Pondergon, a coastal city northeast of the Kingdom of Loma.

Unlike other cities in the Kingdom of Loma that depend on the mining industry for their livelihood, fishing and shipping are the two main lifelines that support Pondelgon, and because of the self-sufficiency of materials, the food crisis that swept through the entire kingdom has hardly any expression in this city. On the surface, at least, the stability and prosperity of Pondergon were no different from those of peacetime. Although the number of recruiting points on the streets has increased considerably, there are not many young men who go to enlist; for most people, the war in the south is far away from them, and they can still fill their stomachs, who will fight to the death on the battlefield?

On either side of a dirty, foul-smelling, damp alley was the slum that the dignitaries of Pondelgon. Here, it is crowded with dock coolies, fishmer mercenaries, runners, drunks, thieves...... Densely crammed into these more than 30 cramped, dilapidated houses. The smell of fish, sweat, and musty rotten wood are the main smells of the alleys, which are of course mixed with the smell of impurities alcohol and low-grade perfumes.

A man in a cloak, trampling the ground with his leather shoes on the water that was flowing everywhere. He passed by lewd men who shouted pornographic jokes, women who sat by the doorway undressing and breastfeeding their babies as if no one was around, and children running around trying to put their hands in other people's pockets, and finally stopped in front of a tavern. "Blue pineapple" is the name of this tavern. The old signboard was carved with a half-rotten wooden pineapple, and underneath the sign, a fat man was sitting on a chair and drowsy.

The man in the cloak paused for a moment in front of the tavern, and after confirming that the building was his destination, he walked in without hesitation. The fat man guarding the door suddenly fell asleep, like a huge lard paste blocking the way of the man in the cloak, he recognized that the other party was not a regular customer who came often, but before he could say a cruel word, his body was already like a pile of water-filled pork, lying on the ground like a pile of water-filled pork, foaming at the mouth, unconscious, and a large bruise on the right temple.

The tavern, which was originally noisy, gradually disappeared after the man in the cloaked man entered, because most people's eyes were attracted by this unrestrained guest house. Ignoring the unfriendly glances around him, the man in the cloak walked straight to the innermost corner of the tavern, where a man in his 40s was holding two prostitutes and kissing him until the man in the cloak walked in front of him less than 3 meters.

"Huh?" the man looked up at the cloaked man.

The hood of the cloak was swept back, revealing a dark and thin young man in his 20s. "You're the Iron Finger Bob?" asked the thin black man. His gaze fell on the man's left hand: the original index finger was gone, replaced by an iron fake finger.

"That's right. ”

"Did you snatch a black pearl the night before?"

"So what?" replied the man known as "Iron Finger" Bob in a tone of nonchalance.

At this time, more than 60 people in the tavern, except for a dozen or so prostitutes who had been summoned, all the others approached the place where the thin black young man and Bob were, and they carried bloodstained iron hooks in their hands, and some of them still had chains on the iron hooks, making a series of dull sounds on the ground.

Even though he knew that the people behind him were all "Iron Finger" Bob's subordinates, the thin black young man was not the slightest frightened, but instead pulled up a mischievous smile: "You are given two choices: one, you voluntarily follow me, and two, I will drag you to the ground." ”

The words of the thin black young man caused laughter in the hall. They are a group of thieves who roam the whole kingdom, and even the officers and soldiers have nothing to do with them, as if in this era of war and chaos, they are like fish in water, who dares to make a big fuss in front of them?" Bob squinted at the thin black man, and in his eyes, this boy who did not know the height of the sky was already dead.

Loud fights can be heard in the tavern......

About half an hour later, the wooden door of the "blue pineapple" was rudely kicked open, and in the stunned eyes of many onlookers, a thin black young man grabbed the left leg of the half-beaten "Iron Finger" Bob, buried the latter's face in the dirty water on the ground, and dragged him out of the tavern; less than 10 seconds after they left, there was a loud noise behind them, and the entire "blue pineapple" collapsed.

Whenever he was given such a commission, Joyka, who never got tired of bad tastes, would always give his prey two choices, but unfortunately, no one ever chose the first option, and this time was certainly no exception. "If this guy had followed obediently, Lao Tzu wouldn't have been so tired. Joyka muttered. He also wasted a cheap cloak.

The Bounty Hunters Guild is located just around the corner of the downtown crossroads. Regardless of the pointing glances around her, Joika dragged a man straight to the door of the Bounty Hunters' Guild. He let go of the hand that grabbed Bob's calf, but lifted the back collar of the other man and threw what he could still call a "human" into it. "That's it, it's what you want is there. Joyka clapped her hands, pointed to the huge black pearl as large as a goose egg in Bob's mouth, and shouted with no one in her eyes, "Settle the account for Lao Tzu first." ”

Suddenly, the bounty hunters who were waiting to accept the commission let out an exclamation in unison, and the entire hall was like a vegetable market......

"Look, isn't that Bob?"

"Which bob. ”

"What other Bob, of course, is the 'Iron Finger' Bob?"

"Could it be the kingdom's most wanted criminal, the leader of the theft syndicate called the 'Iron Hook Party'?"

"The rare black pearl that the city lord gave to the royal family was robbed just after leaving the city the day before yesterday, and it was really done by this group!"

"No, we're just figuring out how to form a group to take on this mission. ”

"Oh my God, it's been less than seven hours since this mission was announced. ”

"Who is this black and skinny boy? He couldn't have done it alone!"

......

Joika left the guild with a heavy bag of gold coins, he didn't care about other people's comments, and he didn't pay attention to anyone who asked him "how to call it", the name "Joika" was loud enough in the bounty hunter world, so the feeling of "greedy vanity" had long been consumed by him; It took 7 hours to catch Bob's prey, which is a lot of regression compared to before, and it seems that the recovery process of the body is very unsatisfactory.

Whatever! Find a bathhouse to get rid of the sour smell of sweat on your body, and then find a casino to relax. Joika was planning in his mind, but then he changed his mind: let's go and try his luck first. At this thought, his feet involuntarily led him to the door of the largest casino in all of Pondelgon, but as he was about to enter the door of the casino, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly glanced at a small inconspicuous shop at the end of the street. "I haven't been back to Pondelgon for a long time, so I should go and see it. Joyka changed her mind once more.

The fact that such a sick gambler who could be so strict change his mind before he stepped into the casino is almost non-existent, but this little tailor shop is one of them. In fact, it was not the tailor shop itself that affected Joyka, but the people in the shop. The façade of the tailor's shop is very small, and a partially finished semi-finished product is hung near the door; a little further inside, a few finished garments are hung; on the ground behind the garments are stacked cloth, sewing coils, and other raw materials; and in the middle of the raw materials is a hand-cranked sewing machine, and a young girl with a beautiful face and a slender figure is sitting in front of the sewing machine, her long blue hair is coiled on her head, and she bows her head to play with the sewing machine and clothes intently.

The girl's undistracted appearance was very good-looking, and Joyka admired it, so she stood quietly in the shop for more than two hours, until the girl finished her work, she beat her back, moved her somewhat stiff neck, and then, she also saw Joyka......

"Wow!" the girl was startled, her expression stiffening......

"You...... You are ......" The girl couldn't suppress the excitement in her heart, she stood up with a "huo" thud, pushed away the sewing machine in front of her, and flew towards Joyka.

"I'm about to be strangled to death by you. That being said, Joyka enjoyed the warm nephrite hug.

But the girl hugged her tighter. "Am I dreaming? You're finally back, when did you come, and why didn't I hear the doorbell?" the girl was speechless.

"I've been standing here for over two hours and you haven't noticed it yet. If you want to be a thief, I'm afraid that all the things in the store will be removed. Joyka teased.

"It's okay, as long as you come back. Boom ......" Tears drowned the girl's starry eyes.

"Asali, I'm hungry. Joyka knew it would be no surprise to let her hug like this until tomorrow night, so she had to distract her with other topics.

"Okay, I'll cook. The girl named "Asari" finally let go of Joika.

The tailor shop closed early.

Asari is the owner and sole clerk of the tailor's shop, so her residence is behind the shop. Although the house is small and dilapidated, it is neatly arranged inside, and it can be seen that the owner's life is very organized, and there are some lace decorations on the bedside, which fully shows the owner's girlish feelings, and the flowers in the vase on the wooden table are even more refreshing.

While it was time for Asari to cook in the kitchen, Joeyka took a shower at her house, took off the dusty clothes and threw them into the washing bucket, then put on the new clothes from the tailor's shop and had dinner with Asari.

Night falls.

After a hard day's work, Joyka fell asleep in Asari's bed. In this world, the place that can give him the feeling of "home", maybe only this small house is left, and he sleeps soundly, until in a daze, he vaguely feels that someone is staring at him. Joyka opened her eyes to see Asari sitting on the bed in a tulle nightdress, expertly untying his belt with her hands.

"Wait. Joika grabbed Asari's hand and wouldn't let her untie her belt.

Joyka then rolled over and got up, and at this time Asari landed right in his arms, and looked at each other for a moment, and Asari slowly closed her eyes...... But a few long seconds passed, and the imaginary kiss did not happen.

"Go change your clothes and go out for a walk with me. Joyka straightened Asari and said to her.

Pondelgon Beach on a moonlit night, tranquil and mysterious. A young man and woman, arm in arm, snuggling up to each other, strolling on the beach, are perhaps in the eyes of anyone else as a couple in love, even though they are not at all.

"Brother Joyka, do you have someone in mind?" Ashalia, who leaned her head on Joika's shoulder, opened the topic first.

"Oh, what do you say?" asked Joyka rhetorically.

"It's a woman's intuition. If that weren't the case, why didn't you just ask me like you used to?"

"Ha, a woman's intuition in this regard really can't be underestimated. But she already belonged to her. With these words, Joika admitted that she had a crush on someone.

"So, what kind of girl is she?" Ashari's curiosity was piqued.

"Huh, are you jealous?" Joeyka shaved mischievously on her nose.

Asari smiled indifferently, she didn't answer the sharp question directly. A girl who is not jealous is like a girl who is more empathetic than Asari, and she can't find it in the world. Asari knew Joika's character, and she knew that he would never rob him, but she knew that he had never disdained to be a gentleman. Not only did she and him have had a happy relationship, but she even knew that she was not the only woman who maintained the same relationship with him, but she did not hold any grudges, and being needed and remembered by him was the happiest thing in the world. Even though he occupies only a tiny corner of his world, he fills almost her entire world, but his little corner is also more important than his entire world.

When Joyka rescued her from those snake-like traffickers, Asally held on to that belief and never will.

Joyka naturally knows what Axali is thinking, although he is an unruly prodigal, he never feels guilty because of moral constraints. For in his opinion, you should not carry any baggage on your back, but today, time has passed, and Joyka cannot accept that she has a woman in her heart, and her body is one with another. Although Joyka never considered herself a decent gentleman, she was also determined not to be a despicable villain. For Joyka, Asa Li is not only a need, but also a confidant who treats each other sincerely and confides in each other.

"Brother Joyka, how long are you going to stay when you come back this time?" It wasn't that Ashalie was deliberately distracting from the topic, but that she did care about it.

"It depends. The main thing is to recuperate. Joyka's answer was ambiguous, but it wouldn't be long.

"Are you hurt?" asked Asari nervously.

"Don't worry, I'm almost recovered. Joeyka patted Asari on the shoulder, he knew she would have this reaction, "It's also to come to visit you, have any bad people come to bully you in the more than a year I've been away?"

Asari curled her mouth mischievously, and a hint of sly sly looked swept over her pretty face: "With your friends from the Bounty Hunters Guild, there are no bad guys who come to make trouble, mainly because they find those who come to propose marriage very annoying." ”

"Propose?" Joy Ka suddenly became interested, "has someone taken a fancy to you?"

"Huh, are you jealous?" said Axali, echoing Joyka's tone, repeating the same words, and scraping his nose with her slender fingers.

A gust of sea breeze hit, and both of them couldn't help but laugh.

At that moment, there was a sudden murmur in the dark sky, and then a dull loud noise was heard, as if something had suddenly fallen from a high altitude onto the beach.