinders and mud, and when the wheels rolled over the potholes, mud would splash up and stick to the car body.

However, before setting off, the driver had already mentioned that there would be an extra charge for going to the Marco area, and Gaode agreed to it.

So the coachman didn't complain, but instead whipped the horses to hurry through this area that even rats considered unlucky.

The stench in the air grew stronger until it hit you in the face.

A hazy, gray lagoon had already come into view.

This is the northern estuary of Lagos City and the starting point of the Marcoko district.

Several abandoned and stranded fishing boats are leaning precariously on the edge of the lagoon.

The hull was covered with barnacles, the canvas was torn like a spider web, and half of the hull was submerged in sewage, covered with blackened shellfish.

Behind the fishing boats, a large, haphazard cluster of shacks jutted out from the water, like a deformed forest growing out of sewage.

This is the Marco district, a vast slum built on a lagoon.

The land route abruptly ends here.

After receiving the money from Gaode, the driver hurriedly turned around and left as if avoiding evil spirits, as if staying there for even a moment longer would pollute him.

Gao De frowned slightly, covered his mouth and nose, and approached the shore.

In the lagoon, brownish-gray sewage churned, with green bubbles occasionally bubbling up.

On the water's surface floated fish carcasses with their white bellies turned up, rotting vegetable leaves, and all sorts of garbage. A stench wafted through the air, so foul it was almost unbearable, making one want to turn around and run away immediately.

No wonder no sea sentinel mage was willing to accept this mission, which wasn't difficult but offered double the military merit rewards.

The Marco district doesn't have roads in the traditional sense; instead, a network of crisscrossing waterways serves as the residents' "streets and alleys."

The residents here rely on boats for daily transportation.

Gaode doesn't own boats, but in a slum like this, there's nothing money can't solve.

He spotted a dark-skinned man rowing a small boat not far away and immediately waved to him.

Hearing Gao De's shouts and seeing his gestures, the man slowly rowed his boat over.

He was shirtless, his skin tanned dark and shiny, and his face wore an expression that was a mixture of wariness and curiosity.

Gao De pulled out two silver dragon coins from his pocket, waved them in front of the man, and untied his cloak to reveal the sea sentry uniform underneath. He said, "I've taken on a mission to expel the water beasts. I'm here to drive away and wipe out the demonic octopus and the rotten water salamander. You'll be my guide for a day, and this money is yours."

The man's eyes lit up instantly when he saw the two silver dragon coins, but after glancing at them greedily, he waved his hand and said respectfully, "Master, you have come to drive away the water beasts for us, how could I possibly accept your money?"

"Just get on the ship, I'll do whatever you say."

Gao De jumped onto the boat and then directly stuffed the two silver dragon coins in his hand into the other person's hand, saying, "It's only right."

The man was terrified by the two silver dragon coins, and said in a trembling voice, "My lord, you are making me feel extremely uncomfortable!"

"Let's go. Where have you recently discovered water beasts? Take me to see them first." Gao De waved his hand, skipping over the topic and getting straight to the point.

Seeing that he couldn't refuse any longer, the man didn't say anything more and simply rowed the boat, leading Gao De deeper into the Marco district.

From the moment he boarded the ship, Gao De had already activated the Mandora's Eye and cast [Detection Magic+] to carefully observe the surrounding water surface, searching for any trace of the water beast.

While observing, he chatted with the man to learn about the situation in the Marco district.

The man's name is Shama. He was born and raised in the Marco district.

Since its establishment, the Marco district has never had any planning. The waterways were formed spontaneously by the residents, so they are sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, and they are crooked. The narrowest part can only barely allow a small boat to pass, and the widest part is only a few meters.

Here, the simple, narrow boats that Sama drives, which are slightly wider in the middle and slightly pointed at both ends, are the main means of transportation in the Makoko district.

Even so, daily traffic in the Marco district is still extremely congested.

Shama and Gao Degang had only been rowing for a short time when they encountered two "traffic accidents," both caused by small boats colliding in the narrow river.

The second traffic accident caused a small boat to capsize, with the people on board falling directly into the foul-smelling sewage, making Gao De frown.

However, the person who fell into the sewage didn't seem to care about it. He cursed and flipped the boat over, then climbed back onto it as if nothing had happened, seemingly oblivious to the disgust he felt.

Despite witnessing this scene, Sharma remained remarkably calm.

Because in the Marco district, collisions and falling into the water are a very common occurrence.

"If I fall into this water, wouldn't I inevitably have to swallow some of this dirty water?" Just thinking about the scene made Gao De feel uncomfortable all over, and his stomach started to churn involuntarily.

"My lord," but Sama remained completely calm, "there is no one here who has never drunk sewage."

"The children in the Marco district all grew up drinking the sewage from here."

Gao De raised his eyebrows slightly. His first thought was that drinking sewage full of microorganisms, parasites and bacteria should cause one to suffer from all kinds of diseases.

How come the residents here all look so energetic and healthy, and there's no sign of them being sick at all?

Then he realized that humans are incredibly adaptable, and people who grow up in this environment should have long since evolved a powerful immune system, making them almost immune to all poisons.

In other words, if Gaode jumps into this sewage and takes a few big gulps, thanks to his powerful [Adaptive] ability, he can gain the same strong immunity as the locals of the Marco district in a very short time.

However, Gao De shook his head violently, not daring to imagine the scene, and felt a chill run down his spine.

Seemingly sensing Gaode's curiosity about the Makoko district, Shama enthusiastically introduced the local architectural features to Gaode along the way.

"You mean, that's your outhouse?" Gao De asked, pointing to a simple shack not far away, his eyebrows unconsciously rising.

"Yes." Sham nodded seriously.

According to his description, the shack was the only outhouse shared by forty or fifty households and more than a hundred people in the vicinity. It was also flushless because it was directly connected to the water below, and the excrement went directly into the sea.

In other words, there is a lot of feces floating in the water in this area.

In terms of structure alone, this place is actually somewhat similar to Venice, the famous water city in Gaode's previous life. It is also a water community and relies on boats for transportation.

However, the difference is that the former is a city on water, while the latter is a city where everything on the water is covered in excrement.

What Gao De found most unbelievable was that he saw a child, about five or six years old, emerge from the sewage next to the latrine, with a "bright" smile on his face.

"Is he playing in the water?" Gao De asked Shama to confirm.

Shama nodded firmly.

The invincible Gaode could not describe the shock he felt. Everything in this place was not only beyond his knowledge, but also beyond his imagination.

Besides the floating toilets, he also saw rudimentary public facilities such as schools, restaurants, and medical clinics along the way, and even taverns.

Of course, they were all very rudimentary.

For example, regarding schools, according to Sharma, the entire Makoko district has a population of two to three hundred thousand, but there are only two schools in total, which can only accommodate two hundred children.

"How do you usually make a living?" Gao De couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Picking up trash and fishing," Sharma replied.

Picking up trash is easy to understand, since the entire city of Lagos discharges its sewage and garbage here.

Among the vast amount of garbage, there are always some "good things" that wealthy people in the city look down on but can recycle.

They collected these good things, transported them to land to sell, and used the money to buy bread, clothes, and other necessities.

However, this work is usually done by children and women.

The man's main occupation is still fishing.

"Fishing? There are fish here too?" Gao De asked, pointing to the churning brownish-gray sewage.

"There aren't any here, but if you sail the boat further out and reach the areas that the shack area hasn't yet extended into, you can catch fish," Sharma explained.

"Look, those are the little fish." As he spoke, they passed a shed where a woman was smoking fish outside.

In the huge wok, small fish, head to tail, were fried until golden brown, sizzling loudly.

"Smoke them, take them ashore and sell them; one can sell for one copper coin," Shama explained.

Looking at the familiar "squid rings," Gao De almost couldn't help but vomit.

But the next moment, he forgot all about feeling nauseous, his expression turned serious, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes.

In Gaode's unique perspective, a magical light is swimming in the murky sewage ahead.

Without a doubt, it must be a water beast.

With a thought, Gao De's magic surged, and following the newly constructed magical network, he quickly arrived at the Sea of ​​Spells and activated the spell model.

However, no magical phenomena were apparent on the surface.

"Stop!" Gaode called out to Shama, who was still oblivious and continuing to row.

"My lord, what's wrong?" Shama stopped rowing immediately, asking instinctively.

However, he was quickly stunned.

The water in front of the boat churned, and a dark green, lizard-like creature emerged.

"A putrid salamander," Sama said, pointing at the "lizard" in a trembling voice.

If it weren't for the fact that Gao De, dressed as a sea sentinel mage, was also on board, he would have been scared out of his wits by now.

These water beasts, possessing extraordinary powers, are extremely dangerous and terrifying creatures to poor people like Shama.

Gaode, however, remained calm.

The rotting salamander that poked its head out didn't make any movement; it simply poked its head out and remained motionless, seemingly quite "friendly."

【Mysterious Chorus+】

This is the spell that Gao De just cast.

(End of this chapter)