"What's going on?"
Wang Yu looked at the approaching figure. It was a man about forty years old, with thick hair, a burly physique, and a face covered in tangled beard and a full beard. He was clearly a foreigner.
Someone from the Northern Ice Bear Nation? With that distinctive appearance, even an idiot could tell.
He looked tipsy, holding a bottle of Vot-
Hmm? Cough cough, Erguotou?
"It stinks!" Wu Lingling covered her nose in disgust beside him.
"Don't talk nonsense."
Wang Yu took her hand, pulled her behind him, and faced the man blocking their path. The pungent smell of alcohol mixed with a strong body odor was indeed quite invigorating, giving one a sense of being on edge.
"Excuse me, sir, do you need something?" Wang Yu asked the middle-aged man. Then he immediately remembered that the man was from the Ice Bear Nation and wouldn't understand him.
He only knew "Ula" and "Tovarishch" in their language, nothing else. He was about to switch to English to ask again.
But before he could speak, the middle-aged man opened his mouth.
"Can you buy my equipment?"
The accent was standard Mandarin, though it was heavily laced with alcohol fumes, making it quite overpowering.
"Oh dear, Andrei, what are you doing here? Don't bother people again!"
A staff member from the guesthouse hurried over, grabbing the middle-aged man, whose name was indeed Andrei, and looked displeased.
"My... my designs and equipment... no one here understands. My great homeland! I..."
Andrei said, slurring his words, and then, likely due to the alcohol, he collapsed onto the floor in the corridor and soon began snoring loudly.
"I'm so sorry, guests. Please excuse him. He's always like this. You can just ignore him."
The staff member, looking unperturbed, struggled to drag him aside to clear the path, then explained to Wang Yu.
"Excuse me, sister, what's his situation?"
Wang Yu asked the staff member. Andrei was tall and strong, easily over 180 pounds. It took considerable strength for the staff member to drag him away.
"Don't mention it. This guy was sent by the Ice Bear Nation to help with our technology back then. He was working at Provincial Institute 367, in charge of a major project." The staff member, who seemed to enjoy talking, launched into a lengthy explanation.
Hearing this, Wang Yu nodded. The Ice Bear Nation had indeed sent many experts and technicians for technical support.
But that was some years ago. Their Ice Bear Nation was no longer what it used to be and was now in an economic mire, struggling to save itself.
"Later, the Ice Bear Nation recalled all their experts. It's said he had bad character and committed offenses back home, so he didn't dare return and has been staying here, refusing to leave."
The staff member chattered on, her spittle flying. It seemed this wasn't the first time she had told this story.
"Then the project at Provincial Institute 367 failed and was halted. It was even disbanded last year, so there was no longer any place for him.
And he was always getting drunk... He'd caused trouble more than once. No factory was willing to take him.
So, the higher-ups decided to just keep him, giving him a monthly allowance and arranging for him to stay at this guesthouse.
After all, he did provide a lot of help back then. We can't be ungrateful and kick him out after he's served his purpose, so that's how it is."
As she spoke, the staff member gestured with her chin towards the sleeping Andrei. "Every time he gets his allowance, he spends it all on alcohol and gets dead drunk. Out of thirty days a month, he's drunk for at least twenty-five."
"What about the other five days?" Wu Lingling curiously interjected.
"The other five days are when he runs out of money for alcohol and goes around begging for meals!"
The staff member scoffed. "All the other people from the Ice Bear Nation are generous, righteous, and hospitable. Only this guy is like this, truly disgracing his own people."
"So that's how it is. Of course, there are good and bad people everywhere. Besides, he might not be a bad person, just likes to drink a bit," Wang Yu said with a nod and a smile.
"Hmph, I wish it were that simple."
The staff member pouted and pointed at Andrei. "The problem is, this guy is constantly trying to sell his so-called technology and production equipment everywhere."
"At first, some people were fooled by his title as an Ice Bear Nation expert and believed him, buying his technology, but it all ended in various malfunctions and failures.
As for his so-called equipment, he claims it's entrusted to him by a major factory in his country, but the equipment is still in the Ice Bear Nation. He needs payment and advance shipping fees before it can be sent over.
It's laughable. Who doesn't know this guy couldn't make it back home and is just mooching off us here? Where is this entrustment coming from? Besides, who would be blind enough to entrust him with anything?"
The staff member finished her barrage of words without even taking a breath, her lung capacity quite astonishing.
Wang Yu pondered silently for a moment, then looked at Andrei, curled up in the corner of the corridor, snoring thunderously. His eyes held a thoughtful expression.
"Alright, guests, don't let him hold you up. Everyone here knows him, and it's been this way for a long time. Just pretend you don't see him and avoid the sight."
The staff member then said to Wang Yu and Wu Lingling, whom she had been instructed to treat with special care, "If you have any needs, just tell me directly, and I'll arrange them promptly. Also, I'll have hot water sent to your room doors later. Just open them and take it..."
After a series of warm instructions, the staff member was about to lead Wang Yu and Wu Lingling to their respective rooms.
However, as Wang Yu passed by Andrei, he paused slightly. His gaze fell upon him.
From the pocket of the man's dirty and worn work uniform, a notebook with dog-eared corners was peeking out.
Wang Yu bent down, picked up the notebook, and gently flipped through it.
On the rough, yellowed pages, various formulas and parameters were densely written in ink.
"Hmm? Interesting," Wang Yu's eyebrows slightly rose.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing still standing there?"
Wu Lingling, who had walked further ahead, turned back to urge Wang Yu on.
"Oh, coming right up." Smiling, Wang Yu took out one of the two pens clipped to his chest pocket. After a moment of thought, he began writing rapidly on the blank page at the end of the notebook.
Wang Yu wrote quickly, soon filling half a page. Then, with a slight smile, he carefully put the pen and notebook back, and stood up to leave.
After Wang Yu had left, quite some time passed before Andrei suddenly rolled over and jolted awake.
He rubbed his eyes in a daze and instinctively tried to get up.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he felt for the notebook on his person and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Ugh, drank too much again... Good thing this notebook wasn't lost, really... Wait!"
Andrei's eyes suddenly widened, staring at the last page of the notebook with disbelief.
Then his hands began to tremble, followed by a deafening roar that echoed throughout the guesthouse.
"Who? Who changed my formula!"