Traveling alone in the wilderness at night is not a good idea.
Lu Li had encountered some troubles on several trips in the past.
This time, he had better luck. Lu Li successfully arrived at Himfast before midnight without any setbacks.
The continuous drizzle of the past few days has stopped for the whole day, but there are almost no pedestrians in sight, and the streets with street lights are deserted.
The homeless people living under the street lights were nowhere to be seen. Maybe they were resettled by the local government, maybe...
The clear sound of horse hooves echoed on the wet bluestone road, and a carriage stopped at No. 66 Champs Elysees.
The exquisite building was lit with lights, and a female silhouette appeared behind the curtain. It opened a corner and fell gently. After a short while, the white wooden door opened, and Aunt Mary appeared behind the door.
Anna floated into the house with her figure revealed. Lu Li tied the reins to the guardrail and walked into the warm and bright house carrying his suitcase and oil lamp.
Aunt Mary closed the door after he came in, and went to the kitchen in her plush slippers to get the coffee that had been heating.
Lu Li put the suitcase next to the sofa, turned around and sat down.
Aunt Mary returned to the table with two cups of coffee, one of which she handed to Lu Li and the other to Anna. Then she suddenly remembered something, showed a hint of sadness, and left the coffee in front of her.
"Warm yourself up, the recent temperature is like autumn coming early." Aunt Mary said, quickly recovering her mood.
"Actually, it's almost the same." Anna replied.
There is no difference between now when plants no longer grow and autumn when plants wither.
Aunt Mary smiled and looked at Anna and Lu Li softly: "Do you really want to go to the Lennon Islands with me?"
"Well, it's safe there." Anna replied.
Aunt Mary asked some more questions as if to connect with her, but Lu Li had no intention of answering. Anna could only accept Aunt Mary's elder-like kindness with slight discomfort.
But when Anna asked if she was ready to salute, Mary Poppins looked surprised, shook her head and said: "You want to leave now? No, Himfast has banned leaving the city alone at night."
Lu Li, who had been acting as a spectator, now said, "What happened?"
Aunt Mary replied with a worried tone: "Well...many residents who went out alone have disappeared recently. The police did not find the culprit. Those residents may have encountered something strange."
At this moment, Anna understood why the soldiers guarding Lu Li looked at Lu Li so strangely when the carriage entered the city.
"Is there no other way to leave the city?" As an investigator, Lu Li thought it would be easy to ignore the ban and leave the city. Now he wanted to know how stringent the ban was.
The more stringent it is, the more dangerous the outside world is.
"...You can join the caravan. This is the only way to leave here freely at the moment." Aunt Mary said hesitantly.
It doesn't seem to be a big problem.
However, Aunt Mary still thinks we should leave after dawn tomorrow: "We can leave early in the morning after a night's rest. It is safer during the day and it is easier to buy ferry tickets."
Anna answered for Lu Li: "The tickets have been bought. The ocean liner Avitannis will dock at Rodster Port tomorrow evening. A postman will deliver it when we return to the detective agency."
Aunt Mary looked at Lu Li in shock.
Although Lu Li didn't speak or show any emotion after entering, she could faintly sense the urgency behind Lu Li's actions.
"Well, there's not much luggage to pack. When will we leave?" Aunt Mary no longer insisted.
Anna and Lu Li have no reason to harm themselves. They must have their reasons for being so anxious.
Lu Li replied: "As long as we can get to Belfast early tomorrow morning."
"I'm going to clean up right now." Aunt Mary nodded and looked at Anna: "Anna, do you want to come with me?"
Aunt Mary seemed to have something to say to Anna.
Anna left with Aunt Mary, while Lu Li stayed in the living room, drinking coffee to warm up.
Just like Aunt Mary said, she had prepared everything that needed to be taken away, and there was nothing to pack.
Ten minutes later, footsteps came from the second floor and stopped at the corner of the stairs.
Lu Li raised his eyes and looked at Anna and Aunt Mary who were talking through the gap in the stairwell.
"Want to go back to the manor to have a look?"
Aunt Mary's soft voice fell into the quiet living room.
A slightly cold voice sounded: "...I forgot a lot of things during the time when I died. There is nothing worth remembering."
"Alas... Anna, you have changed a lot... from the beginning, from the last time you came here."
"Maybe."
The conversation ended in a hurry and they returned to the living room.
Aunt Mary put on a loose light gray dress that was convenient for traveling, and carried a dark red suitcase.
There was also some bread, chicken soup and mashed potatoes in the kitchen, and Aunt Mary packed them in brown paper bags and took them with her.
The clock hand in the corner points to 10 o'clock. Let's set out now. They should arrive in Belfast at dawn and dusk.
But before leaving, Lu Li still had some problems and some things to do.
"Did Anna die of the epidemic?" Lu Li asked Aunt Mary.
Anna felt a little awkward and Aunt Mary said: "Anna's body is weak, so when the infectious disease came, she quickly became seriously ill and had no time to treat..."
"Where is she buried?"
"In the cemetery of the west city church, with her mother."
…
Not far outside the cemetery, Aunt Mary, holding an oil lamp, stood in front of the carriage, watching quietly.
The towering dark church serves as a silent background, standing behind two figures, one solid and the other illusory.
A row of low and slanted tombstones surrounded them, suddenly like a series of quietly standing figures.
[r.i.p]
[Anna Bessie]
Anna's long-decomposed body was buried under the tombstone
The high-pointed tombstone contains words that dazzle Anna.
"Why come here..."
Anna couldn't understand it and her mood was hard to describe.
Seeing your own tombstone is not fun.
"Just stopping by to take a look."
Lu Li sensed the entire cemetery, and the silence flowed in the darkness.
The deceased was not disturbed and was still sleeping.
"let's go."
Lu Li turned around, the oil lamp swayed, and his shadow covered Anna's tombstone.
It's not just a drop-in.
Anna thought in her mind that Lu Li was never someone who did meaningless things.
So he wants to know whether the cause of his death was an accident or other reasons?
Or should I say...
Let yourself remember that you were once a human being and don’t lose your true nature?
Anna thought to herself as she followed Lu Li along the path towards the outside of the cemetery, and then shook her head slightly.
Lu Li still made a mistake.
Anna knew very well that in fact, she had always been herself, and no outside existence had invaded and competed with her for consciousness - indeed there had been that wraith in the alley, but she gave up on her own initiative in the end.
All of Anna's changes were subtle, just like a person whose temperament changes drastically due to continuous painful encounters.
The wood on a ship is gradually replaced, and it remains the same ship.