Madmen don't keep diaries

Chapter 215 214 Shadow and Sun

early morning.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the neatly dressed old William opened the shop on time.

As the store door opens, the scene of the factory streets comes into view, as if an ink painting is slowly unfolding.

The old and the new are intertwined, and the fireworks are everywhere.

The mist had not yet dissipated, and the sunlight shone through the clouds onto the stone road, casting a hazy halo.

The shops on both sides of the street opened one after another, and the doors creaked, as if awakening the sleeping market.

Rickshaw drivers were waiting in a line at the street edge. They wore coarse cotton jackets, their faces were weathered. Sometimes they talked to each other, and sometimes they stretched out their voices and shouted, "Take a ride!"

The sound drifted in the morning breeze, interweaving with the hawkers' cries, forming a unique bustle of the city.

There are endless pedestrians coming and going on the streets.

There are vendors pushing carts, workers going to work, coolies carrying goods, and children running and playing.

The women were busy under the eaves, some were mending clothes, some were washing vegetables and cooking. When shoemakers and pot menders passed by, they hurriedly called out to stop them and took out the items to be repaired from the house.

Occasionally, you can see a carriage passing by on the street. When the breeze blows up the curtains, you can clearly see the people sitting in the carriage, either wearing a dress or a mink fur dress.

When passing by a carriage, there will always be passers-by looking at it with envy.

The hustle and bustle of this corner of the city is repeated every day.

Old William took a deep breath and smiled contentedly.

This is his third year in this city. He has fully adapted to the atmosphere here and is enjoying the hard-earned freedom.

Cutting off his thoughts, old William turned the doorplate over and officially started a new day.

On the workbench, the dress he had rushed to work on last night was only half finished, so he walked over and continued to work.

Not long after, the doorbell suddenly rang.

jingle--

Normally there would be no visitors so early in the morning, so old William thought it was the apprentice who had arrived.

He was about to ask his apprentice to go into the inner room to get the thread wax, but when he looked up, he found that it was a strange man entering the store.

"Uh, welcome."

Old William said, "Please feel free to look around."

Tailors have very good eyesight, which is an essential professional quality.

Old William could tell at a glance that this was a respectable man, so he didn't specifically remind him not to touch him with his hands.

The male customer was not dressed in fancy clothes, just a simple brown-red long gown, but he walked with his head held high and his chest puffed out, with an imposing demeanor, far from the timid look of ordinary people who would enter the store with their eyes furtively glancing around.

Old William muttered to himself - this man's temperament is very recognizable, he is most likely from a military background.

But he did not show any vigilance, because the people who came to his store were of all kinds and from all kinds of professions, and he had never offended anyone in the military, so of course he didn't have to worry too much.

Hong Shenghuo looked at the dresses in the window and said slowly, "I heard that the owner of this shop is very skilled, so I came here to observe."

Old William had already returned to his work, and he didn't even look up when he heard this: "Every piece of clothing hanging in the shop was made by me, stitch by stitch. You are welcome to browse."

Hong Shenghuo turned around and looked at Old William behind the workbench: "You misunderstood, this is not what I want to see."

Old William didn't doubt it. He thought for a moment and said, "If you don't find what you like, you can still customize it."

He took out a pen and paper from the drawer. "Tell me your requirements. Generally speaking, a set of clothes can be sewn in a month, unless the material you want is special, it may take longer to purchase. Of course, if you are willing to pay extra, I can also help you rush the work."

Hong Shenghuo raised the corners of his lips, walked over, and looked at Old William across the counter: "My request is indeed quite special." The playful tone finally made Old William feel a sense of crisis.

He raised his eyes and met Hong Shenghuo's gaze.

Hong Shenghuo asked softly, "Do you think shadows can wear clothes?"

Old William shrank suddenly, and in an instant, he felt the scorching temperature from Hong Shenghuo.

Without thinking, he picked up the needle box on the workbench and threw it out.

Old William chanted a spell at the same time: "Breath of winter, bitter cold!"

All that was seen was a dense mass of sewing needles in the air flashing a faint blue light, carrying a wisp of cold air straight towards Hong Shenghuo's face.

Hong Shenghuo spoke calmly: "Ember, burn to ashes."

The temperature rose sharply and the air in front of him became distorted.

It was as if it had touched some invisible barrier. When the cold air and the high temperature collided, a "hissing" sound was made, and all the sewing needles turned into molten iron drops.

Hong Shenghuo spread out his palm to catch the molten iron. As the saying goes, it is impolite not to reciprocate, so he threw the molten iron out with his backhand.

The blazing "raindrops" rushed over, and Old William quickly chanted the spell: "The curtain of eternal night returns to shadow!"

His figure sank rapidly and disappeared into the shadows on the ground.

The molten iron was emptied and hit the cloth cabinet behind old William. The high temperature instantly ignited the cloth and the fire grew rapidly.

Hong Shenghuo had no time to care. He stared at the shadow under the workbench and changed his spell again: "Candle, the blazing sun is in the sky."

A dazzling golden light burst out from him, illuminating the entire store in the blink of an eye, and the shadows of all objects were forced into the corners.

Hong Shenghuo refused to leave even the slightest blind spot. He cast the spell again: "Embers, prairie fire."

Several arcs of flames visible to the naked eye emanated from him, and wherever they passed, clothes, shelves, counters—everything they touched was burned to ashes.

Hong Shenghuo had excellent control over his magic power. The flames were neither too much nor too little, and showed no sign of spreading outside the store.

From the beginning of the battle until now, he had not even moved a single step, yet he had forced old William into a corner with nowhere to hide.

Hong Shenghuo turned his head and looked at a corner of the store - that was the door leading to the inner room, and it was also the only place where there were still shadows.

He took a step forward, intending to go into the house and fight again.

At this moment, something unexpected happened.

A pair of shadowy arms stretched out from the shadows beneath Hong Shenghuo's feet and grabbed his ankles.

At the same time, Old William's voice rang out: "Breath of winter, eternal ice."

The surrounding temperature did not change at all, but Hong Shenghuo felt a bone-chilling chill from the depths of his soul.

The coldness spread from the feet upwards and reached the waist in the blink of an eye.

Hong Shenghuo's heart trembled, and he finally felt a sense of urgency.

Without time to perform any complicated hand gestures, his shoulders shook and his spirit separated from his physical body.

But even so, the spirit could still feel the coldness - it turned out that the freezing spell used by Old William in this sneak attack was directly aimed at the spirit.

But at least Hong Shenghuo bought some time with this move. While the freezing speed was slowing down, he immediately made a hand gesture: "Ember, burn the talisman and break the seal."

A flame burst out from the spirit's brow, and then quickly turned into layers of ripples covering the entire body.

I seemed to hear an illusory sound of ice cracking, and the coldness was dispelled in an instant.

(End of this chapter)