Chapter 101 After the Celebration (asking for monthly ticket) A group of young people surrounded Ava and came to the outside of Lumian's house, singing and dancing. Little Guillaume from the Berry family walked to the door and banged on it. He is a friend of Lumian, Raymond and Ava. He has slightly curly brown hair, obvious freckles on his face, and blue eyes that are smaller than normal and seem to be always squinting. With a creak, Auror appeared before them. She had her blonde hair tied up and was wearing a rather formal long dress with a light-colored stand-up collar and ruffles. She looked full of energy and her face was radiant, and there was no sign of fatigue from working out most of the night and not getting enough sleep in the morning. Ava, wearing a wreath of branches and flowers, came forward and sang: "I am the spirit of spring "Her face is friendly and pretty "... "Sing it up, dance it up "Only in this way can we get a good harvest..." Aurore listened quietly, took the leaves, and handed the small ceramic jar of animal fat to Ava. "Good harvest! Good harvest!" the young people cheered.
When the "Spring Spirits" parade set off to the next place, little Guillaume from the Berry family deliberately fell behind and asked Aurore: "Where's Lumian? I haven't seen him in the past two days. Is he not attending the Lenten celebrations?" Aurore smiled: "He is ill." "Ill?" Little Guillaume was a little surprised, "He can get sick too?" In his impression, Lumian was always full of energy, and at most he would fall and scrape things while playing pranks, suffering some minor injuries. "If he doesn't get sick, I'm afraid of that," Aurore responded jokingly, "All humans get sick." Seeing that the parade of the "Spring Elves" was getting farther and farther away, little Guillaume quickly waved to Aurore: "Tell Lumian that I will come to visit him after Lent!" Aurore nodded slightly and watched little Guillaume running towards the parade that had stopped in front of the next building. "How is it?" Lumian poked his head out next to his sister. Aurore thought for a moment and said: “They are still normal now, but I don’t know what they will be like when the celebration is over.” Thinking of the bloody scene of Ava's head being chopped off at the end of the celebration, and thinking of the young people in the parade who were stimulated by some strange atmosphere and what happened at that time, and either went crazy and bid farewell to the "Spring Fairy" or completely collapsed physically and mentally and collapsed on the ground, Lumian felt that no one would be spared. He silently looked at Ava who was singing at the neighbor's door and little Guillaume and others who were surrounding her, then slowly looked away. Ryan, Leah and Valentine also came to the first floor and looked outside through the window. "We have to pay special attention next." Ryan said in a deep voice after the "Spring Elves" parade team left the area. Aurore nodded and said: "it is good." While the celebration was still going on, they quickly prepared lunch and filled their stomachs.
Ding, ding, ding, the sound of the classical wall clock on the first floor represents the sound of twelve o'clock noon. Lumian and the others who had already cleaned up the restaurant looked at each other, and they all couldn't help but tighten the string in their minds. If all had gone well with the Lenten celebrations, they would have ended by now. And if the ceremony of sending off the "Spring Spirit" is really completed, no one knows what will become of Cordu Village. Because it was a semi-underground building, Lumian had to raise his head slightly to see what was happening outside the window: The sky was blue, with white clouds and bright sunshine. There were no dark clouds, fog or dim light as he had imagined. Leah walked back and forth near the stove. The small silver bells on her veil and boots kept tinkling, a sound that was neither intense nor soothing. Seeing Aurore looking at her, she began to interpret: "We are in danger, and it is a long-term danger, but it is at a manageable level at the moment." Aurore said "hmm" and didn't ask any more questions. Ryan, on the other hand, sighed softly: "I hope it stays like this until Twelfth Night." Aurore blinked, feeling embarrassed to tell the Dawn Knight of the Mechanical Heart not to say such words, as it could easily have the opposite effect. Although Lumian was in a heavy mood, he still smiled and replied to Ryan: "We have a proverb in the Liege region, 'Good or bad luck is determined by fate, it is predetermined in advance', no matter how much we worry, we can't change what will happen next." What he didn't say was: The only thing we can do is to muster up the courage to face it. In the intermittent conversation, the five people were alert to possible changes, but both the weather and the flying birds were so normal that they were scared. After nearly half an hour, they all turned their eyes to the door at the same time. There were footsteps approaching. Not long after, Aurore's doorbell rang, and the tinkling sound echoed throughout the first floor. After exchanging a glance with his sister, Lumian cautiously walked to the door and looked outside through the peephole. The person who rang the doorbell was a man, their neighbor, Louis Baedeker. "What's up?" Lumian asked as he opened the door, smiling. Louis Baedeker has black hair and blue eyes and is in his forties. When he was young, he was injured while harvesting wheat in the field and only has three fingers left on his left hand. He was wearing a gray-blue short jacket and dark-colored trousers, and he said timidly: "I want to borrow your oven. It's Lent and I need to bake some fresh bread for the kids." As he spoke, he lifted the flour bag and kicked the bag of low-quality coal next to it. Lumian hesitated and looked back at Auror. Aurore nodded and motioned for him to let Louis Bedek in. She had just discussed this in a low voice with Ryan and the others, and planned to observe closely what changes had taken place in the villagers after the Lenten celebration.
"Just toast? I thought you were going to make some bacon for your kids." Lumian made way and teased Louis Bedek with a smile. Louis Baedeker replied timidly: "If there's a good harvest this year, we should be able to make a lot of bacon." His eyes were full of anticipation, as if he felt that a good harvest was inevitable. After entering the door, Louis Bedek greeted Aurore, walked towards the oven, and started busying himself. The more Lumian and the others observed, the weirder it felt. Louis Bedek didn't even look at Ryan, Leah and Valentine, as if they didn't exist at all! It's like a person who has turned into a monster is trying hard to pretend to be normal, but as long as they encounter something beyond their original memory, they will show obvious abnormality or simply ignore it. Lumian instantly recalled the parish priest Michel Garrigu: He seemed fine in the beginning, but lately, he has been ignoring everything except daily activities like eating, sleeping, and the desire to be prayed for! Under the gaze of the three strangers, Louis Bedek baked bread like a programmed machine, occasionally chatting with Lumian and Aurore. This is normal, this is abnormal. After Louis Bedek left with the baked bread, Aurore looked at Ryan and the others and said with a bitter smile: "People who have participated in the Lenten celebrations should look like this." "It's like being replaced by monsters bit by bit." Leah sighed sincerely. She no longer tried to maintain the smile on her face. Lumian had adjusted his mindset and asked a question: "If you want to save a person like this, how should you do it?" "The only thing I can think of is 'purification'." Valentine replied with a sigh, "But if the anomaly has been closely integrated with humans themselves, the final result may be that they will be purified together." Just then, two more villagers passed by the window. One of them was a regular at the old tavern, Pierre Guillaume, who had tried Ryan's absinthe in the last and the previous cycle. He was chatting with his companion, laughing very happily, as if he were discussing the excitement of the Lenten celebration. As they passed the door of Lumian's house, they all turned their heads and looked inside the house, their expressions extremely gloomy. After just a second of looking, they looked away, their faces filled with smiles again, and continued with the previous topic. If Lumian and the others had not been observing outside when someone passed by, they would definitely not have noticed the change in expression in that brief moment. The more obvious the laughter and joy coming from outside, the more depressed they felt. Silence replaced discussion. After a while, when the two villagers left, Aurore sighed and said: "This isn't just a process of being replaced by monsters bit by bit. I suspect that the entire village, except for us, is made up of monsters in human skin." Is this a complete Lenten celebration? Lumian muttered to himself, unable to control himself. Ryan solemnly reminded: "It will get harder and harder day by day, so hang in there everyone." From noon to night, they were always on guard against alienated villagers attacking the house, but nothing happened except that occasionally someone passed by and looked inside with a gloomy or cold expression. This brought great pressure to Auror and others. Ryan looked around and said gently:
"There are still several days until Twelfth Night, don't be so nervous. "After dinner, we will split into two groups and take turns to rest. We must maintain a good spirit." With such an experienced, calm and powerful Beyonder taking charge, both Auror and Lumian were noticeably calmer. Twelve o'clock at night. After finishing their night duty, Aurore and Lumian woke up Leah and the others and returned to the bedroom. Lumian glanced at the door and said in a low voice: "That mysterious lady hasn't shown up yet. Should I find a chance to go out and visit the old tavern tomorrow?" "Everyone in the village now could be a monster. It would be very dangerous if we go out." Aurore disagreed. She thought for a moment and said: "Wait a little longer. If the mysterious lady doesn't show up tomorrow morning, I'll accompany you to the old tavern in the afternoon." Lumian hesitated, but nodded. He planned to discuss with his sister tomorrow morning whether to ask Ryan and others for help, and the five of them would act together. ………… In the bedroom filled with a thin gray mist, Lumian opened his eyes. He turned over and sat up, checked his body, and found that his previous serious injuries had completely healed. He was about to sigh when he suddenly heard the sounds of "ding-ling-ling" and "ding-ling-ling". "Is someone ringing the doorbell?" This thought flashed through Lumian's mind subconsciously, and he habitually went downstairs to see who was visiting. Just as he took a step forward, he suddenly froze. This is in the ruins of dreams! How could someone come to visit? PS: Please vote for me~ (End of this chapter)