Chapter 174
Chapter 174
There was nothing they could do. Mr. Gao’s orders were law in this place, so the dancers could only cobble together something from memory.
The music remained unchanged, but the performance now looked like a horde of demons flailing wildly.
“That isn’t errenzhuan. Can any of you actually dance? This place is enormous, yet you couldn’t find a single person who knows errenzhuan.” Liu Ye sounded deeply dissatisfied.
Mr. Gao was furious. Of all the things to watch in a place this large, why did this man insist on errenzhuan?
Yet he could not lose his temper with a guest. This was the Chamber of Desire, and its purpose was to satisfy people’s desires.
“Fine. Please… wait a moment. I’ll arrange some proper errenzhuan. Have something to eat in the meantime. Tell the servers whatever you want, and we will bring it to you.”
“Oh. Then bring me a bowl of luosifen.”
Mr. Gao’s raised foot came back down. He drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his rage.
“Mr. Liu Ye, this is an upscale establishment. We cannot serve luosifen here.”
If Liu Ye had fallen under their illusions, none of this would have been a problem. But the illusions did not work on him, which meant anything they gave him had to be real.
This was an enclosed space. If someone ate luosifen in here, would anyone else survive the smell?
“You’re the one who said you could get anything.”
Mr. Gao was speechless.
“Fine! We can get it!”
He glared at the server beside him.
“What are you standing there for? Go make the guest his luosifen!”
The server was speechless.
I’m not the one who made you angry. Why are you yelling at me?
“Hey, use my vegetables. I brought all the seasonings and everything!”
Liu Ye had taken all of it from the Chamber of Betrayal. The vegetables were perfectly fresh. What no one noticed was the white light that instantly spread over them the moment Liu Ye picked them up.
The server hoisted the many bags onto his back with a dark expression and trudged to the kitchen. Before long, he emerged carrying an enormous basin of luosifen.
Good heavens, the smell was extraordinarily authentic. It even partially roused the people trapped in the illusions.
“What is that smell?”
Li Wei pinched his nose. The delicate fragrance of his dream girl had abruptly turned into a stench like feces.
No matter how beautiful she was, he had little interest left.
“Ugh… I can’t take it! The smell is burning my eyes!”
“I can’t breathe!”
The basin of luosifen was devastatingly powerful. It immediately knocked out half the people in the room.
Only Liu Ye looked delighted. This was precisely the flavor he loved.
Mr. Gao had been backstage arranging the dance when he suddenly caught the stench. His first thought was that the toilets had exploded.
The moment he stepped outside, he nearly fainted.
“This is luosifen? This is a damned stink bomb!”
By now, everyone had escaped the illusions.
Not willingly, of course. They had all fainted outright.
Mr. Gao felt he was about to succumb as well. He stumbled to a wall and punched a hole through it. Beyond lay a realm of absolute darkness, with terrifying sounds echoing through it from time to time.
There was no doubt that the world outside was terrifying. But no matter how frightening it might be out there, if they did not ventilate the room, it would become even worse in here.
The smell lingered for half the night before most of it finally dispersed.
No one was in the mood to dance anymore. They huddled together listlessly, looking as if they wanted to die.
They even appeared to have aged more than ten years.
“So, Mr. Gao, is the dance ready yet?” Liu Ye asked, wiping his mouth.
“It’s ready,” Mr. Gao said through gritted teeth.
He had decided to see this battle through with the bastard. As long as he could identify Liu Ye’s Desire, he could keep him here. Once that happened, Mr. Gao could torment him any way he pleased.
Music began playing from the rear of the club. Several performers emerged in brightly colored red and green costumes. Some waved little handkerchiefs, while others flourished fans as they began performing errenzhuan.
Mr. Gao had specially transferred them from another prison. The performance looked reasonably authentic.
“Well, Mr. Liu? Are you satisfied?”
“Mm. It’s average.”
Mr. Gao was speechless.
“Where’s my knife? Bring me my knife! Today, either he dies or I do!”
The servers around him hurriedly grabbed hold of him.
“Mr. Gao, calm down! You can’t attack anyone here! If you do, you’re finished!”
It took every last ounce of persuasion from the servers to calm him.
By then, Mr. Gao’s clothes were disheveled, and his once-neat hair resembled a chicken’s nest. Eyes bloodshot, he shouted at Liu Ye.
“You’d better give me a reason today, or this isn’t over!”
Liu Ye was not afraid of him. Back in his village, Liu Ye had been an accomplished errenzhuan performer. Even his mother had learned from him.
She had not wanted to learn at first, but after he played a single song, she had begged and cried for lessons.
“Look, you can’t just flail around and call it errenzhuan. This is an art form. Your dance needs a theme. During the autumn harvest, you dance the joy of gathering the crops. During spring planting, you dance the sweat of hard work. You can’t just go through the motions. It needs substance.”
Everyone was speechless.
You sit there eating luosifen, then lecture us about art and substance? Give us a break!
“And your accompaniment is far too amateurish. It’s like cooking plain noodles in leftover instant-noodle broth. You forced the two together, and the flavor is all wrong! Here, let me demonstrate.”
Liu Ye reached behind himself and pulled out his Little Bu cloth bag. It had followed him into the dream. From inside, he produced a suona.
“All right, dance to my music!”
Liu Ye drew a deep breath.
Woom!
A sonic wave rolled through the room. Everyone lying on the floor rose like marionettes on strings.
“Da-da-da…”
A tune followed-if the noise Liu Ye blew at random could truly be called music.
The crowd began dancing mechanically. Not even Mr. Gao could resist.
Zhang Ru stared in horror at her grandfather. Wearing an oxygen mask and looking as if death would be a mercy, he spun in circles and shook his head.
Then things grew even worse. Everyone formed a ring and began performing endless high kicks.
Every kick came with a sharp ripping sound.
Li Wei and the others even turned green in the face.
“Brother Liu, could you stop? We can’t take it anymore!” Li Wei begged.
He no longer cared about the woman of his dreams. He did not even want to leave anymore. He only wanted to return to the Chamber of Betrayal and work obediently on the assembly line.
“I can’t stop.”
Miraculously, Liu Ye could speak while continuing to blow the suona.
“Once this piece starts, it has to be played to the end. It can’t be interrupted!”
“Then how long is it?” Mr. Gao cried in despair while kicking his tiny legs.
“Seven hours!”
Everyone was speechless.
In that instant, they all offered Liu Ye’s entire family the sincerest greetings imaginable.