Forest of Mist
The sky darkened, and dusk wrapped around the bus stop sign like thick asphalt.
The rusted metal body of the number 16 bus slowly approached in the moonlight, welcoming the passengers for its final run.
"Tickets, please. If you don't have one, you'll need to pay the fare."
Looking at the figure in a black robe before him, the number 16 bus's conductor spoke in a low voice.
Meteor City's buses welcomed anyone aboard, provided they had a ticket or enough Jenny to pay the fare!
"Forest of Mist."
The black-robed figure's voice was terse and hoarse. A bound stack of Jenny emerged from the figure's sleeve and was slowly extended toward the conductor:
"Thirty thousand Jenny. For the fare."
After taking the Jenny, the conductor glanced instinctively at the sleeve, but immediately looked away.
He owed his position as a conductor to his scarce supply of curiosity!
After all, in a hellhole like Meteor City, who knew what sort of things got on the bus? He didn't want to end up like his predecessor, who had been stabbed eighteen times in the back and died by suicide...
"Heh heh."
The black-robed figure gave a few hoarse chuckles and walked straight onto the bus.
Inside, the air was thick with the bloody stench of formalin and scabbed blood.
Five passengers wrapped in body bags huddled in the second-to-last row, maggots pattering down through gaps in the stitching.
Since this was the last bus, there were very few passengers, and they were all seated more or less together.
When they saw the black-robed figure board, they all looked away in remarkable unison, showing no intention of coming any closer.
"Bang!"
The bus doors shut with a muffled thud.
The black-robed figure sat down at the back of the bus, deep shadows concealing the face beneath the hood.
"Rumble..."
The bus's wheels rolled against the concrete, carrying its passengers slowly out of sight at the end of the road.
A bus stop sign marked the Forest of Mist stop.
Two bright beams pierced the night, and with a roar of its engine, a battered bus appeared at the end of the road.
"Forest of Mist."
As the synthesized voice sounded, the bus came to a stop beneath the sign.
"Bang!"
The rear door snapped open, then shut again.
"So this is the Forest of Mist. I wonder where Lianke lives."
By the light of the departing bus, Carl quickly surveyed her surroundings.
Unlike Meteor City's four major districts, the Forest of Mist lay at its northernmost edge, almost beyond the reach of the garbage mountains.
For that very reason, the forest had escaped contamination by the garbage and remained green.
Cold mist coiled around Carl's calves like countless slick tongues.
A chilly night breeze blew past, snapping his black robe.
"Is that a sign over there?"
Thanks to the Qi and Blood Pumpkin's enhancement of her eyesight, Carl spotted a wooden signpost several dozen meters away.
The sign's three directions glimmered phosphorescently in the moonlight. The words "matters concerning remains" on the third had been repeatedly traced over in red.
Without hesitation, Carl strode toward the sign. As she drew closer, she finally saw it in full:
[Follow the left path straight for one kilometer. Travelers may stay temporarily. Remember, there are large wild beasts in the forest. Do not stay longer than one night.]
[Follow the center path straight for one hundred meters. Free food and hot springs are available. Travelers may go there on their own.]
[Follow the right path straight for three kilometers. Matters concerning remains can be handled there.]
-Lianke, remains restorer.
Carl stood in front of the sign, gazing up at it thoughtfully:
"The other two seem pretty normal, so why does the one in the middle look so strange, no matter how I look at it?"
After hesitating for a moment, Carl silently took the path on the right. He needed neither lodging nor food, so naturally he wouldn't take either of the two paths on the left.
"Rustle..."
A cool night breeze blew through, and the mist in the forest grew thicker.
After about half an hour's walk, a charming little wooden house appeared at the end of the path.
Though the mist obscured her view, Carl could make out a light flickering on the third floor.
As he drew closer, he gradually made out the courtyard in front of the house, its gate standing open.
Looking through the gate, he could see quite a few dark shapes standing in the courtyard. With layers of mist shrouding them, Carl couldn't tell what they were at first.
"The gate's open this late?" Carl blinked, feeling somewhat hesitant.
What decent person leaves their gate open when they go to bed at night...
Is this right?
Enter the manor.
Without hesitation, Carl silently recited the words.
A hum of distorting space-time burst in his ears, and a dark green pyramid appeared before his eyes.
"Eight in my pants pockets, eight in my sleeves, eight in my chest, and two more in my hands!"
To carry more bombs, he had specially modified the black robe he wore.
Sleeves, chest, pants pockets-he had sewn several pockets into every one of them!
A true warrior never went into battle unprepared!
Once she had filled every pocket with Bomb Pomegranates, Carl's now somewhat bulky figure reappeared on the path.
As a modern person well acquainted with all manner of stories and information, he had seen plenty of instances where people came to grief in an easy situation!
Charge straight into the courtyard? If it were the Phantom Troupe in their prime waiting in the manor, Carl might actually have done it!
But the problem was, the manor currently held only a group of children who had yet to grow up!
He carried more than just his own life on his shoulders. There were also the lives of ten companions!
"Let's hope this remains stitcher is a good person!"
Carl tightened her grip on the pomegranates and approached the courtyard step by step. His pace was slow, but every step was steady!
If Lianke wasn't a good person, he could only treat her to some bombs.
The combined yield of twenty-six Bomb Pomegranates was enough to send the little house before him flying into the sky!
"Inhale..."
When he reached the courtyard entrance, Carl took a deep breath, and pale golden Nen Aura gathered at his throat:
"Ms. Lianke, Pastor Will asked me to give you his regards!!!"
The sound, imbued with Nen, blasted apart vast swathes of mist, revealing the true forms of the overlapping dark shapes.
They were... corpses!
A great number of corpses had been piled into a low wall, countless silent eyes staring straight out of the courtyard.
"Fuck you..."
Carl's scalp tightened, and the pomegranates creaked in his grip.
Uttering that classic curse eased his ever-tightening nerves a little.
Carl had known that Lianke stitched up remains and had prepared herself for it!
But that was beside the point. Even if you stitched up remains, you couldn't just leave the gate open at night and expose a courtyard full of corpses!
What if you scared the children passing by?
"Bang!"
The instant the wooden window burst open, moonlight poured in like liquid silver.
Lianke's messy blond hair hung loose, billowing in the night breeze like molten gold.
She stood barefoot on the windowsill, her emerald eyes gleaming coldly in the dark. "What's all this noise in the middle of the night? Don't you know how important beauty sleep is to a woman?"
Carl quietly took half a step back, noticing that the wisteria pattern on Lianke's pajamas had faded somewhat.
The corpses piled like a mountain in the courtyard came into view in the moonlight, but there was none of the stench of decay he had expected.
"For old Will's sake," Lianke said, rapping her knuckles sharply against the window frame, "you have thirty seconds to get your ass in front of me."
With that, she raised her wrist, the watch face glowing in the moonlight.
"Your time starts now."
Carl caught sight of a copper bell hanging beneath the eaves, swaying in the wind. Its jingling was especially piercing in the silent forest.
Lianke had made herself perfectly clear: she was showing old Will respect right now!
The implication was that she wouldn't be showing him respect later.
At that thought, Carl rushed toward the wooden house's front door.
Time was precious. He had come to learn from Lianke, after all, and couldn't afford to actually offend her!