89

Early morning on October 7th.

At dawn, Klein woke up from the one-bedroom apartment he rented in the East District. After handing the new clues to Miss Justice, there was still no news. He put on old and simple work clothes and went downstairs.

, blending into the crowd like a real inconspicuous worker.

While walking, he saw a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties in front of him. He had gray hair on his temples and was holding a paper bag containing a few pieces of black bread tightly in his hand. He was wearing a simple thick jacket full of patches.

A patchwork scarf that was equally rough but much more refined was wrapped around his neck. He exhaled a few breaths of white breath in the cold wind, walked in place to dispel the chill, and showed a satisfied and gratified smile towards the brown bread in his arms that didn't taste good.

.

He tried to take something out of his pocket, but one hand was inconvenient. The cigarette case rolled out of his pocket and fell right at Klein's feet. Seeing this, Klein bent down to pick it up and returned it to him.

the other party.

"Thank you, thank you! This is my old friend, there are not many left in it." The middle-aged and elderly man thanked him sincerely.

His face was green and white, but with a hint of red. He looked better than other homeless people Klein had seen in the East District, but only a few. The middle-aged and elderly man opened the cigarette case, carefully took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth.

At the corner of his mouth, without lighting up, he suddenly added: "Sir, your clothes are somewhat damaged. Do you need to mend them?"

Klein was stunned for a moment. He checked his jacket and found that there were several holes on the back of the sleeves, and air was leaking inside. It would probably be unbearable for ordinary people, but he was a Sequence 8 Beyonder, and was

His strengthened body only felt a little chilly. He wanted to ignore it with a subtle feeling of refusing to distribute posters on the roadside in his previous life, but when he looked at the old man's expectant eyes, Klein felt a little unbearable - he sighed

He sighed: "Indeed, I wonder where there is a tailor?"

"Thank you! You, you are such a good person."

The middle-aged and elderly man's eyes brightened a little, and he hurriedly thanked him. He became visibly excited, and walked side by side with Klein, heading towards a place where he didn't know whether it was the end of the fog or deeper into the fog.

They moved forward about a hundred meters and saw a girl sitting on the street. She had an extremely crude sewing machine, which was in a state of tatters. The cracks were even tied up with ropes. The girl stepped on the pedal quickly and concentrated on sewing.

, there were two large bags of old clothes at his feet. Klein subconsciously compared it with the disguise he was wearing, and found that his coat, which had several holes in it, was actually the most "respectable" one.

"Taylor!" The middle-aged and elderly man walked over quickly with a smile on his face, "This gentleman's coat needs to be mended."

"Okay, sir, could you please wait nearby for a while?"

The girl named Taylor raised her head from her work and greeted Klein warmly. Although she was a tailor, her clothes were very thin and her face and hands were red from the cold. She looked similar to Melissa.

Age. Taylor put his hands together and took a few breaths, looked at the middle-aged and elderly man, relaxed and said, "Dad, how much bread did you buy today?"

"Thanks to the Food Act, the price of brown bread has also been reduced. This time I queued up early in the morning and sure enough I grabbed the discounted bread that was about to be processed!"

The middle-aged and elderly man's face showed joy, and he clapped the paper bag in his hand: "We don't have to worry about hunger for the next three days."

Klein stood quietly beside him, listening to the conversation between the father and daughter. He looked at the paper bag in the arms of the middle-aged and elderly man. There were three or four pieces of rough, inferior bread in it, which was only about four or five pounds, but he had to pay two

Three days to eat alone... He sighed silently, handed his coat to the girl, shivered in the cold wind, and said with a smile:

"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself just now. In fact, I am a reporter and I am reporting on the East District. Can I interview you? It happens to be a bit cold now. We can go to the cafe in front."

The middle-aged and elderly man was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "No problem, it's much warmer inside than on the street."

The tables and chairs in the cafe are quite greasy. Since there are walls and windows and there are many customers inside, the average temperature is indeed much higher than on the street.

Klein motioned for him to sit down and ordered two large cups of tea, a plate of lamb stewed with young peas, two loaves of bread, two pieces of toast, a portion of low-quality butter, and a portion of artificial butter, totaling 17.5 pence.

The middle-aged and elderly man hugged the black bread in his hand awkwardly to hide his Adam's apple that was squirming due to the smell.

"Eat, you can't do the interview until you're full." After the food was all gone, Klein took them back to his table.

"For me?" the middle-aged and elderly man asked in anticipation and surprise.

"Except for a piece of toast and a cup of tea, everything else is yours." Klein responded with a smile.

The middle-aged and elderly man was stunned. He wiped his eyes and said slightly choked: "...You, you are such a kind person. But this is too rich. I, I can pack up the unfinished food for me."

My daughter?"

"Okay." Klein calmly ate toast and butter and sighed in his heart. He continued to smile and pretended that he was really a reporter. "Can you tell me about yourself? Your family can also do it.

.”

"This is an unfortunate thing. I was a fairly good worker. I had a wife and two lovely children, a boy and a girl. But a few years ago, an infectious disease took away my life.

Son and wife, he was originally a strong young man, but due to overwork, he fell ill and died soon after... I also lived in a hospital for a long time, lost my job, lost my wealth, and was only left with a very lucky life.

My daughter, who was treated at Charity Hospital, lives together. Since then, I have often been unable to find a job, have no money to rent a house, and have no money to eat. This has made me very weak, making it harder for me to find a job and unable to raise my children...

..." The middle-aged and elderly man said with some aftertaste and sadness.

He took a sip of tea, sighed and sighed, and spoke again:

"But my daughter worked very hard and worked in a workhouse in the East District, so she got a place in a charity school and learned simple sewing. Later she found an old sewing machine and used it every day.

We earn a meager salary by sewing clothes and gluing paper boxes for people. With this little money, we can barely survive. Without Taylor, I might not be able to survive."

"Let me tell you, I should be a good worker, and my daughter doesn't have to work so hard."

Klein was not a professional reporter, so he didn't know what to ask. Fortunately, at this time, the middle-aged and elderly man had already eaten his portion, and carefully packed up the remaining half and put it in his arms, hoping to give it to his daughter.

Some food that was still warm. Klein watched the man leave the cafe on his own initiative and said a few words to Taylor. Then the two of them sent his mended jacket back without mentioning any charges.

"That's right." Seeing that this trip was about to yield nothing, Klein couldn't help but stop the middle-aged and elderly man and asked casually, "Has anything happened in the East District recently? Such as fraud and robbery."

Before he finished speaking, he saw the other party looking at him doubtfully, and then he realized that this was as normal as breathing in the East District.

"Uh, sir, what you're talking about is too common. I don't have any information." The middle-aged and elderly man said awkwardly, but after hearing this, Taylor raised his head and asked tentatively:

"Sir, I have heard some news recently. I am not sure if it is what you need."

"What is it?" Klein asked without hope.

"Miss Maria told me."

Taylor spoke naturally without introducing the name much, as if by default everyone who came to the East Side should know this name: "Miss Maria asked us not to go out recently. Female human trafficking is getting more and more rampant. Also.

There have been several very strange murders, which Miss Maria mentioned one day. There seems to be a perverted murderer in the East District who has killed several bounty hunters, and everyone was tortured beyond human form."

"Well, I heard this by accident. If you want to know more, you can interview Miss Maria!"

Taylor tried his best to help the kind-hearted reporter: "She has been at the Dockers Association almost all day recently. She should be easy to find."

90

"...Speaking of which, I have always forgotten to ask you, what kind of ending do you plan to give this story?"

Foers thought for a while: "I have made a plan, but this is a drama to be performed during the New Year this year. It should be a reunion-style comedy."

"But the prerequisite for achieving a happy ending is that the male protagonist is dead. It would be fine to let the heroine find a new person to go out, but overall the look and feel will be very different." Edward reminded her, "You don't actually need to be New Year's Eve.

The idea of ​​restraint is that no matter whether it is a tragedy or comedy, as long as it is beautiful enough, it can win the box office. You also hope that the subsequent remuneration can be more, right?"

"Then, I have an idea!" Forsi quickly turned over the abolition case in his mind, "How about letting the heroine kill her enemies and become a pirate who robs the rich and helps the poor without any worries? Adventure elements are very popular now.

!”

"Are you going to write the next one?"

"Ah? No, not prepared. Isn't this a drama?"

"Then why did you design this ending?" Edward complained, "It's good to create your own continuous plot, but you need to be careful about giving the audience unrealistic expectations, and Miss Wall doesn't seem to have any experience in taking risks, so it's not realistic enough.

No, let her die with unswerving love and see the apparition of her lover coming to greet her before she dies."

The romance novelist at home wanted to scratch his head as usual, but he controlled his unladylike actions. Fors thought hard for a few seconds, and suddenly an idea came to him: "By the way, how about letting her pray to the gods? She and her lover are in the same world.

The sincere love and devotion to God moved the gods, so the angel returned to the earth with the lover's soul, and they lived happily ever after... Hey, why does it seem to have a happy ending again?"

"...It's not bad, at least it's better than the current version. Then you have to make up a god. It's best to make it completely fictional. If it is a metaphor for a certain god, it may make believers of other gods unhappy."

Edward was noncommittal, and after flipping through a few pages, he sorted out all the manuscripts and put them aside. The editor, who was well aware of the nature of the writer he was working with, said: "This can be a preliminary decision. If I remember correctly, the deadline is at the end of this month.

Of course, I can help you get a few more days to revise it, after all, the plot and my soundtrack still need more work."

"Thank you, Mr. Vaughn, you are so considerate." Fors breathed a long sigh of relief, a happy smile appeared on his face, and he relaxed a little unconsciously, "New Year is coming soon, do you have any plans?

?”

"I remember Miss Wall, you seemed to have mentioned that you were going to the relatively warm Southern Continent or the Middle Sea for vacation."

Seeing that they had entered into a relaxed and pleasant chat, Mr. Gentleman ordered two cups of coffee and two cakes and enjoyed a simple afternoon tea: "I don't have any plans this year. Haha, when my wife was still alive, there would always be a meeting every year.

Take me on a short trip to some interesting places.”

Well, such as inspecting the ruins of the God of Death in the southern continent, archaeological adventures or digging graves, climbing the Amanda Mountains, and looking at the Tranquility Church, the headquarters of the Church of the Night, in the distance, and occasionally going to the Fusac Empire to see the Dusk Palace in the capital.

, she is also curious to pursue the place abandoned by God...

"That sounds so romantic." Fors cut a small piece of cake and couldn't wait to get to the point, "I'm very interested in the historical secrets of the Fourth Age that you mentioned last time. Can we talk more about it? Well,

I am also very curious about the legend I accidentally read in an ancient book. Mr. Vaughn, as knowledgeable as you are, have you ever heard of anything like the "deadly whisper of the full moon"?"

She deliberately modified the term and added a few more words.

Edward put a piece of sugar cube into the coffee, stirred it slowly, and after considering it for a moment, he said: "I have indeed done some research on it... Coincidentally, it was also an ancient book, which said that the deathly whisper during the full moon first appeared.

In the Fourth Age, it is said that an unknown evil god is delivering messages."

"boom"!
To be continued...