Chapter 546: “Packaging”

“What’s going on?”

“Power cut due to the rain??”

“Tsk… we were just getting into it. When will it come back on?”

“Don’t you think it has a certain feel to it, being completely dark? Hmm?”

“Damn it, which idiot is touching me?!”

The sudden power outage caused an uproar among the patrons in the dance hall, their complaints rising and mixing into a noisy clamor. Even the singer, microphone in hand, stood helplessly on the dark stage, unsure what to do.

Li Ruohong, sitting in his booth, furrowed his brows tightly. He stood up and asked into the surrounding darkness:

“What’s going on?!”

“I don’t know, boss… It seems like there’s a power cut.”

“Then what are you standing around for?! Go fix it, quick!”

“I’ll go check right now!”

After the bodyguard spoke, he groped his way through the dark towards the main power switch. Li Ruohong remained in booth 888. After a moment of awkward silence among the group in the darkness, someone finally spoke.

“It’s raining outside today, and there’s thunder… a power outage is pretty normal.”

“Yeah, I guess it’ll be back on in a bit.”

“Come on, let’s keep drinking, don’t let it spoil the mood.”

Seeing this, Li Ruohong had no choice but to raise his glass and drink with the others in the dark. However, hearing the growing commotion around him, with some people already trying to feel their way out, Li Ruohong lost all interest in drinking and found himself restless in his booth.

Just then, a few more drops of liquid landed on Li Ruohong’s cheek. He recalled the rainwater that had dripped on him earlier on the second floor, and his irritation grew.

Leaks and power outages… When he had a chance, he definitely needed to tell the Beidou Consortium to spend money to completely renovate the entire dance hall!

In a chaotic corner of the dance hall, a red cocktail gently swayed in its glass.

In the darkness, where everyone’s vision was obscured, a pair of eyes, tinged with apricot red, took in every detail, like a director behind the scenes or a spectator in the audience.

Chen Ling took a note covered with characters from his pocket, idly toying with it between his fingers. As the chaos and disorder gradually intensified, he dipped a finger into some liquor and lightly wrote two words on the table.

—Scene √

Rumble—

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky outside the dance hall window, briefly illuminating a corner. A half-finished red cocktail gently swayed on a small table in that corner. Beside it was an inconspicuous white note…

The seat beside the small table was now empty.

Meanwhile,

Li Ruohong drank two glasses, but the power still hadn't returned. More and more guests were getting up to leave. Just as his patience was about to reach its limit, the bodyguard’s voice echoed from the darkness once more.

“Boss, something doesn’t seem right.”

“What do you mean, ‘not right’?!” Li Ruohong snarled in a low voice. “What are you good for?! Haven’t you fixed it yet?”

“It seems there’s a problem… Boss, you should really come take a look yourself.”

“A bunch of good-for-nothings!”

Li Ruohong stood up from his booth, suppressing his anger. After a brief explanation to his friends nearby, he groped his way out into the darkness.

—Actor √

Because the surroundings were too dark, Li Ruohong could only barely make out the ground beneath his feet. The bodyguard’s imposing figure walked ahead, with occasional flashes of lightning outside the window briefly illuminating the dim dance hall.

“Hey, what’s the problem?” Li Ruohong asked in a deep voice.

“The wiring fault is quite serious. We’re short on repair personnel, so we need you to come and direct us personally.”

“Damn it… A wiring fault, and I have to go myself?!”

“We really are short-staffed…”

“Short-staffed? So much money goes into this dance hall every month, where does it all go?! You know you’re short-staffed, why don’t you hire more people?!” Li Ruohong was incredibly frustrated now, swearing openly in the dark.

Before he could finish speaking, a considerable amount of rainwater drizzled down from above, soaking Li Ruohong. Already on the verge of exploding, Li Ruohong was now so furious his lungs felt like they would burst. When you’re unlucky, everything bad seems to pile on!

“And this damn roof! Look at how much it’s leaking! Is it trying to wash my face?!”

The more Li Ruohong thought about it, the angrier he became. He was about to curse further when an invisible giant python emerged from the dark corridor, slowly coiling around his body. As its maw opened wide, his seething anger instantly dissipated, and he suddenly felt calm.

“…Once the power’s back on, send someone to fix it,” Li Ruohong said with an oddly calm tone.

“Yes, boss.”

In the darkness, the giant python coiled on Li Ruohong’s shoulder silently flicked its red tongue, its pair of eerie vertical pupils constantly fixated on his head.

—Emotion √

Li Ruohong followed behind the bodyguard for a long time. In the darkness, he didn’t know where he was, only that the chaos and noise from the surrounding guests were growing louder. Just as he was feeling puzzled, the bodyguard in front suddenly stopped.

“Here we are, boss.”

“Where’s the wiring?”

“In the electrical box in this corner… Boss, could you hold this tool for me for a moment?”

As he spoke, the bodyguard handed something to Li Ruohong. In the darkness, Li Ruohong could vaguely make out that it was a wrench. His brows subconsciously furrowed, but with the mind-serpent’s influence, his anger had vanished. Feeling utterly calm, he still casually took the tool and gripped it in his hand.

—Prop √

Drip, drip—

More and more rainwater seeped from the darkness above, dripping onto Li Ruohong’s face.

With one hand gripping the tool, he vigorously wiped his face with the other, then dried it on his clothes, and asked in a low voice:

“How long will it take to fix this thing?”

In the darkness, the bodyguard stood with his back to Li Ruohong, motionless like a statue in front of the electrical box.

A low rumble of thunder sounded outside the window, and the noise from nearby grew louder. As the mind-serpent’s mouth gradually opened, the surging anger began to flow back into Li Ruohong’s mind. His brows visibly furrowed.

“I’m talking to you! Didn’t you hear me?!”

Li Ruohong roared in anger.

In the darkness, the figure slowly turned around, a pair of eyes filled with disdain and sharpness glaring at Li Ruohong.

“Are you ever going to stop being annoying?”

When Li Ruohong heard this, he first froze, then as if finally understanding, his face showed an unprecedented mix of anger and disbelief!

“What did you say???”

“I said, are you ever going to stop being annoying?” The bodyguard stepped closer to Li Ruohong, looking down at him. “Just because I call you ‘boss,’ you think you’re a god? All you do all day is whine and complain. I’ve been sick of you for a long time!”

“Damn it… I think you’ve lost your mind!”

Li Ruohong’s chest heaved violently, and his neck flushed crimson. He swung his palm fiercely at the bodyguard in front of him, but the instant his fingertips touched the other man, the bodyguard let out a shriek and flew backward with a thud, as if he had been hit head-on by a tank!

Li Ruohong’s hand stopped mid-swing, frozen in place… His eyes showed deep bewilderment and incomprehension.

“What the hell is going on???”

A few hours earlier.

On the second floor of Jinghong Tower, Chen Ling looked down at the few people slowly walking back into the dance hall when an idea suddenly came to him.

He took a note from his pocket, and while deep in thought, slowly wrote two lines of text:

—How to clear the Twilight Society members’ suspicion?

—Package a new ‘Twilight Society’. √