Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Rose Doll House

To be honest, the pile of stuff in the little alley was not actually that big. After all, Duncan was working alone. Even though he had bought a bicycle ahead of time to haul goods, there was still a limit to how much he could move at once. AI’s reaction was actually very easy to understand—

The bird was bargaining. It wanted more fries.

From a certain point of view, this bird was just too easy to read.

“Do you know what this is?” Duncan grabbed the pigeon and held it in front of a basket of potatoes. “This is called a potato, also called a tuber.”

AI blinked its little green pea eyes and stared at the basket for a long time. It actually reacted. It stretched its neck hard and cried: “Smells so good! So good!”

“As long as you know. Do your work properly. This whole basket is for you—once it’s all fried into fries, it’ll be enough to stuff you to death dozens of times over.” Duncan chuckled, then casually tossed the pigeon away. “Send this stuff back to the Vanished—just put it straight on the deck. ‘I’ will meet you there.”

AI flapped its wings in the air. Before it even landed, a mass of ghostly green fire wrapped around it. It turned into an Undead bird and circled the pile of goods twice. The “cargo” inside the flames started to fade rapidly. But then it suddenly stopped, landed on the pile, and tilted its head at Duncan: “Do I need to specify the next memory address?”

Duncan stared for a long moment before he realized the bird was asking what he wanted done next…

Then he could not help grumbling inside. This bird’s vocabulary was way too huge and weird. It was like everything Earth humans had ever made up on the internet was stored in its head. After spending this much time together, Duncan could more or less guess what it meant from context, but most of the time his conversations with AI were brushing right up against the edge of his own knowledge.

Could it not try learning how to talk like a normal person?

But grumbling was grumbling. Duncan still nodded and answered AI: “Send these off first. I still need to go buy some more…”

This time AI was really scared. It shot straight up, and in the blink of an eye a big ball of fire swept away everything piled on the ground. As it vanished from Duncan’s sight, it shouted loudly: “So terrifying! So terrifying!”

Duncan only shrugged at this, then turned and walked over to the bicycle he had just bought.

It was a very ordinary bicycle. It had a black frame, shiny silver rims and handlebars, a brand-new bell, and a sturdy, practical basket and rear rack. It had no special features. It was not beautiful, but not ugly either. Its biggest advantage was probably that the quality was pretty good.

At first, Duncan had wanted to pick out a pretty ladies’ bicycle for Nina. But after going through all the shops in the Lower City, he gave up on that idea—because there simply were none.

In the Lower City, a bicycle was just a bicycle. It was a tool that helped with daily life, but even more a tool of production. All the bikes looked more or less the same. There were no fancy categories like men’s models, ladies’ models, mountain bikes, or road bikes. People of different sizes could just adjust the handlebars and seat to ride more easily. Other than that, the bicycle had no special function or “positioning.”

Most ordinary people in this world did not seem to have the spare energy to chase or customize a “more refined life.”

In these city-states of the “Deep Sea era,” a lot of things were still different from the “other world” that Duncan knew. Even if they looked similar on the surface, the details were always filled with this world’s own special traits. And it was exactly these almost-but-not-quite details that kept reminding Duncan that he was “living abroad.”

He swung himself onto the bike. This brand-new way to get around was light and easy to use. It carried him quickly out of the alley and toward the busier commercial streets not far away.

Nina would like this bicycle.

Leaving the Crossroad District and heading northwest, riding up toward higher streets, he truly entered the range of the Upper City. Normally, the citizens of Pland called this place “the line where real respectable life begins,” unlike the Crossroad District, which only counted as “a stage where the middle-class citizens dressed themselves up.”

Unlike what Duncan had first imagined, even though Pland had a clear administrative border between the Upper City and the Lower City, there was no physical wall between the two. To go from the Lower City to the Upper City, you just needed to pass through a few completely open junctions. These junctions did have constable booths set up, but they clearly did not stop citizens from moving back and forth.

Of course, that was only during the day. From what Duncan had heard, after nightfall, strict travel bans were enforced between the Upper City and the Lower City. Even if you had a night pass, you still needed extra paperwork to cross the checkpoints between the two districts.

Right now, it was daytime. The junctions were wide open.

Duncan rode straight into the Upper City. Ever since he had arrived in this city-state, this was his first time visiting this area.

He had to admit, the Upper City really was a completely different place from the Lower City.

You could see it in almost every aspect—cleaner and wider streets, taller and grander buildings, newer and more advanced city facilities, and gas street lamps and “nighttime Sanctuary Worlds” in numbers that clearly far surpassed the Lower City.

Duncan slowly stopped his bike in front of a little kiosk near a junction.

It was a nighttime Sanctuary World, meant to help citizens who, for one reason or another, failed to make it home in time after nightfall. A sign by the door listed a brief explanation:

“Provides shelter for the night. Inside there is a gas lamp, calming holy oil, and the Storm Canon. After entering, please lock the door and wait for rescue. The Night Watch Guard holds the key.”

Duncan had also seen similar facilities in the Lower City. But in a whole block there might be only one or two, and they looked old and worn. It was hard to tell if they still worked.

He pulled back his gaze, got back on his bike, and continued slowly down the street.

From time to time, his eyes swept over the shops lining the road.

The bright windows and carefully arranged, elegant displays were something the shops in the Lower City could not compare with. But Duncan was not focused on these unimportant details.

He still had a lot to buy. Stocking supplies for the Vanished was something that had been put off for too long. And…

Duncan stopped the bicycle and raised his head to look at a shop by the street. A small smile appeared on his face.

Some things simply could not be bought in the Lower City—only the “respectable people” of the Upper City were willing to spend so much money and energy on things not related to survival. For example, the place right in front of him.

He locked his bicycle, stepped forward, and pushed open the shop door. With the clear, pleasant sound of a bell, a plump old lady behind the counter put down her newspaper and looked up. A kind smile spread over her face as she stood and said: “Welcome to the Rose Doll House… Oh, a gentleman. Are you here to choose a companion for your lover or a junior in your family?”

“I’ll just look around first.” Duncan answered simply, then raised his head and curiously looked around this shop called the “Rose Doll House.”

Everywhere he looked, there were dolls—delicate, elegant, mysterious, cute, playful… dolls of all kinds.

Back on the street, he had already seen the shop through the window. But only when he stepped inside did he realize the interior was even bigger than it seemed from outside. Almost every visible space was packed with doll-related things. Even the space under the stairs was filled with different storage boxes and stands, plus all sizes of accessories and blank “bodies” waiting to be assembled.

This was a shop that specialized in selling dolls and doll-related items. Its style was classical, and it had a quiet, mysterious atmosphere.

And in this big doll shop, there was only one kindly looking old madam watching the place. At the moment, Duncan was also the only customer.

An old-fashioned shop full of dolls. A smiling old lady. A single customer.

Duncan’s attention was drawn by the dazzling array of dolls, while the shop’s master watched this strange guest with a bit of curiosity.

It was not rare for men to visit doll shops. Respectable gentlemen in the Upper City often bought fine dolls as gifts for their partners or juniors, and some men themselves loved collecting dolls. What really made the old shopkeeper curious was not the customer’s gender, but his plain, simple clothes.

Duncan wore the same worn-out coat he usually wore. It did not look like the clothing of a rich man who lived in the Upper City—and dolls were not cheap collectibles.

But the old lady only glanced at him out of curiosity and soon looked away.

It was not polite to judge a customer by his clothes. A seasoned businesswoman should not judge guests by their appearance. Besides, everyone had the right to appreciate the goods.

After looking around for a while, Duncan finally pulled his gaze back and let out a quiet breath.

He had to admit, he was a bit overwhelmed.

The doll craft in this world was more advanced than he had imagined. All those strange “parts,” so many that he could not even name them all, had already gone beyond his understanding of what a doll was.

His understanding of a “doll” was a useless crew member who was timid, weak, had a bad neck, and not much of a brain.

Duncan looked at the chubby old madam and decided he should humbly ask a professional about the ways of dolls—especially about maintaining joints and putting in hair.

But before he could speak, he suddenly froze.

He stared blankly at the old lady in front of him. She quickly noticed, smiled, and pointed at her own ear: “Elves from the city-state of Pland are indeed rare.”

Duncan: “…”

He admitted, the Elves of Pland might really be rare. This was also the first time in his life he had ever seen an Elf.

But the bigger reason he was stunned was that he had never expected there to be a chubby, middle-aged Elf old madam in this world…