Catalina initially only had a certain fondness for Lu Xiao. Under the premise of urgent need for a child, she chose Lu Xiao, who she liked the most at the moment.
As the saying goes, love grows over time. After more than a month of intense and honest communication, the two gradually developed a tacit understanding, and their relationship also warmed up.
Although Catalina has many calculations in her heart, she is still a young girl who longs for love.
Lu Xiao, who was gentle and considerate and had many tricks to chase girls, satisfied her fantasy of love. Over the past month or so, Catalina's dependence on Lu Xiao became stronger and stronger.
However, both of them have their own ideals and pursuits after all. When the moment of separation came, Catalina was very reluctant to part with him, but in the end she still endured her complicated emotions and came to the dock to see him off in person.
Lu Xiao said that Da Vinci, who had been with him all the way, was the first to know about Catalina.
Lu Xiao had no intention of hiding it from the senior members of the Brotherhood, and Giovanni, Mario and others quickly obtained relevant information.
Relying on the relationship between Lu Xiao and Caterina, Romagna openly respected the Pope's order to keep a distance from Florence, but in fact the two sides had secretly reached a series of win-win cooperation agreements.
Now Catalina only needs to worry about the ambitious French people in the northwest.
Regarding this, there is good news from the Brotherhood branch in France.
Louis XI's act of killing the bold Charles angered Charles' son-in-law, Archduke Maximilian I of Austria. The armies of the two sides faced off in the Ginegat area, and a war was likely to break out.
Lu Xiao had no memory of the name Maximilian I at all, but when he heard that the man was from the Habsburg family, he immediately understood.
This is a powerful family that has left a strong mark on European history, and Austria is the country they focus on.
Louis XI encountered a strong opponent and was temporarily unable to launch an invasion of Italy. As a result, the Romagna guarded by Caterina also enjoyed a period of peaceful development.
Before leaving, Catalina gave Lu Xiao the three pages of Altaïr's Codex found on Girolamo's body.
Lu Xiao originally wanted to send the pages of the book back to Florence via a flying pigeon for Giovanni to decipher, but Leonardo da Vinci suddenly volunteered and said that he could decipher this encrypted text.
Facts have proved that Leonardo da Vinci was not exaggerating, and it only took him a short time to successfully decipher three pages.
Two of these three pages contain pure text content, namely Codex 08 and Codex 14. The remaining one, Codex 28, shocked Leonardo da Vinci.
This codex depicts a brand new weapon. To understand it in a contemporary way, it is Altaïr's genius idea after shrinking the limit of the cannon.
From Lu Xiao's point of view, this hidden sword suit called the Hidden Gun is indeed an epoch-making product. It can be regarded as the first handheld firearm. If it is popularized, the global war model will have a huge impact.
"Leonardo, promise me."
Lu Xiao solemnly reminded Da Vinci: "Just keep this drawing in your mind. Don't tell anyone. Once the top officials of various countries learn about it, the whole world will be shocked."
Da Vinci was not a person with emotional intelligence problems. He nodded understandingly and agreed with Lu Xiao: "I know, but the Templars should have seen this drawing. Do you think they can restore the Hidden Gun and make certain
improvement?"
"It's hard to say." Lu Xiao sighed: "The Templars also have many skilled craftsmen. The key lies in whether they can decipher the secret language used by Altaïr in the codex. If they start making it with half-hearted understanding, the Templars will definitely take many detours.
.”
"Gunpowder in the East?" Leonardo da Vinci looked leisurely and fascinated at the far end where the blue sea meets the sky: "I want to see the mysterious East more and more. I don't know if I will have the opportunity to realize this wish in this life.
.”
…
After being delayed for a while in Romagna, plus the time spent on the way to Venice, it was already midsummer in June 1477 when Lu Xiao and Leonardo Da Vinci officially landed at the Port of Venice.
Lu Xiao's first impression of Venice during this period was not good. Under the blazing summer sun, a strong fishy smell wafted far away from the coast of Venice.
"Ah ~ beautiful Venice."
Leonardo da Vinci looked around the vibrant Venetian Port with great interest, as if he didn't smell the unpleasant smell around him.
Merchant ships from various European countries sailed in an orderly manner on the Adriatic Sea, bringing specialties from distant countries to this floating city for sale. Local Venetian merchants then resold these goods to all parts of Italy.
"Notre Dame de la Vineyard, St. Peter's Church, Franciscan Church of Our Lady of Glory, St. Mark's Basilica, the Armory of Venice, Piazza San Trovaso, there are so many places of interest waiting for me to explore and observe. We are still waiting.
What? Let’s go!”
"Wait!" Lu Xiao, dumbfounded, pulled Da Vinci, who was overly excited: "Before that, we have other things to do. You haven't forgotten anything, right?"
"ah……"
After Lu Xiao's reminder, Leonardo da Vinci, who was overly excited, came back to his senses: "By the way, Mr. Giovanni said someone will come to pick us up."
"Cough~"
A rather well-dressed, thin young man came to the two of them, coughed slightly, and saluted with a helpless expression to introduce himself.
"Welcome, distinguished guests from the Emerald City, I am your guide, Antonio Maginhas."
Although this person's clothes look like that, if you look closely, you can see that the fabric used in this suit is very cheap. It looks like a commoner deliberately pretending to be an aristocrat, giving people an indescribable sense of humor and absurdity.
With his non-aristocratic behavior, paired with a neatly trimmed mustache and mid-length hair that spreads down to his neck, Antonio Maguñas's first impression is a bit strange.
The contrast between his clothes and the plastic aristocratic temperament he pretended to bring to Lu Xiao was so strong that he didn't know what to say for a moment.
Leonardo Da Vinci showed no sign of Antonio's strange behavior and enthusiastically held Antonio's hand and waved it up and down.
"Antonio, thank you for the welcome. I can't wait to explore the city. Please take us to the new studio first."
"Uh~"
Now it was Antonio's turn to be confused. He turned to look at Lu Xiao in astonishment and received a helpless smile.
"Don't look at me. This guy has this kind of character. Anyway, let's go ahead. If there are any problems, we can wait until we get to the studio."
…
Lu Xiao has spent nearly three years since arriving in the world of Assassin's Creed in 1474.
27-30 years old happens to be the golden age of human beings. Once over 30 years old, human body functions will inevitably begin to decline. Lu Xiao's sense of urgency to complete the world's tasks is increasing day by day.
If you want to successfully complete the world mission, you must first obtain the blood of the Isu people, and the two prerequisite side missions are indispensable.
The collection of Assassin's tokens has reached more than halfway, and the remaining two tokens are stored in the water city of Venice. Lu Xiao plans to collect them as quickly as possible and obtain the artificial artifact armor that Altaïr made based on the knowledge of the Golden Apple in his later years.
The other is the collection of Altaïr's Codex.
Counting the fragments of the codex recently obtained by Federico and Lu Xiao, the Assassin Brotherhood has obtained 18 of the total 30 pages.
According to the information revealed by Rodrigo after he was captured, the seven pages kept by the Venetian Templars were all in the hands of the famous local family, the Barbarigo family.
In other words, only 5 fragments of the Codex are still floating around, and they are probably scattered throughout the city of Venice.
As a local snake in Venice and the leader of the Thieves Guild, Antonio is undoubtedly the most suitable guide and information provider.
"The Assassin's Tomb and Altaïr's Codex?"
While Leonardo da Vinci was busy packing his luggage in the new studio, Antonio and Lu Xiao had already completed a round of communication.
"If it is true as you said, the assassins' tombs are hidden in various churches, I can let my thieves find the whereabouts of the assassins' tombs in the shortest possible time, and I will fully help you collect the remaining Altaïr Codex."
"But there is one thing the Venetian Brotherhood would like your help with."
Antonio solemnly said: "Compared with Florence, the Venetian branch of the Brotherhood is relatively weak. There are no assassins like Giovanni here."
"Now the position of the Governor of Venice is being coveted by the Barbarigo family. Once this group of Templar Knights is given power, the Brotherhood's position in the city will become even weaker."
"Lu, Giovanni described many of your glorious deeds in his letters. Venice needs elite assassins like you."
Antonio patted Lu Xiao's strong arm heavily: "On behalf of the Venetian Brotherhood, I ask you to help us resolve the crisis in Venice. I promise that I will do my best to find out the information you want during this period of time."