156: Chapter 156 Winking at a Blind Man

Lu Cheng and Su Wan exchanged a look.

He turned to look at Sister Bai: "Sister Bai, you go back to the hotel first. We have some business here."

Sister Bai followed his gaze and swept a glance into the lounge bar. She raised an eyebrow slightly, asked nothing, and just nodded:

"Alright, be careful, and don't cause any news."

These two guys, I knew they had something going on...

After saying that, she wrapped her coat tighter and walked toward the hotel in her high heels.

Lu Cheng fished a mask out of his pocket and put it on, then pulled up the hood of his jacket over his head.

Su Wan was faster than him; she had already tied her hair into a single ponytail with a hair tie. She took a pair of non-prescription glasses from her small bag and set them on the bridge of her nose, her entire aura instantly changing.

Lu Cheng glanced at her: "You carry glasses with you?"

"Just in case." Su Wan pushed up her frames, her voice very flat. "Let's go."

The two of them pushed open the wooden-framed glass door of the lounge bar and walked in.

As they entered, the door hinge let out a slight creak. The bartender behind the counter looked up at them, and seeing they were new customers, nodded in greeting.

The woman in the black slip dress had already sat down opposite Shen Guhong, one leg crossed, her toe gently swaying in the dim light.

She leaned forward slightly, revealing a patch of fair skin below her collarbone. Her lips curled into a smile, and her gaze stuck stickily to Shen Guhong's face.

"Drinking alone is so boring, shall I keep you company?"

Shen Guhong didn't speak. He picked up his whiskey and took another sip, the expression on his face like ice.

Lu Cheng and Su Wan sat down at a spot neither too far nor too close to Shen Guhong's table and ordered two sodas.

The woman in the slip dress happened to turn to the side, one hand propping up her chin, the other holding her glass, her index finger slowly tracing circles on the rim.

"Handsome, you haven't said a word. Is it that I'm not pretty enough?" Her voice was smiling, with a hint of coquetry. "Or is it that... you don't like my type?"

This was truly winking at a blind man...

Shen Guhong finally spoke.

"Go away."

The woman was stunned for a moment, then laughed even louder:

"So fierce? I like it." She reached out, her fingertips almost touching the back of Shen Guhong's hand.

"You don't need to see, just feeling it is enough..."

Before she could finish, a terrifying aura exploded from Shen Guhong's body.

The War King Realm aura was released without reservation in the enclosed space of the lounge bar. The air instantly became like solidified glue, and everyone's breathing stalled.

The glasses on the bar began to tremble, and fine ripples appeared on the surface of the liquor.

The chandelier overhead swayed twice, emitting a slight sound of metal clashing. The saxophone music in the corner speakers was suppressed until it went out of tune, turning into a string of harsh noise...

The woman's fingers froze in mid-air, three centimeters away from the back of Shen Guhong's hand.

Her face turned pale instantly—not from shyness...

It was pure fear!

With the War King Realm aura pressing down on her, her fingers began to tremble, from the tips all the way to her wrist, and then her entire arm.

The glass slipped from her other hand, crashing onto the table. Liquor splashed across the table, dripping down along the edge.

"Tell the Wang family, if there is a next time... I will kill you!"

Shen Guhong's voice had no inflection.

The woman sprang up from her chair, stumbling two steps in her high heels, almost falling.

She turned her head and scrambled out of the lounge bar, almost crawling.

The glass door swung back and forth as she crashed into it. Cold wind from outside poured in, blowing two napkins off the bar counter.

The others in the lounge bar didn't fare well either.

The bartender behind the counter was hunched over, both hands braced on the countertop, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

The couple in the corner hugged each other, the boy's arm shielding the girl's shoulder; both of them were shivering.

Two middle-aged men sitting in another booth were slumped directly on the table, their faces pressed against the surface, emitting muffled groans.

Shen Guhong withdrew his aura.

The air relaxed in an instant. Shen Guhong took a black card from his pocket, placed it on the bar, and pushed it toward the bartender.

The bartender looked up, sweat still beading on his forehead, his eyes a bit dazed.

"For the damages caused today," Shen Guhong's voice returned to its normal tone, "I'll pay."

The bartender opened his mouth, then looked down at the black card.

"Th-this gentleman..."

"Not enough?"

"Enough! Enough!" The bartender nodded hurriedly, his hand still trembling slightly as he picked up the black card. "I-I'll go swipe it now..."

Shen Guhong nodded and turned to walk back.

Lu Cheng sat in the corner, his mouth under the mask stretching from ear to ear.

"Holy shit," he lowered his voice and said to Su Wan across the table,

"That was fucking cool. I want to do that sometime too."

Su Wan picked up her soda and took a sip. Her eyes behind the lenses glanced at him, but she said nothing.

Shen Guhong tilted his head, the black blindfold facing the direction where Lu Cheng was sitting.

"Since you're here, care to have a drink with me?"

Lu Cheng took off his mask, flipped his hood back, stood up, and walked over.

"Director Shen, how did you know I was here?"

He had deliberately suppressed his movements when he entered, but he didn't expect to be discovered anyway...

Shen Guhong sat back down in the corner seat and raised a hand toward the bartender, signaling for two more whiskeys.

"Your aura is too obvious..."

Lu Cheng's expression stiffened.

Shen Guhong picked up his own whiskey and took a sip.

"Learn from Su Wan."

Lu Cheng turned to look at Su Wan.

Su Wan was sitting at the next table, holding her soda, her whole being quiet, her aura completely restrained.

She pushed up the non-prescription glasses on the bridge of her nose. Didn't he still sense her?

Are blind people's sensory abilities this strong?

Lu Cheng sat down opposite Shen Guhong, and Su Wan also carried her soda over to their table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

The bartender brought over two whiskeys. His hand was still a bit unsteady when he set them down, and the glasses clinked against the table, making a slight sound.

He bowed to Shen Guhong, his retreating steps twice as fast as when he came.

Lu Cheng looked at the amber liquor in front of him, picked it up, and sniffed it.

"Director Shen, I'll only have a little. I still have to commentate tomorrow."

"Can this kind of ordinary liquor even make you drunk?" Shen Guhong's mouth twitched, which counted as a smile.

Lu Cheng chuckled, picked up his glass, and clinked it against Shen Guhong's.

The two of them started drinking.

Lu Cheng had originally intended to just take a few sips, but Shen Guhong was drinking very fast.

He didn't pace himself with the whiskey; he just downed it in one gulp, refilled it, and downed it again, without saying a word.

Holy shit, with the mentor drinking like this, how could Lu Cheng not keep him company?

He picked up his glass and downed it too.

Su Wan sat to the side, her small bag on her lap, her eyes keeping watch over their glasses.

Whenever a glass was empty, she would stand up and go to the bar to refill it.

The tissue box was placed between them, within easy reach.

A few drops of liquor splashed from Shen Guhong's glass; she wiped it off with a tissue without a word and sat back down, remaining silent the whole time, as quiet as if she didn't exist.

Lu Cheng drank glass after glass.

It wasn't like he had never drunk whiskey before, but tonight he was drinking it especially fast.

For every glass Shen Guhong downed, he downed one too. The two of them were like they were racing; that entire bottle of Macallan on the bar was empty in less than an hour.

The problem was... he didn't digest the alcohol's potency.

Usually when drinking, as soon as the internal circulation of Qi and blood accelerated, the alcohol would quickly be metabolized.

But today, he didn't use any techniques to circulate his Qi and blood at all. The liquor was just pure liquor, pouring into his stomach, seeping into his blood, rushing all the way to his brain along his blood vessels.

His head began to spin.

The lights before his eyes turned into a blurry, warm yellow, and the edges of Shen Guhong's silhouette began to double. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but the more he shook, the dizzier he got.

"Director Shen..." he said, his tongue thick, "You say... this wine... hiccup... this wine really isn't..."

Before he could finish, he slumped onto the table and fell asleep.

Shen Guhong put down his glass.

The expression on his face was unclear in the dim light, but the tight curve of his lips relaxed a little.

"Su Wan."

"Yes."

"Take him back."

Su Wan stood up, bent over, and draped Lu Cheng's arm over her shoulder. With one hand around his waist, she helped him up from the chair and walked out of the lounge bar.

Shen Guhong didn't look back; he poured himself another glass.

The next morning.

When Lu Cheng opened his eyes... his brain was still a bit dazed...

He hurriedly digested the remaining alcohol.

What was going on?

He propped himself up on the mattress to sit, the quilt sliding down to his waist.

His chest felt chilly.

He looked down and saw that he was wearing a dark gray silk bathrobe, the collar open, his chest exposed.

The bathrobe's belt was tied very neatly into a standard bow.

This was not the clothing he had worn yesterday.

Lu Cheng's brain began a slow reboot.

Yesterday... drinking at the lounge bar... Director Shen kept pouring... and then...

It seemed Su Wan had brought him back.

He turned his head to look at the bedside table.

On the bedside table sat a glass of water, with a sticky note pressed under the bottom of the glass.

He reached out to take the note. It was in Su Wan's handwriting, the strokes neat and precise:

"Hangover medicine is next to the water glass. Your clothes were sent to the laundry room; they'll be back this afternoon. Breakfast is on the living room table; remember to eat."

Lu Cheng looked at the note, then looked down at the bathrobe on his body again.

He reached out and tugged at the collar of the bathrobe, taking a peek inside.

He wasn't wearing anything underneath.

???

Was he really that drunk???

Last time in Rong City, when Xia Xi and Qian Shuying changed his clothes, he woke up the moment they touched him...

Last night, Su Wan changed his clothes, and he didn't feel a thing?

Lu Cheng threw off the quilt, got out of bed, stepped onto the carpet with bare feet, and walked to the living room.

On the coffee table in the living room was a tray containing a sandwich, a glass of milk, and a small plate of fruit.

The sandwich was cut into triangles, the bread toasted to a slight golden brown, with water droplets still clinging to the lettuce leaves.

He picked up the milk and took a sip... it was still warm...

Just as he was eating breakfast, his terminal suddenly vibrated.

Lu Cheng picked it up to take a look; it was a message from Manager Yu Xiuqi:

"Today's match schedule is out. First match: Imperial Capital No. 1 High School vs. Xiling No. 1 High School."

Lu Cheng put the terminal down, his brows furrowing slightly.

Before the first match began, he and Su Wan were already sitting at the commentary desk.

The lights in the arena fell on the center of the ring. The five students from Imperial Capital No. 1 High School walked onto the stage in succession, their steps uniform, their expressions calm, yet the Yuan Qi fluctuations radiating from them were not weak at all.

Five mid-stage Source Gathering Realm...

As soon as this lineup appeared, it immediately drew cheers from the entire arena.

Sister Bai picked up the microphone and began to introduce the two teams.

"Imperial Capital No. 1 High School ended their last match in ten seconds, demonstrating absolute dominance."

"And Xiling No. 1 High School, relying on exquisite tactical coordination, defeated the seeded team and also left us with a very deep impression."

Saying this, she turned to look at Lu Cheng and asked with a smile:

"Student Lu Cheng, I wonder what your thoughts are on this match?"

Lu Cheng looked at the two teams on the ring and was silent for half a second.

"The gap in strength is too large."

His voice was very calm.

"If nothing unexpected happens, Imperial Capital No. 1 High School's result will probably be the same as the first match."

Sister Bai raised an eyebrow slightly, her tone still carrying the excitement of a host.

"I, however, think that perhaps there might be a different result."

"After all, Xiling No. 1 High School also gave us a very impressive performance in their last match. Let's wait and see what the specific result will be!"

The whistle blew.

The match officially began.

Almost at the same instant the whistle fell, the five people from Imperial Capital No. 1 High School moved.

The youth with the surname Qin, standing at the very front, took a step forward. Yuan Qi instantly condensed in his palm, and he directly slammed a palm onto the chest of the captain of Xiling No. 1 High School.

Bang!

The captain flew backward, hitting the protective barrier heavily. He spat out a mouthful of blood and lost his ability to fight on the spot.

The expressions of the others changed drastically. Just as they wanted to retreat, the second person from Imperial Capital No. 1 High School had already cut in from the side, sweeping out with a whip kick that directly struck one of them on the arm.

Snap!

The crisp sound of bone cracking mixed into the screams, instantly spreading throughout the entire ring.

The cheers in the audience stopped abruptly.

Lu Cheng gripped the microphone, his eyes sinking slightly.

"Imperial Capital No. 1 High School's overall strength is indeed very strong. All five members are mid-stage Source Gathering Realm, and their coordination is also very mature."

He paused, his gaze falling on the ring.

"And their fighting style is very swift, not leaving Xiling No. 1 High School any possibility of a comeback."

As soon as he finished speaking, another student from Xiling No. 1 High School was blasted off the ring. His knee clearly twisted when he landed, and he curled up on the ground holding his leg, his face deathly pale, in so much pain he couldn't even make a sound.

In less than two minutes, all five students from Xiling No. 1 High School had fallen to the ground, seriously injured...

The referee announced the end of the match.

The five members of Imperial Capital No. 1 High School stood in the center of the ring, their faces without the slightest fluctuation, as if they had just done something insignificant.

Lu Cheng looked at them, his eyes growing cold bit by bit. They had been intentionally ruthless.