Chương 25: Influence
The desolate and dark underground cavern stretched far into the distance. There was nothing here—no trees, no wildlife, no natural light source.
From where Ethan and Scarlett were, they could see a city standing alone in the distance using binoculars Ethan had taken out of his Dimensional Pocket. The city was majestic, lonely, and somehow… striking.
A rocky spire stood in the middle of the city with a bright sun-like bulb on top of it. The city was surrounded by no walls, scarecrows were standing around the misshapen city as if to frighten something.
Sultry, brown brick houses stood here and there in disarray, something like a bird was flying around the huge bulb in circles, like insects used to move around the bulbs on Earth.
Overall, the place looked like an oppressive stronghold rather than a city.
But other than those things, in the light of the sun-like bulb, they could see small figures sitting or walking around there. They wore scant clothing and they were not high in number but still, they were the first familiar thing Ethan and Scarlett had seen since travelling here from Earth… Humans.
It was not clear from this distance but they had ashen skin and they wore robes like those worn in ancient China. They didn't seem dangerous. Hiding back behind the boulder, Ethan asked, "What do you say? Teleport in? Walk in?"
Scarlett stuffed a muffin cake into her mouth while looking with her own binoculars. Gulping it down, she spoke, "I have the [Dress Copy] ability. I will copy their clothes but I need to touch the clothes once. The best bet should be to teleport into a house, touch a cloth, and teleport into a hidden alley with changed clothes."
"Yeah, that should be my limit. At this distance, I can probably only use Teleportation 3 times…" He said, feeling slightly nervous. "3 should be my limit of teleportation in this world with that level of distance. An hour of rest and I can use it again without falling asleep."
She nodded. "Which house?"
"The building on the right side of the market. The man inside just left and he locked the door when leaving. No one should be inside. We could also mix into the market pretty easily after dressing up—there is a small crowd there."
"Okay. Let's do it."
"But there is an issue, I am not sure the man has clothing for women, I'll wear his clothes but what about you? You need to touch a woman's cloth, right?"
"No issues Ethe, it is a B Rank ability now, it's not like what you remember it. Dress Copy can copy male clothes and turn them into female style now—best fit for me."
Ethan was a bit surprised but he nodded and clasped her hands.
Then, put both of their binoculars back into the Dimensional Pocket and their figures vanished from place.
***
Ethan and Scarlett opened their eyes in a room that smelled of feet. The trash around the area was unbelievable—fruit skins, unwashed clothes, it even smelled of… piss along with feet. It was a disgusting room.
On the side of the room, there were empty jars and there was no bed here. Filled with disgust, Scarlett put a hand to her nose.
"Disgusting."
Ethan looked around. The room was tiny, a small car could fit inside—that was it. It was small and indeed filthy. He walked around and saw a pile of clothes on the side. They were the fresher ones… atleast in look.
With disgust etched on her face, Scarlett touched a white robe with her forefinger. Then backed away. She even used fire on her hands, as if to destroy any possible bacteria.
She quickly removed her clothes, the blue t-shirt, and threw it to Ethan, who put it into his Dimensional Pocket while looking at her.
Her milky and bare skin was a candy for the eye but quickly enough, a dull, white, feminine robe appeared around her and she looked at him with raised eyebrows. She obviously wanted opinions.
"Not bad," he said.
It was even clean like a just washed cloth!
What a cheat!
He asked, "You can't copy for me too, can you?"
"I can but it would vanish upon impact for you. If someone bumped into you or something, the clothes would vanish. I can regenerate it on myself as much as I want extremely quickly but not for you…"
Ethan sighed. He hadn't expected this. Even he didn't have ancient Chinese robes inside his Dimensional Pocket. He had wanted to steal clothes from here while Scarlett copied one for herself but the situation was unexpected.
There was no use mulling over it now, though. He could only choose one and adjust with it if he didn't want to waste a teleport. Scarlett looked at him wryly and he could understand the meaning behind her gaze.
He sighed and quickly got into the cleanest-smelling robes. It still smelled like sweat but it was better than anything else. Some sacrifices were necessary and he didn't mind such small things, honestly. It was just Scarlett's influence.
"Come, let's enter the mix and ask around about this… Human Matriarch person."
She held his hand, careful not to touch the clothes. He didn't do anything like touching her with it—even he didn't want to dirty her with such things. They teleported away and appeared in another part of the city, a dark alley that was visible in Ethan's Dimensional Senses.
Arriving there, they quickly walked out into the busy market and mixed into it. And soon enough, they were talking with a little boy. Asking questions that the adults would find suspicious.
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