Book 4 Chapter 30.3 - New Life
In the corner of one of Steel Gate's bustling underground pubs, the radiance in Cirvanas' eyes was lax, his small face red and burning hot as he stared at the glass in front of him. This was the standard cup for drinking strong alcohol, usually filled with half a cup of ice before having something like whiskey or vodka poured in. The alcohol usually only reached two or three centimeters tall, but the glass in front of Cirvanas exceeded the halfway mark, and there wasn't a single chunk of ice inside.
"Come, drink it!" The Madeline on the side was smiling like a devil who had just seized a soul.
Cirvanas' pretty face completely distorted. Wind, beasts, and other things continuously roared in his consciousness, the noise deafening, making it difficult for him to hear anything. In addition, there seemed to be a formless beast wreaking havoc in his brain, tearing at him, the intense pain making Cirvanas feel as if his head was going to split open. Under the dizziness and pain, it was unknown where Cirvanas obtained the confidence and bravery, but all of the despair and fear he felt towards Madeline was swept aside as he muttered indistinctly, "Madeline, I… the day will come… when I will be able to hit you! When that time comes, I will… I will…"
"You will?" Madeline asked with interest, her glass on the table, hands supporting her face as she listened to Cirvanas' bold words.
"I will… I will…" Cirvanas frantically operated his rough line of thought, but his incredibly limited life experiences made his choices for threats extremely limited, and as such, this young man who lacked imagination fiercely spat out the most realistic thought in his mind, "... will first give you a good scolding!"
This unexpected answer left Madeline conflicted as to whether laugh or cry. She only said, "Come, drink this!" After speaking, her left arm reached out, already grabbing Cirvanas' neck. Then, with a bit of force, the youth already involuntarily opened his mouth. Madeline then grabbed the glass of alcohol, pouring all of the alcohol from that glass into Cirvanas' charming little mouth.
When the strong alcohol entered his stomach, Cirvanas' body immediately produced a strong reaction. His face became even more red, and he continuously coughed while supporting himself over the table. However, not a drop of alcohol emerged from his stomach. The youth's stomach was already convulsing about, and everything before his eyes became blurry. Apart from the meaningless screaming in his ears, he couldn't hear anything else. Madeline patted his back a few times out of seemingly good intentions, the vibrating force immediately forcing the alcohol down. Only, like this, the youth's state would be temporarily better, but the torment of the alcohol would drag on for much longer.
There were already more than ten empty bottles of alcohol on the table before the two of them, and it seemed to be continuously increasing. Most of it went into the young man's stomach, while Madeline drank a third of it. With the young man's slender body, even if this alcohol was changed into water, his body still wouldn't be able to hold all of it. However, he drank it all the way until now, yet the young man's outer appearance didn't seem to show any changes. After the strong alcohol entered his body, it would quickly be absorbed by his body, and all of the water content would be eliminated from his body through sweat, while the ethanol itself remained. The ethanol was treated as high energy substance and flowed through the nucleus. Inside the nucleus, the ethanol burned violently, the energy released then absorbed by the nucleus and stored as even higher energy content nutrients. However, during this process, the side effects of the ethanol were fully displayed, which was the commonly known effect of being drunk.
Cirvanas' body was extremely sensitive, so the effects of the alcohol were naturally even stronger. The torment this process brought him was actually beneficial to his control over magic techniques, to the extent where the abilities themselves were slowly growing. Only, using this type of method to increase strength was really too painful, definitely not a choice Cirvanas would have been willing to make.
Madeline downed three whole bottles of strong alcohol herself as well. Unlike Cirvanas, however, she didn't seem to produce any reactions, only, the glint in her eyes became slightly more dangerous.
The corner the two of them occupied was strangely quiet, as if completely unrelated to the rest of this bar's noisiness. Normally, when two pretty girls were drinking alone, there would definitely be others who would hit on them. However, Madeline and Cirvanas were just too pretty, pretty to the extent of exceeding what those from this generation could endure. Those who met the two of them would never forget about them. As it turns out, there were a few old veterans looking for fun, and they obviously recognized Madeline's identity, and as such, all those who wanted to hit on the two of them were properly dealt with by these old veterans, regardless of who they were. Regardless of what era, what society it was, there would always be criminal gangs and other dark organizations. However, similarly regardless of when or where it was, these fellas could not contend against the military police. With the legitimacy of the regime stripped, the latter instead became the most powerful hoodlums.
Almost everyone thought Cirvanas was a hundred percent female when they first saw him. They usually didn't have a second opportunity to see him, and as such, their opinions couldn't be changed. This young man felt incomparably depressed over this, but he couldn't clear this up. Even if Su agreed, the nucleus wouldn't allow him to do this. Based on the nucleus' logic, this would lessen the amount of attention placed on Su, which signified less danger.
The boss of the bar brought over three more bottles of strong alcohol, and according to Madeline's instructions, poured them all into a copper basin. When he saw Madeline smile beautifully, grab Cirvanas' hair, and press his entire head into the bowl, the bar's owner only felt his legs become slightly weak, even though he had already experienced quite a few bloody scenes. He didn't dare watch them too much, lowering his head and withdrawing, leaving this cold and gloomy corner to Madeline.
As a result, the scorchingly hot night gradually passed under pain and chaos. In two hours, the sky should brighten.
The bar that had been noisy for an entire night gradually became quiet again, the important figures who came to drink more or less accomplished their goals. The ones that should leave left, the ones that should stay stayed, and the ones that should be left alone were left alone.