Chapter 64: An Ordinary Day as a Bartender

Once someone entered the Tower as a player, they had to eat every hour. Otherwise, their Mental Immunity Value would drop.

If Yan Jing wanted to pour all his energy into the Stage A mission, his best bet was to stockpile food right now.

"Boss, when do we start working?"

He looked at the waitress beside him.

"Work..."

The waitress rolled her eyes. "There's no rush to work."

She nudged Yan Jing's arm with a grin.

"Xiao Yi... can your boss ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

Yan Jing turned around and began taking inventory of the bottles in the liquor cabinet. He hadn't heard of most of them, but that wasn't a big deal. He just needed to taste them one by one later.

Bartending was, in essence, a combination of flavors.

In his previous world, Yan Jing's physical senses had been far inferior to his current ones, yet he had still managed to occasionally mix slightly innovative drinks that stunned his managers. Doing so now would be effortless.

Besides, earning points didn't actually rely on bartending.

While Yan Jing's mind raced, the waitress asked with a grin, "So, Xiao Yi... do you have any extra points on you?"

As soon as she spoke, the continuous crunching from the corner stopped.

The young boy turned his head.

Only then did Yan Jing notice that the boy's face featured just a single eye and a massive mouth. Furthermore... not a shred of flesh remained on his right hand. It was nothing but stark, white bone.

He had gnawed it clean himself.

So the crunching noises from earlier hadn't been him playing an instrument at all.

"Points?"

Yan Jing shook his head. "I'm fresh out. Isn't that why I'm here to earn some?"

Hearing that Yan Jing had no points, the waitress instantly deflated, and the crunching from the corner resumed.

"Boss, aside from my fixed daily wage, do I get any commission?"

"For every drink you sell, you get a cut based on an exchange rate of 500 Eerie Coins to 1 point."

The thoroughly bored waitress said this as she sat back down at her table. "You can set the names and prices of the drinks yourself on the Points Board."

"Do you have a pen and paper?"

Yan Jing asked.

"In the drawer. Dig around for them yourself. Have fun, Mr. Tourist."

With that, the waitress grabbed a nearby chair, smashed it brutally against her own head, and went back to "sleep."

Yan Jing rummaged through the drawer for quite a while before finally finding a pen and some paper, along with a roll of yellowing tape.

After a moment of thought, he wrote a line of text on several sheets of paper and taped them evenly across the glass wall outside.

For the rest of the time, even with no customers coming in, he didn't sit idle.

First, he tasted all the liquors in the cabinet, then he made a bunch of cards. Draping his coat over his head, he stepped out into the corridor to hand them out.

Whenever he saw someone, he shoved a card into their hands.

Under this high-frequency advertising blitz, he finally welcomed his first customer.

"Are you saying that as long as my tier is below the Second Tier, one glass of your liquor will make me pass out?"

The speaker was a man in a suit. He looked no different from a human in the Surface World, except for his glassy eyes, which seemed entirely unable to focus.

"Honesty is a fine virtue. I hope you aren't lying."

"I never lie."

Yan Jing nodded.

The man stared at the coat-draped Yan Jing with his unfocused eyes for a long time before nodding.

"You really aren't lying. Pour me a glass, then."

Yan Jing had set the price at 6,000 Eerie Coins a glass. This was essentially seven or eight times what other bars charged, but the man paid straight away.

With 12 points credited to his account, Yan Jing gave a nod and turned to grab a bottle from behind him.

The only thing worth celebrating was that the waitress and the boy hadn't eaten his bartending ingredients out of hunger.

There had to be some rule he didn't know about yet that was restricting their behavior.

Chill the glass, add the liquor, lemon juice, and sugar, shake, hand-carve a cube of ice, slowly strain the liquid into the glass, and finally garnish with a lemon peel.

An Inner World special-edition Whiskey Sour was ready.

Placing the drink in front of the man, Yan Jing gestured for him to go ahead.

The man stared suspiciously at the unfamiliar cocktail for a few seconds before slowly picking up the glass and bringing it to his lips.

The cool, velvety liquid immediately widened his eyes. A rich fragrance wafted from the drink, and its tartness was perfect for the height of summer.

The man took a few more sips and said seriously, "The liquor is good, but what you said earlier—"

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt his surroundings twist and distort.

The table in front of him seemed to grow taller, the bottles in the cabinet began to dance one by one, and the liquor-filled glass warped as it leaned toward him.

"Thump!"

With a muffled thud, the man's vision went black in his dizzy state. He lost consciousness completely and collapsed onto the table.

Yan Jing grabbed a towel from the bar to wipe his hands, then skillfully began cleaning up the area.

In the corner, the crunching stopped.

Yan Jing glanced over and said casually, "Do you want a glass too?"

"Crunch, crunch—"

The sound started up again.

Just as Yan Jing was wiping down the table, a chime rang out from the wind chimes above the door.

An Inner World resident in a button-down shirt stood in the doorway, looking hesitant.

"Hello. I wanted to ask about this flyer on the door... is it real?"

"Of course."

Yan Jing smiled.

He gestured with his eyes toward the waitress and the man in the suit slumped over the tables.

"Both of them fell asleep after drinking our liquor."

"If you're looking to numb yourself, our newly launched drink is definitely your best choice."

"Then... pour me a glass..."

The resident stepped inside.

"One moment."

The customer failed to notice that under the dim lights, Yan Jing's smile seemed to slowly twist into something warped.

In the corner, the crunching gave a noticeable shudder.

...

Not long after, the man in the suit was the first to wake up.

Realizing what had happened, he glared furiously at Yan Jing.

"You..."

But Yan Jing merely smiled and said, "Sir, just as the flyer stated, every word I said was true. What's more, I haven't violated any employee rules."

"If you're dissatisfied with my service, you are welcome to file a complaint with the Customer Service Department."

"Of course, if you choose not to complain, I can offer you a 90 percent discount on another glass, complete with a complimentary photograph."

With that, Yan Jing handed the man a photo of him passed out.

Staring at the photo, the man's fury instantly cooled, and he sat back down at his table.

He cleared his throat twice.

"Pour me another one."

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he held up a finger.

"No need to add the 'pass out' effect to this one."

"Understood."

Yan Jing smiled and nodded. "If you have any 'close' friends, feel free to introduce them to the bar. I guarantee my service will leave you thoroughly satisfied."

...

...

Grumble... grumble...

The waitress's stomach growled, rousing her from her passed-out stupor.

"Must be mealtime."

She opened her eyes and glanced around. Then, her pupils violently contracted.

What... what the hell was this?

Slumped across every single table was an unconscious figure. In the corner, the boy was trying his hardest to play a guitar. And behind the bar counter, Yan Jing, head still draped in a coat, was counting a mountainous pile of Eerie Coins.

Seeing the woman wake up, Yan Jing smiled in greeting.

"You're awake, Boss."

The woman stared in stunned silence for a long time. Finally, reaching a conclusion, the corners of her lips curled up.

"Heh, a dream within a dream? Interesting."