In the name of the true god

After removing the belts and electrodes from the body one by one, wiping it clean, and then putting the body into a body bag for cremation, Jude finally couldn't hold it in and vomited up his breakfast that he had just eaten.

When he returned to the death row and solitary confinement area, his face was slightly pale. He still couldn't stop recalling the reddened corpses of the death row inmates, and the smell of burning flesh and excrement...

"Smack."

Captain Foster lit a cigarette with a lighter.

The originally pungent smell of smoke actually alleviated Jude's nausea to some extent.

"How are you feeling?" the poet Anders asked with concern.

Jude wasn't in the mood to speak, he simply shook his head slightly.

Colin, the vain guy, said nonchalantly, as if he'd been there before: "Everyone's like that the first time. I had nightmares for two weeks straight, couldn't eat anything, and lost about 20 pounds. You might as well think about it from a different perspective: anyway, these people deserve to die, what do we have to be afraid of?"

Allen didn't say anything, he just patted Jude on the shoulder.

Jude remained silent.

He understood the reasoning perfectly, and throughout the entire execution process, he felt no pity whatsoever for the condemned prisoner.

But witnessing someone die a painful death in its entirety, the multiple impacts of sight, smell, and touch, cannot be easily erased simply by knowing that the other person deserved to die.

Seeing that Jude had been in a low mood all morning, Captain Foster couldn't help but reflect on his own actions.

Ultimately, he was just a 21-year-old "kid" who hadn't even been in prison for a full month. Dealing with gruesome corpses right from the start was bound to leave him with some psychological trauma.

During lunch in the prison guards' canteen, Captain Foster unusually asked Colin, "Are there any more social dances coming up?"

Colin paused, clearly not expecting his captain to bring up this topic: "Yes, every Thursday night, the Mitchell Hotel in our suburbs hosts a ballroom dance. The requirements aren't high; just dress appropriately and pay ten gold coins for drinks to get in. You…"

"I'm not going." Captain Foster turned his gaze to Jude, who hadn't eaten much and had only taken sips of water from time to time. "Take Jude to relax."

"Jude?" Colin realized what was happening and invited Jude again, "Jude, wanna come? It'll be good to clear your head."

"Me?" Jude was preoccupied and instinctively wanted to refuse.

"Go ahead," Captain Foster advised. "Otherwise, you won't have much to do when you get home tonight, and you might easily overthink things."

There are quite a few things you can do in the evening...

After a period of observation and imitation, I'm starting to grasp the basics of the law of similarity...

But the dance is on Thursday, so it doesn't seem to conflict...

Just as Jude was pondering.

The poet Anders interjected: "Thursday, Thursday? Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday, the 25th? Just, just, just, just got paid."

Colin nodded, chuckled, and asked, "What, you're going too?"

"I, I, I..." The poet Anders lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Alan, what about you?" Colin's interest was piqued. "Why don't we all go together? We've worked so hard all month, and now we've even lost half a day off. Shouldn't we treat ourselves to a good night's fun?"

"Sure." In front of everyone, Allen still acted like the kind-hearted guy who couldn't say no.

Seeing that even Allen and the poet Anders were going, Jude, who had been under a lot of mental stress lately, simply stopped hesitating and agreed: "Then let's go."

"Great, great, great! It'll be so exciting!" Colin said excitedly.

"Besides clothes and money, is there anything else I need to prepare?" Jude had never attended a ball in either his past or present life and knew nothing about the etiquette. "Like, should I learn how to dance first?"

Colin, forgetting about his meal, spoke excitedly, "This isn't one of those high-society balls, so there's nothing to be careful about. Drinks are a mandatory requirement for entry, to prevent too many idle people from causing trouble. As for dressing appropriately, it's just to make everyone more likable..."

After listening to him talk a lot, Jude had a general understanding of the ball.

Social balls did indeed originate from the aristocratic class, and only the powerful and wealthy could participate in them. They also had extremely high requirements for the location, participants, attire, and sense of ceremony of the balls.

But as demand expanded, balls gradually ceased to be limited to high society circles.

As early as one or two decades ago, many places began to build dedicated dance halls, and some, like the Mitchell Hotel, regularly organized social dances in the hotel's dance hall in order to attract customers.

of course.

Even after leaving high society circles, the barriers to entry still exist.

After all, the main purpose of a social dance is to make new friends, expand one's network, and even find a romantic partner.

If just anyone could get in, it would have been in complete chaos long ago.

Therefore, the ten gold coins for drinks as a threshold is neither too high nor too low. People who are willing to spend this amount of money to make friends generally have a formal job with a decent salary.

As for whether he can dance.

This doesn't fundamentally affect anything.

"...On the contrary, if you can't dance but are dressed smartly and handsomely, you'll definitely have plenty of ladies who will take the initiative to teach you. Then the two of you will be holding hands, with your arms around each other's waists, in such an ambiguous atmosphere, and you've even had a few drinks, tsk..." Colin got to the point, and his expression became even more lewd.

Seeing Colin's shrewd and worldly demeanor, Jude could understand why he was so obsessed with ballroom dances.

He was in the prime of his life, and his looks were certainly attractive to women. However, entertainment options for the lower classes in this other world were quite limited, and working in prison was very depressing...

For someone like Colin, there's no place more like paradise than a ballroom dance.

What about yourself?

Having a drink and dancing would allow Jude to temporarily unload the countless heavy thoughts from his mind.

"Captain, you should go too."

"I'm not going."

"Go."

"I'm not going."

Only the eldest brother, Killian, was married, so after Anders, Allen, and Jude all agreed to go to the ballroom on Thursday, Colin took the opportunity to persuade Captain Foster to go along as well.

Captain Foster declined, citing his advanced age as making him unsuitable for participating in activities for young people.

When Jude got off work that evening, he still hadn't run into Connor, so he could only continue driving home.

"Woof."

In nearly a week, the golden retriever puppy has fully adapted to its new environment and has learned to wait obediently at the door to greet Jude.

The Siamese kitten was incredibly affectionate; as soon as Jude came in, it started climbing up his trouser leg.

"Good girl."

Jude hung his coat on the hanger and fed them some diced ham.

The two pets were enjoying their food, making whimpering noises.

Feeling a little better, Jude picked up the notebook on the table and reviewed the notes he had taken over the past few days.

We've observed enough.

The notes were also exceptionally detailed.

The recent imitations are fine in terms of physical form, but they lack a proper psychological fit.

"Hmm... it's time." Feeling that he was well prepared, Jude decided to try to enter the first stage of the similarity law tonight.