Lost Atlantis 30
It wasn’t difficult to collect garbage. It was terrible to collect one million tons of garbage.
Xie Xi didn’t even have the concept of one million tons of rubbish. He couldn’t imagine how huge it was.
This side task was like the old man moving mountains. The difference was that the old man moving mountains could at least move ores from the mines. What about him? What could he do with one million tons of garbage?
Xie Xi was a bit angry but he wasn’t discouraged.
Compared to collecting the love of the six princes, one million tons of garbage was really nothing.
He had just finished a meal and there was some household waste. However, he couldn’t figure out how to collect it.
Did putting it in his house count? Or should he touch it? Xie Xi tried various things but the system panel didn’t give any hints. According to experience, a progress reminder should be given if the collection was successful. Now there was nothing, so this obviously wasn’t the right way.
Xie Xi thought about it... perhaps he couldn’t collect the rubbish made by himself?
Or perhaps there was too little rubbish?
It was possible that the garbage was already his and collecting it was just repetition. If he could be repeated then he could easily gain one million tons of garbage.
Xie Xi went out looking for garbage.
The underwater people were much less harmful to the environment than the land people. Their diet was very simple and there were no complicated cooking methods, which in itself greatly reduced the production of domestic garbage. Their clothes were also specially made. Most common mermaids wore shells while those in certain positions had special uniforms. The uniforms of the royal guards were made of a special material that was extremely hydrophilic.
This fabric was extremely durable and didn’t require cleaning. It also avoided the production of household waste.
Food, clothing, shelter and transportation. He talked about the first two so let’s talk about the last two.
The residences of the underwater king were all joined together because viscous agents couldn’t stand the long soaking of seawater.
Travelling was very different from the mainland. The mermaid’s tail was much more reliable than human legs. They swam faster in the water than human wings flying in the sky. As long as they had enough physical strength, they could swim faster than most transportation.
Even if they didn’t have enough physical strength, they could domesticate large fish, which were much faster than horses.
In addition, the airships used by nobles contained powerful energy. Water was directly used and although the conversion machine was expensive, this technology did zero damage to the environment.
The underwater people and the sea got along well and it was a perfect symbiotic state. Unfortunately, this was broken by the land people.
The rubbish on land was dumped into the sea, causing huge pollution and numerous dangers.
Xie Xi checked the information and the images alone were shocking. He wanted to complete this side task in the hope of doing something good, not just because he wanted to clear the quasi-world.
One million tons of garbage was just a drop in the bucket compared to the whole ocean.
In order to save time, Xie Xi took an airship from the royal palace. He had stayed in the kingdom and saw the dreams and beauty of the underwater kingdom. Now that he came out of the kingdom and went to the sea filled with land rubbish, he was completely stunned.
The images showed not even one-thousandth of reality.
The mountain-like garbage gave off a pungent stench and caused the seawater to become turbid. He covered his nose and mouth but it wasn’t very useful. He felt a stinging sensation from his skin as well as a distracting itching.
“Big Brother, don’t go there!” A young voice rang out as someone grabbed onto Xie Xi.
He turned and saw a little mermaid. She had beautiful red hair and blue eyes. Her white face was childish and naive, like the little prince who begged the wizard in the fairy tale.
Xie Xi took a step back and the discomfort of his skin became much lighter. “Thank you.”
The little mermaid smiled at him and asked, “Big Brother is a foreigner. Why did you come here?”
“I have a friend here and I wanted to see him.”
The mermaid’s eyes lit up. “What is his name? I can help you find him!”
Xie Xi felt ashamed about deceiving such a little guilt and said with slight guilt, “No need, he will come soon.”
“I see. Then Big Brother, don’t get too close to that. You will get sick.” Xie Xi nodded. “Thank you, I’ll be careful.”
The little mermaid was relieved. She shook her tail and said, “I am going to get some crescent fruit. Big Brother, goodbye.”
Xie Xi knew that this was fruit was a welfare allowance from the underwater kingdom.
He said goodbye to the little mermaid. The little mermaid smiled at him and turned away with her lively tail waving.
Xie Xi’s lips curved but unfortunately, the smile disappeared once he saw the mermaid’s back.
Ordinary mermaids didn’t wear clothes so their whole backs were exposed. This white tofu-like skin had large festering sores and looked like it had been torn by claws. It left a shocking mar on this tender body.
Xie Xi’s heart tightened as he called out, “You...”
The little mermaid turned her head. “Big Brother, is there something else?”
Xie Xi paused before asking softly, “Your back... does it hurt?”
The mermaid smiled with slight embarrassment. “Isn’t it ugly? Mother said that when I grow up, she will buy me a dress so it can’t be seen.”
It was like a nail pierced his heart. Xie Xi went forward and said, “This injury...” He actually knew the answer and couldn’t continue.
The little mermaid said, “Big Brother, after meeting your friend, you should quickly go back to the bottom of the sea. Staying here isn’t good. Once a long time passes, your skin will have sores.”
“Wait, I will help you deal with the wounds.”
The little mermaid was surprised. “Is Big Brother a doctor?”
Xie Xi certainly wasn’t a doctor but he had some healing potions in his items bar. He could easily cure some trauma. He told her, “I can help treat it but there will be some pain.”
Unexpectedly, the little mermaid actually said, “No need, it will become bad again. Don’t bother.”
Xie Xi felt stifled and there was some pain while breathing.
“No trouble.” Xie Xie Xi took out a healing potion and carefully rubbed it onto the festering surface. “Don’t be afraid. It’ll be fine in a minute.”
The level of this healing potion was very low but Xie Xi had bought it despite the description. The note was very clearly: The injury is painful, the healing is painful. Who told you low-grade people not to buy a better potion?
Xie Xi had never used it and didn’t know how painful it was. However, the note was written like this so it was definitely painful.
The potion was applied and the wound healed at a rate visible to the naked eye. The little mermaid only slightly frowned.
Xie Xi asked, “Is it painful?”
The little mermaid revealed a smiling face. “There was a bit of pain but now it isn’t painful at all. It is so comfortable!” She turned happily like a kitten wanting to catch her tail.
Xie Xi’s heart became heavier. If she hadn’t long adapted to pain then how could a delicate child have such tolerance?
The little mermaid was very happy and said sincerely, “Thank you Big Brother. You are so good, just as good as Prince Aix-en!”
Aix-en was the second prince.
Yes, it was the second prince who distributed the crescent fruit as welfare and supervised the execution.
The second prince had a very high reputation among the people. At first, Xie Xi thought it was just due to his face. Now he understood that the prince supported it with practical actions.
Compared to the second prince, Xie Xi’s actions were too insignificant. He shook his head and said, “This is nothing. Quickly go and get your crescent fruit.”
The little mermaid swam away cheerfully.
Xie Xi quietly followed and felt even more pained after arriving at the small town.
The ocean was very large, the area far exceeded that of the land. The ocean was also much more mysterious and unpredictable than the land.
It was like the China that Xie Xi had lived on. The territory was vast and not all parts of it were suitable for people to live on, just as not all parts of the ocean were suitable for merpeople.
There was a strict hierarchy among merpeople and there was a great reason for this disparity in power.
The king lived in the deep sea where the sea pressure was huge. Ordinary merpeople couldn’t live here at all. Ironically, the rubbish couldn’t reach the deep sea and only polluted the shallow sea, leading to the ‘bullying’ of the most vulnerable merpeople.
The most suitable sea area for these merpeople were places closest to the land. These places were places where the land people wantonly dropped rubbish.
The merpeople didn’t want to migrate because they had nowhere to go.
In the face of the land pollution, they could only bear it. Xie Xi finally experienced the anger of the militant faction.
Anyone who saw this scene and saw their compatriots suffering such pain wouldn’t be able to hold back their anger. Who could hold back their grievances and not want to punish those responsible?
The merpeople were just living a calm life. Why should they get used to the poisonous sea water, get used to their skin being corroded and get used to this endless rubbish!
Xie Xi’s brow furrowed and he returned to the garbage dump.
There was a shield that barely separated the rubbish from the tower, but the seawater that seeped in still hurt the town.
Xie Xi wasn’t afraid of being poisoned to death.
He closed his eyes and entered straight in. It was a needle-like sting that spread across his skin. The scales on his fishtail had a hard protective layer yet he could feel his scales falling off!
What the hell was this?
What type of monsters produced these garbage that couldn’t be processed and were piled up like mountains!
Roast Pork Bun was distressed.”Daddy, are you okay?” The pan was slow and not fatal, thus it wasn’t painless.
Xie Xi suffered silently, his brow wrinkled very tightly.
Roast Pork Bun anxiously moved around him, using small claws to peel off the dark water. Unfortunately, he couldn’t help Xie Xi.
Xie Xi finally arrived in front of the mountain of garbage. He took a breath and hot water entered his throat. It was like drinking sulphuric acid as his insides were corroded.
Finally, there was a prompt in the lower right corner. [Currently more than 10,000 tons of garbage can be collected. Do you want to collect it?]
Xie Xi immediately agreed.
Sure enough, a sufficient amount was required to trigger the task. The target value of one million was too large and couldn’t be reached simply by collecting dozens of garbage. Thus, it couldn’t be collected.
Once Xie Xi agreed to the collection, another prompt popped up. [Your items bar is full. Please clean it up.]
Xie Xi was stunned. He had a total of three spaces in his items bar. Could he collect one million tons of garbage?
Wait, it could overlap! The same category of items could be overlapped. The things in front of him were varied but they were all rubbish. Thus, freeing one item space should be enough.
Xie Xi thought about it and called out to Roast Pork Bun. “Do me a favour.”
Roast Pork Bun cried out, “Daddy, you can stab yourself with a knife.” If it was so bad, stab himself with a knife and then Roast Pork Bun could relieve the pain!
Xie Xi shook his head. “I’m fine. Help me apply these healing potions to the town’s merpeople.”
Roast Pork Bun was stunned.
“Can you do it?”
Roast Pork Bun quickly nodded. “Yes!”
Xie Xi patted his small head. “Go ahead.”
Roast Pork Bun flew away with the potions and Xie Xi managed to clear one space. He once again confirmed it and like a miracle, the garbage turning the sea into a hell disappeared!
Xie Xi glanced at the items bar where there was a group of dark things.
He looked at the details.
Name: Garbage.
Grade: None.
Details: If it is produced, please dispose of it. The stench of the manufacturer is being emitted from it.
Xie Xi’s bottom right corner finally showed the progress of the side task. It was ironically green, the colour of environmental protection and the progress was 1%.
So much rubbish was only 10,000 tons.
What was the concept of one million tons?
There were still 100 endless garbage dumps.
The thing that made his scalp numb was that one million tons were just a drop in the bucket compared to the billions of rubbish produced.
Xie Xi frowned and couldn’t feel the pain in his body at all.
Roast Pork Bun came back and still had some healing potions left. He anxiously said, “Daddy, I will give you a potion!”
Xie Xie Xi didn’t want to waste potions and was about to say that he would just die once...
Then his pupils shrank as he saw a new progress bar that appeared on the main task bar.
White?
Whose was this?
The eldest prince or the fourth prince? Were they nearby?
Xie Xi used a healing potion so that he wasn’t bothered by the stinging.
The next moment, there was a faint cold smell and a slender man in a blue uniform emerged.
His expression was cold. “Who are you?”
It was the fourth prince!
He saw the scene of the garbage being instantly cleared up!
Xie Xi stood up straight and didn’t know how to explain.
The fourth prince came over, an unfathomable look in his eyes. “Maybe I should ask, are you a human?”