Chapter 48
Chapter 48
“How much for a fortune-telling?”
“Fifty for a reading.” Xu You sat on a little stool and looked up. The next second, she took off her glasses in shock. “Sister Sen?!”
Wei Sen stood in front of Xu You’s fortune-telling stall, a faint smile at the corner of her lips. “Didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Xu You stood and looked Wei Sen up and down. “It really is you! When we were leaving the Instance, I was thinking we should’ve all exchanged contact information. After all, we did survive a life-and-death ordeal together.”
Wei Sen said nothing. She had thought of that before stepping through that door.
But she did not need friends, so she had not brought it up.
Xu You fiddled with her watch for a long while and said, “I didn’t expect this thing to still work after leaving the Instance. But all the groups disbanded automatically, and I couldn’t find any of you.”
“What did you encounter after you walked out the door?” Wei Sen asked, her expression grave.
Xu You immediately grew more serious as well. Looking into Wei Sen’s eyes, she said, “Don’t tell me you also… met God?”
Both of their pupils widened involuntarily.
“Let’s talk somewhere else,” Wei Sen said with a gesture.
“You got it.” As Xu You spoke, she packed away her table, chair, and stool.
The two of them went to a quiet park.
On a bench, Wei Sen unscrewed the cap of a bottle of mineral water, while Xu You lounged carelessly against the seat and stuck a straw into a bottle of AD Calcium.
“So that means everyone who left the Instance alive became a new Order Keeper and met God.” After saying that, Xu You gulped down mouthfuls of AD Calcium.
“Mm. Do you believe her?” Wei Sen looked straight into Xu You’s eyes.
Xu You looked troubled. “I believe in the Three Pure Ones and Four Sovereigns, but I have no idea what background this God of the Eerie comes from. Still, the Great Dao is fifty, Heaven’s workings are forty-nine, and one escapes. Since I have seen her, I believe. What about you?”
Wei Sen gazed into the distance.
At least for now, they did not have the option of not believing.
Besides, every one of them had been chosen by that “God” because of the obsession in their hearts. In order to see God again, perhaps everyone would fight with everything they had.
“Oh, right. You received that Invitation too, didn’t you?!” Xu You suddenly sat up straight and asked.
“Mm.” Wei Sen looked at her again. “Together?”
“Let’s go. Together!”
As night fell, Wei Sen and Xu You had a simple dinner together, then took the subway to the destination written on the Invitation.
There were many people on this subway line, because the address on the Invitation was actually a folk tavern in the Sleepless City.
By the time Wei Sen and Xu You arrived at the tavern entrance, most of the seats inside were already occupied. Onstage, a male singer holding a guitar was singing with heartfelt emotion.
Xu You stopped and looked up at the tavern’s sign, reading it aloud. “Utopia Tavern…”
She leaned closer to Wei Sen and whispered, “Do you think the drinks here are expensive?”
“I doubt they invited us here for drinks,” Wei Sen said as she walked in.
Xu You clutched her wallet tightly and followed her inside.
“Welcome~” A chubby young man in a gray suit came toward them. “You two must be here because you received an Invitation!”
“You know us?” Wei Sen asked warily.
The man in the gray suit smiled affably. “Of course. Honored guests, please keep your voices down and follow me.”
Wei Sen and Xu You exchanged a glance. Neither said a word as they followed the man in the gray suit to the second floor of the folk tavern.
The second floor had a completely different style from downstairs. Below was a romantic folk tavern of music and moonlight, but upstairs was a deep, shadowy corridor. On both sides stood heavy wooden doors that looked like they belonged in medieval Europe.
“This place sure has a mash-up of styles…” Xu You could not help whispering a complaint to Wei Sen.
The man in the gray suit in front of them abruptly stopped. Slowly, he turned back to look at them.
The smile on his face did not fade. His left eyeball looked at them, while his right eyeball remained completely motionless, still staring straight ahead. It looked extremely strange.
“Shh. Keep quiet until you enter the door that belongs to you.”
Wei Sen’s gaze darkened. The man’s right eye was a prosthetic, which was why that had happened just now.
Xu You awkwardly shut her mouth, having also noticed the defect in the man’s eye.
The man continued walking deeper down the corridor and finally stopped in front of one of the doors.
From the outside, this door looked no different from any of the others.
The man in the gray suit opened the door and made an inviting gesture. “Once you two step through this door, you may speak freely.”
A crimson curtain hung over the doorway, making it impossible to see what was inside.
Wei Sen went in first, and Xu You followed right behind her.
Wei Sen drew the curtain aside. The room beyond was roughly twenty square meters, with a liquor cabinet, a bar counter, tables, and chairs. It looked like a standalone miniature lounge bar.
What neither of them expected was that two familiar faces were already sitting at a table by the window.
“Sister Sen! Sister You!” Lin Xiaoxue, dressed in a pink hoodie, sprang to her feet the moment she saw them, joy written all over her face.
Chen Lin stood as well, unable to hide her delight. “You came too.”
Wei Sen wasn’t surprised, while Xu You strode happily toward them. “How long have you been here?”
“About ten minutes before you,” Chen Lin answered.
“Wuuu! Now that I’ve seen you two, I can finally stop worrying!” Lin Xiaoxue said excitedly.
Aside from the four of them, the only other person in the room was a woman standing behind the bar.
She wore a sharp, tailored tailcoat and had a stylish Wolf-cut mullet, giving her an effortlessly handsome look.
Shaking a cocktail shaker in her hand, she lifted her narrow, fox-like eyes slightly toward Wei Sen and Xu You. “What can I get you two?”
Lin Xiaoxue raised the glass in her hand. “I ordered a Pink Lady. It’s good!”
Xu You stepped forward. “Now that’s not right. Kids shouldn’t drink alcohol!”
“I’m an adult! And since we’re already here, one little sip won’t hurt~” Lin Xiaoxue grabbed a corner of Xu You’s Daoist robe and swayed it back and forth.
Xu You spread her hands, then looked at the woman behind the bar. “Then I’ll have the same as hers.”
Wei Sen looked at them.
They really were in the mood to relax…
With that thought, Wei Sen turned calmly to the bartender. “Were you the one who invited us here?”
“Yes.” As the woman mixed the drink, she said, “You passed God’s Trial and earned the title of Order Keeper. In the future, if you survive other Instance runs, you can come here once after each one to claim a reward.”
“Were you sent by God?” Xu You asked.
“No,” the woman replied without hesitation.
“Then who are you? What’s the reward? And where exactly is this place?” Xu You asked all the questions she had in one breath.
Wei Sen added, “And that God-how much do you know?”
Hearing this, the woman raised a brow and smiled, as if she had long since grown used to such reactions. She pushed the Pink Lady forward and said, “You can call me CC. Your rewards will be issued shortly. As for this place…”
“Utopia. On the surface, it’s a bar. In reality, as you’ve seen, it’s a gathering place for people with the title Order Keeper. Everything about this place must be kept secret from anyone who is not an Order Keeper. Otherwise… The Organization will erase whoever leaks it from existence.”
Xu You took a sip of the Pink Lady, then stared at Wei Sen with wide eyes. “Sister Sen, it really is good!”
Wei Sen remained unmoved.
Nothing about this place was any more normal than the Eerie World. Drinking their things so casually would probably come with a price.
“What is The Organization?” Wei Sen continued pressing.
CC smiled. “Anything more is confidential. After all, you’re only newcomers. If you want to know about The Organization, you’ll naturally learn once you’ve accumulated enough cleared Instance runs.”
Wei Sen understood that asking more would be pointless. This was clearly a highly disciplined and enormous organization. This woman would not reveal anything more to a few newcomers like them.
But what they had learned so far had already gone far beyond her understanding. It turned out that beneath the surface of this ordinary-looking world, there were so many unknown secrets hidden away.
“What about you? What are you drinking?” CC asked when she saw the other three had already ordered drinks and sat down, while only Wei Sen remained standing in front of the bar.
Wei Sen stepped closer to the counter, took the small black sphere from her pants pocket, and held it out in front of CC. “Do you recognize this?”
CC’s gaze fell on it, and the composure on her face visibly cracked into panic. She immediately rushed to the other side of the bar and slammed a red button. In an instant, red light flashed throughout the room.
At the sight, everyone stood up nervously, a bad premonition rising in their hearts.
With a dark expression, CC glared at Wei Sen. Then she spoke sharply into the round black watch on her left wrist. “Everyone, enter Level One Alert!!!”