Chapter 294

“All right.”

Thanks to the thorough service of the necromancer technician, after successfully breaking through the encirclement, Leon squinted at the distant dock with ships coming and going, and voluntarily called a halt:

“If we go any further, we might draw attention. Let’s leave the power armor here. Thanks for your help this time.”

“…”

I really didn’t want to help… but did I have a choice?

Watching the duke tumble out of the cockpit, the unfortunate little golden puppy gritted his teeth again and again, but in the end said nothing. Resigned to his fate, he turned the control stick and prepared to return with a disheartened expression. However…

“Wait, don’t take the power armor back.”

“Huh?”

“The power armor’s battery… no, I mean the energy storage module. This thing is useful to me. Help me dismantle it.”

“But… without the storage module, I can’t operate the power armor. How do I get back?”

“Take a boat. Isn’t the dock right over there?”

“…”

“What’s wrong? Any more problems?”

“No… none…”

Faced with the unreasonable request from his own duke, the little golden puppy aide sighed inwardly, resignedly flipped two switches, and opened the energy storage compartment of the power armor.

Then, amidst an all-too-familiar creaking sound, he struggled to crawl out of the cockpit, standing helplessly on the side as he watched his duke forcefully pry open the energy storage module of the power armor.

“Mmm… there’s not much energy fluid left, but still, thank you.”

“N-no… not at all…”

Dryly nodding, responding politely to the duke’s thanks, Steven Lane touched his empty pocket and somewhat embarrassedly said, “Uh… Duke, could you… could you lend me some money?”

“Huh?”

“I was sleeping in the barracks before my mission. I didn’t expect to be hijacked… brought here by you, so I didn’t bring any money. Could you lend me some money so I can hire a carriage at the dock to go home?”

“Well… okay…”

Though he didn’t have much money himself, after looking at the pitiful little golden puppy in front of him and then at the energy storage module costing upwards of 10,000 golden wheels lying on the ground, Leon felt too embarrassed to reject his request. Reluctantly, he called the puppy to throw out his wallet.

Hmm… but most of my salary has been collected by Anna, leaving only a small portion for necessary expenses. And I’ve also bought quite a few supplies stored in the Mirror World, so I only have 4 silver wheels and 9 copper wheels left…

“How about not hiring a carriage?”

After glancing at his depleted wallet, Leon cautiously suggested, “The dock is right over there anyway. Actually, we can just take a boat back to the capital city and then transfer twice on public carriages. We’ll reach the downtown area that way too.”

“It’s… fine…”

“You take it, and you don’t need to pay me back!”

Seeing that the little golden puppy didn’t insist on hiring a carriage, the cash-strapped Leon couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. He then counted out 7 copper wheels and handed them over, smiling and instructing, “A third-class ticket on a passenger ship costs 3 copper wheels. You can ride all the way to the Bangke River dock, then take the old city line public carriage which comes every 60 minutes, spending another 3 copper wheels to ride all the way to the end station to enter the downtown area of the capital. The carriages there support post-payment, so you can directly hire one to go home.

Or if you’re going to Leon Manor, you can get off one station early, saving 1 copper wheel. After getting off, walk to the next station, Westminster Church, and spend 2 copper wheels to take the church street shuttle carriage, which will also get you to Redwood Street, requiring exactly 7 copper wheels.”

Facing the generous duke who not only calculated the fare meticulously but also kindly offered a cost-saving guide, the little golden puppy, upon receiving the copper coins, couldn’t help but feel a lump in his throat, as if already smelling the stench of sweaty feet in the lower cabin.

“Th-thank you…”

After thanking the generous duke, the deeply moved little golden puppy clutched the invaluable 7 copper wheels and stumbled away. Meanwhile, Leon carried the battery down a small path, found a secluded spot, and took out the black fifteen-proof box containing Arthif 128.

Circular interface… what’s needed should also be a circular connector…

After fumbling around on the power armor’s energy storage module and finding the pipe bound in the slot, Leon removed the plug from the storage module, followed the method Arthif 128 taught him earlier, unscrewed the protective bolt, and attached it firmly to the rear interface of the fifteen-proof box.

Soon, with a faint hum, the black frosted glass-like fifteen-proof box lightly vibrated. Inside, countless tiny rods, several times finer than a hair, arranged closely together, began to move swiftly in a peculiar but orderly manner.

“Thank you for awakening me, Daddy.”

“…”

“Uh… you should call me Mr. Leon…”

Listening to the pleasant voice of the young girl from Arthif 128, Leon awkwardly touched his nose and corrected her:

“Previously… um… let’s say I was joking, alright?”

After “hearing” Leon’s words through the copper pipe, the gears inside the fifteen-proof box, so densely packed they were almost uncountable, began reversing rapidly in a special rhythm. Subsequently, tens of thousands of connecting rods and locking devices started clicking rapidly on the central sphere full of tiny holes, transmitting the information inside.

After the core ball twisted twice and repeated a similar operation in reverse, it drove the dense gear set forward via the connecting rods, using the knocking hammers to hit the copper pipes, simulating the voice of a human little girl, and gave its response.

“Although I judged that you didn’t seem to be joking earlier, since you requested it, I am willing to comply, Mr. Leon.”

“…”

Was that “calculation”? What principle does this thing work on? Watching Arthif 128 accept and understand his words within less than a second, and then give a corresponding answer, Leon couldn’t help but curiously ask:

“How exactly do you speak? What are all these parts in the box for?”

“The reason I can speak is quite simple. As a species with relatively simple vocal organ structures, 60-80 sounds are generally the limit for humans. However, the number of scales recorded by a single gear in my gear set far exceeds this quantity.

Text content is relatively more complex. Your human texts can roughly be categorized into four major types: ideographic, syllabic, phonetic, and symbolic characters, and their characteristics can combine. If we use 1, 2, 3, 4 to represent arrangements, there are about 15 typical comprehensive text patterns.

Each text pattern averages between 250,000 to 670,000 valuable vocabulary terms, while commonly used vocabulary varies depending on individuals and regions, roughly reducing to between 3,000 to 11,000 terms. Additionally, tone, voice, and corresponding emotions must be considered.

So even though the process has been greatly simplified, in order to output corresponding characters during conversations and precisely express my meaning with emotion, each time it still requires the use of fifteen auxiliary gear sets and thirty to one hundred ten short arc levers…”

“That’s enough, stop explaining the rest. Pretend I never asked.”

After struggling to listen for half a day but still feeling utterly confused, Leon wisely reached a truce with himself, giving up trying to figure out why she could talk, and instead asked the question he cared about most.

“Arthif, tell me.”

Taking out the big box issued by the bureau earlier, stuffing Arthif 128 inside, then forming the curse-silver into a dagger, carving a hole in the box, and attaching the copper tubes used for “speaking” and “listening,” Leon questioned:

“What’s the situation with the Crocodile Kingdom? What’s happening with the Gemini Division of the Clearing Bureau? Do you have any contact with the Aquarius Director?”

(Chapter End)