For the next three days, she spent moving from places to places within the city of Hefei. By now, those piercing eyes no longer searched for her. The only question now was that was there a nose still following her? She sighed as she shook her head, "It's too bad that I've just lost my handkerchief too. I worked so hard to embroider that dandelion on it...."
She turned to a convenience store and smiled, "Well, it wasn't that good anyway. I'll just have to make another one."
It was disappointing that she ended up losing the product of her hard work under one of her good friend's tutorship, but what could she do about it?
With such thought, she walked into the convenience store and bought a small cosmetic set. Willow, then, went down by the river bed next to a bridge and began cleaning out the dead rabbit already drained of blood.
Seeing the blood disintegrate amongst the waters of the river, she recalled how she never wanted to eat such cute creatures when she was younger in her previous life, but she was in no position to complain or bemoan the fact that she murdered such an innocent creature. Instead, she got herself to work figuring out how to reduce the possibility of the gamey scent of the meat.
She didn't have many variety of spices now, but she did recall how simple it was to get rid of the taste of chicken with buttermilk. So, she had bought a lemon from the market earlier followed by a quarter gallon of milk. It was the most simple substitute to buttermilk from what she recalled. She was also in no position to buy other supplies, but she just needs to keep her body alive.
In the end, her small pan-fried rabbit dish was finished and she had her meal. She'll be honest, though, it wasn't the best. As she thought of some way to correct the dish in mind for the future. She suddenly heard voices of a man and a woman going across the bridge to her side. There were many spoke in the native language, but this one in an understandable dialect caught her attention the most.
"I heard the UN are hunting down the remainders of that candidate's corporation."
"This will surely be the end of that man's entire career."
"You don't even know half the story! Nobody does. Word has it that the government is hiding some secrets regarding the investigation and arrest of him and his people. Even now, it's said that nobody can find him, but numerous people have been caught by America's FBI."
"Seriously?! You'd think a man that liked to cosplay would have very few employees."
"As if! I told you he was crazy from the moment I saw his face on television! You didn't believe me!"
"All right, all right. I believe you. So, what happened next?"
"The strangest thing was that, when they were brought to question, the majority of them didn't understand the reason behind their own actions. It was almost as if they were brainwashed!"
The man laughed, "What sort of logic is that? Brainwashing people to that extent in this day and age is just stories."
"But that's what everyone has been saying!" The young woman insisted, "And, listen to this. It's said that, according to letters and emails he sent between distant relatives, this Elijah was also crazy enough to want to bring his old man back from the dead."
"Bring him back from the dead?"
"Said he'd break him out of the underworld." She clarified, "If that's not bringing him back to life, then what?"
The man sighed, "The man must've lost his mind. What does he want? Another zombie apocalypse like that in Oaklahoma of United States or even Britain?"
"Who knows. But, I've heard that, even after his death, those things haven't stopped yet."
"Let's stop here." The man spoke up as they voice began to grow distant, "If our words are overheard by you know who, then we're all in big trouble."
"Th-That's right. Sorry about that."
It didn't take much for her to know who they were talking about.
After finishing off the food, she buried the rabbit carcass under the river bed and cleaned out her small pan before covering up the mark on her forehead with the makeup powder she had just bought and continuing forward. Right now, she wasn't in a good position.
Forget money. She didn't even have a good lead! One after another, information is brought to her hands, but they were all just making the puzzle more complicated to solve and warning her with each step. They were onto her and, even if she wasn't afraid, she still lacked the ability to protect this body.
The ribs and sprained ankle was completely healed during her time in Sichuan, but she still lacked the ability.
Thinking this, she decided to go to one of the destinations she planned ahead of time. Heading into what looked to be a historical site of the home of one of Heifei's founders on the path of scientific innovation, she found herself in a large front yard with a large house that consisted of left and right wings separated from the main home.
The old fashioned home was located within a small rural residential area, but the place had long lost its function as a home and is now a museum of one of the people who helped build Hefei to its current place in the field of science. The pillars and paper windows were that of polished brown wood and tiles that curved up on the edges. The tall fencing walls were built up of clay and stone. The place smelled rather earthy and the interior of the home had the scent of wood.
While the yard had been warm due to the return of the sun, the interior was cool and shine with the light of the modern times. As expected, the place was very well preserved. Due to the virus, she and few other tourists that were also stuck in this country looked around the place. Intricate designs of the furniture show the wealth of the that once lived on this land.
Remembering the pamphlet outside at the gates, Willow recalled that the man who lived here hadn't really been the founder but had worked alongside them. He was apparently a general at some point in time during the World Wars as well. However, this man almost lived up to two hundred years. If not for the fact that he had been forgotten, he'd have been known to have been the person who's lived the longest during his time!
But...
She looked amongst the things that once belonged to the man behind the glass cover with great interest. In it were gloves and a military cap that the man once wore. Paintings of mountains shrouded by mist that almost looked like clouds. Documents pertaining to the records he wrote and the ties he had to researchers and scientists. Then, there was the letter he sent back and forth to his family.
On another wooden table behind glass box, there were many little trinkets. Some of which were covered in rust.
However, what caught her eyes wasn't any of those or the furniture. Instead, her eyes were glued to the old frayed gloves of the man. If anyone actually took the gloves for a careful glance, they'd have noticed that the gloves had yet to become tinged by the number of years after the owner had passed.
If her speculations were correct, this should give her some clues. Moreover, she felt heat when she sneakily touched the glass with her medical gloves. It was much like that of being next to a stove. After some questioning, she found that the material was that of silk.
Hearing that surprised her. She raised a brow and asked if there was any heating system within the interior during the cold winter days feigning interest in the preservation of the artifacts and interior. But, that wasn't the case. During the winter, they maintain the temperature, even during the summer. Nothing could be too hot or too cold.
Thinking this, Willow couldn't believe her luck. She smiled and thanked the tourist guide not wanting to further raise the man's suspicion. She looked around the place for a little longer before returning to the gloves when the guide changed shifts with another female worker. This time, she carefully inspects the gloves through the glass.
Gloves like these would have the name of the person who crafted it somewhere. Thinking this, she decided to wait a bit longer till she saw the female guide walk over to her with a friendly smile and spoke in Chinese, "Is there anything I can help you, Miss?"
"Oh, I was just wondering who made this pair of gloves for the general." She responded curiously, "The young man earlier told me that it was silk gloves, but the lace for it seemed unusual as if it was custom-made."
After much thought, the woman grew more curious as well as she explained, "During the era, Western culture had just begun to influence China and, so, the gloves were carefully crafted by special craftsmen who took years in crafting these gloves and other western-style clothing. Because he was a general, I believe it was a given that he would be given the chance for custom gloves or he would use his own money to purchase them."
Hearing her explanation, Willow nodded, "Then there must've been a lot of good craftsmen and tailors during that era. Do you know if some of those craftsmen and their families still continue with this business during our time now?"
"Of course." The woman smiled, "Not all of them, but many still continue business to this day."
"I see." She smiled wider, "I'm trying to write a report on the craftsmanship of military attire for my college essay in New York and can't find much information online. So, I took my chance to come here during a vacation trip."
"So, that's it!" The woman chuckled, "It's certainly true that you would only have to go and find a museum such as this one, then. You can try interviewing one of the families of the craftsmen. I believe there was an old retired craftsman just around the neighborhood. You could occasionally find him sitting just outside the gates basking in the sun."
Hearing her words, Willow's eyes widen in surprise, "With the current situation?"