African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1415: Chapter 7: Plague Rampant (2)

As Bruce spoke, the convoy from East Africa accelerated towards the docks, but in the congested streets of London, it still took a long time.

At the docks, East African personnel conducted temperature checks and simple disinfection on Bruce and his party. Two of them had abnormal temperatures and had to be quarantined, while the ship’s doctor also recommended that Bruce and others undergo a period of observation on the ship.

The ship Bruce and his party embarked on was a passenger liner from East Africa, already equipped with professional medical staff and relevant medical supplies. Of course, only high-ranking East African officials like Bruce could enjoy such treatment.

Just a day later, the passenger liner urgently set sail back home, showing no intention of lingering here.

And merely one day after Bruce and his party left, the epidemic in London spread uncontrollably like a wild horse, with many patients appearing on the streets of London. Because of the previous actions by East Africa and France, this deepened the panic among London citizens.

After all, as long as neither oneself nor those around them were infected with the virus, people could continue to live and work calmly. But when the crisis truly appeared before them or even descended upon themselves, that was a different matter.

And the content of conversations among London citizens on the streets also changed.

”Josen, your condition seems like the influenza symptoms described by East Africa. Could the East Africans be telling the truth?”

”Bowers, I feel so uncomfortable, difficulty breathing, headache, my whole body has no strength.”

”Josen, maybe it’s just a little cold, you don’t need to worry too much.”

Saying this, Bowers still instinctively took a step back. If it were just Josen, Bowers might not believe in the so-called European flu, but Josen was not the first; he was just one of many acquaintances of Bowers who might have contracted the influenza virus.

”Josen, I think you need to rest or see a doctor, I believe you will get better. But I have something to attend to at home, so I’ll chat with you later, goodbye!”

Bowers decisively chose to take a detour home, silently thinking to himself, ”This must be the fifth one, could the European flu really exist? Most likely it is. Damn Sun Newspaper, just two days ago, they said the European flu didn’t exist at all.”

”Now, it seems, the so-called European flu is not just an idle rumor. When I get home, I need to be more cautious as well.”

Soon, Bowers hurriedly arrived at his house, which was merely an inconspicuous little house in the midst of the entire slum.

The surrounding environment was extremely poor, with the road in front full of potholes, and unauthorized buildings everywhere on the streets. Various awnings and makeshift wooden shacks crowded together, and these unauthorized structures occupied more than half of the public road space.

The materials for these unauthorized buildings were also very strange, consisting of wood, bricks, or rags acquired from unknown sources, assembled together with rusty nails.

These materials could have come from the countryside, dismantled from abandoned ships, or brought back from construction sites somewhere.

The furniture inside the shacks was also very simple and worn, not necessarily obtained through clean means. After all, early 20th century London was a paradise for thieves, and the residents of the London slums were obviously not very affluent, so many things’ origins were not questioned.

However, as the world’s wealthiest city in the early 20th century, most citizens of London had decent income, while the residents of the slums clearly weren’t considered official London citizens.

And Bowers was of such a status, having just come to London a few years ago from the countryside.

So now the state of Bowers’ house wasn’t much better off in London, but Bowers was indifferent to this.

He opened the door and said, ”Alice, I’m back!”

A young British woman was cooking in the narrow house, which only had a coal-burning stove. Under the long-term influence of this stove, the walls and ceiling were blackened by the smoke.

”Bowers, you’re off work!” said Alice.

Lying on the bed, Bowers said, ”Yeah! The boiler’s been heating all day, I’m exhausted and hot, who knows when it’ll end.”

Bowers’ small house only had one room, so all the furniture was here, with no concept of a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc.

Living in the slum naturally had its benefits. Although the environment was terrible, it saved a lot of money, especially on rent.

”By the way, Alice, are there a lot of neighbors catching colds or having fevers recently?” Bowers asked his busy wife.

Alice said, ”Now that you mention it, it does seem so. Mrs. For’s family has caught a cold, and many people on the street are like that recently.”

Bowers said with a grim expression, ”If that’s really the case, we need to be careful too. According to what I heard at the factory, this might be the European flu.”

Alice asked, ”What is the European flu?”

Bowers said, ”A contagious virus, something like the terrifying Black Death. Previously, the newspaper at the factory said it was just alarmism from East Africa, but based on my judgment, it most likely is true.”

Hearing Black Death, Alice was taken aback. Although she didn’t know what the European flu was, the notorious Black Death was well-known among Europeans.