Chapter 256: Preparations for Negotiation

"But Your Majesty cannot act like this. Now that Your Majesty is the noble Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire, everything must be done with a balance of tension and relaxation; otherwise, I will be criticized by the ministers. Moreover, the current situation is unclear, and this is not the first time the Three Great Empires have attempted to assassinate Your Majesty and me. Therefore, I hope Your Majesty will remain low-key for the time being..."

"I am a failure; I hardly notice whether the sun is shining or not, because I have no time."

"My parents could not provide me with support, my education level is not high, and I am all alone in the city searching for a future."

"I looked for many jobs, but I was never hired. Perhaps no one likes someone who is not good at speaking, does not like to communicate, and has not shown sufficient ability."

To see the latest chapter content, please download; read the latest chapter content for free without advertisements. The website no longer updates the latest chapter content; the latest chapter content is updated on the Star Literature APP.

"I went three whole days eating only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me from sleeping at night. Fortunately, I had paid a month's rent in advance, so I could continue to live in that dark basement without having to go outside to endure the abnormally cold winter wind."

"Finally, I found a job, keeping watch at a hospital, keeping watch for the morgue."

"The nights at the hospital were even colder than I imagined. The wall lamps in the corridor were not lit, and it was dim everywhere; I could only rely on the little bit of light seeping out from the rooms to see my feet."

"The smell there was terrible. From time to time, the dead were brought in stuffed in body bags, and we would cooperate to help move them into the morgue."

"This is not a very good job, but at least it allows me to afford bread. The free time at night can also be used for studying; after all, no one is willing to come to the morgue unless there are corpses that need to be delivered or transported for cremation. Of course, I don't have enough money to buy books yet, and there is no hope of saving money at the moment."

"I have to thank my former colleague; if it weren't for his sudden resignation, I might not have even been able to get a job like this."

"I dream of being able to rotate to the day shift. Now I always sleep when the sun comes out and wake up after night falls, which has made my body a bit weak, and my head occasionally throbs with pain."

"One day, the porters brought in a new corpse."

"I heard from others that this was my former colleague who had suddenly resigned."

"I was a bit curious about him. After everyone left, I pulled out the cabinet and quietly opened the body bag."

"He was an old man, his face blue and white, covered in wrinkles, looking very frightening under the very dim light."

"He didn't have much hair, most of it was white, and all his clothes had been stripped off, not even a scrap of fabric left for him."

The website content updates slowly; please download to read the latest chapter content.

"I saw a strange mark on his chest, blue-black in color. I couldn't describe the exact shape; the light at the time was just too dim."

"I reached out and touched the mark, but there was nothing special."

"Looking at this former colleague, I wondered, if I keep going like this, when I get old, will I end up like him..."

"I told him that tomorrow I would accompany him to the crematorium and personally take his ashes to the nearest free cemetery, so that those responsible for these matters wouldn't find it troublesome and just throw them in some random river or wasteland."

"This will sacrifice one morning of my sleep, but fortunately, it will be Sunday soon, so I can make up for it."

"After saying that, I fixed the body bag and shoved it back into the cabinet."

"The light in the room seemed to get even dimmer..."

"After that day, every time I slept, I would always dream of a thick fog."

"I had a premonition that something would happen soon, a premonition that sooner or later something that I don't know if it can be called human would come looking for me. But no one was willing to believe me; they felt that in such an environment and such a job, my mind had become abnormal and I needed to see a doctor..."

A male guest sitting at the bar looked toward the storyteller who had suddenly stopped:

"And then?"

This male guest was in his thirties, wearing a brown tweed jacket and light yellow trousers, his hair pressed very flat, with a simple dark bowler hat at his side.

He looked ordinary, just like most people in the tavern: black hair, light blue eyes, not handsome, not ugly, lacking any obvious features.

And the storyteller in his eyes was a young man of eighteen or nineteen, with a tall and straight figure, slender limbs, also with short black hair and light blue eyes, but with deep-set features that could make one's eyes light up.

The young man looked at the empty wine glass in front of him and sighed:

"And then?

Download to read the latest chapter content.

"Then I quit my job and went back to the countryside to come here and brag to you."

As he spoke, a smile appeared on his face, a smile with a hint of mischief.

The male guest was stunned for a moment:

"Was everything you just told me bragging?"

"Haha." A burst of laughter erupted around the bar.

As the laughter subsided slightly, a thin middle-aged man looked at the slightly embarrassed guest and said:

"Outsider, you actually believed Lumian's stories? What he tells is different every day. Yesterday he was a loser whose engagement was broken by his fiancée because of poverty, and today he has become a corpse keeper!"

"Right, talking about thirty years on the east side of the Sarenzo River, thirty years on the right side of the Sarenzo River, just babbling nonsense!" another tavern regular added.

They were all farmers from the large village of Kordu, wearing short jackets that were black, gray, or brown.

The black-haired young man called Lumian leaned on the bar with both hands, stood up slowly, and said with a smile:

"You know, this isn't a story I made up; it was all written by my sister. She loves writing stories the most and is even a columnist for 'Novel Weekly'."

After finishing, he turned his body to the side, spread his hands toward the guest from out of town, and smiled brightly:

"It seems she writes really well.

"I'm sorry for misleading you."

The man in the brown tweed jacket with an ordinary appearance was not angry; he stood up as well and responded with a smile:

"A very interesting story.

"How should I address you?"

"Isn't it common sense to introduce yourself before asking others?" Lumian laughed.

The guest from out of town nodded:

"My name is Ryan Cos.

"These two are my companions, Valentine and Lea."

The latter sentence referred to the man and woman sitting right next to him.

The man was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with some powder on his yellow hair, eyes that were not very large but had a color a bit deeper than lake blue, wearing a white waistcoat, a blue fine-wool coat, and black trousers; he had clearly been meticulously dressed before going out.

His expression was quite cold, and he didn't really look at the surrounding farmers and herdsmen.

The woman looked younger than the two men, with long light gray hair tied into a complex bun, wrapped in a white veil serving as a hat.

Her eyes were the same color as her hair, and her gaze toward Lumian Lee carried undisguised amusement; she seemed to find what had just happened merely interesting.

Under the illumination of the tavern's gas wall lamps, this woman named Lea revealed a pert nose and beautifully curved lips; in a countryside place like Kordu, she could definitely be called a beauty.

She wore a white, unpleated cashmere tight-fitting dress, paired with a cream-colored small jacket and a pair of Masir long boots; she had also tied two small silver bells to her veil and boots respectively, and when she had just walked into the tavern, they jingled all the way, which was very eye-catching and made many men stare straight at her.

In their eyes, this must be the kind of fashionable attire only found in big cities like the provincial capital Bigor or the capital Trier.

Lumian Lee nodded at the three outsiders:

"My name is Lumian Lee, you can just call me Lumian."

"Lee?" Lea blurted out.

"What's wrong, is there a problem with my surname?" Lumian Lee asked curiously.

Ryan Cos explained for Lea:

"This surname of yours is terrifying; I almost couldn't keep my voice under Control System just now."

Seeing the surrounding farmers and herdsmen looking puzzled, he explained further:

"Those who have had contact with sailors and maritime merchants all know that there is such a saying circulating on the Five Seas:

"Better to encounter those pirate generals or even kings than to run into a person named Frank Lee.

"That person's surname is also Lee."

"Is he very scary?" Lumian Lee asked.

Ryan Cos shook his head:

"I'm not sure, but since there is such a legend, it certainly won't be bad."

He ended this topic and said to Lumian Lee:

"Thank you for your story, it is worth a glass of wine, what would you like?"

"A glass of 'Green Fairy'." Lumian Lee was not at all polite and sat back down.

Ryan Cos frowned slightly and said:

"'Green Fairy'... absinthe?

"I think I need to remind you that absinthe is harmful to the human body; this kind of wine can lead to mental confusion and cause you to have hallucinations."

"I didn't expect the fashion trends of Trier to have already spread here." Lea, who was beside him, added with a smile.

Lumian Lee said "Oh":

"So people from Trier also like to drink 'Green Fairy'...

"For us, life is already hard enough, there's no need to care about a little more harm; this kind of wine can allow our spirits to achieve greater relaxation."

"Alright." Ryan Cos sat back in his seat and looked at the bartender, "A glass of 'Green Fairy', and add a glass of 'Spicy Heart' for me."

"Spicy Heart" is a famous fruit brandy.

"Why not give me a glass of 'Green Fairy' too? I was the one who told you the truth just now, and I can tell you the situation of this kid exactly as it is!" The thin, middle-aged man who had first exposed that Lumian Lee told stories every day shouted with dissatisfaction, "Outsider, I can tell that you still have doubts about whether that story is true or false!"

"Pierre, for the sake of a free glass of wine, you really can do anything!" Lumian Lee responded loudly.

Without waiting for Ryan Cos to make a decision, Lumian Lee added:

"Why can't I tell it myself? That way I could drink another glass of 'Green Fairy'."

"Because they don't know whether to believe the situation you're talking about." The middle-aged man named Pierre laughed triumphantly, "The story your sister loves to tell the children most is 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'; people who always lie will inevitably lose their credibility."

"Alright." Lumian Lee shrugged his shoulders, watching the bartender push a glass of pale green wine in front of him.

Ryan Cos looked at him and asked for confirmation:

"Is this okay?"

"No problem, as long as your wallet is enough to pay for these drinks." Lumian Lee didn't care at all.

"Then another glass of 'Green Fairy'." Ryan Cos nodded.

Pierre was suddenly all smiles:

"Generous outsider, this kid is the biggest prankster in the village, you must stay away from him.

"Five years ago, he was brought back to the village by his sister Aurore and has never left since. You think, before that, he was only thirteen years old, how could he possibly go to a hospital to be a corpse guard? Hmm, the closest hospital to us is in Daliege down the mountain, which takes a whole afternoon to walk to."

"Brought back to the village?" Lea asked sharply.

She tilted her head slightly, producing a jingling sound.

Pierre nodded:

To read the latest chapter content, please download, read the latest chapter content for free without ads. The latest chapter content is already on the site, the website is no longer updating the latest chapter content.

"Then, he followed Aurore's surname 'Lee', and even the name 'Lumian' was chosen by Aurore."

"I've forgotten what I was originally called." Lumian Lee took a sip of absinthe and said with a grin.

It seemed that he was not at all inferior or ashamed that his past was being exposed like this.