Night fell.
After saying goodbye to Diona, Lin Mo headed alone to the Bluebird Tavern.
Diona had really wanted to come along, and he’d almost been talked into it. But someone knocked on her door, saying there was an emergency she needed to deal with.
So Lin Mo entered the tavern alone.
…
The tavern wasn’t very big, but every seat was taken.
There were plenty of men and women here, and the proportion of men was much higher than outside.
Lin Mo was still wrapped in his white robe. He didn’t want his looks causing trouble in a place like this.
He found a seat near the corner and began surveying his surroundings.
Most of the people still in the tavern at this hour were women who’d spent the whole day working and come by at night to drink and have fun.
They were all dressed pretty well. Their clothes weren’t new, but there were hardly any visible patches on them.
They also seemed clean overall. The tavern’s interior was the same way, decorated mainly in black and dark brown. Strange, brightly shining lamps hung everywhere, and the walls were adorned with brass heads depicting all sorts of bizarre beasts, set into wooden panels or frames.
In front of the bar stood soft, round-backed stools in a deep rose-red.
As soon as Lin Mo leaned against the bar, the female bartender hurried over to him.
After a brief exchange, he ordered himself a drink called “Happy Sweet Orange.”
To put it simply, it was a mix of prewar wine and homemade grain liquor brewed by the people of the wasteland, with juice from boiled oranges poured in.
As she mixed the fruit wine, Lin Mo watched her with a bored gaze.
At the end, the bartender even sprinkled in some white crystalline powder. Lin Mo wasn’t sure what it was.
But everyone else was drinking it without a second thought, so he didn’t connect it to hypnotic drugs.
“I’ve never been to this settlement before.”
He pointed toward the female bartender with his index finger. “This. What is it?”
“Sugar.” The bartender gazed at Lin Mo’s eyes, hidden beneath his hood.
She gave him an ingratiating smile and even threw him a flirtatious wink.
“Add a little sugar to any drink or fruit, and it’ll make you feel happy.”
“…” Lin Mo.
Lin Mo was still suspicious.
He asked the bartender for a little of the white powder and tasted it. Only after confirming it was ordinary white sugar did he feel reassured.
Lin Mo moved the drink in front of himself and was about to pay.
“Ah, sir. You can’t pay for this just yet.”
But the bartender held out both hands to stop him.
“Since you’re from out of town, you might not know our customs. Male customers have to wait two hours after their first drink of the day. Only if no woman’s willing to pay for them by then are they allowed to pay themselves.”
“Huh?”
What kind of weird custom was this?
But thinking of the task Bai Xiaomei’s system had issued, perhaps the system’s real intention was for her to pay for his drink.
“I’ll leave the money here. You can take it in two hours?” Lin Mo asked.
“That won’t do.”
The bartender continued waving her hands. “If the boss finds out, I’ll get fired!”
“That’s what sets the Bluebird Tavern apart from other little bars. Every man who comes here is a prince worthy of being pampered by the girls—heehee. You could also say that only guys willing to admit they have no appeal to women get to pay for themselves.”
“…………” Lin Mo.
What a hassle.
Lin Mo was competitive, sure. But he wasn’t about to play along with people he had nothing to do with in a place like this.
“I see.”
He moved the drink in front of himself and took a small sip.
“In that case, I’ll wait a while.”
He wasn’t good at drinking.
He could do anything as a killer, but drinking was one thing Lin Mo genuinely wasn’t very good at.
Especially not a fruity drink like this, mixed from high-proof liquor and homemade booze—strong enough to catch fire. It was even harder to stomach.
And since he had two hours to wait, Lin Mo didn’t rush to down it.
Instead, he occasionally lifted his mask to take a small sip while continuing to search the tavern for anything strange.
…
Most of the men here hadn’t come alone. They had female companions with them.
And there was more than one companion, too. They came in groups of at least two and as many as five.
Looking more closely, the only men sitting alone like him were the ones dressed quite revealingly, some even wearing makeup. They were ordinary-looking, frustrated men, sitting there looking lost with half-full glasses in hand and waiting for other women to approach them.
And sure enough, various women soon led them away.
(Am I the only one who came to a place like this in a robe?)
Compared to during the day, quite a few women were now looking his way, some confused, others curious.
But Lin Mo didn’t regret it. He knew that if he’d come in his normal clothes, he’d have caused quite a stir.
(Nothing strange here.)
(Could the problem be somewhere in the kitchen or upstairs?)
With that thought, Lin Mo stood up, drink in hand, and asked the bartender, “Can I sit upstairs?”
“Oh, if you mean upstairs… you can, but…”
“But?”
“There are pretty strict rules downstairs. Even couples who are together can’t just get handsy.”
She deliberately winked at Lin Mo.
“But upstairs… well, apart from anything you can’t do out in the open, there are no rules.”
“…” Lin Mo.
Good.
That definitely sounded suspicious.
The danger lurking this time had to be hidden somewhere upstairs.
Lin Mo thanked the bartender, drink in hand, then turned and went down the hall toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
“Mmph, gulp—mm, kiss, kiss, kiss—”
“Hah, ah… mm—”
Lin Mo had barely turned the corner to climb the stairs when the scene above him startled him.
At the stairwell landing, a man and a woman were locked in a tight embrace, kissing passionately.
He carefully edged around them and continued up the stairs.
He hadn’t even reached the second floor before Lin Mo caught a pungent scent that hit his senses with an intensely provocative force.
At the same time, he could hear the men and women laughing and flirting—and even a few faint, intermittent moans.
