60: Chapter 58: Tavern 60: Chapter 58: Tavern Qinghe District, one o’clock in the morning.
A very secluded old bar, under the neon lights, the signboard dim.
An old man in a white suit, leaning on a purple wooden cane, slowly walked into the bar.
Perhaps because it was a remote location, although it should have been open for business, the bar was empty.
Zhou Jiren ca to the bar, lit a cigarette, glanced inside the counter, and tapped on the tabletop.
“Thud thud.”
The trembling sound was not loud.
But two taps, the entire bar countertop, including the huge display cabinet and shelves behind it, seed to ripple outwards.
If there were other custors in the bar, they would see the space seeming like a lake, rippling uniformly with the two taps.
From inside the shadowy darkness of the bar, soone suddenly opened their eyes.
A flash of light shot from their eyes.
It was hard to believe that this flash ca from a tattered old man.
He was draped in a thin cloth like a beggar, under which his skinny fra resembled a skeleton, his eye sockets hollow and looking not quite awake, tightly holding a greasy-looking liquor bottle in his hand.
The two old n, each in their light and shadow, making a stark contrast in their attire, physique, and spirit.
“Didn’t expect your business to be so bad… Surely I’m not your only custor?”
Mr.
Shu slowly sat on the bar stool, passing the lit cigarette over.
The tattered old man took it, took a deep drag, and chuckled softly, his voice as raspy as a skeleton’s.
“Besides you, who would co to such a bar to drink?”
He took out a stemd glass from the display cabinet and expertly mixed sothing under the counter, then placed it in front of Mr.
Shu a mont later.
“Rum, lemon, ice, coffee, honey… Hmm… the familiar taste of freedom, just a bit strange.” Zhou Jiren sipped, frowned while looking at his glass, and murmured, “You didn’t slip anything extra in, did you?”
“No money, can’t afford coffee, honey.”
The old man, who had already finished a whole cigarette in two or three puffs, turned and began rearranging the display cabinet.
Because of the ripple earlier, so liquor bottles had moved and others developed almost imperceptible cracks.
He reached out a hand, brushing it over as if over a mirror, slowly wiping away.
Those dry palms seed to hold an incredible magic power.
The residual tremors instantly disappeared, the subtle lingering ripples at this mont completely erased—
A buzzing sound faintly heard, was instantly cleared away.
The bar fell so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
“No wonder you were once considered the undefeated man of Changye, even after abandoning cultivation for twenty years, you still are a lion.” Mr.
Shu softly said, “Bai Shu, are you planning to nest in this place for a lifeti?”
“…”
The tattered old man nad Bai Shu, having smoothed out the ripples on the liquor cabinet, sat back in the darkness, speaking softly, “Defeating all in Changye was a joke…
Even a hundred years of cultivation wouldn’t make a match for Gu Changzhi.”
“Think about it, without Gu Changzhi, being ‘Changye Invincible’ isn’t too bad.
There’s no need to compare with him.”
Mr.
Shu sighed deeply.
“Besides,” he exhaled a puff of smoke, continuing leisurely, “I admire a hero like you who can bend and stretch.
Look… those who burn themselves out prematurely, which one has a good end?
After Gu Changzhi ca from outside, he’s still laying down asleep, it’s uncertain whether he can even wake up.
Fight now, and you’d surely win hands down.”
“Get lost!”
Bai Shu spoke coldly, “Zhou Jiren, if you ca just to humiliate … you’ve achieved your purpose.
The drink is finished, you can leave now.”
“Hold on, hold on… Let’s talk this through.”
Zhou Jiren imdiately backed down, switching to a pleading smile, tapped a docunt bag on the counter, then passed over a box of cigars.
Bai Shu furrowed his brow.
He took the cigar but did not reach for the docunt bag.
“Allen Turing…
A-009…
Truth Ruler…”
Mr.
Shu spoke softly, uttering the secret language.
After hearing so keywords, Bai Shu narrowed his eyes and slowly pressed on the docunt bag, dragging it in front of himself.
He opened it expressionlessly and read it word by word.
During this process, Zhou Jiren kept staring at Bai Shu’s face, observing his expression.
Seeing the confusion in Bai Shu’s eyes as he had expected, Zhou Jiren smiled and said, “This file is quite interesting, isn’t it?”
Bai Shu closed the file.
“A sowhat interesting young man,” he comnted, “a file that has nothing to do with .”
“I don’t understand…
What’s the use of showing these?”
He looked blankly at Mr.
Shu and said, “This world has developed too quickly, it has nothing to do with remnants of an old era like .
I just want to live underground, I only deserve to live underground.”
“You can go out and see for yourself, the young are doing well, but this world still belongs to us old tirs.” Zhou Jiren shrugged his shoulders and smiled, “But a single person’s strength is ultimately weak.
I haven’t sought you all these years, haven’t disturbed your life, but seeing this file, perhaps you should change your mind.”
“Never seek out again.”
Bai Shu did not hesitate even for a second.
Expressionless, he said, “Zhou Jiren, you should be well aware…
if I wanted to step into the outside world, if I were still the man I was twenty years ago, you wouldn’t have been able to enter this bar unhard today.
The mont you stepped through the door, I would have acted.”
“You were once my friend, but now…”
Bai Shu leaned back slowly.
“What I detest the most…
are the Council, the Judgent Institute, and people like you who knowingly sell out to them for their cause.”
Mr.
Shu fell silent.
After saying all this, the bar returned to its extre stillness.
Bai Shu held the docunt bag and pushed it back to the side of the table.
He spoke no more, and was too lazy to even open his eyes again, just waving his hand in a gesture like shooing a fly.
This ti, he was too lazy to speak again.
“…”
Mr.
Shu retrieved the docunt bag, stood up, walked to the entrance of the bar, stopped, and then returned again.
In the shadows, Bai Shu still had his eyes closed, his brow furrowed, showing an impatient expression.
“No matter what you say…
at least I am doing sothing that chases hope.
Even if hope is faint, even if in the end she never revives,” Zhou Jiren said coldly, “and you?
Lying in a decrepit bar, half-buried in the ground, drinking and sleeping—are you planning to fulfill your promises to her in your dreams?”
Bai Shu opened his eyes.
A fierce fire of fury blazed in his pupils.
In an instant, sothing unfolded.
The entire underground bar fell into absolute stillness—
including Mr.
Shu.
And the next mont, all the lights went out.
Bai Shu closed his eyes.
His voice was devoid of anger or sorrow, only endless emptiness and numbness.
“Fool…”
“Stop chasing,” he turned over and muttered in a dreamlike whisper, “Hope is sothing that should never have existed.”
User Comments
0 comments from readers