Chapter 10 A clothing store in a small town

 A diseased world,

ˆVarious existences and developable abilities beyond common sense,

 And the mysterious organization that is about to go,

 The endless unknown is waiting to be explored,

Yi Chen only slept for four hours last night because he was too excited... Perhaps it was because he had acquired the 'sickness characteristic'. Not only was he not sleepy, but his mental state was in excellent condition.

 The moment he stepped out of the cemetery gate,

 I thought we would welcome fresh air, warm sunshine, and colorful and vibrant townspeople.

However,

The street scene is not much better than the cemetery.

 The wind blowing in the face is mixed with a strong smell, which is the smell of crude oil, industrial waste liquids, metals and various by-products. You can almost taste them.

Across the rows of low, pointed town buildings, you can see several thick chimneys emitting waste gas.

 The sunshine was not as bright as expected,

The sky seemed to be covered with several layers of fine fabrics, with only sparse light falling on the ground, not even enough to dispel the dark dust left over from last night.

 As far as the eye can see, the number of townspeople cannot exceed the number of fingers.

 They seem to be unwilling to expose their bodies to the air and use large pieces of cloth to wrap their whole bodies.

Even his face was wearing a simple homemade mask, and his body was hunched, trying to breathe the air as close to the ground as possible.

The whole town is weird and cold,

Even mixed with a hint of despair,

 “The world…is worse than I imagined.”

At this moment, a cheerful friction sound came from the shoulder,

 The hairy black **** seemed to have just woken up,

  Opening his mouth wide, revealing the black and white eyeballs inside, rubbing them constantly... as if he was stretching.

 Two slender little black hands danced back and forth like waves.

 “It’s so great to finally get out of this **** cemetery!

 Let's get something to eat before we start our adventure... I haven't eaten in a long time. "

 “Okay, what do you want to eat?”

 “Grapes, lots of grapes…”

When the black flesh ball said the word grape, it pointed at his own eyes at the same time. Yi Chen naturally understood the true meaning of "grape" in its mouth.

  I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it,

Thinking about the world in which they were alive, many people also liked to eat food such as fish eyes and roasted pig eyes.

 “Okay, but you have to go to the clothing store first.”

 Currently,

Yichen was only wearing a sloppy and torn shirt.

There are still holes through the sleeves and arms, and there are scratch marks on the waist, abdomen and trouser legs.

Paired with [William Behrens]'s body, which hasn't had a shower or shampoo for several days, it would be at the bottom of the tramp room.

 Walking among the relatively spacious streets of the town,

Since no one has cleaned the house for a long time, the cracks in the ground are filled with melon seed shells, dirty water and rotting insect corpses.

The flow of people has been decreasing year by year, and a large number of shops have long been closed.

 The remaining stores are barely surviving and may close down at any time.

Such a scene made Yi Chen wonder, do decent clothing stores really exist?

 When in doubt,

At the corner of the street, a house with a structure completely different from the surrounding houses burst into view.

 The main color is black and has a strong Gothic style, tall and thin.

　　Someone seemed to be quietly peering into the outside world between the long windows.

The whole building gives people a delicate and gloomy feeling, like an aristocratic building that only exists in big cities, which is incompatible with this dilapidated town.

The bronze framed plaque at the door reads - [Maurice & Sad (Maurice and Sadness)]

 Using the visual amplification given by the small meat balls, the high-end clothing can be seen through the window.

“This should be what Mr. Wilbert said, the most high-end clothing store in the town.

 In other words, this kind of clothing store costs a lot of money for daily expenses, and it should be difficult for the townspeople's income to spend money in this kind of store.

  Why does such a store exist? "

With doubts,

Yichen crossed the dirty street and pushed open the front door of the clothing store under the gaze of masked residents.

bell~

The silver bell connected to the door frame rang at the same time.

The light fragrance quickly surrounds the senses of the nose, drowning out the industrial smell remaining in the nasal cavity.

 Such a smell instantly filtered Yi Chen out of the dilapidated town and led him into this elegant and quiet clothing store.

 A variety of portable lamps are distributed in various areas of the store

On top of the wardrobe,

Side wall corner,

 Or displayed alone on a stand somewhere as a decoration,

 The lights are intertwined, conveying the panoramic view of the clothing store to customers, while giving warmth and security.

 A lady wearing a floral top hat, with a tulle covering her face, and a long skirt lying on the floor walked out of the inner room.

The firelight can depict a beautiful face like a painting through the gauze.

Yi Chen originally thought that with such a shabby appearance, he would be looked down upon by his boss, or even kicked out.

However,

 The woman stopped in front of him,

 Smell gently through the gauze,

Plundering the cemetery smell that belongs exclusively to Yi Chen,

"It's really rare. No living person has been able to leave the cemetery for a long time... Did Wilbert ask you to come?"

"Yes.

Mr. Wilbert asked me to come here and buy something that would suit me before I got into the carriage. "

Yichen immediately took out the metal business card from his trouser pocket.

 “Do you need to leave in a hurry today?”

"Yes."

"In this case, you can only choose [ready-made clothing]... wait until you pass the organization's review, and then go to the tailor shop over there for [full customization]."

 The proprietress mentioned the word ‘organization’. It seems that she and this clothing store are related to organizations, so the economic support behind it makes sense.

“I wonder if the money I have is enough?”

Yichen took out all the belongings he had earned from working in the cemetery - a small pocket full of silver coins.

However,

The landlady didn’t look at these scattered coins at all.

 Instead, he pinched Yi Chen's wrist, his sharp nails almost poking into the skin.

 Through such a simple contact,

  The boss lady not only completed the measurement of the body size, but also read some internal information.

“No wonder you were able to walk out of the cemetery alive, and you also got Wilbert’s business card and cemetery products. It turns out that you took the initiative to accept [disease], which is quite interesting.”

 The landlady’s words were retracted along with her palms,

He also took away nearly half of the silver coins in the bag.

“I just have a ready-to-wear suit here that fits your size.

However, before trying on the clothes, you need to 'purify' your body and wash away the dust of the dead brought out from the cemetery. "

 With the guidance of the landlady, I came to the bathroom in the clothing store.

 After cleaning,

 The proprietress will shave and haircut herself.

 After finishing modifying his appearance, Yi Chen was finally able to take a look at his appearance in the dressing mirror.

 Under the finely trimmed black hair, his face and facial features are not much different from his original self. It can even be said that some Western features have been added to the original appearance.

 Such as a higher nose bridge and deep eye sockets.

Looking carefully, it actually looks a bit like the young Keanu Reeves... Although the details are a little worse, the overall look is still very good.

“There are quite a lot of similarities between me and the original owner of this body, maybe it’s all related to time travel. 』

 The next step is to try on the clothes.

White shirt,

 A small vest with dark green stripes,

Black trousers with certain elasticity,

And a black trench coat that is similar to the overalls in the cemetery, covering the whole body and covering the face... giving people a sense of gloom.

Tie the laces of your black Oxford shoes.

 The landlady will wear a black tie herself.

 When he saw the new image in the mirror, Yi Chen's spirit was lifted.

 (End of this chapter)