Chapter 124 Breeze Ballroom (asking for double monthly tickets) Lumian didn't look back or turn around, but continued walking towards the public carriage stop. He looked around casually, and his eyes fell on the glass window of a nearby cafe. His figure in a dark jacket was reflected there, and not too far away from him was a man in a canvas jacket and a peaked cap. After Lumian looked away, he suddenly quickened his pace, as if he was trying to catch up with the two-decker public carriage that was about to leave the platform. As expected, he felt the man in the blue cap jog. The public carriage started to move and headed towards the end of the street. Lumian stopped suddenly as he had no hope of "catching up". Through the window of a street shop, Lumian inconspicuously saw the man in the baseball cap stop in a hurry in a rather embarrassed manner, then half turn around and look at the dance hall opposite. With a barely perceptible nod, Lumian strolled past the public carriage stop sign, walked forward, and turned into a deserted alley separated by a barricade. The man in the baseball cap quickly followed and climbed over the low, dilapidated barricade, but he could no longer see Lumian's back. The target he was following seemed to disappear into the alley out of thin air.
Just as the man in the baseball cap tried to chase him, Lumian, who had huddled in the corner of the barricade, pounced out like a tiger, put his hands on the man's shoulders, and pulled his body back toward his knees. boom! Lumian kneed the man in the baseball cap right in the waist, causing his face to twist in pain and his legs to no longer be able to support him. With a thud, the man in the baseball cap fell to the ground, raising a lot of dust. Lumian half-knelt down, grabbed the back of the stalker's head, and said in a low voice: "Who asked you to follow me?" "I didn't! I was just taking a shortcut!" the man in the baseball cap defended hurriedly. Lumian laughed, grabbed his head and slammed it to the ground. With a bang, the man in the baseball cap's scream was stuck in his throat, and his forehead was bruised, swollen and stained with blood. "Who asked you to follow me?" Lumian repeated the question. The man in the cap was wronged: "I'm not following you! I don't even know you!" "Okay." Lumian released his right hand. The next second, he used his palm as a knife and chopped the stalker hard behind the ear. The man in the baseball cap fainted without even a sound. Lumian immediately helped him up and considerately pulled his hat lower to cover his tightly closed eyes. Then, as if he was supporting a drunk friend, he walked out of the alley with steady steps and turned to the corner. There is an entrance to the underworld. The reason why Lumian was "waiting" for the tracker in the alley just now was that he thought that if anything happened later, he could move it underground, and the environment would be "peaceful" enough. ………… When the man in the baseball cap woke up, he saw darkness in front of his eyes, with only a faint light in the distance, barely revealing the outlines of the surrounding objects. The clanging sound came into his ears through layers of obstacles, coming from far away and then quickly fading away.
As a native of the Honest Market area, he was no stranger to such scenes and suspected that he had been taken underground. There was a steam subway running on the "street" next door, and the faint light here came from there. Lumian sat in the dark, looking at the man in the cap, and said with a smile: "You have two choices now. One is to tell me who asked you to follow me, and the other is to be taken deeper underground by me and buried there. You should know that many people disappear in Trier every day, not just you." Seeing that the stalker had fallen silent and did not respond immediately, Lumian knew that his mental defenses had been shaken, so he added: "And I will move through these underground streets to another district." Seeing that Lumian had already considered a way out and was ready to kill and flee, and thinking of the ruthlessness and decisiveness of the other party when he asked questions before, the man in the baseball cap finally couldn't control his inner fear and said in a state of near collapse: "Yes, it's Baron Brinell!" Baron Brinell? The leader of the Savoy Mafia, creditor of Austa Trull? Why would he track me down? I only ran into him last night in the apartment on White Coat Street, and we didn't even talk... Lumian was confused and bewildered. This made him more certain that the man in the baseball cap was not lying. After all, if he really wanted to lie, he would not have chosen someone who was the mastermind behind the scenes, someone that even Lumian himself could not imagine and could not understand at all. Lumian frowned and asked: "Why is he following me?" "I don't know." The man in the peaked cap replied timidly, "He just asked me to follow you to see where you would go." Lumian thought for a few seconds and said: "Where is Baron Brinell now?" "If he has nothing else to do, he's usually at the Breeze Ballroom on Market Avenue." The man in the baseball cap tried hard to see Lumian's face clearly, but failed because the light was too dim. Breeze Ballroom? Lumian had a certain impression of those iconic buildings in the Candide Market area. This was what he gained from his "wandering around" yesterday. Market Avenue refers to the main road from the Honest Market to Suchit Steam Locomotive Station, which is about two kilometers long. The Breeze Ballroom is near the market area. The statue at the door is quite distinctive and you will never forget it once you see it. After a moment, Lumian raised his lips and said to the follower: "Take me there. I want to talk to Baron Brinell." The man in the baseball cap immediately breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that his life was saved. As for who had the upper hand and who was "accidentally" at the Breeze Ballroom, it had nothing to do with him. ………… The Breeze Ballroom is located on the bottom two floors of a khaki building. The second floor is an attached cafe, and the first floor is a lively dance hall, but it had just opened at this time and there were not many customers. At the entrance stood a white spherical statue made up of countless skulls, with the following inscription written in Intis: "They sleep here, waiting for the arrival of happiness and hope." (Note 1) Lumian took a quick look and followed the "guide" around the statue to the door of the ballroom. There stood two gangsters wearing white shirts and black jackets. They simultaneously put their right hands on their waists and asked the man in the cap: "Misiri, who is he?" "He, he came to see Baron Brinell." Missili answered with a slight stutter. After receiving the suspicious and scrutinizing looks from the two thugs, Lumian said calmly:
"It is Baron Brinell's decision whether to see me or not, not yours. "Do you want to bear his wrath?" After hesitating for a moment, one of the thugs turned and entered the dance hall. While waiting, Lumian said to his stalker named Misiri in a relaxed state: "Why is there such a statue and such an inscription? It doesn't fit in with the ballroom at all?" Sure, that's cool. Misiri glanced at Lumian, who was smiling, and replied timidly: “This was originally the cemetery attached to St. Robert’s Church. Later, the bones were moved to the crypt, and this piece of land was vacated. Later, this house was built. "Those bones were purified, or they were just ashes, but after we bought this place, we still felt it was too eerie, so we had to find someone to build a statue symbolizing death and an inscription representing the dead to appease the bones that might exist underground and have not been dug up and removed." According to this theory, wouldn't people dancing here disturb the skeletons, which is equivalent to jumping around on their heads? Lumian suddenly laughed. At this time, the thug came out and said to Lumian: "Baron Brinell asked you to go to the cafe on the second floor." “Okay.” Lumian held his head high, chest puffed out, and walked into the Breeze Ballroom. The first thing that impressed him was the dance floor surrounded by railings and the half-high wooden stage in front for singing, followed by the messy seats around and the various scents of perfume and powder floating in the air. Missili thought about it and followed Lumian. He felt that no matter what, he had to report to the Baron in person, otherwise he might end up disappearing in the underworld. Going up to the second floor, Lumian saw the "gentleman" he met last night. He was in his thirties, wearing a black suit made of fine tweed. His brown hair seemed to be naturally slightly curly, his brown eyes had a confident smile, and his facial features were quite deep. Baron Brinell put down his coffee, picked up his mahogany pipe with his diamond-ringed hand and said: "What do you want to drink?" He was quite polite and courteous. Lumian glanced at the four gangsters who had their hands on their waists at the same time, and said to Baron Brinell: "Why did you send someone to follow me?" Baron Brinell smiled and admitted frankly: “I met you on White Coat Street last night, and I found you again near the chaotic street today. I thought you looked more and more familiar, so I asked Missili to follow you and confirm what you wanted to do in the market area. "You went to see Aosta last night too, right?" “He wanted to cheat me out of money,” Lumian answered, then asked, “Why do you think I look familiar?” Baron Brinell took a puff of his pipe and said with a smile: "To our experienced eyes, you can hardly be called a masquerade. "When we began to suspect and make associations, we naturally recognized you, Lumian Lee, a wanted criminal worth 3000 Felkins." My bounty is only 3000 Fel Gold? Lumian's first reaction was confusion.
As the source of the time loop in Cordu Village, how could the official reward be lower than that of the parish priest and Mrs. Puaris? "But you can get 500 Felkins just for providing your clues." Baron Brinell said with a smile, "Young man, what you need is a copy of Men's Aesthetics. Don't be ashamed. In Trier, it is normal for men to wear makeup. This will help you hide your true appearance." This "gentleman" also put on eyeliner and powder. Lumian smiled. "Are you trying to capture me for a bounty?" Note 1: This is from the inscription on the door of the Breeze Ballroom in Paris during the Victorian era. I changed the statue. That ballroom was really built on the site of a cemetery, and the stones left after the cemetery was moved were used. The real grave dance, and the turtle walking before were also real things that happened in that era. PS: Ask for double monthly tickets~ (End of this chapter)