Chapter 223: Venting

"Where are you going?" Jenna looked at Lu Mian's back and asked.

"To sleep." Lu Mian didn't look back.

Jenna thought for two seconds, curled her lips, and followed behind Lu Mian.

She wanted to confirm where this guy was finally going, to see if he was really going back to the Golden Rooster Hotel to sleep. Otherwise, in his current state, she really didn't know what kind of trouble he would cause.

Lu Mian ignored Jenna's existence and walked slowly back to the Golden Rooster Hotel.

At this time, the hotel's front door had been locked. He didn't climb the water pipe but took out a half-cut wire he carried with him, inserted it into the brass-colored keyhole, and fiddled with it a few times.

The door opened backward, and the inside was pitch black, with only some light reflecting from the stairs leading to the basement bar.

Lu Mian glanced at it and chose that direction.

Damn it! Didn't you say you were going to sleep? Jenna cursed inwardly, sighed, and followed into the basement bar of the Golden Rooster Hotel.

There weren't many people in the bar. Two or three drunk guys each occupied a small round table, howling a few times from time to time, but they didn't have much strength.

The only customer at the bar was Lu Mian's neighbor, Gabriel, the playwright who lived in Room 206.

He wore that linen shirt washed to white, a pair of brown trousers, large black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, and his hair was both messy and oily.

"Still drinking so late?" Lu Mian sat next to Gabriel, his gaze falling on the green absinthe with psychedelic luster in his hand.

Recovering a bit to normal? Jenna looked at Lu Mian twice, feeling his state wasn't as bad as just now.

She covered her mouth and yawned, pulled over a high stool, sat down, and decided to observe for another quarter of an hour.

Gabriel smiled bitterly:

"Just finished a manuscript, came down to have a drink."

"Are all you writers the same? Like to be busy at night and sleep during the day?" Lu Mian knocked on the bar table and asked for a glass of absinthe.

Gabriel hesitated and said:

"Many writers are like this. The quiet night gives us more inspiration.

"But I'm not staying up late because of that, but because I have to run to various theaters and playhouses during the day, striving to let some manager read my script and choose to take it on.

"I went to the Revival Theater in the Memorial District today. Their manager, Nathan Lop, is known as the most knowledgeable theater operator and the most likely to see the value of my script. However, he refused to see me. Whether I went to his office or visited the apartment where he lives, I couldn't see him."

Hearing words like theater and manager, Jenna inhaled silently, feeling a bit fearful.

The fact that quite a few people around were evil god believers left her with a certain psychological shadow.

More importantly, those guys' abilities were disgusting and twisted, making her reject them from the bottom of her heart.

Lu Mian picked up the absinthe pushed over by the bar owner and bartender, Paval Nisen, and took a light sip:

"Do you know where that theater manager lives?"

"Yes, I followed other playwrights to visit him at his apartment before. He isn't married yet and often changes mistresses." Gabriel rambled on.

Lu Mian showed a smile:

"I have a way to make that guy read your script, but I can't guarantee whether he will take it on."

"Really?" Gabriel was surprised, happy, and suspicious.

You have a way? Jenna looked confused.

Lu Mian gulped down the glass of absinthe and stood up:

"Let's go now, bring your script!"

"..." Gabriel had never seen such an action-oriented person.

It's already midnight!

He held the attitude that there was no hope anyway, so why not try, drank the remaining absinthe, and returned to the second floor to take the three-act script.

At the entrance of the Golden Rooster Hotel, Jenna looked at Lu Mian with confusion and curiosity:

"Do you really have a way?"

Lu Mian sneered:

"You can choose not to believe."

"Heh!" Jenna expressed her disdain.

She wasn't sure if this was a manifestation of his poor state, and plus she was a bit curious, so she decided to follow and see, to prevent Charles from doing anything excessive.

Not long after, Gabriel returned to the first floor.

He had changed into a relatively clean and decent formal suit and tied a red bowtie.

"Address." Lu Mian asked calmly.

"Room 702, Apartment 15, Defoe Street, Memorial District." Gabriel looked at Chaos Street, where almost no street lamps were intact, and only saw a few drunks and people wandering everywhere.

He tried to ask:

"We walk there?"

There were no public carriages at this time, and the Memorial District and the Market District were adjacent.

Lu Mian didn't pay attention to him, walked slowly to Market Avenue, and stopped in front of a four-wheeled two-seater rental carriage operating late at night, and said to the coachman who belonged to the Imperial Carriage Company:

"Go to 15 Defoe Street, Memorial District."

The coachman, wearing a waxed hat and a blue uniform with yellow buttons, looked at the three of them and said:

"Two Fer-gold."

In Trier, taking a rental carriage during the day, a trip not exceeding 1 hour is 1.25 Fer-gold, and if it exceeds, it is 1.75 Fer-gold per hour. After midnight and before 6 am, a short trip is 2 Fer-gold, and a long trip is 2.5 Fer-gold per hour.

Lu Mian didn't speak, took out two silver coins worth 1 Fer-gold each, and threw them to the coachman.

He didn't yield and got into the carriage, occupying a seat directly.

This made Gabriel very embarrassed, not knowing whether he should exercise gentlemanly manners and squeeze in with Charles, or let the female singer Jenna make her own choice.

In the end, Jenna, knowing she hadn't received an invitation, grumbled and sat next to Lu Mian, trying hard to squeeze out a space.

The rental carriage started and drove toward the Memorial District.

During the journey, Lu Mian remained silent, making Gabriel unable to ask what method he had, and the atmosphere in the carriage was slightly awkward.

Jenna had already gotten used to Lu Mian's state tonight, so she simply let go of her attention and thought about her own affairs.

After an unknown amount of time, the rental carriage stopped in front of 15 Defoe Street.

Lu Mian went straight to the apartment building. As soon as he entered the lobby, he was blocked by the doorman.

"Which floor and which room do you live in?" the doorman asked dutifully. "If you aren't a resident here, you need..."

Before he finished speaking, his head was suddenly pressed by something cold.

Lu Mian pulled out the revolver from his armpit and pressed the muzzle against the doorman's forehead.

"W-what, what do you want to do?" The doorman, who was nearly fifty, stammered.

Gabriel was stunned, starting to doubt whether Charles really had a way.

Jenna looked both amused and expectant about the next development, watching Lu Mian not answer, driving the doorman to the corner of the lobby, using the rope and other things he carried with him to tie his hands and feet, and blocking his mouth.

After doing all this, Lu Mian closed the apartment door, locked it, and walked up the stairs all the way.

Gabriel woke up from a dream, chased after him, and asked urgently:

"Is there really no problem with this?"

"What do you think?" Lu Mian curled his lips and responded with a smile.

Gabriel choked, not knowing what to say. He began to doubt whether he should give up letting the Revival Theater manager Nathan Lop read his script.

If I say no need, and go back now, will Charles be very angry and shoot me? He is a gang leader... Gabriel opened his mouth but couldn't say any words of dissuasion.

Soon, the three arrived at the top floor and stopped outside 702.

Gabriel, who was about to knock on the door, saw Lu Mian take out the half-cut wire and nimbly open the vermilion wooden door.

"..." Gabriel couldn't understand Lu Mian's train of thought at all.

Seeing this, Jenna hurriedly took off the light-colored shawl she was wearing and covered her face with it, revealing only her forehead and eyes.

She suspected that Charles was going to cause trouble next, and to avoid being implicated, she had better do some disguise, at least not letting people remember what she looked like.

Lu Mian walked into the living room full of crimson moonlight, took out a bandage, and wrapped it around his face, leaving only his eyes and nostrils.

"..." Although Gabriel didn't understand why Jenna and Charles wanted to cover their faces, he still instinctively found a piece of cloth and covered the lower half of his face.

Lu Mian, wrapped in white bandages, looked around and walked straight to the master bedroom, twisted the handle, and pushed open the door.

The crimson moonlight filling the living room poured in, illuminating two people lying on the bed.

It was a man and a woman. The man had fluffy black hair and was in his early forties, with a thin face and a high bridge of the nose. The woman had curly blond hair and was about twenty years old, with smooth skin and beautiful contours.

They seemed to be naked, covered by a velvet thin quilt.

"Is he that theater manager?" Lu Mian didn't control his voice at all.

Gabriel felt like he was in a dream:

"Yes, it's him."

Lu Mian walked toward the big bed immediately, and the Revival Theater manager, Nathan Lop, heard the movement and vaguely woke up.

Before he could open his eyes, he was grabbed by the shoulder by Lu Mian and lifted up directly.

Nathan Lop woke up with a *swish*, and his eyes reflected a head wrapped in white bandages.

This scared his heart as if it had stopped beating. He completely forgot to shout and forgot to question.

The next second, a revolver was pressed against his head.

Nathan Lop closed his mouth and was half-carried and half-pushed to the living room.

Passing by Jenna, Lu Mian turned to look at the big bed behind him and said in a low voice:

"Watch that woman."

Jenna was quite confused about the current situation, but this didn't affect her becoming excited.

She squatted down quickly, pulled out her revolver, aimed at the blond woman who had just woken up, and said "coldly":

"I don't want to hear any sound."

The blond woman hugged the quilt tightly and shivered on the bed.

Lu Mian let Nathan Lop sit on the armchair, used the clothes thrown on the sofa and floor to tie his hands and feet, and fixed him there.

Gabriel followed blankly, watching blankly, and a thought suddenly popped into his head:

Are we here to rob Nathan Lop, or to let him read my script?

After Jenna also brought the blond woman in a nightgown to the living room, Lu Mian, who lit the crystal chandelier, stepped back a few steps, took the revolver, and sat on the long sofa opposite the armchair.

Nathan Lop seemed to have just woken up and said urgently:

"How much money do you want? I'll give it to you, I'll give it all to you!

"There are 1100 Fer-gold and a diamond necklace here, I'll give them all to you! As long as you don't hurt me!"

Lu Mian, whose face was wrapped in bandages, turned his head and said to Gabriel:

"Read."

"Read what?" Gabriel responded blankly.

Lu Mian laughed:

"Read your script. Mr. Nathan Lop is waiting to listen."

This... Gabriel was completely stunned.

Is this the way to let Nathan Lop read my script?

Is this a normal person's train of thought?

Not only Gabriel had such thoughts, but Jenna also couldn't help but move her mouth.

Charles's mental state is really not normal!

Won't this really lead to the playwright being sent to the police station?

Fortunately, I covered my face!

Gabriel, carrying similar relief, tremblingly walked to Nathan Lop's side, took out the script, and read it sentence by sentence, looking like he was also forced to do so.

Nathan Lop listened in confusion, suspecting if he was in an absurd dream:

Waking up in the middle of the night, broken into by masked men, tied to a chair, just to listen to a script?

After listening for a while, his strong professional instinct made him gradually enter the state, becoming more and more focused.

After the main dialogue of the first act finished, Nathan Lop interrupted Gabriel:

"Who wrote this?"

"Me." Gabriel answered subconsciously.

Nathan Lop said in a deep voice:

"Tomorrow at 10 am, bring it to my office, and we'll sign the contract."

"Okay, okay." Gabriel was surprised, happy, and scared.

If I go to the Revival Theater tomorrow, won't I really meet the police?

Lu Mian laughed immediately, stood up, carried the revolver, and walked toward the door.

Jenna and Gabriel followed him closely, letting that blond woman go to untie the bindings on Nathan Lop.

On the way down the stairs, Jenna said to Gabriel with a smile:

"Playwright, this script of yours is really great. The lines are very infectious. What is its name?"

"It's called 'The Chaser of Light'." Gabriel didn't understand why an underground singer was so interested in the script, just instinctively replied.

Jenna quickened her pace, chased to Lu Mian's side, and whispered:

"Is this your way?

"Aren't you afraid that the theater manager is also an evil god believer?"

In her heart now, all theaters might have problems.

Lu Mian took off the bandage while answering with no expression:

"Then we'll just have a fight."

I knew it... Jenna muttered silently.

After recovering the rope and other things from the doorman, the three took a rental carriage and returned to the Golden Rooster Hotel all the way.

After Gabriel thanked them and returned to his room with worry and joy, Jenna watched Charles wash up, lie on the bed, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She helped pull the curtains, carefully closed the wooden door, and left the Golden Rooster Hotel.

In the near-lightless darkness, Lu Mian closed his eyes and didn't move.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 224 =====