As for the welfare order... it was an office established by the municipal government, churches, and charity organizations to provide a proper funeral for those without relatives... that is, for those with no one to cover the expenses of their funeral.
Funeral parlors had to actively compete for welfare orders. It's divided by area, and with each layer of exploitation, the profits that ended up in the funeral parlor's hands were so thin that they could almost be disregarded. However, it could guarantee the operation of the funeral parlor. After all, even if they didn't have any business, they still had to pay the staff, right?
Correspondingly, dealing with Welfare Orders was a bit easier, as there were few relatives and friends to monitor and found fault with.
After a simple treatment of the body, it's placed in the coffin. Grandpa dressed in a priest's robe stood beside the body, and a few photos were taken by the people sent by the relevant government departments for filing and registration. Then they could just wait for the end-of-month payment.
"Yes, madam, I know him. His name is Jeff, a guy who always loses when he plays cards. Alas, I'm even more unlucky, because every time he goes to the bar to play cards, I'm not there." Ron said.
"Madam, there's also an order that we need to go to the Flower Water Bay Nursing Home." Paul said.
Aunt Mary immediately shouted, "Let the nursing home's care workers bathe him first. Or don't bring him back. Last time we brought an old man who had poop crusted on his body."
"Alright." Paul immediately assured.
After that, he and Ron took an empty stretcher back to the hearse.
"Beep beep... "
Uncle Mason, who was sitting in the car with a cigarette in his hand, honked the horn.
He first yelled at Karen,
"My little Karen, it seems your body has recovered well."
"Yeah, uncle." Karen replied.
"Haha, that's great." Then he looked at his wife and shouted, "Darling, I want some meat-filled pancakes for lunch. It's one of the only two things I love most in my life!"
"Eat in the bathroom! I don't have time!"
Uncle Mason shrugged,
And continued with his shameless laughter:
"Oh, that's my other favorite!"
Aunt Mary couldn't hold her expression anymore, she turned her head away, her mouth twitching.
"Let's go, darling!"
Mason started the car and left.
Aunt Mary took a deep breath and reached for the stretcher.
Karen naturally came over to help.
Aunt Mary glanced at Karen but didn't move.
Karen looked at her with some confusion.
"Karen, you seem a bit different."
"Maybe."
Karen didn't bother to cover up the "time travel". In fact, for a "time traveler", the most thing they need not worry about was that people around them would think that their soul had been replaced, right?
Crazy, huh!
"Go to the basement."
"Alright, Aunt Mary."
The aunt and nephew, together pushing the stretcher with a corpse, went around the corner of the first-floor hall and down.
There was a ramp leading to the basement, with a flat slope in the middle.
When pushing down, one needed to control the speed to prevent the body from sliding.
"It would be nice if we could install an elevator," Karen said when they reached the basement, his hands gripping the stretcher a bit strained.
"Like the ones in department stores?" Aunt Mary scoffed, "Crazy, do you know how expensive that would be?"
The basement had only one floor and was divided into three rooms or functional areas.
One is a storage room... actually, it's not a storage room. There are many items needed by the funeral parlor, and they were piled up quite neatly.
Another is the morgue, which didn't have a single body in it. Inside, Karen didn't see any refrigerators.
Karen didn't ask why they didn't buy a refrigerator, because he believed that if he asked, Aunt Mary would answer: "Crazy, do you know how expensive that would be?"
However, this also showed that the Immeras family didn't have much business, and they didn't even need to "stock up".
But on the other hand, it also showed that in any era, and any cultural background, the business of dealing with the dead... is indeed profitable.
The last room is Aunt Mary's workroom, where she needed to "beautify" the bodies.
Even if people looked good when they were alive, after death, they became very... ordinary.
Not to mention those who didn't die normally, the workload is even greater.
For Welfare Orders, they generally only need to take care of the face, with no family to worry about any other details. For bigger orders, though, the family is willing to spend money to make it more elaborate, the whole body needs to be cleaned, even the nails trimmed. After that, everything from the coffin to the clothes, the priest's prayers, and even the arrangement of the mourning hall can be graded.
Karen helped Aunt Mary push the stretcher into her workroom,
Aunt Mary pulled a chair over, sat down, and put an ashtray on the stretcher, almost right in front of Jeff's face.
"Snap..."
Aunt Mary lit a cigarette, took a puff, and slowly exhaled.
Excluding her "sharp and mean" personality, Aunt Mary was indeed quite good-looking. Although she's getting older now, she still has charm.
Of course, even the most dignified and elegant woman, who has been tricked by Uncle Mason into doing this job, would find it difficult to maintain her grace.
Karen stared at the cigarette in Aunt Mary's hand.
Aunt Mary noticed,
and smiled faintly,
pushing the cigarette pack towards Karen.
Karen reached out, grabbed one, and picked up a lighter.
He lit it.
And took a puff.
"Cough, cough... cough, cough... vomit..."
Intense nausea surged, and Karen covered his chest as he started coughing violently.
"Hehehe, hahaha..."
Aunt Mary laughed until she had tears in her eyes.
This scene wasn't something Karen deliberately put on; in his previous life, he was a heavy smoker, but this body had not been poisoned by nicotine. Both his body and brain sent out a "refuse toxins" warning at this moment.
Aunt Mary put out the cigarette,
She checked Jeff's body and confirmed there were no other external injuries. She tried to straighten his face.
Just gave him a simple touch of makeup, and the job would be done. Once the workers returned, they could dress Jeff and carry him up. With this weather, they could even skip the preservative process.
"Hmm?"
Aunt Mary released her hand and said to Karen:
"You try it, I can't move it."
"Oh, okay."
Karen put out the cigarette, and reached out his hands, one hand on Jeff's neck and the other grabbing Jeff's right cheek.
Applying force...
Force...
Force again...
Jeff's face slowly began to straighten.
But to Karen's amazement, more precisely, something that Aunt Mary next to him couldn't see, was that as he applied force to straighten it, he felt that Jeff's body was also applying force to the right...
It didn't feel like trying to move a dead person's face, but rather like wrestling with a living person!
This discovery made Karen's heart sink slightly. However, just as he was about to let go, he suddenly found that the force wrestling with him disappeared. No...after letting go, Jeff's head...
"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."
It straightened itself!
Jeff's eyes,
suddenly opened wide,
staring at Karen.
His mouth began to move frantically, making a sound like a group of rats gnawing at a wooden plank.
Karen subconsciously backed away two steps, his back against the wall.
Suddenly...
"Bang"...
As if the back of his head had been hit hard with a shovel.
Karen's body curled up,
And his vision grew blurry,
But he resisted losing control of his surroundings in this situation.
Soon he forced himself to raise his head despite the intense pain at the back of his head,
In his vision,
there was a sea of red.
Karen staggered back,
As he retreated, his sight began to rise,
He discovered that the red he saw was a high heel, and above the high heel was a tall and white leg. On the opposite side, there was also a giant high heel with an equally large leg above it...
As if
he was a little mouse, standing next to a person's foot.
"Plop..."
Karen lost his balance and fell sitting on the ground.
He didn't know whether this was a dream or his mental state was causing him to hallucinate...
Until...
"Drip..."
A thick liquid fell on him, soaking his entire upper body.
Karen slowly raised his head.
He saw,
above him,
between these two giant legs,
a woman's face,
looking at him with curiosity and a smile.
Meanwhile,
from her slightly parted lips, droplets of saliva fell from time to time.
"Hiss... hiss... hiss..."
The sound of static mixed with white noise seemed to come from nowhere,
A deep, magnetic middle-aged male voice rang out,
"Do not be afraid. This beautiful and enchanting lady... just craves your body."