Chapter 271

"Okay." Lu Mian nodded to manager René.

After eating dinner consisting of foil-baked lamb chops, stir-fried eggs, onion minced pigeon, and jam pie, Lu Mian wiped his mouth with a napkin, stood up, walked to one of the balconies of the cafe, and looked out at Market Avenue, which had entered the night.

Those gas street lamps emitted a somewhat hazy yellowish light, illuminating the road for carriages and pedestrians.

At this time, people walked into the Breeze Dance Hall one after another, joining the ranks of carnival.

To be honest, compared to here, Lu Mian preferred to drink in the basement bar of the Golden Rooster Hotel, which could make him relax and feel happy.

In his view, the guests here were too indulgent, either not caring about their family situation or not considering their future, only wanting to indulge in alcohol, beauty, dancing, and shouting. The regular customers of the basement bar were mostly tenants of the Golden Rooster Hotel. They often had to come back at nine or ten o'clock and had to sleep before 1:00 AM. They went to drink, sing, brag, and dance, mainly to seize the short two or three hours to give themselves a little happiness.

Only in this way could they have the courage to face the heavy work of the next day and have expectations for the new day.

This was like kerosene lamps that must be refueled regularly to continue emitting light.

Lu Mian overlooked Market Avenue for a few minutes and suddenly saw a familiar figure.

With his formal coat on his arm, Charlie, wearing a white shirt and blue vest, was fighting with someone on the side of the street.

"You've grown up..." Lu Mian smiled and sighed with a word that had become popular in recent years.

He pressed his right hand on the balcony, jumped lightly, jumped from the second floor to the edge of Market Avenue, and rushed to the scene of Charlie's fight in a few steps.

He didn't stop it, nor did he help Charlie, and watched the fun with great interest.

The person fighting with Charlie was a thin man with brown skin, not very old, about twenty-four or twenty-five years old.

His eye sockets were sunken, his eyes were black, his lips were thick, his black hair was slightly curly, and he had the typical bloodline of the people of the Mist Sea Archipelago, but compared to his compatriots, his appearance was still decent.

"Liar! You damn liar!" Charlie scolded angrily while fighting.

That islander was wearing a blue shirt, with a pen in his chest pocket, dodging and explaining:

"I didn't hope that would happen either. I was also deceived!"

"Bullshit!" Charlie kicked, but failed to hit.

The two fought in an amateur way until they were panting, and stopped almost at the same time.

Until this time, Charlie discovered that Lu Mian was standing on the side, watching with a smile.

"Charles, he is Monit! That liar! The liar who cheated me out of 10 Vergold and almost starved me to death!" Charlie's face showed joy, and he couldn't wait to explain the identity of the islander opposite, "Praise the Sun, let me meet him today!"

The islander Charlie thought was damn? Lu Mian laughed:

"You are also wrong about this. Don't you remember that sentence? Never trust an islander."

"I thought I was his friend." Charlie muttered dejectedly.

How did you manage to be so simple and easy to deceive? You are clearly quite good at pranks... People like you are easily deceived into bed by guys with bad intentions, and you can't get the feelings or money you want. Uh, you've already been deceived... Lu Mian slandered a few words and cast his gaze on the islander named Monit.

Monit showed a fawning smile:

"I really wanted to help Charlie find a job at the time, but I was also deceived and lost all my money."

"I was embarrassed to face Charlie, so I secretly moved out of the Golden Rooster Hotel."

He explained while taking out a stack of banknotes from his pants pocket, counted three 5 Vergold denomination notes, and handed them to Charlie:

"I came back to the Market District this time just to find you, return your money, and, interest."

Charlie confirmed the authenticity of the three banknotes with the help of the street lamp light, and his mood eased a lot, asking suspiciously:

"You can also be deceived by others?"

Since knowing Monit until he moved out, Charlie had only seen this guy cheat others, not seen him suffer a loss, worthy of the identity of an islander.

Monit coughed twice:

"Not only was I deceived, but I was deceived twice."

"The first time, I met a group of people who said that the 'Extraordinary' dance hall in the Observatory District wanted to expand its business and took out a part of the equity for people to subscribe, and each small share only needed 200 Vergold."

"You should all know how profitable a dance hall is. I couldn't hold back and spent all my savings, but the stock subscription certificate I got was fake!"

"I went to reason with that group of people, and then I was deceived a second time."

"Extraordinary" dance hall... Lu Mian's eyelids suddenly jumped.

The bankrupt businessman Fitz, who lived in room 401 of the Golden Rooster Hotel, had been cheated out of 100,000 Vergold by Timmons, the boss of the "Extraordinary" dance hall, and wanted to find Lu Mian to help him get it back. But Lu Mian investigated on the spot and asked a few people, feeling that the strange rules of that dance hall and the strong connections it had, plus its own strength, were quite good, so he gave up that commission.

Now, he met another victim of the "Extraordinary" dance hall.

"You were deceived by them once, why could you be deceived a second time?" Charlie felt that he wouldn't be so stupid.

Monit coughed lightly:

"They told me directly that they were a group of liars and it was impossible to return the money to me. They also said that reporting to the police was useless, and seeing that I had talent, they asked if I was willing to follow them to learn deception, and then earn back the money I was cheated out of myself."

"As a result, what they taught was what I already knew, but they gave me something extra."

"What thing?" Charlie was always curious.

In the next second, Monit took out a transparent monocle from the pants pocket on the other side.

Then, he naturally clipped it into his right eye socket.

For some reason, after Monit put on the monocle, Lu Mian felt that he had undergone some subtle changes that couldn't be described, just like an "actor" performing another role.

Monit, wearing the monocle on his right eye, hooked the corners of his mouth, first glanced at Charlie, then looked at Lu Mian, his gaze falling from his face to his chest, and then to his hands.

Lu Mian was inexplicably nervous, but had no premonition of danger.

Monit smiled and said:

"You are Charles, who invented that Fool's Instrument?"

"Yes." Lu Mian didn't deny it and quietly raised his vigilance.

Monit pinched the monocle in the position of his right eye:

"Very good at pranks."

"Do you want this monocle? It's useless to me. Why not exchange it for cash, and you can use it to disguise yourself as someone from the 'Extraordinary' dance hall and earn more money there."

Do I look like a fool to you? Lu Mian refused Monit's proposal without hesitation:

"I don't have the hobby of wearing a monocle."

He had always been very suspicious of the strange rules of the "Extraordinary" dance hall and had the most basic heart of vigilance.

Monit looked somewhat regretful, took off the monocle, and said to Charlie:

"I gave you the money and interest. If you have anything to do in the future, come to the 'Extraordinary' dance hall to find me."

Charlie gave a disdainful "heh."

He still suspected that Monit had the mentality of wanting to cheat him out of money from the beginning.

After the islander left Market Avenue, Lu Mian glanced at Charlie:

"Remember to keep a distance from the guy just now, otherwise he might bring you an encounter similar to Susanna Mattise."

This second half of the sentence was to deceive Charlie, mainly to scare him, so he wouldn't take the warning to heart.

Charlie was instantly terrified, couldn't care about asking why, and nodded busily:

"Okay, okay!"

At midnight, Lu Mian and Jenna, wearing a sequined red dress, left the Breeze Dance Hall and walked toward White Coat Street.

Jenna didn't ask why he was on the way, and after being silent for a long time, said:

"Have you ever felt that everything doesn't matter, and you are very confused and have no motivation?"

"Definitely." Lu Mian looked at the street ahead and replied casually, "This requires you to find the meaning of life again and figure out what you really want to do."

Jenna was silent again, and after a while, asked:

"Have you ever had such an experience? Something illusory in your body suddenly shattered, and a mysterious starry sky seemed to appear around you, with stars of different sizes shining."

"No." Lu Mian thought for a few seconds and said.

He had the feeling of illusory things suddenly shattering, every time the potion was completely digested, it was like that, but he had no cognition of any mysterious starry sky or stars of different sizes.

Jenna didn't speak again, not knowing whether she was thinking about what this phenomenon represented or considering other problems.

Not long after, the two came to apartment 601, No. 3 White Coat Street.

Franca had already returned and was looking at the two of them entering side by side vigilantly.

Before she could ask, Jenna brought up the matter of "illusory things shattering and a mysterious starry sky appearing" again.

Franca was stunned for a moment and said happily:

"Your 'Assassin' potion has been digested!"

"Assassinating a member of parliament in public and under heavy protection can indeed help you digest the potion very well."

"Is this a manifestation of potion digestion?" Lu Mian didn't hide his astonishment and confusion.

Why do I only have the first half and not the second half?

Franca looked at him suspiciously:

"You haven't experienced it? How did you advance?"

The seal on me not only sealed Termiboros but also sealed some of my arcane perceptions? Also, the seal is on me, it's impossible that there is no influence at all... Lu Mian probably had a guess and perfunctorily replied:

"Not so obvious."

Franca, who cared more about her female companion, didn't raise an objection and asked Jenna curiously:

"You should have summarized the acting rules, right?"

"Acting rules?" Jenna recalled and said, "After the assassination, I understood many truths. Hmm, assassination is a matter of putting one's own life on the scale. Assassination is the final punishment, a disaster for those criminals..."

After enthusiastically exchanging "acting methods" and acting rules with Jenna for a while, Franca remembered that Lu Mian was also there.

"Do you have anything?" She looked at the male companion who had already sat on the sofa.

Lu Mian glanced at Jenna, meaning he needed to communicate privately.

Jenna understood instantly and entered the guest bedroom under the pretext of changing clothes.

Only then did Lu Mian lower his voice and say to Franca:

"What kind of person do you think 'Hela' is?"

(End of chapter)