When the plane landed, Lin Ze felt that his butt and legs were separated from his body.
The seats in the economy class were so narrow that the old man in front of him, Brazil, put his backrest all the way down, and Lin Ze stared blankly at the back of his head and his sparse white hair.
What's even more desperate is that the old man snores every half an hour, his voice rising and falling, rising and falling, like singing a hymn.
Lin Ze I wanted to endure it at first, but then I couldn't bear it anymore, so I took out my wand and secretly cast "Muffliato Spell" under the blanket.
For the next few hours, he lived in an absolutely quiet world.
São Paulo.
The largest city in the southern hemisphere, the financial heart of Brazil.
The number of Muggle in this city is so great that it makes Lin Ze's scalp numb. Looking out from the window, the densely packed high-rise buildings look like a steel forest, and the gray skyline disappears into the steaming mist.
He had to wait six hours at São Paulo before transferring to Manaus.
Six hours is neither long nor short, but it is definitely enough for one person to visit the airport duty-free shop and try all the chocolates.
This is what Lin Ze does.
He wandered from one store to another, smiling and accepting each free sample from the clerk. While chewing, he commented seriously. "Well, the cocoa content is quite high, but the aftertaste is a bit bitter."
"This is too sweet and suitable for children."
"This is good, it melts in your mouth, but it's ridiculously expensive."
When he was shopping around for the third time, a black female clerk with bunted hair finally couldn't help it anymore. "Sir, how about you buy a box? We support credit card installment here."
"No, thank you, I have bad teeth." Lin Ze smiled and walked away.
The female clerk looked at him like she was looking at a psycho.
In fact, it wasn't that Lin Ze didn't want to buy it. The main reason was that he didn't have US dollars in his pocket and only brought some Brazil reals that he exchanged at Gringotts.
After staying in the airport for four hours, Lin Ze finally couldn't bear the exhaustion and huddled on a high stool in the corner of the airport and dozed off.
He had a dream.
I dreamed that I was sitting in a canoe, drifting down an endless Blackwater River. The trees on both sides were so dense that no light could penetrate, and there was a layer of mist floating on the river.
A Brazil child wearing a straw hat squatted on the bow of the boat, with his back to him and his shoulders shaking, as if he was crying.
Lin Ze wanted to ask him why he was crying, but his throat seemed to be blocked by cotton and he couldn't make any sound.
The child suddenly turned his head, revealing a half-rotted face, and opened and closed his mouth. "Are you here to steal the snake too?"
Lin Ze woke up suddenly.
My back was covered in cold sweat, and my heart rate soared to 180.
"Damn, what a broken dream."
He wiped his face and found someone else sitting on the high stool next to him.
A tall and thin man, wearing a wrinkled beige shirt, with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his skin was tanned to a wheat color, and his fingers were covered with old and new scars.
He was looking down at a Portuguese newspaper, and there was an untouched cup of black coffee on the table.
Lin Ze's eyes stopped on him for a few seconds.
The clothes on this person were old, but they were very clean, there were no stains on the collar, and the nails were neatly trimmed. They were completely different from the backpackers running around in the airport.
Just when Lin Ze was about to look away, the man suddenly spoke.
"Are you also waiting for the flight to Manaus?"
English, with a little Americas accent.
"Yes." Lin Ze said.
"First time going?"
"Hmm."
The man put down the newspaper and turned to look at Lin Ze.
His eye sockets are deep and light brown, and he looks at people with a natural concentration.
"What to do in Manaus? Travel?"
"Looking for someone, what, buddy, are you checking the household registration?" Lin Ze said.
The man smiled, showing two rows of shining white teeth.
"I just saw that you were sleeping soundly. Let me introduce myself, Carlos Pereira, your local companion and guide."
Carlos took out a business card from his clothes and handed it to Lin Ze.
The two chatted casually for a few more words. Carlos saw that Lin Ze was a foreigner, so he wanted Lin Ze to hire him as a companion, but Lin Ze didn't talk to him at all.
Carlos saw that Lin Ze had no intention of talking in depth and did not pester him. He grabbed the newspaper and waved it at him and said, "If you need a guide, you can call me at any time."
Lin Ze Watching his back disappear around the corner of the boarding gate, I always felt something was strange.
"Whatever, let's get to Manaus first."
The flight to Manaus was much smaller. There were not many passengers on the plane, so Lin Ze randomly chose a window seat.
Manaus The airport is very shabby.
The ceiling of the terminal building is made of iron sheets, and several ceiling fans spin feebly in mid-air. The churning air is mixed with the smell of machine oil and the sweet smell of fermented ripe tropical fruits.
Lin Ze walked out of the arrival gate with his bag on his back, and the heat wave hit him like a wet wall.
A layer of sweat instantly appeared on his forehead, and the back of his shirt soon became soaked.
"This damn place." He muttered and pulled out the collar attached to his neck.
There was a row of taxis parked outside the airport, and the drivers squatted in groups under the shade of the trees and smoked cigarettes. When they saw him coming out, several people raised their heads at the same time and asked him in heavily accented English if he wanted to take the taxi.
Lin Ze waved his hand, walked to the roadside, took out a water bottle from his bag and drank a few gulps.
He needs to find a place to stay first, and then find a way to find the whereabouts of Newt.
"Sir, do you want to stay in the hotel?" A shirtless child wearing flip-flops came up to him and looked up at him.
The child was estimated to be around ten years old, with shiny black skin and dazzlingly white teeth.
"Cheap hotel, hot water, clean." The child counted on his fingers, "Breakfast is included."
"Take me to see it." Lin Ze said.
The child grinned, jumped up and led the way.
After many twists and turns, Lin Ze was taken to a family hotel deep in an alley.
The front door is small, the exterior walls are painted with faded yellow paint, and two pots of half-dead pothos hanging at the door.
The proprietress was a fat woman in her fifties. She was sitting on a plastic chair at the door swinging a cattail leaf fan. She didn't even bother to raise her eyelids when she saw Lin Ze coming in.
"Thirty reals per night, deposit fifty."
Lin Ze paid, took the key, and walked upstairs.
The room here is so small that it can only accommodate a bed and a crooked wooden table.
It was quite clean, but the smell of lemon-scented cheap laundry detergent still lingered on the sheets.
He lay in bed until dusk, waiting for the sun's poisonous intensity to pass before he put his clothes back on and went out.
There is a fly restaurant near the hotel with a few plastic tables. The owner is grilling sizzling meat skewers on the iron plate, and a pot of thick yellow soup is simmering next to it.
Lin Ze ordered a plate of grilled fish and rice with cassava soup. The taste was surprisingly good. The fish was charred on the outside and tender on the inside. Some unknown chopped leaves were sprinkled in the cassava soup, which gave it a refreshing aroma.