Bulwark of Light

Chapter 58 Tavern

Qinghe District, one o’clock in the morning.

A very remote old pub with a dimmed plaque under the neon light.

An old man in a white suit, holding a purple wooden cane, slowly walked into the tavern, perhaps because of its remote location, the tavern was empty when it was supposed to be open for business. .

Zhou Jiren came to the bar, lit a cigarette, glanced inside the bar, and knocked on the table.

“Boom thump.”

The tremor is not loud.

But with two taps, the entire bar table top, including the huge display cabinets and shelves behind it, seemed to have a circle of ripples.

If there are other guests in the tavern, they will see that the space is like lake water. With two taps, ripples with the same frequency will oscillate…

The inside of the bar is dark In the lacquered darkness, someone suddenly opened his eyes.

A flash of light flashed in his eyes.

It’s hard to believe that the sudden light came from an old fogey in ragged clothes. He was wearing a cloth shirt as thin as a beggar. He looked like he was holding the greasy bottle tightly in his hand.

The two old people, in the light and in the dark, form an extremely sharp contrast in their clothes, body, and spirit.

“didn’t expect your business to be so bad… won’t I be the only one here?”

Mister Shu slowly sat on the high stool and turned the lighted Cigarettes were handed over.

The ragged old man took it, took a deep breath, and laughed softly, his voice hoarse like a skeleton.

“Who else would come to drink in a pub like this except you?”

He took out a goblet from the display case, skillfully mixed it under the counter, and returned after a while. In front of Mister Shu.

“Rum, lemon, ice cubes, coffee, honey… um… the familiar taste of freedom is a bit weird.” Zhou Jiren took a sip, frowned at the wine glass, and mumbled : “Didn’t you secretly add ingredients to me?”

“I don’t have money, I can’t buy coffee, honey.”

The old man who finished a whole cigarette in two or three puffs, turned to He turned around and started tidying up the display cabinets behind him. Because of the ripples just now, the positions of some wine bottles had changed, and some wine bottles had cracks that were difficult to detect with naked eyes.

He stretched out a hand, stroking it like a mirror, and slowly wiped it.

Those dry palms seemed to possess incredible magic power, the reverberation of the shock disappeared in an instant, and the tiny ripples that were still reverberating were wiped out in this brief moment—

Buzz ! Buzz! The slight noise of Buzz! was all cleared up in an instant.

The tavern is silently audible as needles drop.

“As expected of the man who once fought Nagano’s invincible hand, he has been abandoned for 20 years of cultivation, and he is still a lion.” Mister Shu indifferently said: “Atractylodes, are you going to live in a place like this for the rest of your life?”

“…”

The ragged old man named Bai Zhu, smoothed the ripples of the wine cabinet with both hands, sat back in the darkness, and said in a very soft voice: “The invincible hand of Nagano, It’s just a joke… After 100 years of cultivation, it’s not Gu Changzhi’s opponent.”

“Let’s open up, without Gu Changzhi’s Nagano Invincible, it can be regarded as Nagano Invincible. There is no need to compare with him.”

Mister Shu long sighed.

“And.” He let out a puff of smoke, leisurely said: “I admire a hero like you who can bend and stretch. Look… Those who burn themselves too early, how can they end well? Gu Changzhi After I came back from outside, I’m still lying down and sleeping. I’ll tell you whether I can wake up or not. If you fight again now, you’ll win properly.”

“Get out!”

Atractylodes He said coldly: “Zhou Jiren, if you’re just here to humiliate me…you’ve achieved your goal. You’ve finished drinking, you can get out.”

“don’t, don’t , don’t …Speak slowly if you have something to say.”

Zhou Jiren immediately confessed, he put on a pleasing smile, took a picture of a document bag on the counter table, and then handed it out A box of cigars.

Atractylodes frowned.

He took the cigar, not the briefcase.

“Alan Turing…A-009…Ruler of Truth…”

Mister Shu whispered, he whispered secret words, heard After some keywords, Bai Zhu narrowed his eyes, slowly held down the file bag, and dragged it in front of him.

He opened it expressionlessly and read it word by word.

During this process, Zhou Jiren kept staring at Bai Zhu’s face, he was observing the other’s expression, and after seeing the confusion in Bai Zhu’s eyes as he expected, he grinned and laughed, saying: ” This file is quite interesting… isn’t it?”

Bai Zhu closed the file.

“An Interesting teenager.” He gave such an assessment, “A file that has nothing to do with me.”

“I don’t understand…you show me What’s the use of these?”

He looked at Mister Shu blankly, and said, “This world is developing too fast, and it has nothing to do with the remnants of the old era like me. I just want to live underground. , I only deserve to live underground.”

“You can go out and have a look, youngster has done a good job, but this world still belongs to us Old Guys.” Zhou Jiren shrugged, said with a smile: “It’s just that one person’s strength is weak after all. I haven’t looked for you over the years, and I haven’t disrupted your life, but after seeing this file, maybe you should change your mind.”

“Forever Don’t come to me.”

Bai Zhu didn’t even hesitate for a second.

He said blankly: “Zhou Jiren, you should be very clear… If I want to go to the outside world, if I am still the character I was twenty years ago, you can’t be safe today. Step into this tavern. Immediately as soon as you walk in, I’ll do it.”

“You used to be my friend, but now…”

Bai Zhu slowly moved towards Lean back.

“What I hate the most…is the Council, the Tribunal, and people like you who know the truth but die for them.”

Mister Shu fell silent.

After saying this, the tavern returned to a state of extreme silence.

Atractylodes pressed the file bag and returned it to the table again.

He didn’t speak anymore, didn’t even bother to open his eyes again, he just waved his hand and made a gesture like expelling flies.

This time, I don’t even bother to talk about it anymore.

“…”

Mister Shu retracted the file bag, he stood up, walked to the door of the pub, stopped, and returned again.

Atractylodes in the shadows still closed his eyes, frowned, showing an impatient look.

“No matter what you say… I’m at least doing something to chase hope. Even if the hope is slim, even if she still won’t recover in the end.” Zhou Jiren coldly said: “And you? A dilapidated tavern, half-buried in the soil, except for drinking and sleeping, are you ready to fulfill the promise you once made to her in your dreams?”

Bai Zhu opened his eyes.

A fiery flame of rage burst out from those eyes.

In an instant, something unfolded.

The entire tavern is in absolute stagnation—

including Mister Shu.

And next moment, all the fires are extinguished.

Atractylodes closed his eyes.

There was no anger, no sadness in his voice, just endless emptiness and numbness.

“Stupid…”

“Stop chasing.” He rolled over and whispered in a dreamy voice, “Hope is something that shouldn’t exist.”

Happy Christmas Eve~

(End of this chapter)