Haidu: Top of the Tower

Chapter 14 The Piglet Trapped in the Cobweb

In the eyes of a young man of Milady's age, a year's sailing period sounds like an infinitely long time.The duel with Dao Mingke and the encounter with "Tears of Chaos" seemed to be yesterday's events. However, she just turned her head and suddenly found that she had been sailing at sea for six or seven months, and half a year had passed before she knew it. up.

During the past six months, Milady felt as if she had experienced all the adventures of other people's lives.

They not only battled the waves and escaped the poisonous spears of barbarians; they also cheated in the fake port and almost handed over the goods to a group of suspicious-looking beards.Once in the middle of the night, many long sea monsters as slippery as snakes climbed into the Night Castle, and dragged several sleeping people to the bottom of the ship; Sea ship, it turned out that the other party was a pirate who hadn't opened for a long time.As for the breakdown of the fresh water machine, the food being washed away, and the hallucinating sea mushrooms that the crew accidentally ate...it is hardly a big deal.

Today's Milady is several centimeters taller, half a head taller than ordinary men; her muscles are tight, firm, vigorous and powerful, and she has lost the softness she had in Haidu long ago.After being tanned, her skin seemed to be soaked in honey, and shone with a sweet brown luster in the sun; sometimes she would be surprised by the reflection when she walked by the mirror: it turned out that the smooth and powerful shadow in the mirror, It turned out to be myself.

If Itami saw Milady at this moment, he would probably smile, right?

However, it may not be "at this moment".

Because at this moment, Milady is in a situation where it is impossible for her mother to laugh if she sees it.

"Lu Ranzhou," she was complaining in a low voice, "if you hadn't been sailing with us for more than half a year, I would have thought you were here with them. Tell me, what should we do?"

In the past half a year, the captain, who had already become a close friend with her, hung aside at this moment, clearing his throat without embarrassment.

He seemed to want to touch the rope net behind him with his backhand, but the movement vibrated the rope on his body, and was just pushed by the night wind. He suddenly swayed in the air, and Milady and other crew members who were also hanging on the rope net nearby, Lian Dai swayed back and forth together, and several people exclaimed in low voices.

They are like prey caught in a spider's web, waiting for the spider to come.

Several tall masts, removed from ships at sea, formed the support poles.They are like giant sweater needles, a net of rope spread between the "sweater needles", and also like a loosely woven piece of sweater material.On the rope net at this moment, there is often a crew member of the Night Castle tied to the place where the ropes are entangled, and is only fixed by a few thin ropes at a height of more than ten meters in the air.

They had been hanging for several minutes.

Each rope is only one finger thick, frail and slender to worry about, but it can lift the weight of seven or eight people, including a big man like Dao Minke; there is no point of strength in mid-air, even if they untie the rope, there is no way. Nowhere to fall - the rope net does not touch the ground, if you want to fall from more than ten meters in the air, you have to break your leg?
What made Milady angry the most was that the ropes on their bodies were tied by Lu Ranzhou a few minutes ago.

"I think everyone has worked hard for half a year, and it's worth taking a vacation..." Lu Ranzhou coughed again, and said, "Who would have thought that such a thing would happen?"

Two days ago, the Night Castle moored in the port of a small town called "Shipu County" with the joy of going on vacation.Although the city is small, the crew of the Night Castle spent a pleasant two-day vacation in Shipu County. Food, wine, play and rest are naturally not a problem; when it was time to set sail on the third day, they found that there was an extra ship wandering in the port. Circus ship.

Milady didn't expect that Lu Ranzhou was eight years older than her, but still acted like a child. As soon as she saw the wandering circus, she gave all members an extra night off on the spot; it is said that they are called wandering circuses. The circus, because of this kind of ship that combines circus and carnival, sails everywhere on the sea all year round.

In summer, they travel far, reaching Chang'an and Haidu; Wherever you go, there will be entertainment and performances for several days.

In order to specially entertain the crew on the Night Castle, the wandering circus enthusiastically stated that they would set up a venue as soon as possible, and hold an extra show just for the Night Castle.

At dusk, most of the crew came to a large piece of wild grass outside Shipu County with great interest—the usual dark and barren wild grass, tonight stars and lights, drums and music swayed, and there were stands of different sizes. The tent, the smell of grass mixed with the aroma of roasted marshmallows wafted in the firelight.

"Adventurers from the sea, please have fun!" The host of the circus announced from a high platform: "In three or ten minutes, the circus will present a unique skill show for you. Make sure you will never forget it!"

Although there was a lot of applause, no one took it too seriously. After all, a wandering circus always has a tone that is as sensational as it wants.

Song Feiyao and several other sisters went into the "Great Labyrinth from which you can never get out again", and sure enough, you didn't come out for a long time; there was a sign "The most beautiful sea monster in the world" hanging on a tent , you need to charge five copper coins to enter; Milady walked along the sign of "Including the Novelty Zoo You Haven't Seen" all the way, and found herself in front of a fence, which was full of various small institutions, Jumping around, lively.

"Girl," a man wrapped in a shabby robe greeted Milady and said, "Come and see! They are so fun. Not only can they understand human speech, they can also do math problems and dance at your command... "

Large-scale institutions adopt advanced mechanism construction techniques, and they can obey orders; but even they can't think and solve problems like humans, let alone these small institutions in the wandering circus?

"Let me see," she said interestedly, and paid for the ticket.

As soon as she entered the garden, all kinds of small organs immediately turned their heads of different shapes at her.Some stepped on two slender metal sticks and circled her in a circle; some took their heads off and raised them up for Milady to caress; some suddenly dropped several balls from their bodies, It lay on the ball with its belly on its own. Milady looked at it for a few seconds, and found several identical smaller organs drilled out of the ball, and couldn't help being amused.

"What is four plus one?" the man asked.

A small organ with a round body suddenly unfolded a row of thin metal sheets behind it as if it opened its screen. Counting, there were exactly five pieces.

"Girl, try it too, you can do addition and subtraction within five." He said with a smile, "Look, after all, it only has five tails, so it can't do big numbers and non-integer numbers."

Milady asked several times according to the words, and found that the small agency could indeed answer them one by one.

Curious, while the man was greeting others, she carefully observed the structure, material and type of mechanism of the small organs for a while.

Once she put her mind to it, the small organs that seemed very novel at first quickly turned into different modules built by familiar techniques in her eyes. After a while, Milady roughly figured out all of them. He even has a general understanding of how to "forcibly hijack" - the so-called "forced hijacking" refers to finding out the gaps and principles of the internal structure of the mechanism, and taking away its control right from the mechanism owner.The lower the level of mechanism technique, the easier it is to hijack.

The mechanism that can do math problems, in fact, only uses a very simple sound touch technique.

The number of addition and subtraction within five is limited. You only need to "print" the elements that constitute the problem into the mechanism in advance, and then set up the corresponding response-for example, when you hear the words "four", "plus", and "one" When it is in the same order, it spreads five tails regardless of the order. When someone asks a question, it looks as if it can do math problems.

Although the technique is simple, it is interesting for Milady to decipher the thought they put into building the mechanism one by one.

For example, in order to form the impression of "animals", the control techniques for these small organs are very hidden. Some can listen to music and dance, some can interpret human gestures, and some have activation devices hidden on their backs... I don't know if it was because Milady's exploration made the man in the old robe unhappy, but she always felt that the little agencies seemed to be getting more and more irritable; The model organ took a bite.

"Stay a little longer," the man ignored her wound, but tried hard to keep her: "They can still fight!"

As soon as the words fell into her ears, Milady had at least four or five kinds of tricks in her mind, allowing them to perform a fight.

Maybe it was because she was injured a little bit, and she felt a little strange in her heart, but she still turned around and left the zoo.

Milady didn't have a lot of money on her, and she watched the crew disappear into the tents one by one. She was holding a few remaining copper coins, and she didn't make up her mind for a long while who should take care of the business, so she was caught by Lu Ranzhou up.He poked his head out from a big tent, just in time to see Milady, his eyes lit up immediately, and he greeted her, "Come in quickly, we still have someone to send!"

"What are the police doing?" Before entering the black tent, Milady looked up at the sign, and found that it said "Can you stand still?", but she still had no idea.

"It is said that they have a large-scale mechanism, no matter how many people come to tug-of-war, it can also drag people down." Lu Ranzhou pulled her into the door and said happily: "If we stand still for a minute, we will You can win fifty pokes of chestnut wine. Although you are not as good as Dao Mingke, you are better than nothing."

"Are you just talking like that when you ask someone to help?" Milady looked around the dim tent, dumbfounded, and found that he had called a lot of people, and saw Dao Mingke waving at her not far away.

"Where is the mechanism?" she asked. "Where is it going to drag us down? Why is there a tent?"

"That's to keep the sense of mystery," Lu Ranzhou said with a very knowledgeable look, "After a while, the tent will slide down, and the mechanism will appear behind us. Do you see this rope? Hold on to the rope, don't As soon as it came up, it was pulled down."

"That's right, this gentleman explained it very clearly!" A circus man came up and said to Milady courteously, "Miss, take two steps here and step on this rope... yes, come on." , please fasten these ropes on your body, fasten them tighter, and I will help you... This is to ensure everyone's safety. Our mechanism is too powerful, if you pull it like this, you will all collide together, It’s easy to cause accidents. The other end of the rope is wound around the mechanism and separates you, even if you pull it down, it’s okay.”

Dao Minke snorted. "I want to see what mechanism can drag me down."

The circus man laughed "haha".Suddenly, a drum sounded outside the tent, and immediately afterward, Milady heard a loud countdown.

"There are still ten—nine——"

The circus man didn't say a word, and hurried out of the door, as if he was afraid that he would be beaten if he walked too slowly.

"We're not going to just miss the show, are we?" said one of the crew members rather regretfully.

... As it turns out, they didn't miss it.

Not only did I not miss it, but this performance was really unforgettable for a lifetime.

At the same moment when the countdown ended, the tents above their heads were lifted down and taken away, revealing a piece of night sky above their heads in an instant.Before Lu Ranzhou had time to tell everyone to stand firm, everyone felt several tall shadows erected one after another around them; at the same time, the ropes around their feet and their bodies were suddenly tightened and shortened, leaving nothing under their feet, before they could react. , have been lifted into the night sky one after another, some head down, some crooked.

At first, the crowd burst into exclamation and laughter, thinking that the circus mechanism had made a mistake, and instead of dragging them down, they lifted them up; however, they scrambled around Look, but only saw the starry sky and an empty field of wild grass.

Several masts stood silently on both sides of the crowd; the ropes that bound their bodies were all tied to the masts one by one, weaving into a net.

"Eh?" Milady heard not far away, Dao Mingke asked hesitantly: "There is no mechanism. Huh? Where did these poles come from?"

"Don't pull the rope!" Lu Ranzhou resolutely shouted, "Don't move anyone!"

Under the night, the music, yelling, chatting and laughing, did not know when to fall, and at this time the last string finally died.The heat just now hadn't completely dissipated, but the wild grass fell silent; the moonlight shrouded the lights, and the wind brought a faint human voice, which seemed to be screaming or shouting, and I couldn't hear it clearly.

The hot sweat on everyone's back was covered with a layer of cold air.Doubt, bewilderment and uneasiness slowly climbed into everyone's heart along the rope net.

"What, what's going on," someone murmured, "there's a sudden silence?"

On the wild grass covered with all kinds of tents and facilities, there was almost no movement at this moment.The rest of the crew of the Night Castle seemed to have disappeared into the depths of the tent, only the circus people occasionally flashed past the tent, turning a deaf ear to the shouts of people on the mid-empty rope net.

After a while, the voice of the circus host sounded through the night: "Report the number! How many piglets do you have?"

As soon as the words fell, the man who had politely asked Milady to tie the rope just now replied loudly from under the net: "Eight heads!"

Only then did reality gradually seep into the minds of the piggies.

"Piggy? It's over, it's over," a crew member murmured, "So we've encountered a human trafficker."

"So that's how it is... when they don't have a chance, they are a circus, and when they have a chance, they are a trafficker." Lu Ranzhou muttered. "I heard that people occasionally get lost while watching a performance. Could it be that they were all taken away? But this circus is really brave enough to plan to swallow us all up."

Milady, who grew up in Haidu's laws and rules, couldn't help being surprised at this moment. "Who is it sold to? We are all living and feeling people, and they can really give people to..."

Before she finished speaking, she also felt her innocence.

In the next few minutes, the eight piglets were hanging on the rope net, listening to the sound of counting one after another on the wild grass.One person was caught in the fortune-telling tent, two people were caught in "The Most Beautiful Sea Monster", and four were caught in the Youjue Great Labyrinth... All together, it is exactly the number of crew members who will come out to play on the Night Castle tonight. Not even one of them ran away. It seems that this circus has been fully prepared and is also a veteran.

From the novelty zoo, came the voice of the man in the old robe, who seemed very unhappy: "I don't have any!"

... No wonder he was so enthusiastic about staying by himself.

The circus host replied loudly: "Everyone who doesn't have a piglet in his hand, come and help!"

Seeing that Lu Ranzhou didn't speak for a moment, as if he was thinking about what to do, Milady turned her head and looked around, and soon became suspicious.

"Of course we can't go down," she thought for a while, temporarily forgetting her limbs that were gradually aching and swollen, and asked in a low voice, "But how can they reach us? Will they put us down and then catch us?"

"That's great. As long as I touch the ground with my feet, whoever dares to come up, I can beat them into fertilizer and water the grass." Dao Mingke said immediately.

Their hands are still barely free, especially if there are fighters like Dao Mingke among the piggies, how can the circus arrest people?Milady looked back and forth on the wild grass twice, her brows twitched suddenly, and she said, "Look over there!"

From a large cart two men brought down a large bucket; they carried the bucket to a tent, put the bucket down, and each put on a mask.

Milady stared at them, feeling more and more ominous, until the two men untied a pipe from the barrel and put it into the curtain of the tent, she finally understood.

"They even have anesthesia gas ready?" Lu Ranzhou also saw it, and said, "It's really convenient, just spray it into the tent... I don't know how they plan to spray us unlucky bastards. Mi Lai Di, you have a lot of ideas, think of a way."

Even though he was being hung in the air like a piglet, he still listened slowly and in no hurry.In the past six months, Lu Ranzhou has formed a habit: no matter what problem he encounters, he asks Milady to find a solution first—this seems to be a test for her and also a training for her.

Milady pursed her lips, her eyes swept over the wild grass, tents, and rope nets, and finally raised her voice and asked, "Which one of you has weapons, mechanisms, or other useful things?"

"I have a small knife on me," said one of the crew members with a mournful face. "The problem is, cutting the rope is not an option. You are lucky if you don't fall to your death."

"It's all right, get your knife ready first." Milady asked again, "Where's the trap? Who brought the trap?"

Everyone just came out to play tonight, and they didn't expect to fall into such a situation, and they didn't bring much with them.Only a female crew member who was hung not far from Dao Minke said: "I just bought a small mechanism today, but I'm afraid it's useless...it can only play music."

"Playing music?" Milady thought for a while, her frowning brows suddenly relaxed. "What kind of music organization is it? I found that 'communication musicians' are very popular in Shipu County. Is that the one you bought?"

"Yes, because it's the cheapest. But..."

Very well, Milady exclaimed in a low voice, overjoyed: "Pass it to me!"

Among the institutions that can play music, "Communication Musician" is a particularly popular product in recent years, and it is about to squeeze other music institutions out of the market.

There is no other reason, because the core materials used by "communication musicians" can produce a kind of entanglement resonance between similar materials; coupled with the corresponding mechanism, when two "communication musicians" get together, they can Exchange and copy the music in each other’s stomachs—buy a “communication musician” with ten pieces of music and go out to sea. When you come back, you may have collected hundreds of folk songs from other places, sailor songs, and long poems sung by tourists... …and maybe make a few friends along the way.

"What do you want it for?" Lu Ranzhou asked with great interest.

"I spent half a day in a novelty zoo, which is full of small traps." Milady replied, "We have no foreign aid, and we have no weapons. If we want to get out, I think we can only rely on the traps of the circus itself."

At this time, the female crew member had handed the "communication musician" to Dao Mingke, and Dao Mingke twisted his body and tried to extend his arms, trying to pass it to the next person.He was big and heavy, and with such a movement, the rope net was immediately skewed; the person who had been sitting under the rope net just now also realized something was wrong, looked up, and immediately shouted: "What are you doing? You want to try it first. Try our anesthetic gas?"

(End of this chapter)