Chapter Ninety-Seven: Being a Stranger in a Foreign Land
When he sees the Evil God apparition in Icewind Dale, Thomas is reminded of the Ranger statue he saw at Baldur's Gate, his encounter with Aberdell, and his death.
In the past, it was like an old hard drive creaking, loaded with information about hard disk deletion to make room for Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, optical drive lights, hard drive lights flickering, creaking and squeaking slow reading, and flipping through the attached guides and tips while playing games...... Those dusty memories.
By that time they had already passed the Dragon Bridge, and had seen Nine Fingers in little Callinshanβmore appropriately, she had been watched, and accompanied by her cronies to the city.
Unlike computer games, Baldur's Gate is a mountain city similar to Chongqing or Hong Kong:
The upper town, where the aristocracy lived, was located on a high ground, and because the old men were kind enough to see the poor, they used the "Baldur's Gate" and several other gates from the city, so they were also far away from the trading places, the docks, and the merchants and laborers of the lower town. Outside the gates of the upper and lower districts live the descendants of poor servants and refugees from Kalinshan a hundred years ago, and the latter area is known as "Little Kalinshan", which can be seen simply as hard drives and blue light.
In addition to the paupers, there were certain trades that were considered inferior and polluting and confined to the small Kalinshan area outside the city, such as blacksmiths and cobblers. As a result, the outer part of Baldur's Gate, while quite prosperous, is filled with stench and fragrance, mixed with the clanging of metal.
After passing through the entrance of the Dragon Bridge, there were no more people from the Flame Fist, but there were some people with mysterious whereabouts looming around.
"The thief should be a subordinate of Nine Fingers. "The flowers who wander on the roof report in the psychic link that the observer is more important than the sniper in the sniper team.
On the surface, Baldur's Gate is ruled by the four dukes and the council of nobles, who sit on a hilltop in the upper town overlooking the city. And the "Sewer Cleaning Guild" controls night thieves, pickpockets, assassins, crooks, loan sharks, extortionists and tomb robbers, and locksmiths underground, including the entire Baldur's Gate...... , especially the lower town and little Kalinshan, which the upper class has largely abandoned.
Nominally, the dukes still rule the outer city and enjoy the right to collect taxes, but in reality, neither the guards of the nobles nor the Flame Fist enter the outer city.
If Baldur's Gate is compared to New York City, with the dukes and nobles as governors, mayors, and legislatures, then the masterminds of the guild are the supercriminals of King and the same kind. Through layers of springboards, even the legitimate industries and loan sharks she controls use proxies to ensure that she herself will not be caught with any incriminating evidence.
Kurgal had praised this before, thinking that it was very good that his hometown gangsters would never do it, and the only regret was that the underworld of Baldur's Gate was not popular to put himself in the oil pot and cut the meat and engrave it:
"When we come out to mingle with society, we do not rely on righteousness and brothers, but on the law! Only by being good law-abiding citizens can we collect wealth with peace of mind." The real gangsters are all lit with incense and drinking tea, and they also have to educate the younger brother who beats people because of the protection money, "Nonsense, we are law-abiding citizens!"
As she said this, the business smile on the paladin's face became more and more obvious - it was the kind of polite professional smirk that was very Chinese-style, with no smile in the corners of her eyes, and was completely upright.
- If the body of Kurgal is not human, not descended from Egypt and Sumerians, it has been beaten to pulp by the paladin of a certain platinum dragon.
Although under normal circumstances, you should regard red powder as a skeleton and a knife in the ribs of a brother, but in the case of someone turning into a woman and another real girl being stupid, Thomas chose to express his opinion: "Then they were borrowed by Yuan Datou Xiaozhan to train soldiers and join the gangsters who defected to the Japanese invaders, and they were completely killed in two waves, which is what you once said." β
"That, that's because the Japanese don't understand the rules of the rivers and lakes! Just like the people in the military command...... I also said that after the division of Beiyang, both sides fought according to the rules......"
Thomas pouted disapprerovingly: "Rules are the mask of a female saint seiya, born to take off." Even the boss of the little spider knows that criminals are criminals after all - as long as they offend these cowards and miscellaneous people, they will not hesitate to use violent means! β
Kurgal rolled his eyes disdainfully: "According to what you say, rules and laws are useless? As long as you see me buying a Japanese car, you can smash the glass of my car at will? We must rely on the law to protect our due rights!"
In the commercial metropolis of Baldur's Gate, the temple of the Three Gods of Justice has been abandoned for a long time, and even the power of the Sun God can barely infiltrate this place (after the fall of the magical plague Tyr, the platinum dragon Bahamut joined the ranks of the Three Gods of Justice, and the Church of Amanata, which is the pillar of the White Road, has also shown favor to them. )γ Because Baldur's Gate believes in the law more than in "justice".
ββββ both the nobility and the guild can hire a large number of professional lawyers to defend them. Beggar...... can only hope that the "Qingtian Lord" in charge of the Flame Fist is interested in the case and completely lucky.
"Chanem is the Duke in charge of the Flame Fist, he should be able to level a bowl of water, right?" Thomas held up the Guide to the Gates of Valobaud in his hand and read the introduction to Kurgal. Although she is talented, she has only been exposed to a few words in the red robe for many years, and she has not yet fully mastered the lingua franca, so she relies on him to translate into Chinese.
"Sounds like a city ruled by devil worshippers?"
"Actually, the main belief here is Gonde, followed by the sea, luck and money?"
The once pygmy kingdom claimed to be superior to the dragon in technology (especially gunpowder!) (Thomas objected), but they were wiped out by a magical plague a century ago, so the center of Gonde's faith has now shifted to Baldur's Gate.
The quest for technology has made Baldur's Gate profitable in trade, so the Temple of Gond is the largest in the city, even larger than Amberi, the goddess of the sea, and Temorrah, the goddess of luck.
"Aside from the game, it's the first time I've been to Baldur's Gate, and it feels a bit similar to Cattown - I'm not talking about the architectural style, but the layout, such as the Chinese and the Savages......"
"Well, I don't know what your cat town is like, but I can also see that Baldur's Gate is very different from the game. It's been more than a hundred years since the things in the game, and the vicissitudes of life......" Kurgal nodded, half-singing and half-chanting: "Suddenly, sixty years, I can't get half a sorghum!"
"Jin Se has fifty strings for no reason, one string and one pillar Si Hua Nian. Thomas also recited the sentence of the poet whom Flowers liked the most.
From the turbulent period to the present one hundred and twenty or thirty years, is it the butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou, or am I dreaming of Lu Dongbin?
Did Du Liniang dream of Huo Xiaoyu, or did Lu Sheng dream of Nanke County?
No, maybe it was the imprisoned Cervantes who remembered that his father took him to see the ice.
"The arrogant are difficult to live for a long time, just like a dream in the spring night, and the fierce ones are extinguished, like the dust before the wind. In the psychic link, Baihua said to him.
It seems that he has already foreseen the end of Aberdale, both of them.
In the small Karinsan district, which is not in the game, the roads are covered with blood, water and dung from animals in the mud, and the cows, sheep and pigs to be slaughtered and the pack animals in the stables make occasional noises. Crowds and caravans in bizarre costumes were bustling around, and from time to time the smell of exotic spices, barbecued meats, flowers and fruits came from the street shops β including the smell of skin-making.
Because Baldur's Gate is a port city, not only is it a city where large livestock are not allowed to enter, but there are also many cats outside the city. They lie or crouch on the roofs and stalls, and then they are frightened away by the flowers.
Combined with the topography and the cat-rich characteristics of a giant port city, Baldur's Gate is actually more like Constantinople, but in Thomas's mind, Istanbul is equal to Naslake, and the name of the City of Cats cannot be coveted by other cities.
What's more, there are a lot of things that Baihua doesn't like, such as noisy crowds, the sound of striking iron and hawking, and the ...... that Catgirl hates the most The smell of citrus fruits!
The streets of Little Kalinshan are filled with hawker stalls, cows, horses, sheep, donkeys, dogs, and flocks of chickens, ducks, geese β and pickpockets that are a matter of course in this congestion, but they are all wise not to provoke Thomas's party.
Otherwise, if she is caught by a certain paladin, she will be very magnanimous and say: "The green mountains do not change the green water, you leave a pair of tricks/claws, and this matter will be revealed." β
This punishment may seem excessive, but there, it is not enough to deter.
The Dragon's Coast is probably the most intense place on the continent where gangsters are fighting - Karatu's eagerness to expand their territory, Faerun's local holding position, and their desire to kill and make a name for themselves, with different languages, customs, and rules, it is easy to fight.
Thomas had been on the road, fearing that she would raise a sledgehammer and smash Kulgal or Ninefinger's hand to the ground in the blink of an eye. But fortunately, this little girl is quite kind to others, and it is easy to get angry when she talks to him.
The two talked for a long time, and at first the woman sobbed and cried, and then gradually burst into laughter under the gentle encouragement and comfort of the paladin, and regained her courage for life.
The ranger scratched his chin and wondered a little: "Strange, didn't you detect the evil aura?Or is it inconvenient to turn on the detection because of politeness?It's normal not to do anything, but you don't react at all and ......."
"Internet addict boy, your Valkyrie's eyes are not terrible now...... Speaking of which, where is the Green Tea Princess?" asked Kurgal, noticing that he had been looking at the paladin who was talking to Nine-Finger's men in the distance.
She had praised this girl before and said that this girl seemed to come out of the story, and when she laughed, she would feel vigorous and majestic, and she would show her evil spirit when she frowned.
"Don't follow the trend of green tea, Griffiin is fine...... And as I said before, I'm not the kind of boss with pneumonia, but the kind of single-player player who has a particularly strong competitive spirit!
If the Jiang family doesn't count, even if you don't know the princess in Feilun, there is a "prince". If a paladin is not too feminine because of the mountains, she is simply the perfect Prince Charming with her height, appearance and personality, and there are still more women who like her than men.
Kurgalpi laughed and said "hehe" twice, casting a look of contempt and disgust: "So you have a terrible time on Earth? Tsk, I've never seen a girl of this level in my last life, even if I added a filter to repair PS. Blinded my dog's eye...... Oh, she looked like she was blind. β
In order to save face, it is absolutely impossible to tell the fact that he was killed several times for rubbing a certain holy horseman's oil, and repeatedly wielded a knife to castrate and chop off the groping pig's hands, and dug up the tricks of indecent disrespect...... My beloved horse is very fierce, and in the end it is all up to my father-in-law's route - this secret must not be known to others, it can only be said that it depends on its own charm!
As the male protagonist (front) in Elena's scandal, as long as he thinks that such a big Yuehun will be squeezed and rubbed by others, then the two big white feet will be held in the hands of others and turned into obtuse angles, and the places he has not yet captured will be completely defiled by others...... And her smile is no longer owned by herself, and will not bloom for herself.
Although breaking up is nothing compared to Li Xunhuan giving away his wife, although with her personality, the possibility of empathy and love is very small, but Thomas still feels like a thorn in his heart, and he still feels so painful.
Alas, this young master is known as the Jade Qilin, he works hard all day long, and he has a good gun and stick, and there is no match in the world, and there is no place for heroes!
"Hey, hey, hey...... I still can't compare with you, I became famous when I was on Earth, and there are even long-legged OL girls chasing after me. β
"Oh, yes. That time was actually because I was a dead fat house, and as soon as we met, I was completely out of play, so I didn't meet each other. That's it!huh!"
Thomas also knew that he was arrogant, and rejected the girl who had a house because the salary was not as high as the consumption. As a manly husband, he can only be stronger than a woman, not weaker than a woman - so Chen Maoping chose to save face and not a girl.
He's the kind of guy who knows what he wants and does it right away.
The killing is decisive and awe-inspiring.
"Yes, you're not alone. Fat, failure, loneliness, and me, always with you. β
The subordinate of Nine Fingers finally finished talking with the paladin, and learned to teach Longjianghu etiquette and said goodbye.
"Flame ...... The punch is really overbearing and unscrupulous!" Elena returned to the Ranger with a hint of indignation that could not be concealed.
"She's fooling you. Thomas rolled his eyes and said, "Silly girl!"
This tone directly caused the other party's "white eyes" to stare angrily, and Thomas was still shocked even if he was used to it.
Kurgal, who was affected next to him, was even more frightened, and he retreated several steps before he was grabbed by the ranger and led to stand firm: "Sure enough, it is worthy of Mu Guiying, it is really a hundred steps of evil spirit, and it is really a thousand feet of majesty!"
Thomas gave him a suspicious look, thinking that the horse was trying to dig into his own wall.
After entering Baldur's Gate, it has been peaceful, and no one dares to harass it except for Nine Fingers. Rather than saying hello from above, Thomas was more convinced that it was the local thieves and thugs who could see at a glance that the paladin was not easy to mess with.
"Yes, yes, please, may I ask Nie Daxia, what charges do you know of her?" Although the paladin of the platinum dragon was looking forward to the way a certain ranger cowered, after seeing him giggle, she herself quickly turned red and became less fluent in speech.
"I still remember it...... Don't you really feel anything? I always felt that this place was very similar to Cat City, with an evil demonic aura. β
"The cats and cats can't detect demonic energy in the Cat City, which means that the cultists of the Beastmaster may be hiding?" Elena replied with a frown, "The Gate of Baldur is also as the harpist said, and the murderous aura has reached the point where it hinders breathing...... Except around you, there is a stench of evil everywhere. β
Paladins are stubborn, but they are also prone to trusting others, especially Thomas. And now the expression on her face clearly reads: "The old man is always right:" Brother Zhengzheng, you are right, that person may indeed want to lie to me, but I think what she said is also true. β
"Even if she tells the truth, you can't be too gullible β remember what I said about why you can't rely on the displaced proletarians?"
Unconsciously learning the cute posture of the little girl and Sakura women, Elena poked her cheeks and fell into thought:
"Well, when the big bourgeoisie is unable to suppress the proletariat on its own, it will take away the bulk of the material benefits obtained by aggression and plunder and oppression of other countries and nations, and give the small part to the petty bourgeoisie...... There may even be political power, which will be bribed into the vanguard of stability maintenance. If there is still plenty of material interests, a little more can be cut out to appease the proletariat, and the lumpenproletarians are especially easy to be bought and become pawns of the bourgeoisie!"
She puffed up her chest triumphantly, smiling as she waited for Thomas to be recognized, and Cortana maliciously marked the subtitle on her face: "Eh, hey, hey, praise me, praise me!"
But Thomas looked away with a weak heart, and his body was slumped.
Although her armor completely blocked the curves of her body and did not show her flesh, the lines of this imitation gundam armor were very obvious, and the camouflage vent parts were very obvious, and the lower lines were cinched at the waist.
In order to avoid looking too lewd, she will not wear tight clothes in her regular clothes, but will look bloated and fat. But after all, it's a girl, and it's easy to fight and look beautiful at the same time, so there are more moments when you wear armor than you normally wear.
Of course, the point is that someone will change when they see the red, white, blue and yellow gundam color scheme and V-shaped antenna, and the woman will be the one who pleases herself.
It's going to blow up!
A certain ranger kept screaming in his heart.
This girl is not only about to catch up with me in height, but even the ...... that I can't control in the first place
Thinking of this, Thomas's brother couldn't help but cast a giant spell on himself.
You dare to smile at me, my heart is so itchy...... Laugh again and I'll eat you!
No, with the amazing power of the gun, I can't control the fire unicorn!
It's going to blow up!
The girl was so pretty, so she just smiled at Thomas, and his heart seemed to stop and explode in an instant, and the blood that burst out flowed in both directions, with the face and head on it......
Don't shoot! I'm a friend!
"You're like this again!" the paladin puffed up, revealing the little girl's coquettish expression: "People talk to you...... Don't bother with people again?"
"No, it's not ......" Thomas, who was trying to control the flow of blood, replied bitterly: "So in the case of insufficient combat strength and heavy casualties, you can find displaced people to replenish their combat power, and their combat effectiveness is still okay." This group of people is very brave and can struggle, but it is destructive, and if it is guided to the law, it can become a kind of revolutionary force. - But we must understand and insist on who is the real leader of innovation. β
Hearing the two of them begin reciting the Renewal Book again, Kurgal couldn't help but shiver and look disgusted.
From the very beginning of their meeting that day, the paladin had unconsciously displayed an arrogant attitude towards all but one of them, arrogant and condescending, and repeatedly accused Thomas in Chinese of being a cult believer in evil gods, especially Bane.
She sneered, and suddenly remembered: "Back then, the quality of innovative young women in the red zone was much better than that of the yellow-faced women in the white zone...... This truth is indeed valid not only on Earth, but also in the other world!"
The team finally arrived at the gate of the city after the two of them sang and me, and Kurgal was already getting goosebumps.
There, he met Aberdale's lieutenant, Ander Rivengard, who was directly in charge of Flame Fist. The man, who was arguably in control of the Baldur's Gate, politely received the visitors from the Otherworld, and warned them not to do anything wrong to the Grand Duke.