The friendly and joyful atmosphere was gone, replaced by an imnsely serious ambiance. Bologue felt like a criminal, surrounded by these people with no escape.
"What’s wrong?"
Bologue was perplexed by the change in attitude of Serey and the others. It was rely a conversation with Sai Zong; why were they reacting so strongly?
Serey snapped his fingers. Bode imdiately got up and closed all the doors, carefully checking the main door of the Undying Club to ensure it was tightly shut.
Wei’Er looked around warily. Although this was their territory, it seed as if an unknown enemy lurked deep within the Undying Club.
Serey discarded his relaxed deanor, becoming extrely tense.
"You an, at the very start of the tiline disorder, Sai Zong took the initiative to remind you and engage you in conversation."
Serey inquired seriously, "And after that, Sai Zong disappeared and hasn’t returned until now, is that correct?"
"Yes, so... is there sothing wrong with Sai Zong?"
Bologue asked in confusion. From his perspective, the Undead within the Undying Club got along quite harmoniously. They would often kick Sai Zong out of the way when he beca a nuisance.
But now they were filled with reverence and... caution towards Sai Zong?
"There are indeed big problems. After spending countless years together, we’ve sowhat learned about each other’s pasts, yet as for Sai Zong... we know nothing about him." Bode spoke up at this mont.
"We’ve known Sai Zong for a long ti, but you might not believe that we’ve hardly communicated with him," Wei’Er said, "He’s always playing so bizarre roles, and only switches roles every few decades; he’d say a few words then, mostly unimportant small talk."
"We think Sai Zong numbs himself by turning into another role. We’ve asked him, but he remains silent about it."
Serey toyed with the wine glass in his hand, analyzing Sai Zong’s mindset.
Everyone in the Undying Club had a terrible past, and they each used different ways to numb themselves to get through the endless years.
Alcohol and joy were Serey’s sanctuary; transforming himself into another being was Sai Zong’s way of escaping issues.
Bologue asked, puzzled, "So why are you all so wary of Sai Zong?"
Serey squinted his eyes. He hesitated, unsure whether to continue speaking. Bode and Wei’Er shared the sa attitude, and the atmosphere grew serious and oppressive. In those undead’s eyes, the previously safe club was becoming extrely dangerous.
"Bologue, have you ever thought about who founded the Undying Club?"
Faced with this mysterious question, Bologue shook his head. He hadn’t even been part of the Undying Club for a year, and he hadn’t t many mbers. How could he know such a thing?
"Are you suggesting... you suspect Sai Zong might actually be the owner of the Undying Club?"
Bologue quickly realized another possibility, his voice brimming with repressed astonishnt.
Everyone silently confird Bologue’s answer, strange emotions lingering among them. Serey poured a few more glasses of wine, hoping the alcohol might relieve so of the tension.
"Unlike what you might think, I didn’t truly join the Undying Club after the Dawn War ended a century ago. I’d known about it long before that."
Serey swirled the wine glass, watching as the ice cubes collided, reflecting light that pulled his thoughts back to ages past.
"That must have been... many years ago, I can’t quite rember. I recall Sai Zong had invited then. I would occasionally visit as a guest but never stayed or beca a mber."
Bologue listened quietly to Serey’s tale; this forr Night Race Lord rarely recounted his long past.
"After the Dawn War, I had nowhere to go. That’s when Sai Zong appeared again, making the invitation once more, this ti I accepted and thus found myself here."
A slight chill ran through Serey’s body as he realized, belatedly, certain things.
"Then sothing wonderful happened, Bologue.
No one told what to do, but as I lived here day by day, I couldn’t tell how it happened. Unconsciously, I adopted a certain identity here and beca the bartender."
Serey chuckled, his gaze sweeping over the familiar bar counter.
"It was like so sort of assimilation. Without realizing it, I beca part of the Undying Club as a bartender, the person responsible for managing this place, while Sai Zong, after I arrived, plunged into his role-playing as if having shrugged off his responsibilities."
Bologue felt a shiver of fear at Serey’s tale, "It all happened subtly, didn’t it?"
"Pretty much, by the ti I realized it, I’d been working for many years, and had invited many new mbers," Serey said, "I was shocked and felt like I’d fallen into a Demon Cave. I imdiately confronted Sai Zong, and he unusually broke character and responded to ."
"A sanctuary isn’t for free; everyone must contribute their value to maintain its operation."
Serey recalled Sai Zong’s words at the ti, surprised that he could rember such long-ago sentints so clearly.
"He said I could leave anyti I wanted, the Undying Club never confines anyone. The reason we can’t leave is our past binds us, making us afraid to return to the mortal world."
Serey paused, recalling his ghastly past, he couldn’t help but sigh, "He was right. We aren’t trapped here by the Undying Club, but by our past, unable to leave."
"It’s simple to leave; just truly step through that door and never look back, to embrace the destiny you’re ant to. But over all these years, none of us have had the courage to do so."
He pointed to the door of the Undying Club, indicating that each undead was free, yet imprisoned.
Everything cos with a price.
"That’s when I began to find Sai Zong suspicious, but you’ve seen how he acts usually; it’s truly difficult to take him seriously."
Serey spread his hands helplessly; no matter how fearso or mysterious the being, if they behaved like a dog daily—peeing everywhere, gnawing on table corners—who could take them seriously? Instead, they’d get kicked and punched.
Bologue understood Serey’s point, "Among you, Sai Zong is undoubtedly the most experienced, and in so ways, your arrival succeeded Sai Zong’s responsibilities. So you suspect him... of being the owner of the Undying Club?"
After saying this, Bologue was surprised by his own thought, akin to a completely unfounded wild conjecture.
Yet... yet Bologue couldn’t help but believe it; it felt like the only truth, and he thought the others felt the sa.
"The older, the nobler, the more capricious."
Serey didn’t answer Bologue’s question, only murmuring softly.
"This is an anomaly; Sai Zong voluntarily stopped his role-playing, communicated with you, and left the Undying Club."
Bode’s voice rumbled gruffly, his cold skeletal face turned towards Bologue, "Even now, we don’t know Sai Zong’s identity or what standings he holds in the Undying Club, but it’s certain he’s far from simple as he appears."
Their conversation gradually fell into silence. They didn’t know what more to say and instead sipped their drinks gloomily.
Bologue thought of the ever-spiraling staircase within the Undying Club, and the seemingly endless hallway. This seemingly carefree club hid unknown secrets.
No one knew Sai Zong’s true identity or where he had gone. At least for the days that followed, Bologue never again saw that comically dog-like figure.
Deep within the Undying Club, at the end of an almost untouched hallway, a room door remained tightly shut. Inside, faint snores could be heard, persisting for already a hundred years. Soone was sleeping here, never to wake up.
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