Chapter 72: Wealthy Party

In the end, Henry still agreed to Qian Ning's request and became one of the banquet staff.

The idea was actually quite simple: no matter how he tried to mix in, he might not get into a banquet of this caliber anyway, so he might as well work as staff to see the world.

Secondly, it was to repay Qian Ning a favor. Although his performance in that special effects shot could be counted as helping the production team, it was only because Qian Ning had nodded and recommended him that the opportunity was secured.

This time, he had gotten himself into trouble again, and Qian Ning, this old Hollywood hand, had pointed him in the right direction with a phone call and provided an opportunity to solve the problem, whether he needed it or not.

For a favor forced upon him like this, if he truly didn't need it, he could just decline it. But the current situation was one where he could take it or leave it, and Henry simply chose to accept it.

So at this moment, wearing a rented black suit, he stood at a corner by the pool of a certain villa manor, playing the role of a emotionless bodyguard.

The reason he didn't work as a greeter was that the male greeters' uniform consisted of a white sleeveless shirt, a black bow tie, suspenders with butt-revealing shorts, half-socks, and black leather shoes; the overall look was extremely eye-searing, even a Kryptonian couldn't stand it.

Even though the greeters' pay was higher, Henry let it go. This wasn't a matter of money, but of resolve. Unfortunately, Henry didn't have it.

Who the owner of the villa was, he didn't know. It was rented by the banquet company specifically for hosting parties.

Food and drinks were a given. The greeters' task was actually just to carry trays, walk around the party venue, collect empty glasses, and provide drinks and food.

Balloons, streamers, party poppers, and other party trinkets were also everywhere; anyone who wanted to use them could just grab one and play.

The DJ mixing deck and speakers were set up in the main area, right beside the pool. The music playing was the electronic dance music just beginning to take shape in this era, stimulating people's nerves like a mental anesthetic.

What was most surprising was that there was a smoking area indoors. People smoking ordinary cigarettes wouldn't come in; those who entered this zone, even without using any special supplies, would be anesthetized by the smell permeating the air, entering a state of mental trance as well.

There were quite a few people at the party. To distinguish which were invited guests, which were banquet company staff, and which were playmate girls providing special services, one only needed to look at their outfits.

Those wearing bizarre costumes, like bunny girl outfits, gigolo outfits, and so on, were almost all greeters or playmates.

Like Henry, those wearing the dog-and-pony-show black suits were the bodyguards hired just for decoration.

Although the invited guests all belonged to the wealthy, their identities were either college students or Silicon Valley's new rich. So their attire was quite casual, basically T-shirts plus sweatpants, doing whatever was most comfortable.

But don't think that because they dressed casually, everything on them was cheap. Based on Henry's understanding of fashion clothing over this period, each and every one of them was wearing clothes worth several thousand dollars on their bodies.

On the two floating pads in the pool lay a bikini beauty each; they also belonged to the group of playmates.

Sometimes, a guy who had gone wild would jump into the pool without even taking off his clothes, splashing up a huge chunk of water, making the two beauties giggle.

If a bikini beauty was invited by a guest upstairs for deep interaction, others would step in to replace them. The point was simply to ensure the scenery was pleasing to the eye, with a wide variety of playthings to choose from.

For Henry, it was truly a case of not knowing until you came, and being shocked once you did. This banquet, no different from a human meat market, was just missing a place to weigh people by the pound. Where in his past life had he ever seen such a scene of drunken revelry and golden extravagance?

What was even more damn important was that this wasn't even a truly top-tier human meat banquet!

It was just a scene organized by an ordinary Hollywood banquet company that needed Qian Ning's team to provide support.

Even an outsider like Henry, who knew nothing of the background, could easily become one of them, showing that there was almost no requirement for confidentiality.

For a banquet level that didn't require confidentiality, it wouldn't be high no matter how high it went.

Henry had no desire to feel aggrieved on behalf of the parents of those girls or boys for the children they had worked hard to raise, even if those children did receive some rough or impolite treatment.

If he really wanted to pretend to be noble, he should turn and leave this place, not stand on the side and criticize.

So Henry simply put on sunglasses, pretending to recognize no one, and watched everything with cold eyes.

The main function of banquet bodyguards like them was actually not to protect anyone. It was to step out and help these people calm down when someone got too high.

It wasn't out of worry that these people would hurt those girls or boys, but out of worry that they would turn their spears against the group of guests who were also invited.

Furthermore, when someone was too drunk to take care of themselves, they would find an empty bed or sofa and dump the person on it to rest. Rather than letting these people sleep face down and suffocate themselves; or drown in their own vomit.

After all, this place was mostly young people, who were more prone to going too far or overdoing it, killing themselves or causing deaths. The function of the bodyguards was that if anyone wanted to die, they shouldn't die at this banquet, preventing others from getting into trouble.

In short, at times like this, Henry somewhat hated that his super senses were too powerful; the entire villa range was under the coverage of his perception.

Especially recently, when he tried using the echoes of striking the hull to map the structure of a battleship, Henry's brain learned the skill of constructing spatial images using sound.

Probably only color, a physical message that must be received directly by the optic nerves, couldn't be indirectly observed with existing abilities; other than that, Henry was crystal clear about everything.

Henry wished his super abilities had a switch to turn them off; unfortunately, Henry could only use distraction to make himself ignore those unpleasant things.

But now doing the work of a bodyguard, to put it plainly, was just standing still and zoning out. Henry hadn't trained his brain to the point where he could stand in place and let his spirit wander the heavens. So he could only be tortured by everything happening inside the villa.

If it weren't for the fact that he could come here thanks to Qian Ning's face, and he wanted to wait for Tony Stark to show some attitude and solve the trouble on his body, Henry would have left long ago.

So the question arises: will that young master of the Stark family really come to this banquet?

Don't just look at Qian Ning emphasizing that Tony Stark's name was on the banquet's invitation list. Being invited and showing up are two different things. Henry had heard plenty of times about banquets that invited a bunch of big shots, only for the attendees to be all misfits and duds.

Just as he was thinking about whether to stare at the Misses' lips to study their lipstick shades, thereby distracting himself, an uninvited guest came before Henry, snapping his fingers wildly.

Thanks to readers 20220821220609814, 20220822232919217, 20170611214225462, 20200721111325413, reader 1489560868730462208, Xingwu, and koei_tw for their tips.

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(End of this chapter)