Chapter 364 Farewell Those who frequented the basement bar had become numb to Charlie's talk about "what is a decent person and what is a civilized person" recently. Now that they had a chance to play a trick on that guy, they were extremely excited and shouted louder than each other. Charlie, wearing a white shirt and an open black vest, hesitated whether to pay for nearly thirty people to have a drink or perform a striptease. Soon, he put down the beer in his hand and jumped onto a small round table. He had done all kinds of stupid things when he was drunk here before, so what was there to be afraid of about stripping? Lumian smiled and clapped his hands. He took out a 20-felkin bill, slapped it on the bar, and said to the owner Pavard Nissen: "One cup for each person, drink whatever you like." After saying that, he picked up the glass of Lilanzi and watched Charlie twist his hips awkwardly and carefully unbutton his shirt amid cheers. “Be more intense! Be more rough!” Lumian shouted in a tone of watching the fun. The other drinkers followed suit. Sweat broke out on Charlie's forehead, and he was worried that the shirt would be damaged by tearing it violently. This is no cheap old linen shirt!
He thought about it and decided to take off his sweater while the buttons of his shirt were undone. Lumian took another sip of Lelanzi, sat back at the bar, glanced at Gabriel, who was wearing black-framed glasses and dark suspenders, and asked with amusement: "So early today?" Doesn't this playwright, who is used to staying up late, always come here to have a drink after the wee hours? Gabriel held the green absinthe and smiled calmly: "I'm moving out tomorrow." "The Light Chaser is on stage?" Lumian immediately guessed. Gabriel rubbed his messy brown hair and smiled: "Not yet, but after rehearsing for a while, Mr. Lope, the director and actors of the Renaissance Theater are all very optimistic and confident. I don't have to worry about how to live after moving to a more expensive place and spending the 1000 Firkins I received in advance. You know, I no longer write vulgar and low-brow stories for those tabloids." "Where are you planning to move to?" Lumian asked casually. Gabriel said with a longing look: "There are many writers and painters living on St. Michel Street in District 2. Not far away is the National Museum, Trier Art Center, various galleries and sculptures of various shapes." District 2 is also called the Art District or the Financial District. Half of it is ancient and full of cultural atmosphere, and the other half is luxurious buildings that have been popular in the past decade. It is home to the headquarters of financial institutions such as the Innis Central Bank, Trier Bank, Suchit Bank, and Asset Credit Bank, as well as places such as the Trier Stock Exchange and the Innis Futures Market. Saint-Michel Street is the most marginal street in the district, where the rent is relatively cheap, attracting many writers and painters to settle down. "What a great place! Maybe if we throw a brick there, we can knock down three writers and two painters. Oh, and even the poets who will die without anyone noticing." Lumian recalled Aurore's ridicule of Saint-Michel Street and expressed it in his own words, not forgetting to satirize the poorest group of poets. Gabriel took a sip of absinthe sheepishly. "But it is indeed the most suitable place for communication and creation. Unlike here, it is relatively quiet only at night, but only relatively so. There are also those damned bedbugs..." At this point, Gabriel suddenly remembered that the gang leader next to him, who was both rude and fierce but also had a humanistic temperament, was the current owner of the Golden Rooster Hotel, and he quickly shut his mouth. At this time, Charlie finished his striptease, put on his shirt again, squeezed out from the drinkers who were "maliciously" commenting on his figure, sat next to Lumian, and said casually: "I've been so busy lately. I haven't been here for a few days. As soon as I get home I want to sleep. Look, look, this is the trouble of being a respectable person. Why do you suddenly want to conduct a large-scale investigation of wanted criminals from Koldu Village?" Wow, you've become smarter now? Lumian, who was trying to improve his speaking skills, smiled and replied: "What does the matter of Cordu Village have to do with me, Charles Dubois?" After contracting the "Face of Nether" from the "Human-Faced Mantis", he was no longer too worried about being recognized by the authorities. Seeing that Lumian was full of confidence, Charlie stopped talking about the matter and excitedly talked about how a colleague had introduced him to a female teacher. Although the other party didn't like him, it also proved that he had taken another step towards becoming a truly decent person.
After drinking until almost dawn, Lumian and Gabriel, who was moving the next day, saw Charlie off and went up the stairs to the second floor. Gabriel looked at the corridor walls, which were lit only by a gas wall lamp and covered with newspapers and cheap pink paper, and suddenly felt a little emotional: “It was only when I was about to leave that I realized there were places here worth reminiscing about. "When I first moved here, I thought that with my talent, I would be able to escape from this garbage dump, uh, hellish hotel, in no time. Who knew that I would live here for ten months? Even if I moved to Saint-Michel Street, I would often think of the small bar that I could reach by going downstairs, the absinthe that made me sober and intoxicated, the pungent smell of sulfur, the hateful bugs, and the people who gave me light in the darkness, Miss Safari, Charlie, and you." As Gabriel spoke, he paused and reached out to touch the crack in the wall where the newspaper had fallen off. “Do you writers just like to express your feelings suddenly or write long essays?” Lumian sneered. Gabriel smiled awkwardly: “I don’t know if other writers are like this, but I am sometimes like this. "I have lived here for almost a year, and I have seen many tenants suddenly disappear, leave in a hurry, or end their lives in pain. But the next day, no, maybe just an hour later, new tenants will come to pursue the prosperity of Trier and the dreams in their hearts and move into the rooms they left behind. Most of them failed and disappeared like dust, but there will always be groups of people coming, and maybe one or two will succeed. “That’s what inspired the script for Light Chasers.” "You are the successful one." Lumian thought of Mrs. Michel who hanged herself while singing the lyrics of "This is the city of joy, this is eternal Trier", and he no longer had the mood to mock Gabriel. "Hope." Gabriel's face was filled with anticipation. He started walking again and went up to the second floor, but he did not stop and seemed to want to continue going up. “You going?” Lumian could probably guess the answer, but he still asked politely. Gabriel pointed upstairs: "Go and say goodbye to Miss Safari and thank her for always encouraging me." Lumian gave a teasing smile, pinched his lips with his hands, and whistled: “Have a fantastic night!” "I didn't!" Gabriel denied subconsciously. Lumian turned around, walked towards Room 207, and waved his hand. "Can't a person have a dreamy night?" Gabriel was speechless. After watching Charles enter the room, he cleared his throat and continued walking towards the third floor. On the way, he recalled many past events, including the first time he met the nude model Safari, the first time he talked to her about creation, and the first time he was encouraged... He knew that being a nude model was a very low-paying profession. The most popular male models only made eighty or ninety filgins a month, and the average ones might make sixty or seventy, which was equivalent to an apprentice waiter in a hotel. Female models only made around forty filgins, and could not support themselves at all. They could only work as a part-time job. No one chose to expose their body and become a painter's model out of laziness or greed for enjoyment. The same is true for Safari, who endures criticism just to earn a little more money and to change her current situation. Gabriel stopped outside room 309 and knocked gently on the door. "Come in." Safali's slightly hollow voice came out. Gabriel pushed open the door and saw Safari standing in front of the wooden table by the window, her lake blue dress falling off her body and piled on the floor. Under the crimson moonlight, Safari's brown eyes flickered, her brown hair was loose, and her fair body was inlaid with human faces one after another. Some of them were gorgeous, some were ferocious, some were handsome, and some were vicious, and their eyes were all looking at Gabriel at the same time.
Gabriel was startled and almost screamed. "Is there anything wrong?" Safali's voice, with a strong sense of detachment, sounded again. Gabriel suddenly came to his senses and found that those faces were just nearly real oil paintings, and the canvas was Safari's body. Thinking that the other party's profession was a human model, Gabriel did not ask any more questions and exhaled: "I'm moving out tomorrow. Thank you for your encouragement over the past few months." As soon as he finished speaking, Safaree stretched out her right hand and her eyes became blurry. Gabriel walked in involuntarily. Half an hour later, Gabriel was lying on the bed, hugging Safali, and said sincerely: "Come with me to the Rue Saint-Michel." Safari shook her head firmly: "I'm also going to move somewhere else." Gabriel asked: "Where to go?" "Go to a place called 'Hostel', where my friends are." Safaree's voice became a little hollow again. Gabriel tried to persuade the mannequin again and again, but the mannequin refused. He had no choice but to leave sadly. Safaree got out of bed naked and watched him walk to the door. At this time, the red moon was blocked and the room was extremely dark. The faces in the oil paintings on Safari's body suddenly seemed to come alive and opened their mouths towards Gabriel's back. They eventually calmed down and Gabriel politely closed the door. ………… The next morning, Lumian did his usual running, boxing, and looking for breakfast. When he returned to the Golden Cockerel Inn, he saw that Gabriel's room next door was open, with no one in it and no luggage. Lumian went up to the third floor out of curiosity and found that room 309 was the same. He immediately made a "tsk tsk" sound, then walked back to room 207 with a smile. Not long after, the "doll" messenger appeared and threw a piece of letter paper folded into a square and a silver-white mask onto the wooden table. The reward from Lady Justice has arrived? Lumian was delighted. (End of this chapter)