Cyberpunk, but urban

"Hiss, this taboo..." Ye Lan was indeed stumped by Roland's question. After all, he had been circulating in the company headquarters for fifty days since he came to the city. Even if he racked his brains, he couldn't think of any taboos in L Nest.

“Maybe it’s about not wasting energy.”

He scratched his head and gave a possible explanation. After all, in the official comics, someone was arrested and sent to work in a company branch because of wasting energy, so the taboo of L Nest might really be this.

"Just this?"

Roland relaxed all of a sudden, and then he felt a sense of regret: "Why didn't I learn more about L Nest back then?"

As for the Smog War, please, the loser of the Smog War was the old L Company. After thinking of this, Roland was no longer worried that the current L Nest would stop him and Angelica from doing this.

In short, at least for the time being, Ye Lan and Roland's family are happy. Ye Lan asked Roland and his wife to wait downstairs for a while, and took Luna to the fifth floor to the clinic where they had an appointment to get some medicine to protect against ultraviolet rays.

The examination and prescription took about an hour, and when it was all finished it was just time for lunch.

So Ye Lan, as he had said before, took Congbing and his wife to a nearby restaurant. He and Luna had been to this restaurant before when they got their prescriptions. Their ginger beef was quite good.

Roland picked up a piece of ginger beef recommended by Ye Lan and put it into his mouth. After chewing it lightly, he commented in surprise: "Hmm, there is actually a restaurant with such delicious food near this hospital?"

"It's really hard to imagine, right? I discovered this restaurant when I was strolling around with Luna after coming to the hospital last time. And the most important thing is that the ingredients they use are real beef, and there is absolutely no weird ingredients mixed in."

Ye Lan took two bites of her own set meal, praising the restaurant while helping Luna wipe the rice grains stuck to her mouth.

"Since they use pure natural ingredients, the cost of this restaurant must be high, right?"

After all, Mrs. Angelica was more capable of managing the household, and she first thought of the price issue. However, the price of this store was beyond Angelica's imagination.

"No, no, this restaurant is surprisingly cheap. If it weren't for the fact that the food here is really delicious and it's the closest restaurant to the hospital, I would have wanted to find a more expensive place to treat you guys."

Yes, the price of a set meal in this restaurant is actually only about twice as expensive as that of an affordable family restaurant. Although it is expensive for ordinary residents in the back alley, for headquarters employees like Ye Lan, or high-level finishers like the Congbing couple, it is not even enough for a normal meal.

"So, when you are free later, I will treat you to a meal at a more upscale place." Ye Lan said, and filled his cup with another drink.

Among the four of them, Ye Lan and Luna ordered a pot of freshly squeezed juice. Roland chose sake. Angelica wanted to drink some, but Roland persuaded her that it was not good for the children, so she changed it to a bottle of hot almond milk.

Just when the four of them were almost done eating, Roland received a call. Ye Lan could vaguely hear Roland, who had left the table to answer the call, mention Olivier and District 25. It seemed that Olivier, who was currently working as a finishing toucher in the Southern Third Section of the First Association, had asked Roland for help.

When Roland came back, Angelica asked him, "What's the matter?"

"Do Luna and I need to step away?" Ye Lan knew the whole situation very well, so he naturally took actions to avoid suspicion.

"Nothing, no need. It's just that an old friend asked me to help him. Coincidentally, the reward for this job is also the right to migrate to the nest."

"But immigration rights are another matter. That old friend took good care of us in the past, so we must help him. Let's put one thing on one thing~"

In just a few words, Roland defined the matter as helping an old friend rather than seeking the right to migrate to the nest in return.

Chapter 28. The Untalented Pianist

Since they were going to help Olivier, Roland said goodbye to Angelica. After Ye Lan exchanged addresses and contact information with him, he watched the couple leave the restaurant first.

"Ye Lan, you actually have other ideas about these two, right?" Luna obediently ate the last grain of rice in her bowl, then raised her head and looked at Ye Lan: "You told me before, the L wing is broken."

"Well, the nest's migration rights are indeed fake, but the two of us will indeed help them a lot next time."

Ye Lan patted Little Luna's head and continued, "But even though the nest collapsed, we do have a good, safe place to go in the L-Nest."

"Hmm, is it really better than our current house..." But it was obvious that little Luna didn't believe that there could be a better place than her house in the collapsed nest.

Her suspicion was not incomprehensible. After all, if Ye Lan had not known the plot in advance, he would not have thought that in the center of the collapsed L Nest, there would be a library that could almost be regarded as Angela's ego.

"Since Roland is going to District 25, then that thing is about to begin." Ye Lan ate the last bit of food and said to Luna, "After we pay the bill, we will go home and pack our bags. In the next few days, we will have to keep an eye on the house of Mrs. Angelica."

"Wow, you don't like that lady, do you? She's pregnant." Little Luna bared her teeth and made up stories about Ye Lan without any basis.

"Fuck, you idiot girl, what nonsense are you talking about." This baseless arrangement made Ye Lan laugh. Before he stood up to pay the bill, he flicked Luna's forehead, then leaned close to her ear and said to her, "I'll tell you quietly, your brother Ye Lan actually has someone he likes."

"Eh?! Who, who is it? Tell me quickly, tell me quickly!"

Hearing this, little Luna immediately grabbed Ye Lan's clothes, trying to prevent him from paying the bill before he told her the secret.

Ye Lan used a little trick to easily free himself from Luna's pull, which was not even a restraint. He took two steps towards the cashier, then turned around and said to little Luna: "Haha, keep it a secret!"

Then, he left Luna, who had only heard the secret but had no idea what it was, sitting there in frustration and rage, and ran to the cashier to pay.

……

……

Lane 9, Luna's home.

"Wow, who is the person you like?"

Until Ye Lan brought little Luna back home, she kept pestering Ye Lan to ask who the person he liked was. But to be honest, Ye Lan himself didn't know whether it was a game player licking a paper man or he really had feelings for him.

However, he had already ruined his emotions in the reincarnation of the company. If he hadn't had the moral standards left over from his previous life, he would have become the craziest person in Gotham City.

"Hehe, a secret is a secret only because no one else knows about it. Okay, go pack your luggage." Ye Lan urged a little, thereby diverting Luna's curiosity about the secret.

While they were packing their luggage, a man in a shabby suit walked into Alley 9, an old and inconspicuous tavern.

This is a cheap underground bar with an area of ​​only 12 square meters. Business is bleak and there are all kinds of unpleasant smells. However, only a shabby bar like this one can hire this ragged pianist at a low price.

To be honest, this pianist didn't want to play the piano in such a place, but only such a place would allow him, a low-level pianist who could only play according to the music score and had no connections and no future, to play there.

Oh, even the pianist himself clearly understood that he had no talent for playing the piano. His dreams of becoming a pianist in a high-end restaurant or holding his own solo concert were just some unrealizable dreams.

He had long been a hopeless back-alley loser whose reputation was worse than the garbage on the floor.

"Tsk, forget it, forget it, it's just you."

The bar owner looked at the pianist like a pig to be slaughtered and snorted a few times in dissatisfaction. But in the end, the pianist was hired to play for the bar tomorrow at a price lower than other places.

Even he himself found it ridiculous that he was so happy to be able to play the piano for such a cheap price.

"Ah, this is a rare opportunity to play the piano, even if I have to play for drunks in a shabby bar like this. I have to seize this opportunity. I will practice a few more times when I go home tonight. I hope that when I perform tomorrow, someone will like my performance."

After leaving the bar, the pianist standing at the door couldn't stop thinking in his heart. Even though he was just a pianist with neither resources nor talent, he just liked to play the piano; even though he was already 38 years old today, even though he had been pressing his fingers on the keys for 25 years and still hadn't achieved anything, he just liked to play the piano.

The light that illuminated the city for four whole days, and the darkness that shrouded the city for three whole days. After these things happened, the pianist found that he spent more time thinking meaninglessly.

A kind of warmth, uneasiness and silence that is incompatible with the city has occasionally surfaced in his mind in the past few days, and many things he thought he had forgotten have once again surfaced in his memory.

"Could it be possible that my heart, which should have been worn down by the city, is beating again?" he thought to himself as he returned to his empty home, which only had a well-maintained old piano.

As for dinner, haha, where would a low-level pianist like him get the money to have dinner?

"Ye Lan, how are we going to solve the problem of dinner tonight?"

Pulling a suitcase as high as her waist, Luna asked Ye Lan, who was holding her hand, how to solve the dinner problem tonight.

"Are you stupid? If we don't cook for ourselves, can't we just go to a restaurant and eat?"

Ye Lan was also pulling a suitcase, but this one was naturally much bigger than the one Luna was pulling. In addition to his own things, all the commemorative furniture or toys that Luna's small suitcase couldn't fit into his suitcase were stuffed into his suitcase.

Chapter 29. Piano music for people without talent

"Hey, get out of here."

A rude drunk put his hands on the pianist's thin shoulders and muttered some embarrassing dirty words.

The drunken hand and the rude man's words pulled the untalented pianist out of his small, self-satisfied world.

"Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?" The pianist's hands slowed down a little, and he was still a little confused after being pulled out of his own world. The three major questions in life appeared in his mind, and he had to devote some energy to thinking about this matter.

Who is he? He is a talentless pianist, already 38 years old, who has been playing the piano for 25 years but has never achieved anything.

Where is he? He is in a narrow and shabby underground cheap bar with only 12 square meters. This is where he is performing today. The owner of the bar hired him, a low-level pianist who can only play according to the sheet music, at a lower price than other places. Although the price is very low, being able to play the piano is better than anything else, so the pianist did not refuse the job.

What is he doing now? He is playing the piano, which is his job today, even though he is just playing according to the music sheet and there are only a few people sitting in the bar. But even if his music is only "supposed" to appear in the bar like napkins, he is willing to immerse himself in his own world and play his music for those guests.

However, a rude and drunken customer interrupted his performance and asked him to get out of the way so that he could sit on his piano and play a song for his colleagues.

He doesn't want to give in, and he absolutely cannot give in.

So the pianist did not respond to the customer, his fingers still flying on the keys. Before the end of the music, no musician's hands should leave the instrument, and his body should not leave the seat.

"Hey! Can you fucking hear me? Get out of my way."

The rude customer pushed the pianist again, and this time, his action attracted the bar owner to come over.

The shop owner yelled at the pianist, "Don't you dare cause any trouble for me? If you don't get out of my way, get out of here and never get a job from me again!"

First he asked him not to cause trouble, then he started to shout threats. The owner trampled on the pianist's humble self-esteem and spit on him without a care.

The pianist didn't want to move away, he just sat in the chair, staring at his beloved music score, tapping the black and white keys. He once again felt that his music seemed to flow on the floor.

then……

Snapped! ! !

A powerful slap knocked the pianist off his seat. He fell beside the piano, and the powerful slap made him see stars. In the end, he was unable to finish the piece.

His self-esteem and his persistence turned into nothing, and in the end he could only curl up at the table in the corner like an old dog with a broken back, pressing a wet towel against his cheek, trying to relieve the pain a little.

The drunk sat in the pianist's seat and began to play under the pianist's gaze. He played recklessly and sloppily, his face greasy and he boasted loudly to his friends.

However, this drunkard who came here to play the piano just out of interest played beautiful and touching music.

As he played the piano, all the noise in the bar disappeared, and the whole world was left with only the heavenly music.

Tears flowed uncontrollably from the pianist's eyes. He was completely shocked by the melody that penetrated his soul. These tears flowed not only for the beauty of the music, but also for his pain.

As the music gradually reached its climax, this small bar of 12 square meters became a unique and cozy home that the pianist had never seen before.

This is true talent, the pianist thought to himself.

Everything he had was negated by this heavenly music. Something vaguely echoed in the pianist's heart, and an impulse gripped his heart.

He jumped up from the corner like a madman, ran to the piano, pushed the drunk who was still playing the piano to the ground, and sat back in the seat that should have belonged to him.

"Ah, how can I play better than this talented performer?!" Looking at the music score in front of him, the pianist forgot his own playing technique.

No, not forgetting, but abandoning.

"How can I surpass this talented guy with just the old methods! Oh, I got it!!!" The crazy thought echoed in the pianist's mind.

The next moment, he followed the thought in his mind and took action...

The pianist banged his head frantically against the black and white keys.

The first one, boom;

The second time, snap;

The third time, ding;

The shrill sound of the piano resounded through the air.

The broken black key pierced the pianist's right eye, and something flowed out of his eye socket. Was it tears? Or blood? The pianist rubbed his face on the white keys, and something stained the row of pure white keys red.

He twisted his left arm and pressed it on the keys; he opened his mouth wide and bit the edge of the piano desperately; the pianist's teeth broke in the force and embedded in the piano. He pressed his whole body against the piano and the piano responded with a beautiful melody he had never heard before.

He didn't hate anyone. He didn't hate those who ignored him, the drunk who asked him to give up his seat, the store manager who thought he was worthless, or even his colleagues who climbed up the ladder with money and connections.

The pianist just likes the piano and wants to keep playing it.

But the city won't allow it. In this cold city, there is no room for survival based on passion alone.

When the pianist came to his senses, everyone in the bar was listening to his performance. The flesh-stained piano in front of them made an extremely sweet sound.

Everything in the world was insignificant compared to the joy of this moment. As the pianist played frantically, the piano that should have been broken long ago became larger and larger, and the keys became longer.

In order to keep up with his beloved piano, his arms lengthened. In order to play better, to play with all his might, the pianist's shoulder blades grew a new pair of arms, arms with longer fingers and better performance.

The flesh and blood of the people in the bar formed a grand musical score, filled with bloody notes made of broken flesh. The pianist believed that his own flesh and blood was also integrated into it, becoming part of the music.

"Ah, I was originally trapped underground, but now I have merged with the piano and reached the pinnacle of music!"

The pianist sighed loudly, and the words and music blended like an aria, making all the closers standing in front of him intoxicated.

Chapter 30. Roland's Work

"So what exactly did you ask me to do?"

Standing at the entrance of Alley 25, Roland was talking to his best friend Olivier. Because of Olivier's request, he, the retired former closer, had to come out of retirement to help his good friend complete a task.

The tall black man in front of Roland, Olivier, who was wearing an association uniform, was his partner in Charles' office. They were both among the twelve closers in this legendary office.

At that time, Roland was still a somewhat reckless young man, and Olivier's caution complemented his initiative, so the two became familiar with each other through one commission after another, and gradually became friends for life and death.

In order to help the big guy, Roland even took Angelica's gloves this time. He didn't know if his preparations would come in handy.

“Huh…” Olivier let out a sigh of relief when he saw Roland. He looked at this old friend whom he hadn’t seen for a long time and couldn’t help but say to him, “Thank you so much. Although it was just a brief contact, you came to help without saying a word.”

Since the twelve finishers of Charles's office left one by one, this was the first time Roland met this old friend in person. He stood on tiptoe, hugged Olivier's neck, put his head close to him, and asked him, "Okay, tell me what's the matter quickly. I want to buy some scallion pancakes to take back to accompany my wife."