Byron's Blade

Artemis, the city of adventurers, is the most important town in the southeast of the Federation and the most important place of departure on the edge of the coastline.Since human beings lost the sea, this is the place where countless dreamers have worked tirelessly generation after generation.As the name suggests, it is free, rough, enthusiastic and full of adventurous spirit.From the top leaders to ordinary civilians, everyone has a completely different belief from the rest of the Federation.Here, the Nine Gods are not the only ones, and freedom is above all else. The people here seem more lively and vital.

This is the last paradise of the spirit of freedom and democracy, so not only adventurers gather here, but also revolutionaries who try to change the dual high-pressure situation of federal militarism and theocratic rule.

Since Mu Li came to this land, she really felt the remaining pulse of the former world, and she was so happy that her whole body relaxed and no longer tense.

Driving 350 kilometers northeast from the Gate of Freedom, a short three-hour drive, passed a high-speed rest stop. During the half-hour rest, I only came into contact with a supermarket clerk, a peddler who dug out from his yard. There is a very obvious contrast between the antique old man in the field and a staff member of the vehicle engraved crystal charging station.Everyone has a bright smile, and even if you don't buy his stuff, he can chat with you warmly and wittily.Knowing that you are from another city-state, they can blurt out the customs of Artemis, and casually joke about the romantic affairs of General Luo Jia when he was young, and finally said with a smile:

"This is a good place, don't go back once you come."

They are not like people in other places, who always have a numb face, dare not have excessive mood swings, stiff or even nervous, and pray quietly at every turn to ensure that their alignment values ​​will not change.Their casualness came from the bone marrow, and Mu Li couldn't help but relax, and the smiles on his face increased.

When they finished replenishing the energy for the truck and got on the car and were about to leave, the young man from the charging station came over with a smile and patted on the car window. Mu Li tensed up, thinking that this person had discovered their identities When I got out of the car window, I even put my hands on the gun behind my waist, but I heard the young man say to Mu Li:

"Hey, girl, I just wanted to say, your hairstyle is so cool, just like my uncle. Good luck!" The young man laughed and took a step back, waving goodbye.

As a result, Mu Li was ridiculed by the "unscrupulous lady" behind the carriage for the rest of the car, and no one came to save her, including Lan Ni, who was snickering next to her.She could only hold her chin and feel sulking all by herself, which made Lanny couldn't help reaching out to pinch her face and praised her as "so cute".When Lanny said this, Joan, who was driving in front, visibly shook, and Mu Li saw her roll her eyes from the rearview mirror.Zoe's noisy laughter in the earphones also fell silent.

Suddenly Mu Li felt at ease.

Still, she'd rather have her hair grow instantly.

The car pulled out of the expressway at 01:30 in the afternoon, and the road sign on the off-ramp of the expressway said "Chudunan", and there were Chinese characters attached to the common language, which surprised Mu Li.

"We are now in the city of Chu in Artemis. 80.00% of the population here are Chinese. Of course, we must use Chinese characters. The children here go to elementary school at the age of 6 and graduate from high school at the age of 16. Chinese courses are indispensable. So even if you are not of Chinese descent, you can still speak Chinese. Ah Li, you can speak Chinese, right?" Lanny asked.

"Of course." Mu Li smiled.

"They will also talk about hatred." Lanny added.

"But I don't show respect for what I get." Joan said in blunt and strange Chinese.

Mu Li raised his eyebrows, smiled, imitated her words and replied: "It's true that what you get doesn't show respect."

Really, it has an accent of Wuhan Plastic Mandarin.

"What did you say?" Lanny asked curiously.

Ah, it seems that our omniscient lady doesn't speak Chinese very well, and Mu Li has finally found her blind spot.However, the eldest lady is just unfamiliar, not completely ignorant, anyway, she is also a person of half Yanhuang blood.

"Ah, Chinese is really difficult." Joan patted the steering wheel and shook her head.

"It's 'learning', not 'blood'." The cool sister Qiu Zheng, who had been silent all this time, finally couldn't listen anymore, and corrected her. She spoke more standard Chinese, but for some reason she brought a... Taiwanese accent.

Mu Li covered his mouth and rolled his eyes with a smile.

"I'll say it too! Ah, I want spicy oil!" Zoe's convulsive voice suddenly came from the earphone.

What the hell are these people speaking Nanjing dialect, and their Chinese teachers really come from all over the world.Mu Li held back his laughter until his stomach ached.

"Zoe, are you hungry? We just had lunch." This is also a sentence in Chinese, and the speaker is Lin Zhao, a taciturn chef with a paralyzed face. Li's eyes lit up.

"Who taught you Chinese?" Lanny asked.

"It's all taught by the teacher." Joan replied.

"Alone?" Mu Li asked.

"Yes."

"Puff haha...it's amazing." Mu Li finally laughed heartily.

Although the four girls didn't know what Mu Li was laughing at, they felt that they were being ridiculed, and they were inexplicably upset...

It was the first time for Lan Ni to see Mu Li smiling so happily. Although she couldn't get in a word, there was a warm feeling in her heart. I hope she can be happy like this forever. Lan Ni prayed silently in her heart.

The car got off the ramp and crossed the flat field. At the end of November, there were no crops in the field, and bundles of dry straw were piled up on the yellow ground, showing a bit of coldness.Soon, the car got on the elevated again, and gradually you could see a magnificent cable-stayed steel cable bridge. Under the bridge, the rolling yellow waves rushed eastward.Mu Li's heart seemed to be hit by a sledgehammer, his eyes widened, looking at the flowing water through the car window, something was churning in his blood.

The Yangtze River...it's the Yangtze River!

God knows what it would be like to be a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, travel to the chaotic future world, and see the Yangtze River again.The mother river of the descendants of Yan and Huang has been running for tens of thousands of years. After the catastrophe, although it has been seriously diverted, it still flows continuously.

The country is no longer, the family is dead, only this Dongliu has never changed, as long as she is there, it seems that there will be roots and a sense of belonging.At this moment, Mu Li's eyes were inexplicably wet.She leaned on the edge of the car window with one hand, covered her mouth, and watched the scene outside, without looking back for a long time.A word is repeated in my mind, and I can't get it out:

the river is long and tempestuous, it was like a hero.Right and wrong success or failure turned around, the green hills are still there, and the sunset is red several times.White-haired fishermen and woodcutters on the river, used to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze, happily meeting each other with a pot of turbid wine, and laughing about all kinds of things in ancient and modern times.

Probably no one in this world can understand her state of mind at this moment.The spaciousness and clarity at that moment seemed to transform all the painful entanglements into clouds and smoke, which would be blown away.

So when the tears evaporated and her mood calmed down, only a faint smile remained on her face, and a little more chic and relaxed in her dark eyes.

Although during the journey across the bridge, she didn't say a word, and she didn't let anyone see her tears.But the sensitive Lanny still felt her changes, it was a wonderful feeling, perhaps it should be said that she had a tacit understanding.Mu Li was sitting next to her, and Lan Ni was always watching her. Before crossing the bridge, although she laughed loudly, she seemed to carry the whole world on her back.But after crossing the bridge, Lanny only felt her shoulders loosen and the load off her back.In less than 10 minutes' journey, the feeling that the whole person brings to others has changed.

"Are you okay?" Lanny asked in a low voice.

Mu Li smiled at her, and replied: "Excellent."

That smile actually made Lan Ni's heart beat faster, and her face turned red for no reason.She licked her red lips, looked away, raised her eyebrows and smiled coquettishly: "I can see it."

Joan, who was driving in front, continued to roll her eyes. She really wanted to sleep with headphones plugged in like her boss in the co-driver next to her. She couldn't see or hear anything. Being in the same space as the couple in the back row was not good for the heart.

Fortunately, the journey of torturing single dogs finally came to an end. The car crossed the river, turned into the Linjiang factory area, and then drove into an abandoned factory compound.The car stopped outside the factory building, and a group of people got out of the car, carried all the luggage and equipment on their backs, and walked into the factory building in a mighty manner.

While walking, Qiu Zheng took out her cell phone from her pocket and made a call. This was the first time Mu Li saw a cell phone after she came to this world. Mobile phones are obsolete products.

"It's me...where is it?...the second floor, okay, we'll come right away."

The phone was hung up quickly, and everyone went up the stairs on the side of the empty factory building, and came to the door of a lounge on the second floor.Qiu Zheng knocked on the door rhythmically, three long and one short, and soon someone came to open the door.The person who opened the door was an Asian young man wearing workers' overalls, a leather apron and sleeves, and a welding mask stuck on his head.

"Sister Zheng, you guys are back. Why did it take you so long to go on this mission?" The young man ushered everyone into the lounge.

"Well, it did take a lot of time, but it was within the teacher's expectation. Where is the teacher? Why are you not seeing anyone?" Qiu Zheng asked.

"The leader has taken everyone to transfer. I will stay behind and wait for you. When you informed me before, I contacted the leader. She sent another car to pick us up. It will arrive in about 10 minutes. The next thing to do I don't know the location."

"Why, this factory is not safe anymore?" Joan asked.

"Well, we moved three days ago."

"No way, who is checking us?" Zoe asked strangely, "It stands to reason that there shouldn't be someone in the city of adventurers who doesn't know the name of Assassin, who would come to mess with us?"

Assassin?Mu Li frowned. Is this the external name of this mysterious organization?

"I don't know the specific situation. It's just that the leader thinks it's not safe. You know, the leader is always right." The young man said, and then his eyes fell on Lan Ni, his face turned red instantly, his eyes dodged, and he looked again When he arrived at Muli, he couldn't help saying:

"You are... Mu Li?"

"Yes, hello." Mu Li greeted with a smile.

"Hello... I have admired your name for a long time, and I finally meet you today." The young man's eyes shone with excitement, and his red face did not appear to be embarrassed. He wiped his hands on his clothes, then stretched out his hand to Mu Li and said:

"My name is Zhao Zilong."

"What's your name?" Mu Li was startled, and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Zhao Zilong, not Changshan Zhao Zilong, but Hankou Zhao Zilong." The young man smiled honestly.

"Well... I've also admired your name for a long time." Mu Li blinked playfully, shook hands with him, and said with a smile.

The shy young man Zhao Zilong was embarrassed again, scratched the back of his head, and said, "You guys rest for a while, I will pour water for you." Then he fled.

After everyone sat down to rest, Lanny suddenly said:

"So, Assassin, is your organization name?"

It seems that the eldest lady is also aware of this.

"Yes, Assassin, Assassin, simply put, is the Assassin Organization." Qiu Zheng replied.

"Hmm...sounds good and cool." Lanny laughed and asked again, "So, since you are an assassin, who did you assassinate?"

As soon as this question was asked, the girls in the group of four chose to remain silent when they looked at each other.

"Sorry, Miss Lani, Assassin is not a loose organization, there are strict rules and regulations, and everyone has a duty of confidentiality, so before you officially join us, we can't tell you about some internal affairs of the organization Yes." In the end, Qiu Zheng stepped forward and resolved the embarrassment.

Lanny nodded, expressing her understanding.Then said:

"In this case, I want to know how to officially join you."

"Miss Lanny, we don't mean to offend. Really, it's just a procedure. You are very special. In fact, it doesn't make any difference whether you follow the procedure or not. But we can't break the rules at will." Joan hurriedly explained.

Lanny waved her hand: "I'm not angry, I'm just curious."

"After meeting the teacher, you will be officially joined when the teacher announces your position in the organization. You can also receive the organization's badge, uniform, communications, weapons and other equipment at that time." Zoe smiled.

"It sounds like you are simply mercenaries." Mu Li interrupted.

Qiu Zheng glanced at her, and replied calmly: "Assassin will not be hired easily, and those who do business with us must first be approved by the teacher."

Mu Li shrugged, not paying attention to the gunpowder smell in her words.

Lan Ni turned her head to look at Mu Li, then at Qiu Zheng, thoughtful.

Just when the atmosphere was a little stiff, that brother Zhao Zilong came back and resolved everyone's embarrassment.Everyone chatted casually about lighter topics, until 10 minutes later, a phone call came, and everyone packed up their things and went downstairs again.At the gate of the factory building, I saw a large modified off-road jeep parked there.This jeep can seat ten people, but only one person came to pick them up, and this person was an old acquaintance whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

When Lanny saw her, she couldn't help blurting out her name:

"Teacher Dubo!"