It seemed to be just a pile of loose rocks and withered branches, yet after observing for a few seconds, Lynch finally discovered that there was indeed something inside.
Several lizards were lying on the rocks, almost motionless, their colors blending perfectly with the stones.
The gazes of the people around were all focused on these sluggish creatures, their eyes filled with fanaticism.
"What is this for? Selling lizards?"
"What do you think?" Officer Natalie's lips curled up, her tone tinged with a hint of playfulness.
The surrounding fervent eyes and frantic shouting reminded him of the horse tracks from his past life. Lynch said thoughtfully, "Betting on lizards?"
"Tch." Officer Natalie pursed her lips with regret. "It is just lizard betting. It is a very complicated method. I will spare you the warning not to participate; I am quite confident in you, after all."
Hmm. Lynch nodded. It seemed the officer still had a good eye for people.
"Besides, you do not have the money to gamble anyway."
Why was this woman suddenly insulting him, and hitting where it hurt?
"Linda, get him a beer."
The officer gestured to the bar, and then another bartender dressed in men's clothing brought over a beer.
"I brought him here, so take care of him for me." Natalie patted Lynch on the shoulder.
"Good afternoon, Officer Angel. Did you bring a newcomer along?"
The officer's voice disturbed a few of the patrons, and some raised their glasses in welcome.
"Natalie, I heard you broke up a cultist sacrifice last night. Is this kid the survivor? How long can this one live? Heh, kid, did you wet your pants last night? Don't worry, this is only the beginning, hahahaha."
A short, bearded man, already flushed from drinking, pointed at Lynch and laughed loudly.
What kind of nonsense was that? There were drunks everywhere.
Lynch sighed inwardly, not wanting to lower himself to the level of a drunkard.
However, he immediately felt the hand Natalie still had on his shoulder tighten, causing him sharp pain. When he looked up, he saw Officer Natalie's expression darken as she raised her eyebrows.
She snatched the beer glass Lynch was about to lift and dumped the entire thing over the man's head.
Standing there with the glass on his head, the bearded man was stunned, his alcohol induced haze momentarily broken. Natalie had already stepped forward, grabbing his collar and pointing at his nose, her face cold.
"If you cannot control your mouth, go find some other survivor to mock. Lynch is a friend I brought here. Regardless of how many days he has left, it is not your place to ridicule him. Apologize to him now."
"Are you crazy, Natalie? Do you want to start a war?" The bearded man slowly sobered up, his eyes widening. "I didn't say anything wrong. What is your problem?"
"I don't care if you were wrong or right. Lynch is a comrade in arms who fought alongside me, not a burden. If you dare to insult him like this, you must apologize today, or I will make you pay the price."
Lynch, standing to the side, felt a warmth in his heart. Seeing the bearded man's angry glare, he worried for Natalie and rubbed his nose. "Um... I actually thought that beer was for me to drink."
"You shut up too." Officer Natalie didn't turn back, keeping her cold gaze locked on the bearded man's eyes.
The bearded man's face flushed and paled in turns, his expression twisting, but Officer Natalie held his collar firmly, her gaze never wavering.
"Fine, fine, I apologize." The bearded man finally looked away, grumbling sullenly, "I didn't know you considered him a comrade."
"Hmph." Officer Natalie released her grip and stepped back to Lynch's side. "I am going to see if he is free. Don't wander off."
"Mhm, I will stay right here." Lynch made a grabbing motion in the air. "Thanks, comrade. But is this one perhaps..."
"Drink what? Just hold it in." Officer Natalie let out a soft laugh, then immediately put on a stern face again, walking away with a huff and leaving Lynch alone by the bar.
Tch, this woman is truly volatile.
"Hahahaha, kid, you are truly pitiful. Beautiful Linda, get him another one, on me." Someone nearby laughed while raising a glass. "It is a real pity, Truen, that Natalie didn't beat you up, you idiot."
"I am not afraid of her. I wasn't even afraid when her father was alive." The bearded man, far from being embarrassed, shook his hair and beard like a dog, laughing. "Sorry about that, kid. I was just joking. But you are quite something. This is the first time I have seen that violent mother ape get so angry for an ordinary person. What did you do?"
"Heh, thanks, brother. You are not a bad guy after all."
Lynch raised his glass to the stranger who had bought him the drink. He finally got to taste the beer of this world; it was more pungent than the beer from his past life, though not as good as he had imagined. Still, he finished half the glass in one gulp, treating it as his lunch. But, bearded man, you called her a mother ape? Lynch raised his eyebrows and said loudly with a smile:
"Actually, I didn't do much. I just identified a mystery relic in a second, found the source of the mystery at a glance, dived into an out of control mystery relic, read its deep memories in forty five minutes, and incidentally caused a huge ruckus inside. It is not worth mentioning, really not worth mentioning."
His expression was incredibly exaggerated. Not only the bearded man, but Lynch's attitude and words caused the surrounding atmosphere to stifle, followed by a roar of laughter, especially from Truen the bearded man who laughed the loudest:
"Hahahaha, you are a bold braggart. Not bad, I like you. Actually, to tell you the truth, I am Emperor Rudolph himself, out in civilian clothes today, hahah."
"Sigh, I was telling the truth, why don't you believe me?"
"Hahahaha, if you could do those things, I would kneel down right now and lick your boots." The bearded man wiped his beard while laughing. "If you don't want to talk about it, that is fine. Hah, no worries. Beautiful girl, Linda, get him another one. He tells good jokes, and it is on me."
For a moment, the bar was filled with a joyful atmosphere. Most people even shifted their attention from the glass dome to Lynch, but a few chimes suddenly rang from inside the bar, and the group of drinkers immediately huddled back to the bar, eyes fixed on the lizards in the glass dome, ignoring Lynch entirely.
Lynch shrugged, took the beer from the beautiful bartender, and raised his glass to her: "Thanks. Is this a stronghold for you Watchers?"
"Mhm." Linda the bartender wiped a glass by the bar. "You should say 'their' Watchers. We ordinary people are all peripheral members."
"I suppose so. But you really are ordinary people. I thought everyone here was a Soul Severer."
Linda rolled her eyes at him: "There aren't that many Soul Severers. Most of the people here are ordinary survivors of mysterious incidents. Once you have come into contact with the mysterious, it is easy to establish a connection with it and never return to a normal life. Those survivors with some ability simply became mystery hunters, occasionally taking less dangerous commissions from the Watchers, which is a win win situation. If they encounter a truly dangerous mystery, they have a chance to resolve it nearby. As for those without abilities, they rely on the Watchers for administrative work, like us. Just living one more day is enough."
"How can you say you have no abilities? I don't believe those people can wipe a glass as fast and clean as you. Everyone has their own specialty."
"Pfft, flattery won't work on me. I won't buy you a drink." Linda laughed and rolled her eyes at Lynch. "But there are some Soul Severers among them. Truen, the bearded man who was fighting with Natalie, is one. I saw you getting angry when he said those things about Natalie earlier, but be careful. He is also a level two authority Soul Severer. Don't provoke him."
"Mhm, thanks for the warning. I am someone who never causes trouble."
Lynch had actually already received a warning from the female voice. There were at least five Soul Severers in the bar, especially one who was staring at a crystal ball and stroking it gently, one who was hunched over with his hands hovering hesitantly over tarot cards, and one who was kneeling on one knee before the bar with his hands clasped and forehead pressed against them, muttering prayers. They looked like they were divining... wait?
Looking up at the blackboard above, then back at these three chaotic Soul Severers, were they cheating by divining the results of the bet?
"It is not considered cheating. Using authority to predict is allowed; it is part of the betting process." Linda explained. "It is just that their bets are not public; it is a blind bid. Ah, it is about to start. The fifteen minute preparation period."
The bar had fallen into silence; even Linda subconsciously lowered her voice.
The three diviners had one after another submitted a slip of paper, especially the one playing with tarot cards, who had changed his multiple times.
A bartender holding a glass test tube walked around the bar.
Lynch saw clearly that inside the test tube were a large group of... mosquitoes.
Chameleons, mosquitoes. Lynch's expression was a bit strange, realizing what this group was betting on.
"Mhm, there are twenty mosquitoes in total, and seven lizards inside. We are betting on the first three lizards to eat a mosquito, and how many each of those three eats. We have special sensory equipment to determine the number of remaining mosquitoes inside, so it won't be wrong. It is actually similar to horse racing, just without the need for such a large venue and participants, and it is not very suitable for ordinary people. I have never seen it in the world of ordinary people before."
What ordinary person would play such a bizarre game? Anyone with a sound mind wouldn't play like this. Horse betting at least sounds better than mosquito betting.
Lynch was just pondering this when the bartender opened the small hole in the glass dome and inserted the test tube, though the seal on the tube had not yet been opened.
"Once it starts, everyone can use their authority to influence the outcome until the result is revealed. It depends on who has the higher level."
"Hiss..." Lynch felt as if he had traveled into a gambling movie, watching a group of experts show off their skills. "So, is this the lizards racing, or the Soul Severers outside racing?"
"In the face of banknotes, is there any essential difference between people racing or lizards racing?" Linda smiled. "That is what the boss here says."
Lynch was taken aback. He savored the words and slowly revealed a smile: "That makes a lot of sense. But with their interference, what happens to the previous divination results?"
"If you cannot calculate their actions into it, what kind of divination is that?"
That makes perfect sense. Completely impossible to refute.
Pat, pat. Someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind. He turned around and saw Officer Natalie had returned.
"Come with me. He has time. How was it just now? Nothing happened, right?"
"Nothing much." Lynch gave a strange smile. "Mr. Truen just bought me a drink. I told him about my experience last night, and he even praised me for telling it well."
"Hahahaha, that is right, Natalie. This friend of yours is not bad, he can brag even better than me. Just now he said he identified a mystery relic in a second and read its deep memories in forty five minutes. I couldn't even do that, hahah..."
"He actually didn't state it accurately. To be precise, it was forty three minutes and fifty seconds." Officer Natalie nodded seriously. "I have reported the situation to Victor, and I am just about to take him to see Victor. Let's go, Lynch. I have to take you to another place later."
The laughter in the bar stopped abruptly. Everyone's gaze wandered back and forth between Truen the bearded man and Lynch.
Truen stood with his mouth agape, staring blankly at Lynch and Natalie. A rattling sound came from his throat; he wanted to say something but couldn't get a word out, his face turning redder and redder.
"I told you I was telling the truth, why didn't you believe me? Well then, Your Majesty Rudolph II, I shall take my leave. Thank you for the beer."
Saying this, Lynch tipped his hat, bowed, and followed Officer Natalie as they walked away.
The moment they left, a violent roar of laughter erupted behind them, lingering for a long time.
Rate on N.U.
