"What are you trying to achieve with this action of yours?!" Xiao Ping spoke with cold words.
"What do you mean by my action?!" retorted the man in the black coat before stepping towards Xiao Ping, who was sitting on the ground.
The gazes of everyone in the bar turned to that man, and a hint of fear appeared in their eyes; no one made a sound.
So, they quickly returned to drinking and gambling quietly, indifferent to what would happen to that boy. Humans always put their own interests first, so no one intervened.
Xiao Ping was looking at that man. As he advanced towards him, the light from the lanterns hanging from the ceiling reflected off his thin, metal-rimmed glasses.
There was no fear or anything of the sort in Xiao Ping. Ever since he had strangely ended up in this bar, he had prepared himself for the worst. So, he stood up and stood in front of that person, and that person also stopped his steps.
He had reached right in front of Xiao Ping. He stood before him, looking Xiao Ping up and down, his eyes resting on Xiao Ping's clothes which emitted foul odors—the smell of blood and the smell of sweat.
The man didn't complain about the smell; he had been in places with much more revolting smells than the boy's clothes in front of him. But his gaze fixed on the circular tear on the left chest area of Xiao Ping's shirt, and on the other tear on the white shirt at his shoulder. Then he shifted his gaze towards Xiao Ping's bright green eyes and remained like that for a minute.
'What's wrong with this person!? He ruined my chance of finding a job, and instead of apologizing, he walked up to me and stood there staring. Is he perhaps a pervert!?' Thoughts raced through Xiao Ping's mind before he said: "I will repeat my words for the last time! What are you trying to achieve with this action of yours?!"
"Hmm, I don't know what you're talking about! I just felt like greeting you!" This time the man spoke and showed a smile on his face.
"You call that a greeting?! You've just ruined my chance of getting a job!" Xiao Ping shouted again, causing the eyes to turn back towards them for a second before lowering once more.
.....
"Is he an idiot?! Doesn't he know who he's talking to!" someone whispered, trying to ask someone else to fill his cup with wine.
"Maybe he's crazy, not an idiot!" another person replied in a whisper.
"Haha, maybe we'll see a good show today!" That person stopped and continued: "A special show from James Beyond."
In the back, people kept whispering, occasionally stealing glances. They were eager for what their imaginations were running wild with—a fight. Fighting, women, and money were all that mattered to these drunk people. How could it not be? They were mercenaries with great influence throughout the kingdom. And if one wondered why they hadn't been caught yet, the answer was simple: they were bearers of supernatural powers, and they also blended in with the citizens using powerful concealment methods difficult to detect, not to mention hideouts and several other things.
.....
"What?!" The man feigned surprise and said in a loud voice to deny the accusation: "I didn't do anything, it was you who spilled that black ink on that paper with the strange symbols!" His reply carried a tone of annoyance at Xiao Ping's accusation.
"Strange symbols?!" Xiao Ping could only wonder to himself: 'What does he mean by strange symbols? Is he joking or can he not read the language I wrote my requests in?' And at that moment, Xiao Ping realized that his actions were a bit strange. Weird things had happened with that waiter, from accusing him of being a spy after throwing a bottle of wine at him, to saying he was faking it when he failed to catch it properly, and then asking him to write down his requests. The problem was that Xiao Ping had written his requests clumsily and hadn't considered that if he couldn't read their language, how would they be able to understand and read his?
He realized there was something strange, something like a supernatural power, affecting his emotions, intensifying them, controlling him, and making him believe in them more even though they were scientifically and naturally impossible. It was also a power that made him a puppet to his personal feelings. In short, it was a powerful and dangerous ability! Perhaps at Sequence 4 or 3 of an unknown Pathway.
What Xiao Ping lacked most was information about the mysteries of this world. He had no one to guide his steps. Perhaps he had that entity, but he couldn't meet it often, and the number of questions it answered was limited. Without information about other Pathways, he might one day fall into someone's trap and become like a tiger cub in a snake's mouth, incapable of any resistance to attack or defense. There's a saying: "If you don't stay one step ahead of your enemy, prepare to have your head cut off at any moment!"
"Hey, boy! Can you hear me, boy?..." The man in the black coat was trying to call out to Xiao Ping, but Xiao Ping was lost in deep thought and couldn't hear him.
"You, are you listening!" the man shouted louder, but this time he stretched out his right hand and struck Xiao Ping's right shoulder, jolting him out of his thoughts.
"Huh!" Xiao Ping was startled by the situation. He had been lost in deep thought and had forgotten the matter. Fortunately, he managed to gather some words quickly to avoid embarrassment: "I'm sorry! It seems I was lost in my thoughts for a bit. Don't worry about anything, I was the one in the wrong here."
"Well, that's not a big problem," the man replied to Xiao Ping.
.....
Seeing Xiao Ping apologize to the man, the waiter took a towel from one of the shelves under the counter, soaked it in the bucket also under the counter, and then wiped the black ink spilled on the counter in front of the shelf of high-concentration, expensive liquor bottles. He didn't seem bothered by what happened, but he raised his gaze towards the two people standing facing each other.
Sometimes he looked intently at the man in the coat, and sometimes at the boy in the white shirt. He sighed and said to himself: 'That boy, he carries supernatural powers from a certain Pathway. From his behavior, I think he's just a beginner, but he has a clever mind—he managed to figure out that I used a supernatural power, but I don't think he could identify which Pathway that power belonged to!' Finishing the cleaning, he threw the towel into the bucket, turning the water inside black.
.....
"What? Why didn't any fight happen between them as we expected?" one of them whispered in a low voice.
"I don't know, but do you think that's really the James Beyond we know?!" whispered another.
"You're right! The James Beyond we know is a monster, so he rarely talks to anyone and stays in the dark corner, and he doesn't even smile at anyone, but now he's smiling at that boy!" a third person replied to the conversation of the first two.
"Let's wait and confirm if that's really the James Beyond we know," a fourth person spoke this time, but in a normal voice without any whisper.
"But what will we do if he isn't the same James Beyond?" the third person responded to the fourth person's words.
"What do you think we'll do?!" As he said this, his drunken expressions and looks turned demonic and greedy, and he stared at the liquor bottle on the table in front of the shelf of bottles.
....
'Alright, now that I've resolved this silly problem stemming from my own stupid mistake, I'll take that bottle of liquor, the one the waiter gave me, and get out of here as fast as possible!' "I beg your pardon, I must be going. I was looking for work but ended up here by mistake, so I'll leave now."
Xiao Ping pressed his hunting cap down on his head before starting to walk, intending to pass by the man. But at that moment, a smile spread across the man's face before he pushed his glasses up and said at the very moment Xiao Ping tried to pass him: "Are you an unofficial bearer of powers?!"
Xiao Ping stopped for a moment before turning his head to the left side and saying: "And if I am, what are you going to do about it?!"
At the same moment, the man reached out his hand to Xiao Ping's left shoulder, grabbed it, and said: "I won't do anything, but perhaps you shouldn't go out now! Because you have some 'companions' waiting outside."
'Who are these 'companions' he's talking about!? Is he just trying to scare me into not leaving this place with its foul smell? But wait, could it be the members of that mysterious organization, the same two members where one of them reversed time? Or are they the guards of that beautiful princess!? That's not unlikely either, since I made their leader a guinea pig for a new move I created!' "Are you sure about what you're saying? I still need to look for some work."
This reminded Xiao Ping of the famous saying on Earth: 'Easy to get in, hard to get out.' Who would have expected Xiao Ping to encounter a situation that made him remember that.
"Believe it or not!" the man replied before twisting his body to face Xiao Ping's side and stretching out his other hand, saying: "Why are you so desperate to find a job?! Sorry, but I don't know what to call you!"
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is James, James Beyond. Pleased to meet you."
Xiao Ping first looked at the arm of the man named James, then at the smile on his face and also his red eyes behind the thin metal-rimmed glasses. 'What's with this person, always smiling like that when he asks questions! And what's with these annoying questions, can't he see my condition?!' Xiao Ping thought to himself before reaching out his hand, shaking the man's hand, and saying: "You can call me Xiao Ping. As for your first question, maybe so I don't starve to death?" Xiao Ping's reply carried a hint of sarcasm.
"I see. If you're looking for work, I happen to be trying to find a partner for a job." He added with full confidence: "And before you refuse my offer, I'll tell you that no one will buy that bottle from you for a high price, and someone might even trick you and buy it from you for a pittance!"
'Huh? Who told this fool I would refuse?!' Stupid thoughts retreated from Xiao Ping's mind before he said: "You're right! So I'll accept. But what is this job that made you look for a partner?!"
"Well, we are work partners now, so I should tell you about the work we'll be doing. In short, we are detectives!" James spoke with great enthusiasm because he had found someone to work with who wasn't afraid of him.
'What? Detectives? Even though I accepted his request quickly, I'm still cautious about him and shouldn't trust him easily. Also, I haven't forgotten that he has a silver thread larger than that of the strange talking cat.' Whenever he remembered the incident with the cat, he felt shivers run through his body, but he didn't show it outwardly. Xiao Ping's mind was full of thoughts, but he said: "No problem with that! I'll be in your care, Sir James."
"The honor is mine, Ping. But even though I might look old, I'm only nineteen years old! So you shouldn't call me 'Sir'—we are partners and don't have that kind of relationship!" James couldn't hold back and blurted out everything that bothered him about Xiao Ping's words.
Xiao Ping's green eyes narrowed. "You really are mysterious, man." The words escaped Xiao Ping's lips involuntarily.
"Then I'll ask you to come with me to that table in the dark corner,because our first work task will be at 10:30 AM, and I want to tell you the details!"
When James mentioned the time, Xiao Ping took out the beautiful golden watch with its hands and strange symbols from the pocket of his black trousers. It also had a metal chain about 20 centimeters long. He was checking it for any damage from his frequent falls on his rear end today due to the strange events happening to him.
There were no breaks or scratches; it was working normally, but he couldn't read the strange symbols to know the exact time.
"What a beautiful watch, is it for sale?" James was also looking at the watch in Xiao Ping's hand and said: "Can I see it up close?!"
"Of course! But it's not for sale," Xiao Ping replied coolly.
"Tch." James snorted at Xiao Ping's reply and took the watch from his hand, starting to examine it from all angles.
When he focused on the words on the watch, he raised his gaze towards Xiao Ping and said in a serious voice: "Where did you find this watch?!"
...
End of Chapter ~ To Be Continued