Bravehearts Bar

It seemed that ordinary ways of making money were nowhere near enough to support a Beyonder's expenses... The young and ignorant Alice felt lost about the path ahead for Wild Beyonders.

As dusk fell, Alice stepped into Bravehearts Bar.

The bar had only just opened and had not yet reached its busiest hours, but Alice could still smell the strong aroma of malt beer.

The good news was that, perhaps because there were still few people around, the bar was not too lively. Alice did not catch many strange smells, and it was not particularly noisy for the moment—though that did not stop her from frowning uncomfortably.

Her temperament, so Out of Place in a bar, had clearly drawn quite a bit of attention. Some of those gazes even made her feel sick.

Alice silently reminded herself to remember to change clothes the next time she came to a place like this.

Though she was very uncomfortable, the bar truly broadened Alice's horizons—especially the Dog-Catching-Mice Competition and Black Boxing.

There was clearly no such thing in Shen Yinghuan's memories. At most, she had seen similar descriptions in webnovels, but words were obviously vastly different from the real thing. If Alice had not remembered the saying, "Use luck sparingly; never squander it," she might have considered making money through gambling.

After all, Lucky One sounded like a Sequence suited to gambling—though Alice did not yet know that there was an even more suitable Sequence for gambling addicts further down the line: Winner.

Before the Bartender could speak, Alice beat him to it. "I'm Looking For You, Caspars Canning."

The Bartender did not look particularly disappointed at losing a customer, because Alice clearly did not Look Like a bar patron. He examined her for several seconds, then pointed to the side. "In Room 3 Billiards Room."

Without Hesitation, Alice left the area and walked to the door of Room 3 Billiards Room. She Raised Her Hand and knocked lightly—the door opened with a creak.

The two men inside, each holding a billiard cue, stopped and looked toward Alice, who was standing in the doorway with her hand still raised.

Alice stopped herself from knocking again and withdrew her hand. Following the feeling she experienced Every Time she tried to Recover Memory, she adjusted her mindset as though she were watching someone else's actions, making her expression calmer. She Realized it would be difficult for her to become someone who kept her emotions entirely hidden In a Short Time, so she decided to use this method to keep her feelings from showing too clearly.

Of course, only in front of outsiders.

Unexpectedly, Alice entered her desired state very smoothly. As she wished, she heard her own calm voice say, "I'm Looking For You, Caspars Canning. The Old Man introduced me."

One advantage of places like this was that people did not ask about your background. Neither man showed any unusual reaction to Alice's attire. The Old Man in a linen shirt looked her over and said, "Come in."

Alice Guessed that this was Caspars Canning.

There was a huge, split-open scar on Caspars's face, stretching from the corner of his Right Eye to the edge of his mouth. His nose was a typical drinker's nose, almost completely Stained red.

With Megose as a precedent, such facial features did not shock Alice much. Besides, she was still in that special state, and everything before her felt like watching an immersive film.

Alice entered the room with a calm expression. The Another Person In the Room then left with practiced ease, closing the Door behind him.

Caspars limped around to her and asked, "What do you want?"

"A specially made, high-powered revolver and fifty bullets." Alice heard her own calm voice.

"Three pounds and ten Sol," Caspars quoted. "It's more expensive than a legitimate gun shop. That includes the costs I bear."

Alice took out four one-pound banknotes and handed them over.

Caspars gave Alice a Stunned look, then checked the Banknotes and said, "I rarely see a Lady come to me."

"I'm not here to chat with you." Certain that she had sorted out her emotions, Alice withdrew from her previous state.

"Wait five minutes." Leaving those words behind, Caspars placed the banknotes on the billiards table, set his cue aside, and limped out of the room.

Alice looked at the billiards table, which felt both familiar and strange to her—familiar because such things clearly existed on Earth as well, strange because Shen Yinghuan had never come into contact with one.

Alice Guessed that, like playing cards, this was something Roselle had brought over. But Alice's state of mind was completely different from when she had discovered playing cards in Tingen City—she did not know why, but she suddenly felt a faint, subtle sadness.

"Just Like a traveler who can never return to her Hometown, desperately searching for familiar traces in a foreign land..." she said to herself in Chinese.

Alice suddenly wanted to make herself a pair of Chopsticks. Why not make Chinese Food instead...? The answer was obvious: she could not cook.

While she was thinking, Caspars returned with a package and two five-Sol banknotes.

Alice opened the kraft-paper package and found a beautiful Silver-White pistol and fifty neatly arranged bullets inside.

After trying the unloaded gun, Alice expertly loaded the bullets, tucked the pistol into its holster, and looked at Caspars. "If I wanted to find a gathering held by people with special abilities, where should I go?"

Caspars's gaze immediately turned icy.

"Looks like you know," Alice said with a smile. "You should know I mean no harm. Otherwise, I could have simply interrogated you—you are clearly not A Member of those people."

"Clearly, I don't have the authority to decide that either," Caspars Replied calmly.

"Help me ask." Alice put away her smile and made her expression stern—on her current face, that expression was far more intimidating than before.

Caspars fell silent for a moment before saying to Alice, "You're very lucky. Someone happens to be holding one tonight... I can take you there to Take a Look At it, but I can't guarantee they will agree."

"Do I need to pay anything for this?" Alice asked.

After confirming that Alice truly intended to pay, Caspars Replied, "Two pounds."

Alice took out another two one-pound banknotes and handed them to Caspars.

Caspars then took out an iron mask that could only cover the upper half of the face and handed it to Alice.

She put on the mask, then, under Caspars's Stunned gaze, changed her brown hair and blue eyes into black hair and brown eyes. At the same time, the curve of her jawline became rounder.

Why did you all seem even more certain than Alice that Little Snake had approached her in the beginning to invest in her...

Little Snake had been Sequence 1 for so many years, after all. Little Klein was from Other Pathways, but Alice was on the same Pathway. Directly investing in her would be the strange thing, wouldn't it!

To put it bluntly, he had fought Ouroboros for so long without admitting defeat. Alice was doing worse than Ouroboros now, so why would he...? (...)

There were other reasons too, but saying them would be spoilers (...)