Li Wen walked slowly forward in Gray Mist, the soles of his boots making a slight creaking sound as they ran over fine gravel. She was always on high alert, her right hand resting on her dagger, ready to deal with any visible danger. The warning of the evening bell is still echoing in my ears - don't believe any sounds, don't touch any objects, and don't answer any calls.
However, unexpectedly, the journey was surprisingly peaceful, and the expected danger did not arrive.
Gray Mist flowed around her like a gauze curtain, neither thick nor thin, maintaining just the right visual distance.
The silence in this area is almost eerie. There were no distorted whispers, no lurking shadows, and even Gray Mist itself seemed particularly docile, with just silence wrapped around the edges of her boots. Li Wen's footsteps echoed in the open space, and every step was like stepping on the edge of the world.
I don't know how long they walked, but Gray Mist suddenly dispersed without warning, like a curtain being pushed aside by an invisible hand. A low building suddenly appeared at the end of the road. The wooden signboard swayed slightly in the windless air, and a pocket watch pattern was painted on it with faded gold paint.
Room Clock Shop.
Li Wen squinted his eyes. This building was incompatible with the surrounding dilapidated ruins, and it was not in line with the background of the times. The oak doorframe was carved with fine gear patterns, and the brass doorknob was polished, as if it had been used frequently. What was even weirder was that she clearly heard a "ticking" sound coming from the door. It was not the regular sound of a mechanical clock, but like countless tiny creatures tapping their carapace at the same time.
The sudden appearance of Clock Shop was too sudden, almost like a trap specially prepared for her.
After hesitating for a moment, Li Wen opened the door.
The bell rang loudly, and the old smell of pine wood and grease hit my face. The store is much more spacious than it looks, with all kinds of clocks hanging on the walls: the pendulum of the gilt clock is frozen at a ninety-degree angle, the numbers on the bronze pocket dial are all misaligned, and there is even a doll huddled in the corner holding a broken hourglass. The hands of all the clocks have stopped at different times, like frozen fragments of time.
Of course, there are more than just clocks in this Clock Shop. The owner of the shop seems to have a hobby of collecting weird objects. Those old and seemingly useless objects are displayed on the shelves like this: a strange-looking lantern with a lampshade made of some kind of translucent bone, with cold blue flames beating inside; a black chessboard with twelve soldiers' chess pieces on it, and each soldier's head is empty; a heavy book with a metal cover exudes a dangerous atmosphere that makes people difficult to approach...
Li Wen looked at these things in a daze. She always felt like she had seen these objects somewhere, but when she thought about it carefully, she had no memory of them at all.
After thinking for a long time, Li Wen reached out to the Metal Book, preparing to use Game Panel to directly determine what it was...
"Does the guest want to repair his watch?"
A young girl's voice suddenly came from behind the counter. Li Wen took back her hand as if nothing had happened. She looked down and saw a girl of about twelve or thirteen years old lying on tiptoes on the glass counter. She was wearing an oversized faded blue skirt, with a rusty clockwork pinned between her ears under her chestnut curly hair. The right side of her face was half covered by a silver mask, and her exposed left eye was too clear to be true.
"Who are you?" Li Wen looked wary. She was sure that not long ago, there was nothing on the counter.
Outer City of Amber City is a gathering place for Exiles. Those who can appear here are Elders who have committed serious crimes in Golden Age, witch believers and Amber City nobles.
"Haelie." The girl tilted her head, curiosity and inquiry in her eyes, "What about you?"
"Mephisto." She replied briefly, looking around, "Is this your store?"
Haelie shook his head, the silver mask glowing coldly in the dim light. "It belongs to dad. He went to collect new exhibits."
She jumped to an empty display cabinet that could fit a whole person in. "Look, the display cabinet is ready. I made it myself."
This display cabinet is larger than almost all other cabinets. What will it be used for?
Li Wen Without thinking about it, her heart moved and she asked, "Who is your father?"
Haelie blinked his excessively clear eyes, and the corners of his mouth under the silver mask raised slightly. "Dad is dad."
As she spoke, she stood on tiptoes and took out a brass pocket watch from behind the counter. The cover was engraved with complicated gear patterns. "He always said that time is the most precious gift, so we must keep every minute and every second carefully."
Li Wen's eyes fell on the pocket watch. The hands were slowly rotating in the counterclockwise direction. She quietly took a half step back, quietly holding the dagger in her right hand. "How long have you been here?"
"How long?" The girl tilted her head and thought, her curly hair swaying wildly with her movements, "From the first tick of the clock to the last tick..."
She suddenly moved closer to Li Wen, her clear pupils almost touching the latter's cheek, "You have a familiar smell."
Li Wen resisted the urge to retreat, the power of dusk flowing in his veins, ready to enter at any time Witch State: "What does it smell like?"
"It's like the grease in dad's 'workshop'. This is the smell of the ashes produced after they are burned." Haelie took a deep breath and showed an intoxicated expression. "It's strange. Could it be that you secretly entered there at some time? It is a very dangerous place."
The temperature in the store dropped suddenly. The clock hanging on the wall made a harsh friction sound at the same time, the hands rotated wildly, and the frozen fragments of time seemed to suddenly come to life. Li Wen's dagger has been unsheathed, and the cold light draws an arc in the dim store.
"Don't be nervous." Haelie took a few steps back and raised his hands to show that it was harmless. "I just smelled the ashes on your cloak. That is Outer City's specialty. Everyone who comes back from Gray Mist will get a little bit of it." She pointed to the Emerald Star Cloak hem of Li Wen, where there was indeed some gray powder attached to it from unknown time.
"Your father is 'Short Hand'?" Li Wen frowned.
"Well..." Haelie showed a troubled expression as he thought about it, then seemed to recall something and said happily, "Some people did call him that, but more people call him 'watchmaker'!"
Sure enough, Li Wen never expected that his trip would be so smooth. He found the most critical person in this crisis-ridden Outer City without encountering any danger.
"You said your father is out, when will he come back?" Li Wen continued to ask, "I have something very important to see him for."
Haelie didn't answer immediately. She climbed up on the counter with difficulty and teased an iron cage containing pets. Inside the cage was a strange guinea pig with a strange red scarf tied around its neck. It looked extremely silly and squeaked when the little girl teased it with snacks.
"When the pointer reaches the correct position, dad will naturally come back." In this regard, Haelie just smiled mysteriously.