NABC Page 18
Page 18
"So what if it gets burned? I'm here."
Margaret nodded, looked at him for a while, and then suddenly whispered, "That woman is our neighbor from the next street."
“I’ve never offended her, but they always seem to dislike me.”
“They always make up lies, saying that I’m having an affair with this man or several men, and that the money I make for the bar is all ill-gotten gains.”
Margaret whispered, "The tavern was left to me by my mother, and I've never had a boyfriend."
Lin Jiu'an smiled but did not agree with her. Instead, he explained in the same way, "I have tried to explain to them patiently before."
"But in the end, it turned out to be useless."
"Some people you can reason with; but most people in this world, if you want them to listen to you, you have to show them your fists."
Margaret started laughing through her tears, but then she started crying again.
She thought of the hotel where she grew up, a place that held memories of her deceased mother, but now, everything was destroyed in that fire.
"Want to come to Liyue with me?"
"I...I don't know."
This is, after all, the place where I grew up.
Lin Jiu'an didn't say anything more, but gently stroked her hair and her back.
After a while, Margaret cried herself to sleep again, and Lin Jiu'an, looking at Margaret with tears streaming down her face, finally made up his mind.
Gently separating her tightly gripping hand, he wiped away her tears, covered her with the blanket, and then left the hotel, heading straight to the "Angel's Gift" tavern.
Behind the bar, a young man with short, fiery red hair was mixing drinks.
Because of the fire in the city, many drinkers went to watch the excitement, so there were two empty seats in front of the bar, which is unusual.
Do you know Kent?
Diluc raised his head slightly, looked at the smiling boy, and paused for a moment.
The boy's smile reminded him of someone.
"PhD".
For some inexplicable reason, Diluc asked, "What do you want with him?"
"I guess he burned down my boss's house."
Lin Jiu'an smiled and said, "The 'Cat's Tail' tavern, Margaret, you know, debts must be repaid, it's a very simple principle."
Diluc paused for a moment, then said, "Five blocks east, to the 'Iron Hammer' tavern. That's where he usually drinks."
"Thanks, I owe you a favor."
After Lin Jiu'an left, the bartender Charles suddenly said, "Sir, is it alright to just tell him that?"
Diluc looked at him.
Although he had been traveling in mainland China for several years and had seen many people and things, Charles, as a bartender, was no less capable than him in judging people.
"I have a feeling that a lot of people will die tonight."
Diluc paused in his wiping of the cup.
······
"Iron Hammer" Tavern.
Kent and his men were eating meat and drinking wine.
While the wine certainly can't compare to that of Château de la Décor, the barbecue here is absolutely amazing.
A group of five people were sitting at a large table.
Each of them had a scantily clad woman on either side of them. Normally, they wouldn't be willing to order these garlic-peeling girls to accompany them while drinking, but having just completed a 'big order' and received a sum of money from the boss, the extravagant Kent not only ordered garlic-peeling girls, but each of them ordered two.
"Here, drink."
After groping the scantily clad beauties around him for a while, Kent enjoyed being fed meat and wine by them. He took a sip but felt it wasn't enough, so he grabbed a glass and raised it high with a loud laugh.
To his surprise, the four underlings did not clink glasses with him.
Instead, his four henchmen and the women all looked at what was behind him with strange, even horrified, expressions.
Kent realized something was wrong and slowly turned his head, only to see a young man with the appearance of Liyue and Inazuma standing behind him with a terrifyingly warm smile.
"Your name is Kent, right?"
Kent didn't even answer.
Lin Jiu'an had already reached out and grabbed his head, pressing it down sharply.
'Bang!'
Kent's head slammed solidly into the table.
The wine was spilled all over the floor, and shards were scattered everywhere.
The noisy tavern suddenly fell silent.
Some people at the tables were holding their drinks, but forgot to drink and stared at him blankly.
Some people stood in the aisle, motionless and blank.
The bartender behind the bar continued mixing drinks, while the waiter serving drinks held the tray and the drinks half-raised.
Time seemed to stand still in the tavern, except for Lin Jiu'an's unchanging smile, his right hand gripping Kent's head with five fingers.
"I'll ask, you answer," Lin Jiu'an said softly.
"Did you burn down the 'Cat's Tail' tavern?"
It took Kent a while to recover from the buzzing in his brain after the impact. Hearing Lin Jiu'an's smile, which was strangely indifferent, Kent was filled with terror.
He knew he had met his match this time.
People who always have a cold face or a fierce look are actually fine.
It's those people who always have a smile on their face who are the most ruthless when they actually do something!
"No, it wasn't me..."
"wrong answer."
Lin Jiu'an grabbed his head and lifted him up, then took a step forward and slammed his head hard against the wall.
'Bang!'
A dull thud resounded, and everyone in the tavern couldn't help but shudder.
Kent's head was covered in blood from the impact.
The smell of blood finally brought the stunned bar hostess back to her senses. Her slightly open mouth snapped back to reality, and she screamed, "Ah!"
"Shhh."
Lin Jiu'an turned to look at her and put his left index finger to his lips.
"Quiet, okay?"
The woman's scream stopped abruptly. She nodded hurriedly, covering her mouth and not daring to make a sound.
The people in the tavern came to their senses, but none of the drunkards dared to make a sound, and none of them even tried to move to escape the tavern.
Lin Jiu'an then smiled and turned around, leaning close to Kent's ear and whispering a question as if he were a lover.
"I'll ask you one last time."
"Did you burn down the 'Cat's Tail' tavern?"
Chapter Twenty-Two: He Came to Kill
"Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it! I did it!"
Extreme fear caused Kent to burst into tears and scream in terror, but no one in the tavern dared to laugh at him.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I really didn't mean to! Please let me go! Please let me go!"
"Who?"
"I don't know, he's the one who comes to me."
I felt the hand gripping my head tightening its grip, as if it was going to crush my head.
Kent screamed in terror, "I once secretly followed him and saw him enter the Feng Hua Mansion in the Upper Town!"
"In his fifties, he wore a black tuxedo, had gray hair, and always had a blank expression."
"That's all I know. I've told you everything I know. Please, please let me go!"
Lin Jiu'an smiled.
Kent quickly smiled obsequiously in response.
next moment.
The hand gripping his head tightened its grip.
'Crack!'
Kent suddenly felt his field of vision change 190 degrees, from being sideways to facing the wall directly.
My neck hurts a lot.
Kent instinctively reached out to press his neck, only to find that he seemed to have completely lost sensation.
Why can't I control my hands anymore?
Kent looked down blankly and saw his own shoulder.
That was the last time he saw her.
The sound of swallowing saliva echoed continuously throughout the tavern.
The patrons felt a chill run down their spines at the sight of Kent's gruesome corpse. Many of them had killed Hilichurls in the wild, and some had even killed humans, but they had never seen anyone so ruthless.
Lin Jiu'an released Kent's body.
'Snap!'
His face was devoid of any smile as he turned his head indifferently to look at Kent's remaining four henchmen.
"Are you going to do it yourselves, or should I do it for you?"
"We didn't do anything. He set the house on fire. We didn't do anything."
Lin Jiu'an silently walked towards them.
The footsteps were neither hurried nor slow.
Like the death knell of the apocalypse, it tolled step by step in the hearts of everyone in this quiet tavern.
The four men exchanged glances, a ruthless glint flashing in their eyes.
"Kill him!"
Someone shouted something, and all four of them sprang up at the same time, then turned and ran away without prior arrangement.
Glass shattered, sharp objects pierced the air and entered flesh, bodies fell to the ground, pitiful screams and abruptly stopped pleas for mercy.
The young man named Mair didn't dare look back, and ran wildly towards the tavern entrance, ten steps, five steps, three steps, one step...
Looking at the tavern door so close at hand, a hopeful and joyful light appeared in Mair's eyes.
Survived!
He reached out, trying to grab the doorway.
But just as his palm was only a finger's width away from the doorknob.
'Whoosh!'
'Puff!'
'despair!'.
The sounds of a sharp weapon piercing the air, entering flesh, and embedding itself in the door rang out simultaneously.
Meyer stared blankly at the blood-stained shards of glass embedded in the door panel, still adorned with bits of tissue. He tried to make a sound, but could only manage a hissing sound as air escaped from his throat.