Chapter 1 The Sunny Day After the Rain

The sunlight outside the window was bright, and the previous extremely bad weather seemed like a distant dream. Only the remaining water stains on the windowsill and the wet ground on the street proved that there had indeed been a heavy rain late last night—and this sunny day after the rain seemed perfect for a good sleep at home.

However, Shirley had slept enough. She had never slept so long at once, and she was a little hungry, which further urged her to get up quickly.

Lying in bed hungry was not a pleasant memory for her—when she was younger, she used to sleep through the hungriest nights, and if it hadn't been for A' Gou's awakening and support, she might have left this world on some cold and hungry winter night.

When hunger crossed a certain threshold, one would brush shoulders with death in their sleep. This was one of Shirley's precious life experiences.

She left the soft and comfortable bed, got up and changed her clothes, and just then, a burst of light footsteps came from outside the door.

"Shirley! Are you awake? I heard movement!"

It was Nina's voice.

Shirley was stunned for a moment, and quickly replied, "I'm awake."

The door was pushed open, and Nina appeared in the doorway wearing a white shirt, short jacket, and light brown plaid skirt. She saw Shirley, who had just changed her clothes, her face lit up with a smile, and then she walked over quickly: "You've been sleeping for so long! How do you feel now? Does your back still hurt? How are your wounds... Let me see, let me see..."

"I used up a lot of energy, so I slept for a long time... I'm fine, really," Shirley awkwardly dodged the overly enthusiastic Nina, but her usual immense strength seemed to have no effect in the face of Nina, and she obediently turned around, letting Nina check the injuries on her back and arms. "They're just small injuries, I... I recover very quickly, and... Hey, it's so itchy, don't... It tickles, haha..."

"They've really all healed!" Nina finally let go of Shirley, who had begun jumping and dodging to the side. She looked at her friend with amazement, as if observing some rare creature. "The wound was so big last night, but now it's not only disappeared, but it hasn't even left a scar... How did you do it?"

"Didn't I say, I'm symbiotic with a Yousui emonic (Abyssal Demon), and A' Gou's characteristics are a strong body and regenerative ability," Shirley said, tidying up her clothes—the clothes she wore yesterday had been destroyed in the battle, and the one she was wearing now was another old piece of clothing she had brought from home, one of the only belongings she had salvaged after the attack. "Actually, my regenerative ability could be even stronger, but A' Gou said I'm malnourished, so my regenerative ability is also discounted..."

"Then you have to eat well here. Uncle's cooking is great now," Nina said immediately, then added curiously, "Um... are all people like you... I mean, people who are symbiotic with Yousui emons (Abyssal Demons), are they all so powerful?"

"It depends on what kind of demon you're symbiotic with—the Yousui Hound (Abyssal Hound) brings toughness and regenerative ability, as well as a certain enhancement of perception, while symbiosis with a Fear Demon brings willpower and resistance to mental pollution. Besides, there are all kinds of demons, and I can't explain them all... Anyway, the symbiotes of Yousui emons (Abyssal Demons) are the most chaotic transcendents. Those demons, in order to be able to operate in the real dimension, have always been very generous to their symbiotes..."

Speaking of this, Shirley suddenly paused, her expression became serious, and she looked into Nina's eyes: "Having said that, I suggest you don't get too involved in this field... You should already know that, under normal circumstances, those who are symbiotic with Yousui emons (Abyssal Demons) are all lunatics from the Annihilation Cult. They are different from me, and their demons are different from A' Gou."

"I know, I know, I'm not a child," Nina quickly waved her hand, but still couldn't hide her curiosity, "But have you seen other demon symbiotes? I mean, those Annihilation Cultists..."

"I haven't seen them, and I don't want to see them. A' Gou's description is disgusting enough. If I see them, I will definitely s... beat them up and report them to the sheriffs," Shirley said, frowning, "Nina, you're asking a lot of questions today... You didn't ask this much when you saw A' Gou before. Also, don't you have school today?"

"You're going to be living in my house from now on, of course I have to know more about you. I heard Uncle say that your house was destroyed by a gas explosion, and you have nowhere to go in the future..." Nina said seriously, while pulling Shirley's hand and walking out, "Besides, school is on vacation, nearly two months of vacation, don't you know?"

"How would I know, I've never been to school..." Shirley mumbled subconsciously, and was pulled out of the door by Nina, heading towards the kitchen where the smell of food was coming from. She noticed that the entire second floor was quiet, and couldn't help but feel curious, "Isn't Mr. Duncan here?"

"Uncle went to the first floor, saying he had to entertain someone. He told us to eat on the second floor first," Nina explained. She pulled Shirley to the kitchen door, but then seemed to remember something, and quickly pulled Shirley towards the bathroom, "Oh, right, wash your hands. You have to wash your hands before eating, or Uncle will nag again."

"Oh... oh." Shirley was pulled back and forth by Nina in a daze. Whether it was because she was hungry or because she had slept for too long, she felt dizzy, but... this feeling didn't seem bad.

At the same time, next to the counter on the first floor of the antique shop, Duncan was carefully explaining something to the person opposite him, while sitting opposite him was a young lady with delicate and elegant long dress, wearing a fine checkered veil, with long golden hair, and dignified and beautiful appearance.

Dignified and beautiful blonde lady (x)

It's Alice wearing a wig ()

"...That's about it. There are so many common sense things to know about living in human society, but you just need to understand the basics. It's enough for your current range of activities, and there are very few things you need to do in this store. You can start by familiarizing yourself with the simplest things, such as cleaning and organizing the shelves," Duncan finally finished explaining the things to pay attention to here, but still looked at the golden-haired girl sitting upright in front of him with great worry, "...Do you still remember what I taught you on the ship before?"

"I remember, I remember!" Alice quickly nodded vigorously, but after nodding twice, she seemed to remember something, and quickly reduced the range of her nodding, and nodded slightly in a very dignified and elegant posture, "Don't worry, I remember it clearly!"

"Yes, the nodding range should be small. It seems that you have at least remembered this." Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, then scanned Alice's body, and confirmed the details in various places again.

The original silver hair was covered with a golden wig, slightly made up to adjust the details in her appearance, and a veil was used to cover the lower half of her face. Silk white long gloves were worn on her hands, and a necklace with lace decorations was specially worn on her neck to cover her special joint details.

Basically, all the parts that could be disguised were disguised.

Of course, if someone who really understood the Frost Queen Lei' Nora was standing here, or someone who had personally observed Aberration 099 at close range, they might still be able to see the suspicious features of this "golden-haired girl" from the details of her eyebrows and eyes, but this probability was almost negligible.

The Frost Queen was already a person from half a century ago, and those who had close contact with Aberration 099 were almost impossible to still be alive.

Ordinary people, even the guardians of the church, would definitely not be able to recognize that Alice at this moment was that out-of-control cursed doll.

Duncan couldn't help but sigh softly in his heart again.

In fact, he originally planned to wait a while before letting Alice come to the human city-state to "see the world." He planned to leave a few more days for the doll to take a good remedial class on the ship, but he couldn't stand the guy's mournful appearance of lying on the ship's railing and gazing at the distance when she had nothing to do, and the mumbling and chanting when she had nothing to do, so he advanced this time a little earlier.

However, within his ability, he still gave this guy an emergency cram session of common sense, and instilled the most basic "normal values" into her, estimating that... it should be enough.

Probably.

Now Nina and Shirley were eating upstairs. He grabbed a timing to let Ai Yin send the doll from the ship to the store to familiarize herself with the environment. The first thing Alice did when she arrived here was to curiously touch and look everywhere. It took him a lot of effort to "press" this guy next to the counter, but even so, he could still see that the doll's attention was almost completely not on his sermon.

She was looking around again, although she tried her best to maintain an upright posture, the restless eyes and moving neck couldn't hide it from people.

Putting the dignified and elegant sitting posture and the restless eyes together, Duncan could only say that she was worthy of being Alice—the two states of elegance and silliness could actually appear simultaneously on one person...

And after looking around, her attention finally returned to Duncan, her eyes filled with undisguised attention and... curiosity.