Unresolved Issues

Old Chen seemed a little sorry for the little rabbit, so he brought over an iron.

"I ran into Ms. Ch'en halfway there!"

Although Old Chen still holds a police rank, the position of Acting Military Governor is clearly a priority. This position is essentially "Acting Military Governor" or "Acting Governor-General." Using this title to address someone is even more unacceptable than calling them "Director Jia."

Alina was somewhat surprised. "There's really no need for an iron..."

She quickly exclaimed happily, "But even better!"

Amiya then handed over a complete set of hand needles: sewing thread of different thicknesses, thimbles, rulers of varying hardness and softness, chalk, cutting shears, and small sanders.

Little Deer chuckled, "Such a complete set of tools; some of them I've never even used before."

Unable to see Alina, Ch'en felt somewhat uneasy about the slightly eerie atmosphere in the room.

Oute frowned slightly.

This is a fairly professional set of props.

More specifically, this is the movable part of a complete set of props used to "design" and "sew" a garment from scratch.

"Is everything alright?"

Amiya was somewhat surprised by Oute's question, "Doc Otter, how did you know...?"

She fell silent, then shook her head and said to Oute, "It's okay. We still have her career."

These are Theresa's belongings.

The former Demon Lord Theresa was once the "clothes maker" of the Demon Lord Eless. However, after a certain "Demon King Kitty" led an allied army to destroy Kazdel once again, on the ruins of their homeland, Theresa, the former clothes maker, and Theresis, the former guard, who were among the "Six Heroes" in the war, both felt the call of the "Crown".

Even after her coronation, Theresa retained her hobby of designing and making clothes as a form of entertainment and a way to relieve stress.

However, as the situation in Kazdel became increasingly tense, Theresa had less and less time and energy to devote to sewing since the outbreak of the civil war.

These props... probably haven't been used in a long time.

A touch of melancholy crept into Oute's heart.

He let Alina manipulate his arm, slipping the thimble onto his right middle finger.

Ch'en, whose right to know had suddenly dropped to the level of Liberi, was somewhat surprised. "Doctor. Oute, you can sew?"

"Not yet."

Talulah handed the dress to Oute.

"I borrowed some tools before and modified it slightly."

She said apologetically, "Now it seems like I might have caused you trouble instead."

Alina smiled and replied, "It's no trouble at all, after all..."

I've never seen Doc Otter with this expression before!

Amiya looked at Oute, whose demeanor had softened, and while frantically trying to imprint precious images into her brain, she also felt a great sense of unfamiliarity.

But soon some minor incidents occurred:

Oute tried several times to align the sewing thread with the eye of the needle, but while he managed to align the thin thread with the eye of the needle, it would clump together whenever he tried to pass it through.

"Somewhat unfamiliar," commented Oute.

Alina was using Oute's body, not her own.

He regained control, conjuring a slender Originium shell with his bare hands; the shell was long and thin with barbs at the end.

Ch'en's eyelids twitched as she looked Oute up and down, trying to figure out where he had hidden the staff.

Oute aligned the crystal shell with the eye of the needle and threaded the hard, barbed end through it. He wrapped the sewing thread around the barb, then pulled the thin crystal shell away, and the sewing thread followed through the eye of the needle.

"There's even such a trick! Mr. Oute truly lives up to his reputation as Doctor!"

For Alina, who could thread a needle on her own in life, this tool was naturally very novel. However, Oute himself had never seen such a tool before—he really knew nothing about sewing. It was actually an unconscious, independent, and repetitive process of reinventing the wheel.

However, using this to praise someone's Doctor is still going too far...

Ch'en finally realized that Oute did not have a staff.

He was also infected!

No wonder they care so much about Originium Infection, and no wonder they care so much about those infected!

She kept this information to herself.

After threading the needle, Oute let Alina use his hands to alter the already tattered dress.

"Little Tal, do you want to turn it into a cloak?"

Alina was somewhat surprised when she unfolded her skirt.

"Hmm, as a reminder to myself, it should be worn long-term, yet it should be distinguishable from Koschei," Talulah said. "Let's turn it into a cloak!"

"That probably won't look very good..." Alina pressed on, "Do you need to sew up these holes?"

"Let the nail marks remain on the plank!" Talulah's gaze hardened once more. "That's exactly why I'm doing this!"

"I'll just leave it as is," Alina said, a little troubled. "If we leave the hole, the structure will be very weak and will break easily."

The Deer Woman picked up a piece of cloth and placed it on the table.

"Since the intention is to make it into a cloak, these materials will likely only serve as decoration."

"You won't be satisfied with the final result."

Talulah replied, "Since you're the one making the move, what the cloak looks like isn't that important."

Alina used the chalk somewhat awkwardly.

She secretly asked, "Mr. Oute, could you help me draw up some design drafts?"

Following Alina's idea, Oute sketched a series of shapes on the entire piece of fabric.

He wasn't sure if Alina was using this process to satirize Talulah, or if she simply wanted to fulfill Talulah's wishes. But he was indeed there to correct Talulah's mindset, so it made no difference.

Chapter 239 Unresolved Issues

As mentioned earlier, in this bedroom, Ch'en's right to know was no different from that of Liberi was always out of the loop.

"Preserve the nail marks?" Ch'en pondered the question. "You still remember our Chinese language exam questions?"

Ch'en asked casually, "But isn't that a fence?"

"A fence?" Talulah was taken aback, but didn't think much of it at first.

"An angry boy, his dad gave him a box of nails and stuff. He told him to hammer a nail into the fence in the yard every time he got angry, and then take it down when he wasn't angry anymore." Seeing Talulah's blank expression, Ch'en recalled, "It was a story about anger."

"What does the answer key say...? Words are like nails, leaving scars on other people's hearts...?"

"Using it to refer to Koschei's teachings... sounds somewhat like 'using inappropriate metaphors to block the path of honest advice'."

Kashena's favorite dress has been disassembled and sewn back onto the cape as decorative pieces.

Faced with multiple layers of fabric, Alina skillfully used the thimble on Oute's middle finger. Despite having stated beforehand that it "might not look very good," Alina still tried her best to hide the stitches on the inner layers.

After a moment's thought, Talulah felt that Ch'en's version didn't seem quite right.

Facing her half-sister, she retorted, "No matter how you look at it, a wooden board is definitely more convenient, isn't it?"

Even if you say that, that's how the story was written!

It seems that speedrunning has brought more than just benefits; in the absence of extreme challenges, the sisters have gradually rekindled their relationship, returning it to that of normal sisters...

Noisy and boisterous, yet sisters remain close and respectful.

They chattered and chattered, vying for attention.

"Impossible! How could I be mistaken?"

Seeing this side of Talulah she had never seen before, Alina's eyes almost overflowed with laughter.

Regarding the criticism of "misinterpreting the metaphor," Talulah didn't seem to object at all...

Seeing Talulah's reaction, Ch'en also brought back her childhood mindset. "She clearly remembered it wrong but she's still stubbornly insisting on it. Anyway, Rhodes Island can receive intercity network signals now, so let's just search for it!"

Oute looked in the direction of the sound.

This is a good idea, and a good starting point.

Driven by Oute strong, surface-level thought, the breathing light on the handheld terminal in his pocket lit up.

Immediately following Oute's silent command, the terminal loudly announced, "Search keywords 'angry' + 'boy' + 'nail', searching..."

"Optimal result found... On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into the fence..."

Ch'en looked at Oute incredulously: You actually searched?

"PRTS, temporarily disable voice operation mode," Oute commanded in a feigned manner.

Well done, PRTS!

Inside the pocket, the breathing light flashed triumphantly.

It turns out that my words were interpreted as commands by the voice assistant!

Ch'en then turned to Talulah with renewed vigor and said, "See! I was right after all!"

"Sis! You really did remember wrong!"

How old are you? You're still acting like a little girl!

Despite Talulah's "resentful" yet affectionate gaze, Ch'en clasped his hands beside the teapot and bowed in advance.

Someone wants some tea.

Draco shyly stole a glance at "Oute," and when he saw Alina's crescent-shaped eyes, he felt his face burn even more.

She served her younger sister tea with a respectful yet sarcastic tone.

"This is outrageous! The tea hasn't even been poured yet, and he's already fidgeting!"

Oute applied the chalk very well, while Alina was very skillful.

The various parts of the cloak were quickly sewn together with the fragments of the dress, and the next step was to complete the entire cloak.

The design Alina envisioned in her mind took practicality into full consideration.