In order to reach the sewer where he grew his herbs as quickly as possible, Fat Apothecary hired a carriage, and the two of them took the car to the location adjacent to Backlund Bridge Borough and East Borough, the riverside of the Tussock River.
In the car, Apothecary, who called himself Darkwill, introduced himself. He was driven out by his teacher to travel around the mainland and experience life. He spent some time in Tingen City and now settled in Backlund. He had just planted a batch of medicinal herbs, but unexpectedly, most of them were taken away by beasts in the sewer.
Angel also gave his pseudonym, Irene Watson.
Bridge District was not that big. The two of them quickly arrived at the river bank from Iron Gate Street. Within two minutes of walking after getting off the carriage, Darkwill pointed to a location near the river bank, where there was a semi-open sewer entrance.
After the great plague that swept through half of the Loen Kingdom more than ten years ago, the capital Backlund established an advanced sewer system. They were derived from Intis Republic's "Emperor Roselle legacy" and made many improvements, surpassing their imitation objects in one fell swoop.
Of course, in the eyes of Angel, this system is still crude. Domestic wastewater is discharged directly into the Tussock River without subsequent treatment and filtration, and flows into the sea with various strange colors and smells. The drainage outlets near factories and docks are even more oily and dirty, and garbage is everywhere.
It is said that someone is calling on the parliament to pass relevant laws in newspapers to prohibit residents near the Tussock River from directly discharging sewage into the river. Unfortunately, the interests involved are very wide, so they have not been able to do so.
Therefore, this situation of sewage flowing directly into the river will continue for a long time. This is the case in the sewer in front of us. The brown-black sewage gurgling out, diluted by the river water, and flows into the distance.
Opening the unlocked iron door, Angel and Darkwill braved the overwhelming stench and entered the main sewer road.
It was now close to midnight, and the moonlight shed by the full Crimson Moon had been intercepted by the year-round haze, and only a small part reached the ground. The sewer entrance was even more dark ten meters deep, which made Apothecary without Dark Vision cautiously stop his steps.
"You follow me, be careful not to fall."
Angel wrinkled his nose to reduce the stench he inhaled, and said in a low voice.
Darkwill fumbled in his pocket and took out a small metal bottle and handed it to Angel.
"This can reduce the stench. I usually use it to observe the herbs."
Seeing that Angel shook his head and didn't take it, he seemed a little angry. He uncorked the bottle, took a deep breath from his nostrils, and showed an expression of Affliction and refreshment on his face.
Look, it's not poisonous.
Conveying this information with his eyes, Darkwill handed over the metal bottle again.
No wonder he interrupted others at the party and made rude remarks. It's a miracle that he wasn't beaten to death for his straight temperament... No, he was a Apothecary. He might have been beaten, but he just healed himself.
Angel found it a bit funny. She took the vial, put it to her nose and took a sip.
The pungent smell of disinfectant mixed with mint made her wake up instantly, and she almost sneezed. Then her nose felt like a cork had been stuffed into her nose, her sense of smell quickly became dull, and she could no longer smell any smell except disinfectant.
This reminded her of a homemade oil that "Corpse Collector" and Frye often used when she was at Tingen Team. Unfortunately, she left these teammates before she learned how to make it.
After isolating the stench, the two continued walking deeper into the sewer. As the ground became slippery and the moonlight behind them became weaker, Darkwill also hesitated in their steps.
"Should we... come back during the day?" He discussed hesitantly, "They haven't been eating my herbs for a day or two. Actually, I'm not in a hurry to solve it this night."
"But I'm in a hurry."
Angel replied, after rounding a right-angled bend, in her Dark Vision, the sewer gradually became wider and entered an area where multiple branch lines gathered together.
In a rectangular underground space, Angel discovered a shelf built by Fat Apothecary with simple wooden boards. There were several rows of clay pots on it. Inside were dug soil and fertilizer, and herbs of different shapes were planted.
At this time, about half of the clay pots were broken, and the soil and herbs inside were spilled all over the shelf, and some fell into the shallow sewage. It was obvious that they could no longer be used.
Three creatures that are larger than hunting dogs are surrounding the wooden frame, selecting herbs to eat. Indeed, as Apothecary said at the party, they will even select poisonous herbs and only eat those safe ones.
The footsteps of the two people entering the planting area alerted the animals. They stared at them with blood-red eyes. Only then did Angel realize that these "dogs" were actually rats from the sewer. Their skin was swollen and ulcerated, and the teeth protruding from their sharp mouths were jagged, like the kind of creatures you would see in nightmares.
"Why don't you leave?"
Darkwill, who was no different from a blind man in the dark, asked curiously. He could barely see the road clearly by relying on the moonlight coming from the holes in the sewer outlet above his head, and didn't even pay attention to the big rats in the corner.
"Back off..."
Angel Before he finished speaking, the three mice jumped off the wooden frame and ran towards the two of them in the sewage.
Two other rats that sprang out from nowhere also surrounded them from different directions, blocking them at the outlet of the sewer tributary.
Worried that the sound of gunshots would attract the attention of homeless people or patrolmen on the ground, Angel did not fire. Instead, he mobilized Spirituality, gathered Frost, and shot out several spikes.
Poof——
The sharp Ice Spike penetrated into the two mice at the head, nailing them to the ground. The Frost even spread, causing a thin layer of ice to form on the nearby water surface.
The mutated mice did not have enough intelligence to understand the gap between them and Beyonder, and just relied on instinct to rush towards the "food". Angel calmly manipulated Frost and killed them one by one in the sewer. The nearest one was more than ten meters away from her.
I thought there was something special about these mutated animals, but it turns out they are just a bit larger...
His eyes swept over the cold rat corpse and looked around. Angel carefully checked the area and found that nothing was missing before calling Darkwill back, who had already hid deep in the sewer.
The latter carefully examined the corpses of the mice through the subtle moonlight shining overhead, and quickly came to the conclusion:
"These should have been mutated by contact with some strange things, maybe some Beyonder Ingredients that fell into the sewer, or some Beyonder's... corpses. But they are not the only ones who destroyed my herbs. Although these rats also eat the herbs, they will not destroy the wooden frame."
"Do you have other planting areas? Maybe there are other mutant animals destroying your results."
Angel asked. She approached the planting frames made of wooden boards and found that, as Darkwill said, these wooden frames were intact and the mice were not interested in moldy wood.
"There are two other planting sites in the sewers of Bridge District. I will take you there."
Although they were called "leads", they were still led by Angel who could see in the dark, and Apothecary was only responsible for pointing out the direction. The two continued walking towards the next location.
"Why would you grow herbs in a place like this? Don't you usually rent a yard or grow them on the roof of your home?"
As he continued walking through the stinky sewage, Angel couldn't help but say.
"Do you think I want to come to this kind of environment? But these herbs like moist and dark places. Some people even plant them in Underground Catacombs. I am abiding by the law by choosing the sewer."
But why is Underground Catacombs not abiding by the law? Could it be that they...
Angel had a terrible idea. She saw a wide area ahead and forced herself not to think in a strange direction.
"Squeak——"
The rats that grew larger and became bloodthirsty made the same noise as usual, and Angel quickly dealt with them with Ice Spike.
"It's strange, how come there are such big rats and they like to eat your herbs..."
Angel inspected the corpse of the mutated mouse and found that it was no different from the mice at the first planting site. They all had deformed bodies, swollen skin, and bloodshot eyes. They would pounce on living things without hesitation.
She took out Magic Mirror and tried to divine the origin of the mouse under the surprised eyes of Darkwill.
"Magic Mirror Magic Mirror Tell me why these rats appear in the sewer."
Rubbing the smooth mirror surface to make it ripple, Angel soon saw the divination picture in it.
Several normal-sized rats were wandering in the sewer. They drank the dark red sewage floating upstream, and then became manic and became huge. Their eyes were red and they bit each other.
In the divination screen of Magic Mirror, they turned into bloodthirsty mutant rats!