Even though the bar was just a cover, Gu Wentang, the bartender, was doing his best to manage his part-time job. He was usually patient and tried to meet the normal requests of his few customers. Sometimes, he would chat with them about life, the future of the fortress, and the terrible conditions of organs after they got sick. But honestly, he didn’t have many customers most days.
Of course, there were times when drunken fools stumbled in. If they were rude and loud, Gu Wentang didn’t mind; it just gave him some material to work with for his main job.
Gu Wentang didn’t hold a high rank in the Black Fire Gang. During the annual meetings, he could only sit in the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth seat. Yet, for the past thirty-five years, he had worked hard for the Black Fire Gang and its predecessor. He was a long-standing member, and he was close to retirement at sixty, ready to enjoy a peaceful life in the lower city.
Most of the time, Gu Wentang had a gentle temperament. Over time, he even started to feel like he truly was a bartender. The last time he touched a gun was seven or eight years ago when chaos broke out on the forty-ninth floor. A new gang, with support from some officials in the upper city, tried to challenge the Black Fire Gang’s dominance in organ trading, and he faced an attack here.
The outcome of that fight was clear; they had secured seven or eight years of stability afterward. But recently, things were getting a bit shaky again.
Big Mouth Hua unexpectedly died on the thirteenth floor while trying to kidnap a female doctor. The Black Fire Gang’s greatest strength was its ample medical resources, with hundreds of medical workers under their employ. These workers had bombs strapped to them, and if they left a specific area, they would lose a leg. Even if they lost a whole leg, they could still be of value.
In simple terms, kidnapping doctors, training them, and controlling them was essential for maintaining the Black Fire Gang’s core interests. Their boss was constantly sending people to eliminate that doctor and his helpers, which Gu Wentang understood. If he were in charge, he would do the same to protect the gang’s interests.
However, what Gu Wentang couldn’t understand was why the boss suddenly sent Night Hawk to the forty-sixth floor to ambush the security captain. This might have come from orders from the upper city. According to rumors among the gang’s management, the captain named Zhou Zhengde was the son of the fortress’s Minister of Internal Affairs. Zhou had been demoted to a security captain in the lower city for strongly opposing the human experiments conducted by the Thirteenth Institute.
“Rich kid from the upper city,” Gu Wentang couldn’t help but complain to himself. “Once we get tangled up in the upper city’s affairs, especially those involving the war zone, the Black Fire Gang will be crushed quickly. Sigh, why can’t these idiots let me retire in peace? The boss is too obedient to the Thirteenth Institute…”
As he thought about this, Gu Wentang felt a bit annoyed, but then he suddenly heard a young man’s voice.
“I’d like a pot of Biluochun.”
Gu Wentang paused his cleaning of the wine glass, instinctively showing a gentle smile as he looked up at the man in front of him. He was taken aback for a moment. He had seen countless faces, but most of the time, they were drugged and lifeless. This young man, however, had calm, bright eyes that held a hint of detachment, leaving a deep impression on Gu Wentang.
“This is a young man with a story,” he thought. “But…”
“What is Biluochun?” Gu Wentang asked with a smile.
Wang Jixuan replied calmly, “It’s a type of tea.”
“Tea?” Gu Wentang set down the wine glass and the cloth he was using to wipe it, adjusting his bow tie with his gloved hands. “I do have tea here. In fact, there are only four or five places in the entire fortress that have tea, and the rest can only be found in the upper city. But how did you know about this, young man?”
Their conversation caught the attention of a few Black Fire Gang thugs nearby. Wang Jixuan rested his hands naturally on the edge of the counter, which made the thugs and Gu Wentang feel no sense of danger.
“I heard someone mention it,” Wang Jixuan said smoothly.
“Oh?” Gu Wentang chuckled. “Young man, you seem to know exactly where you are.”
“The territory of the Black Fire Gang,” Wang Jixuan replied calmly. “There’s a huge cold storage facility beneath the tavern, which is one of the core assets of the Black Fire Gang… This is almost an open secret on the forty-ninth floor; too many people have seen you moving people in and out of here.”
Suddenly, the sound of bullets being loaded echoed in the air. Seven men from three corners of the tavern and the second floor all turned to look at them, some stopping their smoking.
Gu Wentang asked, “And you? Who are you? Here to cause trouble?”
“I’m here to negotiate,” Wang Jixuan said, using a bit of strategy. “I was sent by a security captain from the lower city to talk to your boss. I think you already know that the Black Fire Gang doesn’t have much time left.”
Gu Wentang’s expression grew serious. Although two-thirds of the forty-ninth floor was controlled by other gangs, the Black Fire Gang had absolute power on their own turf. The six thousand humans and over forty thousand materials living here formed a tightly structured little town. What this young man said was known by no more than thirty people here.
“I think I should contact my boss first,” Gu Wentang said, leaning slightly forward over the counter with a smile. “But before I do, you need to answer a few questions: your name, your specific identity, the name and power of your boss, and his position within that power. This is our territory, and even the fortress’s governor must follow our rules. Now, tell me, what’s your name, young man?”
Gu Wentang squinted his eyes intentionally. Having spent years looking up at the fortress from dark corners, he felt like a venomous snake exuding a cold aura.
“Is he Mu Liang?”
A voice suddenly called out from behind the railing on the second floor, a man in a top hat holding a terminal panel exclaimed, “The database shows he’s a technician… the one the boss put a hit on! Mu Liang! It’s him!”
Gu Wentang’s gaze sharpened. He recalled seeing an alert on his communication device, which was reserved for the gang’s management.
“04: The person who killed Night Hawk is named Mu Liang, suspected to be a psychic. The higher-ups are investigating, and all information related to him has been blocked. The outdated database still has some details; he seems to be an ordinary technician.”
Images of Night Hawk’s headless corpse flashed in Gu Wentang’s mind. The word “psychic” felt like a curse, making his face turn pale and beads of cold sweat form on his forehead.
The atmosphere in the tavern became strange. The visiting young man sat on a high stool, smiling at the bartender, while the older bartender’s slightly loose skin trembled as he stared at the young man’s eyes.
In the corner, several muscular men in dark green sweatshirts simultaneously reached into their clothes. On the second floor, two Black Fire Gang members in suits and top hats quietly grabbed shotguns and tranquilizer guns.
Suddenly, Gu Wentang bowed his head! He was going for the gun taped under the counter!
But just as he moved, he saw a flash in front of him. More than ten pink paper talismans unfolded almost instantly, and the young man lunged forward, grabbing his collar!
Bang! Bang bang!
The others immediately opened fire!
Gu Wentang couldn’t believe what he was seeing: those paper talismans shone with dazzling golden light, forming a thin golden shield that deflected and twisted the bullets fired at him!
The young man, holding onto his collar, used that force to leap over the counter. Gu Wentang’s head slammed hard against the stone floor, and dizziness hit him.
In his line of sight, the young man named Mu Liang ducked and moved fluidly, his hands moving like shadows, sending out streaks of dark light!
The gunfire in the tavern abruptly stopped. Gu Wentang had no idea what was happening outside, but he heard a heavy thud from the second floor.
Had they been taken out? Were his men here eliminated?
Wang Jixuan stood up from his kneeling position, the dozen talismans in his palm slipping back into his sleeve. Compared to the metal darts he had thrown wrapped in “Qi,” bullets were indeed faster.
But it didn’t matter; Wang Jixuan had figured out how to defend against ordinary bullets. By using a dozen talismans at once, he could achieve three to four seconds of full protection.
Wang Jixuan looked down at Gu Wentang and smiled, “Where’s your tea?”
“You can’t threaten me, kid,” Gu Wentang said, his breath trembling. “You can kill me; I’ve lived long enough. That’s the truth. Don’t expect to get any valuable information from me! They’ll be here in a minute!”
Wang Jixuan raised an eyebrow. He sensed a massive hollow space beneath him, with some faint and worn-out energies lingering below. Interrogation was his least favorite trouble.
This tavern was located in the northwest corner of the Black Fire Gang’s territory, an important storage area for them. Wang Jixuan had to act quickly before the Black Fire Gang members in the cold storage below discovered something was wrong.
“I really want to encourage people to do good,” Wang Jixuan said, reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a blank talisman, bit his fingertip to draw out some Qi, and quickly sketched complex symbols on the talisman.
“But at least, the person I’m advising should first be a human.”
Wang Jixuan formed a sword finger with his right hand and slammed the blood-stained talisman down onto Gu Wentang’s forehead.
Soul Capture!
(End of Chapter)