At three o'clock sharp, Grande set off.
Since the back of the truck was buried in the backyard, this contemporary truck, beloved by the Grande brothers, had to be temporarily put into storage to rest. The car that went to the church was chosen by the 'General' who acted as the driver. It was an old Jeep. The cloth trunk at the rear of the car was removed, and all the members of the Grande were barely squeezed in, except for Old Hank.
It's just that Matthew and Benjamin, the two space guys, had to give up their hairstyles because they stood on the dismantled trunk the whole time to play with the Great Dane, and the 'General' driving style... well, like the General Just as heroic.
Zach was naturally in the passenger seat, wearing his seat belt comfortably, always paying attention to the 'General' who was completely exposed to the sun. When he felt the inside of 'General's' skin start to turn red, he would uselessly remind, "Breathe, 'General', breathe..."
There are three women sitting in the back seat. Louise grew up in a correctional institution (I have written before that she has a good relationship with the nuns at the Church of the Holy Child), and they are explaining to Mo the significance of the church to the people of the Federation.
"Ancestral Hall." This was Mo's reply. "Except for the religious aspect of the Holy Lord, it seems to be similar to the ancestral hall of the Republic of China. It is a place where people come to pray or mourn during celebrations and funerals."
"Ever?" Alice asked curiously.
"There are no more now." Mo waved his hand, "The people of the Republic have been destroyed. When the aliens from your federation came to the Republic, they may have thought that the Republic was a place with empty beliefs, so they fought for it. But in fact, it was not, it was already. It’s blocked.”
"Will faith be, 'blocked'?" Louise is not a believer in the Holy Lord, but she is not very repellent. She chats with the nuns and occasionally quotes scriptures to express her goodwill. To her, faith is probably the same as something that is harmless whether it is present or not. Like most young adults in the Federation, it does not matter if she believes in something when she is old and has nothing to do.
So probably, this kind of knowledge made her not quite understand Mo's statement.
"How should I say it?" Mo thought for a moment. I tried to answer, "They believe in themselves, and their faith is still there, but the object is themselves. They no longer place their trust in anything other than human power, and they no longer place their trust in the regrets of this life that they will have another chance after the end. They believe in themselves, Believe in the life you have now.”
Zach turned around, even though he always felt impatient when Mo talked about the Republic. But he did not refuse to listen, so at this time, he glanced at Mo, "You said that all things in the Republic are born out of people and things. Out of thin air, they no longer believe in things other than life. So. It’s not something other than life. You describe the Republic as the death place of alien races because there is no reason to be born there.”
Mo looked at Zach, surprised, surprised that he actually understood, and then smiled. nod.
Zach also smiled and turned back, "Republican people, this is a good outlook on life. Believe in yourself. Mo. The place you came from is a good land."
Mo didn't respond.
Please tell me, does Zach think that the Federation, where cremation, which is hated by all alien races, has become popular, is a good land? Are the changes in the situation of the "foreign races" in the Republic different from what the Federation is experiencing at this time? So, nothing to respond to.
The conversation in the back seat that was interrupted by Zach fell into a brief embarrassment due to Mo's silence. Fortunately, the embarrassment did not last. After Benjamin's rarely carefully combed hairstyle was completely ruined, they arrived.
There were already cars parked in front of the Church of the Holy Child, and the procession of bridesmaids and groomsmen greeted them on the front porch. But the number of people is a bit disparate. The first best man is the energetic Eric. Behind him are Wes in formal attire, Jason who is a little far away from Wes, and some young people who Zach doesn't know, who should be from the orphanage. 'Bros.
On the side of the bridesmaids, there was only seductress Riley, who looked a little lonely.
"Zach!" Eric waved, "You are all here!" He looked very happy because he saw Grande's whole family, including the Great Dane. "Where's old Hank?" As for the driver The 'General' and Mo, who was holding Louise out of the car, were ignored. Grande didn't know how much extra money was provided to him, a small farmer, and he could bring as many people as he wanted!
"He doesn't like the noise." Zach motioned to the 'General' to carry the gifts, smiled and walked to the front porch, lowering his voice slightly, "Grand still needs to deal with Mr. Donna's affairs personally." Talking about funerals at weddings, no good. But after all, these people were old friends, so Zach still mentioned it.
Eric and the young people behind him remained silent for a moment, but they soon waved away. Eric greeted Zach, "Go in, the ceremony starts at four o'clock, and snacks are prepared inside. There will be dinner after the ceremony. Party.”
While Zac handed out the invitation, he signaled the 'General' to give Grande's gift. The box wrapped in printed paper sank when it was handed to Eric's hand, and a slight sound of metal wine bottles collided. "It's so heavy! What is this?" Eric asked with a smile, getting along with Grande. He was always relaxed, so he asked.
This is understandable. After all, Grande hired these farmers to do funeral work, and they were still very lifeless. Grande's owners would naturally find ways to make it easier to get along during working hours, and thus developed these regular characters. Rand's casualness as a farmer making extra money. Of course, Zach didn't mind. When most people in the South Side thought that Grande was related to some powerful figure in Barton, this was casual and well-intentioned.
"Wine." Zach moved slightly closer to Eric, raised his eyebrows, and said in a deliberately painful tone.
"Ha! You are willing to take out so much from your own collection!" Well, these farmers often ate at Grande, and Eric certainly knew how stingy Zach was with his wine collection!
"Hehehe." Zach withdrew his deliberate expression, "I don't have anything else that can be used as a gift. These are Grande's sincerity. Cliff should like it."
From nowhere, Jason rushed over, grabbed the heavy box, and looked at Zach with a look that only Zach could understand, "Eric, I'll put it in the back, and you can continue to greet the guests..."
"Oh." Eric didn't stop him. When he let go, he exchanged glances with the 'brothers' around him. It was a bit weird. Maybe Jason's presence didn't make them feel very comfortable.
Maybe Jason grabbed it too quickly and wasn't ready to take over the heavy gift. His movements swayed and he lost his balance. The 'brothers' exchanged glances, but no one came to help them.
"Be careful!" Wes, the South District police officer in formal attire, caught the gift and pulled Jason up to balance the situation. "Can you be more reliable?" Then he glanced at Zach very quickly, turned around and walked back holding the box. Jason followed with a gloomy expression.
"Uh... Zach, please come in..." Eric and the others quickly resumed their greeting posture, and at the same time looked towards the back to see the newly arrived guests.
Zach kept smiling throughout the whole process, nodded slightly, glanced at the people in Grande behind him, helped Alice's shoulders, and stepped onto the front porch. In front of the main entrance. She and the bridesmaid's greeter, the charming Riley, did not make any unnecessary or suspicious moves. They just nodded lightly, took the seat instruction card, and entered the church.
When the people behind Zach were looking around at the church where many people of all kinds were already sitting, Zach lowered his head and opened the seat card, raised his eyebrows slightly, and sure enough. Cliff arranged Grande in the last row of the church...
Zach maintained the smile on his face indifferently and looked at their seats. Look who's around there
Surrounded by Sibera, whose light and shadow cannot be seen by others. Some of Barton's soul aliens came with the Hayate family, including Wander who greeted him with a tentacle in the shadow of the corner, Ryan who was floating on the ceiling looking down with the impatience unique to teenagers, and...
There was also Walter, who was talking to Maggie and didn't know what funny jokes he was talking about. After seeing Zach, he showed half of his front teeth. It's a greeting.
And Amelia Browning, who just frowned and kept looking at her watch, avoiding contact with anyone around her.
There is also the mermaid Moorman who is idly looking at an ugly woman next to him in a daze.
There is also the impeccably dressed Mo Ruilin (the mind-reading tailor from Ogier's Five Dollar Store) who is quietly holding a newspaper, and Eli who is sitting next to him and feels uncomfortable. Of course, there was also Rita, who was already stepping on amazing high heels, swinging something on her chest, rushed to Grande, opened her arms, and said, "You are here! Come, give me a hug!"
besides…
The seats in the back row of this church are occupied by Barton’s alien race, or people related to the alien race (Emilia).
While Rita, a woman with unique toughness and charm, forcibly hugs every creature in Grande, we may be able to take a look at where the bride and groom are, at the back of the auditorium.
Three men in the corridor saluted the passing nuns and then quickly walked towards a closed room. The fat man at the front, the groom Cliff, knocked on the door, "Linda (bride)? Linda, are you in there?" ?”
"Here." The reply seemed to be close to the door, "Is there something wrong?"
"Yeah." Cliff frowned and looked back at Wes and Jason behind him. Wes was still holding Grande's gift, which had been opened. Apparently they had seen the things stuffed inside. Metal wine bottle, "Can you open the door? Let's come in."
"We can't meet before the ceremony. It's not good luck." Linda said calmly on the other side of the door about federal customs.
Cliff was silent for a while. The new couple should know that this was nonsense... but he didn't force it. He pursed his lips and said, "Grand gave me a gift." Then say it through the door, "Yes." A box of vampire blood." There was a frown at this time.
"Then he sincerely wishes us blessings." The tone of the bride behind the door, Linda, was still calm, "You said that he hopes you live well, a box? We can use it for a long time, maybe for a lifetime."
There was some movement behind the door, not from the bride, because there was obviously the sound of a man gasping for help after accidentally knocking something over.
"Who is in there?!" Cliff looked surprised, "Linda? Someone is in there?! A man?"
After a brief, awkward silence, the door opened.
James looked at Fat Cliff, who was almost standing close to the door, with a gloomy face, "It's me."
"Lan, Detective Lance..." Cliff looked at James in confusion, "What are you doing in Linda's room..."
"My only friend from Barton's hometown (West) is going to marry you. Can't I come and stay with her?" James asked gloomily.
Cliff pursed his lips and didn't know what he was thinking. He flinched under James' eyes, shook his head, turned his back, and leaned against the wall of the corridor, continuing to maintain the boring custom of not meeting each other before the ceremony. , "I don't want vampire stuff."
It should be obvious that there is no evasion in the dialogue here, they know exactly who they are talking about and what they are going to say.
As for how they knew it so well - Jason, it was Zach who told him, and James himself told about the relationship between James and Linda, plus he had brought Cliff there before. Went to the police station and obviously exchanged something. In the end, Wes and Jason were 'brothers' in the orphanage, and James and James were close comrades-in-arms, so I don't know which side it was.
James looked at Wes and his eyes fell on the box he was holding, "Is this it?"
Wes nodded, actually looked at Jason, and added, also with emphasis, "A lot."
James opened the box and saw that it was filled with metal wine cans, all of the type that Zach often carried with him when he went out. He was very familiar to James.
This feeling of familiarity only made the detective's face look a little worse. He closed the lid and glanced at Jason, "You don't need to be here." It was to drive him away.
"I want to see what you do with these things." Jason didn't give in. "I know what the blood can do!" What Fight Club does is the answer. After Zach specifically used the word 'general' to warn Jason, the young man obviously had worries beyond his capabilities, "I..."
Wes frowned and glanced at Jason. Zach took him and Jason to see the 'General' together, so he understood, "Cliff, what are you going to do with it? These things cannot be leaked to ordinary people. "
"Of course I know I can't!" Cliff clenched his fists irritably, "That guy from Grande is sick! Why did you give me these!"
So, does this mean that the gift is too good, but people don’t want it? It seems so.
"Then just give it away." Linda's voice in the room was still calm, "Since there are so many, this Toledo shouldn't just be a wedding gift for us. We, um, accept one bottle, The rest, make them as souvenirs and give them to your guests."
"Those aliens from Barton?" James turned around and questioned somewhere in the room, "Are you going to give these to those aliens from Barton?" and began to get excited, "Who knows what those aliens will do with the blood... "
James was interrupted.
He was interrupted by a woman who had been living in the Church of the Holy Child and hadn't appeared for a long time. "Let's deal with it like this."
Standing at the end of the corridor, Taylor, a woman with a military background who also came from the west and was Kyle's religious college summer instructor, crossed her arms and nodded to Father Constantine who passed by, then continued to look. To James, "Zach is a smart guy. He should have had a premonition of what would happen to Barton. These are the only things he can do for those aliens."
Since it is a premonition, it is impossible to determine whether it is fact or not.
Ignoring James's gloomy face has become a habit. It is not his turn to decide this matter yet. The person who made the decision was Cliff. Cliff glanced at Wes and Jason and sighed, "That's it. You have the list of aliens. Put these in their gift bags." (.)