Looking at the villa that seemed out of place among its surroundings, Fulen lightly tapped on its large door. The guard on duty, a sergeant, clearly knew Fulen well. Despite being on duty, he still greeted Fulen.
Fulen knew this man was very strict; even his relatives would only be greeted in this manner during work hours. So, Fulen didn't mind. On the contrary, he felt a sense of closeness to this man, as it was rare for him to even exchange greetings while on duty.
"Hey, Fulen, you rascal, when we last met, didn't you think to bring a gift for your teacher? Besides, tomorrow is Creator's Day. Don't you have anything to show for it?" A hoarse voice now carried a cheerful tone, which seemed mismatched, but with the happy expression of the voice's owner, everything appeared so natural.
"Don't even think about it. Haven't we always gone out to connect? Do you still care about that? Besides, you want to drag me along to that place you frequent, and then make me pay? Get lost. If you want to hang out with me, you know where I live. Just come over then."
"Alright, you really are a miser. Come, let's go inside and chat." Wilson grabbed Fulen's arm and pulled him inside. As he left, he saluted the guard at the door.
Wilson and Fulen weren't originally very familiar. When they first met, they couldn't even be said to have gotten along well. However, Wilson was, after all, a brave man full of vigor. A true man of integrity often doesn't fuss over trifles and will be close to those who share his interests.
Although Fulen couldn't be considered a valiant warrior, when it came to the effort and sweat put into achieving goals, Fulen believed he was second to none. As a small-town student, Fulen gritted his teeth and persevered through every training goal Wilson set for him.
Although some of the tasks Wilson set were indeed too high, as a military trainer, Wilson's eye for people was genuinely good. Though he always pushed Fulen to his limits, he only touched Fulen's breaking point and didn't let Fulen's suffering be in vain. As a result, Fulen's physical fitness and combat skills improved by leaps and bounds.
Fulen ran to Wilson's place every day, and Wilson often saw this person. Over time, they became familiar. Although Wilson's speech wasn't always refined, when it came to his attitude towards friends, Wilson was quite sincere.
During this period, Fulen had also invited Wilson out to play a few times or to his home. Although Wilson usually taught others combat, truthfully, only Fulen had become a close friend of his.
Wilson led Fulen into a smoking lounge. After inviting Fulen to sit, he didn't immediately close the Door and sit down. Instead, he casually glanced to the left and right of the Door before closing it and slowly taking his seat.
Fulen was also an extremely cautious person, or rather, a very timid one. Usually, when Wilson invited Fulen to this room, it was to smoke cigars together. However, Fulen always waited for Wilson to sit down before smoking. Wilson found this a bit strange at the time and even wanted him to smoke alone first, but Fulen never did so. Wilson never paid much attention, simply assuming that Fulen was tightly bound by politeness, and this became one of Wilson's jests about Fulen.
However, Wilson had no idea that Fulen was someone who judged everyone with his own petty mindset. Fulen deeply knew that once he started smoking, he would completely forget about what was behind him, just like on Earth, when he played with his phone, he would completely disregard other things—in short, the phone-induced brain-drain method.
That's right, in the short time since Fulen had transmigrated, he had already made smoking one of his hobbies, because entertainment in this world was indeed scarce. In an era without the internet, even reading books held a certain pleasure. Of course, after reading too much, he didn't want to read anymore. At least now, after Fulen finished reading all his target books, he completely didn't want to pick up any book to read again, except for newspapers, of course. Currently, most of the information about the outside world could only be obtained through newspapers.
Therefore, in Fulen's mindset of "there are always treacherous people trying to harm me," Fulen always wanted to smoke only when someone was opposite him. Otherwise, he might truly be attacked. Although this wouldn't happen in Wilson's house, Fulen also didn't want to inadvertently ruin his habit, after all, Fulen was just an ordinary person.
As for the person opposite moving or the Door opening, Fulen could react in time, after all, the level of addiction to smoking was not as high as that to mobile phones or computers.
However, just by looking at Wilson's current behavior, Fulen clearly felt that something was wrong, so he first watched Wilson taking precautions.
But when Wilson turned his head to look at Fulen, he paused, then laughed loudly: "Oh, I really am too foolish! I completely forgot I was at home. But habits are good things, aren't they?" As soon as he finished speaking, Wilson sat down opposite Fulen with a swagger.
"Fulen, you're a Beyonder, aren't you?" Wilson leaned back against the sofa, slowly toasting his cigar with a match, gradually lighting it, then asked Fulen casually.
Fulen, across from him, also paused, but didn't react too much. After all, Beyonders in this world weren't witches of the Middle Ages. Wilson, as a training instructor for the national army, would inevitably come into contact with the shadow of the Beyonder world. It wasn't impossible for him to see through Fulen's true nature.
Fulen lit his cigar and put it in his mouth, slowly puffing, enjoying the rare delicacy. The tobacco used for the cigar was not from the South Continent. In fact, although the sea routes to the South Continent had begun to be explored, the Violent Sea still stubbornly blocked people's progress. And although there were often reckless merchants trading between the North Continent and the South Continent, and tobacco from the South Continent was renowned worldwide, Fulen, at his level, didn't have the money to enjoy it.
"Wilson, you must have known that Beyonders exist for a long time, right?" Fulen, instead, asked Wilson back.
Wilson squinted and glanced at Fulen: "Heh, I'm not a member of the Demoness Sect. You're too cautious, aren't you?" Clearly, Wilson felt great disdain for the other person's survival-first mentality.
"Cough, cough, I choked," Fulen was a bit embarrassed, after all, his probing had been exposed. However, Fulen's thick skin had made significant progress, "You already know about the Demoness Sect, so why are you still asking me? You wouldn't happen to be from the military, would you?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you must have badmouthed me many times in secret, you rascal. But I'm not from the military. I serve the Emperor, and my affiliated organization is Emperor Rosell's Counterintelligence," Wilson said.