Speculation About the Tavern Owner
East Blue, near the Foosha Village.
Lin Qi's Tavern opened after sunrise, not because he was diligent, but because someone was knocking on the door from the outside.
The knocking was rhythmic, three short knocks followed by one long one, a habit of Abel, a regular at the village fisherman's Tavern, Magino.
Lin Qi rolled over on the recliner behind the bar, knocking over an empty beer bottle on the table with his foot. The bottle rolled twice along the edge of the table before being stopped by his other outstretched foot.
"It's open, it's open."
He yawned, got up from the recliner, dragged his slippers to the door, and pushed open the latch.
The person standing outside the door was not Abel.
There are three people.
The man leading the group was a middle-aged man wearing a floral shirt, with a full beard, and three Buttons of his shirt undone, revealing a large expanse of his tanned chest.
Behind him stood two younger people, a man and a woman, dressed like tourists from another island.
"Excuse me, is this Lin Qi's Tavern?"
The man in the floral shirt asked.
"Yes."
Lin Qi leaned against the door frame, his eyes not fully open.
Do you have any wine?
"Have."
"How about we go in and have a few drinks?"
"Okay."
Lin Qi stepped aside from the doorway, shuffling back behind the bar in his slippers, and began taking glasses from the shelf.
The three men entered the Tavern. The man in the floral shirt sat down at the bar, while the other two took their seats at a table in the corner.
"Three glasses of ale."
"Good."
Lin Qi opened a new barrel of ale, and foam overflowed from the opening. He caught some in his palm and flicked it onto the ground.
"You're not from around here, are you?"
"No, it came from the other side of Mount Colubo."
The man in the floral shirt took the glass and took a sip.
"It tastes good."
"Of course, my family's beer has no rivals in the East Blue."
Lin Qi poured himself a drink, propped his elbows on the bar, and began his daily routine: chatting with the customers.
But today's guests clearly weren't interested in bragging.
The first thing the man in the floral shirt said after putting down his wine glass was:
"Boss, have you looked at the Sky Screen?"
Lin Qi blinked.
"I saw it."
"Who hasn't seen it? Those things are everywhere; you can't avoid them even if you want to."
What are you thinking?
The man in the floral shirt had his arms folded on the bar, leaning forward, looking at Lin Qi with the posture of someone wanting to gossip with a friend.
"What do you mean, what do you think?"
"Those things in the Sky Screen."
"What Void Century? What Great Kingdom? What Twenty Kingdoms Alliance?"
"The whole world is talking about it, and you, a Tavern owner, don't you have any opinions of your own?"
Lin Qi took a sip of ale, the foam leaving a Whitebeard around his upper lip.
"I have my opinions."
Tell me.
"I think the person who set the questions is pretty amazing."
The man in the floral shirt paused for a moment.
"The question setter."
"It's that person behind the Sky Screen, the one who asked the question."
Lin Qi drew a circle on the bar with his finger.
"Think about it, those questions are all incredibly difficult, from the cause of Ace's death to the true nature of the Five Elders, and even the truth Void Century. The person who set these questions must have known all the answers to dare to ask them like this."
"A person who knows so many secrets is either a god or someone with exceptionally good connections."
The man in the floral shirt exchanged a glance with his two companions in the corner.
What kind of person do you think the person who set the questions is?
How should I know?
Lin Qi took another sip of his drink.
"But I guess he's a pretty easygoing person. Look at the style of his questions; they're very impactful, but he controls the pacing very well. He knows when to be dramatic and when to be sweet, when to throw in the bombshells and when to slow down."
"This kind of person either has experience in journalism or is a storyteller."
He tapped his finger in the air.
"And have you noticed that every time he finishes reviewing a series, he gives a preview, the way he previews it is very much like the 'to be continued' style in storytelling?"
"So I think the person who set this question is a storyteller at heart."
The man in the floral shirt twitched at the corner of his mouth as he watched Lin Qi speak so eloquently.
"Your analysis is quite insightful."
"Of course, all sorts of people come to my Tavern every day. Having heard so many stories, my judgment of people has naturally become more accurate."
Lin Qi took another swig of beer, quite pleased with himself.
Unbeknownst to him, the man in the floral shirt had a small tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. The tattoo depicted a seagull with a circular mark on its wing.
That's the identification mark of the outer observation network of the intelligence agency's CP system.
Not CP0.
It's CP5.
Responsible for intelligence gathering and personnel screening in the East Blue region.
After the Sky Screen was raised, everyone from the Five Elders to the Naval Intelligence Department was searching for the person who set the question.
The system screens under the Sky Screen are mandatory to everyone, but the identity and location of the person setting the questions are completely hidden.
No one knows who set the questions.
Nobody knows where the person who set the questions is.
But one clue is certain.
When the Sky Screen first descended, the first point of light appeared in the direction of the East Blue.
The information was captured by the Navy's scientific department immediately. Although the range of the light spots covered most of the East Blue and the accuracy was insufficient, it was enough for the intelligence agencies to list the East Blue as a key target for investigation.
The man in the floral shirt has visited 43 Taverns on 17 islands in the East Blue over the past three days and chatted with more than 300 civilians.
Lin Qi is the 314th.
He would store everyone's reactions and comments using some kind of trained memory method, then transcribe them into reports and upload them to CP5's analysis department.
The analytics department uses a sophisticated psychological profiling model to screen suspicious individuals.
The screening criteria include, but are not limited to: whether the level of understanding of the content of the Sky Screen exceeds the scope that an ordinary person should have; whether the analysis of the question setter implies that they know more inside information; and whether there is any deliberate concealment or guidance in their remarks.
After chatting with Lin Qi for twenty minutes, the man in the floral shirt mentally gave him a rating.
An ordinary Tavern owner, with a strong desire to express himself, likes to analyze things, but his analysis is within the realm of ordinary people, and there is nothing suspicious about it.
Exclude.
"Another one, please."
The man in the floral shirt raised his empty glass.
"Okay."
Lin Qi took the glass, refilled it, and as he handed it back, the foam on his hands splashed all over the man in the floral shirt's face. The man apologized repeatedly and handed him a cloth to wipe the table.
The man in the floral shirt wiped his face with the cloth and handed it back to Lin Qi.
"Thanks, boss."
"You're welcome."
Lin Qi smiled, his gaze following the man in the floral shirt and his two companions as they walked out of the Tavern.
After the door closed, the Tavern fell silent again.
Lin Qi stood behind the bar, rubbing the tablecloth in his hands a couple of times.
His smile was still on his face, but something new had appeared in his eyes.
A barely perceptible alertness beneath the surface of a smile.
He walked to the computer in the corner of the Tavern, sat down, and tapped the keyboard.
The screen lit up.
The system interface displays the status bar for the next review, with a line of small text at the top.
[Question Setter Identity Protection Protocol is in effect; current anonymity level: S]
Lin Qi stared at the line of small print for three seconds.
Then his gaze shifted to another line of prompts below.
[Seven non-random information collection activities were detected in the area where the question setter is located within the past three days, and the source was determined to be an external unit of the World Government Intelligence System.]
[The person setting the questions is advised to pay attention to their personal safety.]
Lin Qi withdrew his fingers from the keyboard.
He glanced again at the Tavern door, which wasn't completely closed yet; the morning light filtering through the crack drew a thin, bright line on the ground.
Seven times.
His voice was so soft that he almost couldn't hear it himself.
He leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers twice on the armrest.
The smile is still there.
But the frequency of the tapping was one beat faster than usual.