Chapter 345

Ask if you don't understand.

This was the first sentence Gao De's parents told him before he started school in his previous life.

He also did exactly that.

Since the 【Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion】 mission had been hanging there for seven days without being taken by other Hai Shao Bing magic users, Gao De was not worried about it being snatched away if he delayed for a little while.

He chose to leave the Sea Abyss White Tower first to figure out the specific situation of this mission before considering whether to accept it.

And as for Gao De's connections among the Sentinels, not to mention influence, the only people he could really be considered to know were Mei Liya and Master Naxi.

Naturally, he felt embarrassed to bother Master Naxi with such a small matter.

So, only one choice remained.

"Come in first." Mei Liya opened the door, looking slightly surprised at Gao De, who had suddenly come to visit, but she still welcomed him in very politely and thoughtfully brewed a cup of fine black tea.

"Bothering you again." Gao De also felt a bit embarrassed.

A few days ago, he had just troubled her regarding the purchase of a shop.

"It's all a small matter," Mei Liya smiled slightly, pushed the teacup in front of Gao De, and said very kindly, "Is there something up this time?"

"After passing the assessment, I plan to accept missions to earn military merit..." Gao De did not beat around the bush and directly voiced his question.

"Oh, you're talking about the 【Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion】 mission." Mei Liya's tone dragged slightly.

"Your judgment is correct; this mission is indeed not as simple as it appears on the surface."

She paused for a moment, thought seriously, organized her words, and then continued: "However, it's not what you think; this is actually just a routine mission, not a trap mission made by nobles to set people up."

Mei Liya spread her hands and said: "If it were a trap mission, it wouldn't be such a failure if it had been hanging for so long without anyone taking it."

"Then what is the reason that such a routine mission has been hanging for so long without anyone willing to take it?" Hearing Mei Liya say this, Gao De became even more curious.

"It's because the cost-effectiveness of this mission itself is too low." Mei Liya explained. She picked up her teacup, took a light sip to moisten her throat, and then continued: "This mission is actually not being released for the first time."

"The magic octopuses and foul-smelling water salamanders in Makoko District are like weeds on the side of the road; their vitality is extremely tenacious. You just clear out a batch, and after a few days, they pop up again."

"Therefore, the Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion mission is basically released once every three or four months."

"The reason everyone is unwilling to take this mission is mainly because the situation in Makoko District is too complicated, and everyone doesn't like going to that place."

Mei Liya spread her hands helplessly and said: "But as long as a mission is released, it must be completed. If no one is really willing to take it, someone will be designated from above to complete this mission."

"The last few 【Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion】 missions were all completed by magic users designated from above."

"Too complicated? How so?" Gao De asked. As an outsider, this geographical and regional knowledge was exactly his blind spot.

Mei Liya sighed slightly and then recounted the specific situation to Gao De.

Lagos City discovered rich and precious spirit marrow resources in its early years.

So-called spirit marrow is a viscous, silver-blue gelatinous substance. When it comes into contact with air, star-shaped light spots appear on its surface. It is naturally stored in underground crystal cluster structures known as spirit energy crystals.

Every drop of spirit marrow contains magic power equivalent to three days of meditation for a 4th-circle magic user. After purification and refining, it can be used as a high-level power source for driving golems and alchemical machines.

Or as a raw material to concoct "Spirit Burning Liquid" that rapidly increases a magic user's mana, it is a cultivation aid that many magic users dream of.

In short, its range of use is exceptionally wide, and it is an extremely precious resource.

Because of the discovery of spirit marrow resources, Lagos City ushered in unprecedented development opportunities.

It rose rapidly in a very short time, became prosperous quickly, attracted a large number of merchants who wanted a piece of the pie, and many jobs appeared.

Consequently, countless poor people flocked from all over Bairo County to Lagos City to make a living.

For a time, the population of Lagos City increased sharply.

It even once became the second-largest city in Bairo County, second only to Dorn City in both population and economic prosperity.

It's just that Lagos City was originally a traditional agricultural and fishing city with a large population. After so many outsiders poured in all at once, it suddenly became overcrowded, and the existing supporting facilities became overwhelmed.

Problems such as housing shortages, deteriorating sanitary conditions, and shortages of public resources followed one after another.

At first, Lagos City needed these cheap laborers to mine spirit marrow for them.

Looking at the continuously produced spirit marrow and the massive wealth, their greed was satisfied, so they gritted their teeth and accepted the chaos of the city.

But spirit marrow resources are always limited. With continuous mining, the spirit marrow resources gradually dried up, and the spirit energy crystals shining with blue light became increasingly scarce.

Lagos City no longer needed so much labor, and many poor people gradually became unemployed. However, they did not leave Lagos City.

Because they had lived here for many years, they were already used to it and had nowhere else to go.

But without spirit marrow, the overcrowding, chaos, and filth created by these outsiders gradually became unbearable for the nobles in the city.

So these nobles united with the City Council and ordered these outsiders who did not have Lagos City household registration to move out of Lagos City as soon as possible.

These homeless poor people were powerless to resist such an order.

Helpless, they ended up in the uninhabited northern bay of Lagos City.

There, they built bamboo rafts, constructed shacks, and settled down.

Subsequently, more and more people flocked here, building their homes on the water.

As time passed, the originally sparse shacks and bamboo rafts became dense, eventually forming a large floating slum community here, namely the Makoko District.

Due to the absence of official management and supervision, Makoko District had been in a state of disordered chaos since its establishment.

The shacks and bamboo rafts here could be described as being built in a disorderly and wanton manner, with no planning whatsoever.

In some places, the shacks were tightly connected, with narrow passages that could only accommodate one person passing sideways; some bamboo rafts were spliced together randomly, uneven and without any regularity.

These shacks and bamboo rafts were connected to form a massive floating community as intricate and labyrinthine as a maze; once an outsider stepped into it, it was extremely easy to lose their way.

Also, because Makoko District was a community spontaneously organized by the poor rather than officially built, there were no supporting life facilities there.

There was no clean drinking water supply, no sanitary toilets, and no garbage disposal sites.

The garbage, sewage, and even excrement generated in the daily lives of the residents of Makoko District were all dumped directly into the water.

Old clothes, rotten food, and foul-smelling excrement drifted everywhere with the water flow.

Therefore, the sights and smells of Makoko District could be described as unbearable to look at.

Looking from a distance, all kinds of garbage floated on the water, which was shocking; getting closer, the pungent stench was enough to make one almost suffocate.

Adding insult to injury, Lagos City, firstly for convenience and secondly to drive away the poor living in Makoko District, directly discharged the city's sewage through underground pipes into the northern bay water area where Makoko District was located.

Large amounts of urban sewage caused the already fragile ecological environment here to collapse completely.

After so many multiple buffs were stacked, the water in the Makoko District area had already presented a pitch-black state, and the water surface was often covered with a thick layer of oil.

Such a water area could not even be endured by those water beasts with extremely strong physical qualities, and the creatures that originally lived in this water area fled one after another.

Only the magic octopuses and foul-smelling water salamanders, two types of water beasts that naturally like foul-smelling environments, would appear here, breeding and multiplying in the murky water.

And if one wants to expel and clear out sea beasts, going into the water is unavoidable.

With the water environment of Makoko District, let alone noble magic users, even commoner magic users would frown upon seeing it, let alone going into the water to expel sea beasts.

"This mission is not difficult, and it's as routine as can be, but to say it's simple, really not many people can endure the environment of Makoko District."

When Mei Liya introduced Makoko District, she had a frowning expression the whole time, clearly having a deep impression of that place.

"And," Mei Liya lowered her voice slightly, "to be honest, when we Sentinels go to various places below to execute missions, not to mention being welcomed with gongs and drums, we are at least arranged to be received, and those nobles are also very polite to us."

"But when executing missions in a place like Makoko, no one cares about us; even the nobles and those in power in Lagos City would prefer we didn't come, letting those water beasts force away the poor in Makoko District." Her tone carried helplessness and a trace of faint sympathy.

"You understand what I mean." Mei Liya winked at Gao De, everything left unsaid.

Good fellow, this is thankless work.

Gao De thought to himself.

"However," Mei Liya thought for a moment and still revealed to Gao De: "The higher-ups also considered these points, so the military merit reward for the 【Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion】 mission is doubled compared to other similar missions, just to encourage us to take this mission voluntarily."

"Of course, facts have proven that this doubled reward doesn't have much temptation," Mei Liya curled her lips, "If it were tripled or quadrupled, I might barely consider it."

As a female magic user, even for a female magic user like Mei Liya who is somewhat heroic, the tolerance for the environment is much lower than that of male magic users.

"I understand, thank you." Gao De cupped his hands in thanks.

Since he had figured out the ins and outs of the 【Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion】 mission, he also very rationally chose to give up.

There was no need for him to be the one to stand out for a mission that was disliked by a group of Hai Shao Bing magic users.

Besides, even if he didn't mind the environment of the Makoko water area, Tuanzi would!

Capybaras can adapt to various water areas, but sewage is better left alone.

Tuanzi had been in the Green Wave Pavilion since birth; for its first mission, going to a place like Makoko District—the child is still young, so don't leave it with trauma.

The next day, early in the morning, Gao De's door was knocked.

He opened the door and found a magic user wearing a Hai Shao Bing uniform; looking at the badge on the other's shoulder, the rank was Sergeant.

"Sergeant." Gao De saluted.

The other nodded slightly, "I came to find you today because there is a mission to be assigned to you."

Gao De was slightly startled, "What mission?"

The other directly handed over a piece of parchment.

"The 【Lagos City Water Beast Expulsion】 mission has been hanging for over a week without anyone volunteering to take it. According to regulations, a suitable magic user who has no missions on hand must be designated from above to execute the mission, and the person they selected is you."

"Alright, I have received it." Gao De took the parchment.

Such designated missions cannot be refused.

"Depart as soon as possible, don't delay too long." The sergeant added another instruction and left.

After watching the other leave, Gao De returned to the room and unfolded the parchment. On it was the specific mission introduction and deadline requirements; at the same time, this was also the voucher that needed to be submitted for reimbursement later.

He had just passed the training assessment the day before yesterday and had not completed a single mission; he was an absolute novice.

Logically, such a designated mission should not have been arranged for him at all.

But this kind of thing happened anyway.

The reason behind it was also obvious.

"Is this also your way of suppressing me..." Gao De murmured softly.

This is the method of the nobles; within the scope allowed by the rules, they have countless ways to "disgust" you.

"Then I'll do it; at least it's a double reward." Gao De quickly adjusted his mindset.

Finish the mission first, then talk.

He put away the parchment and rummaged through his wardrobe for the Hai Shao Bing magic user uniform.

Although it was the lowest-level apprentice magic user uniform, it was also exquisitely made.

The upper body main coat was a double-breasted short wool coat, blue all over, made of windproof material.

The lining was waterproof giant whale stomach membrane, and the lower garment was charcoal gray breeches paired with non-slip octopus skin long boots, ensuring that the magic user could walk on the wet deck as if on flat ground.

The overall clothing was slim-fitting and had been cinched in many places, and it also came with a belt.

Because Hai Shao Bing magic users mostly execute missions on the water and need to ride the wind on ships, if the clothes were too loose, they would rustle in the wind.

That is only suitable for reciting poetry, not for fighting.

Changing into the uniform, because it was slim-fitting, it showed off his figure well.

However, Gao De had been in this world for more than two years, and after his nutrition caught up, he grew rapidly, no longer the sallow and weak-looking person he was at the beginning, and he still looked quite upright.

Subsequently, Gao De took out the capybara bag he had put away for a long time, and after putting it on his back, he went out to the Green Wave Pavilion to pick up the capybara Tuanzi.

A gentle breeze blew, and the water was calm.

The next moment, ripples appeared on the calm water surface.

Tuanzi poked its head out from a clump of water grass, a pair of eyes looking at Gao De on the shore, spinning around.

Didn't you just come to see me two days ago? Why are you here again today?

Tuanzi was puzzled.

"There's a mission; get ready to go out with me." Gao De cleared up the confusion.

"Oi!" Tuanzi let out an excited sound, as if it had already seen fresh environments, food, and interesting scenery.

This was its first time going on a long trip.

Naturally, it was full of anticipation.

Happy now, you'll be crying later.

Gao De silently mourned for a moment in his heart for Tuanzi, who was excited at this moment.

"Come in." He opened the capybara bag, which contained half a bag of clear liquid, with many tiny bubbles slowly rising.

Sniffing closely, one could also smell a faint, fresh scent.

This was a nutrient solution specially prepared by the Green Wave Pavilion, rich in oxygen and magic power.

Tuanzi called out excitedly again, the sound crisp and loud, full of vitality.

Immediately following, a rich wave of magic power surged from its body.

Its originally round body began to shrink rapidly, and its limbs also slowly shortened.

The supernatural ability naturally possessed by capybaras—【Animal Shrink Spell】.

In the blink of an eye, Tuanzi had shrunk into a "little cutie" less than half a meter long.

Gao De leaned over and aimed the opening of the capybara bag at the shore.

Tuanzi did a water splash jump, consciously jumped into the capybara bag, and called out a few more times, indicating that everything was fine.

Gao De then zipped up the capybara bag, tied the straps, and carried the capybara bag steadily on his back.

Lagos City, set off!

(End of chapter)