66: Sixty-six.

The last commission 66: Sixty-six.

The last commission Happiness often descends unexpectedly.

Like finding a considerable amount of shilling in clothes not worn for a long time.

Or bumping into old friends on the street with whom contact had long been lost.

Or when Lu Li suddenly proposed to go to Simp Park.

Although his motives were ulterior.

The only thing that somewhat bothered Anna was that the guy whose name was almost identical to hers also wanted to tag along.

“My name seems to get easily mixed up with Miss Anna, haha…

So you guys can just call me Jojo from now on.” Inside the carriage, Joanna scratched her head and laughed.

Her cheerful demeanor and sweet face didn’t quite match the freckles.

“Alright, Jojo.”

This time, Anna felt a bit better.

The rain outside was getting heavier.

The gloomy skies seemed like a bad omen about to unfold.

The water flowed down from the eaves, gathering on the cobblestone path, turning into little streams rushing downstream.

The number of pedestrians dwindled on the streets, occasionally someone with an umbrella in their raincoat, carriages passing by, and a few fearless children running across, shouting with joy.

“I heard that because of the rain, all the electric lights near the municipal building have gone out.

Luckily, they left some gas lamps.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how those homeless people would survive the night,” Jojo lamented.

Perhaps her sympathy stemmed from being an orphan herself as she had a great deal of compassion for those who once shared her plight.

Anna sat next to Lu Li, resting her chin on her hands and listening quietly.

“More than that, they should be worried about how not to get soaked and fall ill.”

The chill wind blew into the carriage as Lu Li gazed out at the rain-obscured harbor and replied.

“Oh, right…” Jojo nodded in realization, hugged her knees, and sunk into memories from long ago.

“When my brother and I were little, the world wasn’t as dangerous as it is now.

When it rained, we could hide under a neighbor’s eaves or in the sewers for shelter.

Back then, our biggest wish was to have our own house, free from vampire-like hateful landlords and those police who chased us away…”

Jojo talked a lot, seeming to want to introduce Lu Li to Belfast’s local customs.

Of course, it could simply be because she was talkative.

Looking into the distant sky and listening to Jojo’s soft recollections, with the carriage slightly swaying, the atmosphere turned peaceful and tranquil for a moment.

However, at a certain moment, Lu Li’s gaze fell to something closer.

He noticed some water barrels had been moved to the street corners and balconies, collecting rainwater.

In Belfast near the sea, the rainy season was long.

There was Agate Lake at the top of the mountain, and as a commercial city, it benefitted from the resource focus of the Earlen Peninsula Duchy, making it very cheap to buy daily water needs.

In Belfast, water wasn’t charged by volume but by container, one shilling per container.

Meaning a cup of water was a shilling, a pot of water was a shilling, and a bucket of water was also a shilling.

Naturally, the larger the container, the more suitable it was — but it still cost money.

A proverb circulated in the Earlen Peninsula: Free things have their free benefits.

Meaning that the benefits of free things are also free.

Such as the simultaneously loved and hated rainy season.

During this time, residents in hardship would treat the rainwater as drinking water, while slightly better-off ones would use it for bathing and laundry.

And usually, most residents would resolve these issues seaside, even though a layer of salt crust was uncomfortable, it was better than staying dirty.

Moreover, wiping afterward with a towel dampened with fresh water wouldn’t be much different from a proper wash.

These were things residents would do before the dark catastrophe arrived.

With disaster’s arrival, the seas grew increasingly dangerous, and most residents no longer went to the beaches for cleaning or recreation.

Lu Li was lost in thought for a while as the cobblestone path gave way to a bumpy pebble road.

The side of the road wasn’t lined with houses anymore, but rather opened up to a barren and ugly expanse of the Withered Forest.

The continuous rain finally brought sprouts to the roadside withered trees, while vegetation was still nowhere to be seen.

“Are we nearly there?” Anna straightened up a bit, leaned forward towards Lu Li, and peered out of the window.

“Sir, miss, we’ve arrived at Simp Park.”

The coachman’s timely voice came from outside the curtains.

The speed of the carriage gradually slowed down.

Lu Li lifted a corner of the carriage curtain; below the veil of rain, a white cobblestone path meandered through the Withered Forest, leading to a low building up ahead— their destination for this trip.

Whoosh—

The carriage wheels rolled through puddles on the ground, coming to a stop beside a yellow, paint-peeled carriage parked outside the building.

Lu Li took out two umbrellas, handing one to Jojo.

“I want one too.” Anna, seated at the back, reached out, waving her hand.

“You want the coachman and staff to see an umbrella floating all by itself?”

“Hmm… forget it then.”

The tip of the umbrella poked out from the curtain, followed by its body; with a “pop,” the canopy opened, raindrops hammered down, causing the fabric to shiver.

Lu Li stepped out of the carriage, his feet landing in a shallow layer of water.

He looked around; the rain enclosed the world, leaving only a small haven beneath his umbrella.

Thump.

Behind him, a soft noise, and then Jojo emerged from the carriage, opening her umbrella and extending an arm, waiting for Lu Li to help her down.

But Jojo realized Lu Li was just surveying the surroundings, completely ignoring her; with a shrug of resignation, she jumped down from the carriage, splashing a little water.

Only then did Lu Li turn back to the raincoat-clad coachman and said, “If you have no other business, you can wait for us here.

We’ll be out after a while.”

“Alright, I hope you two have fun,” the coachman said with a smile.

“There are three of us,” Anna muttered under her breath, floating down from the carriage and slipping under Lu Li’s umbrella.

Although the sight of a ghost avoiding rain was puzzling, Lu Li still tilted the umbrella a bit towards Anna.

This left his left shoulder exposed to the rain, his clothing soaked, but he didn’t mind at all.

The two and one ghost headed toward the entrance of the Haunted House.

The front gate of the Haunted House was deserted, the ticket booth window tightly shut.

Inside, the ticket seller, engrossed in a novel, had yet to notice the figures standing outside.

Knock knock knock—

The knocking startled the ticket seller, who hastily put down the novel and got up, sliding open the window.

Cold wind rushed into the cramped ticket booth, the oncoming chill causing her to involuntarily hold her breath, she managed to say, “…Hello?”

“Are you open today?” Lu Li asked.

“Yes, we are still open.

However, because of the rain, some scenes might have leaks.

A few scenes are currently closed, perhaps you would like to come another day…?”

“Will it affect the experience?”

“Ah?”

“With fewer scenes, will there be fewer chances of seeing a ghost?”

“Uh… no.”

“Then good, we want to go in.”

“Alright, that will be 8 shillings for one, 20 shillings for two.”

“Sounds like it’s more cost-effective with more people,” Anna said, nodding in confusion.

Lu Li glanced sideways.

“Ah no, my apologies, I misspoke— it’s 20 shillings for three people,” the ticket seller hastily corrected, her face flushed with embarrassment.

“How many people are there?”

Lu Li calmly said, “Did you see our other friend?”

The ticket seller paused, bewildered: “No…”

Lu Li nodded, saying nothing more.

“…?”

It took a while for the ticket seller to come to her senses, her face turning beet red as she prepared the tickets for Lu Li.

Two of them.