Chapter 8: The Tavern
At the end of the northern highway of Iron Mountain, on the edge of the sea of sand, sits a two-story building. It covers an area of about 800 square meters, surrounded by barbed wire, and at the entrance hangs a sign with paint about to fall off, on which are crookedly written four words - "Black Fire Bar"
Further down, there is a wooden board nailed to the bottom of the sign, which reads in striking red paint: "Attention, this bar is equipped with six rotary Vulcan cannons, please do not make trouble." β
Then, there was a blackboard nailed to the bottom of the board, and it was written in white chalk: "List of those killed for trouble, White Feather Finger Diagram (Desert Gaoleng), Tribious Fish Light Wave (Yellow Storm Mermaid), Mirror Danmi (Predator), Western Regions Xia Xi (Captain Divine Needle), ......"
Finally, there is a hand-drawn poster pasted on the lower part of the blackboard, drawing a sand scorpion placed on a plate, and a few crooked words are written in the lower right corner: "Sand Scorpion Package, 7% off." β
It's evening, and half of the sun sinks into the endless wasteland. At the door of the bar stood two strong men, dressed in khaki cloth vests and camouflage trousers, and carrying thick drum heavy machine guns. One of the brawny men yawned and complained, "I'm so tired from standing with this thing for a long time." β
"The boss looks majestic, and most people will be scared when they see a heavy machine gun, and they don't dare to make trouble lightly." Another brawny man explained.
"But this thing is an empty shell......
"Don't!" The strong man hurriedly interrupted his companion's words and said, "I can't let outsiders hear this, there are still guests inside." β
At this moment, there was a 'buzzing' sound in the distance, and a red locomotive appeared on the horizon.
"Someone's coming." The yawning strong man hurriedly took out the binoculars with only a monocular left to observe the visitor, and after looking at it for a few seconds, he shouted anxiously, "It's a red comet!" Iron slag is coming! β
"Quick, tell the boss." The strong man hurriedly ran into the bar.
A short, sturdy, rectangular middle-aged man was wiping dishes in the bar, and when he saw the strong man running in in a panic, he immediately shouted: "What a panic, I didn't see any guests there." β
"Iron slag is coming."
When the boss heard the strong man's words, he froze unconsciously. He slipped his hand unintentionally, and with a "bang", the saucer fell to the ground and shattered. After a few seconds, he came back to his senses and hurriedly ordered, "Quick, call everyone up, take your weapons and stand guard in the four corners of the hall." The strong man immediately went into the back room to wake up the others......
Immediately afterwards, the boss pulled the electric switch behind the wine cabinet and turned on the lights of the entire bar. The hall was suddenly lit up, and incandescent lights illuminated every corner.
In the middle of the bar hall are several large log tables and round low wooden stools. Six travelers sat around one of the large round tables for dinner, filled with a variety of dishes and a few beers. Among the six travelers, there were four stout men, a young man of medium stature, and a young woman of good shape. The young man and the young woman were chatting in a low voice, and suddenly he noticed that the lights of the entire bar were all on, so he said a few words to the strong man beside him. The strong man turned his head and shouted to the boss: "Boss, it's not dark yet, it's too dazzling to turn on the lights so early." β
The boss walked out of the bar and came to them, with a serious expression, "When there will be a guest, he is a ruthless person, don't provoke him if you have nothing to do." β
The strong man laughed, "Boss, we are all from Sand City, and we haven't seen any ruthless people." β
"Okay, I'll do it, and the guests will do it themselves." The bar owner spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders, and his short stature combined with Yan SΓΉ's serious rectangular face looked a little funny.
"Please don't worry, as long as others don't take the initiative to provoke us, we won't offend others." The young woman smiled slightly, and said to the boss in a modest tone.
While the boss was talking to them, the strong man who went in to call for people walked out of the back room with several sleepy-eyed men with heavy machine guns and stood guard at the four corners of the hall.
"I've passed it anyway." The owner re-emphasized and wished them a nice dinner. Then, he walked back to the bar, and there was a discussion behind him, but it had nothing to do with him.
"Who dares to open a shop here." "People in the countryside just don't know." "Yes, Tianshao doesn't need to meet him, the countrymen don't understand." "The taste of this sand scorpion is not bad, and I don't know what to make it of, so I eat more in less days." "Before you go, ask the boss what seasoning you ordered." "The sky is small, don't make trouble when you go out, it's the ...... that the master explains" "I understand."
"Tianshao, I toast you." The young woman looked at the young man with silky eyes, and held the glass in both hands to salute him.
The young man smiled evilly, reached out to wrap his arms around her thin waist, and pulled her over hard, "Do you know what it means to do it first as respect?" β
"Yes, do it first!" "It's right." "Sister Lingling will do it first." The three strong men echoed and coaxed.
"No~" The young woman arrived squeamishly, and she handed the wine glass to the young man, "Unless the sky feeds me less." β
While they were playing, the boss was wiping dishes in the bar when he suddenly heard a conversation outside the door.
"Brother Tie, please come here." "Take care of my car, or I'll tear down your shop." "Don't worry, the two of us will look after the car for you to ensure safety."
Before he could finish speaking, the boss saw Iron Slag walk into the bar with a young girl. The strange girl had curly silver hair and blue eyes. Her facial features are very delicate, and her skin is particularly white, and she doesn't look like a person on the ground.
Iron Slag took You Ge and sat down at the bar, took out two gold coins and threw them on the bar, "Two sand scorpions, two cups of black tea and the recent rumors of the sand sea." β
The boss stared at the two gold coins on the bar with bright eyes, but hesitated whether to take it or not, the money of this Iron Mountain Town Killing God is not easy to earn. In the end, he still couldn't resist the temptation of Jin Cancan, grabbed the gold coin and stuffed it into his pocket, and said: "There are two rumors, the guests who have come here in the past few days have bad weather in the sand sea, and there are often sandstorms. He paused, "Sure, sandstorms in the endless sea of sand are ubiquitous, but they seem to be a bit frequent lately. β
The boss poured two cups of black tea and put them in front of Tie Slag and You Ge.
"Give me another cup of agave." Iron slag is required.
"Drinking? It's not that you didn't make it, big sister, ......"
"Huh?" Iron Slag reached out and grabbed the handle of the knife behind his back. The boss's words stopped abruptly, and he didn't continue the topic anymore, coughing lightly, "In addition, there have been many travelers who have not seen the trace of sandworms in the sand sea recently, and I guess that the breeding period of sandworms has been advanced. β
"Why?" Iron Slag asked.
"The breeding period of sandworms is generally around October, but they are very sensitive to the climate, and if the climate of the sand sea changes recently, the sandworms may enter the breeding period earlier."
"What is the price of sandworm eggs now?"
"Ordinary gold ranges from 0 gold to 50 gold, mainly depending on the color and the concentration of body regenitin, if it is a mutated golden sandworm egg, it can be worth thousands of gold."
The two chatted for a while, and the chef brought two servings of sand scorpions. You Ge looked at the sand scorpion on the plate, which was red with teeth and claws, and felt a wave of nausea, and shouted, "I don't eat this." β
Iron Slag tore off the big pincers of the sand scorpion, broke it hard, revealing the white and tender meat inside, and handed it to You Ge, "Some people have the same taste as crabs, but I haven't eaten crabs." You Ge refused to answer, muttering that he wanted to eat something else. Iron Slag took a demonstrative bite, tore off another large tongs and broke it, and stuffed it into her again, "It's delicious, trust me." β
You Ge took the scorpion pincer suspiciously, and bit it heartily. A stream of fresh and sweet juice rushes into the mouth, and it is indeed as delicious as the taste of crab.
"Hmm~ delicious!" You Ge couldn't help but scream, and then laughed happily. She had been hungry for days, and today she finally had something good.
At this moment, You Ge's laughter attracted the attention of the others in the hall. The young man known as 'Tianshao' looked in the direction of laughter and saw a beautiful girl sitting next to the bar, and he was immediately shocked and couldn't take his eyes off it anymore......
A woman's sixth sense is usually keen. Therefore, the young woman known as 'Sister Lingling' quickly noticed the strangeness of the people around her. She followed his line of sight and saw a with a sweet smile. She clenched her hands unconsciously, and her eyes revealed a deep hatred. As the two fell silent, the others at the round table also sensed the unusual atmosphere.
"The sky is small...... Tian Shao ......" one of the strong men called softly, but the young man still looked at the girl over there in a daze.
"Tianhua...... Young Master Lin Tianhua. A dark-skinned man with the tallest of the six reminded in a loud voice.
Lin Tianhua suddenly came back to his senses, and then pointed to the strong man beside him, "Third son, you go and invite that lady to come and sit, because Young Master Ben wants to make friends with her." β
The young woman looked at Lin Tianhua, who liked the new and hated the old, and secretly gritted her teeth, but she dared to be angry and didn't dare to speak, so she could only lower her head and pretend not to hear.
The third son stood up, but the swarthy strong man grabbed him and turned to Lin Tianhua, "Tianshao, it's ...... when you go out."
"Go." Lin Tianhua interrupted him impatiently. So, the third son shook off the hand of the swarthy strong man and walked towards You Ge and the iron slag.
At this time, on the side of the bar, You Ge was eating sand scorpions, and he was grinning and was about to grab the iron slag tequila, "You are a minor, you are not allowed to drink, give it to my sister." β
The two were frolicking, and suddenly a voice came from behind them, "This sister, our young master wants to invite you to come and sit down." β
You Ge turned around, glanced at the strong man, frowned and replied, "I don't know you, please go back." β
"The young master of our family is a big man, so we don't know each other after a meal together." The strong man arrived.
You Ge turned his head to look at the iron slag, and the iron slag asked lightly, "Who is your young master?" β
"Did I ask you?" The strong man frowned and stared at the young man fiercely.
The next second, Iron Slag narrowed his eyes and smiled. Seeing this, the boss in the bar hurriedly said, "Brother Tie, they are guests from Sand City, not our locals." The boss's implication was to let the iron slag not bother with them. They are people from outside, so they don't know about his reputation. Then, the boss said to the strong man, "This guest, they don't want to forget it, when they go out, more is better than less." β
"Listen, sitting over there is the third young master of the Lin family in Shacheng." The strong man raised his head and arrived proudly.