The sun is shining brightly outside the window. The extremely bad weather before seems to be just a distant dream. Only the remaining water marks on the windowsill and the wet ground on the street prove that there was indeed a heavy rain late last night. And this sunny day after the rain seems to be just right for sleeping in at home.
But Shirley had slept enough. She had never slept for so long in one go, and she was a little hungry, which urged her to get up quickly.
Because lying in bed with an empty stomach was an unpleasant memory for her - when she was younger, she used to sleep through the hungriest nights, and if it weren't for Agou's waking and support, she might have left this world on a cold and hungry winter night.
When hunger exceeds a certain critical point, people will brush shoulders with death in their sleep. This is one of Shirley's valuable life experiences.
She left the soft and comfortable bed, got up and changed her clothes, and at this moment, a burst of brisk footsteps came from outside the door.
"Shirley! Are you awake? I heard some noise!"
It was Nina's voice.
Shirley was stunned for a moment, then quickly agreed: "I'm awake."
The door was pushed open, and Nina, wearing a white shirt, a short jacket and a light brown plaid skirt, appeared at the door. She saw Shirley who had just changed her clothes, smiled, and then walked over quickly: "You really slept for a long time! How do you feel now? Does your back still hurt? How's the wound... Let me see, let me see..."
"I consumed a lot of energy, so I slept for a long time... I'm fine, really." Shirley dodged the overly enthusiastic Nina awkwardly, but her usual strong dodging and resistance in front of Nina seemed powerless. In the end, she turned around obediently and let Nina check the injuries on her back and arms. "They are just minor injuries. I... have a strong recovery ability, and... hey, it's itchy, please... itchy haha..."
"It's really healed!" Nina finally let go of Shirley, who had started jumping to the side to dodge. She looked at her friend in amazement, as if she was observing a rare creature. "Last night, there was such a big wound, but now it's gone, and there's not even a scar left... How did you do it?"
"Didn't I tell you that I coexist with the Deep Devil? Agou's characteristics are a strong body and regenerative ability," Shirley arranged her dress. The dress she wore yesterday had been destroyed in the battle. The dress she was wearing now was another old dress she brought from home. It was also one of the only belongings she had rescued after the attack. "In fact, my regenerative ability could be even stronger, but Agou said that I was malnourished, so my regenerative ability was discounted..."
"Then you should eat well here. Uncle's cooking skills are very good now," Nina said immediately, and then she became curious, "Well... are all people like you... I mean, people who coexist with the Deep Demon so powerful?"
"It depends on what kind of demon it is symbiotic with. If it's a Deep Hound, it brings toughness and regeneration ability, as well as a certain enhancement of perception ability. If it's a Terror Demon, it brings willpower and resistance to mental pollution. In addition, there are various kinds of demons, and I can't tell them clearly... Anyway, the symbionts of the Deep Demon are the most chaotic extraordinary people. In order to be able to move around in the real dimension, those demons have always been very generous to their symbionts..."
Shirley paused for a moment, her expression becoming serious. She looked into Nina's eyes and said, "That being said, I suggest you don't get too involved in this field... You should already know that those who normally coexist with the Deep Demons are all lunatics from the Annihilation Sect. They are different from me, and their demons are also different from Ah Gou."
"I know, I know. I'm not a child." Nina waved her hands quickly, but still couldn't hide her curiosity. "But have you seen other demon symbiotes? I mean those followers of Annihilation..."
"I haven't seen them, and I don't want to see them. It's disgusting enough to hear Agou's description. If I saw them, I would definitely beat them up and report them to the sheriffs," Shirley said, frowning, "Nina, you have so many questions today... You didn't ask so many questions when you saw Agou before. Besides, don't you have to go to school today?"
"You're going to live in my house for a long time from now on, so of course I need to get to know you better. I heard from your uncle that your house was destroyed by the gas explosion, and you have nowhere to go in the future..." Nina said seriously, holding Shirley's hand and walking out, "Besides, the school is on vacation, it's nearly two months of vacation, don't you know?"
"How would I know? I've never been to school..." Shirley muttered subconsciously, and was dragged out of the door by Nina. She walked towards the kitchen where the smell of food was wafting. She noticed that the entire second floor was quiet, and couldn't help but feel curious, "Is Mr. Duncan not here?"
"Uncle went to the first floor and said he wanted to entertain someone, so we should eat on the second floor first," Nina explained. She pulled Shirley to the kitchen door, but then she seemed to remember something and quickly pulled Shirley towards the bathroom. "Oh, wash your hands before eating, or uncle will nag you again."
"Oh...oh." Shirley was dragged around by Nina in a daze. She didn't know whether it was because she was hungry or because she slept for too long, she felt dizzy, but... this feeling seemed not bad.
At the same time, beside the counter on the first floor of the antique shop, Duncan was explaining something in detail to the person opposite him, and sitting opposite him was a young lady wearing an exquisite and elegant long dress, a plaid veil, long golden hair, and a dignified and beautiful appearance.
A dignified and beautiful blonde lady (×)
It's Alice wearing a wig (✓)
"... That's about it. There are a lot of common senses to know in human society, but you just need to understand the most basic parts. That's enough for your current activities. And there are very few things you need to do in this store, so just get familiar with the simplest things first, such as cleaning and organizing the shelves." Duncan finally finished explaining the things to pay attention to here, but he still looked at the blond girl sitting in front of him with concern, "... Do you remember what I taught you on the ship before?"
“I remember!” Alice nodded vigorously, but after nodding twice she seemed to remember something and quickly reduced the amplitude of her nodding, nodding slightly in a very dignified and elegant posture, “Don’t worry, I remember it clearly!”
"Yes, nod gently. It seems that at least you remember this." Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, and then his eyes swept over Alice, confirming every detail.
She covered her original silver long hair with a golden wig, applied light makeup to adjust the details of her appearance, covered the lower half of her face with a veil, wore long white silk gloves on her hands, and wore a special collar with lace decorations around her neck to cover the special joint details.
Basically, everything that can be disguised has been disguised.
Of course, if there really was someone who knew Frost Queen Lenora very well standing here, or someone who had personally observed Anomaly 099 up close, they would probably still be able to see something suspicious about the appearance of this "blonde girl" from the details of her eyebrows and eyes, but the probability of this happening was almost negligible.
The Frost Queen lived half a century ago, and it is almost impossible for anyone who has had close contact with Anomaly 099 to still be alive.
Ordinary people, even the guardians of the church, would certainly not recognize that Alice at this moment was the out-of-control cursed doll.
Duncan couldn't help but sigh softly in his heart.
Actually, he had originally planned to wait for a while before letting Alice come to the human city-state to "see the world", and planned to keep this puppet on the ship for a few more days to make up for the lessons. However, he could not stand this guy's sad look of lying on the side of the ship and gazing into the distance when he had nothing to do, and his muttering when he had nothing to do, so he moved the time forward a little.
However, within the scope of his ability, he still urgently gave this girl some common sense and instilled the most basic "normal three views" into her, and estimated... it should be enough.
perhaps.
Nina and Shirley were having dinner upstairs now, and he found a time to ask Ai Yin to send the puppet from the boat to the store to familiarize it with the environment. The first thing Alice did when she got here was to touch and look everywhere curiously. It took him a lot of effort to "press" this guy to the side of the counter, but even so, he could still see that the puppet's attention was almost completely not on his preaching.
She began to look around again. Although she tried her best to maintain a proper posture, her wandering eyes and the movement of her neck could not be hidden from others.
Putting the dignified and elegant sitting posture and the restless eyes together, Duncan can only be said to be worthy of being Alice—the two states of elegance and stupidity can appear in a superposition state in one person at the same time...
After looking around for a while, her attention finally returned to Duncan, with an unconcealable concern and... curiosity in her eyes.