Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 746 The New Pope
Jules nodded: "I know."

Lina looked somewhat confused.

Her gaze swept over the intricate mechanical structure on Yu Le's face, but she couldn't fathom what this man was thinking.

"Are you just going to surrender?"

“How could that be?” Jules chuckled. “Of course I will resist to the death. I will send out all the Papacy’s troops to fight the prince’s army to the death.”

"Knowing you can't win, why go and die?"

“Is it not allowed? I originally intended to take revenge on the Candlelight Church, and now that the Papacy is destroyed, I’m very happy,” Jules said slowly.

Lina's eyes flickered.

She knew about Jules's background—he and Isaac were both originally "investigators," but the two were abandoned by the Vatican. Although the Candlelight Society kept the news under wraps, they couldn't hide it from her.

Jules' revenge against the Candlelight Society, which resulted in its complete destruction, is quite reasonable.

Clina, however, felt that something was amiss.

She stared at the man in front of her. Jules looked bored. He took off his triple crown from his head, placed it on the table, and flicked it, making the triple crown spin.

Like a childish and bored kid.

But this man, after years of forbearance, has brought down the entire Candlelight Society in one fell swoop. He secretly manipulated his niece to become Pope, and now he has even personally donned the crown. It's possible that he killed all those "Guardians of the Secrets".

Could such a person be so devoid of desires?

Lina's voice carried a hint of probing: "I think you're more like a human. Those mechanical priests from the Mechanical Society only talk about logic and code, which gives people a headache."

“That’s because they still retain their flesh and blood. I’m completely mechanized.” As if afraid the other party wouldn’t believe him, Jules pulled back his hood, revealing a steel skull that split open on both sides. There was no flesh and blood inside; it was entirely composed of various complex mechanical structures.

Lina paused, unsure how to respond.

After a moment's hesitation, she chose to skip the topic: "I can offer you some help. Help you deal with Castells."

"That's wonderful, thank you for your timely help."

Ignoring the other person's sarcastic remarks, Lina simply tossed a package onto the table.

"what is this?"

"Some early technologies of the Mechanical Engineering Society."

The Mechanical Sanctuary has hardly developed any new technologies, and it can't even preserve or inherit them.

From the Mechanical Society to the Mechanical Church, the overall strength of the church may be increasing, but its technological capabilities are declining.

Many ancient technologies have long been lost to time, and no one can understand them anymore. As a result, the manufacturing process has gradually fallen into disuse. In addition, the Mechanical Sanctuary has gradually classified old-era equipment as sacred objects, strictly prohibiting their use and research, and only allowing them to be worshipped. As a result, more and more things are being lost.

The documents Lina casually pulled out were enough to ignite a holy war among the fanatical mechanical priests.

"With these, the Candlelight Society's superhumans, plus their mortal support troops, might be able to put up a fight against Castel. Let me tell you how to access this data."

The decline of the Mechanical Sanctuary was comprehensive; not only was its technology lost, but it is estimated that even the means to access this data are no longer available.

Lina was about to say something when her eyes suddenly narrowed.

Jules opened the package and inserted several cassette tapes into the slots on his arm, reading them with an interested expression.

"Steam rifles, steam tanks, battle fortresses. Not bad, not bad at all, these are really good things."

Where did you get your interface from?

"Oh, you mean this?" Jules raised his arm, the card slots on it glowing faintly blue. "Take it from Bruno, hot-swappable, works right out of the box, it's great—"

Before he could finish speaking, he was blasted away by an immense force. The long table in front of him shattered into pieces, and Jules' steel body left a deep mark on the ground. Bricks and stones flew everywhere, and he was slammed against the wall. Lina's hand gripping his neck was bulging with veins, and her other hand was clenched into a fist.

"I kill you!!!"

As he squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth, his clenched fist slammed down without the slightest hesitation, but the fist suddenly stopped just before it touched Jules' face.

Jules blocked Bruno's slot in front of him.

"Lina, it's been almost a thousand years, and you're still so impatient."

The casual tone carried a certain familiarity, causing Lina's heart to tremble involuntarily.

That was a sound I hadn't heard in a very, very long time.

Her face was contorted with rage, and she kept telling herself that it was a trap and she shouldn't believe it.

But the moment she opened her mouth, all the defenses she had put on crumbled.

"Lord Bruno?!"

"It wasn't Bruno. Bruno is dead. I just accessed his memory chip."

Anger surged in Lina's eyes again, and she was about to attack when Jules smiled and raised his hand:

“My memories of him have merged. If you kill me, Bruno will die too.”

Lina was panting heavily, her gaze burning as if she wanted to burn a hole through Jules. Her fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles cracked, but she ultimately did not bring them down.

"Jules, what are you trying to do?!"

"Not Jules, I am a new personality formed by the fusion of Bruno and Jules. Of course, I am here to complete our unfinished mission, but as for anything else, I have nothing to say."

Lina froze for a moment, then suddenly became excited: "A great, great mission!?"

"Yes, I fixed this part from the underlying code. The old Bruno didn't finish, but the new me will continue to execute."

"Then, what should I do? I mean, I'd like to help too!"

"Let's wait and see. This information is very valuable, and I need to study it first."

"Okay, okay!"

Lina loosened her grip on Jules' neck little by little, her fingers trembling slightly.

Jules stared at her, but she didn't even look up. She stumbled and staggered away.

As he left, he kept muttering "great mission" to himself.

Jules didn't say anything, just watched her leave quietly.

He didn't make a move until Lina left.

The wall behind him had been dented in the shape of him. Jules took a step forward and tugged at his arm a few times to get himself out of the wall.

Looking at the dilapidated house, Jules patted the dirt off his clothes.

"The information is indeed correct. The [named person] is completely insane. She actually believed such an outrageous lie."

"but."

Jules looked at the slot on his arm.

"As long as the Papacy remains at a disadvantage, she will continue to help me, Lina. Just how many secrets are you hiding?"

(End of this chapter)