Chapter 1717: 574. Old Flywheel and His Hunger Factory – Additional Update for “Huo Zheng Ting Hao” Brothers 【16/30】_2
Hmm…
Considering even Marshall Loren needs to buy Calculating Pearls, banned from export by the Halflings, from Sulk Flywheel, this guy probably isn’t afraid of anything.
Wow, having core technology is really cool, even describing Sulk Flywheel as a wild warlord with disdain doesn’t fully capture his arrogance.
“Hey, stop! You need to be searched before entering.”
Just as Murphy was entering the cave where the laboratory was located, a sharp voice with a strange metallic tone echoed from the darkness in front of Murphy, making the vampire suddenly frown.
It was a Halfling dressed like an assassin, and judging from the silhouette, it seemed to be a woman.
As the name implies, a Halfling is an individual that’s only half the height of a human.
They are very short, even shorter than dwarves, and their bodies are thin, giving off a delicate vibe.
However, most Halflings are not ugly, and their appearance, like their bodies, exudes a sense of “exquisiteness,” which makes the civilized factions, who have always judged people by their appearance, undoubtedly recognize Halflings as members of civilization.
Moreover, Halflings possess top-notch intelligence on this continent.
These small people’s minds are truly agile, and they can empathize with humans, with most of their emotions being mutual, which leads to a rather embarrassing fact, like the existence of mixed-blood species.
The most abundant mixed-blood on the continent is between humans and elves since, according to human legend, elves are always synonymous with beauty, purity, and nobility. But the second most abundant… uh, if you’ve ever met Little Sheron’s mother, you’d know that these degenerate humans can indeed lust after Halflings…
Ah, it seems this civilization might already be beyond saving.
In Murphy’s previous memory, he had seen Halfling traders in his long-forgotten and disappeared hometown of the small town of East Prussia, but these timid “pacifists” almost never go to Transylvania.
They fear the roughness of the Transia People, and it’s only natural for the power-worshipping Transia People to despise the weakness of Halflings.
But that’s not the main reason why Murphy found this Halfling assassin in front of him odd.
Murphy had no animosity toward Halflings; what really made him frown was because this guy in front of him had no “blood” in his body. After the candidate awakens the Crimson Ability, Murphy can sense and manipulate blood, but this guy in front of him had no weaknesses for him to exploit.
“You…you’re a robot?”
Murphy said cautiously:
“Have Halfling’s black technology developed to such an extent?”
“Robot? Hah, what a foolish amateur term.”
The Halfling assassin whose identity was revealed let out an ear-piercing laugh. This guy nimbly approached Murphy, then lifted their head to stare at him, showing a pair of strange, lifelike ruby eyes beneath the assassin mask.
She said:
“You’re definitely not a Steam Engineer, and I don’t expect any bit of wisdom to sprout in your foolish vampire brain. I’m going to search you now; you don’t have any weird quirks, do you? You wouldn’t try to turn me into a vampire by biting my neck, right?”
“You don’t even have any blood, madam; the blessing of midnight has forever departed from you. You’ve forever lost the possibility of venturing into the night in this lifetime, but I don’t think you’ll feel any regret.”
Murphy extended his arms and said:
“Go ahead, just don’t feel me up too much.”
“Ha, you’re much more agreeable than those fellow vampires who came before you. They were all a bunch of idiots, you know? They called me a monster. Hah, bumpkins who haven’t even seen a Mysterious Steam Puppet!
Too lazy to talk more with them.”
This grating voice, calling itself a “steam puppet,” swiftly felt around Murphy’s clothes. She had a peculiar device on her wrist that beeped like a detector, and when it approached the mechanical rifle on Murphy’s back, it suddenly made a sharp sound.
“Wow! An engineering marvel!”
The chattering little figure squealed:
“A transforming object, surely a miracle creation! Perhaps it’s a legacy of the creator! You, vampire, are so mysterious; hey, can you let me take a look at your big treasure? Handsome vampire, I promise I’d just look; it’s been ages since I’ve seen such an impressive legacy creation.”
“Of course, you can take a look; after all, I’ve come with good intentions.”
Murphy glanced at this guy, talking while taking off the rifle:
“But you can’t just look for free, right?”
“I have no money; everything I have belongs to Sulk Flywheel. As you can see, this poor Halfling before you has lost everything except for a brain still in operation.”
This steam puppet said pitifully:
“I don’t own any property. In fact, with just one order from Flywheel, I’d have to pop out the high-energy cutting saw on my wrist to slice open your neck and follow it up with two Incendiary High-Explosive Bombs to your heart.
For someone who was once a senior member of the Assassin’s Guild, I’ve really fallen to this pathetic state, right?”
“Since you were once part of the Assassin’s Guild, do you still take jobs now?”
Murphy handed the rifle, transformed by the Omnihence device, to this steam puppet, saying:
“I really need some skilled people to support my camp over at Wasteland Mountain. If you could do it for a little cheaper, that would make me even happier.”