"Miss Afu, please come here."

While Qiu Xuan was still focusing on the reward, a voice suddenly sounded from beside her interrupted her thoughts. There was already a countdown prompt on the settlement panel, and she chose the second one, and before she had time to look closely, she frowned and slid the knife out of her cuff with her hands behind her back, while looking up.

The person who can call her "Afu" is definitely the person he met in the just-concluded trial ground. But the young woman in front of her, dressed in a strange cloth dress, was completely new, and she was sure that she had never met this person in her memory.

"Are you ......?"

This place is not far from the entrance of the desperate situation, and there is still some distance from the abyss. Qiu Xuan paused, put his hands behind his back and put on a fake smile, and asked.

"I'm an apprentice caster, and the teacher said that he had already made an appointment with you, so I would like to invite you to go now."

Caster. Hephaestus? But it shouldn't be, almost everyone thinks that she has died on the ship of Fools, and she didn't even tell Bai Hexi about it to make sure that nothing goes wrong, how did Hephaestus decide that she was still alive?

Qiu Xuan didn't speak, took a step back quietly, and pulled Xiaolu's birdcage necklace from her wrist.

"Oh yes, the teacher also said that he is the only one who can repair your weapon in the whole desperate situation."

“……”

That being said, Hephaestus did mention her stinky and long-named shock cannon when he told her the last time he told her information. But who can't guarantee that this isn't a well-designed trap? Huang Sheng saw her kill Zhao Yigui with her own eyes at the last moment, and she couldn't guarantee that she would have gone to report to Lao Liang and them now, and now she was alone and didn't dare to take this risk.

"Please tell him, I'm tired today, and I'll visit in person another day." With the thugs.

Qiu Xuan smiled, and her little finger gently hooked the necklace under the cover of her sleeve. The man who claimed to be an apprentice smith had already taken two steps forward to arrest her, she tilted her head, her lips opened and closed and said in an inaudible voice, "Shen Luyan." ”

"Let's go, run in that direction!"

The huge monster that appeared out of thin air forced the apprentice's pace back a step, and Qiu Xuan's mother knife came out of its sheath and slashed at the man's ankle, and suddenly he didn't know what to remember, and his palm twisted and grasped the man's bare calf in the air.

The apprentice squinted his eyes, flipped his right hand, and a big hammer appeared in his hand in an instant, and he just wanted to swing it vertically at the other party, and the next second, the cold and dead air that suddenly walked from the cut ankle to the whole body made her whole person stalemate for a few seconds.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

One person and one Wendigo did not love to fight, and quickly ran towards the direction of the abyss in his memory. The young apprentice knelt down on one knee with his ankle clutched, his expression cold, and he felt a round stone from his bosom, and crushed it with his palm.

"Oops."

"How?" The huge dead gray monster tilted its head and glanced at her with a pitch-black eye hole, Qiu Xuan pursed her lips and said, "You come back first." ”

"You can't handle it alone, but you can still take care of it with me."

"But you can't...... Alas, then you should change back first, Xiaolu, hurry up. ”

Their footsteps suddenly stopped running, Xiaolu looked at the group of people in front of her and raised her eyebrows, and she didn't feel uncomfortable at all draped a layer of clothes on the outside of her naked/exposed body.

"My beautiful Aphrodite! You must know that every wonderful encounter may be a success that others have calculated thousands of times. ”

Can't leave.

Qiu Xuan took a breath and stepped forward to block Xiaolu behind her.

"Something?"

"Didn't you agree to our agreement, Afu wants to go back on now?" All the so-called "apprentices" dressed in uniform colors made way for the man like Moses dividing the sea. Hephaestus, dressed in the same abstract artist's costume she had seen on the first day on the ship, bent her right hand forward in an elaborate court ceremony.

"Who is this......?" Hephaestus straightened up, and the pigtails on his head twitched slightly.

"I just met a friend who met in a certain trial."

Xiaolu curled her red lips and smiled at the other party.

"Afu's friend is also my friend, so why don't you go to my shop together?"

“…… Good. ”

couldn't leave, Qiu Xuan was silent and walked forward with Xiaolu surrounded by a group of black and oppressive crowds. If only one person or even a group of apprentices surrounded by them could fight, after all, with her ability, as long as a corpse appeared in the crowd, then the group of people would be finished, but now Hephaestus himself came.

The difference in experience between the dozens of proving grounds is not a joke, even if Cassandro said that those who follow a "crooked path" like them can get a faster shortcut than a executioner of the same level, but such a shortcut has no effect in the face of the absolute strength gap.

"What is the name of this beautiful young lady?"

"Xiaolu."

"What a lovely name."

Hephaestus and Xiaolu talked happily all the way, as if they really just thought of her as a desperate executioner. Qiu Xuan silently followed aside, thinking about what else could be done to break out of the encirclement.

At the corner of the street, in the small shops with black cloth hanging everywhere, the apprentices have long since scattered to do their own thing. At a small, slightly greasy square table, Qiu Xuan and Xiao Lu sat on the side, watching the man known as the Foundry bend over and pour an unknown pot of tea.

"Eat, eat, don't see outside, just treat it as your own home."

Hephaestus himself happily sat down across from him, reached out and grabbed a plate of small snacks from the workbench next to him. Xiaolu immediately disappeared and reached out to eat, the danger sense did not move, and Qiu Xuan looked at the two as if she was looking at her two mentally handicapped children.

"Ahem, we might as well get straight to the point." She tapped her knuckles lightly on the table, drawing their attention back. "Let me ask first, our meeting today is only related to you alone, isn't it?"

"Of course, Aph," Hephaestus shrugged exaggeratedly as if he had heard some joke, "you don't really think I'm in league with Jiaoguancheng!" You must know that the tying of interests for a while does not mean that you are friends forever. ”

"You and Jiao Guancheng have known each other for a long time, you know what I mean." Qiu Xuan looked at him calmly.

"What is it?"

"I've said it, so it's better to just talk about it." Qiu Xuan waved his hand, and the shrunken cannon barrel was directly presented on the square table. "I know what you're coming to me for, so now I need you to give me a reassurance, just for the sake of a future deal. All the things you're talking to me about today are just about you, Hephaestus, and nothing to do with anyone else, right? ”

“……”

The man with pigtails stopped taking snacks, looked over with a smile, and then looked at Xiaolu, who was only eating pastries with a face that didn't care. "I thought you liked it, but I didn't expect you to be a straight ball player? And...... It seems that your relationship with your 'friend' is so good that you can say anything in front of her? ”

Xiaolu glanced up at him from the dishes, rolled her eyes and lowered her head.

"Well, well, in that case, I'm willing to promise you." Hephaestus lowered the curtains around him with a wave of his hand, "Actually, you don't have to worry about that, because as anyone who is familiar with the caster will know, I never maintain a long-term team relationship with anyone. In my case, there is only the cooperation of interests between the customer and the seller. ”

"And to be precise, no one but me should know that you're still alive right now, oh yes, except for that little fat man? It's called Huang Sheng, right...... You should have killed Zhao Yigui already, right? ”

"Why should I kill Zhao Yigui? Be all abroad. "Qiu Xuan's face does not change color.

"This is your fault, Afu, obviously you were the one who said you were going to talk about it at the beginning, and now you are the one who comes to play with half-truths and half-truths, I will be sad."

"Let's talk about the internal combustion double-head conversion of light and electron, and the magic energy of the steam impact artillery." Qiu Xuan ignored him, and tapped his fingers directly to the point. "You said that you are the only one who can repair in a desperate situation, so make a price."

Hephaestus: "...... You repeat its name to me again? ”

Qiu Xuan: "Internal combustion double-headed conversion of optoelectronic steam magic energy impact artillery. ”

"Oh, oh!" Hephaestus straightened up, his lips opening and closing and muttering a repeat. The caster's slender but calloused fingers caressed the barrel engraved with magic patterns, and for the first time, Qiu Xuan saw on his face the kind of obsession and love similar to the real one, different from the demeanor of a theater performer who had been pretended countless times before, but a real fanaticism that came from the blood of the bones.

- "Don't be fooled by Hephaestus, he's not a good thing!" Don't think that if you get close to him, he will take care of the old relationship and open up to you, impossible! All he cared about was his pile of broken metal and that broken hammer! ”

Caster, Forge Haffy.

She raised an eyebrow, as if she understood.

She patiently watched the man touch the stinky and long impact cannon inside and out like some kind of pervert, Xiaolu's four plates of dim sum went down, and reached for the other plates on the work table.

“…… Almost. Qiu Xuan reluctantly turned her head to look at her, "You don't need to rely on food to stay alive now." ”

"Are you talking about human words?" Xiaolu looked at her with a frowning face, "What else can I eat if I don't eat dim sum, how many living people do you throw in for me to eat every day?" Besides, it's not about eating that costs your money. ”

"Ahem."

When Hephaestus finally ended his unilateral soul exchange with the barrel, the forger returned to his usual calm and breezy appearance, and folded his fingers into a tower-like shape to prop up on the table and look at Qiu Xuan.

"There's a 70 percent chance of fixing it, but it takes a lot of effort."

Qiu Xuan: "Offer directly." ”

"Okay, then I'll be straight to the point." Hephaestus finally rubbed his fingers on the barrel of the cannon again, and said, "First of all, I have a few necessary parts, and you can pay me according to the market price." But some parts are tricky, and you can choose to find them yourself, or I'll find them for you but pay me the equivalent in exchange. It's about the cost of repairs, followed by the deposit and the final payment, eh...... I heard that you got a short knife with special abilities from Zhao Yigui? ”

"This one doesn't work, change another one."

"Okay, okay, I think about it." Hephaestus touched his chin, "Well, what do you have here that can be used as a deposit?" ”

"Isn't it a payment of tokens?"

"Hey, don't be stupid, Afu, everyone knows that you can't buy this thing with money. Anyway, we now have a stable relationship of interest and cooperation, so it's not good for me to be perfunctory like this. ”

In fact, she can't even pay even the most basic passcoins now. What else can we do if we are poor and white, and fully implement the Linyuan tradition? Qiu Xuan secretly rolled her eyes in her heart, and said, "Then forget it, I only have a bunch of broken things now, next time, I'll come to you to repair it when I have money." ”

She held her hand on the barrel of the cannon to retrieve it, and the next second Hephaestus also held down the cannon and raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it, the most talented newcomer in Linyuan, can't even get something as a deposit?"

"Brother, since you have already inquired, you should also understand that we are really poor."

"How about using this internal combustion double-headed conversion photoelectron-steam magic energy impact cannon as collateral?"

Qiu Xuan frowned, "What did you say?" ”

Hephaestus took the palm of her hand against the barrel and leaned in closer, almost in an inducing tone. "I can fix it for you, and I'm willing to wait until you can give something of equal value in exchange. But I'm only going to give you three trials, and if you go beyond three, then it's mine. How's that, fair, right? ”

Qiu Xuan was stunned, if it wasn't for the current form, she really wanted to laugh.

"Yes, yes, but what is the so-called 'equivalent' thing?"

"Hmm...... Say, Leviathan's heart? Something like that, stuff. ”

Xiaolu buried her face in the dishes and let out a shocking sneer when she heard the words. She ate the last piece of crumbs, wiped her mouth and turned her head to look at Qiu Xuan, "Let's go now, right?" It's not interesting here. ”

"Hey, don't be in a hurry to leave, if you still don't ......"

Qiu Xuan pulled Xiaolu to stand up, "It's done." ”

"Are you sick?"

"That's it, I'll wait for your good news!"

She waved at the ecstatic Hephaestus behind her, turned and pulled Xiaolu out of the store hidden on the corner.

"No, what's wrong with you? Something like a Leviathan heart? Xiaolu was so angry that she almost vomited on her ten plates of dim sum she had just eaten, "Do you think that the original god of every trial ground was changed by your cheap boyfriend?" Isn't it equivalent to giving three trials for nothing?! ”

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