Chapter 21 Day of the Dead
In the next few days, under Emma's supervision, Milo basically did not go out and stayed at home every day to read information and documents.
Enid would come over to join in the fun when she didn’t have classes.
In other words, her grasp of basic knowledge is indeed very solid, and the information she compiled for Milo is quite complete.
However, Emma and Enid are right. For a layman like Milo who has no basic knowledge, it is simply impossible to fully understand the knowledge reserves of others for several years in just half a month. Tan.
Basic scientific knowledge is not a big problem for Milo. The key lies in the unheard-of laws and regulations. These are new versions of the ship that Milo has never been exposed to.
Five days after the painful endorsement day, it was the annual Day of the Dead in Nanwei City.
This is an important festival in the southern region of the country, which can be traced back to a commemorative sacrificial activity of the indigenous people hundreds of years ago.
On the Day of the Dead, people will follow the traditional commemoration method, bringing flowers, candies and the food that the deceased liked during his lifetime, and go to the cemetery to worship.
People will also build altars and light bonfires to create a relatively happy atmosphere, because the traditional concept of the Day of the Dead is the day when the deceased returns. The Nanwei people believe that they can lose their lives at any time. Relatives feel sad, but only on the Day of the Dead, the day when the deceased returns, they have to create a warm and beautiful carnival for the returning relatives and loved ones.
Nanwei people have a tricky perspective on death.
People here believe that death is a reflection of life. If death is meaningless, then life must be as well.
So death is to a certain extent the supplement of the highest meaning of life. The meaning of Day of the Dead is the recognition of the past life of the deceased.
On this day, the family members of the deceased will not only not be sad, but will even sing and dance all night long.
……
But for the city's security system, this is not a happy day.
The Day of the Dead is almost the most tiring day of the year for law enforcement officers and city guards.
Parades, parties and other folk activities will make the city a mess. Those wild and naughty children will show their most naughty side on this day and try their best to cause trouble. On the other hand, thieves and pickpockets will also be out in groups on this day. The more lively the situation, the easier it is for them to attack.
Not only is the city a mess, the suburbs are the real troublesome areas for public security system workers.
The vast majority of cemeteries are scattered in the mountainous areas on the outskirts of the city. In addition to the cemeteries, there are also many private graves with extensive branches. On the night of the Day of the Dead, countless fires will light up in the mountainous areas on the outskirts of the city, and bonfires will be spread all over the wilderness.
Last year, there were wild fires on the Day of the Dead, burning most of the vegetation in the mountainous areas in the southern suburbs, killing and injuring more than a hundred people.
So on the Day of the Dead, vacation workers like Milo had to obey the arrangements and go out on duty.
......
On the night of the Day of the Dead, the law enforcement officers took over the city's security, while the suburban areas were supervised by various departments of the city guard.
This means that Milo, Yan and others are on duty all night in the suburbs.
...
“Brother, look at me!”
Little Finn was jumping excitedly in the living room.
Emma painted Finn's face black with paint, and then used white paint with fluorescent effect to outline the shape of a skull on his face. Finn was so happy that he felt like a chicken. He was running around in circles in the living room with his teeth and claws like blood, making a "ouch" sound that he thought was scary.
Kang Ze was busy preparing the items needed for the sacrifice, muttering:
"Wear more clothes, it's very cold on the mountain at night... Hey, where did I put my tent that was still there just now."
Kang was busy making preparations in the corner.
Milo was waiting quietly.
According to the custom of the Day of the Dead, there will be a lively street parade in the city in the first half of the night, and every street will be full of businesses. In the second half of the night, the main battlefield is on the outskirts of the city. After all, sacrifice is the main content of the Day of the Dead. People will build bonfire altars in front of the graves of their loved ones until dawn.
The Varrocan family is no exception.
They were going to meet Emma and little Finn's biological mother, Kang's late wife.
Milo knew nothing about the deceased lady, because the lady was no longer there when he met the Kang family.
When the great plague forced Kang's family to rush to Nanwei City for refuge, the urn Kang always carried was his wife.
After the family settled down in Nanwei City, Kang buried his deceased wife’s ashes on the outskirts of the city. In the next five years, the family would go there to offer sacrifices every year on the Day of the Dead.
……
As usual, Kang Hui took his things alone to the cemetery on the outskirts of the city to make preparations. After all, setting up tents, cleaning up the camp, etc. were still very cumbersome. After arriving there, he had to work with family members of several adjacent graves nearby to set up the cemetery. Make a bonfire altar. At the same time, Milo was responsible for leading little Finn and Emma around the city twice.
After all, this is one of the few lively festivals throughout the year in Nanwei City, a lifeless city. Little Finn is at an active and playful age, and it is impossible for him to sit still. Yes, but Emma's body is weak, so naturally it is impossible for her siblings to travel alone.
So, after Kang left with tools and other things, Milo and Emma, the three Finnish siblings, also happened to go out.
“Why don’t you look like a female ghost or something like that.”
Milo looked at the passers-by dressed as ghosts and snakes walking along the street, and turned his head to glance at Emma.
She did not wear any special makeup. There was only a thin layer of makeup on her delicate face than usual. The only thing that was clearer was the more obvious eye makeup. As for her clothes, she was still as usual. Frigid style. However, under the warm lights of the city, Emma's face had a little more blood than before, and she no longer looked so haggard.
“Don’t I look like a female ghost?” Emma glanced at Milo.
Perhaps because the streets and alleys are filled with all kinds of laughter, the corners of this iceberg beauty's mouth, which is usually stern and unsmiling, have a slight upward tendency.
Milo, who was used to seeing Emma's dead face, was stunned by this stunning smile.
Emma seemed to notice Milo's dull gaze, and she frowned slightly: "What are you looking at?"
Milo poked Emma's side and behind with his finger: "I'm looking at the people parading over there. There seems to be a naked body inside the person. "
Looking in the direction that Milo pointed, sure enough, there were indeed some men and women wearing masks, and their bodies were covered with various colors, but Naked...
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is really true. Putting on the mask is equivalent to taking off the mask." Milo narrowed his eyes.
“Where, where, where?”
Little Finn kept jumping up in the crowd, but Emma slapped him back: "What are you kids looking at?"
In the middle of the street was a slow-moving parade, some dressed as Southerners. There are aboriginal people who walk on stilts and pretend to be various ghosts. Of course, there are also dancing girls in hot clothes.
Not only the parade in the middle of the street, but also the fancy costumes of the people on the sidewalks on both sides of the road are extremely imaginative. Some are dressed as evil spirits in medieval horror legends, and there are also succubi wearing revealing nun uniforms... …
“Does it look good?” Emma’s questioning voice forcibly pulled Milo’s eyes back from the row of succubi’s buttocks.
Milo licked the corners of his mouth without concealment, then reached out to take two lollipops from the candy vendor next to him, and flicked two coins into his hand.
"It's the same kind of tricks every year. It's not interesting. What I'm looking forward to is you pretending to be one for me to see." Milo opened the packaging bag, held the candy in front of Emma and shook it: "Here, open your mouth. "
Habitual teasing moves like Milo's can only get a blank look from Emma.
Of course Milo knew that Emma would not eat what he handed her due to her personality, but he was just happy to tease her like this.
With his backhand, he stuffed the candy into little Finn’s mouth.
Emma lowered her head and glanced at Finn, the little skeleton monster eating candy at her feet, then turned to look at the bustling street and replied lightly: "Children only pretend to be ghosts."
As soon as he finished speaking, Milo next to him had just unwrapped the second candy, and the next second a furry head came over and took the lollipop away in one mouthful.
Then a very familiar girl’s voice came into Milo’s ears.
“Who said children only pretend to be ghosts?”
At this time, standing in front of the three siblings was a petite girl with cat ears on her head. , with makeup on her face, a playful cat nose on the tip of her nose, a few whiskers hanging on her face, and the small tiger teeth in her mouth are very conspicuous. She is also dressed like a little black cat, with a fluffy black tail hanging behind her proud waist.
“Huh?” Milo was stunned for three seconds before he realized that this was not Emma’s classmate, his tutor Enid.
Her dress is completely in line with Milo's first impression of her. It can be said that she perfectly interprets the word "little wild cat".
In the eyes of some adult men with special quirks, this look can definitely make people’s blood pressure soar.
Of course, some people don’t think so.
"Hahaha, brother, she looks like a dog." Little Finn suddenly pointed at Enid and laughed like a fool.
"Dog? How do you look like a dog? You are a dog. Your whole family is a dog, you little skeleton." Enid coquettishly wrapped one hand around little Finn's belly and carried him away. Get up and pretend to spank him.
Enid would come over to the house whenever she had free time these days, and she would have so much fun with little Finn that they seemed more like siblings by comparison.
In this way, Milo led Emma and the little wild cat, with a jumping little skeleton monster hanging behind him, and walked around the city for a long time, playing until late at night.
As time goes by, the flow of people on the streets gradually becomes sparse, because most people go to the outskirts of the city, where the main activities of the traditional Day of the Dead are.
The Milo siblings said goodbye to the little wild cat Enid and turned to the direction of the cemetery outside the city.
(End of this chapter)