One-Eyed Monster

While Igor and his companions were exploring new things at Yonder Travel Academy, one person was also not idle.

This person was Kuyi Tulan, the chief of the Alchemy Workshop.

He met his mentor at Guru Mountain, and although he didn’t achieve his purpose, he could finally put to rest a lingering longing in his heart.

At this moment, he was in a secluded tavern in the Imperial Capital Xinbal of the Kayne Empire.

He had gone out in disguise. To avoid being recognized, he was wearing an oversized hood, making him look like a religious bishop preaching in the tavern.

Xinbal was grand and splendid, with taverns everywhere. However, the tavern Kuyi Tulan visited this time was an unremarkable place, located in the northwest corner of Xinbal, belonging to the slums. The tavern was tiny, yet it was crammed with tables and stools. The tavern staff were as shabby as beggars, lazily greeting patrons, and the bar had few decent bottles of liquor. This tavern was entirely a fly tavern within Xinbal; naturally, its existence was not for serving patrons looking to drown their sorrows. These fly taverns provided the influential figures of Xinbal with a secret venue for conducting covert transactions.

In such taverns, many people would come and go every day, never revealing their true faces, always wearing masks or wrapping scarves, showing only their eyes while the rest was hidden. But today, it was rare for someone like Kuyi Tulan to have his entire face exposed.

The tavern staff sized up Kuyi Tulan: ”For the first time, as long as I’ve been here, I haven’t seen anyone drinking the wine here!”

Kuyi Tulan picked up the wine glass and looked at the staff: ”Isn’t this wine drinkable?”

”Of course you can drink it, but it’s certainly not the wine for people like you to drink; it’s all low-quality wine.” The staff shrugged and casually picked up a rag to wipe the table.

”People like us?” Kuyi Tulan looked at the tavern staff, somewhat dismissively.

”I’ve been here long enough to have some eyesight. You’re definitely not from the slums; you’re from above, so the wine I gave you is definitely drinkable, even though it’s low-quality, but at least it can be drunk.”

”Is there wine that can’t be drunk?”

”It’s not that it can’t be drunk, it’s just not for you to drink. Those wines are for those who come out from the slums. They would fight each other over just a taste of Xinbal’s Rum, and as you see, the tavern only has one bottle of Xinbal’s Rum, which is still recycled.”

”Recycled?” Kuyi Tulan was puzzled.

”You don’t know. Many masked big figures specify this wine, but this wine is so expensive that our boss can’t afford many bottles, so this rare bottle is prized as though it were a treasure, poured again and again, and then diluted with water and other wine. Anyway, this bottle remains the bottle.”

”You mean that even after pouring it into the glass, it’s poured back out?”

”Smart, you can see right away you’re different from other big people. I told you quietly because you’re generous. That bottle on the bar with the best Guba Rum is just poured back and forth, and when those masked great people get it, they won’t drink a sip; they think the glasses here are dirty.” After speaking, the tavern staff took out the gold coin and bit it.

”Is it always this quiet here?” Kuyi Tulan asked; he had come here for a personal matter.

”Not really. It’s just that the time you arrived coincided. At this time, the guys from the slums are busy everywhere, and they have no time to look for fun. By midnight, this place genuinely enters a trade.”

”Are there many people coming to get drunk?”

”It’s obvious you’re new to places like this. You don’t come to taverns like ours to get drunk; most come to buy and sell information.”

”Really? Then what do you think I came here for?” Kuyi Tulan suddenly asked, this question leaving the tavern staff stunned.

”Could it be, you really came to find fun?” the tavern staff asked cautiously.

”There’s no fun here to find.” Kuyi Tulan said, showing no sign of anything unusual.

”So are you here to buy and sell information?”

”Is this place simply a venue for buying and selling information?” Kuyi Tulan asked.

”Of course not...” The tavern staff hesitated.

”I came for that matter.” Kuyi Tulan pushed back his hood, revealing his entire face.

”Chief... Chief Sir!” The tavern staff was almost stunned in disbelief.

An image of the chief of the Alchemy Workshop hung in every corner of Xinbal; Kuyi Tulan’s visage was known by all, the youngest entrant to the Empire’s council room, the youngest chief of the Alchemy Workshop, with various titles added to his name.

”Everyone come out; hiding serves no purpose.” Kuyi Tulan said, not raising his head, ”I have already shown myself; are you still not daring to come out?”

The tavern staff hurriedly moved aside; working in a fly tavern involved walking on a knife edge, not something ventured into without necessity. If a fly tavern was merely a venue for buying and selling information, it was nothing, but these taverns also tackled other matters, like execution.

The tavern staff nervously stood behind the bar, where there was a hidden gap. Whenever someone engaged in execution in such a fly tavern, they had to hide in the gap, otherwise, their lives might not be spared.

”You don’t need to hide; I guarantee I won’t interfere with your table wiping.” Kuyi Tulan said to the tavern staff, his words leaving the staff uncertain whether to advance or retreat.

Just then, various voices emerged from the shadows, the voices of men and women, old and young.

”With just you alone, you can’t possibly do anything to us.”

”Indeed, weren’t we supposed to exchange information here? Why the sudden change?”

”What a joke, is he courting death?”

...

Kuyi suddenly smirked; within a short moment, he had already pinpointed the locations of these speakers! These people were still too arrogant, failing to regard others, a mistake that would cost them.

Unfortunately, Kuyi Tulan no longer had the chance to impart this lesson to them all.