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 from his bed on time.

He stood up, walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out.

The sunrise in Lagos city is very early.

At this moment, the sky was already bright, and the golden sunlight was shining on the streets. Figures in groups of three or two were stretched out in the morning light.

The street vendors have started to get busy. Vendors pushing carts put fried plantains and bean cakes on their stalls, and the air is filled with the smell of oil and spices.

Women in long robes moved among the crowd, carrying baskets filled with fresh bread and fruit on their heads.

Several shabby horse-drawn carriages were parked on the side of the street, and the drivers were trying hard to attract passengers.

Gao De retracted his gaze and looked back at the little girl who was sleeping soundly on the bed.

When climbing an uninhabited snow-capped mountain, you will meet a proud and arrogant "man". When going out on a normal mission, you may inexplicably pick up a little girl on the airship.

How come such weird and dramatic things always happen to me?
What a wonderful thing.

What’s even more amazing is that although it was clearly the first time they met, this little girl had enough trust in me to sleep so soundly next to a stranger without any guard.

Of course, what surprised Gao De even more was that this little girl, who was only five years old, knew an unusually large amount of things.

But this is not important to him.

Because that's his personality. Since he has made up his mind and agreed to help Anna find her sister, he doesn't really care about the other person's family background.

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

He once asked Du Wei in return, "Do you still want to be the emperor?" This was both a teasing and an attitude that showed that even if the other party was the "crown prince", it would not affect his communication with the other party.

The same is true now, even if Anna is a "princess", it does not affect Gode's promise.

Of course, this is an exaggerated assumption.

Godard woke up Anna who was still sleeping.

"elder brother.?"

"Eat breakfast, and then go to bed." Gao De smiled and used the "evil" saying commonly used by parents.

Then, he took the still confused Anna's hand and went to the hotel restaurant to enjoy the free breakfast provided by the hotel: 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 today, its foundation is still there, so the bread is made from fine wheat flour rather than rye and tastes excellent.

But for Anna, this is still a hard food to swallow.

Looking at the little girl who was not yet fully awake and trying hard to swallow the bread, Gode inexplicably missed Lady Flora.

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

After breakfast, Gao De sent the little girl back to her room, rubbed Anna's hair hard, and made it into a messy "bird's nest". Then, ignoring the other's "resentful" look, he reminded her: "Wait for your brother to come back in the room, don't run around."

The order of the Plantagenet dynasty was far from comparable to that of the Principality of Sean. At least in the city, Godard was not too worried about Anna's safety. He was just afraid that her "naughty child" nature would relapse and she would run out to find her sister again.

Putting on a cloak to slightly cover his sea sentry uniform, Gode left the Palm Tree Hotel and headed straight for the north of Lagos.

Although Makoko District is called a district, it seems to be a part of Lagos city.

In fact, it is a very long distance away from Lagos City, outside the urban area of ​​Lagos, so Gaode also took a carriage to save time and energy.

The closer you get to the Makoko area, the more dilapidated and desolate the roadside scenery becomes.

The cobblestone road was gradually replaced by coal slag and mud, and when the wheels rolled over potholes, mud splashed up and stuck to the body of the car.

However, before setting off, the driver had already said that there would be an additional fee for going to the Makoko area, and Gaode agreed.

So the driver did not complain about this, but just whipped the horse to urge it to pass through this area where "even mice find it unlucky".

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

A gray lagoon came into view.

This is the northern estuary of Lagos City and the starting point of the Makoko District.

Several abandoned and stranded fishing boats were tilted at the edge of the lagoon.

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

Behind the fishing boat, a large and disorganized group of shanties protruded abruptly from the water, like a deformed forest growing out of sewage.

This is Makoko, a vast slum built on a lagoon.

The land route came to an abrupt end here.

After the driver received Gao De's money, he turned around and left in a hurry as if to avoid evil spirits, as if staying there 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 was churning, with green bubbles bubbling out from time to time.

On the surface of the water, there were fish carcasses with their bellies turned upside down, rotten vegetable leaves, and all kinds of garbage floating. The stench was so strong that it made people want to turn around and run away immediately.

It is no wonder that no Sea Sentinel Mage is willing to take on this mission which is not difficult but offers double the military merit reward.

There are no roads in the traditional sense in the Makoko District; instead, the criss-crossing rivers serve as the “streets” for the residents.

The residents here usually rely on boats for daily transportation.

Gode ​​doesn't have any ships, but in a place like the slums, there is nothing that money can't solve.

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

The man heard Gode's call and saw Gode's gesture, and slowly rowed the boat over.

He was shirtless, his skin was tanned and shiny, and his face had an expression of wariness and curiosity.

Gao De took out two silver dragon coins from his pocket and waved them in front of the man. At the same time, he untied his cloak, revealing the sea sentinel uniform underneath, and said, "I have accepted the mission to expel water beasts. I am here to expel and eliminate the magic octopus and stinking water salamanders. You can be my guide for a day and the money will be yours."

The man looked at the two silver dragon coins, and his eyes lit up instantly. However, after taking a greedy look at the silver dragon coins, he waved his hand and said respectfully, "Master Mage, you came to help us drive away the water beasts, how can I accept your money?"

"Just get on board, I'll be at your disposal."

Gao De jumped onto the boat and stuffed the two silver dragon coins in his hand directly into the other party's hand. "This is what you should do."

The man was really terrified by the two silver dragon coins, and said in a trembling voice: "Sir, you are embarrassing me!"

"Let's go. Take me to see where you have found water beasts recently." Gao De waved his hand, skipped this topic and got to the point.

Seeing that he couldn't refuse, the man didn't say anything more, so he just paddled the boat and took Gao De towards the depths of the Makoko area.

Since boarding the ship, God has already opened the Mandor Magic Eye and cast [Detection Magic +] to carefully observe the surrounding water surface and look for traces of water beasts. While observing, he chatted with the man to understand the situation in the Makoko area.

The man's name is Sharma. He was born and raised in Makoko District.

There has been no so-called planning for the Makoko District since its establishment, and the river channel was formed spontaneously by the residents here. Therefore, it is sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, and crooked. The narrowest part can only allow a small boat to pass through, and the widest part is only a few meters.

Here, the simple and narrow boat driven by Sharma, which is slightly wider in the middle and slightly pointed at both ends, is the main means of transportation in the Makoko area.

But even so, daily traffic in the Makoko area is still extremely congested.

Not long after Sharma and Gao De started rowing, they encountered two "traffic accidents", both of which were caused by small boats colliding in the narrow river.

The second traffic accident caused a small boat to capsize, and the people on the boat fell directly into the smelly sewage, which made Gao De frown.

However, the person who fell into the sewage didn't care about it. He turned the boat over while cursing, and then climbed back on the boat as if nothing had happened, as if he was completely unaware of the disgusting feeling on his body.

Looking at this scene, Sharma was very calm.

Because in the Makoko area, colliding with a ship and falling into the water is a very normal thing.

"If I fall into this water, won't I be unable to avoid drinking some of this dirty water?" Gao De felt uncomfortable all over just thinking about this scene, and his stomach subconsciously began to churn.

"Sir," Shama said calmly, "In our area, there is no one who has never drunk dirty water."

“The children in Makoko 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 would make one sick, right?

Why do the residents here look so full of energy and don’t seem to be sick at all?

Then he realized that humans have a strong ability to adapt. People who grew up in such an environment should have evolved a strong immune system that is almost immune to all poisons.

In other words, if Gaode jumps into the sewage and takes a few gulps, with the powerful ability of [Adaptation], he can have the same strong immunity as the locals in the Makoko District in a very short time.

However, Gao De shook his head violently, not daring to think about that scene, and only felt a chill.

As if noting Gaode's curiosity about the Makoko area, Shama enthusiastically introduced the local characteristic buildings to Gaode along the way.

"You said, that's your toilet?" Gao De asked, pointing to a simple shed not far away, his eyebrows raised subconsciously.

"Yes." Shama nodded seriously.

According to his introduction just now, that shack is the only toilet shared by forty or fifty households and more than a hundred people in the vicinity. It is also flush-free because it leads directly to the water below, and the excrement goes directly into the sea water.

In other words, there is a lot of feces floating in the water nearby.
In terms of structure alone, this place is actually somewhat similar to the famous water city of Venice in Gaode's previous life. It is also a water community and is also traversed by boat.

But the difference is that the former is a city on the water, while the latter is full of shit on the water.

What Gao De found 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 the toilet, with a "bright" smile on his face.
"Is he playing in the water?" Gode confirmed with Shama.

Sharma nodded affirmatively.

Wudi Gaode could not describe the shock in his heart. Everything in this place was not only beyond his cognition, but also beyond his imagination.

In addition to the floating toilets, along the way he also saw simple schools, restaurants, clinics and other public facilities, and even pubs.

Of course, they are all very simple.

For example, according to Sharma, in the entire Makoko district, with a population of 200,000 to 300,000, there are only two schools that can accommodate only 200 children.

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

“Garbage picking and fishing,” Sharma replied.

Picking up garbage is easy to understand because all the sewage and garbage in the entire city of Lagos are discharged here.

Among the large amount of garbage, there are always some "good things" that the wealthy people in the city look down upon but can be recycled.

Collect these good things, transport them to land and sell them, and then use the money to exchange for some necessities of life such as bread and clothes.

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

The man's main occupation is still fishing.

"Fishing? There are fish here?" Gao De asked, pointing at the swirling brown-gray sewage.

“There are none here, but if we sail the boat further out, to an area where the shanties haven’t yet extended, we can catch fish,” Sharma explained.

"Yes, those are the small fishes." As he was speaking, he passed by a shed where a woman was smoking fish outside.

In the huge oil pan, the small fish connected head to tail were fried until golden, making a sizzling sound.

"After smoking them, take them to the shore and sell them. One can be sold for one copper stone coin," Shama introduced.

Looking at the familiar "squid ring", Gao De almost couldn't help vomiting.

But the next moment, he didn't care about his nausea, his expression became serious, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.

In Gode's unique vision, there was a bit of magical light swimming in the turbid sewage in front of him.

Without a doubt, it must be a water beast.

Gao De's mind moved, and his magic power surged. It quickly followed the newly constructed magic veins to the magic star sea and activated the spell model.

However, there was no magical phenomenon on the surface.

"Stop." Gode called out to Shama who was still rowing without noticing.

"Sir, what's wrong?" Shama stopped rowing immediately and asked subconsciously.

However, he was soon stunned.

The water in front of the ship rolled and a dark green lizard-like creature emerged.

"Foul water salamander," Shama said in a trembling voice, pointing at the "lizard."

If Gaode, a mage wearing the uniform of a sea sentinel, had not been on board the ship, he would have been scared to death by now.

These water beasts with extraordinary powers are extremely dangerous and terrifying creatures for poor people like Shama.

Gao De, however, looked calm.

This stinking water salamander that popped its head out did not make any movement. It just popped its head out and lay there motionless, seeming very "friendly".

[Mysterious Chorus+].

This is the spell that Gaode just cast.

(End of this chapter)