twenty one
The contents of the tavern in the Lost Valley are not much different from those in the main city. There are even more types of food and drinks than the rationed food in the main city, a special supply of bats.
Lian Chuan took a look and figured out that it was probably a collaboration between the processing equipment eliminated in the main city and the raw material production technology independently developed by the technical department of Lost Valley.
In short, from a visual point of view, it is hard to describe, and I am not interested in confirming it through taste.
The atmosphere in the Lost Valley Tavern is much more intense than that in the main city. The all-night taverns in District D are not even one-tenth as chaotic as here.
The dark red light was filled with the smell of alcohol. People were standing, sitting, or even lying on the ground. Some were crying, some were talking non-stop, some were arguing, and most were laughing.
I don’t know what I’m laughing at, but I’m laughing with all my heart, laughing until I can’t breathe, laughing until I cough…
Lian Chuan was not used to this kind of collective crazy scene. He walked more than ten steps from the door to the bar, and four or five people hugged his legs and stepped on someone's hand, which led to a burst of curses at a voice so loud that it was almost hoarse.
Ning Gu was quite adaptable. He looked around with curiosity written all over his face.
"Drink!" He slammed the bar.
The bar counter is made of metal. Although Lian Chuan has never been to the Lost Valley, nor has he had close contact with bats, he knows that this kind of black iron is the most endless and inexhaustible resource in the wasteland. Things made from it are generally solid, and after rough cutting, they maintain a rough appearance. They have no special functions. They are a table when you put things on them, and a bed when you lie down on them.
But this bar was a little different. When Ning Gu slapped it, the bar made a "bang" sound, and the tail sound was quite long, echoing faintly among the messy voices and the clinking sounds of the bells.
A hollow metal table, this is very high-end. The owner of this tavern should be a high-level bat.
Lian Chuan felt a little uneasy. He lowered his head and pulled the hood of his coat over and put it on. The hood was quite big and covered half of his face.
"How many drinks?" A female bat waitress with half of her body embedded with dark red metal pieces leaned against the bar and asked.
"One cup," Ning Gu said, "Any drinks?"
"Yes, sweet or salty?" The waitress's eyes were wandering and no one knew where she was looking.
"Sweet," Ning Gu said, "Two cups, I want to try some too."
"Wait." She still looked vague and turned away.
There was a commotion at the entrance of the tavern. Lian Chuan turned his head slightly and saw a metal rack swaying in from the door.
"Zhuangzhuang—" someone shouted in the tavern.
Everyone started shouting, the sound of wine glasses clinking rang out, and soon the air was filled with the strong smell of alcohol.
This should be one of the metal racks used in the previous fight on the stage. Judging from its condition, it was the winner.
but…
The metal rack responded to everyone's shouts, raised its arms and shook them a few times, but before its head was fully raised, it fell to the ground with a clang.
He was not beaten to pieces on the stage, but ended up dying on the floor of the tavern amid cheers.
The people around him rushed forward and Lian Chuan quickly stepped back, not knowing what these people were going to do.
The first person who rushed over grabbed the arm of the metal frame and pulled it hard, tearing off a piece of his metal arm. Then the second person who rushed over twisted off his calf.
Then it became unclear as half of the bats in the tavern crowded in and tore down Zhuang Zhuang on the ground, while the Exiles and Travelers continued to cheer and scream on the side.
"What a psycho." Ning Gu was so shocked watching from the side that he couldn't close his mouth for a long time. "Who said that we travelers are crazy? We can't compare to this kind of madness."
"Your wine and drinks." came the waitress's voice.
Three black iron cups were lined up on the bar, and it was impossible to tell which one was wine and which one was a drink, as they were all stained black by the black iron walls.
Ning Gu reached out to take a cup and prepared to try it, but the waitress's metal finger slapped his hand: "Want to drink for free?"
Ning Gu was used to walking around the ghost town as he pleased, and he didn't even think of paying or exchanging anything.
"Three common coins," said the waitress.
"Give it to her." Ning Gu raised his chin towards Lian Chuan.
"No more." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu was stunned: "Is this true?"
"Really." Lian Chuan seldom carries universal coins with him. He only needs to carry one to buy an ID card. Universal coins are mostly used to buy things that he doesn't want to be entered into the system. For someone like him who only goes out to buy toothpaste when on missions, the universal coin he took out before was the one that Li Liang lost to him in a bet during the last mission.
"No." Ning Gu turned and told the waitress.
Lian Chuan admired his righteous tone very much.
"Can it be changed?" he asked again.
"We only accept universal coins," the waitress said impatiently, "Is this your first time here? Every time you travelers come here, you keep universal coins for buying wine. You don't have any? How dare you come in and ask for three glasses?"
"Can it be changed?" Ning Gu continued to ask.
"What abilities do you have?" the waitress held her chin up. "Let me see if there's anything I can do for you."
"No." Ning Gu replied.
The waitress waved her hand, put the three cups back on the tray without saying a word, picked them up and turned away.
When Lian Chuan was about to turn around and leave, a man in a top hat stopped the waitress and took the tray from her: "I'll do it."
The waitress rolled her eyes at Ning Gu and walked away.
"Follow me." The man in the top hat held the tray and motioned for them to follow him inside.
"Why?" Ning Gu asked skillfully.
"All the black rings in Lost Valley are looking for Lianchuan." The top hat said, turning his head.
Ning Gu suddenly turned his head and looked at Lian Chuan. Lian Chuan didn't even raise his head, still in the same posture as before.
"You're such a trouble. I shouldn't have let you follow me." Ning Gu said in a low voice with a frown.
"Then run." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu glared at him, wondering when this frustration would end.
As long as I am not dead today, I will use all my abilities to beat...
"Follow him." Lian Chuan said.
"Too careless, isn't it?" Ning Gu lowered his voice, "Don't you have a blind eye? He knew that the Black Rings were looking for you, and you still followed him. What if he caught you and wanted to claim the reward?"
"Then maybe you can split it in half." Lian Chuan said.
"Okay." Ning Gu gave him a thumbs up, turned around and followed the man in the top hat inside.
There were no modifications to the man in the top hat, so it was hard to tell his identity, whether he was a conservative bat, an exile from the main city, or a former traveler.
However, Lian Chuan is not opposed to further contact with the people in the Lost Valley. The powerful mental power that made him faint before, and the words that Lei Yu once said to him in his memories, made him have some vague and uneasy judgment.
A spiritual force that is so powerful that it is beyond one's ability to bear.
Ning Gu was unharmed.
Ning Gu can activate the second generation weapons in the main city.
The weapon belongs to Qi Hang.
Qi Hang disappeared.
The main city paid special attention to Qi Hang.
He also paid special attention to Ning Gu.
This bunch of connections goes back to the beginning and that is the answer.
But what made him uneasy was that he could not be sure whether the answer was his own judgment or a judgment given to him by some power in the Lost Valley.
Lian Chuan and Ning Gu followed behind Top Hat, walked through the chaotic tavern, and entered the inner room of the tavern through a closed small door.
Surprisingly, the inner room is more than twice as large as the outer room. What is even more surprising is that the inner room is not a completely enclosed hole, but half a hole.
It looks like a huge balcony carved out of a cliff by a knife.
The scene outside also gave him his first intuitive feeling of the scale of the Lost Valley.
Looking up, you can see the dome of the Lost Valley, which is the ground of the main city and the Black Iron Wasteland. Looking down, you can see a cave that extends deep into the ground, like a deep well.
There are countless such "balconies" on the surrounding cliffs, with red light that slowly changes from top to bottom, sometimes brighter and sometimes darker, like breathing.
"This is different from what I saw when I came in last time," Ning Gu said, "The last time I came in, the holes I saw were layers upon layers, and they were larger at the top and smaller at the bottom."
"That's the Nine Wings' lair," said Top Hat. "There are four such vertical holes."
"Whose lair is this?" Ning Gu asked. Before the man in the top hat could answer, he asked, "How do we get down?"
"There's a minecart," said Top Hat.
"Where is the mine cart?" Ning Gu asked again.
The Topper gave him a look: "No traveler wants to go to the depths."
"I'm not an ordinary traveler," said Ning Gu.
I am the face of a ghost town.
The man in the top hat said nothing and turned to look at Lian Chuan.
"Why did you bring us here?" Ning Gu remembered the key point and his voice immediately lowered.
"Drink." The man in the top hat bent down, put the tray on the ground, and then slowly sat down.
Lian Chuan looked at his movements and estimated that this man was quite old. If he was in the main city, he would have already lined up in the normal automatic recycling system.
He took off his top hat, and although the unkempt hair on his forehead covered his eyes, it was still possible to tell that he was indeed a man in his fifties or sixties, with wrinkles on his face.
"Are you a bat?" Ning Gu stared at him.
"He is not." Lian Chuan said.
"Hmm?" Ning Gu turned and looked at Lian Chuan.
"He was from the training department in the main city," Lian Chuan walked slowly to his side and looked at a black mark behind his earlobe. "He used to be."
Top Hat smiled.
"You are Qi Hang's teammate." Lian Chuan concluded.
"Won't you get lost once you enter the Lost Valley? How come you and Lian Chuan are fine too?" Ning Gu squatted down opposite the top hat with some curiosity, picked up the cup on the ground and took a sip.
It's wine.
"Pooh." He spat the wine onto the ground.
Weird taste, very unpalatable.
"I paid the price." The Top Hat smiled again.
"What's the price?" Ning Gu picked up the second cup and took a sip. It was sweet water, and it tasted much better.
He picked up another glass of sweet water and handed it to Lianchuan.
Lian Chuan didn't answer. He raised his head impatiently. When he wanted to curse, he found that Lian Chuan was staring at the top hat. He followed Lian Chuan's line of sight.
The top hat lifted up the hair on his forehead, and there were two sunken holes where his eyes should be.
"Are we going to dig out everyone's eyes?" Ning Gu was a little shocked and quickly looked at Lian Chuan again.
"That's not necessarily the case," the hat covered his eyes with his hair, "it depends on what the poet wants."
Ning Gu stood up and slowly retreated to Lian Chuan's side: "I think something is wrong..."
Before he could finish his words, Lian Chuan grabbed his arm and rushed towards the door.
But the doorway in the wall has disappeared.
Lian Chuan stopped suddenly, and Ning Gu was carried by the huge inertia and crashed into the uneven wall of the cave, feeling dizzy.
Evened out...
No one knew when the door changed, but Lian Chuan didn't even notice.
He turned and looked at the bowler hat.
Top Hat was very fast. As soon as he turned around, he leaped towards the vertical hole outside.
As a shrill high-frequency scream came from the bottom of the vertical hole, a huge black shadow rose up, swept past, and caught the falling top hat.
A dog's head and paper-thin wings.
"What is this?" Ning Gu asked in surprise behind him.
"Bat." Lian Chuan said.
A living, giant bat.
Ning Gu picked up a cup on the ground and smashed it hard on the bat's head.
This time the blow was very accurate, hitting the bat right in the middle of its head. The bat was frightened and shook violently.
"Don't bother," Top Hat grabbed Bat's ears, "I've been waiting for a worthwhile deal for so many years, there's no way I'll let you go."
"What's the deal?" Lian Chuan asked.
"The future of the main city!" Top Hat raised his voice, "You will never understand!"
Lian Chuan didn't say anything.
"But I really didn't expect to meet you," Topper gestured excitedly, "When I left the main city, you were still a baby... It's been more than 20 years, what a pity..."
"What a pity." Ning Gu said.
"It's a pity that I can't see you in person," Top Hat sighed, "The only one in the city who is 100% compatible with Betelgeuse..."
Ning Gu was stunned by this sentence, and he turned around and glared at Lian Chuan.
Betelgeuse
Top Hat smiled happily and quickly disappeared at the bottom of the vertical hole.
Lian Chuan stood at the edge of the cave and looked around.
Each hole on the cliff is very far away, so it is not very likely that he can get out from here. Even if he uses his speed to rush to a hole on the next level, he will not be able to carry Ning Gu.
"Are you Betelgeuse?" Ning Gu looked at him, his voice a little hoarse.
"Yeah." Lian Chuan responded.
"When Betelgeuse fights, will sticks stick out of its body..." Ning Gu asked.
Lian Chuan turned his head.
"That's a skeleton," he said.
"Then can I assume that," Ning Gu stared at him, "bats are all Betelgeuse? Look, their bones always move outward..."
Lian Chuan interrupted him: "Two different things."
Ning Gu didn't say anything, but frowned in thought.
When Lianchuan began to check the cave walls around him, he spoke again: "I dreamed of Betelgeuse."
Lian Chuan stopped touching the cave wall.