Actually, according to normal people's habits, if someone traveled thousands of miles to visit you, you would welcome them after you picked them up from the train station. It would make sense to let them rest for a day and a half. After all, there was a saying: "Traveling thousands of miles makes the journey tiring." Traveling was always tiring and exhausting. That was why my first plan was to let Anu Lili rest for a while. However, she said that she wasn't tired at all. In fact, she didn't even realize how many "mountains and rivers" she had traveled. The distance between her world and the City of Shadows couldn't be measured in terms of distance. It could be said that it was a distance that would shock anyone who looked at it. But in reality, Anu Lili only took twenty-two minutes to run this distance, including the time she had spent sitting at the bus stop … The Empire's teleportation technology had changed many things that were based on common sense. I felt that it was one of the dumbest things I had ever done to arrange a place to stay for a girl who had just left home twenty minutes ago.
Since I didn't need to rest, it was only natural for me to take Anurili on a tour. It wasn't mealtime yet anyway — my daily life had always been divided by mealtimes, which was even better than a daily schedule. Perhaps I was influenced by Shadora — we had just left the dimensional hub plaza, and Anurili was still immersed in the majestic architecture of this place. So, I decided to first plan out a sightseeing route before helping her out.
And at this time, without my noticing, Anu Lili was chatting with the peddlers that could be seen everywhere near the Hub Square. This was my mistake, especially when I noticed who was in front of Anu Lili, and I felt that it was my mistake …
Anu Lili stopped in front of a stall with a curious expression. The stall owner was a rather burly middle-aged man. It wasn't strange that he was burly, but what was strange was that he was wearing a black suit that was obviously specially made for him. The stall owner was as burly as a soldier, and he wore a suit as if he was preparing to attend a United Nations conference. There was no one else in the City of Shadows like him who was dressed in such a striking yet mismatched attire.
Anurili was fiddling with the items on the stall. They were sparkling accessories. Girls were naturally interested in these things. The middle-aged man seized the opportunity to promote his wares. His righteous face seemed to glow with the light of justice, and anyone who did not believe him would be going against their conscience. "Young lady, you have a good eye. This is an amulet made from the mantle crystals of planet Tuha-3, blessed by the priests of the Temple of Light. It's a rare treasure in the entire Macro World. The original price is $68,000, and I'll give you a discount of $3.50. Don't miss this opportunity … "
As it turned out, it was against your conscience to believe his sales pitch.
At this time, Sicarro did not have any tasks, but this did not mean that he could push his stall to the commercial restricted area, let alone use the products of the Fifth Glass Factory to fool a naive girl. Of course, it was another matter if the priests of the Temple of Light usually accepted the services of the Temple of Light. In any case, my current reaction was to slap that bastard's shoulder. "Hey!"
I felt that my reaction was fast enough, but that old bastard was still as agile as ever. He swept through half the square with a gust of wind. Then, a group of people wearing red hoops appeared from the intersections around the Dimensional Hub Square and chased after the elegant and sturdy black figure until he disappeared at the end of the street. My raised right hand froze in mid-air. Then, I turned my head and smiled awkwardly at my sister.
"You will never be able to catch a pure Agility MT if you put all your points into intelligence." I explained to myself as I faced my sister's smiling eyes. At the same time, I was glad that it wasn't that sharp-tongued brat, Lin Xue, who followed me out today. Otherwise, she would definitely ask, "Blockhead, did you really put points into intelligence?"
After hanging around for more than four years, I was already familiar with that brat's nature.
Then, I heard my sister say with a smile, "Ah Jun, did you really put points into intelligence?"
"…" I was speechless. This world is cruel sometimes. Alright, I admit that my talent points are bullsh * t.
"That was …" Anu Lili was still holding a small teardrop-shaped amulet in her hand. It was a product of the Fifth Glass Factory and was said to have come from the mantle. She wasn't familiar with the local customs of the City of Shadows, so she was puzzled. "I haven't paid yet … Oh right, I don't have the currency of your world."
"It's fine. The Imperial Army System doesn't use currency. The currency system of the Macro World has nothing to do with you for the time being … Err, that's not the point. Anyway, you don't have to care about that fellow just now. I'm familiar with him, so just leave him to me. Take this little toy as a gift for you."
Anu Lili nodded, not really understanding. She took this as a special custom of the City of Shadows. Then, we led her in the direction of the Yggdrasil Shrine. If there were any places in the City of Shadows that were the most spectacular, then there were two. One was the huge circular structure in the sky above the city, the Army Headquarters. This dignified and huge metal ring was the symbol of the new Empire's servant army. However, it was a military zone, so it wasn't suitable for Anu Lili to visit. The other one was the Yggdrasil Shrine. Even though it looked like a tree from the outside, it was a tree with a trunk radius that could be calculated in kilometers … At this scale, anything was spectacular.
More importantly, the road leading from the Dimensional Hub to the Yggdrasil Shrine would pass through the most prosperous area of the City of Shadows. Not only was the view of the streets beautiful, there were many magical items from various worlds, and there were also several settlements of different races along the way. This meant that along the way, we would be able to let Anu Lili experience what it meant to be a gathering of thousands of countries, what it meant to be the capital of all worlds, and what it meant to be a Megatron coming from the South with two kilograms of Pikachu in his hand smashing the face of an Ultraman coming from the North with a Master Ball …
After leaving the Dimensional Hub and walking away from the military zone, the scenery along the way became more and more prosperous. Even though the Dimensional Hub could be said to be filled with people, it was still next to the fortress, so it couldn't possibly be as lively as the business district. Anurili was like a little animal that had just come out to the outside world for the first time. She followed closely behind my older sister and me. This capable and mature girl was now in a place where she didn't know what to do. She was also bewildered. But this didn't quell her curiosity. After getting used to this new environment, Anu Lili began to excitedly ask my sister and me about all the strange things she saw along the way. To be honest, there were many things in the City of Shadows that I didn't recognize … Only the heavens knew which world and which race brought them here from, so I could only pick out the things that I recognized and introduce them to her.
"I've never seen a place like this …" Anu Lili watched in surprise as a group of light blue dwarves ran past her. She carefully took half a step back to prevent herself from bumping into them. "It's so prosperous … so big … so many different races living together. You don't even know how many races there are here, do you? "
"Well, it's true that the Macro World is too big." I scratched my head. "The composition of the races in the City of Shadows changes every day. Sometimes, a world will only send two or three people to the City of Shadows, and they may not even stay for a day before leaving. So, you can see new faces here every day. Only a third of the city's population is permanent, the rest are transient."
Anu Lili still didn't know much about the Macro World, so I gave her a brief introduction of the unprecedented civilian network that the new Empire had built. When she found out that it was a system that could expand infinitely and involved more races than their population, she couldn't close her mouth for a long time. Then, she looked around in disbelief. "God … Just how big is the Empire?"
"It's bigger than any colossus that you can imagine," I said proudly, because I had witnessed everything before me being built up bit by bit. "Even the capital world isn't as simple as what you see. The City of Shadows that you see, and even the planet above the City of Shadows, are just a 'street' of the capital world. Outside of this space, there are Avalon and Heaven's cities, as well as a primary planet known as the Mother Continent. Every place is bigger than the City of Shadows. These are all the streets of the capital world. I'll bring you to Avalon later. I bring my guests there every time. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen. "
Anu Lili seemed to have almost forgotten why she was here (in fact, she didn't really know what she was here for). She was completely captivated by this place that could only be described as a miracle. The capital of a huge civilization like the Empire was full of things that ordinary people found inconceivable and even incomprehensible. Many people had lived in the City of Shadows for three to four years, but so far, they had not fully understood the city. Its speed of development was even faster than the speed at which they understood it.
"I feel like a caveman who has just entered a civilized society for the first time," Anu Lili suddenly said, a little dejected. She lifted her dress that was probably carefully chosen but still a little tattered. I guessed that in the post-war world, a 'leader' like her wouldn't be able to find better clothes. She always wore a uniform, but today, she had changed into a long dress. It was obvious that she also valued this experience of 'seeing the world' in the capital city of the Empire. "You don't know anything, and you're shocked by everything you see."
She was just an ordinary girl who was only seventeen or eighteen years old.
I patted Anurili on the shoulder. For some reason, I inexplicably admired this girl. Perhaps the only explanation was that I saw the shadow of my older sister in Anurili. She was strong yet immature, carrying a heavy burden on her shoulders, yet she gritted her teeth and persevered to the end. Underneath her mature and strong exterior, she was actually just an ordinary girl who also wanted to live a normal and safe life. She was just too similar to my older sister back in the day. It was just that I was ignorant back then, and I calmly enjoyed the peaceful life my older sister brought me. Only today did I realize just how heavy of a burden it was for a teenage child to carry on her life.
"Do you feel like a country bumpkin?" I said to Anu Lili with a smile. "Or do you feel uneasy because you came from a backward civilization? Don't worry, no one here cares about that. You see, visitors from countless civilizations in the Macro World are gathered here, and not all of those civilizations are civilized and prosperous. Here, no one cares about the background of the people who walk past them, and no one cares if your mother's race has already conquered their own universe. Not only are there crouching tigers and hidden dragons here, but the Empire is also an insurmountable peak. Under this premise, all other races will not fight here. Even if they fight to the death in other places, in the City of Shadows, every race is indeed equal. "
"… A very strange way of 'equality'." Anu Lili was very smart. After thinking for a while, she said this with a strange smile.
"It is indeed a very strange way of 'equality'." The elder sister nodded slowly. "Many visitors from other races will fight when they first come to the City of Shadows. They might even have a feud with each other. But how should I put it … When they realize that the thing they fought for over a dozen generations is worth less than two steamed buns here, they will immediately stop fighting. Some races' sense of superiority is also dispelled in this way. When they first come, they think that they are more civilized and superior than the 'primitive races' in the Macro World. But after a few days, they realize that everyone is primitive. No matter how advanced they are, they have only advanced from stone tools to neolithic tools … How can they continue to be superior? "
In a place where ten people were hit by a falling billboard, nine of them might have saved the world, and the remaining one might be a soldier of the Empire. No one could be arrogant. That was the logic. Admittedly, this couldn't be counted as true equality, unity, and love, but such an ideal state was unlikely to appear. The City of Shadows maintained a peaceful environment based on tacit understanding and collective compromise. This was already the best model in theory.
Just then, we heard a low rumbling sound coming from the street not far away. It sounded like something heavy was rolling towards us. This sound gave me a sense of deja vu, and very soon, my sense of deja vu was confirmed. A huge metal ball was rolling out from the corner of the street in front of us, heading straight in our direction.
I thought that it was the retired little queen Funa pushing Biboru out for a walk again, but …
When the ball came out, I took a look, and there was no one behind him.
Moreover, the big ball was making a rumbling sound as loud as it was rolling. "Forward, make way! Move forward! Move forward … "
* Bang! *
The huge metal ball hit a section of the dividing pole on the road. You should know the construction materials of the City of Shadows. Things like dividing poles were made with insane battleships and gold. Therefore, the dividing pole didn't budge at all, but the metal ball that seemed to weigh a ton flew up. After a series of banging sounds, it smashed a row of large holes on the road. Finally, it barely stopped in front of my sister and I. The reason why it barely stopped was because I had subconsciously kicked it.
"This … This is …" Anurili was scared stiff from the start. Now, she was still in a state of shock. She finally realized what was going on and jumped a few times to the side. A normal person wouldn't be able to stay calm when they saw a metal ball that was bigger than them charging towards them. Her current reaction was quite normal.
"Ugh, an old friend …" I walked forward and knocked on the metal ball's smooth, mirror-like shell. "Biboru, are you okay?"
The metal ball replied in a muffled voice. Its voice sounded a little out of tune. "I'm generally okay. Your Majesty, can you help me flip it? I'm currently upside down …"
My sister and I quickly pushed Biboru's body and flipped it over on the spot. After a long time, we finally found the words' Up 'and' Forward 'on his body. Those two words were definitely Funa's handwriting. It was just that Biboru had rolled all the way here and the words were almost rubbed off.
"Phew … It feels good to be upright. I'm already feeling a little dizzy. The third balance center is feeling a little nauseous." Biboru's body swayed slightly. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I let you see this side of me … I should have stayed at home. Going shopping was a stupid mistake …"
"Did you catch a cold again?" I looked at the round Prime Minister from the corner of my eyes. I didn't know if he was possessed by the God of Misfortune or something else. He usually held a position in the civilization community and only came to see his retired Queen three days a month. But basically, something would happen to him during these three days. For example, a cold, fever, indigestion or something. Based on his current situation where he couldn't float, he should have caught a cold.
"Last night, I went to the orbit station to enjoy the fresh plasma wind. There's a little situation now," Biboru said awkwardly. Then, he floated up shakily. After maintaining a height of half a meter for a few seconds, he landed with a thud. "Actually, I can still fly, but it's very unstable. Plus, I was dizzy just now …"
At this moment, I finally saw Funa's figure running out from the corner of the alley in front of us. Ever since she abdicated the Queen's position, she had settled down to live a leisurely life in the capital of the Empire. She enjoyed the treatment of a retired military officer. Looking at her anxiously running over, I could no longer see the lifeless and stiff feeling she had when she sat on the iron throne.
"I finally caught up to you, Biboru." Funa was happy to see her Prime Minister stop by the roadside. She patted her chest in relief and greeted us. "Hello, friend. We meet again!"
Then, we found out that Biboru was indeed with Funa when he left the house. It was just that Funa left to buy a drink. She didn't notice and parked Biboru on a slope.
Then, there was no then. Biboru rolled for a few minutes before he finally stopped.
"Friend, this is?"
Funa noticed Anu Lili behind us. The latter's unfamiliar style of clothing and the expression on her face was the most common for people who came to the City of Shadows for the first time. So, I introduced them to each other with a smile.
Anu Lili was surprised when she heard that the slightly dazed and unsteady girl in front of her was actually a retired Queen.
"A visitor …" Funa thought for a while and suddenly extended an invitation to Anu Lili. "Then, come to the monument square to take a look."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
