Gothic white buildings with similar appearances are adjacent to each other, and the street lights cast a misty glow in the dim sky under the drizzle.
There were not many pedestrians on the street, and occasionally a horse-drawn carriage came by.
A carriage appeared at the corner and stopped in front of a building on this wealthy street. The house number above said No. 66.
"This is it."
A female voice came from the carriage, and then the curtain was opened, and a lady in a black dress stepped out of the carriage.
"The carriage runs in the Wayne neighborhood at the back. You can arrange the carriage there." She said to the car.
A figure behind the curtain did not answer. He gently pulled the reins and the carriage drove forward.
Mary watched the carriage go away and gently called to the surrounding space: "Anna, are you here?"
Except for the figure on the ground wetted by the drizzle, there was no sound to answer her.
Mary pursed her lips and stood quietly under the eaves. When the sky darkened and only a dim outline of the eaves remained in the distance, she saw a slender figure holding an umbrella and carrying a travel bag in the other hand.
inside.
Lu Li walked to Mary, and a figure emerged from beside him.
"Let's go in." Mary pushed open the door and walked into the darkness inside.
The figure in the darkness walked to the dining table, raised his hand and pulled something. There was a slight sound, and electric light several times brighter than an oil lamp poured from the top of his head.
Light dispels people's fear of darkness.
If it weren't for the refuge plan, Lu Li might consider installing a lighting lamp in the detective agency.
Anna looked at everything here with novelty and nostalgia.
Mary left the living room again and turned on the lights upstairs and in every room. The bright light made the darkness invisible. Finally, she returned to the living room carrying a lit oil lamp.
Anna looked at Mary strangely, understanding her behavior of turning on all the lights, but not understanding why she lit the old oil lamp again.
Mary smiled softly and said: "Anna, you are following the investigator, and you should have a better understanding of the darkness than I do."
Anna nodded in understanding. As a ghost, she couldn't feel the things that humans would encounter in the dark.
Mary put the oil lamp on the table, looked at Anna's cheek and said softly: "Remember, I came here on your 15th birthday."
Anna nodded.
The soft color on Mary's face deepened, and she turned to look at Lu Li: "Guest, what do you want to eat?"
"Whatever."
Mary nodded, her eyes falling on the travel bag carried by Lu Li: "I'll take you to the guest room first."
The room arranged by Mary was upstairs, and the window faced the street in the Champs Elysees neighborhood. Lu Li put down his travel bag at the foot of the bed, walked to the window and looked around, and noticed some dark shadows gradually appearing on the street. They gathered around some street lights.
Next, cover the top of your head with a waterproof tarpaulin and lean against each other.
Scavengers or vagrants are a group of people living at the lowest level. When night comes, they will approach the lighted places like moths.
Before the disaster of night, although they had a hard time, they could still survive. After the disaster of night, homeless people died almost every night because of being exposed to darkness.
After sending Lu Li to the guest room, Mary went back downstairs to prepare dinner.
Lu Li looked at those figures quietly for a while, then closed the curtains to block everything outside.
"You want to help them?" Anna walked up to Lu Li.
Although Lu Li never showed any emotion, Anna could tell.
"Um."
But Lu Li couldn't do anything. Now he could only rely on refuge points to protect himself as much as possible, and then try to help others.
An hour later, dinner was prepared by Mary. She walked out of the kitchen carrying the last pot of mashed potatoes. She didn't even change her clothes. She was still wearing her afternoon dress and only wore an apron over it.
Mary took off her apron, sat in front of a table of sumptuous dishes, and tentatively asked Anna aside: "Can you taste the food?"
Anna shook her head slightly.
If she could she wouldn't cook those terrible foods.
"It's okay, you can..." Mary couldn't say the word "accompany" that followed because it sounded too cruel.
Mary was in a good mood, but she didn't eat much and kept talking to Anna.
Lu Li was the opposite of her. He couldn't speak and ate as much as possible. Life was getting harder and harder, and he didn't have many opportunities to eat casually.
After dinner, it was almost eight o'clock. Usually people are ready to take a rest at this time. After clearing the table, Mary asked Anna: "Anna, can you come to my place and talk to me?"
Anna didn't answer and looked at Lu Li hesitantly.
She didn't want to leave Lu Li's side, but she also wanted to spend some time with her mother's best friend.
"Go and stay with her," Lu Li said.
After arriving in Himfast, Anna's personality began to change.
No longer like a girl, she became more silent and unwilling to show all her emotions on her face. The only thing that remained unchanged was her reliance on Lu Li.
But Lu Li didn't do anything. He just stood aside and silently watched the development of the situation.
There was no reason for him to intervene.
Compared to the cost of becoming stronger, Anna's change at this time is more like a kind of growth.
Let go of youthfulness and enter the growth of the adult world.
After watching Anna and Mary return to her bedroom, Lu Li went upstairs to his room and locked the door.
Sitting down by the bed, Lu Li fell into thinking.
Dud dud——
At a certain moment, there was a knocking sound outside the window.
Lu Li touched his lower back and opened a corner of the curtain. A shadow darker than the darkness stood by the window, looking at Lu Li with dark eyes.
Black crow?
Lu Li reached out and took out two small wooden boxes from his arms. The boxes were tightly covered and the contents were still inside.
Why did it appear outside the window if it wasn't attracted by the smell?
…
Red sea bar.
With a bang, a figure smelling of alcohol stumbled out of the door.
The falling light rain and the cold air made the figure wake up slightly. He lit the oil lamp in his hand and staggered towards the direction home.
As he approached a dark alley, the sound of rapid running and hoarse shouts for help suddenly came from the alley.
The figure was attracted by the sound and looked towards the alley where the sound came from. When he saw the unkempt woman appearing in front of the alley, most of his drunkenness had faded away.
Then the woman was pulled back to the alley by several outstretched hands.
The voice hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and walked into the alley. Suddenly, a tall and ferocious face appeared on the edge of the oil lamp with a fierce expression: "Boy, do you want to mind your own business?"
The courage that had just appeared was blown away by the cold wind, and he said with a trembling voice: "I... no... no... no, it's nothing..."
He turned around quickly and took a step -
Dang clang——
The oil lamp that no one was carrying fell to the ground, and there was a dead silence in front of the alley.
The silence lasted for a while, and then a female voice murmured: "Why don't you save me?"
Another voice full of panic sounded: "I wanted to help you! Please no ah ah ah -"
The screams stopped suddenly, and only the dull sound of chewing and slow sounds were left in the dark alley.
