People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Chapter 179 Ferdinand: Robert!

The Durin have always been a rather mysterious race in Terra.

You won't find a country called Durin on the current Terra map, not because the Durin people are like the Sarkaz, who roam the world, but because the map is too flat and lacks depth.

To put it more simply, most of the Durin cities are located underground in Terra.

Ernst had never seen a Durin, but he had heard many legends about them, such as the very famous old meme: "Why is that operator a bald character?" - he was a Durin.

Because he was lazy and chose the codename "Dulin" for his operator, our strongest vanguard, General Myrtle, once commented, "Even I seem a generation younger than him."

Of course, putting aside these jokes, Ernst had also heard some of the stereotypes that Terrans had about Dulin.

What? A quirky little guy, an optimistic goblin, a fairy soaking in a pool of wine—these things easily reminded Ernst of dwarves and goblins, who appeared frequently in various fantasy stories.

In short, they are a very special race, and they are deeply favored by certain people in Terra with peculiar tastes.

This was the first time Ernst had seen a living Dulin. Although he hadn't seen its true form yet, the Dulin 258 super robot in front of him, which was over three meters tall and had shoulders as wide as a double-door refrigerator, did not violate another stereotype of Dulin held by the Terrans—creative, but most of the time the things it created were not very practical.

A large crowd had already gathered in front of the Dulin 258 robot, curiously examining the large robot. Meanwhile, the Dulin operator, who called herself Miloski Beacon, was clearly quite proud of the popularity of her creation, hiding in the robot's control room.

She pushed down the control lever, and the robot's angular head, Dulin, opened a gaping slit that made people cringe. The pipes that were exposed first spewed out two puffs of black smoke, and then, under Miloqi's control, spewed out flames!

This immediately caused a gasp of surprise from everyone present.

We've all seen flamethrowers before, and fire-breathing robots aren't exactly high-tech, but as a Colombian basking in the glow of science, who doesn't dream of being "Robert!"?

"This is so cool! Even little Dulin understands the beauty of these big mechs! Can I take a look at the internal structure of this mech?"

An excited male voice rang out, and a man in a suit and wearing a Rhine Labs badge squeezed out of the crowd, looking at the Gundam mecha that haunted his dreams with fascination, and couldn't help but reach out to touch it.

But Milo reacted quickly; she took a step back and said somewhat warily:

"I am Milošević, the Beacon of Light. Who are you calling short?"

“Oh, sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet.” The man then realized what he had done, straightened his posture, and tidied his appearance. “I am Dr. Ferdinand Clooney, head of the Rhine Life Energy Department. You can call me Ferdinand, Miss Milogie.”

"I didn't mean to plagiarize your invention. I'm just very curious about this novel tactical mech! Miss Miloch, just imagine if we could change the mech's flamethrower to launch missiles, or add tracked and drilling modules, or significantly increase the thickness of the mech's armor... Oh, this mech could undoubtedly become a great helper for people in various fields!"

Ferdinand grew increasingly excited as he spoke, his expression becoming more and more dreamy, as if he could already see the entire room filled with all sorts of powered mechs. His undisguised praise for the mechs even left Miloki, who had initially been somewhat wary, a little dizzy from his words.

Fortunately, the timely sounding of the flamethrower overheating alarm interrupted Miloš's increasingly divergent "Durin thought process".

"Warning, warning, warning!"

"Ughhhh! It's too hot! It's so hot!" With a scream, Miloqi hurriedly pulled down the control lever, stopping the flames, and opened the hatch at the same time.

With a hiss like a steam train coming to a stop, Milo, whose body was already flushed from the stuffiness, jumped out of the control room. Before she could ask for help, she was met with a bottle of ice water.

"Thank you!"

She took the ice water, gulped down several mouthfuls, and then poured it over her head. Only then did Milo look gratefully at the person who had solved her immediate problem.

“Ernst Shivaish,” Ernst said with a smile, gesturing to Vina beside him. Vina immediately understood and took off her coat, wrapping it around the soaking wet Miloch.

He then continued, "This isn't the place to talk. Shall I take you back first?"

"But my Dulin number 258......"

"This mecha enthusiast is a friend of mine. He'll arrange for someone to keep this mecha safe. It's not too late for you to change your clothes."

Ernst glanced at Ferdinand beside him.

Ferdinand was somewhat surprised to see Ernst here. However, he did not refute Ernst's words. Although the two did not interact much on a daily basis, Rhine Lab was currently collaborating with Kjerag on scientific research projects, making them business partners and friends in a way.

However, the title of "avid mecha enthusiast" made him frown a little.

How can someone as brilliant as Christensen, the most brilliant high-energy physicist on Earth, be described as a mere "enthusiast"? Enthusiasts are nothing more than superficial liking!

What he felt for the mecha was love, the love of a true "pursuer"!

She didn't quite understand the stubbornness and obstinacy in the eyes of the man named Ferdinand Clooney, but as a fellow believer in the Machine God, she could still read the devout faith in Ferdinand's words.

So, Milo hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Being soaking wet was definitely unpleasant, and with the unexpected turn of events during the performance, the Tremont Guard might be arriving soon. It was certainly not a safe place to linger. Furthermore, she maintained a basic level of trust in fellow Mechagods, trusting that Ferdinand wouldn't harbor any strange or blasphemous thoughts towards her Dulin 258.

Therefore, she reported her temporary residence address:

"Please take me to the Wayne Hotel at 38 Independence Day Street. I'm staying there."

...........

Rhine Life, main entrance.

As soon as Ferdinand entered, he bumped into Justin, who was dressed in a suit and about to go out to discuss business.

Justin has been very busy lately. When Christensen and Ernst signed the Matterhorn research project, he thought that this project, which seemed like a huge loss no matter how you looked at it, would be a major disaster for Rhine Life's future operations.

But this is not the case.

Just as the famous mercenary leader "Bridge" Cliff said to Ernst: "Columbia values ​​opportunity the most, and technology is the soil for creating opportunity."

Research on the sky and stars has never been a popular subject. Even in Colombia, it is not as popular as stargazing, which is considered a "pseudoscience".

Therefore, Justin Bieber is not optimistic about this unprofitable plan.

However, history has proven Christensen right, just as it has countless times before.

When news of the exploration of the Star Pod spread, Tremont was in an uproar. An unexplored territory, a virgin land of science, a pie yet to be divided—how much profit could that generate?

Aerospace, even in Ernst's world, is a field known for its high technology, high investment, and high returns, just like nuclear technology and deep-sea exploration. In this world with star pods, once Pandora's box is opened, how could it not attract the curious eyes of countless people?

Some people say that human vision is narrow, only able to see the small patch of land beneath our feet.

But in fact, once you've flown into the sky, you'll always look up at that boundless space, no matter when or where, because it's the hometown you've been to and now yearn to return to!

Therefore, Justin Bieber now has even more business to handle than before, and the vast majority of these business collaborations are more or less related to the Dome Research Station project that Scherrag is currently undertaking.

This amazed him, but also left him with a sense of melancholy.

It seems his vision was still limited. He couldn't compare to Christen, who dared to agree to such a collaboration, nor to Ernst, who dared to openly propose it.

He vowed that from now on, he would keep silent about areas he did not understand and would not easily express any opinions.

Day one of abstaining from certain foods!

"Ferdinand, so what the hell did you bring back? This damn giant robot is your latest masterpiece?"

Hmm, Day 0 of abstaining from certain foods. Starting again tomorrow!

Ferdinand glanced at him, his face full of arrogance:

"Say less, Justin, or one day I'll fill your office with him!"

Chapter 180 It's time for the Flame Demon incident.

38 Independence Day Street, the hotel.

After drying herself with a hairdryer and changing her clothes, Milo emerged from the room looking completely different.

His childlike appearance did not diminish his scientist-like demeanor.

Because that thing doesn't exist at all.

"Thank you, kind people." The little girl scratched her short, curly, burgundy hair, looking at the two men in front of her, who were much older than her in every way, with a mix of embarrassment and gratitude. "There are still many good people in Columbia. I just wonder how my Dulin 258 is doing now."

Ernst and Vina exchanged a glance.

To be honest, you can't just say the truth like that. Ernst doesn't know if there are many good people in Columbia, but with your appearance, the chances of you running into bad people are definitely high.

Terra doesn't have many people with worldly desires; the few who do are mostly focused on various unusual fetishes. For example, a waist fetish, a foot fetish, or a loli fetish.

That's right, Ernst was referring to someone who has a complicated relationship with the streamer Miller Han.

Well, just kidding. Hong Tailang actually looks pretty much to Ernst's liking, and supposedly has a very tragic childhood. But Ernst hasn't seen it. He only knows about her because of that "unstoppable" image imitating the LoL Warwick ultimate, which appeared in a post on the famous He Ye Bar's Heroes of the Ancient Battlefield forum. Later he learned that she was also a character from Arknights, and a pink-haired one with deep sins and a good reputation.

I'm sorry to have met you in this way, Hongxue.

Just in case, Ernst asked a question:

"Miss Milogie, are you from Dulin? And if I may ask a somewhat offensive question, how old are you now?"

"Seven years old!"

"Hiss—bigger than me (the same size as me)." Ernst and Vina gasped in unison.

Is this the legendary legal loli? It's hard to imagine what kind of paradise the Kingdom of Dulin is.

Could their reluctance to engage with the world be due to their fear of triggering some kind of XP World War?

After a moment of reflection, Ernst explained:

"Don't worry about Miss Miloqi's robot. When you have time, you can go to Rhine Life and find Ferdinand, the head of the Energy Department, and he will return the robot to you."

"Rhine Labs?!" Milo looked at the two people in front of her in shock, her voice rising several octaves. "You're employees of Rhine Labs?"

Knowing what she had misunderstood, Ernst immediately waved his hand and clarified, "We are not. We are collaborators with Rhine Lab, and we come from Kjerag."

"Oh—you scared me! I thought I'd accidentally made a fool of myself in front of Rhine Lab."

Milo wiped away non-existent sweat from her smooth forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

Ernst suddenly became curious: "Miss Milogie means that you have ideas about joining Rhine Life?"

"Ah, I haven't really thought about it." Perhaps it was because she had become familiar with Ernst, or perhaps it was because the Dulin people were naturally less wary, but Milo said frankly, "Rhine Labs is one of the most famous large companies in Trimont. Any scientist would want to work for Rhine Labs."

“However, I have other ideas. I’d actually like to find Ernst, the author of Ernst, I love his book. I just found out a few days ago that he’s actually from Sherag.”

Seemingly remembering something, Milo looked up at Ernst and Vina, and asked with some excitement,

"Speaking of which, you're from Sherag, right? Do you know where Ernst lives?"

Vina's lips curled into a smile, a smile that seemed even harder to control than a revolver. She was about to speak when Ernst interrupted her, saying:

"What do you want with Ernst?"

"What else can we do! Urge him to update! It's been so long since Ers released the last volume, more than half a year! And he still hasn't released the next chapter! In my hometown of Jiya City, someone like that would be punished by not being allowed to drink or attend parties until he finishes his manuscript!"

Milo said matter-of-factly, her puffed-up face not looking scary at all, but rather quite cute.

After she finished speaking, she composed herself, tilted her head strangely, and looked at Ernst, who was already trying to retreat and run away, and Vina, who was frantically glancing at Ernst, and asked curiously:

"To be honest, I don't even know your names. You seemed to have introduced yourself, but I was in such a rush just now that I didn't remember. I'm sorry. Could you tell me again? I'd like to give you a small token of my appreciation."

Milo turned around and took out a bottle of wine with a label that she couldn't understand from the cabinet in the room.

Ernst gave Vina a warning glare, who was trying to answer for him first, then replied with a smile:

“I am Norsis Edwis, and this is my great… friend, Vina. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Miloch. As for Ernst, whom you mentioned, I don’t know him.”

"I see. Thank you, Mr. Nosis!" Although somewhat disappointed, Miloqi still very honestly handed the bottle to Ernst, "This is a fine wine from Cliff City—[Soaring to the Clouds]. I only brought this one bottle with me, so I'm giving it to you."

Everyone says that the people of Dulin love wine, and Ernst never believed it before. But now, seeing this little girl, who was barely taller than him when she stood up straight, seriously pulling out a bottle of fine wine from a closet that should be hiding candy and pretty clothes, Ernst suddenly understood what it meant for legends to have some basis.

However, when she expressed her gratitude, she probably didn't expect that she would successfully exceed expectations in less than a day by making a fool of herself in front of the bigwigs of Rhine Life and scaring her favorite novelist into shifting the blame on the spot.

Seeing the pained expression on the face of the girl who was even older than him, Ernst shook his head helplessly and pushed back the hand that Miloqi was offering him the wine.

Under Miloš's somewhat surprised gaze, Ernst took out a photo from a pre-printed resume of Holhayya from his pocket, handed it to her, and explained:

“I appreciate Miss Miloqi’s kindness, but I will not accept the wine. On the other hand, I have another favor to ask of Miss Miloqi.”

Do you recognize this person in the photo? Or have you ever met her?

Ernst came to Colombia with a purpose: to arrest her missing employee. He certainly didn't have time to engage in chivalrous acts. Even if he did have the time, as the Prime Minister, it wasn't his place to do such things.

When Milo's giant robot overheated, there were quite a few people present. Even if Ernst hadn't offered the bottle of ice water, there would have been others.

The main reason he took the initiative was not only because he happened to notice Ferdinand's particular fascination with the giant robot and wanted to do the head of the energy department a favor by letting him take the giant robot away for observation, but also because of Miloch's location.

Milo's robot demonstration was located in the very center of the main entrance avenue, a crossroads of pedestrian traffic. If she continued performing there, it would inevitably attract Horhaia, who was traveling this route back to Tremont.

Knowing Ernst as he did his secretary, she was definitely the type who would jump on any bandwagon that was going to cause trouble.

Trimont is so big, Ernst can't just wander around aimlessly, he'd be wandering around forever.

Moreover, he first needed to confirm whether Horhaya had actually returned to Trimont.

Milo took the photo and frowned at first glance.

Ernst, seeing an opportunity, quickly asked, "How is it?"

"It's so big," Milogie muttered with a hint of resentment.