Tavern of the Spear: Desire for Pleasure

When Cheng Yu awoke from the fierce battle in his mental world, he was greeted not by the expected emptiness or darkness, but by a soft and familiar light. His body felt as if it were surrounded by warm spring water, every inch of his skin rejoicing—a long-lost sense of ease and comfort. He slowly opened his eyes, the scene before him causing him to pause for a moment, then an indescribable sense of familiarity washed over him.

The walls were dark red, carved with intricate and mysterious patterns. A faint scent of sandalwood filled the air. An old-fashioned oil lamp burned quietly, casting dappled shadows on the walls. Everything here perfectly matched a place in his memory—the last secret room of the Kaimen Richie family's house.

"I'm... back?" Cheng Yu murmured to himself, a hint of confusion in his voice. He clearly remembered that after his battle with Bowen Diaochan, he had fallen into a mental crisis and engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the white-haired Cheng Yu who represented his dark side. The ferocity of that battle was still vivid in his memory; every detail was deeply etched into his mind. But now, how did he end up here?

Just as Cheng Yu was racking his brains, a familiar figure came into view. Bai Yu was standing not far away, his face showing undisguised surprise and... relief?

"Bai Yu?" Cheng Yu called out tentatively, then flashed a bright smile. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting in the room Hei Ze prepared?"

Bai Yu stared blankly at Cheng Yu, who wore a sunny smile, and was momentarily speechless. Sure enough, he knew it would be like this. Every time a protagonist in a story went through that kind of mental battle, this guy would seem to have amnesia, having no recollection of what happened before.

“You bastard…” Bai Yu sighed helplessly and began to explain what had happened to Cheng Yu. From his sudden and inexplicable behavior to the appearance of the mysterious statue, and then to the tentacles that almost completely devoured him… Bai Yu described every detail as thoroughly as possible, trying to help Cheng Yu recall that thrilling experience.

"...In short, the situation was really dangerous. Those tentacles almost swallowed you whole, and I couldn't stop them at all. It almost scared me to death!" Bai Yu said with lingering fear, a trace of lingering fear still in his eyes.

However, to Bai Yu's surprise, Cheng Yu didn't seem to care much about these matters. After listening to Bai Yu's account, he simply nodded slightly, then looked at Bai Yu with an extremely disbelieving gaze and asked, "Wait, you just said... Kaimen Richie is dead? Killed by a mysterious person who suddenly appeared?"

Cheng Yu found it increasingly unbelievable. Who would come here for no reason and kill Kaimen Richie? In his mind, Kaimen Richie was on the same level as Obsidian. The fact that he was dead was even more bizarre than the battle in his mental world! He looked at Bai Yu with a "Are you kidding me?" expression, hoping for a reasonable explanation.

Bai Yu felt a wave of helplessness when he saw Cheng Yu's suspicious gaze. He helplessly shrugged and said with an extremely serious expression, "You don't think I killed him, do you?"

Cheng Yu twitched the corner of his mouth, inwardly scoffing: Keep pretending, what's the point of pretending? However, he didn't dwell on the matter, since it wouldn't affect the original world.

"Forget about that," Bai Yu waved his hand, changing the subject. "What do we do now? How do we get out of here?"

"Leave?" Cheng Yu was taken aback for a moment, then realized, "Oh, right, we have to leave here first."

He looked around, carefully observing his surroundings. Although the secret room appeared ordinary, it exuded an eerie atmosphere. The patterns on the walls seemed to contain some mysterious power, creating a strange sense of unease.

“There must be some kind of mechanism here that will allow us to get out.” Cheng Yu said, while reaching out to touch the patterns on the wall. “Since Kaimen Richie can use this place as his secret room, he must have a way out. When I came here with him last time… well, I don’t think I remember anything.”

"..." Bai Yu didn't say anything, but his face clearly said, "You're really unreliable."

Bai Yu also joined the search. He carefully examined every corner, not overlooking any suspicious place.

"Do you think the mysterious person who killed Kaimen Richie might also be here?" Cheng Yu suddenly asked. It seems that Cheng Yu still hasn't given up on asking Bai Yu, after all, who wouldn't want a powerful ally?

"I don't know." Bai Yu shook his head. "However, we'd better be careful."

Hehe, kid, you'd better not even think about it. Haha, I'm not going to tell you how strong I am, so what?

……

The two continued to grope around in the secret room, and time passed by second by second, but they still couldn't find any mechanism or exit.

"That's strange, how come there isn't any?" Bai Yu said, somewhat puzzled. "Are we trapped here?"

“No, there must be something we’ve overlooked.” Cheng Yu said firmly.

Just then, a slight noise came from the center of the secret room. The two immediately became alert and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

In the center of the secret chamber, a stone platform slowly rose from the ground. On the platform sat an ancient box, its surface carved with exquisite patterns, giving it a mysterious appearance.

"What is this?" Cheng Yu asked curiously.

"I don't know." Bai Yu shook his head. "However, this might be the key to leaving here."

The two cautiously approached the stone platform and carefully examined the box.

"Want to open it and take a look?" Cheng Yu asked.

"Okay." Bai Yu nodded. "Be careful."

Cheng Yu took a deep breath and slowly opened the box.

The moment the box was opened, a dazzling light shone out, illuminating the entire secret room.

After the light faded, the two found a parchment inside the box, with a line of text written on it:

Welcome to a new story.

The writing on the parchment, like some ancient incantation, possessed an indescribable magic, deeply imprinting itself on Cheng Yu and Bai Yu's minds. They looked at each other, both seeing a deep sense of wariness and unease in each other's eyes. This sudden information, like a bombshell, stirred up even greater waves in their already doubtful hearts.

“Welcome to a new story…” Cheng Yu murmured, repeating the phrase over and over, his brow furrowed. “What does this mean? Have we been living in a ‘story’ all along? And the author of this ‘story’ has been secretly watching us?”

Bai Yu's expression was also unusually solemn. He said in a deep voice, "It seems that our previous guess may have been correct. This world is far more complex than we imagined. Everything we have experienced may just be a 'drama' arranged by some powerful being."

This discovery sent a chill down their spines. If they had always been mere pawns in someone else's game, what was the point of their efforts, their struggles, their joys and sorrows? This feeling of being manipulated was like an invisible hand gripping their throats, suffocating them.

"We must find out the truth about all of this!" Cheng Yu clenched his fist, his eyes resolute. "We can't just let ourselves be manipulated like this!"

“That’s right!” Bai Yu nodded in agreement. “But what should we do now? That mysterious being seems to possess power beyond our imagination; we simply cannot contend with it.”

The two fell into deep thought. They racked their brains, trying to find a breakthrough from the known clues.

After a while, Bai Yu suddenly spoke up: "I have an idea. Do you remember our previous guesses about the concept of time?"

"You mean..." Cheng Yu's eyes lit up, "that time in this world might be controlled by someone?"

“That’s right,” Bai Yu said. “I’ve always sensed that the flow of time in this world is somewhat abnormal, and my guess is that the person who controls time is likely Bowen, not Kurosawa.”

Cheng Yu nodded, indicating that he had similar thoughts. "When I talked to Bowen, he revealed that he had met many people like us. Moreover, I think he deliberately revealed this information to me, his purpose was to make us discover this."

"Bowen..." Bai Yu's eyes deepened. "Although I've only known him for a short time, from these few experiences, I can tell he's very arrogant. However, he certainly has the right to be arrogant; his strength and wisdom far exceed our imagination. Perhaps everything we're experiencing now is just an illusion, what he calls a 'drama'."

The two men exchanged another glance, their eyes filled with solemnity. If their guess was correct, what kind of terrifying enemy were they about to face?

"How about we go directly to him?" Bai Yu suddenly asked. "Let's confront him, reveal our identities, and then... fight him!"

Cheng Yu sighed and said helplessly, "Now that things have come to this, can you think of a better way? With the brains of the two of us, we're probably not even as good as one of his fingers. It seems we have no other choice but to do this."

"Then it's settled!" A resolute glint flashed in Bai Yu's eyes. "Rather than passively waiting like this, we might as well take the initiative and perhaps find a glimmer of hope!"

“Alright!” Cheng Yu was ready to go all out. “Let’s go and meet this ‘master of drama’ and see what kind of ‘new story’ he wants to take us into!”

Once they had made up their minds, the two began searching for a way to leave the secret chamber. They believed that since the mysterious being had led them here and left behind the parchment that read "Welcome to a new story," he must have also prepared a way for them to leave.

Sure enough, after a thorough search, they discovered a brick on one of the walls of the secret room that was slightly different from the others. Cheng Yu pressed the brick, and with a "click," a hidden door appeared in the wall.

“It seems our ‘new story’ is about to begin here,” Bai Yu said meaningfully, looking at the hidden door.

"Let's go." Cheng Yu took a deep breath and stepped into the secret door first.

Bai Yu followed closely behind, and the two disappeared into the darkness, one after the other.

Behind the hidden door was a long passageway. At intervals along the walls on both sides of the passageway, there was an oil lamp. The dim yellow light cast shadows throughout the passageway, adding to its mystery and eeriness.

The two walked along the passageway for an unknown amount of time before finally reaching its end.

At the end of the gate was a huge stone gate, carved with various strange patterns that looked like an ancient script.

"What is this?" Cheng Yu looked at the pattern on the stone gate with a puzzled expression.

"I don't know." Bai Yu shook his head. "However, the place we need to go should be behind this door."

The two studied the patterns on the stone gate carefully, but to no avail. The patterns were too ancient and too obscure for them to understand.

"It seems I have no choice but to resort to brute force." Bai Yu said, taking a few steps back and assuming an attack stance.

"Wait!" Cheng Yu suddenly called out to him, "I feel like... I've seen these patterns somewhere before."

"What?" Bai Yu was taken aback. "Where have you seen this before?"

“I…I can’t remember…” Cheng Yu frowned, trying hard to recall, “But I’m sure I’ve seen these patterns before, and…just recently…”

He closed his eyes, pushed his mental energy to its limit, and tried to capture that fleeting flash of inspiration in his mind.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide and exclaimed, "I remember now! It's those tentacles! And those tentacles have similar patterns on them!"

"Tentacles?" Bai Yu was even more confused. "You mean, those tentacles that almost devoured you?"

“That’s right!” Cheng Yu nodded. “Although the details of the patterns are different, the overall style and feel are very similar!”

"So..." Bai Yu said thoughtfully, "this stone door, those tentacles, and that mysterious being are all connected in some way?"

“Very likely!” Cheng Yu said. “Perhaps the key to opening this stone door lies in those tentacles!”

"But how can we find those tentacles?" Bai Yu asked. "Didn't you already destroy them?"

“No, they haven’t been completely wiped out,” Cheng Yu said. “I can sense that they still exist somewhere in this world.”

"So how do we find them?"

"I don't know." Cheng Yu shook his head. "Let me think. Maybe I can use other methods to replace it. After all, I really don't want to have that disgusting power."

"Alright." Bai Yu sighed. "It seems we can only wait until you come up with a way to get out."