noffsinger Chapter 324 East China Sea Dead Sea
Chapter 324 East China Sea Dead Sea
"Oh my god! It stinks!"
Chu Weifeng covered his nose and almost vomited on the spot.
After settling the entire disaster area of Jiucheng, Jiang Changle took two beastmen and thirty Black Dragon Guards. They boarded flying beasts and quickly arrived at the East China Sea.
The Black Dragon Guards were sent out to gather information, and only Chu Weifeng and He Jing stayed with Jiang Changle.
Of course, there are also Grandpa Yuan, Grandpa Wang and Old Lady Ji from the Ji family, all of whom are in the space taking care of the children with Nanny Mu.
“If it was contaminated, I didn’t expect it to have become so serious.
The blue sea turned dark blue, and all the plants along the coast were rotten, charred, and dead. In the past, it was spring all year round, full of vitality, and green plants everywhere.
The only difference may be that the once bustling salt fields are still drying salt. Previously, the amount of salt in stock was less than a mountain, but now there are ten mountains of salt.
Those salt workers don't seem to be afraid of the erosion of alkali brine?"
Grandpa Yuan talked to Jiang Changle about the changes along the coast, and the current situation really puzzled him.
"Tsk, those people are so despicable. They knew there was something wrong with the salt, but they still dried it and even transported it inland for sale. They are simply inhumane."
Chu Weifeng smiled sarcastically, his eyes full of disgust for the corrupt dynasty. Even the salt workers were hard to sympathize with.
Of course, providing for one's family is important, and being enslaved is unbearable, but if you know that salt is problematic and still continue to dry it out to harm people, then you are really no different from a wild beast.
"There's something wrong with those salt workers. They're not afraid of the erosion of the alkali brine, they don't seem to feel pain, and they're too strong."
He Jing was a doctor and he could see the abnormality of the salt workers at a glance.
"Another strange thing is, didn't they say a lot of small fish and shrimp died in the sea?"
Jiang Changle was very confused. There was nothing on the sea or on the beach. Well, there were not even any waves. The whole sea was like a black and blue mirror, without any ripples.
"Let's go to the city."
After disguising themselves, they came out of the space again, transforming into young gentlemen with two guards and a steward who were out doing business, or even just seeing the world.
The Ten Cities of the East China Sea stretch out along the coastline and trade with foreign countries. There are usually some foreigners active here, and the business is developed and very lively.
"The streets are busier than before, but I haven't seen a single foreigner. That's strange."
Grandpa Yuan's face was solemn. He really wanted to know what had happened in Shicheng, but unfortunately his acquaintance had gone inland to do business and was not in Shicheng now.
"Lin Changsheng said before that people from the South Country have always been roaming along the coast, but now there's not a single black person to be seen? Could they have been driven away by the East Country army?"
The Jiang family's business only extended to the Eighth and Nine Cities, and the Tenth City Salt Field was crowded with old-established forces from Kyoto, so the Jiang family did not get involved.
The farthest place Chu Weifeng had ever been was Jiucheng.
The streets without foreigners are also very lively, with deafening hawking sounds, all kinds of goods, and inland merchants coming in one after another.
The most common items on the stalls are of course seafood and salt. They can be called seafood, but in fact they are all dead fish and shrimps, and even some shellfish are motionless.
The whole street was filled with a foul stench, but the merchants and passers-by didn't smell anything unusual.
Maybe only some newcomers like them could still smell the stench, and then they covered their noses and faces.
Even so, there are still a lot of transactions on the market, and those merchants or city residents seem to be oblivious to the buzzing flies.
Jiang Changle, wearing a mask, couldn't help but curiously stepped forward to ask the price, "Old man, how much are you selling this fish for?"
The stall owner was an old man who looked to be in his seventies. His face was full of wrinkles, but his eyes were surprisingly dark and not cloudy, making him look a little younger.
The stall owner sneered, "Young Master, please don't try to make connections. My fish are 100 taels each, not a single silver less.
Besides, I am not even fifty years old yet, so no matter how nice you call me, it is not a good name.
Jiang Changle exclaimed in surprise, "No way, boss! You're charging a hundred taels for this palm-sized ordinary yellow croaker? And it's dead."
To say they were dead was an understatement. These fish had actually already rotted and smelled bad, with flies buzzing around them, and they were just short of being infested with maggots. And yet, just this tiny yellow croaker cost one hundred taels each?
This is too much, isn't it?
The stall owner burst into laughter, then he calmly swung his left hand, and with a loud bang, the basket-sized stone beside him shattered into pieces.
Jiang Changle wondered if the old man was trying to intimidate her. Was he angry and humiliated by being called old?
But anyone would say that this old man is in his seventies, right? With his face full of wrinkles and gray hair, he looks much older than Grandpa Yuan.
But Jiang Changle was wrong. The stall owner was not concerned about such a trivial matter as age. He raised his head proudly and said in a very arrogant manner.
"Young Master, this is your first time visiting the Ten Cities of the East China Sea, right? Could it be that you don't actually know the true treasures of the East China Sea?"
"Good, good stuff?" I'm afraid that wild beasts would not eat this kind of rotten and smelly fish, let alone them orcs. Jiang Changle was able to hold back and not spit it out on the spot, which showed that he had good self-control.
The stall owner said with more certainty, "Of course, you just saw my strength, it's all the result of eating fish.
The more rotten, slimy and dark the fish is, the more salt you add to it. This is the ingredient that is most effective in increasing your strength.
I snatched this fish from the islanders in the deep sea. Only experienced fishermen can catch such good fish."
Jiang Changle's face changed drastically, and he was disgusted. "This, this, is impossible? Then why don't other people buy your fish?"
Jiang Changle looked around and found that the fish on the stall were actually better. They were just dead but not rotten, and there were more customers.
“Because my prices are high, not many people can afford to buy them, so naturally, when merchants from other places come, they will buy them all at once.
This is my special black fish, added with a lot of precious salt. Eating one is equivalent to eating ten of others.
You wouldn’t think that those fish that look fresh are just dead, right? My fish were actually caught this morning, and this is how they look when they first die.”
After the stall owner said this, he picked up a rotten fish and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it with relish.
"Ugh~"
There were sounds of vomiting behind Jiang Changle. Not to mention Chu Weifeng, even the calm He Jing couldn't hold back and vomited.
Is the stall owner still human? Is he eating a rotting corpse? Even a wild animal can't do that.
Jiang Changle's face also turned green. She could feel the evil energy emanating from the rotten fish.
I can more or less guess the current situation. The evil energy appears in the deep sea, and the fish and shrimp there are the first to suffer, and they rot when they die.
Naturally, it will not rot like an ordinary corpse over time, but will turn into the original form of evil spirit and continue to exist in the fish's body.
The fish and shrimp in shallow waters are less polluted and appear fresher.
Those who eat these fish and shrimps will grow in strength, and that is the magic.
What Jiang Changle worried about at the beginning finally happened. The entire coastal population was demonized. No wonder the stall owner's eyes were so black. It must be the symbol of the demon clan.
It would be fine if demonization only made one more powerful, but looking at the stall owner's aging appearance, I'm afraid it came at the cost of his life span, right?
Are there any other sequelae?
At the beginning, the Zhang family army was only infected by the evil spirit and was not demonized at all, but they would still lose their minds and go crazy at night.
I’m afraid that the demonized orcs’ physical condition will be even more serious.
"Don't lie to me. I've seen many orcs become sick just by eating black salt. Eating this kind of black fish might even kill them, right?"
The most urgent task is to understand the status of the demonized orcs, and then go to the deep sea to purify the source of magic in order to save the orcs' lives.
“Of course, the frail elderly couldn’t withstand this extraordinary force, but 70% of them survived and became much stronger.
It was with these fish that we defeated the invasions of the island country and the southern country. Otherwise, do you think that relying on the dynasty’s useless army that only exploits the citizens can maintain the stability of the Nine Cities?
The prosperity of these ten cities today is all achieved through our own efforts."
If they become stronger in time, they will be able to break away from the corrupt dynasty and become the masters of their own destiny.
"Then won't the island nations and southerners gain strength by eating these fish?"
That shouldn't be the case. Chu Weijun said that after the earthquake, the island country's attacks became more and more fierce, so Jiang Changle didn't let him go with them, but sent him to guard the border instead.
He couldn't even take care of the people sent by the dynasty, and just left it to Long Shi to deal with and negotiate with them, and of course Ji Heng and the others.
"Hahaha, why not eat them? They only picked up dead fish at first, and we picked up black fish.
Those bandits are naturally not as strong as us, so they can’t rob us.”
The stall owner was full of confidence, never expecting that they, the ordinary beastmen, would one day defeat the pirates.
Jiang Changle looked a little distressed. In fact, they were all honest citizens, and she couldn't bear to tell them that there was something wrong with her body.
"Since the boss's fish is so good, I'll take it all. If you can take me out to sea, I'll pay you an additional 20,000 gold."
The fish sold by this stall owner are the darkest and rottenest among all the fish around. I'm afraid he is the only one who has been to the deepest sea.
"Hey, young master is quite greedy, but picking up fish is not that easy.
Don't be fooled by the calm sea now, it is actually very strange. Ordinary orcs cannot withstand the black fog on the sea. They will go crazy once they enter and will not be able to come back in the end.
Only we, the indigenous people who eat black salt and coastal fish, can endure that kind of bitterness."
Therefore, this energy fish business is a special favor from God to the coastal residents, and no one can take it away.
"It's okay, boss. You just need to take us there. Any problems will have nothing to do with you. And we can give you the gold before we set off."
Jiang Changle could naturally go there directly, but she was afraid of alerting the enemy, so it was better to rely on the natives to lead the way.
The stall owner stopped talking immediately and stared at Jiang Changle intently. Perhaps he had never seen anyone rushing to commit suicide.
After thinking for a long time, the stall owner finally gave in. "Okay, come with me, and we'll set off when the red moon comes out."
The stall owner's two baskets of fish were carried by Chu Weifeng and He Jing, who followed behind. The two of them wanted to die.
It's so damn smelly, yet people in ten cities still treat it as a treasure.
It was not until he arrived at the stall owner's house that Jiang Changle understood why he disliked Jiang Changle calling him "old man".
Because the stall owner's wife is only in her early forties, and although she looks sickly, she looks much younger than the boss, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are father and daughter.
The other beastly husband of this Madam Zhu is as old as the stall owner, but their three children are just like normal people.
When the family saw the stall owner bringing people back, they all walked out of the stone house out of curiosity.
"Third brother, why did you bring the guests back?" Madam Zhu was very confused.
"My dear wife, this is a big client. They asked us to take them out to sea tonight and give us 20,000 gold."
The stall owner did not hide the fact that he was not the smartest one in the family, so he brought the man back and asked his wife to make the decision.
Madam Zhu was stunned for a moment, then quickly refused, "No, it's too dangerous, you should go inside and talk."
Madam Zhu sighed and led the group into the house.
The Zhu family's house was quite large, and the seating was not crowded. Madam Zhu even asked a few children to bring some sweet soup, as if she wanted to have a detailed conversation with them.
"I see that the guests are wealthy and don't seem to be short of money. They are definitely not here to do the dead fish business.
Although dead fish can increase people's strength, as you should have seen from my beastly husband, it can also accelerate people's aging.
My children and I don't eat much, but it still makes us sick.
Therefore, it is just an extreme measure that the poor have no choice but to take when they can no longer make ends meet.
If you want to treat it as a business, then there is no need to do so. It cannot be a big deal unless you have other great uses for it.
Furthermore, the sea gradually turned into a dead sea. It seemed that there were no waves, but there was black fog that made it impossible to see anything in front of you. The black fog was equally dangerous.
It can drive orcs who have not eaten dead fish or large amounts of black salt crazy and lose themselves.
Several of the guests look unfamiliar. I guess you heard the news from others, so you came to the Ten Cities of the East China Sea out of curiosity.
But I still advise you not to go to the Dead Sea unless you absolutely have to. It’s not worth risking your life.”
Madam Song did not disregard the lives of her guests just to earn 20,000 gold, but instead told them all the secrets about the Dead Sea.
In fact, she also had selfish motives. If Jiang Changle was an ordinary businessman, they would definitely back off for the sake of their own lives.
If Jiang Changle had special abilities, he would definitely go to the Dead Sea. Maybe he could change the current state of the Dead Sea and restore it to its original state?
No matter how simply Jiang Changle and the others were dressed, their temperaments were obviously not ordinary people. Madam Zhu really hoped that these people could do something for Donghai.
Because the Zhu family could not hold on any longer. Once the beastly husbands died, the children were still young, and they, the sick and weak mothers, could not survive on their own.
Jiang Changle didn't care what Madam Zhu was thinking. She just wanted the information to be reliable. At the moment, it seemed that the Zhu family had no reason to lie to her.
In the end, she had to go to the Dead Sea.
"We're not in the dead fish business, and we'll protect ourselves from bringing trouble to the Zhu family. Boss, please show us the way. If you're leaving the boat late, please give us a ride."