Chapter 177

The streets of London are always wet. Ponding can be seen everywhere on the uneven road.

Passers by come and go in a hurry. Most people habitually hold an umbrella in their hands. Living in this rainy city all year round, you always need to guard against it, don't you?

It's generally cold in London this year. Maybe Muggles living in London can have a white Christmas this time.

Wearing a thick wool coat and carrying a black umbrella like other Muggles, Maka calmly drove forward.

Most of the roadside shops are closed. It seems that when people have been busy for a whole year and now need to rest, these stores don't care about making money.

Everyone is waiting for Christmas.

All the noise in the magic world can not be scraped into the Muggles' world. It is always so harmonious and quiet here.

Suddenly, Maka, who had been walking forward, turned a corner and came to an old-fashioned residential area.

The environment here is obviously darker than the streets outside. The old walls are covered with Parthenocissus, and there are large tracts of wet moss in the corner.

When Maka passed through a dark alley, she could vaguely see some fat mice running into the drains everywhere in London.

Without hesitation, he kept walking forward, leaving behind one old house after another.

Soon, he stopped in front of a three story apartment.

The constant rainfall makes the houses a little dark and makes everything look dirty, especially the old houses.

The door of the apartment is open. The large wooden door with faded paint is being eroded and rotted little by little under the repeated scouring of the rain, emitting a strange smell that can't be said to smell bad.

Maka lifted her legs and went in the door.

There is a guard room on the right side of the door, but there is obviously no guard here for a long time. It is empty. There is only a broken wooden chair behind the reception window.

Maka just took a subconscious look and then walked to the front stairs.

When he was walking all the way to the third floor, towards the slightly dark corridor, a door opened.

"Oh - it's a new face, boy... Are you here to see the house?"

Coming out from behind the door was a shriveled little old man. He pushed his eyes on the bridge of his nose, but still squinted and looked at Maka carefully.

"It's not bad here. The landlord is very polite. He always talks... When he's old, he always wants to say more when he can talk, doesn't he?"

Maka shook her head and said, "uncle, I'm here to see a friend of mine. She lives here and hasn't moved here long."

"Really?" the little old man thought, "Oh, is it the little girl surnamed Victor? She is very beautiful and kind-hearted, but she lives in poverty..."

Maka calmly said, "this is the life she chose..."

Then he said goodbye to the old man and walked deeper into the corridor.

"Your choice is good... How many choices do you have in your life..." behind him, the little old man whispered faintly.

"Dong Dong"

Before long, Maka came to the door of room 306. He gently knocked on the old wooden door which was no better than the door of the apartment downstairs.

"Who?" a clear and pleasant voice sounded from behind the door, vaguely with a trace of sleep.

"It's me, McLean... It's getting late. Get up, sister," Marca replied in a relaxed tone.

Suddenly there was a silence in the room, and then he heard a rush of footsteps.

With the "creak" sound, the wooden door was suddenly opened from the inside, and a sweet smell rushed towards Maka standing at the door.

"Ah!" "bang!"

Another exclamation sounded, and the wooden door was closed again.

Maka's complexion moved a step aside, trying to erase the picture she had just inadvertently seen from her memory. He subconsciously looked into the corridor, but he saw the little old man nodding at him with a clear face just now, and then he went in the direction of the stairs.

Who would have thought that a grown-up beauty would be so careless? Wearing such loose pajamas, he rushed to open the door for him!

"Caught off guard... No, it's impossible to prevent..." Maka rubbed her forehead helplessly.

After a while, the door was opened again, and Charlotte, who was well dressed, finally officially appeared in front of Marca.

"Primary school brother... Just now... You didn't see anything?" Charlotte still had a slight blush on her cheek, but apparently she didn't admit defeat. "If you see something you shouldn't see, I'll beat you out of memory!"

She raised her white fist and threatened bravely.

"You covered the room so dark, what can I see... What happened just now? The door opened and closed..." Maka naturally pretended to be confused with her.

"... I want you to mind! I'll try whether the door is closed well..." Charlotte waved, "what are you doing standing there? Come in!"

"Pa!"

Marca walked past her and slapped him firmly on the back.

"Sister, you can't change this habit?" he said, looking at the environment in the room at will, but found that there seemed to be nothing to look at.

In addition to a small round table and a chair, there is only a wardrobe and a bed.

On the south facing wall, the curtains were pulled so tightly that no light could penetrate. In the whole room, an antique oil lamp from nowhere was flickering faintly.

"Habit is habit, you can't change it! If you don't want to, find a way to make yourself willing to go..." Charlotte said and slapped Marca on the back.

"OK, yes..." Maka nodded repeatedly. "Sister, what's the purpose of making the room so dark?"

"The air outside is so humid. It's enough to come in a little less! It's enough to change the air at noon every day." Charlotte said and went directly to her bed and sat down. "You can sit down, too. Here! You're a guest, and the only chair will be given to you. How are you, sister?"

"OK, great."

"Why do you remember that I'm here today? There's nothing to look at just such a broken room..." when she said this, she suddenly smiled and said, "why, do you want to plot a plot when you see the beautiful student sister living alone?"

"Yes, it's a plot," Marca shrugged. "I'm just looking for my sister to know something. By the way, I'll see if the beautiful sister flying in freedom is happy."

"Then you see! There's nothing, life is hard and poor, and the roof is still leaking... Look, that's the corner." Charlotte still smiled and pointed to the crack in the opposite roof, and a crack was clearly visible on the ceiling.

Seeing that she said so miserably, Maka nodded instead.

"Well, it's good. As long as you have a good time," he said. "This ordinary life always calms people's heart... Speaking of it, have you found a job?"

Charlotte looked at him straight for a long time. Then she blinked and said, "it's hard to find! It's too difficult for a man who doesn't know where to come from to find a fixed job... Primary school brother, you just said, you want to find me to know something?"

"Yes!" Maka hesitated for a while and finally said, "maybe I shouldn't mention it when you enjoy your freedom quietly, but - does your family have that magic book called abataier?"

Charlotte's face suddenly changed. She was silent for a long time and finally shook her head.

"... do you want it too?" she pursed. "Yes, it's not a secret, but... It's not something that ordinary wizards should contact. Believe me, that magic book will bring terrible disaster to anyone."

"I know, demon summoning and demon sacrifice... In fact, disaster may have come," Maka said in a deep voice.

Charlotte looked at Marca hesitantly.

"My father mentioned it too... Is it true?" she looked uneasy. "The last time I went to Macmillan's house was to give a search order."

"Don't you know?" Marca couldn't help asking when she looked ignorant.

"I never take the initiative to learn about the family... It's too late to hide!" Charlotte shook her head. "It seems that you know more than I do."

"Sorry, sister Xuejie. I shouldn't have come to talk to you about this, which makes you recall these messy things..." Maka thought carefully for a moment, and suddenly put aside the topic just now. "In order to express my apology, I'll invite you to dinner!"

Charlotte curled her lips and said, "just want to kill me for a meal?"

"Then two meals!" Marca said.

It seems to rain again outside, pattering and continuous. The call sign wind blows back and forth between buildings with cold raindrops, cleaning the air again and again.

Around the crack in the corner of the ceiling, the watermark was stacked as if it would never dry out, and spread again.

To tell the truth, this terrible environment is quite close to the bottom in the Muggle world. In a metropolis like London, it is just a small corner. But even such a poor life is the "real freedom" Charlotte can't ask for.

However, when a bird trapped in a cage wants to find freedom, is it so simple to find it?

"Elementary school brother, do you know?" she looked at Marca walking in front and said faintly in her heart, "I don't have much time to enjoy this hard-earned 'freedom."