Chapter 2206: Autumn Arrives Late in the Golden City (Part 6)

Talia finally decided to attend the banquet, but she encountered a very realistic problem: she had no clothes.

Pamela said, "I like the two long dresses you brought, they have your own unique style, but they usually aren't the kind that the upper class likes."

"And if I remember correctly, the banquet host, Professor Rodriguez, has seen these two dresses. Wearing old clothes might be unwelcome."

"That was just one of the strategies against Bruce Wei En," Talia said after smoothing her hair. "It doesn't represent my personal style. In fact, it would be even less welcome by the upper society than that."

"Then are you going to buy a new dress?" Pamela sat on the edge of the bed and said, "It's still early, maybe we can go shopping."

Talia confirmed what she had to do, and then she found that she really had nothing urgent to do. She really shouldn't use this time to scout for information, even if it was just to learn more about Cat Getan's terrain.

But now was really not a good time to wander, because roads were being blocked everywhere, the streets were full of gangsters, and the whole city was preparing for the opening ceremony. Someone suspicious like Talia would be listed as the primary target of suspicion. For an assassin, attracting attention was not a good thing.

So she would rather huddle in the hotel and chat with Pamela than go out and do something she should be doing.

She walked to the hotel window and looked down, finding that there was some traffic jam, so she said, "Are you sure we can reach the commercial street smoothly?"

"We aren't going to the commercial street. The clothes sold there aren't suitable for a banquet. Custom-made gowns are definitely too late, but we can go to Green Street and walk around. The off-the-rack clothes there are clearly much better than those in the shopping center."

The two of them decided to set off. Pamela had already changed into a dress—not a banquet style, just a beautiful champagne-gold spaghetti-strap cowl-neck dress, her hair casually pinned up.

Talia wasn't wearing a dress; she wore a short sports top with long pants, her hair loose.

Because the cowl-neck dress was silk, the folds on the chest were very afraid of being pressed, so Pamela didn't carry a bag. Talia carried a small bag containing their mobile phones, wallets, sunscreen spray, umbrellas, etc.

After checking out of the hotel, the two of them walked toward Green Street, a distance of about 600 meters, walking along the parasols by the street.

In the past, Cat Getan wasn't a city very suitable for walking, but this didn't mean its streetscape wasn't beautiful. It wasn't entirely a security issue either; it was mainly that the level of community governance was too poor, and the infrastructure didn't meet standards.

When walking on the street, there was an overturned trash can every three steps, a flower pot smashed down from upstairs every five steps, almost no landscape or shrubs. Because there was no sun, there was no need for sunshades, which meant there was nowhere to hide when it rained.

In order to prepare for the music festival, the city was cleaned up, mainly because the entire city reconstruction project had reached the point where it had to clean up the city's appearance. Most of the problems had been solved before, and what followed was just checking for omissions and adding bricks and tiles.

Green Street was an extremely important street in Cat Getan's history. It was once a glorious portrayal of Cat Getan's four major families. During its most prosperous period, there were about twelve streets here, brightly lit every night, and Cat Getan's celebrities sang and danced here all night, with lights and wine.

Although the four major families were not as they used to be, the buildings and atmosphere they left behind were still very unique—not entirely luxurious retro, nor decadent extravagance, but a Gothic art with a unique dark style.

When Talia first stepped into this street, even though it wasn't raining continuously now, what appeared before her eyes was still the black, low-lying sky, thick dark clouds that would drop a rainstorm at any time, black umbrellas denser than raindrops pouring in, leather shoes stepping on puddles on the red carpet, walking into doors filled with golden light.

The distant sky was leaden gray and cold blue. The statues on the outer walls of the black-gray buildings had Persian scimitars flashing with cold light. The facial expressions of the characters in the Catholic-themed sculptures looked particularly cold. When looking up at the sky, it was as if they had seen something even darker and more terrifying.

Shadows flowed between the window curtains floating with golden light. The rain fell heavier and heavier, heavier and heavier. The back door of an inconspicuous dark street gradually flowed with blood, washed into the sewer by the rain, until it disappeared completely, and no screams could be heard—exquisite, delicate, calm, and panicked.

Obviously, Talia wasn't the first person to be shocked by this atmosphere. It wasn't until tourists kept pouring into this street that the municipal department realized, "Oh, we still have such a tourist attraction."

Then those mansions that were once deserted were transformed into hotels for tourists. Before long, tourists from all over the world flocked to them. Talia asked the valet at the door about the price of the hotel and got an answer that almost choked her to death.

"$2000 a night, why don't they go rob someone?!!" Talia strode past the hotel front door and looked back at Pamela, saying, "Where did you find so many suckers? And it's even fully booked."

"There's a special reason for this." Pamela held Talia back and stopped for a moment next to the hotel, then pointed to a small alley and said, "See that? This alley is a famous attraction. People usually call it Crime Alley."

"17 years ago, a gunshot here led to the most famous murder case in 20 years—the actual controllers of the Wei En Group, the Waynes, were both shot to death, and to this day, it remains an unsolved case."

"But they are still alive."

"That's worth $1800," Pamela spread her hands and said. "People want to know what the truth was back then. Some say it was self-directed and acted by the Waynes, just for the power struggle within the Wei En Group. Some say it was done by little Wei En, but his parents chose to forgive him."

"Of course, there are even more outrageous versions, such as the Waynes going to heaven because of their good deeds, but learning that they still had unfinished tasks in the human world, so they returned here, and the currently most widely circulated version is that they practiced black magic, and death and rebirth were just a link to extend their lives."

"So which one is true?"

"No one knows," Pamela shook her head and said. "Because of this, everyone hopes to find clues, or simply has a hypothesis and just wants to come and verify it."

Pamela pointed her finger at the building next to the alley and said, "Now the rooms on both sides of the hotel are the most popular and have been fully booked for a long time. The prices of other rooms have also soared, second only to the luxury suites in the Wei En Hotel where you can see Batman."

"You make me feel like this world is a meeting of a bunch of lunatics," Talia said bluntly, expressing her true feelings. "Lunatic organization, lunatic leaders, lunatic participants, and then the lunatics are very happy."

She spread her hands and said somewhat brokenly, "How can Bruce Wei En not mind that others treat the crime scene where his parents were shot as a tourist attraction? More importantly, how can the parties involved not mind?"

"They just don't mind," Pamela shrugged.

Along the way, many crows were seen landing on black street lamps, followed by flocks of sparrows and individuals among them that were outrageously large.

Talia saw a group of people set up a row of cameras on the roof. She didn't understand what they were doing. Pamela explained to her, "These are bird watchers."

"Bird watching is a very difficult thing. Except for some special breeds of water birds, the vast majority of birds have a very magical characteristic, which is that when the lens is not aimed at them, they are as quiet as sculptures. As long as the lens cuts over, even Superman might not be able to catch up with them."

"But the root cause of this problem is that the birds are too small. The camera technology required to track the movement of such small objects is too high, but if they are magnified 20 times, it's very simple."

"It just so happens that Cat Getan has giant individuals of various birds: sparrows, blackbirds, kestrels, and there are tits, sea eagles, and orioles in the suburbs."

Talia could see a row of birds that looked like water ducks flying past on the skyline in the distance, falling into the dense jungle and disappearing.

"In the past few months, the number of plants in Cat Getan has almost tripled. Do you have any insights on this?" Talia looked at Pamela and asked, knowing the answer.

"Actually, it's far more than three times. Those young seedlings and mosses that you can't see are the main force. They will grow vigorously in the next few months and then become raw materials for horticultural landscapes."

"You saved the mayor a lot of money."

"So I make money. In fact, I'm already looking at houses."

They continued to walk forward and finally encountered the first tailor shop. Unfortunately, it sold menswear. Pamela leaned against the wooden door and looked at the tie hanging on the door frame. The old man with glasses sliding to the tip of his nose inside looked at them and said, "A big shot must be holding a banquet, right? This is really good. Cat Getan hasn't had such a grand occasion for decades."

"How much did you sell this thing for?" Pamela was obviously more practical. She looked at the tie on the door frame and said, "You sell those to tourists for $60 each, right?"

The old man laughed and said, "Silly girl, this is real silk. It doesn't sell for less than $200."

Pamela scoffed and pulled Talia away. Talia turned her head to look at the tie and said, "That pattern is really special. It looks like a cloud of black clouds stirred together. I think my father might like it."

"Don't be a sucker. I'd think it was expensive if you gave it to me for $5. About 500 meters from here, there is the largest fabric market. There are plenty of such factory fabrics. Except for the pattern, there are no highlights."

They continued to move forward until a fragrance came from the entrance. A neatly dressed black guy kept waving at them, "Lady, lady, two ladies, there are fruit platters, coffee, freshly baked bread, cold drinks, hot drinks. Behind the door, there are scarves, umbrellas, suitcases. You can also rent scooters. Come in and take a look."

Pamela leaned over curiously and looked inside, only to find that this was actually a very large market. The shops were densely arranged together. She stepped back a few steps, looked up, and said with some doubt, "I remember this used to be a dance floor, right? How did it become a shopping plaza?"

"I'm just a little hungry. Let's go in and eat something."

Pamela remained three-tenths vigilant. She said, "Don't speak later. The accent of outsiders might make us spend twice as much money."

"Aren't you already looking at houses?"

"But they won't be able to rip me off for a single cent."

They walked in and found that there were many people inside, and some roads were even crowded. Talia wanted a cup of iced coffee, so they stopped in front of a shop.

Pamela stepped forward to bargain with the boss in a local accent. Suddenly, a scream came from behind her. She turned around and saw that it was Talia.

Talia touched her bag and said in shock, "Where is my wallet? I put it in my inner pocket. How could it..."

Talia was already too shocked to speak. She wasn't some female college student who came to shop on the weekend. She was an assassin who had undergone at least 20 years of professional training, but she had her pocket picked in such a shopping mall full of tourists. How could this be?

But Pamela only thought for less than a second before raising her eyebrows, looking around fiercely, and shouting.

"Catwoman!! You come out for me!!!!!" ===== CHAPTER 2207 =====