Learn one small skill every day

After saying that, Bai Miao raised his voice: "Don't push your luck!"

Five steam cultists hidden in the shadows made their move. Seemingly on a trial basis, they charged at Bai Miao from different angles, wearing metal gloves from which steam was constantly erupting, suggesting that their punch could cause great harm.

Bai Miao wondered if these people were not afraid of the priest's life or death.

So Bai Miao pulled out his dagger and slashed at Tina, but the other party seemed to have already prepared to sacrifice Tina. As long as Bai Miao did not defend or dodge, the punch would hit Bai Miao solidly.

It's all about exchanging one life for another.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Bai Miao didn't hold back. Holding his gun in his left hand, he fired four shots in quick succession. The upper bodies of the four steam cultists disappeared, leaving only half of their bodies flying towards Bai Miao. The remaining one tried to turn, but the steam equipment behind him kept spewing steam, causing him to rush towards Bai Miao.

Bai Miao sidestepped, used force dissipation, and stomped the unfortunate steam cultist under his feet.

The entire process took less than a second.

“There are over five thousand more as capable as me. You can figure it out yourself.”

Bai Miao deliberately said, "This is our local gene enhancement technology. I am just one of many clones. Now you can only choose to work for me."

Bai Miao glanced regretfully at the steam cultists at his feet: "The four from before were completely destroyed, so they probably can't be counted in the kill count. Only this one can't let me see the king. Let's exchange his life for thirty Wisdom Gears. I'm not an unreasonable person. At least we can make a deal."

Tina trembled all over, having never witnessed such an overwhelming battle.

No, this is no longer a battle, it's a massacre.

This tragic scene reminded her of an ancient legend from the sea.

Amidst the raging storms, a moving steel island will emerge, relentlessly slaughtering every civilization it encounters.

Whether a civilization is at development level 4 or 5, it will be completely annihilated in the baptism of blood and fire, leaving no land behind.

and many more!

Tina then remembered Bai Miao saying that they could tear apart the continental plates and sink Strombo into the sea...

A terrible guess took shape in her mind.

Could this group of people have come from that steel island?

If we really anger them...

Tina dared not think any further.

“I…I agree to your request. I’ll stall the priest for now, and then I’ll give you the Gear of Wisdom…Can you release him? He’s my brother…”

"But your brother didn't seem to care about your life or death at all just now. You should know better than anyone that under normal circumstances, you would be the first to die if they made a move."

“I know… but to protect the secrets of the Steam Cult, I have no choice but to make this sacrifice.”

Bai Miao was too lazy to say anything more, so he picked up the Gear Cultist on the ground and said, "If you heard me, get out of here and don't bother me again."

Afterwards, Bai Miao gestured to Tina, "Then let's go back now, Priestess Tina. You should know how to talk to the priest, right?"

Tina gripped her skirt tightly with both hands, feeling utterly humiliated.

Upon returning to the team, Tina maintained her composure to the extreme, and immediately said to the priest, "Father Barton, I have consulted with the Gears. These individuals will be of great help to us in eradicating the heretics and recovering the Gears of Wisdom. Therefore, I will lead them to find the whereabouts of the heretics for the next few days. The matter of leading them to the church can be postponed."

Father Barton sighed with some regret and turned the gears on his head.

To Father Barton Giese of the Gear Cult:

Walk forward 300 steps, turn right and walk 50 steps, then turn left and walk 30 steps.

Upon seeing the instruction, Bai Miao immediately made a mental calculation.

Damn it, it seems like this will lead the priest to the alley where he had a secret conversation with Tina earlier.

Bai Miao had already cleaned up the corpses of the Steam Cult members; the dagger melted the half-corpse and absorbed it completely, leaving not a trace.

However, it cannot be ruled out that the priest might discover something fishy from it.

The gears don't give answers; they tell the recipient what to do.

However, this event will prompt the recipient to discover the answer.

From this perspective, the gear is a good guide.

"We need to find a way to interfere with the priest's steps."

Father Barton is already on his way.

He would definitely count in his head, but that would also make him focus all his attention on the numbers and leave him no time to pay attention to his surroundings.

That's the only thing we can use.

Bai Miao took out the Zero Time Lock.

"Time stops!"

Consume 10% of the durability of the Zero Time Lock in exchange for a 1-second freeze in time within a 10m radius.

This range is not clearly displayed, and a stop of only one second would not make much difference to an outsider.

It was enough for Bai Miao to lift the priest nine meters away, which meant making him walk an extra twenty steps straight ahead.

This range is unaffected by external movement, which means that when a moving object enters the time-stopping range, the part of the object that enters the time-stopping range is separated from the outside world.

However, within this range before the time stop is triggered, the part that is connected to the outside world will maintain its motion inertia and remain relatively still, provided that no one applies any additional force to this part to change its motion state.

The above is Bai Miao's understanding.

He saw a passerby right on the edge of the time stop, and his right shoulder unfortunately entered the time stop range.

Then his entire right shoulder floated in the air.

Then a large amount of blood gushed from his shoulder, and he looked at his shoulder that had fallen out of nowhere in agony, howling on the ground.

The scene was so horrifying that even the priest couldn't help but glance at it, but quickly looked away and focused on his instructions.

He was unaware that he had suddenly moved forward nine meters.

"Go call the doctor!"

Tina reacted quickly, notifying those around her to call a doctor. She then tore off a piece of her skirt to use as a bandage to stop the bleeding and temporarily treat the poor passerby.

Chapter 117 Resurrection

Bai Miao pretended not to know anything and asked a question.

"What happened? This person was walking along the street perfectly fine, how did their shoulder suddenly dislocate?"

Tina, her hands covered in blood, shook her head at Bai Miao after the passerby had been taken away: "I don't know either. Maybe he had a pre-existing shoulder ailment?"

"Then you should take us to collect the Gears of Wisdom."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiang realized that the captain had already made a deal with the priest.

The priest's threat is temporarily gone. The next step is to collect the gears or kill the heretics to earn merit.

If we can meet the king, we should be able to find out about the relics, and at least figure out what's going on with this steam engine.

But he didn't expect that Bai Miao had already prepared everything.

"Pent, come here for a second, I have something to tell you."

Bai Miao called Wang Xiang aside and told him all the information Tina had just given him. Wang Xiang then immediately shared the information with others through the Knockers network.

"What?! Captain... such a good thing? It seems that getting involved in the conflict between the two factions and profiting from it is indeed the best solution."

Wang Xiang also began to question his own value.

In the past, apart from the linear dungeon "Qingqiu Rebellion" where I followed the team and didn't do much of the work myself, every single time I relied on my own ideas to find a way to minimize casualties.

What exactly is this Deep Sea Relic doing, and why did it choose such a reliable captain from the start?

"It would be better if we could also coerce or bribe the king. But if he refuses to compromise, we already know that the parts are inside the giant steam engine. Do you think it's possible to forcibly seize them?"

Bai Miao consulted Peng Te's opinion, but more importantly, he wanted to confirm the combat strength of the other knockers.

Previously, it was just a suspicion, but now that the location of the parts has been confirmed, there is absolutely no need to hide it.

The entrance to the giant steam engine was at the top of the palace.

The palace's structure was also very complex, with one layer of buildings stacked on top of another, and even a clock tower built on the top floor.

“If we were to rob them, it would mean we would be going against the entire city of St. Petersburg. But once we enter the palace, we only need to fight the King’s guard. If their fighting strength is not enough to threaten us, we can explain the situation to the King and try to resolve it peacefully first… although I don’t think they will compromise.”

"Let's talk about it after we see the king."

Bai Miao asked Tina to lead the way.

To retrieve the Gear of Wisdom, Tina needs to find the Steam Cultists in the city of Kade, who all possess the stolen gear.

Some people have a lot, while others only have one.

Not every Steam Cultist believes in Tina. Some think that Tina infiltrated the Gear Cult and may have been subtly influenced, and that she brought people here to annihilate them.

Bai Miao was happy to include these rebels in the list of Steam Cultists to be killed.

It took Bai Miao and his group about half a day to collect thirty gears that could be exchanged for merit points.

Tina promised that she would be in charge of exchanging these gears for merits tonight, so that Bai Miao and the others could meet the king tomorrow, and they could go back and rest tonight.

Bai Miao has something on Tina, and he has also made Tina realize that provoking his group will lead to disaster for the entire Stern.

Therefore, Bai Miao was not worried about her playing any tricks, and at the same time, he let her know where the priest was going afterward.

When Tina returned to the Gear Church, she saw the priest praying.

“Father Barton, did you encounter anything after you were guided forward today?”

Patton took a gear out of his pocket: "I found this little gear by following the gear's guidance. I suppose the gear wants me to take it back. Who lost it and let it gather dust?"

Tina examined the gear in Barton's hand and recognized it as a disguise from the head of a steam cultist who had been blown up.

But she shook her head and said, "Why don't we just send this gear back to the factory and put it back in the furnace?"

Father Barton sighed, "Yes, let it return."

Under the priest's arrangement, the gear was quickly sent back to the manufacturing plant.

The gear manufacturing plant operates 24 hours a day, continuously producing new gears to replace worn-out old ones, and then recycling and melting down the old gears to transform them into new ones.

"Gears...gears..."