Whispering Verse

"The date of the newspaper is... This is the newspaper from the first month of this year. The destination is correct, this is the Green Lake area. It is most likely not the Michaela Blast Furnace City, but the Green Lake City."

Without leaving in a hurry, Shade squinted his eyes slightly, used the thaumaturgy [Echo of Blood] to look around, and then observed very fresh blood. Searching along the bloodstains, I found a place separated by red bricks where pigs, sheep and chicken were placed:

"It's not a tavern. Even if the tavern sells food, it won't be so well prepared. It looks like this is the storage room of a restaurant or hotel, and it's not small. The ingredients and drinks are not very high-end, not an aristocratic club or the kind of high-end that requires a reservation. It’s a restaurant; but it’s very clean and the ingredients are placed in categories, which shows that the business here is very good.”

He concluded in his mind, used the [Red Butterfly Illusion] to disguise himself, and then walked towards the exit of the underground storage room. The basement is connected to the upper part by stone steps, but the door connecting the upper part is not a vertical door like the Shade's basement, but a trap door embedded in the ground.

Shade pushed the door and found that it was not locked, so he opened a gap. The eyes looked out through the gap, and outside was a storage room on the ground. Bacon and peppers were hung on the walls, dinner plates and wine glasses were placed on the shelves, and a bag of soybeans and mountains of potatoes were placed in the corner.

The room was not very large, there were no windows, and the door was closed. Shade then came to the ground from the trap door again, pressed against the door and listened to the sounds outside, confirming that the door outside was the kitchen of the restaurant or hotel.

"It looks like it is indeed a hotel."

It's about 9:30 in the morning. If it were a restaurant, the fire wouldn't even start at this time.

The chefs who were busy were all ordinary people, so Shade walked out of the storage room generously, and no one could notice him at all. However, Shade did not enter the front of the hotel through the kitchen door, but left through the back door connecting the kitchen to the alley.

Restaurant or hotel kitchens will have back doors for trash disposal, no matter where they are in the city.

"This time the door is actually inside the hotel, so it's not convenient to move around at any time. The business here is very good, and it's impossible for me to spend money to buy the entire hotel directly."

Shade thought to himself.

When we came to the narrow alley, we saw a series of low buildings. Gray mist floated in the air, and the mist mixed with the smell of rotten food residues formed an extremely disgusting smell. The wanted posters and old newspapers posted on the walls have turned yellow, and obscene graphics graffitied by an unknown source are also covered by various filth. The brass steam pipe was fixed to the ground with a keyhole. The entire pipe was located on the central axis of the alley. Not far from the back door of the hotel, the pipe buried in garbage was even leaking.

The water vapor mixed with the rancid smell made the environment here even more unbearable.

Shocked by Shade's appearance, the wild dog looked like it had ringworm and fled in panic from the garbage pile outside the door. The barking of dogs startled a large flock of crows that were pecking at the alley. The birds flew into the misty gray sky, leaving behind waves of blood-curdling cries.

Gloomy, dull, and dilapidated, this was Shade's first impression of this city:

"Although I have long heard that the development situation in Green Lake City is not very good, it is... it is also possible that this is a slum."

The narrow alley even has a curved arc. You can see the forks of the alley on the left hand side, and you don't know where the end leads. Not far away on the right, the houses on both sides are connected by a covered bridge. You can see the towers across the covered bridge, and the street seems to be farther away.

"Go left deep into the maze-like city alleys, and to the right is the main street."

He summarized the current situation, but did not move immediately. Instead, he reached out and knocked on the lid of the metal trash can next to him.

There were not many places on the lid that could be considered "clean". Shade had to avoid dried phlegm and animal feces before he dared to put his fingers down:

"Is anyone home?"

He didn't get any response, so he opened the lid of the trash can himself. He poked his head inside and saw a boy wearing a gray short-sleeved shirt in the early spring weather, holding a spotted puppy in his arms. He was huddled in the trash can and looked timidly at Shade, who was leaning in.

There was also a strong smell in the barrel, and a worn quilt and some newspapers were placed under him. Before the boy spoke timidly, the weak black and white spotted puppy barked fiercely at Shade.

Shade ignored the dog, but looked at the boy for a moment, and waved to him as the latter became more and more frightened:

"Come out and ask you some questions. I'll give you food."

As he spoke, he took a step back and took out the bread and a few sugar cubes in the paper bag from his pocket at an angle that was difficult to see in the bucket. The reason why he didn't give money was because Xia De didn't know if there was a way for the boy to safely turn money into food.

I don’t know if it’s because Shade’s affinity is amazing, or because the temptation of food is just too great. The boy, whose limbs were as thin as matches, first threw the puppy out of the trash can, and then climbed out with great effort.

However, he did not dare to approach Shade. Instead, he picked up his companion and leaned against the trash can, staring at the bag of bread that Shade was holding.

"I feel bad all of a sudden."

The stranger sighed softly and asked:

"Test whether you can speak first - where is this? City name, street name. What is your name, how old are you."

The boy pursed his chapped lips and waited for five or six seconds before saying:

"This is Green Lake City. I can't read, but others say this is Worm Alley. This is behind the Green Lake Hotel, and the street outside is Owl Street. My name is John, and I am thirteen years old."

But his height only looks like that of five or six years old, which is a symptom of severe malnutrition.

"Little John?"

Shade nodded, and then rummaged through his memory about the map of Green Lake City. While thinking about it, he took out a piece of white bread from the paper bag and threw it to the boy. After the boy put down the puppy and caught the bread in a panic, he first tore off a small piece and threw it to the thin puppy, and then he wolfed it down.

"Do you have water? I have other questions, don't choke yourself to death."

Shade said again. The boy nodded quickly, climbed back into the trash can and found a wooden cup - it looked exactly like the ones in the hotel warehouse. Then he ran back dozens of steps and bent down to push the ground aside. Garbage, revealing the imperceptible faucet and taking a glass of water.

Most of the external faucets in this alley have special purposes. The boy occupied the trash can here largely because of this faucet.

After the boy finished eating the piece of bread, Shade, who was waiting patiently, continued to ask:

"Have you always lived here?"

"Yes."

It was still a very short answer. Shade also understood that the other party lived on the garbage thrown out by the hotel, so he gave the boy another piece of bread.

"Green Lake Inn, how is business this spring?"

"It's pretty good, business is better than in winter. They throw out more kitchen waste recently, and I found a fried fish that I only ate two bites of yesterday."

"Very good. So, has anything strange happened around here recently? For example, there are strange noises at night, or the strange garbage thrown out of the hotel."

He had already asked what he wanted to know. He continued to ask questions just because he still had bread in his hand, so he naturally had an excuse to give it away.

The boy thought for a while, shook his head, and looked at Shade with the new bread, wondering whether he should return the bread because he didn't answer the question. Of course Shade would not do this. He gave the boy all the white bread and sugar cubes left in the bag.

Both the boy and the puppy looked a little scared, and Shade didn't say anything. He put the paper bag on the ground, waved his hand and walked towards the right side of the alley.

Not only in the alley, but after walking through the alley and onto Owl Street, the city still looked hazy and hazy. But compared to that alley, at least the street finally showed the scene of a big border city.

What you can see is a continuous stretch of low two- or three-story old-style buildings. The large tile roofs look like some kind of ringworm in the thin sunlight. Several tall buildings can be seen in the distance, the most eye-catching one is the church tower. Further away, a lone chimney sprayed black smoke into the sky, like an old man who was about to die, refusing to give up and wanting to take a few more breaths.

Just looking at the street scene, the development here is not comparable to most cities that outsiders have visited in this world, and it is not even comparable to the "Eternal Night City" on a rainy night.

"Here, it's as if he's going to die in this gray fog."

Owl Street is a street in the downtown area of ​​Green Lake City, where the library, city hall, chamber of commerce and important functional buildings in the city are located. Going further east is the Duin River that connects Green Lake and crosses the Green Lake area from north to south. On the east bank of the Duin River is the train station of Green Lake City, followed by large slums.

The Green Lake Hotel, since it is named after the city, is naturally the largest hotel in the area.

Shade walked towards the main entrance of the hotel while looking at the street scene in the fog. Judging from the appearance, the Green Lake Hotel covers an area larger than the "Three Cats Hotel" in Tobesk and the "Plenty of Land Hotel" in Randall Valley. It is large and occupies about one-third of the entire east side of Owl Street. The hotel has three floors in total. The small square windows with curtains drawn make it look densely packed from the street. After looking at it for a long time, it even feels like this hotel is a bit weird.

Considering that he would be active here for many days in the future, Shade entered the Green Lake Hotel from the main entrance, planning to rent a room as his mailing address.