After dinner.

A group of people who had been making noise all day were sent to take a shower. Zhao Muchi looked at Heitao's leaving back and slowly shifted his gaze to Bai Liu's face.

Bai Liu had finished washing. This person seemed to be very particular about keeping himself clean. He went to take a shower right after coming down from the volleyball court. Now he was leaning on the sofa in the living room in loose pajamas, casually flipping through a book, with water droplets hanging from the ends of his hair.

"If you keep looking at me like that." Bai Liu closed the book and looked at Zhao Muchi beside him, "When Heitao comes out, I'll challenge you to a duel."

Zhao Muchi looked at the book that Bai Liu was reading - "Salome". He retracted his gaze, smiled nonchalantly and said, "I have duelled with him, although I lost."

"Do you have something to tell me?" Bai Liu asked calmly.

"Can I go out and talk to you alone?" Zhao Muchi looked at Bai Liu.

Bai Liu asked, "What are you talking about?"

Zhao Muchi lowered his eyes: "Salome?"

Bai Liu changed back into his white shirt and suit pants, and after getting dressed formally, he went out with Zhao Muchi, and the two of them strolled quietly along the coastline.

The waves gently hit the beach. The sun has not yet completely set. Only a ray of sunset can be seen on the horizon. The orange light blends with the approaching night, reflecting on the surging waves, and the sea breeze blows softly and warmly.

Bai Liu wore leather shoes, but Zhao Muchi was barefoot. The two walked on the beach not too close to each other, leaving behind a trail of shoe prints and a trail of footprints.

"You deliberately put the book "Salome" on the sofa so that I could read it, right?" Bai Liu brought up the topic in a calm tone.

Zhao Muchi replied with a frown: "Did I do it very obviously?"

"Not obvious." Bai Liu raised her eyes and looked at him, "but your reaction afterwards was obvious. You kept looking at me, waiting for my reaction after reading the book."

"So what do you think?" Zhao Muchi turned around and looked at Bai Liu intently. He put his hands behind his back, walked backwards, and asked with a lazy smile, "What kind of story do you think Salome is?"

"What do you think?" Bai Liu asked calmly. His dark pupils reflected the weak sunlight, which made Zhao Muchi dazed for a moment. "Do you like this story?"

He had watched her mother's videotape so many times that he knew the story so well that when Bai Liu asked him about it, he was too familiar with it to answer his specific feelings.

Yes, what did he think of Salome?

How did he feel when he heard this story for the first time?

It has been almost twenty years since he first heard this story. It seems that when he was five or six years old, she was at the head of his bed, holding him tenderly, and telling him this somewhat bizarre story about the beautiful and crazy princess - Salome.

"A long time ago, there was a beautiful but unfree princess. She was so beautiful that everyone pursued her. Even her stepfather, the king at the time, coveted her beauty."

"The princess hated this atmosphere. She had never seen a man who didn't love his appearance. Until one day, a man known as a saint, John, was captured by the king and brought into the palace. It was said that he was the wisest saint in the world and could see through everything. Even the king didn't dare to look him in the eye and could only imprison him at the bottom of a well, fearing that he would see the reflection of his own filthy soul there."

"Princess Salome was so curious about John that she begged the guards to let her see him inside the well."

"The guard was mesmerized by her moonlight-like beauty and agreed to her request, allowing her to see John in the well."

"Salome took one look at John and fell in love with him."

The young boy could not understand such an inexplicable feeling, and frowned and asked, "Why did the princess fall in love with John at just one glance?"

"She is a princess, and so many men like her. Why would she like a prisoner locked in a well?"

She stroked his head with amusement, lowered her eyelids, and sighed as she told the story: "This is where the story ends."

"Because only John told the princess that the king was wrong, that he was a licentious king, that he should not have had incestuous desires for the princess and her mother, and that he deserved to go to hell."

"Salome fell in love with John. She expressed her love to him again and again, but John rejected her every time. Finally, the princess vowed to get John's kiss at all costs. She begged the king, her stepfather, to let John kiss her."

"And the king said, if you dance for me, even if John disagrees, I will cut off John's head and give it to you so that you can kiss him."

"The king asked Salome, beautiful princess, will you dance for me?"

"The princess said, I will dance the most beautiful dance in the world for you, and I will also be kissed by the most holy person in the world."

"She danced the Dance of the Seven Veils for the king, which was so beautiful that the king was moved and cut off John's head. The princess held up the head and kissed the dead saint in ecstasy."

"But I still don't understand." He frowned and analyzed seriously with his hands in his pockets, "Salome is beautiful and a princess, why would she like John, and why doesn't John like her!"

"Maybe it's because John doesn't like her that she likes John." Her tone contained many complicated emotions that he didn't understand. "...Maybe all the princess wants is someone who just watches her dance but doesn't want to kiss her."

At that time he could not understand what she meant.

And at this moment, in the sea breeze and waves, Zhao Muchi looked at Bai Liu looking at him, her eyes so calm without a trace of ripples. He suddenly understood the meaning of these words, and also understood why Bai Liu said that day that he couldn't kiss her.

——Because what he wanted... was never Bai Liu’s love or kiss.

Just a spectator who didn't want to kiss him.

"I don't like the ending of Salome." Zhao Muchi stopped walking, the sunset reflected in his purple eyes, and his tone was light, like a breeze, "She must have regretted it after getting that kiss."

"Really?" Bai Liu did not comment. "Your opinion on this story is very interesting."

"Why do you think Salome regretted it?"

Bai Liu raised her eyes, her eyes calm and collected: "Because you think that if you kiss me on that day, you will regret it, right?"

Zhao Muchi fell silent, then he quickly turned his face away and smiled: "...Bai Liu, aren't people in your country very reserved when speaking? People as straightforward as you probably won't be liked by others, right?"

"You can just say that I'm annoying, I don't mind." Bai Liu smiled and spread his hands, "But what you said is true, I'm really not likable."

"I'm the opposite of you. I'm very likable. Wherever I go, people will come to confess their love to me." Zhao Muchi looked at Bai Liu with a smile and said teasingly, "I'm a likable person, but I like you, who is not likable, and I'm rejected by you. You really don't know what's good for you."

"Many people have commented on me in this way." Bai Liu smiled, "Maybe this is indeed part of my personality trait."

"But I don't hate that about myself."

Zhao Muchi looked toward the sea and took a deep breath: "Do you... like watching dance?"

"I can't appreciate it." Bai Liu answered honestly.

Zhao Muchi: "...At this moment, I still hope you can speak more tactfully."

"Okay, can I answer again?" Bai Liu corrected, "I really don't appreciate dance as an art form."

"But if you are willing." Bai Liu's brows were calm, and he smiled friendly and gentle, "I think you might be able to refresh my cognition and let me know again that it was my shallow vision——"

“——Dance turns out to be such a beautiful art form.”

Zhao Muchi stared at Bai Liu for a while, then smiled as if sighing: "Has anyone ever told you that you are a bad man who is very good at coaxing people?"

"Really?" Bai Liu smiled nonchalantly, "You're the only one who has said that so far."

"You mean you only coaxed me?" Zhao Muchi lowered his eyelids and chuckled, "Stop it, I've been with many men, I don't fall for this."

Under the setting sun, Zhao Muchi, wearing plain clothes, danced the Seven-Layer Veil Dance barefoot for Bai Liu. As time passed, the afterglow of the setting sun was like a layer of veil falling on Zhao Muchi's body, which faded away layer by layer, finally revealing his original appearance. He raised his eyes and looked at Bai Liu opposite him.

Bai Liu clapped his hands quickly as if he had received an order.

Zhao Muchi sighed: "Your eyes tell me that you don't understand."

"Yes, I may not have much artistic talent." Bai Liu admitted frankly, but soon he smiled and said, "But it's beautiful."

"You made me feel that dance, something whose value I cannot yet discover, still has its meaning in this world."

“Although I may not understand the meaning of this.”

"This is the highest compliment to dance." Zhao Muchi stepped back on one foot, lifted the hem of his dress modestly, bowed slightly, and made a gesture of thanks, "Thank you for watching."

Bai Liu smiled: "My honor."

One day later, in the game, the Wandering Circus Guild.

Wang Shun was carrying a large pile of documents and running to the conference room in a panic. He almost fell down. Fortunately, he met Tang Erda halfway through the run and he helped him carry some of the documents.

"Luckily I met you." Wang Shun breathed a sigh of relief.

Tang Erda asked in confusion: "Why are there so many paper documents? Weren't they all electronic before?"

"It's a long story." Wang Shun smiled bitterly and pushed open the door of the conference room. "It has something to do with our next opponent. Let's talk about it inside."

The moment the door to the conference room was pushed open, Wang Shun took a deep breath and announced, "Everyone, our next opponent has come out."

"——It's the Golden Dawn."