Chapter 263: Laundry No. 38
The Sailor District is a city area close to the port, named after the many coolies who make a living in the port and the sailors who make money by sailing.
In addition to inland river fleets, the port of Moses, where shipping is well developed, also welcomes many offshore fleets that come upstream from the mouth of the Barcelo River. These fleets from the northern and southern coastal countries have brought prosperous business opportunities as well as countless foreigners - whether they are northerners with distinctive features, tall stature, and rough skin, or the white-haired and black-skinned Sokri people of the Southern Empire, they are all very common in the Sailor District.
In addition to different races, the proportion of foreign races in Moses Port is also quite high. Orc sailors walking on the streets in sleeveless pullovers in the early spring when the weather is still cold, bearded halflings who are drunk in broad daylight, and even green, black, and white-skinned elves with complicated earrings on their pointed ears can all be seen on the streets of the sailor district.
However... even in the Sailor's Quarter, which had such an inclusive and open culture, the three caravans carrying more than forty undead souls still caused quite a commotion when they drove in.
The green-skinned elf bard who was sitting on the roadside holding a harp and singing suddenly saw a coachman in a night watch uniform driving a carriage full of undead turning in from the street corner. His slender and powerful fingers trembled and he almost broke the strings of his harp.
The halfling sailors, who had spent most of their days off the ship in the tavern, spat out the cheap rum in their mouths that they had not yet swallowed, and stared in amazement at the undead spirits on the caravans passing by on the cobblestone street, who were pointing at the halflings in surprise.
The burly orc who was squatting at a roadside stall with bare arms, picking tobacco, turned his neck in astonishment, and his golden pupils jumped back and forth between .
On weekdays, the local residents and merchants in the Sailor District, who often saw mercenaries pulling all kinds of rare magical beasts through the streets, behaved much better than the citizens in other blocks. At least they did not scream and run away... But no one was so calm as to continue with the work at hand as if nothing had happened. They stood there stiffly, staring at the three caravans passing by at a constant speed.
The originally noisy sailor area seemed to have a strange, movable silent barrier. Wherever the caravan of the undead drove to, the place would suddenly become quiet...
The night watchmen driving the horses had dull faces and shook their whips mechanically.
This scene, which was more solemn than the lord's funeral, would probably become an unforgettable memory for these night watchmen.
The only ones who were not affected by this eerie atmosphere were the undead in the car.
It seemed as if these guys didn't know how to read people's faces and didn't know how much trouble their presence had caused to the locals. They still lay on the carriage and looked outside with great interest, pointing at every human or alien that interested them.
"Damn, shouldn't the elves be all handsome men and beautiful women? These elf NPCs look so ordinary. Is the modeling discriminating against the elves?"
"The dwarves look like those in The Lord of the Rings."
"I feel like this place is more like the main city than the main city. There are hardly any foreign NPCs in the main city."
"Maybe it's because the alien storyline hasn't been unlocked? After a few more updates, there may be alien NPCs in the main city."
"I don't know when the idiot planner will release new races. It's too painful that I can only choose the Undead."
"The public beta won't start, new maps are released one after another, and each map takes up so many resources, how can this game be good?"
"That's right, it's better to open up more accounts than to have so many useless NPCs (no tasks). My buddy missed the second internal test application, and every time he contacts me, he asks when the public test will be launched. I'm almost annoyed."
After passing through half of the Sailor's Quarter, the caravan finally arrived at its destination, Laundry Lane.
The so-called Laundry Alley is actually an alley facing a tributary of the Barcelo River. The river bank is lined with laundries contracted by locals, with countless clotheslines and drying fabrics stretching from the entrance to the end of the alley. Half of the dirty clothes that need to be washed in Moses Port are concentrated in this alley, supporting thousands of laundry women and laundry workers.
The carriage drove into the laundry lane at four o'clock in the afternoon (in the other world). Although the sun was still in the sky, the water in the tributary was still icy cold. The women standing on the stone pool and the steps of the river bank to rinse clothes had to go ashore to soothe their whitened feet after staying in the water for a while, and take a sip of the bad-tasting liquor to drive away the cold.
The arrival of the undead made the washerwomen and laundry workers stop what they were doing in shock. They only calmed down a little after they saw that the driver was wearing a night watchman's uniform.
The church had strictly ordered that no one should be informed of the continuous disappearances that had occurred on Laundry Lane since 12 years ago. However, it was impossible for people who made a living on this street to remain absolutely silent. Husbands told their wives, and mothers told their children, and the news was passed down secretly.
Especially after the church built a high wall four years ago to completely close off Laundry No. 38, everyone in the entire Laundry Alley knew about it. They would never go there unless there was something going on, and would take a detour even if there was something going on.
As a carriage full of dead souls passed by, these people who had to live in dirty water all day whispered to each other: "Is the church going to solve the problem 'over there'?"
"You've pulled a lot of undead here. Do you want to use them to deal with the monsters in there?"
"Will it work...will it leave a bunch of undead on this street..."
"Who knows..."
Under the fearful and expectant gazes of the laundry workers, three caravans loaded with the dead drove up to a protruding blue brick wall.
The wall is nearly four meters high, with broken glass inserted upside down on the top to prevent people from climbing over it. There is also a circle of barbed wire at the bottom of the wall.
Without waiting for the Night Watchman to stop the carriage, the players, who were already tired of riding in the carriage, jumped down. Without the need for the "supervising" Night Watchman to urge them, these undeads actively pulled a hole in the barbed wire to make a passable hole (bones are not afraid of barbs) and tried to climb the nearly four-meter-high wall...
The captain of the Night Watch opened his mouth to say something, but swallowed it back. He pushed aside the undead blocking his way, passed through the barbed wire, walked to the only entrance and exit left when this place was sealed off, and took out the key.
"Stop climbing, the NPC can open the door!" Yang Ying took a look and quickly called out to the players who were struggling with the wall without a foothold.
"Oh oh." The walker players immediately retreated, "No wonder there are NPCs following us, there is no way to climb over this wall."
The captain of the night watch pushed the rusty iron door open with some effort, and the undead actively went in without him urging them...
Night Watch Captain: “…”
He couldn't figure out whether these undead were simply too careless and not afraid of him locking them in, or whether they were really too stubborn to fear death.
Seeing that more than forty undead entered the wall without hesitation, the four night watchmen who came with the captain to monitor this group of undead also came over.
"Captain, do you want to follow us in?" asked one of the night watchmen.
The captain said nothing, but turned to look at the oldest member of the team.
This oldest night watchman...is the "One-Eye" who investigated the matter back then.
After so many years, the night watchman "One-Eye" obviously still has psychological trauma about this place. Among the five people, he is the one standing farthest from the iron gate on the wall.
"It's better not to." The one-eyed man met the captain's gaze and shook his head slowly, "We still have no idea what is in here."
In the years after the archives were sealed, Duyan would review the investigation report he had compiled every year and go over the investigation process from the beginning.
But no matter how carefully he combed through the matter, One-Eye was still unable to determine whether the "thing" lurking in Laundry No. 38, which had caused dozens of living people to disappear without a trace, was a special "phenomenon" or some unknown dangerous creature.
The captain nodded and stepped forward to block the iron gate. Several people waited patiently in a safe area some distance away from the iron gate.
Rather than accepting the One-Eye's opinion, it would be more accurate to say that the captain also thought that setting foot in Laundry No. 38 was too risky. After this place was sealed off, the Night Watch had removed the cover to trick folk exorcists into coming here to "step on the mines." And those exorcists who were blinded by the high bounty and rashly entered there, three of them groped around for a long time and then retreated in confusion, finding nothing. The last one never returned after entering and disappeared.
The Night Watchman still has no idea what the difference is, as to why some people can escape unscathed while others disappear without a trace.
The players who entered the wall had not yet discovered any danger that could wipe them out...
"This place is so shabby!" This is the common thought of the players.
The pool that diverts river water to the laundry yard has become a dirty, smelly sewage pool because the river water has not been drained for many years. There are some broken wooden basins and barrels scattered around the pool, and the bamboo poles for hanging clotheslines have rotted. The doors and windows of the wooden sheds for the workers to live in and the warehouse for storing dirty clothes are wide open, and the reeds and wheat straw mixed with mud on the roof have rotted into large holes because they have not been maintained or replaced for many years, and the house is collapsed beyond recognition.
But apart from being shabby and desolate, there is nothing else to it.
If it weren't for the tall blue brick wall solemnly surrounding it, this place would not be anything worth paying attention to...it's just an abandoned laundry.
A group of players were searching the field. Some were going in and out of the dilapidated wooden shed. Some were knocking on the ground with weapons, trying to find a cellar or basement. Some were poking at the muddy pool with a bamboo pole used to hang clotheslines. Some were trying to demolish the house...
The players were very careless and reckless in searching the No. 38 laundry yard, which was considered a dangerous place by the Night Watch, from top to bottom. The only thing they found was a few silver coins wrapped in rags in the attic of a rotten shed. No one knew who had hidden the private money there.
"There's nothing!" Tang Jia, whose bones were covered with dust, said angrily, with his hands on his waist. "Don't even mention the BOSS, there's not even a hair of the BOSS!"
"Try some keywords." En Bu Zeng waved his hand to signal others to stay away from her, and shouted into the air, "I'm here to look for Kent Bennett. Does anyone know anything about him?"
Under the gaze of all the players in the group... nothing happened.
"Eh? That's not right?" En Bu Zeng scratched his head and shouted out the names of the missing NPCs mentioned in the mission text again.
Still nothing happened.
"It seems that there is no shortcut." Miaobishenghua sighed, "Let's investigate honestly from the beginning."
"I just spent all my time sitting in the carriage after completing the mission for the whole day." Tang Jia said bitterly, "Can the missions in this game be more straightforward? Just spawn the BOSS and let people fight it, why do we have to go through so much trouble?"
"There's nothing I can do. This is how playing games is. You either have to work hard or spend money." Qin Guan shook his head and walked towards the iron gate.
"I have to log off and go to the bathroom. Who can help me carry my bones? I'll be back in a minute." A player who had been online for quite a while shouted.
“——Wait!!” Enbuteng was originally following the crowd and walking out. When she glanced at her friends, she suddenly realized something was wrong and stopped abruptly.
"Qingyue, have you discovered anything?" Miaobishenghua's eyes lit up.
Entropy Buzeng scanned the people present again, opened the team panel and took a look, then took a deep breath: "The orange cat is gone!"
"Huh?" Miaobishenghua was stunned and quickly opened the team panel, "Hey, why is the orange cat not in the team?"
"Huh? He's online?" Yang Ying looked at the friend list in surprise.
"I'll send him a message." Enbuteng opened his friend list, clicked on the private chat window of Orange Cat Boss, and quickly sent a message, "Where are you, Orange Cat?"
After a few seconds, the orange cat boss replied: "Ah? What do you mean, Sister Qingyue, am I not with you?"
