Chapter 2: Warmth and Coldness in the Heart
After spending twenty minutes washing up and changing into his cleanest clothes, Ma Long walked down from the attic, clutching the manuscript of "The Little Prince" as he strode through the narrow streets of the slum, which were pockmarked with potholes, towards the only tram stop in the area.
Although it's never quite on time, taking the tram is still the most convenient way to get to those publishers in the city center.
On the dimly lit streets of the slum, every now and then there would be two or three men with missing arms and legs, sitting in the sunlight yet still looking listless. Among them were humans, dwarves, elves, beastmen, as well as a larger number of mixed-blood individuals.
They were once soldiers, full of passion and blood for Loring's freedom, hailed as heroes.
The war is over, but all that can be obtained is a meager consolation money, and then sink into the slums, with no one to turn to.
Ma Long let out a light sigh and walked forward with his head down in silence, he couldn't help these wounded veterans whose passion had long gone cold.
As he turned the corner, a massive steam locomotive suddenly appeared in front of Malong, puffing out white smoke and making an unpleasant screeching sound.
"Hey, Malong! Look who's come to see you!!! And where are you planning on going?"
A sturdy and round-shouldered young man with a cow's head took off the large sunglasses on his collapsed nose bridge, waving hello with only three fingers on one hand and a dragon-shaped tattoo.
"Ah, Esther?"
Ma Long looked up and took a glance, his memory told him that the cow-headed boy's name was Aister, and he and the original Ma Long - Lister were iron buddies who had played together since childhood, but moved out of the slum last year.
It's not strange at all, after all, even in a slum, there will occasionally appear millionaires.
Aster's dad was this kind of guy with both luck and ability defying the heavens, even though his appearance was just that of a stupid-looking, rough-around-the-edges, cow-headed man.
As for Ayster, he hadn't returned to the slums in a long time, but Marlon could tell that Ayster wasn't the kind of guy who would selectively forget his poor friends after becoming wealthy.
So, after greeting each other, Ma Long smiled and said: "Long time no see, huh... nice car."
"Haha, of course it's fine!"
Having received Ma Long's praise, the young Minotaur boy grinned from ear to ear and laughed loudly, then patted his iron steed twice with a loud clang before continuing boastfully: "Sword-toothed Leopard Type-3 Steam Locomotive! Its power can overturn mammoths, its speed surpasses cloud leopards, and its quality is better than that of the Minotaur... Just dozens of days ago, it was still an important military supply, but my old man pulled some strings and spent a full 200 lanters to get it from the remaining military supplies warehouse!"
The word "Lant" was not unfamiliar to Malong, it was the unit of currency in the Republic of Lorin, although Malong's total assets now were only... two Lants seven cents and four Purls.
As they spoke, the tall and burly Ayster had already jumped down from the steam locomotive. He grabbed the relatively frail Malon in a big hug.
"Brother, you haven't answered my question yet."
Aster's large mouth, unique to the Minotaur, was almost zero distance from Marlon's ear.
"I was just going to take a trip to Bambook Street to take care of some small business."
Ma Long smiled wryly and replied, trying to wriggle free from Aisiteru's bear hug at the same time. The reason was simple - Aisiteru was a Minotaur after all, and his way of speaking was far too uncouth, with saliva flying everywhere as he spoke.
"Banmubu Street? That's quite a distance!" Est said, stroking his chin, and the next moment Malone was already being dragged by him onto the Swordtooth Leopard III steam locomotive that was parked there.
"Brother, quickly give me a thumbs up! Haha, because I suddenly decided to take you to Bambook Street!"
When he spoke with his head twisted, the Minotaur youth revealed a heartless and radiant smile.
This scene warmed Ma Long's heart involuntarily.
Because of inheriting the memories from Ma Long and Li Zhi, Ma Long "recalled" a small cow-headed person wearing split pants.
"Hey, are you Ma Long? As long as you agree to be friends with me, then from now on, I, Aisiteru-Shitone, will always have your back!"
Then, there is a face that is about twice as tender but almost identical to the bright and cheerful smile in front of me.
Hmph...
Is this Esther still remembering the oath from the beginning?
It's just a pity that I'm Ma Long, but not the Ma Long - Ai Shang you played with since childhood.
"Thank you, Esther."
Ma Long sighed, unable to tell the truth to the young man with a cow's head, and all he could say was this word of thanks.
"What kind of compliment is this?! Alright alright, you've been sticky like a pure-blood elf since you were little!"
Aster, who had no idea what Ma Long was thinking, complained while skillfully starting the motorcycle and sped through the intersection with a loud roar of the steam engine.
It's just...
About an hour and a half later, Malong stood at the roadside two and a half streets away from Banmubuke Street, his hair disheveled and his face full of tears.
The "quality is better than the cow-headed man" sword-toothed leopard three-type steam locomotive in Aister's mouth, at this moment, occupies one-third of a street like a large iron turtle, no matter how hard Aister tries to stir up with his oily face and steam water droplets.
"Damn it! No wonder for only 200 Lant, this damn motorcycle's core energizing crystal is absolutely a low-quality artificial product from the Tamewater Valley brand!"
Realizing that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the completely derailed steam locomotive to start again, Auster's face turned bright red as he burst into a loud curse.
"Don't get angry, Esther. It seems there's no steam locomotive repair shop around here. Let's think of a way to get this thing to the nearest repair shop first."
This steam-powered locomotive, which Malong saw in the morning along with that airship, differed only in size. Both were structures driven by a magical crystal core that powered a steam engine to produce thrust. This was too high-tech and too mysterious for Malong.
"Eight streets away! Brother, the nearest Mystic Steam Locomotive repair shop is a bloody eight streets from here! Do you think we two can drag this thing for eight streets?"
Aister continued to shout loudly, he really wanted to kick this embarrassing steam motorcycle a few feet, but ultimately couldn't bear to.
"Alright... brother, what are you going to do on Banmubuk Street?"
Very reluctantly, he retracted his sturdy hooves and Auster landed back on Malung's body.
"Go submit."
Ma Long is telling the truth.
While speaking, Ma Long took out a large stack of bound "The Little Prince" manuscripts and waved them as evidence.
"Huh? Submission?" East's already large cow eyes suddenly widened into perfect circles, and he looked up and down at the disheveled Marlon before bursting out with this sentence:
"This is too incredible! In other words, my brother Ester-Stonehoof is going to become a great writer?!"
It was probably because of Aister's overly loud voice that a passing old man with a shaved head, who had only been passing by to get some sauce, stopped in his tracks.
"Little guy, can I take a look at your manuscript?" The old man with the shaved head walked towards Ma Long, sizing him up with interest before continuing, "I'm Old Gavriel Lyle, and I guess... you should have heard of this name."
After listening to Xie Dingdi's words, Ma Long's expression was clearly surprised, because he had indeed heard of the name Lao Gavi - Lailai.
Because of Old Gavriel-Raillie, it's exactly where Malong plans to submit his work, the boss of Golden Raillie Publishing House!
And Reliquary Press is the largest and most famous publishing house in Whitesand City.
"Of course, Mr. Lyle."
So Ma Long hardly hesitated and handed over the manuscript of "The Little Prince".
