Chapter 54 My World (Part 5)

In the market north of Bolite, there is a house that used to be a factory warehouse. After the heart of the gear was stolen from the steam nation, the factories closed down one after another, and the warehouse became a homeless dwelling.

Groups of homeless people work as dockworkers during the day and come here to sleep at night; the warehouse has become their best haven.

As a bard who loves to explore the world on foot, Number Thirty-Three has a habit of sharing a room with homeless people, and many of his stories are from the homeless.

At this moment, he is telling everyone the legendary story of the pixel world.

"That evil dragon was defeated by the hero, who did not want to leave his name. Perhaps he came to this world to know something, or to search for something."

"What is it looking for?" asked a ragged child.

Number Thirty-Three glanced at Billis, the hero who was treated as a follower wherever he went, who was sleeping on a pushbox.

"To find a way to save the world," he concluded.

After hearing the story, the old warehouse became empty. Apart from those who went out to work, only a few ragged people were left sleeping in the shady corner.

A few children were chasing each other outside. One of the boys said, "I think we're going to war with the Empire tonight!"

Another child found a strange antenna in the garbage heap, connected it to a small, upside-down box with two long steam pipes, and after making the box, he hid inside and wriggled around like a wildcat.

"See that? This is my ultimate weapon for dealing with pirates!"

"But we're not fighting pirates."

"Whether they are pirates or empires, whoever steals the Heart of the Gear, we will fight them!"

The boy rushed up to him, and just as he raised his fist to punch him, a part popped out of the box.

"We won!" the boy shouted, kicking the parts back at him.

The part hit a spur gear that had lost tooth height, bounced sideways, and rolled to the foot of number thirty-three.

This is a cone composed of spur gears and helical gears, with a glass cerebellum inexplicably suspended at the top of the cone.

bag'.

A living part!

The glass 'little head' looked curiously at number thirty-three. The bard tapped the 'little head' with his finger, and it would shrink into a...

A watermelon ball.

Number 33 also discovered that this part has a very strong levitation function and can levitate on any object.

"Give it to me!" The boy snatched the part back from the bard.

Just as the boy was about to kick the part out like a soccer ball, number 33 hurriedly stopped him: "Wait! Wait! It's alive!"

The boy looked at the bard with the eyes of someone looking at a caveman: "Of course I know it's alive, but it certainly won't live past tonight."

"Why?"

"Huh? You're not from around here?"

"no."

"Then you must have never heard of the Heart of the Gear, right? The Heart of the Gear creates parts from the steam world. Look, these little moving things. Without the Heart of the Gear, these little things would only live for one night at most."

"I heard it was stolen."

"Yes! Without the Heart of the Gear, this country will lose all its steam power and perish. Watch me take it back!" The boy turned around and pretended to throw the parts at the enemy, as if they were cannonballs.

The parts hit the box, making a sound like they were being pulled by a steel cable.

Pretending to be asleep, Billy pretended to wake up, having heard the entire conversation clearly.

“You know what? Whenever I hear that someone wants to destroy the world, I immediately think of hackers,” Billis said to the bard.

"Ah, hero, did we wake you up?"

"Is it possible that I wasn't asleep at all?"

"You heard everything?"

"Someone wants to start a war. That's all I have to say. Let's go."

Where to?

"Lure the pirates out, then pry them open."

"We'll do whatever you say, Hero, but what should we do?"

"I have a good idea."

To the east of Bolit is an old cable-stayed bridge, which is crossed by many tourists from neighboring countries every day. From these tourists, Biris learned that the two countries are only separated by two rivers. There is no bridge over the other river, only a steam ferry that makes five round trips every day from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon.

Number Thirty-Three, who called himself a bard, borrowed a hand-cranked organ from a toy store and sat on the ferry dock, attracting listeners with his singer's voice.

He first played a piece from the pixel world called "Night of Barto," which tells the story of how a tramp becomes king. This piece won him many listeners.

Then she played a piece she had composed and directed herself, and this time she not only played the instrument but also sang along softly.

More and more people gathered, from men to women, from children to the elderly, and the once quiet dock became bustling with activity.

Once there were enough people, the bard took off his top hat, turned it upside down on the ground, then took off his coat, played the accordion with one hand, put the other hand on his hip, and danced a snow country dance.

The crowd whistled, and even the ferry was delayed by three minutes because of the song.

The bard had just finished his third song when his hat was stuffed full of gears and coins.

"Musician! One more song!"

"Yes, we're going to the battlefield tomorrow, and we don't know if we'll be able to come back. Let's sing one more song, as a gift from heaven!"

The bard, carrying a heavy hat, handed it to Biris, who, at the request of the man in front, played the fourth piece, a tune he had brought back from the desert, full of the flavor of a foreign land.

As the song ended, the audience was moved to tears.

Just then, a small vendor, tanned bronze by the sun, appeared in the crowd, pushing a portable food cart. He wore a pair of loose sailor trousers over his riding breeches, which were still seeping water, while the riding breeches were dry and shrunken, as if he had forgotten to change out of his original trousers after hurriedly finishing something.

This sneaky fellow hid at the back of the crowd, and once the people dispersed and the ferry left, he abandoned the food cart and ran into a nearby alley.

In just a short while, about twenty people emerged from the alley.

Most of these people were wearing incomplete plate armor. Some only wore chainmail, some wore canvas clothes under their plate armor, and several even only had a helmet. These guys who only stole the helmets jumped forward with their sabers raised as if they had caught prey.

And the vendor from earlier was right among them.

A group of about twenty people surrounded the bard and Billis.

One of them took off his helmet, revealing two large fangs, and smiled at the bard: "We meet again so soon, didn't expect that, did you?"

"Who are you?" Number Thirty-Three feigned surprise.

"Our great captain needs a lot of money! A lot of money! If it weren't for you and your entourage, we would have gotten a lot of money from the Duke!"

Following Beris's plan, the bard used music to lure the pirates hiding nearby.

Two pirates, unable to wait any longer, charged forward with their sabers raised, but Billis merely nudged their elbows, and the two sabers slid out and stuck straight into the grass.

Then six more pirates were added, and a few seconds later, all six of them fell into the river.

The remaining few men in plate armor, even fully armed, were nothing more than paper dolls in Billis's eyes. They still couldn't escape the agent's series of skillful fighting techniques.

What happened on the Duke happened again to these unfortunate souls.

Everyone dropped their sabers in a flash and scurried back into the alley one by one.

Only the first 'small vendor' remained, and he was caught red-handed by Billy.

Upon seeing this incredibly strong follower, his legs went weak, his knees buckled, and he knelt down. The arrogant pirate was gone, replaced by a pitiful beggar.

"Please have mercy, sir! I've lost everything. The Empire confiscated my job, so I had to join the pirates, but now I can't even do that well! But if you need a guide from Bolit, I think I'd be perfect!"

"But we don't want any guides, and we can't afford to pay them."

"I don't need anything! My lord, as long as I follow you, those pirates who forced me to rob things won't look down on me anymore."

"Then you promise not to steal or rob again."

"This must never happen again, sir!"

“Alright, take us to see your pirate captain.” Billy grabbed the piece of paper armor, which crumbled into pieces with a single twist.