Chapter 172 - 172 Twenty-nine

Words : 1357 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

172: Twenty-nine. The Illusion of Peace 172: Twenty-nine. The Illusion of Peace Clothing store. Garments were neatly categorized: jackets, trousers, suits, hats, and ties were all visible here. The colors were primarily dark, with the occasional light-colored article of clothing or tie; brightly colored garments, however, were not included in the selection. As an ordinary people’s clothing store, practicality was the focus here, with durable fabrics like twill and tweed. Of course, as with most clothing stores, this place also accepted custom orders. “Sir, would you like to have something custom-made?” At that moment, a middle-aged clerk at Lu Li’s side asked. “No need, I’m just looking for something that fits well.” After briefly lingering on the shirts and trousers, Lu Li moved toward a corner of the clothing store, where the clothing racks were old and gray. A row of heavy, dark-colored overcoats hung there, bearing a look of solid construction. With a quick search, Lu Li directly picked up a black tweed overcoat. The clerk politely remarked, “If I may be so bold, this style of clothing doesn’t suit you. It won’t highlight your advantages—” “I like it very much,” Lu Li’s voice interrupted the clerk. Old-fashioned, conservative, and solemn—the tweed overcoat resembled apparel worn by the grandfathers of today’s youth or could be seen on detectives who entered murder scenes in dim light, puffing on pipes and donning top hats, accompanied by assistants. Stepping out in this kind of apparel was bound to attract ridicule from peers— But in Lu Li’s eyes, he could find no better clothing for himself. His own coat, left on the floor of time, was similar to this one, though somewhat thinner, and the weather now was chilly. The coat had no tag. Once Lu Li confirmed his choice and put it on, the sleeves were just the right length, revealing a section of the white shirt sleeves when he straightened his arms. The hem hit mid-thigh, perfectly covering the gun holster at his lower back. “I’ll take this one, how much is it?” “That will be 53 shillings, sir.” The coat was more expensive than most others, for a straightforward reason—it required a lot of material. Among the upper classes and nobility, it might be different, but among the common folk, the price of clothing was solely dependent on its thickness: a coat for several dozen shillings that keeps out the cold? That’s a bargain. A light summer shirt for several dozen shillings? Have you been taken in by one of those shop girls again! Paying with cash, from entering the store to checking out, the whole process took no more than a minute. Without taking off the overcoat, Lu Li wore it as he headed to the store’s entrance, where the clerk bid him farewell, but then he suddenly stopped and turned to ask. “Do you have more of these overcoats?” ... “Is this why you bought... one, two, three, four, five... seven overcoats and seven shirts?” “If I’m often in dangerous situations, clothes can wear out quickly,” Lu Li’s reply seemed to hold a hint of reason. “Still, there’s no need to buy so many...” Anna, looking at the stack of clothing on the bed, felt an indescribable shock, “And they’re all the same... Don’t you get tired of wearing the same clothes all the time?” “You do the same,” Lu Li said, his voice muffled and gruff. Unable to retort but feeling that Lu Li was being unreasonable, Anna pursed her lips and said, “We’re short on money, so why spend so much on clothes?” “Have you forgotten? We’ve just acquired a batch of property,” Lu Li’s upper body emerged from the wardrobe, his hands clutching several hangers, “Have you counted how much there is?” Slightly embarrassed and ashamed, Anna spoke in a much softer voice, “One thousand seven hundred shillings, and one bill was so new it got crumpled when I folded it, but I’ve glued it back together, should still be usable.” “Include what I have on me, and we now have two thousand one hundred shillings,” Lu Li replied as he hung the clothes on the hangers. “That should last us for a while.” Last time he found Shillings easy to earn was when he had first arrived here and dismantled his phone into multiple parts to sell to collectors who considered it a piece of art. “Do you plan on resting for a while?” Anna drifted to the window and sat down, gently swinging her legs as she asked. “Rest? No, I still have unresolved matters.” Lu Li hung his jacket on a hanger in the wardrobe and then picked up a new hanger to repeat his previous action. Before this, Lu Li’s search for Richard was to clarify the origin of “the door,” but he didn’t necessarily have to find Richard. The Watchmen or the Exorcist Association might have information about “the door.” But now, attacked by the blood-red tentacles, Lu Li had to find Richard as soon as possible. Before “the door” found him, before the blood-red tentacles in his head acted up. Anna, on the other hand, knew nothing about this. Lu Li’s near-perfect emotional control made it almost impossible for her to notice anything amiss, except for certain moments when he would silently gaze at the clouds outside the window. “So what are you looking at? Is there something in the clouds?” “Nothing. Just thinking about the next move.” Lu Li withdrew his gaze and placed the last shirt in the wardrobe. The latter comment was to respond to Anna’s skeptical look. “Really?” “Yeah, I never lie.” “Then what do we do next?” “I already know where the next clue is,” Lu Li answered, looking out the window again. The gloomy clouds, ethereal tentacles stretched out from the depths of the clouds, connecting heaven and earth. Their landing point was where Lu Li was headed next. ... The carriage swayed, slowly ascending to the mountain’s peak. As it reached the top and began descending, leaving Belfast City, the surroundings visibly turned barren and deserted at a rapid pace. The ground was yet to sprout any weeds, and the fresh shoots coming from the dead trees were too insufficient to infect the grey desolation of this world. Under the somber drizzle, this world looked utterly lifeless. Only the occasional carriages coming from behind or oncoming from the front could slightly dispel some of the gloominess. Lu Li sat in front of the curtain, lifting the hem of his garment to look up at the sky. There were a total of six tentacles within the clouds, one of which fell on the backside of the mountain, where it seemed Watch Town was located. Hidden behind the clouds, they connected the sky with the ground, gently swaying. What did these tentacles represent? People who had been parasitized either by O’Connor or the tentacles themselves? Or was it random? “You seem to really enjoy looking at the sky today...” Anna, inside the carriage, diverted her gaze from the book and, tilting her head, alternated her stare between Lu Li’s profile and the sky. She had asked many times, and it seemed that Lu Li did not want to tell the truth, including this time. “Just checking if it’s going to rain.” “All right then.” Anna, with a look of concern, lowered her head and continued to mindlessly flip through the comic book that Lu Li had bought. To a certain extent, Anna was overthinking it. While it wasn’t far from the truth that Lu Li had encountered trouble, the reason he didn’t tell her the truth was simple: it was too troublesome to explain. Silence returned to the carriage, broken only by the occasional sound of Anna sniffing and the noise of the journey. Lu Li’s gaze returned to the clouds. Regardless, getting close to one of them would reveal what kind of devilry these spreading tentacles in the clouds were.

Chapter 172 - 172 Twenty-nine

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