Light Fortress-Chapter 60 - 58 Tavern
60: Chapter 58: Tavern
60 -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 came 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, seemed to ripple outwards.
If there were other customers 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, someone suddenly opened their eyes.
A flash of light shot from their eyes.
It was hard to believe that this flash came from a tattered old man.
He was draped in a thin cloth like a beggar, under which his skinny frame 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 men, 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 customer?”
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. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
“Besides you, who would come to such a bar to drink?”
He took out a stemmed glass from the display cabinet and expertly mixed something under the counter, then placed it in front of Mr.
Shu a moment 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, some 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 seemed to hold an incredible magic power.
The residual tremors instantly disappeared, the subtle lingering ripples at this moment 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 lifetime?”
“…”
The tattered old man named 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 me 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 came 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 came just to humiliate me… you’ve achieved your purpose.
The drink is finished, you can leave now.”
“Hold on, hold on… Let’s talk this through.”
Zhou Jiren immediately backed down, switching to a pleading smile, tapped a document 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 document bag.
“Allen Turing…
A-009…
Truth Ruler…”
Mr.
Shu spoke softly, uttering the secret language.
After hearing some keywords, Bai Shu narrowed his eyes and slowly pressed on the document 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 somewhat interesting young man,” he commented, “a file that has nothing to do with me.”
“I don’t understand…
What’s the use of showing me 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 me.
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 timers.” 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 me 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 unharmed today.
The moment 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 Judgement 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 extreme stillness.
Bai Shu held the document 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 time, he was too lazy to speak again.
“…”
Mr.
Shu retrieved the document 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 something 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, something unfolded.
The entire underground bar fell into absolute stillness—
including Mr.
Shu.
And the next moment, 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 something that should never have existed.”
