Marin crossed his arms over his chest. Facing the electric crystal creature, instead of panicking, his attitude seemed a bit aggressive.
"Don't make it look like I'm going to steal something!" He protested to the snowflake crystal, "This is a place for business, right? Why can't I appear here?"
The current in the crystal flickered very regularly. The mechanical female voice did not reveal any emotion: "Hundreds of past work records show us that you have no need to purchase energy-concentrating materials, and will only contact us when you encounter difficulties. In more than twenty times, you made financial requests, In addition, you have asked us to resolve your heterosexual social disputes more than 40 times, which has forced us to spend a lot of additional resources. We have fulfilled the "Refugee Compensation Agreement" signed by you, and the agreement itself exceeds the standards set by the alliance. 240% of the total, so we no longer have any obligations to you. I have provided detailed instructions and relevant documents on this matter during your last visit - now, please state your intention, otherwise I will follow the standard procedure. Please leave our area."
The electric light on its body escapes from the surface of the crystal, forming regular geometric patterns like thin rings. Marin immediately shouted: "I brought people here to buy things! This is just a normal transaction!"
The outermost electric light went out, and the rhythm of the crystal flashing became slower.
“Well,” it said, “we have just been informed that the exchange is going under martial law, but the contract does not stipulate that no transactions should be made on suspicious persons during this period…Who are the customers?”
Milo took two steps forward leisurely, looking at the snowflake crystal curiously.
"Are you a silicon-based civilization?" he asked with interest. "Generally speaking, things in the carbon-based world are not attractive to you, so why are you here selling energy minerals?"
The snowflake crystal deflected slightly, facing Milo head-on. Luo Binhan didn't find any eyes-like organs on it, so it might just be a purely ceremonial gesture.
"We are conducting a study on the transformation of spiritual substances," it replied. "There are various signs that we need some suitable participants, so we want to purchase a certain amount of the White Tower Apprentice Standard Agreement. However, the Alliance does not currently accept us Civilized currency form, so we will conduct market acquisitions in another way and continue to advance direct trade negotiations with Central City."
"Haha, that's it, but I don't have an apprenticeship agreement with me. Can I just use Zhisi coins or something like that?"
"You can pay in any official currency recognized by the alliance." Crystal said.
Milo immediately took out a card from his pocket. An electric arc flashed out of the snowflake crystal, and two alloy robots that were somewhat similar to it floated in.
"Please allow me to take you to the container to view the samples." It said, "During this period, your friends and Malinovras can wait here, and we will ensure their safety until the entire transaction process is terminated."
It led Milo out of the automatic door. As soon as it left, Marin immediately spat, and then said to the robot next to him: "Hey, change to a more comfortable chair and get some food and wine."
One of the robots complied. It suspended three soft chairs of moderate height from the outside, and placed three steaks, chopped vegetables, juice and wine on the table. Marin immediately sat down and devoured it without any ceremony.
Luo Binhan also felt hungry, but not as unscrupulous as Marin. He first tried some juice and minced meat. After a few minutes, there was nothing strange, so he gave this to Migula.
"You don't need to be so nervous." Marin said, "They are 'Holy Fusion Crystal Envoys' - that's more or less the literal meaning. These things rely on electrical signals to communicate internally, so there is no language to use. Transliteration. They are all monsters, but they like to follow the rules the most. They have no interest in other people's affairs, and they will not bother to poison us. If it weren't for the fact that the gate city controls space objects, and their bodies are all energy gas transmission tubes , these guys wouldn’t come to the underground exchange.”
Luo Binhan felt slightly relieved. After taking a few sips of juice, he asked, "What's going on with you and them?"
Marin kept rolling his eyes. He didn't touch a sip of the juice, but poured wine into his mouth as hard as he could. After a while his face began to turn red.
"What else could it be?" He burped and said, "Things about big people and small people...ah, a silicon-based advanced civilization, thinking about some problems that you will never understand in your life. Some of them say it should Like this, some said it should be like that, and then they started fighting over which formula. Of course they couldn't fight in their hometown, so they went to the wild fields outside to have a good time, and no one could kill the other anyway. But guess what? ? There are actually a group of monkeys living in the wild! When they bombarded the whole forest, it burned down! All the monkeys died! Now they figured out the formula and felt a little sorry for the monkeys, so they went to the ashes. They dug out a monkey that was lucky enough not to be burned to death. They cured the monkey, and then signed a resettlement agreement for the monkey based on their advanced moral concepts, built a more beautiful forest for it, and made some more copies. Monkeys, this is the most benevolent thing. But those who died before can't do anything. Unexpectedly, the monkey was still dissatisfied, so they discussed and discussed, and finally put the monkey into space. 'You love Just go wherever you go,' that's what they say. That's how my hometown became an oversized glass ball in space."
Marin had finished his drink and sucked hard from the empty bottle. Luo Binhan handed him his bottle of wine wordlessly.
"Oh, thank you." He said, "I used to be more or less a nobleman. I had land, a manor, a song and dance troupe of two hundred people, and a white horse that can tell whether others have malicious intentions. It is said that it was given by the forest fairy, but... The fever has gone away long ago. These are nothing, the gate city is not bad anyway. My father is even more unlucky. He is a top candidate for king. The consultant mage presented him with an ancient amulet and assured him that this thing is extremely powerful. It is true that it can even withstand the wrath of gods. That night I stood in the garden and told him that the amulet was very beautiful, so he took it off and handed it to me to see - and then there was a bang in the sky, He and the garden were both gone. The amulet in my hand was dead at that time, and I was half burnt, but I was not dead yet. Think about how much time this amulet should have been with him? How much time with me? I'm just a little son, no one will come to assassinate me, so he won't give that thing to me. Who would have thought that in just a few glances, I would become the last living person on the planet! "
He raised the bottle and clinked it with the juice glass in Luo Binhan's hand.
"May we live longer," he lamented. "As the saying goes, 'when two stars collide, tragedy ensues.' We can only pray that we don't... Have you heard that story? A king raised a The nightingale listened to it singing every day. Later, someone gave him a mechanical nightingale that could sing day and night. He was fascinated by it. The live nightingale had to fly away sadly. But the king did not know how to wind up the machine. , the mechanical nightingale stopped singing. He was so sad that he fell ill, and he thought he was going to die. At this time, the living nightingale flew back, and it used its singing to make the king recover. The king was very moved and asked it to stay and sing for him. Then he threw the mechanical nightingale away. The abandoned mechanical nightingale was so resentful that it let a poisonous snake wind up its clockwork, then flew back to the palace and pecked out the king's eyes."
Luo Binhan squirted out the juice.
"This is the most educational story I have ever heard," Marin sighed with a bleak tone. "I should really write a song for it. But it has been widely circulated, so I think someone must have written it for it." There are many songs, even your ancestral grave in the countryside may have three or four songs."
He laughed drunkenly again. Luo Binhan hesitated for a moment, and then said: "This version seems different from what I have heard..."
"How normal! All stories will be distorted in the process of circulation, but the version I told is definitely the most mainstream version."
Luo Binhan was a little confused. He clearly remembered the original version in his mind, and even liked the story quite a bit. And anyway, the part where the mechanical nightingale returns for revenge is too dark for a fairy tale.
He asked inexplicably: "What is the educational significance of this story?"
"It's obvious, my friend," Marin replied. "Rule can do things, and reason can do things too - but don't fucking touch things you can't play with."
