Chapter 1 A Journey to Hearthstone

When the artificial gravity system restabilized, Hao Ren and his party resumed their journey to Hearthstone City. Now Willy understood why there were no Iron Citadel or Free City soldiers on this road – they had received notices from their respective families to hide in a safe place. Perhaps this was a good thing; he no longer had to worry about being captured by the enemy and his head becoming a nobleman's collectible.

"Can you predict the timing of the gravity… Ascension phenomenon?" Nangong Sanba asked Willy.

"The scholars know how to predict it," Willy described with gestures, "They observe the flashes deep in the caves, can hear sounds from afar, and they can give a warning before the Ascension phenomenon occurs. But sometimes it's not always accurate. The Mother Earth sometimes suddenly loses power, and for that, the scholars who fail to predict it receive a whipping to make up for their mistake."

By this time, they had been traveling on the Kingdom Road for a long time. Hao Ren suddenly saw that the road ahead was blocked by a "city wall" made of steel plates, plastic, tires, and other garbage. The wall was several meters high, secured with wire and rivets, and topped with a string of light bulbs. The city gate consisted of two metal fences studded with sharp steel nails. Willy pointed ahead with delight: "This is Hearthstone City!"

Hao Ren looked at the garbage wall, and after a long while, managed to say, "Very… unique."

On a wooden watchtower atop the city wall stood a guard. Seeing strangers approaching, he immediately raised his throwing spears and bows and loudly questioned their identities. Willy immediately stepped forward, raised his hands, and showed his armor: "I am Willy of the Molmore family! Open the city gate and let us in!"

"Willy?" One of the soldiers on the city wall recognized Willy's face, then burst into loud laughter. "Haha, look, our 'warrior' has returned from the battlefield, and both his arms and legs are still attached!"

Another soldier noticed Hao Ren and his party behind Willy: "Who are those people?"

"They are my friends," Willy tried to make his voice sound dignified. He straightened his chest and replied loudly, "I have vouched for them, and they must be protected in Hearthstone City. Open the city gate immediately!"

The soldiers on the city wall seemed eager to continue mocking Willy, but perhaps out of fear that he still had a bit of noble blood in him, they still cranked the mechanism to open the two fences at the city gate. Hao Ren followed his young guide into this "Hearthstone City." He found that this so-called "city-state" was actually an old and dilapidated factory. The original wall outside the factory was almost completely collapsed, so the locals used metal plates and various garbage to fill in the old site of the wall, building a new city wall. Inside the wall, there were large open spaces, which should have been the factory's original open-air storage yard. Now it was covered with various tin sheds, becoming the Hearthstone City's army camp and civilian district. The original factory building was in the very center of Hearthstone City. It was a three-story reinforced concrete building, still intact, and one could even see a few unbroken windows. Red and green colored strips of cloth fluttered on the roof of the factory: Undoubtedly, this was the city lord's palace and the nobles' castle.

Many of the soldiers walking in the civilian district greeted Willy, mixed with jeers and mockery, not all malicious, but rarely with any goodwill. The soldiers who dared to mock directly wore another badge besides the military insignia on their chests, while the ordinary soldiers who only had the military insignia on their chests did not dare to overstep when they saw Willy. Hao Ren guessed that the second badge should be the symbol of noble children.

Willy should also be a nobleman – but he looked like he was about to lose that honor.

In front of the "castle", which was the gate of the old factory, Willy took a few deep breaths before summoning the courage to step forward: "I'll take you to see my father. He is the governor here."

Hao Ren followed the young man into this factory that had been abandoned for at least hundreds of years. The factory had also been thoroughly transformed. Those huge machines were useless. Now they were covered with wooden boards and sheet metal, becoming the bases and partitions for various sheds and staircases. The whole factory looked like a strange and densely stacked cage. Willy led everyone to the top floor of the factory, where the situation was slightly better: this was the original office area, with neat offices and rest rooms.

Willy stopped in front of a large red door. He tidied up his armor before cautiously knocking on the door.

After receiving permission from the person in the room, he pushed open the door and signaled Hao Ren and his party to follow him.

A middle-aged man with thinning hair was sitting behind a desk in the room, looking through documents. He seemed to already know who was coming to visit, so he didn't even look up: "I never thought you could come back alive – I thought you would die in Waster Alley, so that your blood could at least slightly maintain the dignity of our family."

"Father," Willy lowered his head, seemingly accustomed to this kind of ridicule. "I'm back."

The middle-aged man closed the documents in his hand: "I should have said that you are not a member of the Molmore family. You are just a low-ranking soldier living in the Tin Camp, so I want to know why you came here instead of reporting to the barracks after you came back."

The middle-aged man looked up at Hao Ren and his party. These strangely dressed strangers made him frown: "I heard that my son brought back some unidentified vagrants from outside. I thought they were guys as bad as him… Who are you people?"

"Travelers from out of town, just passing by," Hao Ren said in a flat tone. "We fought alongside your son in exchange for permission to rest in your castle."

"Fought alongside?" The governor of the castle repeated the words with a strange expression. "More like saving this cowardly fool from the battlefield."

Willy bit his lower lip and suddenly took out some colorful pieces of cloth from his arms: "Father, I really fought! These are the spoils of war I brought back!"

These pieces of cloth were the badges he had pulled from the Iron Citadel soldiers. The governor of the castle did not show any smile after seeing these badges. He just took the pieces of cloth from Willy with a straight face and then slammed them on the ground.

"Only beggars pick up other people's trash from the ground," the governor scolded Willy. "There is not a drop of blood on your sword. Did these badges come from their owners voluntarily?"

The poor young man fell silent, ashamed, and picked up the pieces of cloth, muttering words that he could not utter.

"Useless thing, only knows to listen to those wizards and their lunatic ravings. You are not even as good as your two sisters. Fortunately, you are just a bastard, or I would be ashamed to death because of you," the governor of the castle muttered with anger, but when he looked at Hao Ren, he restrained his bad expression. "As for you… you have helped the High Tower Kingdom on the battlefield after all. Hearthstone City welcomes brave warriors like you. You can find a place to rest in the tin area at the bottom of the castle. You are free to come and go at any time, but do not wander around the castle at will."

Hao Ren had many questions to ask the man in front of him, but he found that the other party was probably not an easy person to communicate with, so he temporarily suppressed what he was thinking and decided to inquire about the situation of this "world" elsewhere in "Hearthstone City". They said goodbye to the governor of the castle and then left the place under Willy's guidance.

The governor's young son did not get any comfort and relaxation from this meeting. In fact, he was almost sweating when he left his father's room. Lily asked curiously: "Looks like your dad doesn't like you very much?"

"I'm just a bastard, and in the High Tower Kingdom, bastards are not considered family members. The law stipulates that we must have the same status as the lower-ranking of our parents, even the king's bastards are the same, let alone someone like me," Willy said with a wry smile. "My father wants me to be a soldier, but I'm not made for that. I prefer to be with the scholars. They tell the stories of this world before, and I think that's more interesting than fighting."

Hao Ren's heart moved: "The stories of this world before? Can you let me meet those 'scholars'?"

Willy nodded happily: "Of course, I can arrange for you to meet Master Oro. He is the most knowledgeable person in this place – although my father doesn't like him, the master is still highly respected in Hearthstone City."