A few days later, when Hestad was taken away from the base again, Mr. Elu did not appear. Chiba was alone, driving his car and waiting in the parking lot as usual.
When Hesta approached, Chiba in the driver's seat waved hello to her nonchalantly. Hesta was startled at first, and then her eyes widened——
When they last met, Chiba's left sleeve was empty, but now he has a real arm.
What's even more incredible is that this once-broken left arm is not a steel or wooden prosthesis. Hesta saw Chiba take out a cigarette from his pocket with dexterity, and then held it in front of the lighter with a half-clenched fist. To shield the flames from the wind...it's just like the five fingers of ordinary people.
"What are you doing standing there, get in the car." Chiba shouted again.
Hesta regained her composure, stepped forward and opened the car door. When she sat down, she glanced at Chiba's right leg - good guy, her right leg has also grown.
Hesta's throat moved slightly, "Miss Qianye..."
"Um?"
"Can I...touch your hand?"
Chiba didn't know why, but still handed over his right hand.
"No, left hand."
Chiba changed hands, Hesta frowned and gently held the vivid left hand.
Looking at it now, although this hand also has pale bones and slightly raised cyan blood vessels, it seems like an ordinary person, but as long as you look carefully, it is not difficult to notice the difference between it and real flesh and blood.
The past suddenly flashed back in Hesta's mind. In fact, as early as the first time she saw Qianye and shook hands with her, she had already felt that the texture of Qianye's hands was very special.
It was just that the contact time was very short, and she didn't think about it in detail.
Chiba withdrew his hand, "The previous one was worn out, so I replaced it with a new one."
Hestad could not describe her shock. This scene was no less than a miracle to her. She believed that if Sister Gerding had been present, she would have exclaimed and angrily pointed out that this was blasphemous.
However, Chiba's tone was like talking about an umbrella, a clock or a pair of glasses - maybe in Miss Chiba's eyes, the human body is not much different from these objects.
Hesta frowned: "How on earth was this done...?"
Chiba held a cigarette in his mouth, holding the steering wheel, and reversed the car skillfully, "Ancient technology."
"...Miss Chiba, are you talking about the golden age?"
"uh-huh."
The car drove quickly towards the city center.
Today is Sunday, and the whole city is extremely quiet. Most of the shops are closed, and there are no pedestrians on the street. Only the church door is open, and occasionally people can be seen coming in and out.
Hesta looked out the window, "There's no parade today."
"There are very few parades on weekends. Weekends are used for rest." Chiba said softly, "Unless it's to protest their own salary, you can't even think of bringing a group of people to the streets on Sunday."
As usual, Chiba parked the car on the street where the "White Ship" was located.
Except for "White Ship", no store is open on this street. The rusty rolling shutters cover up the colorful wooden and glass doors. However, these iron sheets are covered with various graffiti spray-paints. From a distance, It looks like an extended painting wall.
"What I like most about White Ship is that it's open as usual on Sundays." Chiba unbuckled his seatbelt, "Let's go get something to eat."
The two pushed the door open and Hesta quickly discovered that the person standing in front of the cashier today was a fat woman she had never seen before. She was short and plump, and was probably about the same age as Mrs. Lavitt.
"Qianye?" The fat woman recognized the person at a glance, "Are you back?"
"I came back last month," Chiba replied. "I've been to your place several times, but you're not here every time."
The other party let out a burst of confident laughter, "I plan to open a branch in the new town of Asker in the south. Recently, I rarely come here when I look for suitable stores there."
The fat woman walked out from behind the counter. She was wearing a green and white plaid skirt, with a light green gauze tied on her head. Her waist-length black hair was braided into a thick braid at the back of her head. Look. Looks very capable.
At that first glance, the fat woman's black hair and brown eyes reminded Hesta of Bo Heng, and she couldn't help but wonder whether this woman was also from District 14.
But her accent is somewhat similar to Liz.
The fat woman chatted with Chiba for a while, and the three of them sat down next to the window while they were talking.
Chiba leaned back in his chair, put one hand around his head and played with his ponytail: "Believe me, now is not a good time to open a branch."
The fat woman frowned: "I've prepared everything, why not?"
"Anyway, you'd better slow down first." Chiba obviously didn't want to explain more. She turned to Hesta, "This is Mrs. Daria, the boss lady of White Ship."
Then, she pointed to Hesta and said to Daria: "This is Elu's distant relative. He has lived at my place for the past two months, and his name is -" Chiba paused briefly, "Alice."
"Hello, Alice." Mrs. Daria stretched out her hand towards Hesta. "Your hair is so beautiful, just like ivory white satin."
After realizing that Chiba had given a false name, Hesta was a little nervous. She unconsciously moved away from Mrs. Daria to prevent her from getting too close and noticing that she was wearing a wig.
"Thank you." Hesta gently shook the other person's hand, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Daria."
"Where are you from, little girl? Are you like Mr. Elu?"
"Um."
Hesta didn't know where Mr. Elu's hometown was, but at this moment, she had no better reaction than nodding.
Darya laughed: "That's very close to our place. Have you been to Veluchinsky?"
"where?"
"Viluchinsky Wasteland," Mrs. Darya said, "I used to live there. Since I came to Tanyi, I haven't been back for more than ten years - it's really too far away and it's not convenient to go back."
Hesta didn't know how to answer. She looked at Chiba - Chiba didn't seem to want to take over the conversation for her.
So Hesta thought for a while, "I rarely had the opportunity to go outside before. It was not safe outside."
This answer seemed to convince Mrs. Daria. Her eyes looking at Hesta suddenly became a little more affectionate, "Yes, living in the wilderness is not safe after all. If you push it forward a few years, who would have thought of Aspen?" What will happen to Kia? Such a prosperous place... I almost ended up there."
Hesta raised her head, "Have you been to Askia?"
"Of course I have. Most of the first batch of wilderness natives who came to Vilyuchinsky moved here from Askia."
Mrs. Daria was very talkative. She talked about her life in Tanyi for more than ten years. What she lamented the most was that the people in Tanyi were so lazy that she could hardly imagine it.
"When I first came here, there was an old couple who lived across from me who owned a pub. I thought they must be the busiest on Sundays - who knew that one Sunday morning they would wake up and weed the yard together. ! I was shocked. At noon, I saw them still lingering in the yard, so I couldn't help but stepped forward and asked, 'Good neighbors, why are you still at home now?'
"At first, they thought I was asking them why they didn't go to church, and they were a little embarrassed. But when they found out that I was referring to their business in the tavern, the two laughed loudly and said to me, 'Sunday is God's day of rest. Day, there’s no point in working!’.
"I'm really surprised. If the pub is closed on Sundays, when will the drunkards in Tan Yi come out to get drunk? What do you think they answered me?"
"How did you answer that?"
Mrs. Daria imitated the accent of her friendly neighbor and said slowly: "'You can come every night from Monday to Saturday!'"
After saying this, Mrs. Daria slapped her palm on her thigh.
"Fortunately they can imagine that if someone gets very drunk on Monday night, won't he have to go to work with a drunken head on Tuesday? When I was in Veluchinsky, I just feel that the people there are lazy enough, but I never thought that Tan Yi is worse than ours."
Hearing this, Chiba already laughed out loud.
"I know that the women of Vilyuchinsky will not be infected with the laziness and dissolute habits of the Third District." She raised the tea cup in her hand and touched Mrs. Darya's cup gently. "You are always hardworking! "
