Chapter 643 — Is the Liquor All Right?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Along the way, An Liwen made idle small talk with Wei Zhao, touching on nothing of substance. Wei Zhao responded with indifference, not much caring either way. The car pulled into the parking lot of the Starlight Grand Hotel, and the two of them got out together. Following An Liwen's lead, they went into a private room somewhat smaller than the one from the day before.
The dishes had clearly been ordered in advance; the liquor was already laid out in the room, and they had barely sat down before the food began arriving.
"Brother Wei Zhao, allow me to drink this first cup in your honor — call it my own penalty for losing my head yesterday." An Liwen raised his glass and drained it in one go.
Wei Zhao did not lift his cup. He waited until An Liwen had finished, then asked, "Brother An, calling me out at this hour — is there something you want?"
"There is, as it happens... but Brother Wei Zhao, let's drink first and talk business later!" As he spoke, An Liwen picked up the bottle, poured Wei Zhao a cup, and filled his own as well. "Come, let's drink!"
Wei Zhao nodded and picked up his cup — but at once the jade pendant on his person reacted and began to sound its warning.
Wei Zhao laughed coldly to himself. As expected, An Liwen was not willing to let it go and had started playing his tricks again. Wei Zhao said nothing of it, though; he still raised his cup, took a tiny sip to taste the liquor, then set the cup back down and began turning over countermeasures in his mind.
What An Liwen had put into the cup was a very common knockout drug; once swallowed, drowsiness would soon set in, followed by unconsciousness.
At the Profound rank, one had not yet reached the level of forcing poison out with internal energy; without silver needles, Wei Zhao had no way to expel the drug from his body either. So he was not foolish enough to drink down a cup of drugged liquor straight.
The drug was utterly ordinary, and the antidote Wei Zhao had compounded himself could neutralize it. When he had run missions in the primeval forests of Africa, those places had teemed with toxic plants and insects with stupefying and hallucinogenic effects; going in without such medicine on hand would have been dangerous indeed. It was only that, back in the city, such situations no longer arose, and Wei Zhao had not carried the antidote with him — a fact he rather regretted now.
"What's the matter, Brother Wei Zhao? Surely you're not going to give me the cold shoulder?" Seeing that Wei Zhao had not drained his cup but set it down, An Liwen grew anxious at once.
"Brother An, I'm feeling a little uneasy. There's nothing wrong with this liquor, is there?" Wei Zhao asked, putting on the appearance of a man ill at ease.
"Ha, how could there be?" An Liwen's heart gave a start, but his face betrayed nothing; he waved a hand. "Didn't I just drink some myself? It all came out of the same bottle — if there were a problem, wouldn't I be in trouble too? Besides, this time I sincerely wanted to invite you out, Brother Wei Zhao, just to talk. Why would I do you harm?"