What's the most appealing thing for the fringe traveler?

A hot bath? Order a table full of steaming local food? Go to the casino and have fun until you lose all your money after many days of running around? Go to a tavern to get drunk and forget the horrors and pains of your journey with a few large beers and spirits? Finally, find a gentle township and sleep quietly in the company of fat powder and body fragrance?

Children make choices, and adults do.

So, after being poured two large glasses of beer in the tavern and two silver coins in the iron cage ring, the two men made their way down the brightly lit streets, and soon came across a palace-like building.

Torches and braziers illuminate the entire outer wall of the palace, the flickering firelight makes the palace bring a hint of movement, the entrance is full of well-dressed high-class people, and even the environment inside is much quieter than the bar, and a metallic piano sound is coming from the open palace door.

Entering the door is a hall, in the middle of the hall is a platform, a black desktop case is placed in the middle of the platform, two rows of black and white keys make the whole piano look simple and elegant, there is no noise of some large instruments at all.

The woman who played the piano was a woman in a long purple dress, twenty-four or five years old, and the makeup on her face was very heavy, but the heavy makeup could not cover the tiredness and anger on her face.

Not only is she a jewel, but even a cigarette pouch, the jade cigarette holder, the agate cigarette stick, and the rising smoke wrap her in it, making her already a charming breath a little more hazy and mysterious.

Her eyes were foggy, even a little sluggish, and she didn't know what she was thinking, she played the piano for a while, took a puff of cigarette, and didn't care about the dozen or so guests under the platform.

Under the platform, there are more than a dozen tables loosely arranged, and several groups of richly dressed men and women are scattered around the table to eat, compared to the loud howling drinkers in the tavern before, the guests in this environment are reserved and polite, even the waiters, all wearing dresses and bow ties, and their demeanor is graceful.

Bypassing the hall to the inside, it is the main body of the palace, you can see from the outside, it is full of brightly colored gambling equipment, many people are dancing around the gambling equipment they are interested in, and the atmosphere is much more lively than the restaurant outside.

Monica took Babu's arm, and the two slowly walked into the palatial palace, and as soon as they entered, they were greeted by a neatly dressed waiter.

"Welcome to the full money bag, all three guests are fresh faces, are they travelers from the edge?" With a courteous smile, the waiter bowed and said, "There are some of the best chefs in East Valley City, and some of the fairest gambling games in town, so guests can enjoy the best service in our purse bags, whether they want to dine or be entertained." ”

Monica looked at Babu and asked with her eyes, Babu thought for a moment, then suddenly showed a strange smile, patted Monica's hand holding her arm, and said to the waiter in front of her: "Is the best service only possible with dining and entertainment?" What about the others? ”

"Uh, sorry, guest, I didn't understand what you meant."

"I mean, what if I wanted to play the piano?"

Babu said, snorting at the platform behind the waiter, who subconsciously turned around, and when he turned back, Babu and Monica had disappeared from him.

In the shadows below, two men with strong bodies stood up and hurried to the platform, but Monica had already stopped in front of them, looking at them with a smile, while Babu went straight to the stage, walked all the way to the back of the performer, and tapped lightly on the platform.

The woman who was playing stopped and turned her head with both hands, and saw that there was an extra man behind her and almost within reach, but she did not show any panic, but instead looked calm, her legs folded, her body leaning on the piano, supporting her round chin with one hand, and holding the cigarette stick to her mouth with the other, and then a thin column of smoke erupted from the two red lips, blowing on Babu's face with a faint sweet fragrance.

The Báb did not speak, but smiled and made a gesture to give way, and the woman tilted her head in thought, smiled, and stretched out her hand to the Báb. It wasn't until Babu helped her to her feet, brushed her index finger on her red lips, and then pressed it lightly on Babu's lips, then smiled at Babu and Monica, who was obviously unhappy behind him, and twisted her waist to get out of the way of playing the piano.

Babu spread his hands innocently, pressed his fingers on the keys a few times, and then opened the back cover to adjust it slightly, and then sat down in the concert seat.

"Dangdangdang", as soon as the piano sounded, all four were shocked.

As soon as the prelude to the symphony sounded, the diners in the restaurant stopped eating one after another, and the woman who originally played also held the pipe and froze in place, staring blankly at Babu with slightly closed eyes and hands flowing like water on the keyboard, her white teeth gently biting on the emerald green cigarette holder, and she didn't know what she was thinking.

The playing skills are actually very ordinary, but from the performance of the female playing just now, it can be seen that there should be very few people in the world who can play this thing, even if the general skills are not comparable to novices, not to mention that the Babu instinctively played, or the top famous songs, so everyone forgot what they were doing, until the end of the song, Babu stood up and bowed in thanks, and the gentlemen and celebrities in the restaurant couldn't help but get up and respond to Babu's performance with the warmest applause.

"This is a symphony composed by the musicians of the royal city of Vila, dedicated to you today." Babu bowed down again, "I wish His Majesty the City Lord a long and healthy life, and I wish the city of Donggu an increasingly prosperous existence, and I wish it an existence equal to our royal city of Vera as soon as possible." ”

"You're also a caravan from the royal city of Vera?" As soon as Báb's voice fell, the applause began to flood again, but just as the applause had subsided, discordant voices rang out from the inner casino. Following the voice, the four men and women had been listening in the crowd just now, when they suddenly stood up and asked loudly, "We just passed by the royal city of Vera not long ago, why haven't we heard this kind of music, nor have we seen similar instruments?" ”

Babu's thoughts raced, and then a meaningful smile appeared on his face, and he chuckled in a low voice: "It's not your fault, the works of court musicians are not just casual and anyone has the opportunity to hear. ”

The four people on the other side were choked up and couldn't say a word of rebuttal, and turned back to the inner room in indignation, and Babu smiled at the woman who had been playing as he returned to Monica's side. The two of them held hands, bypassed a few tables of celebrities who had gotten up to greet them, and walked into the inner casino.

An open hall with more than 20 large and small tables in it, at least a hundred people wandering between the tables at this time, all kinds of strange gambling equipment filled the hall, large and small roulette, tables full of squares and numbers, transparent glass jars filled with small balls, there are no surprises as far as the eye can see.

Of course, the most varied tables are still dice and cards, accounting for at least half of them, and many gamblers have boiled their eyes red but still refuse to leave, holding on to their bloodshot eyes and throwing down brightly colored chips.

"Are you ......" Monica suddenly pressed against Babu's ear and asked funny, "Are you alright, are you itching again?" ”

Yes, she noticed that Babu was rubbing his hands together, and the iconic coin was on the back of his hand again, only this time in silver.

"Well, it's itchy hands, but I don't think I'm fit to play with these things." Babu sighed and took the silver back again, "Forget it, I'm ......"

"Why, aren't you going to play two?"

A female voice in the back that makes people feel crisp to the depths of their souls when they hear it, makes Babu and Monica look at each other and smile, it seems that there is another fish bite.

"How about trying your luck?" As soon as the woman stretched out her hand, she held a handful of yellow chips in her white palm, "It's not fun to come all the way from the royal city of Vera to our small place." It's okay, it's mine if you lose, you guys brought such great music here, and you have to give me a chance to perform. ”

Babu was noncommittal, but he still took the chips handed by the other party, but did not actually go to the table, just tossed up and down in his hand and said, "Small place? No, I think it's already a pretty big city. ”

"Hey, that's just an unrealistic fantasy of the old man." The woman sneered disdainfully, "If you want to develop into a big city, it will not be possible to achieve it in one or two hundred years, and only the old man and the boss still have unrealistic illusions, even if it is just on the surface, they desperately want to make Donggu City a big city." Well? No, haven't you been co-opted by the boss, how could you come up with such words? He doesn't like to hear that. ”

Babu smiled noncommittally and asked, "You know us?" ”

"Heh, of course I know, the caravan from the city of Vera King witnessed Karl's heroic battle when they entered the city, and rescued him who survived by the way." The woman's big eyes glared at Babu, "This story is very much to the boss's appetite, and it sounds very beautiful, if I didn't know what Carl is, maybe I would have believed it." At first, I thought that your identity was deliberately launched by him to beautify himself, but looking at your performance just now, I didn't expect it to be real......"

"Are you sure?"

"That piano was picked up from the edge, it should belong to the special product of the world on the edge, although the present world is endless, but except for a few big cities, I can't think of any other person who can play that piano so professionally, and can come up with such a harmonious music. Now I can't believe that you're not a guest from a big city. The woman glanced at the arms of Babu and Monica, and pouted secretly, "Since your identity is real, and you helped Carl cheat, the biggest possibility is that you have been co-opted to the boss." I really don't understand, so what are you still looking for me? The boss doesn't think he'll be able to show me goodwill. ”

"There's another possibility." Babu held up a finger and said with a smile, "Think again." ”

For a moment, the woman's eyes became extremely cold, as if she might pull out a knife and kill someone at any time, and even the smile that had been hanging on her face all the year round disappeared, and she asked calmly: "Are you actually the old man's people?" ”

"Huh?" It was Monica and Babu's turn to be stunned, the two of them lowered their heads and muttered a few words, and Babu said helplessly: "Let me give you a hint, we just came out of the Fist Storm, but we are moving relatively fast, and your people should not have time to report to you." ”

"The third little brute?" The woman looked at the two of them with a puzzled face at first, but suddenly remembered something, and suddenly said, "Do you want to use this method to show that you haven't stood in line yet, and you have already observed the three of us, so your target is still the old man?" No, that's not how the old man is targeted, you ...... Do you know that, too? ”

Ba Bu and Monica always kept their smiles under control, letting the woman make up for it by herself, estimating that she had almost made up for it, before changing the topic and asking: "Let's ask a question first, who are these people, why did they suddenly come out to trouble us just now, it stands to reason that we are all marginal travelers, there is no need to conflict." ”

"The four of them, or half of your neighbors, hehehe." The woman followed Babu's gaze with a gloating expression, "They are just an ordinary caravan, they have lived in the royal city of Vera for half a year before, and they have been reluctant to leave, but it is not possible for anyone to stay and settle there, it is estimated that the money is almost spent, and they were finally driven out." I came out for half a month at most, and I just happened to run into the entrance of our East Ancient City. ”

"The old man above likes this kind of visitors from the big city the most, and he also likes to imitate the facilities of the big city the most, the gladiatorial arena is learned from the city of Kryas, this time I don't know what to learn, so I kept those four people for half a year, let them live in the castle, entertain them with the highest level of treatment, and chat with them every day."

"Got it now?" At the end, the woman smiled with a mixture of femininity and coldness, "You have just entered the city and behaved once, and that song alone is enough to crush the four of them, and they are afraid that their position will be replaced, and of course they will regard you as their greatest enemy." ”

"I see." Babu nodded, "Tsk, it seems that you don't like these people very much." ”

"That's right, it's just a few clowns, and ......" The woman showed a fleeting killing intent, but closed it in time and didn't continue.

"Heh, I see." Babu tossed the chips in his hand, "You just invited me to go up and play?" ”

"That's right." The woman's smile was coquettish, "Now you're interested?" ”

Babu opened Monica's hand, put a handful of chips in her palm, picked one between her fingers, and slowly walked to the table where the four people were and sat down, throwing a chip on the table.

"Fellow travelers, we are all marginal travelers, and we are all from the royal city of Vera, so it is fateful to be able to meet here. In that case, why don't you play together? ”

The four of them looked at each other, not knowing how to answer for a while.