Chapter 543: Jinghong House

The sky began to brighten.

The drunkard who had been lying at the casino entrance all night finally opened his eyes hazily and left, stumbling while carrying his wine bottle. The rickshaw that had waited all night for customers finally picked up its "passenger" and creaked toward the end of the road. Several gamblers walked out of the casino, cursing, and disappeared into the faint light of dawn without looking back.

"Finally, a shift change..."

Inside the rickshaw, a police officer disguised as a gambler finally let down his guard, lying exhaustedly on the seat and yawning as he watched the rising sun.

"Looking at those dice and cards every night has made my eyes go blurry."

"Be content. At least you were inside the casino. I was out on the road blowing in the cold wind all night!" the officer pulling the rickshaw snorted coldly.

"Sigh, when will this ever end..."

The officer pulling the rickshaw was silent for a long time before suddenly asking, "Do you think there are really Twilight Society people in the casino?"

"How would I know? Anyway, the trail ended on this street. After the higher-ups sent people to search, they said this casino might be problematic."

"What's the problem?"

"It seems the origin is questionable. This casino changed hands half a year ago, and it was from that time on that rumors of Twilight Society activities started appearing in the city... And do you know who bought this place from the Beidou Consortium back then?"

"Who?"

"An envoy of the Golden Society!"

"Ah? You mean the people above suspect the Golden Society envoy is a member of the Twilight Society?"

"I reckon they’ve been suspicious for a long time. Otherwise, how could there be so many Eighth-Order experts in the world? They just aren't sure yet. Being careful is never a mistake... On the contrary, Mu Chunsheng, the chairman of the Beidou Consortium, after being approached by those big shots, immediately drew a line between himself and the Golden Society envoy, saying the envoy had forced him to sell these properties at the time, and now he’s willing to gift these properties to [Floating Life Painting] as a gesture of goodwill..."

"Heh heh heh, that old fox, he changes his face really fast... Also, a Golden Society envoy who doesn't know when he'll return—how could he be more important than the big shots of [Floating Life Painting]? In any case, this is the Red Dust Realm."

The officer pulling the rickshaw seemed to know the faces of these consortiums well and sneered repeatedly.

"Having said that, we’ve been watching the casino for so long, and there’s still no movement. We haven't seen any strange people coming or going... Could their judgment be wrong?"

"Hard to say. Anyway, I feel like they aren't sure themselves. Otherwise, why haven't they taken action by now?"

"In any case, let's keep watching... If this is really their stronghold, they’ll eventually slip up. It just depends on who loses their patience first."

“……”

As they moved away, a ray of morning sun swept across the dim street, and the ancient, desolate opera house was bathed in pale gold. At this moment, a figure walked slowly out from behind the railing on the second floor.

Chen Ling yawned as if he had just woken up, squinting his eyes as he scanned the area below.

Although the police officers who had been monitoring the previous night were leaving one after another, new ones were constantly filling in. Chen Ling stood on the second floor for a while and discovered several new surveillance points. Their vigilance toward the casino hadn't relaxed in the slightest because of the daylight.

Chen Ling didn't linger behind the railing; he just blew in the morning wind for a while before turning to leave.

The area was full of undercover police officers. If he were to peer out so openly for too long, they would eventually become suspicious. Two or three minutes was enough for Chen Ling.

Chen Ling walked down the stairs and saw Kong Baosheng diligently sweeping the first-floor floor with a broom. Every visible spot was spotless. Looking at it, he must have started cleaning at three or four in the morning.

Hearing Chen Ling come downstairs, Kong Baosheng stopped what he was doing and asked respectfully:

"Mr. Lin, would you like breakfast?"

Chen Ling’s eyebrows raised slightly. After he gave a hum, Kong Baosheng put down the broom and turned to get busy in the kitchen.

A few minutes later, a bowl of steaming osmanthus and black rice porridge was placed in front of Chen Ling. Golden osmanthus petals floated on the black-purple rice porridge. It was neither thick nor thin, and a gentle stir released a faint, fragrant aroma.

"Did you cook this?" Chen Ling was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, I started cooking it after I got up this morning. I kept it warm in the pot, just waiting for you to wake up." Kong Baosheng scratched his head. "I didn't know your taste, so I added a little extra sugar when I cooked it... Try it first."

Chen Ling picked up a spoon and took a sip. The first thing that hit his palate was the fragrance of osmanthus, followed by sweetness. Unlike the Aurora Realm, where people liked savory food, the Red Dust Realm seemed to prefer sweet flavors. The streets were full of all kinds of dessert shops and snack stalls. If this were Aurora City, seeing a cake shop or someone selling candied haws on the street would be a rarity.

Fortunately, Chen Ling didn't resist sweet things and even thought the taste of this porridge was quite good. He nodded and said:

"You have a good touch."

Hearing this, the tense little face of Kong Baosheng finally relaxed, and a smile appeared.

Since last night, Kong Baosheng had been filled with anxiety and worry, fearing he wouldn't be able to serve this new Mr. Lin well. After all, he had accepted one hundred thousand in banknotes. If he didn't satisfy Mr. Lin in the end, not to mention whether the other party would make him return the money, Kong Baosheng himself wouldn't be able to get over it.

Now it seemed that this Mr. Lin wasn't hard to get along with, which made Kong Baosheng feel a bit happy. He took the opportunity to ask:

"Sir, is there anything you'd like for lunch?"

"You decide."

Chen Ling lowered his head to continue drinking the porridge, and Kong Baosheng continued to tidy up the things in the opera house. This opera house had been abandoned for a long time, so it didn't matter if some things weren't cleaned up, but now that the opera house had a new owner, it had to be reopened, and everything that should be there had to be there.

Kong Baosheng was rummaging through a pile of things when he dug out a dusty plaque from the very bottom. Only then did he think of something and turned to ask:

"Mr. Lin, have you decided on the name for the opera house?"

"Name?"

Chen Ling was stunned for a moment. Only then did he remember that an opera house needed a sign. Although he didn't buy the opera house with the intention of actually running it, if he didn't do anything for a long time after buying it and just let it stay abandoned, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

Since he had to disguise it, he had to make it look like one... Even if no one came to listen to the opera, the superficial work had to be done.

Chen Ling couldn't be bothered to think of a name and asked directly:

"What was this opera house called before?"

Kong Baosheng brushed the dust off the plaque and held it up with effort, facing Chen Ling. Several elegant, gilded characters full of ancient charm were engraved on it.

"Jinghong." Kong Baosheng said. "Before, this place was called Jinghong House."

Chen Ling waved his hand indifferently.

"Then keep it."