Shadow of great britain

The girl holding the parasol held Arthur's arm and led him through the narrow and crowded streets.

Although this was not the first time for Arthur to come to this kind of place, the choking smell still forced him to frown.

Although St. Giles Parish is equally dirty, it was once a wealthy area, and its once glorious past can still be seen from some buildings and road planning.

Tower Hamlets, on the other hand, did not have a good foundation from the beginning. The roads here are made of a mixture of soil and garbage. There is a cold atmosphere everywhere in the alleys, and even the bricks are soaked with wet dust. It looks moist and sticky.

Although some basic drainage ditches have been built next to the house, the ditches here are often clogged because they have not been unclogged for a long time. All kinds of black and rancid garbage are blocked in the corners, emitting bursts of odor that make people feel dizzy after just one sniff. The astonishing stench.

However, this cannot be blamed on the people of the East District. After all, if any area has docks, shipbuilding, brewing, slaughtering, and the leather industry that requires the use of urine to tan leather, it is difficult not to create such a poor sanitary environment.

Perhaps because she felt Arthur's pace slowing down, the girl thought he was suspicious, so she hurriedly reassured him.

"Sir, you have probably never been here before, right? In fact, I also want to find a clean hotel, but we rarely see that kind of thing here. In our industry, we usually take guests to our own rental house. . If you don’t believe it, you can look around. If you find the hotel, then I will treat this transaction as a waste and I won’t charge you a shilling.”

At this point, the girl was telling the truth.

It is indeed difficult to find a hotel in London's East End, largely because two hundred years ago it was little more than a field bordering London.

The Colebrook family, which holds local land rights, has been operating it as a manor. The land in the east district was sold in small pieces and eventually leased in strips.

The lease terms for these lands range from decades to years.

Countless simple, crowded small houses were built on these narrow plots of land. The architectural layout did not have any concept of urban planning, and no consideration was given to leaving any space for public buildings or roads.

Perhaps if those tavern owners who are obsessed with money can work hard, they can squeeze out a few more stools from the not-so-wide roads.

It is not surprising, then, that buildings as large as hotels are rare.

At best, the architectural layout of the East End looks like an inspired improvisation by an artist.

To put it bluntly, this is human beings personally interpreting what kind of behavior can be called anti-humanity.

Led by the girl, Arthur walked through two narrow and deep alleys and came to a dense blue-roofed row house built back to back and made of red bricks.

They are crowded together, and the windows on the red brick wall are so densely packed that they look like two pieces of cheese squeezed together by a violent maniac.

In addition, what impressed Arthur most was its unique structure. Perhaps because it was at the intersection of three narrow streets, the house was designed in a triangle.

The triangular protruding part is a rusty red door. After opening the door, a narrow staircase that is only large enough for one person is revealed.

In order to maximize utilization, a locked compartment was actually inserted under the stairs. Judging from the dirty footprints on the floor with some cotton wool, the tenants here may work in a nearby textile factory. .

The girl's rented room was at the back of the second floor. Arthur followed the girl into the room. He glanced around and found that the environment here was better than he had imagined.

A clean and tidy big bed, a window with decent lighting, a teapot and cooking utensils on a small round table, and a wardrobe against the wall.

The full atmosphere of life convinced Arthur that this might really be the girl's residence. Perhaps this was also the reason why she specifically selected foreign sailors.

Foreign sailors are not familiar with the place, and most of them will not stay in London for a long time. Even if they are cheated, there will not be much trouble.

And if they attack local sailors, then these people will have to weigh the possible consequences.

Everyone knows that most sailors working on merchant ships these days are not very good.

The reason why some of them choose to go to sea to make a living is not only for the salary, but also because some people have some unspeakable secrets and cannot continue to stay in their hometown.

Scotland Yard's major crime records also support this view. The Ratliff Highway serial murders in London's East End in 1811 were suspected to be the work of a sailor.

At that time, because the case could not be solved for a long time, the local magistrate court was almost attacked by angry people. In order to deal with these emotional public, the magistrate had to order the arrest of a suspect.

Although according to Arthur's opinion, the suspect may not be the real murderer.

Because he never admitted his crime, but inexplicably chose to hang himself in prison.

But the dead cannot speak after all, and there were no further murders, so the magistrate's court insisted that he had committed suicide out of fear of crime, and his body was put on a hay cart and paraded through the streets.

In order to prevent the murderer from resurrecting, the angry and superstitious people climbed onto a hay cart and drove an iron nail into his chest.

Arthur has slowly begun to get used to this kind of plot.

This era is like this, barbaric with a little bit of civilization.

Call it unjust, but it did go through the trial process.

You could say it's about the law, but there's a trace of indescribable weirdness everywhere in this case.

If you look closely, this is like a comedy full of black humor, and there is always a hint of comedy in the helpless sadness.

Arthur sat on the edge of the bed, puffed out a smoke ring from his pipe.

He was thinking about the cases he had seen before, and when he came back to his senses, he found that the girl had taken off her long skirt at some point, revealing her white thighs and tight corset.

The girl noticed that he was not moving and thought he was being shy, so she smiled and leaned against him.

"What? Are all the men in India as reserved as you? Although I have never been to India, I have heard from sailors that India is full of wool, spices and tea.

Many young men from country squire families went to the East India Company to stay for a few years, and upon their return they became rich men. Your father must have been one of them, right? How did you become a sailor? "

Arthur asked while smoking a cigarette: "You are different from ordinary ladies. Most ladies only know about beautiful dresses and cosmetics, but you actually know India."

Arthur's compliment was very helpful to the other party. She smiled and put her hand into Arthur's coat.

"To be honest, I was actually born in Cambridgeshire. When I came to London from the countryside a few months ago, there was a Cambridge student with excellent academic performance in the car. His father turned out to be an employee of the East India Company. These things I heard it all from him."

Arthur lowered his head and glanced at the girl's hand that reached into his coat, shook his head slightly and sighed: "I told you, don't touch my things, and don't put your hands into my coat, otherwise you might I touched something I shouldn’t have touched.”

The girl thought Arthur was flirting with her, and there was a smile on her face: "You guys always say this, then let me touch it, what is it that I shouldn't touch, I guess Guess...that must be..."

Suddenly, her hand touched something cold and hard in the inner pocket of her coat.

The smile on the girl's face suddenly froze, and she took a plate of the thing carefully.

After a moment, she looked at Arthur with a hint of panic and fear in her eyes.

She already understood what it was. Although this thing was not common, it would probably kill someone every time she encountered it.

"You...you..."

The smile on the girl's face has disappeared, and her voice is trembling: "I can give you whatever you want. I don't want any money for this order. I just beg you not to kill me."

Arthur took a puff of cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and even his accent became normal.

"Don't be afraid, madam. I don't mean to hurt you at all, just treat me as an ordinary guest. I don't understand the rules of your business, so I want to ask, where are we now? What's next? Do you want to just scream, or do we go through the process again?”

Thanks to the two alliance leaders Shiri and Favorite Lingyi for their rewards. Currently, I owe 2 chapters of additional updates from the alliance leaders, and 1 chapter due to the update from the day before yesterday, for a total of 3 updates.