Endless Debt

Opals, Llandring, Pier.

The lights were turned off in the office, and in the blurry darkness, David sat in a recliner with his feet on the desk.

"Uh huh huh~"

David hummed. He liked the feeling of being in the dark, like a poisonous snake hiding in a dense forest. This could bring David a lot of security.

In the shadows, he looked contented.

He turned his head and looked out the floor-to-ceiling window. It was already dark, but the lights outside the window were still bright, and the buildings were shining with light, reflecting the river along the way.

There was a knock on the door, the office door was pushed open, and a strong bald man stood at the door. He held a flashlight in his hand, illuminating David in the office.

"Too bright, too bright, Bill."

The moment he was illuminated by the light, David shouted impatiently.

Bill had long been accustomed to this. After confirming David with his flashlight, he extinguished the light and the surroundings fell into darkness again.

"Boss, you're like a dark rat," Bill said.

They could obviously turn on the lighting in the factory, but because of David's quirk, they could only use flashlights to illuminate the factory. The dark factory was flashing with light beams, and countless figures patrolled in the darkness, ringing together with the footsteps. And greedy gasps.

Each sealed box contained a large amount of philosopher's stones and liquid elixirs. The demons suppressed their inner greed, swallowed, and restrained themselves.

From time to time, they cast their gaze above the factory, peering into the huge glass window. Behind that was David's office. Recalling the cruelty under David's harmonious smile, everyone restrained their thoughts that they shouldn't have.

"Be careful if I deduct money from you, Bill. I just... like darkness."

Under the vague outline, David's voice sounded.

“And the darkness helps me stay on top of it all.”

David added, and then Bill saw it. The light was hovering in David's eyes, and he was like a resurrected evil ghost.

I could clearly feel that something was crawling in the darkness. It peered at Bill, walked briskly, and soon disappeared.

Bill raised his eyebrows. He was used to David's quirks, but it was still difficult for him to accept the cold chill, like an invisible poisonous snake with sharp snake eyes staring at your throat.

"Is today the day for the Codenin show?" Bill asked.

"Hmm, he even invited me to see it, but someone has to watch the goods here."

"Then he should be dying too? Will this be his last performance?"

Bill asked again. He still remembered the uninvited guest that day, the man called "Ghoul." Although he didn't know exactly what he and David talked about, after that conversation, David talked to Bill. About giving up on Kotnering.

"Probably, Kedening is about to die anyway. It depends on when the King's Secret Swords throw out all his information, and then the Bureau of Order will bite him into pieces like a pack of wolves that smell blood."

David sighed, looking like he felt sorry for Ketnering.

"Poor Kedening... But on the bright side, we will be much safer and save a lot of money."

After being sad for less than a few seconds, David's voice was filled with laughter again.

"That sounds so cold-blooded."

"I just make a clear distinction. Private life belongs to private life, and work belongs to work."

David waved his hands and gestured, but surrounded by darkness, Bill couldn't see his movements clearly.

"But to be honest, I feel a little sad when I think of Kedening dying." David said sincerely.

Bill brought a chair from the darkness and sat down, listening to David's words.

"Ke Denning and I were classmates in college. This guy has loved acting since then and is extremely talented... His acting skills are so good that he often deceives the teachers. We skipped classes for most of the semester. I thought we were He would be expelled from school, but he was fooled by Kedening.

He told the teacher that the two of us were born in poverty and struggled for tuition and life. Because we were too tired from working part-time, we were often late and missed many classes. However, we did not neglect our studies because of this. We were able to do everything the teacher taught us.

Then the teacher asked some questions for Kedening, and damn it, this guy answered them all. What's even worse is that he really moved the teachers, and later we actually got some bursaries. "

David talked about the past and was full of admiration for Kedening.

“That’s when I realized that each of these performers was a skilled liar, just like every writer is a skilled liar.”

The past years glowed with a beautiful golden color. For David, it was a good time.

"Tell me, how did you and Kedening get into this business?"

Bill was curious. He was a mercenary hired by David. Whenever he saw David and Kedening, Bill felt unknown and strange.

"Boss, you are quite understandable. Everyone is the same. They become mercenaries just to make money, but what about Kedening? This guy doesn't seem to be doing it for money at all. If it is for his performance, he should get away as soon as possible."

Although Kedening could no longer escape, Bill whispered in his heart.

"Well, you may not believe it, but I was brought into the industry by Ke Dening."

When talking about this, David laughed helplessly.

"Kodening's reason is more personal. I can't answer it. Although he is about to die, he is still my friend to some extent, right, Bill. As for my reason, as you said, it is just to make money. .”

Surprisingly, at this time, David still cared about keeping some secrets, which made Bill feel strange.

Bill has always been somewhat respectful and wary of this boss. In his eyes, David is like a cunning poisonous snake.

This is not derogatory, but a compliment. As a mercenary, David is very professional.

Cruel, cold-blooded, not bound by anything, all he has is the purpose of completing his work, even if it kills his friends.

Kedening is a little unprofessional. He is always thinking about other things, such as his fatal performance, such as taking care of his wife.

Once people have too many things to care about, their thoughts will become bloated, which is not a good thing.

This is a knife-edge job that licks blood. If you are not professional enough, you will die. So Kedening is going to die. This is normal.

"My dream is to retire when I'm around forty years old with a lot of money. I've already thought about a place to retire. Do you know Fengyuan Highland? It's a pretty nice place. It's said that there are strong winds all year round. The green grass fell in patches like wheat, and finally turned into an endless green field.”

David said as he fantasized.

"That place is much better than Opos."

"Sounds good," Bill said.

"It's pretty good." David emphasized.

The conversation between the two fell into silence, and only the sound of gentle breathing was left in the darkness. Their eyes glanced into the darkness, but there was no response.

The silence lasted for several minutes until David spoke, breaking it.

"Are you feeling uneasy? Bill."

"Yeah." Bill didn't deny it.

"Are you afraid that you will become the next 'Codening'?"

"I guess so."

Bill stared at the darkness in front of him. He could feel the presence of sight. David was staring at him. He guessed that the cunning snake was smiling, just like the smile he would wear every time he hurt someone.

"Bill, don't think about unnecessary things and do your part. This is the quality that professionals should have."

David waved his hand, his voice emotionless.

"So do what you have to do, and as long as it has 'value,' it won't be given up."

"okay, I get it."

Bill said nothing more, stood up and left. When he walked to the door, he stopped again and looked back at the darkness.

"Fengyuan Highland sounds pretty good. Do you need a driver or something then?"

"Let's wait until we live to talk about this kind of thing."

David said uncertainly.

After Bill left and he was the only one left in the office again, David closed his eyes, and images from all over the factory flashed before his eyes, as if there was another David running wildly in the factory, collecting everything in his eyes.

"What a pity..."

David slowly opened his eyes, sighed, and looked at the phone on his desk. After hesitating for a few seconds, David dialed the number and connected the phone.

"Hello, is this the great performer Mr. Kedening Caesar?"

David asked happily, his melancholy gone.

After a brief pause, Kedening's voice sounded.

"Stop teasing me, David."

"Hahahaha, it's not a joke, it's the truth. After tonight, you will be a rising star in the agreement area."

David praised. No one knew what the poisonous snake was thinking, so he asked with concern.

"The show is about to start, right?"

"Well, there's still half an hour left, the audience is already queuing up to enter, and the final adjustments are being made backstage."

David could clearly feel the excitement in Kedening's tone. He tried to calm down his mood, but the fluctuation was still too obvious.

"Are you nervous?"

"Of course, it feels like my whole lungs are about to be crushed, and my hands are shaking now."

Kadening said unabashedly.

"I can understand that this is your desire that you have been chasing so far... I really want to be here to witness this moment." David said.

"There's nothing we can do about it, but at least after tonight, everything will be over," Kedening imagined the future. "When we leave Opos and reach Fengyuan Highlands, we can be neighbors. Then I will perform every day. , you have plenty of opportunities to come and see it.”

"Well, I'll wait for that moment to see how Gini is doing."

"It's not bad. She's been very stable recently. In fact, she wanted to come tonight, but I dissuaded her. She's not suitable for appearing in crowded places."

The voice on the other end of the phone paused for a few seconds, and then there was a hint of sadness in Kedening's voice.

"Thinking about it, it's really sad that none of you can be there for such a beautiful moment."

"Don't be so pessimistic. At least you'll have this perfect time to yourself, right?" David said.

"Rather than keep it to myself, I want to share this with you."

David narrowed his eyes, took a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it. A little fire lit up in the darkness, and he puffed away.

"Do what you have to do, Codenin, and I'll do the rest."

David took a deep breath and spoke words that only he could understand.

"Get ready for your curtain call."

He said goodbye.

After hanging up the phone, David's eyes were filled with thoughts. Just as Bill felt, David always had a friendly smile, but under the smile, there were twisted and weird thoughts. No one knew what he was thinking. What.

Whenever someone asked about this, David would jokingly say that as a mercenary, he could not let others guess his true thoughts.

He smoked heavily, and the rising smoke clouds hid David.

There were things moving in the dark, swarms of them.