To my frozen hometown

Chapter 9 It's never a bad thing to clean yourself up

"despair."

The sound of the lighter being pulled sounded in the small room, and the orange-red flame danced, lighting up a cigarette held in his mouth.

Mars burned the tobacco little by little, and the mouth that was holding the cigarette was covered with stubble. He took a deep breath, then lifted it slowly, and exhaled a mouthful of thick smoke.

The smoke drifted in mid-air, with some peculiar smell of tobacco in the air.

In the room, the captain of the greenhouse guard held the cigarette between two fingers, raised his gaze, and looked at the person sitting opposite him.

The light in the room was dim, maybe because of the angle of the light, he didn't fully see the other person's appearance at the first glance, but left a first impression.

The person was a woman, a rather scruffy woman.

Liu Yuan sat there quietly, with her hands in the pockets of her coat and her feet on the table in front of her. Her short knife and pistol had already been drawn out and placed in front of the display stand beside her.

Al sat next to Yanagihara, with his head half down.

She is not very used to the smell of cigarettes, so she coughs softly from time to time.

Small rooms are always overwhelming.

Liu Yuan didn't care about the smell of cigarettes in the room, after all, she was considered a smoker.

After taking a few glances at the captain of the greenhouse guard in front of her, she silently stopped her eyes and scanned her surroundings.

The atmosphere in the room was somewhat dignified.

Yanagihara and Al didn't go directly into the greenhouse, because they still needed to go through the review of the greenhouse guards before that.

Every team and person who wants to enter the greenhouse has to be inspected. Of course, this kind of inspection is just a routine inspection, and it is generally not very strict.

It's just that this time is a little different, because the people who will enter the greenhouse this time are different from the previous ones.

Or it can be said that the guard soldiers of No. [-] Greenhouse have never seen such a person.

Those slain wolves still lay there under the greenhouse walls, reminding every soldier of the danger in front of them.

Even if the other party was a human being with a child, no one dared to relax their guard.

The soldiers held their rifles and stood on both sides of the door, but their eyes were fixed on Liuyuan.

I don't know how long it took, but it was about halfway through the cigarette in the captain's hand before he spoke the first sentence to Liu Yuan.

"Hello ma'am, I'm the captain of the guard team of Greenhouse No. [-] in the west. You can call me Watson."

"Okay, Watson." Liu Yuan slightly lowered his head to the captain of the guard who called himself Watson.

She has been to many greenhouses during her wanderings on the ice field, and she is very familiar with the routine inspections of the greenhouses, but she rarely encounters the situation where she is personally questioned by the captain of the guard.

"Yes." Watson nodded, took off his dark blue military cap and placed it on the table, and continued.

"Next, I will ask you a few questions. This is a routine review for entering the greenhouse. Please answer truthfully."

"I understand. After all, this is your job, isn't it?" Liuyuan said casually, expressing her understanding while agreeing to Watson's request.

Her cooperation brought relief to both Watson and the soldiers behind him.

Because if Liu Yuan made any drastic moves, they would indeed be very embarrassed.

"So." Watson sorted out his thoughts, put his hands in front of his body, and asked aloud.

"Please also tell me your name first, ma'am."

"Liuyuan." Liuyuan answered Watson's question without any extra pause.

Hearing this name, Watson raised his eyebrows and looked at Liuyuan.

"This name is very special, I don't know where you come from?"

At least in his impression, some nearby places do not have such naming methods.

where do you come from?
It seems that too many people have asked this question, which made Liu Yuan's answer almost a habit.

"I can't remember exactly, I just remember that it was a far away place, one day I left there, and then wandered all the way here."

This answer caught Al on the side in a daze, because she remembered that Liu Yuan had told her so at the time.

Wandering all the way, from the ice field?
Watson frowned. It was hard for him to imagine that a person or a team could wander so far on the ice sheet, so far away that he forgot where he started.

But under the current situation, he can only choose to believe Liu Yuan's answer first, even if he still has some reservations in his heart.

"Okay, Ms. Yuan, is the purpose of your visit to Greenhouse No. [-] really just to deliver a letter?"

Watson lowered his eyes and looked at the envelope that Yanagihara had already taken out on the table.

Obviously, even now he still has some letter senders who can't accept the appearance in that way.

He had seen with his own eyes the scene where the man in front of him jumped four or five meters into the air and cut the throat of a two-meter-tall giant wolf.

Shouldn't the normal letter delivery person be the guy next door on a bicycle, wearing a light green hat, with a gentle smile on his face...

"Yes."

It's a pity that Yanagihara couldn't give Watson any other answer, she said to Al who was on the side.

"I accepted her commission to send this letter to a person named Alice here. Of course, in fact, I have to go a little further east to do something."

Delegate?

Watson followed Liuyuan's line of sight to look at Al at the table, and his eyes paused again.

He couldn't imagine what kind of commission this little girl who looked like she was only in her teens could give.

After pondering for a moment, perhaps out of good intentions, he asked.

"Excuse me, I wonder if the two of you know the address of Ms. Alice?"

······
The room was silent for a while.

Liuyuan looked at Al with blank eyes, Al looked at Watson with blank eyes, and Watson looked at Liuyuan with blank eyes.

After a long time, the corners of Watson's eyes twitched, and then, he didn't know whether he understood it or pulled his mouth helplessly.

Obviously, neither of these two people knew where the person named Alice lived.

A girl entrusts a wanderer to deliver a letter across an ice field to an unknown address.

As a captain of the greenhouse guard, Watson has also met many clients and employees.

But this can still be regarded as one of the most absurd commissions he has seen since taking office.

Fortunately, as a mature and reliable middle-aged man, even in the face of such a ridiculous commission, he still came up with a solution in a short time.

Looking at Liuyuan, Watson suddenly had an idea.

Or it should be said that he already had some ideas in this regard, but the current situation made him consider the feasibility of this idea again.

After a brief silence, Watson coughed, as if he had made a decision.

"If you don't know where this Ms. Alice lives, maybe I can give a suggestion." He said.

Liuyuan didn't expect that Al would not know where his sister lived, but think about it carefully.

For some unknown reason, her older sister left Greenhouse No. [-] because of a request.

But since the two have been separated for so long and have no contact with each other, it is understandable that Al does not know his sister's address.

Liuyuan slightly crossed his eyes and looked at Al beside him from the corner of his eye. At this moment, the girl's expression became tense again.

This girl seems to be easily nervous, perhaps because of a lack of security, she always keeps her head down, hiding from other people's eyes.

Averting his eyes from Al, Liu Yuan looked at Watson sitting across from him again, thought for a while, nodded and said.

"I'd like to hear it."

"Hmm." Watson looked Liu Yuan up and down with his eyes, and touched his stubble-covered chin.

He saw Liu Yuan's actions, and he had to say that this homeless man's behavior was somewhat beyond his expectations.

For a girl's absurd request, most people would not take it seriously, but this homeless man named Liu Yuan seems to be surprisingly serious.

Is it the type who will focus on completing the commission after accepting it?

Watson raised his brow.

This is not bad, it can make people feel more at ease.

Thinking of this, he put down his hands and made his own suggestion.

"As the captain of the guard of this greenhouse, I have the right to check the addresses and some information of residents and people entering and leaving. If you want, I can help you find this lady named Alice."

At this point, he didn't finish the sentence directly, but paused for a while, then looked at Liu Yuan with his eyes, and continued.

"But Ms. Liuyuan, with this, I also hope to propose a commission to you. Of course, we will pay you additionally. I wonder if you are willing to accept it?"

Watson's meaning is very simple, he wants to propose a commission to Liu Yuan, this commission may be from him personally, or it may be from Greenhouse No. [-].

But no matter which side it came from, this entrustment meant that Liuyuan needed to stay here for a while.

This time, Liu Yuan was silent for a while, as if he was thinking or deliberating.

She was going to the east, and her original plan was not to stay in Greenhouse No. [-], but if she accepted this commission, she would have to spend some extra time here.

But it's just time, isn't it?

Liu Yuan's eyes were gently closed, and there was a loose look between his brows, as if there was still a little silence.

This is probably what she lacks the most.

"Okay, but we need to talk about the price of the reward first."

After silence, Liu Yuan gave his own answer.

Just like her style, concise and clear.

Watson's expression became a little more relaxed. At least so far, things are moving in the direction he hopes.

"Of course, of course we have to talk about it."

He briskly flicked the cigarette in his hand with his index finger, and dropped a few ash bombs on the table.

"Then we will help you find Ms. Alice's address as soon as possible. After you finish dealing with the matter at hand, we will make an appointment to discuss the details of the entrustment and remuneration in detail. I hope we can cooperate happily."

"Well, no problem." Liu Yuan responded lightly, the expression on her face was still lazy and loose, making it difficult for others to see any emotions from her expression.

"Then Ms. Liuyuan." Watson stood up from his seat, stretched out a hand to Liuyuan and said with a smile.

"Welcome to West Greenhouse No. [-]."

Liuyuan also stood up, and simply stretched out his hand to grasp Watson's hand.

It wasn't until this moment that the lights in the room illuminated her entire face, and it was only then that Watson officially saw the appearance of the homeless man clearly.

After a close observation, Watson had some surprises.

Because this tramp, who looked rather scruffy, turned out to be very handsome upon closer inspection.

Yes, this is an unusually handsome woman, although it is a bit strange to say that, but it is the truth.

And judging from her appearance, she was only about 20 years old at most.

Calculated in this way, if the other party really wandered in the ice field for many years, then she should be just a young girl when she entered the ice field.

What kind of life will a girl lead if she wants to survive alone on the ice field?

How much do you need to do to survive?

Thinking of this, Watson looked at Liuyuan with more thoughts.

Because if that's the case, then Liu Yuan is undoubtedly a person worthy of admiration.

Watson knows the cruelty of the ice sheet and how few people dare to face it.

People who can come out of it obviously have a will that surpasses ordinary people.

Unknowingly, Watson's impression of Liu Yuan also seemed to have changed.

Things became much easier after the inspection, and Watson returned all Liuyuan's belongings to Liuyuan.

And for the convenience of contact, he also gave Liuyuan a communicator for the guards. Through this small device, as long as they are in the fourth greenhouse, they can communicate with each other anytime and anywhere.

By the way, the residences of Liuyuan and Al were also arranged. In Watson's original words, Liuyuan needed to take a hot bath.

Liu Yuan didn't know whether he needed to take a bath.

So she pulled up her clothes and smelled it.

Um······

She thought she might have found another reason for the wolves' escape.

It smelled like a ten-day-old corpse soaked in expired junk wine.

For creatures, it obviously already has a certain lethality.

　Regarding the kitten on the cover, didn’t you say it was too funny? I just changed it to a more serious one. Why am I dissatisfied again, laughing and crying.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)