"There is a vulgar chorus of power in the world. Whoever submits to it will sink forever. ”

It was a time long ago, long before Ed was just a hairy boy, and he would be turned pale with blood, bullet casings, red knives in and out of his chest and neck, and explosions that would deaf your ears, and one of his elders had told him a word. Of course, this sentence is not original to him, and the big mouth under his beard can't sing such a level. It is said that this phrase existed and spread on Earth long before the age of the Apocalypse. Ed didn't know if it was true, he only knew that even his grandfather might not have seen Earth. And he didn't even see his grandfather.

For more than a decade since, Ed has been thinking of this passage from time to time, reminding himself when he feels shaken, to stabilize his heart, and to prevent him from kneeling like a fool without realizing it.

There is something in the depths of human nature, something dirty, dark, inferior, disgusting, weak. Whoever compromises with them is tantamount to raising the white flag with his underwear on the battlefield where he is least able to admit defeat. And the most ridiculous thing is that people who lose often don't even recognize the fact that they have lost. They don't know anything about real failures.

Ed saw danger in Marcy, but he didn't say anything to her. It's not the right time for nightclubs to be a better place to drink, vent, indulge, and flirt, but the little guy in white has already made a personal demonstration with his wonderful flesh, and Marcy is not a good person to do those things. Even in this perfect occasion to do those things.

Also, he didn't feel like Marcy really needed him for the time being. She was a strong woman, and he had known her ever since, and he would not judge her weakness for the slightest momentary wavering. He himself had not been like her, and he held on, came over, with his own strength, his own shoulder, his own backbone. He believed Marcy would be able to do the same.

He turned his head to see that Marcy had already drunk half of her second glass. It took three bites.

"Enough time has been lost." He said that he was not particularly directed at anyone, "It was too late at night." ”

"Are you going to talk outside?" Marcy opened her eyes half-open, pursed the corners of her lips lazily, and poured another sip of wine.

"My bad." Ed fiddled with his empty cup, "There's a cubicle here. ”

"What about him?" Marcy shook her little booted foot and kicked the little guy in white who was sitting on the counter between the two. They still don't even know what his name is. Maybe it's called "Tom" or something. Who knows. Nobody cares.

"Paul," Ed said, looking up at the bartender, "man, please do me a favor." ”

"Please, Mr. Ed." Paul doesn't lift his head, and his voice seems to be squeezing out of his nostrils.

"This friend of ours is drunk and needs a place to rest."

"Why should I help you, Mr. Eddard?"

"Good question, let me think about it." Ed smiled and rubbed his nose seriously, "Because we're friends...... Because I'm a regular here? ”

"We are not friends, Mr. Ed. You've never really considered me a friend. Paul glared at Ed a little viciously, "I pick up customers here every day, and the colorful guys have everything, and I see too much." Man is a territorial animal, relaxed at home, and much more nervous at work. And here — here, this place, I have some senses that are more acute than you think. But...... Of course, you are a regular visitor to this place, and you are a good guest, well-behaved and polite. But that doesn't excuse me to help you with some of the troubles that might be troublesome. The owner will be upset. ”

"Hmm...... Yes, the boss will be unhappy. Ed chewed on what Paul had said, and nodded as if it made sense, "That does sound like a serious problem." ”

"It's great that you understand." Paul said dryly.

Ed looked at Paul, and Marcy next to him was also looking at Paul. The expressions on the faces of the two were subtle, as if they wanted to laugh, but for some reason they didn't directly show their smiles, which made their faces look weird and awkward.

The two looked at each other and looked at each other. Marcy twisted her lip to the left, and Ed shook her head imperceptibly. Then he turned his gaze to Paul again.

"You're thinking wrong, man. Two things are wrong. I really think of you as a friend. Ed said slowly in a soft voice that sounded like an old lady caressing the organ mixed with the rippling waves of the sea, "And I don't just understand you. I'm helping you. ”

"Help me?"

"Helping you avoid a big hassle at once. If I heard it right, your boss doesn't like trouble, right? ”

"Interesting." A smile rose at the corner of Paul's mouth, perfect like an artist's statue, "I thought you were the one in trouble." ”

"And if you don't get smarter sooner, friend, my trouble will inevitably become your trouble."

Ed said, folding his arms together and pressing down on the bar, his deep eyes unblinking, and the corners of his mouth curvature. He's like an unscrupulous drinker who is teasing a bargirl, and his teasing technique is quite good, but he uses it in the wrong place and with the wrong person.

Paul was unfazed by Ed's strange behavior, only a slight frown on his brow. Then, he saw Marcy on the side. He saw that this woman, who was obviously much tougher than Ed but was equally calm, seemed to casually ripped open her coat and opened the inside of one side, giving him a "careless" look.

A policeman. Insignia. Police officers of the Stuttgar Police Headquarters. Insignia. Detective's police. Insignia.

“……”

"I'm curious, Paul." Ed let out a casual voice on the sidelines, lowering his eyebrows and playing with the empty cup in his hand, "What would your boss look like if he knew that you had provoked a police detective for his shop?" ”

Paul didn't answer right away. Marcy only revealed the heart-stopping thing for less than two seconds, while Paul didn't seem to catch his breath for two minutes. His lips were closed, his face turned green, and the cup he wiped in his hand almost shattered.

"Big trouble, right?" Ed looked at the poor bartender and grinned, "But don't be afraid, I can help you, I can help you settle this damn mess, after all—friend, right?" ”

“……”

"Friends should help each other, there's nothing to say."

Ed said, jumping out of the high chair, then with one hand he picked up the little man in white who was sitting comfortably on the ground next to him—he was more fleshy than he looked—and put it in his chair, and gently pushed him forward from behind. So his head slammed into the countertop like a mallet.

"Take care of him," Ed retracted the contrived look on his face and glanced at Paul casually, his face expressionless, "We'll take him with us when we leave." You don't need to worry about anything. ”

“…… You're a bastard, Mr. Eddard. Paul said. He had calmed down, his face was not good, but it was not too bad. He's figured out what the situation is now.

Fuck, he's been treated like a monkey from the beginning like this gentleman fool in white. They have already eaten him from the very beginning, and they have already decided the whole situation!

"Shameless, dear Paul." Ed pointed to himself, "A shameless bastard with no honor to speak of. ”

Paul did not speak. Marcy drank the wine and slammed the empty glass back to the bar with Eddard's, then jumped out of her chair, patted her shoulder, and turned to Ed's side.

The two weren't talking nonsense this time. Ed led the way, Marcy followed, slowly making her way through the crowd on the dance floor to the door of a cubicle in the corner. Before entering, Marcy tilted her head and glanced to the right-hand side. There was a small area that was noticeably a step higher than the rest of the bar, filled with tables and a few couches around it, on which some customers were smoking and chatting with the poles, not looking like they were opening the rods for a while.

One of them caught Marcy's attention in particular. He was dressed in a beige suit, slightly chubby, holding a twenty-centimeter-long cigar between his fingers, and was smiling and talking to the people around him.

He wears a golden sigil ring on his little finger.

……

The individual compartments of this kind of bar are large and small, and the common feature is that they are not very cheap. But fortunately, Ed has enough money on him this time, and he doesn't care about it.

Because the table was a bit big, the sofa was still half-wrapped around the table, and Ed and Marcy sat directly next to each other. He watched as Marcy pulled out his phone, briefly manipulated it, launched a special program, and then placed the phone screen up on the table.

A beam of light shoots vertically from the screen of the phone, and then spreads horizontally, turning into a multi-dimensional and three-dimensional hologram, a mass of data influence composed almost entirely of complex data information. Because it was so eye-catching, Ed noticed the few photos floating gently in the sea of data almost immediately.

It's all head photos, and he still knows a few of them. In addition to the two corpses, there was Mrs. Bing, a dark flaxen-colored young girl he didn't know, and the guys who were suspected of being gangsters who were fighting with him.

Ed stared at them for a moment, then turned to look at Marcy.

"Say something?"

"You won't see for yourself."

"I want to hear from you."

Marcy rolled her eyes. "You know what, you really are a jerk. Shameless bastards. ”

"And it's lazy." The corners of Ed's mouth twitched, "Very lazy, lazy Shameless bastard, no honor to speak of." ”

He didn't panic at all when he said this. Now he didn't sit on the stool anymore, and he wasn't afraid that she would kick him again.