Barrier of Light

Qinghe District, one o'clock in the morning.

A very remote old tavern, under the neon light, the plaque is dim.

An old man in a white suit walked slowly into the tavern with a purple wooden cane. Perhaps because of its remote location, the tavern was empty when it was supposed to be open.

When Zhou Jiren came to the bar, he lit a cigarette, glanced inside the bar, and knocked on the table.

"Boom boom."

Not much tremor.

But with two taps of fingers, the entire bar table top, including the huge display cabinets and shelves behind it, seemed to have a circle of ripples.

If there are other guests in the tavern, they will see that the space is like a lake, and with two taps of their fingers, there will be ripples of the same frequency...

In the dark shadow inside the bar, someone suddenly opened his eyes.

There was a flash of light in his eyes.

It's hard to believe that the flash of light came from a ragged old man. He was wearing a thin cloth shirt like a beggar's. Under the clothes, his bones looked like a skeleton. His eyes were sunken, and he looked like he was still asleep. A wine bottle with a greasy exterior.

The two old men, each in light and darkness, are in sharp contrast in clothing, figure, and spirit.

"I didn't expect your business to be so bad...I'm not the only one here, am I?"

Mr. Shu slowly sat on the high stool and handed over the lit cigarette.

The ragged old man took it, took a deep breath, and smiled in a low voice, his voice was hoarse like a skeleton.

"Aside from you, who would come to drink in such a tavern?"

He took out a goblet from the display cabinet, mixed it skillfully under the counter, and brought it to Mr. Shu after a while.

"Rum, lemon, ice cubes, coffee, honey... um... the familiar taste of freedom, but it's a bit weird." Zhou Jiren took a sip, looked at the wine glass with a frown, and muttered, "I didn't secretly add ingredients Bar?"

"No money, can't afford coffee, honey."

The old man who smoked a whole cigarette in two or three puffs turned around and began to tidy up the display cabinet behind him. Because of the ripples just now, the position of some wine bottles has changed, and some wine bottles have produced cracks that are difficult to detect with the naked eye. cracks.

He stretched out a hand, stroking the surface of a mirror, and wiped it slowly.

Those dry palms seemed to possess incredible magic power, the lingering sound of the shock disappeared instantly, and the fine ripples that were still trembling were all wiped away at this moment——

The slight noise of humming was completely eliminated in an instant.

The tavern is silent and a needle drop can be heard.

"As expected of a man who once fought invincible hands all over Nagano, he is still a lion after 20 years of neglected cultivation." Mr. Shu said indifferently, "Bai Shu, are you going to nest in this kind of place for the rest of your life?"

"..."

The shabby old man named Baishu smoothed the ripples in the wine cabinet with his hands, sat back in the darkness, and said in a very soft voice: "It's just a joke to beat the invincible hands in Nagano... If you practice for a hundred years, you will not be Gu Changzhi's opponent."

"Thinking about it, Nagano Invincible without Gu Changzhi is still Nagano Invincible. There is no need to compare with him."

Mr. Tree let out a long sigh.

"And." He puffed out a puff of smoke, and said leisurely: "I just admire you, a hero who is able to bend and stretch. You see... those who burn themselves too early, how can they end well? After Gu Changzhi came back from the outside, he is still alive. Lying down and sleeping, whether you can wake up or not is another matter. If you fight now, you will definitely win."

"Get out!"

Bai Shu said coldly: "Zhou Jiren, if you're just here to humiliate me...you've already achieved your goal. You've already run out of wine, you can get out."

"Don't, don't, don't... speak slowly if you have something to say."

Zhou Jiren immediately admitted his cowardice. He put on a flattering smile, patted a document bag on the counter table, and then handed out a box of cigars.

Bai Shu frowned.

He took the cigar instead of the paper bag.

"Alan Turing...A-009...The Ruler of Truth..."

Mr. Shu spoke in a low voice, and he whispered the secret words. After hearing some key words, Bai Shu narrowed his eyes, slowly pressed the file bag, and dragged it in front of him.

He opened it expressionlessly and read it word by word.

During this process, Zhou Jiren kept staring at Bai Shu's face. He was observing the expression of the other party. After seeing the confusion in Bai Shu's eyes as he expected, he grinned and said, "This file is quite interesting." the... right?"

Bai Shu closed the file.

"An interesting boy." He gave such an evaluation, "A file that has nothing to do with me."

"I don't understand... What's the use of showing me these?"

He looked at Mr. Shu blankly, and said: "This world is developing too fast, and it has nothing to do with me, a remnant of the old era. I just want to live underground, and I only deserve to live underground."

"You can go out and have a look. The young people have done a good job, but the world still belongs to us old guys." Zhou Jiren shrugged and said with a smile: "It's just that one's strength is weak after all. I haven't done it all these years. Looking for you did not disrupt your life, but after seeing this file, maybe you should change your mind."

"Don't ever come to me again."

Bai Shu didn't even hesitate for a second.

He said expressionlessly: "Zhou Jiren, you should be very clear... If I want to go out to the outside world, if I still have the same personality as twenty years ago, you will not be able to step into this tavern without incident today. As soon as you enter the door, I will do it."

"You used to be my friend, but now..."

Bai Shu slowly leaned back.

"What I hate the most...are the Parliament, the Tribunal, and people like you who know the truth but sacrifice your life for them."

Mr. Shu fell into silence.

After saying this, the tavern returned to a state of extreme silence.

Bai Zhu held down the document bag and returned it to the table.

He stopped talking and didn't even bother to open his eyes. He just waved his hands as if to ward off flies.

This time, I didn’t even bother to talk about getting out.

"..."

Mr. Shu took back the document bag, stood up, walked to the door of the tavern, stopped, and returned again.

Bai Shu, who was in the gloom, still had his eyes closed, frowning, showing an impatient expression.

"No matter what you say... I'm at least pursuing hope. Even if the hope is slim, even if she still won't recover in the end." Zhou Jiren said coldly: "And you? Lying in a shabby tavern, half-baked Buried in the soil, doing nothing but drinking and sleeping, are you prepared to fulfill the promise you made to her in your dream?"

Bai Zhu opened his eyes.

The fire of blazing rage bloomed in those eyes.

For a moment, something unfolded.

The entire underground tavern fell into absolute stagnation——

Including Mr. Tree.

And the next moment, all the fire went out.

Bai Shu closed his eyes.

There was no anger or sadness in his voice, just endless emptiness and numbness.

"idiot……"

"Stop chasing." He turned over and whispered in his sleep: "Hope is something that shouldn't exist."

Happy Christmas Eve~