The Highest Bounty

Chapter 80: The Mysterious Old Man

When Liliath pushed open the door to the loud tavern, she frowned slightly. The rowdiness in the tavern, combined with the smell of sweat, alcohol, and tobacco that filled the air, made her a little uncomfortable.

However, it was not her first time visiting the tavern. She walked up to the bar with familiarity and climbed up a bar stool.

Her looks attracted the attention of many people. After all, she was only 14 years old. She still resembled a tween girl with her tiny and skinny body.

When the crowd saw her climbing up the barstool, a few laughs were heard from them.

Liliath turned a deaf ear because she did not want to cause trouble. She followed exactly what Gu Ding had told her to do. The purpose of her going to the tavern was to get some information. She knocked on the bar counter but the bartender only looked at her. “Do you want some juice or milk?”

“A glass of Sapphire, thanks.” Liliath grinned slightly.

” Sapphire?” The bartender could not help but laugh. “Little lady, do you know how much a glass of Sapphire is?”

“Thirty-six thousand Star Credits. Isn’t that the usual price in all taverns? Are you worried that I’m unable to afford it?” Liliath frowned.

“Give this little lady a glass of Sapphire, I’ll pay for it,” shouted a burly, gray-haired old man at the bartender. The man had suddenly appeared beside Liliath out of nowhere.

The old man had a pair of deep-set blue eyes, strong facial features, and a scar on his right chin. Nevertheless, most people who saw his eyes would inadvertently forget about his handsome looks as well as the prominent scar on his chin.

The bartender was shocked by the old man’s appearance, and it was evident that the bartender had been stunned by his aura. After half a second, the bartender managed to say, “But... she’s still a minor.”

“A minor? Did your tavern just open today? Don’t you know that some people here started drinking barrels of rum from the age of three?” The old man’s reply aroused the interest of many Interstellar Pirates in the tavern.

“Exactly! I was able to drink three barrels in one go when I was eight!”

“I was able to drink five barrels when I was five...”

“Yeah right. Who was it that stripped off their clothes and started dancing on top of the bar after less than a barrel just a few days ago...”

Although the federal law specified that minors under the age of sixteen could not consume alcohol, only larger taverns in the city center adhered to the rule. The tavern near the starport usually only got Interstellar Pirates as customers. Therefore, the tavern would not be able to get any customers if they followed the rules strictly.

The bartender no longer dared to refute, so he picked up some ingredients and began mixing.

The old man nodded at Liliath with a smile and proceeded to sit beside her without a word. He hooked his finger and a bottle of aged liquor began to hover slowly from the wine cabinet before landing firmly on the bar counter in front of him. Then, he lifted his finger again and a clean glass hovered over before landing beside the bottle. Without the man moving, the liquor bottle’s cork unscrewed itself and liquor was poured into the transparent glass. After a few seconds, the bottle stopped pouring right before the glass began to overflow; not a drop was wasted.

Everyone in the tavern was stunned when it happened. Even Liliath was a little shocked.

“A psychokinesis powerhouse!” Liliath said to herself.

The ability to use psychokineses was acquired when one’s spirit strength had evolved to a certain extent. If one wished to evolve the ability, the minimum number of spirit strength points they had to have was ten thousand. Even a martial arts practitioner who specialized in spirit strength was required to evolve into a Rank 8 Gene Body before their spirit strength count could exceed ten thousand points. The old man right in front of their eyes was undoubtedly a terrific powerhouse.

After Liliath’s Sapphire was made, she looked at the azure liquid in her glass. She stirred her glass a couple of times and observed it’s color.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be an expert at such a young age.” The old man smiled when he saw how she was acting.

“I know a thing or two.” Liliath felt that the old man was not malicious, so she stuck her tongue out in embarrassment.

The old man picked up his glass, “Come and drink one with this old man.”

Liliath looked at his glass that was about to spill over. A mischievous thought appeared in her mind, and she decided to clink the man’s glass with force.

However, she had not expected the liquor in the man’s glass to move as if the mouth of the glass was wrapped around with invisible energy; it made the liquor impossible to spill.

When the old man noticed what Liliath’s intentions were, he only smiled faintly. He raised another toast to Liliath again as he said, “I hope that we’ll all be able to leave this planet safely.”

After the old man toasted, he gulped the glass of liquor down in one go and knocked on the bar counter. “Bill, please!”

When he paid the bill, that was when the crowd noticed that he did not have an intelligent wristwatch. Instead, he had a black ring on his left hand’s ring finger; it was an intelligent ring. The man stretched out his ring in front of the cash register, and the cash register soon showed a prompt that said the payment was successful.

“Your drink has already been paid for.” The old man winked at Liliath and disappeared the next moment. It was as if he had never been there.

Liliath was stunned. Even with her Pupillary Abilities, she was unable to capture the movements of the old man. It was as if he had disappeared out of thin air.

The people in the tavern started talking.

“Who was that old man just now?”

“That guy must have a Gene Body of at least Rank 8 or above.”

“He appeared and disappeared without a trace. Is that some kind of a special ability?”

Liliath did not care too much about the crowd’s discussion. She was more concerned about the last thing the old man had said – He hoped that all of them would be able to leave the planet safely. That sentence clearly contained a deeper meaning. The old man probably knew what was happening on the planet. In spite of that, Liliath knew that she probably would not have gotten an answer even if she had asked him about it.

“Lili,” a familiar voice called out to her.

Gu Ding reached out and waved his hand in front of Liliath’s eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about some stuff.” Liliath shook her head. The old man was still on her mind. After having some thoughts about it, she decided to tell Gu Ding about what had happened.

When Gu Ding heard the story, he grinned. “It sounds like that mister is a powerful man. It’s too bad that we didn’t get to cross paths.”

“He seems to know what’s happening on this planet. Unfortunately, I was unable to ask him about it. Regardless, I’m not sure if he would’ve answered me even if I had asked him.”

“It doesn’t matter, we’ll find out by ourselves. Since we’re stuck here and have all this time on our hands.” It did not seem to bother Gu Ding too much.

“Have you bought everything?” Liliath asked.

“Yup, I got all of them. But I noticed that a guy was following me along the way. I guessed that it was probably one of Senior’s men, so I ignored him.”

“Let’s get back to the ship, then. It’s getting late.” Liliath put the glass that she had only taken a sip from on the counter.

“We’re not rushing, finish it!” Gu Ding looked at the azure-colored liquid in Liliath’s glass. He knew how much the drink was worth and it would be a waste to not drink it. He knocked on the bar counter and shouted at the bartender, “Bring me a glass of milk!”