31. Gotham: Fainted!

39.

The good news is that the woman named Aria was not heartbroken by Wayne's rejection. She seemed to be in good spirits and looked like she could still go out to the fields and plow another ten acres.

Bad news, she actually pulled out the hoe at Wayne Manor.

Dick Grayson was still struggling over whether to stop her, but Lincoln March, who was supposed to be socializing with other guests in the main hall of the banquet, showed up here.

Nightwing was confident that he was hiding well enough that the other party couldn't follow him here without being discovered. The only possibility was that Lincoln March was interested in Aria, so he had been keeping an eye on her whereabouts.

Considering Lincoln March's financial background and his active involvement in charity in recent years, Dick did not think this was a romantic contact. Almost everyone at the dinner party knew that Mayor Lewis had a personal bodyguard beside him. In addition to the time she and Bruce talked alone, many people actually wanted to "chat" with her.

——Who knew that the person in question would come here to dig for earthworms?

"What are you doing?" Without any facial expressions, the man's voice in the dim light could not hear any emotional fluctuations, and the sudden sound could easily scare some people who were concentrating on their work.

Although Aria was a little surprised by the other party's appearance, at least she did not react as violently as Lewis and Marnie who jumped out of the bushes. She just shrugged lightly and showed him the ancient spots on her hand.

A group of dug out earthworms twisted in the woman's palm. Aria didn't expect that the process of digging ancient spots would be so realistic after installing the mod. In order to avoid causing discomfort to the insect-phobic people, she quickly closed her palm again.

Because she couldn't quite remember the man's name, Aria pulled up the character profile and took a look. "...digging for earthworms, Mr. Lincoln March."

I thought that the other party would sneer at this dirty-looking thing, or appear kind on the surface but complain madly in his heart and wish she could get out of his sight immediately. But Lincoln March knelt on one knee very naturally, and the mud also stained his exquisite suit pants very naturally.

Aria raised an eyebrow silently. "Are you here to avoid socializing, Mr. March?"

Lincoln avoided answering. He reached out and gently pried her hand open. The earthworms were still tangled inside.

"I saw they were tangled," he said gently. "Do you want to help untie them?"

Aria couldn't say that she was digging ancient spots, otherwise if she really dug out treasures, it would be inconvenient to deal with the ownership of the items with Wayne Manor.

Her silence was taken as a tacit agreement by the other party. Lincoln March kindly spread out her hands and explained, "Their bodies are very fragile. I don't think you can complete such a task alone, so I'll see if I can help."

The sticky dirt on his clean fingers from touching the earthworms didn't bother Lincoln March at all. He was over 1.9 meters tall, and even when he crouched, he looked like a rugged landscape stone. Yet, his hands were gentle and deft, and after a few backward and flipping movements, he "disbanded" the earthworms without breaking them.

The operation was a complete success, and the blue-eyed man chuckled softly. The three rescued earthworms tried to crawl up his palm, but he carefully turned them around and watched them crawl down from his fingertips and back into the soil.

"Mr. Lincoln March, your hands..." Aria pointed at his stained fingers. She searched her pockets but couldn't find a tissue. She should have snatched one from the party. But how could she have known someone would be so free as to untie a tangled earthworm? Wouldn't the creature be able to untie itself in a moment?

"It's okay," Lincoln March wiped his fingers clean with a pocket square from his suit. He even had another one for Aria. "This little bit of dirt is nothing to me. When I was a kid..."

The farmer was afraid that he would take the opportunity to express some nostalgic thoughts, so he quickly invited Lincoln March to the party: "You are such an important person, everyone will notice your absence immediately. How boring the party will be without you. If you don't know the way back, I still remember it! I will send you back in one piece right away..."

Lincoln March wanted to say a few more words, but the woman was much stronger than he had imagined. He was pushed a few steps like pulling an onion in dry land, and he could no longer stand in the right place to say the right words.

“…”

Dick Grayson was about to burst out laughing. If he had to vote, this would definitely be the best show of the day!

…

The new mayor had no property in Gotham, so it was natural for him to live in the mansion that was previously allocated to successive mayors by the city hall. He naturally returned here after the banquet.

Lewis is a nostalgic person. I wonder if he really brought some furniture from Pelican Town - except for a slight change in the room layout, the furniture here looks more and more familiar to the farmer.

She even saw the lottery machine in the corner - the lottery ticket system was originally established to encourage everyone in the town to help each other, but later, as the lottery tickets were basically bought up by Aria, the mayor's manor became a place where farmers regularly picked up their goods.

Aria usually saves up a batch of redemption tickets, and one night after fishing, she rushes into Lewis's house just before the mayor's manor closes, takes out more than ten redemption tickets from her inventory, and has a cordial meeting with various seeds.

When the farmer saw the prize redemption machine, her DNA moved. She coughed twice and moved closer to Lewis: "Um, the mayor..."

Lewis stroked his mustache and had a bad feeling: "What?"

She tried to make herself look like she was genuinely concerned about the mayor's job: "Why is the lottery machine here?"

"Ah, that one." Lewis suddenly realized something. He walked over and tapped the lottery machine like he was filming an old TV show, grinning smugly. "You didn't expect I'd bring Pelican Town's traditions here, did you?"

"Many people here are too indifferent. We need some rewards to remind them of the joy of helping others."

Lewis frowned, and he obviously had other concerns: "But... I'm a little worried that people will become the kind of people who do good deeds only after getting a lottery ticket. Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?"

The farmer stepped forward and patted Lewis on the shoulder with his strong hand. Although there was no health bar, the mayor's body trembled obviously with the muffled sound: "Mayor, don't worry about this problem, just leave it to me to promote it."

Aria's expression was solemn, as if she was discussing a matter of great importance concerning the fate of Zuzu City. "Give me a try first."

"When I get out, I'll tell everyone I meet that good deeds will be rewarded. Even if there aren't any, Mayor Lewis will reward them... The award you gave me is irrefutable proof."

Even so, his eyes never left the prize redemption machine: "Taking advantage... No, good news always spreads fast in Zuzu City."

This is a good idea, but Lewis seems a little troubled: "But you haven't met the conditions for getting the redemption ticket yet..."

The farmer did not like to hear this. Aria's dark eyes flashed, filled with the light of devotion to Zuzu City.

"Can this city survive without you? It's just holding on." It could, but the farmer wouldn't say that. She pursed her lips and said seriously, "By protecting you at this dinner, I'm protecting the future of Zuzu City."

"If contributions like this can't be rewarded, then who else can do good things that will benefit Zuzucheng?"

Lewis was confused and somewhat pleased by what he said. He took out the redemption ticket from his pocket and said, "Then..."

"Thank you, Mayor!" Although he looked calm, the farmer's fingers turned white from the strain he put on receiving the lottery ticket, fearing Lewis would change his mind and withdraw the reward. "You are truly the best mayor and mayor I have ever met!"

Anyway, she had only seen a mayor and a town head in this game, so it wasn't against her will to say this.

Put the orange lottery ticket into the machine, the machine in the corner clicked and shook a few times, and a bag of seeds fell out of the shipping box.

The farmer knows the order in which the machine delivers its items—a fixed set of items first, then a group of items in a loop—but she still cheers for the machine every time.

"Great! It's carrot seeds!" Libao will soon have a carrot field of his own. Aria couldn't imagine how happy he would be knowing he could have a buffet, but just picturing that picture in her mind was enough to make her smile.

"Good night, Mayor." The farmer stuffed the carrot seeds into the only empty grid and waved to Lewis. "Next time there's something like this, please call me."

She was still waiting to redeem the items at the back of the prize redemption machine.

The mayor's residence is a two-story building. The surrounding environment is equipped with surveillance cameras as abundant as the greenery in this area. In addition, rumors that the mayor will be assassinated have been rampant recently, and many eyes may be watching Lewis at this moment.

The new mayor had no idea that he might be monitored even when he went to the toilet, so he saw the farmer off on the second floor.

"Remember to help me spread the word!" Lewis said goodbye at the top of his voice - Gotham is much bigger than Pelican Town. He can't let everyone know the news through a rally. He has to rely on farmers running around the city from door to door.

"Got it!" The farmer followed suit and stood downstairs of Lewis's mansion, making trumpet shapes with his hands and shouting, "Why don't you worry about me doing things?" As long as the reward was enough, she would always do her best.

Aria even did things that didn't earn her any reward. She paid for Pam's house in every game - you're kidding, where there are farmers, how could there be people who drink every day and have to live in an RV!

Everyone should go to work happily every day, go on vacation to Jiangdao, and buy pure natural organic food produced by farmers!

…

Aria disappeared at the end of Lewis's sight. The mayor felt that this day was so tiring that he just wanted to wash up and lie down on the bed.

……wrong.

Lewis suddenly looked up at the sink, and a question that he would never think about on weekdays suddenly popped up in his mind.

Isn't the farmer's farm in Pelican Town? Where does she stay at night in Gotham?

Lewis stared at himself in the mirror, and when he came to his senses after a while, this fleeting and elusive thought also disappeared.

It must be because of his old age and being too tired, he thought, and his mind involuntarily became blank.

The new mayor of Gotham decided to use cold water to clear his head. He scooped water from the tap with both hands and splashed it on his face. The refreshing coolness quickly dispelled his fatigue. But when he looked in the mirror again, a sixth sense based on biological instinct suddenly hit him.

A black shadow, an owl that usually only stood on a branch and cried at night, now grew arms and legs and stood behind him.

If it were to speak, the voice would surely be obscure, like iron that has been sleeping in an underground river for a hundred years, with every word rusted.

What arrived before words were its sharp claws - Lewis only felt a huge and irresistible force suddenly exerted on his head, and his entire head was forced to bury in the water just now, as if he was buried alive in a coffin built by his own hands.

And through the layers of water, he finally heard an extremely unnatural, judgmental voice.

"Lewis... the Court of Owls has sentenced you... to death."

…

Walking on the path, the silence all around made her feel like something was missing. After thinking for a long time, Aria hummed the game theme song.

It is spring now, but the most impressive thing for farmers is still the summer music. Humming hop songs can help them get through the day's work without any pain in their waists or legs, and they can wake up on time at six o'clock the next day full of energy. What a wonderful farm life!

Humming happily, the penniless farmer had no intention of staying in Zuzu City. It was now twelve-thirty in the evening, and she had so much explosives on her. Of course, she would go to the dock tonight to find a box and return to Smallville, and then blast the mine all day the next day.

Aria still remembered seeing the crocodile man in the mine, which meant that there was more than one way to get to the farm from Zuzu City. Unfortunately, she forgot to ask when they met last time. Next time, she must find out which path to take. After all, there was still some distance from the mayor's mansion to the dock, and she didn't want to faint halfway.

But thinking that she would soon have endless barrels of wine, the farmer couldn't help but chuckle out loud. Her laughter was so wild that it even scared away the birds in the distant woods.

Woohoo—

An owl's cry followed the flutter of birds' wings; it was owl hunting time. Aria was thrilled by the sound—she'd always thought the random event of receiving an owl's cry as a reward for furniture, a stone owl statue, was a farm-only event*, but she hadn't expected to get one in the city without even sleeping! Wouldn't she have to move the statue back to the farm and use it as furniture?

The farmer, who acted promptly, immediately began searching the surroundings for the owl statue. There were too many bushes nearby, and some of them needed to be pulled aside to see what was behind them. She stuck her butt out and searched for a long time. When she was searching the next bush, something cold suddenly rested on her neck.

Aria looked up in confusion, her eyes falling on the other person's silver and black attire - the man's black equipment was like paint splashed in the dark night, and the bright silver part absorbed all the moonlight in the current space as soon as it appeared, so cold that it gave off a chill with murderous intent.

She was a little unsure whether this was an owl statue with a skin mod or a person dressed like an owl, but when she looked up and saw the bright health bar above his head, the farmer suddenly realized -

This is strange.

"...Aria," he murmured softly, "The Court of Owls sentences you to death today."

The owl man suddenly moved, and the old and shiny knife instantly brushed across Aria's neck, scraping off a quarter of her blood and a string of blood beads that was quite astonishing.

Blood flowed down her neck onto the grass, but she quickly drew her sword and fought back as if she didn't feel any pain. The two cold weapons collided with a metallic sound, and they saw each other's eyes clearly as the swords crossed.

Eyes that belonged to an owl and another pair of eyes that were as black as the night.

It was obvious that Aria had been trying to escape from the fight. She used various objects she could find everywhere as obstacles to increase the distance between the two. However, the death sentence of the Court of Owls was never false. The other party followed the weather like a real ghost, waiting for an opportunity to take her life.

"I don't know when Zuzucheng will kill you for riding a motorcycle without a helmet." At such a tense moment, the woman was still in the mood to tease. She threw a bomb at him, but after the other party dodged it, the bomb quickly exploded behind her. The heat wave and sparks made the battle at this time more like a struggle in hell - whoever loses will go down first.

He swung his sword and hit the opponent's arm. Due to the forced rebound effect of the sword, the owl man took a step back uncontrollably. Aria felt that he was a bit like a fly encountered in a mine, hitting one step and then retreating one step, then hitting one step and then retreating one step, and then quickly catching up again. It has been an hour. If the stairs had not been used up, she really wanted to perform a spot escape into the sewer for him on the spot.

"The traffic police who issue tickets don't chase me so often, right? You really are a bit clingy."

The owl man didn't say anything, he was as silent as the weapon in his hand. Aria swung her sword again to fight, using the pedicure sword technique to sneak attack the opponent all the way, and she managed to wear him down to only one-fifth of his health. If she stabbed him eight more times, she would probably be able to kill an owl.

However, at two o'clock in the morning,

AAA agricultural and sideline products dealer fainted!

————————

I wanted to write about Lincoln March squatting, but it reminded me that many foreign friends don’t know how to do the Asian squat…

*Owl statues are a random event on the farm. If you hear an owl during a cutscene at night, you'll have a chance to find an Owl statue the next day that can be used as furniture. Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution between 2024-07-19 17:28:55 and 2024-07-20 23:59:44~

Thanks to the little angels who provided the nutrient solution: Drinking Ice for Ten Years (39 bottles); Not Yet (21 bottles); Huang (20 bottles); Lu Shu and Qu Ru (13 bottles); Aether (10 bottles); Rong Yue Dan Feng and Xin Zhu Nan Yun (5 bottles); Xiao Xiao Xiao Hang (3 bottles); Ri Mu Rong Jin and Lord Ku Ku Lin's Dog (1 bottle);

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!