40: Chapter 40 The Prisoner Who Cannot Be Confined

At the BlueDuke Bar, jazz music was like a lazy cat, scratching at the eardrums of every person drowning their sorrows.

The low notes of the saxophone were melodious, and the air was mingled with the scent of whiskey and perfume.

The man in the baseball cap, who had been inversely targeted by Xu Mo and Lin Sa, clearly realized he had been exposed.

Codename "Grey Eagle," a seasoned veteran of the Special Operations Bureau, a textbook example of tracking and counter-surveillance.

Faced with the gaze cast by Xu Mo, he didn't panic and retreat like a rookie; instead, he calmly put away his phone and casually adjusted the collar of his inconspicuous grey jacket.

He stood up, turned, passed through the chaotic dance floor, and walked straight toward the corner.

In his view, the two young people opposite, despite having just cleared an s-rank instance and possessing heaven-defying luck, were ultimately just two slightly stronger ordinary people.

When faced with a behemoth like the state apparatus, any individual would instinctively feel fear.

This was the undeniable truth he had upheld throughout his decade in service.

However, it seemed the script had been mixed up.

The man wearing gold-rimmed glasses continued to slowly stir the ice in his glass, making a 'clinking' sound, as if the person standing before him was not an elite from the Special Operations Bureau, but merely a waiter selling beer.

As for the woman who had just moments ago possessed the demeanor of an urban beauty, her posture hadn't changed, only the frequency of her wine glass swaying had slowed by half a beat.

This reaction made Grey Eagle very uncomfortable, like delivering a full-force punch only to land on cotton.

He walked up to the table, not pulling out identification, but looking down at the pair, his tone carrying a hint of reprimand.

"Gentlemen, while the drinks at BlueDuke are good, you should drink less of this iced whiskey. Having just returned from that extreme cold place 'down below,' your bodies haven't warmed up yet; it's easy to damage your vital energy."

There was an underlying meaning in his words: I know where you went, and I know you crawled out of that pile of dead bodies.

In this city, you have no secrets.

The stirring rod in Xu Mo's hand stopped.

He slowly raised his head, and through his lenses, his eyes held a trace of... amusement, as if watching a show.

Grey Eagle's heart skipped a beat; his patience instantly ran out.

He stepped forward, leaned in, lowered his voice, and his tone was as hard as iron: "No matter which temple's Bodhisattva you belong to, once you are here, you must follow the rules. Certain procedures must be followed. The car is waiting outside. Gentlemen, come have a cup of tea with me."

The standard 'please have tea' rhetoric.

However, it was this commanding sentence that instantly triggered a switch.

In the Asura training grounds of Luofeng Mountain, amidst countless times being ground into the mud by Master Fan, the word 'command' usually meant that a lethal attack would follow in the next second.

This was PTSD etched into the bone.

"Boom—"

A cold, violent aura of malevolence exploded from Lin Sa without warning.

Her previously languid body instantly tensed into a fully drawn bow. Her right hand fiercely gripped the edge of the solid wooden table, her knuckles turning white, her meticulously trimmed fingernails actually embedding themselves into the hard oak!

The Soul-Hooking Chain hidden beneath her cuff sensed its master's killing intent and vibrated violently.

In that instant, Grey Eagle felt as if he had been thrown into a freezer in a morgue; even his blood seemed about to freeze.

As a Special Operations elite who could remain impassive when facing armed thugs, at this moment, he actually felt a primal, instinctual fear.

His body hair stood on end!

Cold sweat instantly soaked his back. His right hand instinctively reached for the quick-draw holster at his waist, but the moment his fingertips touched the grip of the gun, reason in his brain screamed madly:

Drawing the gun is useless! You will die! You will absolutely die!

Just at this moment of extreme tension, when Lin Sa's Soul-Hooking Chain was about to lash out and injure someone.

A slender finger gently pressed down on Lin Sa's iron-taut forearm.

"Lin Sa."

Xu Mo's voice was light, yet it carried a strange, soothing power. "Don't startle the guest. We are law-abiding citizens, taxpayers, not wanted criminals."

This casually spoken sentence instantly cut off Lin Sa's killing intent.

The scarlet in Lin Sa's eyes receded, her muscles relaxed, and the sinister aura that seemed capable of solidifying the air dissipated along with it.

She glanced at Grey Eagle, picked up her wine glass again, as if the man-eating Asura from moments ago was just an illusion of his opponent.

The pressure suddenly eased.

Grey Eagle took a deep breath, only then realizing he had forgotten to breathe just now.

He looked at Xu Mo with suspicion and uncertainty.

This gentle-looking, scholarly man wearing glasses could actually quell that terrifying woman with just one sentence?

"Regardless of which department you are from, tonight is not appropriate."

Xu Mo turned his head, resumed stirring the ice in his glass, his tone as flat as if refusing a promotional flyer: "We just landed, we have jet lag, and we are tired. Please leave."

A direct refusal.

Grey Eagle was stunned.

In his many years of handling cases, he had seen people beg for mercy, people flee for their lives, and even people fight back against law enforcement, but he had never seen anyone completely disregard the pressure of the state apparatus and directly issue an eviction notice.

The attitude displayed by these two was not that of suspects facing law enforcers, but rather one of—forbearance.

It was like looking at a child who didn't know any better.

"Do you know the consequences of refusing to cooperate?" Grey Eagle gritted his teeth, trying to regain control of the situation. His hand had already reached for a business card imprinted with the national emblem, preparing to exert forceful pressure.

However, just as his hand was halfway extended.

Xu Mo suddenly extended two fingers and lightly intercepted the business card that hadn't been handed over in mid-air.

"We have no need to flee, nor the inclination."

Xu Mo casually tucked the card into his shirt pocket, his tone leaving no room for argument: "I will visit your bureau with sincerity tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. As for tonight..."

He raised his hand and pointed at the wooden door of the bar adorned with a wind chime.

"Please leave, don't make things awkward for everyone."

Grey Eagle stared intently at Xu Mo's eyes, which seemed to perceive everything.

He could not detect the slightest hint of bluffing in those eyes, only absolute confidence.

His intuition told him that if he forcibly acted now, the BlueDuke Bar would become an Asura battlefield tonight, and the losing side would undoubtedly be him.

Torn between 'forcibly taking them away might trigger an s-rank disaster' and 'retreating to negotiate tomorrow,' Grey Eagle, despite his deep reluctance, could only grit his teeth and choose the latter.

"Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."

Grey Eagle took a deep breath, shedding his arrogance, and looked deeply at the two young people who were completely outside his control: "I hope you two keep your word. We... are waiting."

With that, he turned and left. Although his steps were still steady, his retreating figure conveyed a sense of embarrassment no matter how one looked at it.

Watching the commercial vehicle with privacy film drive away from the street corner, Lin Sa finally released the hand gripping the table edge, leaving five distinct finger holes in the oak surface.

"Why didn't you use the underworld emissary token to intimidate them?" Lin Sa took a sip of wine, somewhat puzzled.

"Intimidate? Unnecessary."

Xu Mo smiled, stood up to pay the bill, and led Lin Sa out of the bar.

The night wind was cool, blowing away the smell of alcohol.

"Lin Sa, remember this: for the state apparatus, personal military deterrence is the most foolish action. That is declaring war; that is courting death."

Xu Mo pushed up his glasses and looked at the flashing neon lights on the street. "Why doesn't he dare to arrest us? It's not because he fears death, but because players of the Thriller Game are caught in a special 'Prisoner's Dilemma.'"

"If we were ordinary criminals, locking us up would settle it. But players are different."

"If you are locked in a detention center, the next second the instance opens, you vanish into thin air. Surveillance cameras won't capture it, and prison guards can't stop it. When you return after clearing the instance, if you happen to bring back some kind of s-rank cursed item, the entire prison will have to be buried with you."

A mocking curve played on Xu Mo's lips: "To the nation, people like us are like a hand grenade kept in a pocket. We can't be thrown, we can't be locked up, and we can't be beaten."

"So, either completely erase us, or... worship us."

"The three of us were taken away by Black and White Impermanence in full view of everyone. What does that mean? It means we have a mythological system backing us."

"The nation is now more eager than anyone to know the truth of the 'Underworld' and how to survive in this world that is about to collapse."

Xu Mo turned his head to look at Lin Sa, a gleam of ambition shining in his eyes.

"This is the bargaining chip for our negotiation tomorrow."

"We are not suspects going to accept interrogation." He straightened his collar, his tone certain. "We are going to be 'consultants.'"