Alien world

Chapter 1255 Chapter 177. Smart Town

How about such a big town?

Based on his experience in Strange City, Annan’s first reaction was to leave this damn place as soon as possible!

But it was still a step too late. Before he could climb onto the white dragon's back, a familiar feeling of drowsiness came over him.

Between a dream and a half dream, a familiar voice rang in Annan's mind - it seemed like the voice of a staff member of the Mercenary Guild?
"Lucky tester, welcome to the 100th test of Smart Town. All residents of this town are puppets. Please rate the intelligence of Smart Town. Please note that no one will be harmed in this test."

"1 point: I know that every pore of this land exudes falsehood before I even set foot on it; 2 points: It looks flawless from a distance, but full of holes when you look closely; 3 points: Something seems to be wrong? I don’t know; 4 points: Does truth and falsehood really matter? Where is the boundary? If I think falsehood is real, then is it? Who am I? Is it me or this body that determines my thinking? 5 points: Oh my God, I didn’t even realize that these were fake!"

Thinking back on the bad experience of the whole day today, I have to give a bad review!
Thinking this, Annan gave a five-point rating and asked, "Can I leave a message?"

"What's a message?"

“It’s about putting forward your own suggestions and opinions.”

"Oh, that's a great idea. I'll add 'message' to the next test... Uh, what message does this tester have?"

“The town of Wisdom Puppets is incredibly realistic, and it perfectly demonstrates the bloated bureaucratic system within an empire. No one could have imagined that this is a town made up of puppets.”

Annan, who was full of complaints, seemed to be praising on the surface, but in fact he was satirizing the people behind Zhiou Town for doing useless things.

"But even if it looks like a human town, even if the residents are indistinguishable, even if the bureaucracy is annoying... what's the point?"

"The meaning is determined by living beings. Thank you for your valuable advice. We will meet again if we are lucky."

Never again.

Annan thought to himself, noticing that his sleepiness was fading away, and he regained consciousness from his half-asleep state.

Looking at the slave traders waking up in the distance, and looking at the wasteland where only an empty space was left and even the foundation had disappeared, Annan was not in a hurry to move on. He opened the portal and told Olmedo what happened here.

"I've never heard of Zhiou Town." Olmedo seemed to be thinking about it. "But from your description, it seems that the big shot has no ill intentions."

"I also feel that I am a little unhappy to be caught and waste a day for no reason..."

Annan found a suitable excuse for "delaying for a day".

Olmedo was still wondering who was behind Zhiou Town. First of all, excluding warriors, rangers, and warlocks, the answer was obvious - a wizard, and a legendary wizard who could do this.

"Any other details? Anything that strikes you as odd."

"Let me think...something strange...it seems like there's a priest of the goddess of wealth making crazy remarks."

"Huh?" Olmedo suddenly uttered a light "huh?"

"Have you thought of it?"

"No."

Ignoring Olmedo, Annan felt more and more suspicious the more he thought about it: "Zhiou Town disappeared, and that guy disappeared with it... This means he is not a real person! Is the owner of Zhiou Town related to the Goddess of Wealth?

"Don't think too much about it. Maybe the whole town is just imitating a day in a small town."

"makes sense."

"By the way, where is the mercenary certificate the town gave you?"

Annan handed over the certificate and the badge. Olmedo glanced at it, raised his head and said, "Can't you read?"

"Just talk, why are you mocking me?"

"I'm not being sarcastic, it just says on the badge, 'Test User Commemorative Badge'..."

"Let me see……"

Annan took the badge and indeed saw a line of small words that he had previously ignored.

At this time, Olmedo made a new discovery.

"This is a painting." She stroked the parchment and said, "Painted? Could it be that you saw it wrong?"

It's fine to waste a day, but if you waste a day in exchange for a fake certificate...

"Abby, go to my display case and get my mercenary credentials."

"no need."

Annan knew what Olmedo said was true...

Zhiou Town is fake, and the so-called mercenary association is certainly fake too.

I am still too gentle.

If he encounters it again... Never mind. Zhiou Town is obviously an experiment of some big shot and we can’t afford to offend it.

On the bright side, besides wasting a day,
So the question is, since the town is fake, the mercenary association is fake, and the certificate is fake... is the dragon subjugation also fake?
Annan closed the portal, stopped the slave traders who were about to escape, and asked them about the evil dragon.

To Annan's surprise, the evil dragon did exist, and it was in Sir Makarov's mountain fortress.

After the sunset disappeared over the dark peaks of the Broken Mountains, Annan, not wanting to linger here any longer, returned to the white dragon - and then left and returned again.

"Are you guys serious? If you're not, tell me first. This won't be fun at all."

……

Joan was lucky enough to find salty crystallized ore, a puddle of water, and shacks where the miners used to live around the cave.

There was certainly nothing left in the shed, but wood was a precious commodity in Joan's eyes.

There was no time to find coal that first night, so she took the wood apart and took it back to burn.

"Lady Ilimoyas?"

Joan surrounded the fire pit with stones and called softly to the blue dragon.

Ilimayas raised her eyelids, and a short dragon language magic sounded. A ball of flame fell into the stove, and the wood burned with a whoosh.

Joan sat by the fire pit and held out her palms to the flames. The flickering flames quickly warmed her body.

There was no food, but Joan was not too hungry. She planned to rest for a day and then go to the village at the foot of the mountain tomorrow morning.

"Aha……"

Joan yawned, put a few more pieces of wood in the stove, crawled into the low house, and popped her head out after a while: "Good night, Lord Blue Dragon."

There was no response, but the sound of the giant dragon lying on the treasure mountain and the chiseling of the gnolls coming from deep in the mine made Joan fall asleep with great peace of mind.

……

In the morning, Joan woke up sleepily.

"Good morning, Lady Ilimayas."

Still getting no response from the blue dragon, Joan didn't mind. She got up, lifted her skirt and stepped over the cold fire pit.

There was a thin layer of mist floating over the Broken Mountains in the morning. Joan came out of the cave and washed her face in front of the puddle she found yesterday. She returned to the cave with a refreshed face and a slightly red nose.

"I'm going to visit the village down the mountain."

Ilimayas lazily wagged her tail in response.

Joan went out in the mist and walked down the mountain, thinking about what to buy.

In addition to luck, Joan also has strength.

After all, luck alone is not enough for a little girl to run a business in a wilderness full of dangers.

(End of this chapter)