Chapter 63: Negotiation, Payment

Inside Tokyo City.

Inside a private room at a yakitori restaurant.

Su Lin sat on the left side as you entered, and across from him was a man with a languid air, giving the impression he had just woken up. Beside him sat a little boy whose face was delicate and handsome, elegant like a noble.

"Could I get another 50 skewers of chicken, 5 skewers of chicken tail (a delicacy consisting of the chicken's rear end, including the tailbone and surrounding fat), and a refill on the draft beer." Su Lin said to the waitress nearby: "The chicken livers a bit more well-done, 10 skewers, the chicken skin a bit more charred, 20 skewers."

"Understood, please wait a moment." The waitress quickly ticked off items on the pad with a neutral pen, gave a slight bow, and slid the wooden door shut.

"Where did you get this big-eater attribute…?" The young man with the bird's-nest hair was rather speechless. He rubbed the head of the delicate-faced little boy beside him and asked: "Little bro, did you bring enough money?"

"Aren't you the one treating?" The little boy's golden pupils flashed with a teasing glint, the corner of his mouth curving into an elegant smile: "Surely no one would solemnly swear to treat, only to have their own little brother foot the bill in the end."

"No way…."

He looked a little troubled, watching Su Lin—who looked like he was going to keep causing trouble while he himself was in charge of eating—and couldn't help muttering: "Don't you have even a little bit of surprise? Seeing me appear in front of you again, aren't you shocked? Even if you got the wrong person, the Lu Mingfei you know is still inside Genji Weight!"

The person in front of Su Lin was naturally the culprit who had caused the Great Expansion Pearl to shatter.

Lu Mingfei from another timeline.

And the little boy beside him—without needing to be told, Su Lin knew it was that little devil Lu Mingze. Su Lin was just a little curious: can this guy manifest physically? Or did the Lu Mingfei before him do something?

"Why be surprised." Su Lin tore a chunk of chicken off a wooden skewer; the salty-sweet flavor of the sauce spread through his mouth. "For guys like you, I wouldn't believe it if you didn't have some sit-up skill."

"You two are both Lu Mingfei, so I'll just call you Old Lu."

From the very beginning, Su Lin had never believed that meeting would be the last.

"In film and TV works, someone at your level has to be dragged back out at least several times, squeezed for every last bit of value, and only let off by the screenwriter right before the finale."

"You really get how creation works…." The Lu Mingfei from the future timeline buried his head in the table, wondering whether he should just slip out without paying.

"Hold on, replying to a message." Within Su Lin's field of vision, a chat group popped up a message.

It was Miss Kelaien.

Miss Kelaien: "There?"

Su Lin: "Here."

Miss Kelaien: "Got time to help me buy some stuff? I need it on my end."

Su Lin: "What stuff?"

Su Lin was a little curious—surely it wasn't something like arms and ammunition.

Miss Kelaien: "Some luxury goods… and pack up some modern food… get more Cantonese cuisine."

"Western food too, hire a few head chefs…."

Miss Kelaien: "【Image】"

On it was a list, with an ink pen writing quite a few things on a sheet of yellowed paper…

Hiss—

Su Lin sucked in a breath of cold air.

Perfume, bags, women's clothes, pants, skirts—even the brands were clearly marked.

Stewed lamb, steamed bear's paw, steamed deer tail, roasted duck, roasted spring chicken, roasted goose, braised pork, braised duck, sauce chicken, cured meat, pine flower, small belly, dried meat, sausage, assorted crisp platter, smoked chicken white belly, steamed eight-treasure pork, glutinous-rice stuffed duck, potted pheasant, potted quail, braised mixed parts, braised goose……

A handheld game console?

And you want a smartphone too—what do you need a smartphone for?!

Su Lin: "This is…?"

Miss Kelaien: "Don't even mention it, got caught reselling stuff, paying tribute."

Inside a wooden cabin, three candles were placed on a slightly stained floor. The two candles at the front represented "Darkness" and "Concealment," and the candle at the back represented Miss Kelaien himself.

Surrounded by the wall of spirituality, full-moon essential oil dripped and scattered within.

The herbal powder used to please the gods was burning.

The ashes on the ground shifted into one character after another.

Miss Kelaien watched the characters on the ground constantly shifting, his eyelid twitching nonstop.

The Faceless could control expressions, but not money.

Silently calculating how much savings he still had on Su Lin's side, while employing the hand skills of a Magician and a Clown, he used an ink-soaked quill to copy onto the yellowed rough paper…

That's about enough…

Please, stop!

I'm about to run out of money!

"Um… great… uh, there might be a tiny little problem with the funds." Miss Kelaien tried hard to keep his tone from wavering, with a hint of negotiation: "How about we leave the rest for next time."

The characters formed by the ashes paused for a moment. A few seconds later, two characters appeared.

"Next time."

The characters dispersed, a gust of wind appeared out of nowhere, blowing away the traces on the ground.

Gulp. Miss Kelaien swallowed his saliva and shifted his attention back to the chat group.

Miss Kelaien: "【Image】"

Miss Kelaien: "That's about it…."

Su Lin: "…."

Su Lin: "Okay."

Miss Kelaien: "Thanks."

Su Lin: "Don't mention it."

Su Lin closed the group chat and turned his attention back to the two brothers before him.

Seeing Su Lin come back to his senses, Lu Mingfei asked: "Is that the tool you guys normally use to chat?"

Su Lin nodded, picked up a skewer of chicken liver, and dipped it in some chili powder.

"Can you pull people in like QQ?" Old Lu raised his cup, puzzled—he knew his self in this timeline had a chat group, but didn't know what kind it was.

"There's no such function," Su Lin denied.

At that moment, the server knocked on the wooden door.

"Excuse me."

"Your yakitori has arrived—here are the complimentary chicken cartilage and side dishes; please be sure to try them," the server girl said after placing the skewers, then set down two more small plates.

"Alright, thank you."

After bowing again, the server slowly withdrew from the door and slid it shut.

"Good business sense," Lu Mingfei picked up a skewer of the free chicken cartilage. "Could it be you didn't top up, which is why you can't pull people in?"

"There's no top-up function either..." Su Lin raised his beer glass and clinked it with Lu Mingfei's.

Glug glug glug—

Lu Mingfei lifted his glass, tilted his head back, and downed a full liter of chilled beer in one go.

Clink

"Haah—refreshing!"

Setting down his cup, Lu Mingfei suddenly remembered something. "Forgot to introduce—ah, but you probably know him anyway."

He pulled over Lu Mingze, who sat stiffly upright beside him, hugged him close like hugging a cat, and buried his face deep into Lu Mingze's short black hair, inhaling deeply.

"My dear younger brother, Lu Mingze~."

Lu Mingze made a disgusted face. "Can you please keep your drunken uncle away from me? You reek of alcohol—it's unbearable."

"No," Lu Mingfei hugged Lu Mingze tighter, resting his chin on top of his head. "This is Su Lin—your brother's good friend."

"Hello, Su Lin," Lu Mingze glanced helplessly at Lu Mingfei, then smiled at Su Lin. "I'm Lu Mingze."

"Hello, Lu Mingze," Su Lin corrected him. "Old Lu, you're wrong—I'm the creditor until your debt is paid off, thank you."

"Hahahaha, that's harsh~," Lu Mingfei chuckled, then grew slightly serious. "You're here to help that version of me find Herzog, right?"

"Looks like we don't need to look anymore," Su Lin picked up a tentacle with wasabi sauce—the complimentary side dish, slightly pungent and salty-spicy, perfectly suited his taste.

"Yeah, no need to look," Lu Mingfei affirmed. "That worm can wait for now."

"Interested in doing three things for me? Of course, you'll get three rewards," Lu Mingfei's black pupils flickered with an extreme golden hue, a smile on his lips.

"..."

"What are the rewards?" Su Lin asked.

"You don't ask what they are, you just ask about the rewards? Hahaha, you're definitely my kind of guy."

Lu Mingfei laughed until his whole body shook; soon, he stilled his smile, his expression

"First reward: I allow you to do whatever you want in this world," Lu Mingfei remained unchanged—still sitting cross-legged at a distance—but the atmosphere subtly shifted.

"Hmm," Su Lin nodded. "What about the other rewards?"

Seeing Su Lin's calm expression, Lu Mingfei clenched his fist and slammed the table, lowering his voice slightly before raising it: "Don't you feel even a little resentment? That thing you could've had easily—now you have to pay extra for it. Don't you feel even a trace of anger, frustration, bitterness, suppression, irritation, or betrayal toward me?"

"I got used to being exploited when I worked at the company in my last life," Su Lin said as if it were obvious. "Besides, this is your world, isn't it? Most importantly, I probably can't beat you."

"I admit you're stronger right now," Su Lin urged. "Enough—spit out the other rewards. If you don't, I'm leaving."

"..."

Lu Mingfei felt an inexplicable sense of loss and failure in his chest—how many years had it been since he last felt this emotion? When had his last friend who wasn't afraid of him vanished? He couldn't remember...

Only when observing his avatars did he gain any experience—but it was like reading a novel or watching a movie: perhaps moved in the moment, yet over time, his heart grew still, leaving only emptiness.

"Hmph hahaha," Lu Mingfei chuckled, revealing the next reward. "Power and authority. The second reward: power and authority."

"..." Su Lin wasn't sure if the "power and authority" Lu Mingfei meant was what he thought—"Authority?"

"Will you accept?" Lu Mingfei raised his beer cup, slightly expectant.

Clang—

Glasses clinked.

"Deal."

Another beer went down; Su Lin felt no fullness at all, for he retained only the taste projection of history—no need to circulate Qi to accelerate digestion.

Glug glug glug

After downing his beer, Lu Mingfei called for the server to bring more.

"Three more cans of cola—ice cold."

Snap

Lu Mingfei popped open the cola tab, took a sip.

"Actually, I prefer this over alcohol."

He shook the can in his hand; tiny droplets of condensed moisture clung to the cold metal, flung off with his motion.

"Then, the third reward."

"Hold on," Su Lin interrupted him, watching Lu Mingfei.

"Is it a message from the chat group?" Lu Mingfei assumed it was another group notification.

"No," Su Lin denied.

"I have some questions—about whether I'll honor the deal. I hope you'll answer them."

"Oh?" Lu Mingfei was puzzled but not concerned. "Ask."

"How does your behavior, your very existence, affect the current Lu Mingfei?" Su Lin carefully phrased his words. "Or—what is your purpose?"

"To replace him?"

"To help him?"

"Or to enjoy a second life in this era?"

Drinking a cola, Lu Mingze, who had appeared uninterested in the two of them chatting, also looked up and stared at Su Lin, a pair of golden eyes mysterious and majestic.

"Surprising." Lu Mingfei hadn't expected Su Lin to care about this question. "Could it be that you two have a good relationship?"

He didn't know what the Lu Mingfei of the past had chatted about after joining the chat group; he could only learn some basic information from his past self.

But even so, in his impression, Lu Mingfei hadn't had the chat group for long, and the two of them hadn't known each other for long either.

"Just ordinary friends." Su Lin looked into Old Lu's eyes, his gaze firm, and said, "I'm close with him, not with you."

"So, if what you want to do would harm his interests, then even if I can't help him, I won't help you."

For a moment, the private room fell into a brief silence; the three of them stared at each other, none of them speaking.

"Nothing more to say?"

After a long while, Lu Mingfei said slowly, "I thought you'd say it depends on the price."

Hearing this, Su Lin didn't know what to say; he kind of wanted to see just what this future Lu Mingfei's brain had evolved into.

"It's not out of the question…" was all Su Lin finally managed to squeeze out.

"I won't hurt him, and I won't replace him." Lu Mingfei said with relief — he had never thought of replacing his past self from the start. "As for the second life you mentioned, that's not what I want, and I don't have that chance anymore."

"That existence, Ye Fan — if he personally takes action, you still don't feel reassured?"

"Everything I was became his experience pack; this process is irreversible."

"The reason I can still appear here is nothing more than that he absorbed too slowly, so I can still show up in a residual state."

"Of course, I'm not in a residual state anymore." Lu Mingfei ruffled Lu Mingze's head. "So there's still a lot I can do."

"I transferred that fifty percent to him," Lu Mingze said. "The you from the other world should know what that means."

Su Lin nodded, not expecting there was such a method.

"I can probably still exist for another thousand-plus years — that's if he doesn't cultivate. Judging by his cultivation speed, in a few hundred years you might not see me anymore."

"As for the purpose… ha, do I even need to say it?" Lu Mingfei smiled, flashing a row of big white teeth, a fierce glint in his eyes, his tone suddenly turning grim and icy. "To let those dregs understand who their master is — treacherous ministers, evil servants: submit and live, resist and perish."

"The Lu Mingfei of the past?"

"He just needs to live happily, and in a joyful life, wait for me to step down and inherit my Wang Zuo."

Su Lin was silent for a while; after weighing the pros and cons, he agreed to the deal.

"Deal."