Mystery: When the Fool Meets the Masked Fool

Chapter 470 The Fully Automated Wishing Machine: "Not my type, direct rejection."

Tingen city.

The houses here are mostly ruins, with only a few partially collapsed houses and newly built makeshift dwellings serving as residences for city residents.

The city had also been attacked by airstrikes; when Fossack's airships attacked Backlund, they dropped a few missiles here as well.

In a dark alley.

The thin boy sneaked into the alley, his trembling left hand reaching into his pocket to hold a matchbox between two fingers. He then removed the matchbox from his pocket, leaving the other fingers still clenched.

The boy picked up a relatively intact match from the matchbox, which had only a few matches left, and struck it hard against the side of the box, lighting a small flame.

By the dim light of the flame, the boy searched eagerly and soon found a bunch of machines.

It was a machine that looked like a vending machine, although the boy didn't know what a vending machine was.

The boy carefully opened his left hand, which he had been clenching tightly.

There was a gold coin inside.

The front has the number "1" written on it, and the back has a smile drawn on it.

The boy stood on tiptoe, inserted the gold coin into the coin slot, and then looked at the machine in front of him with a little nervousness.

Click, click, click.

The machine emitted a soft whirring sound.

Click.

A round object, resembling a record, fell out from the bottom dispenser of the vending machine.

The boy's eyes lit up, like a homeless person seeing bread, and he quickly squatted down to pick up the record.

"I...I hope I can see my mom and dad when I go back..." The boy held the record, closed his eyes, and whispered his wish.

A faint light appeared on the record, as if an invisible carving knife had etched the boy's wish onto it.

The boy opened his eyes, saw the words on the record, and finally smiled with relief.

He was illiterate, but the rules he heard from others made him understand that he had succeeded.

Without a record player, the vinyl record engraved with his wishes began to spin on its own, mixing unknown languages ​​and music he had never heard before, appearing in the ears of everyone in Tingen City at a moderate volume.

It was as if a hole had been torn open in the boy's eyes, and the world before him suddenly became clear, as if a gray dome had been removed from the sky, making the colors in his eyes instantly brighter.

The record in his hand gradually became transparent and finally disappeared. But the boy didn't care and took off running, stumbling and staggering towards his home.

Back home, I pushed open the door that had been damaged by the explosion.

The room contained only scattered furniture and two charred corpses; nothing else. But the boy seemed to see something, opened his arms, and happily ran inside.

…………

Blackthorn Security Company, Captain's Office.

“That sound…it seems someone made a wish again.” Daly Simone, with blue eyeshadow and blush on her face, immediately understood what had just happened upon hearing the sudden music. The room was brightly lit by a chandelier, and in the center of the room, a leather sofa with two side sofas surrounded a marble coffee table. An unlit candle sat on the coffee table.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” old Neil replied cheerfully from the sofa. “At least so far, no one has gotten into trouble because of that so-called fully automatic wish-granting machine.”

Not far from the coffee table was the captain's desk.

With a scratching sound, the pen glided rapidly across the paper. Dunn Smith, with his receding hairline and deep-set eyes, remained silent as he wrote the following paragraphs of a report.

"Several extraordinary events have occurred in the city in the past week, including a strange machine called the Fully Automated Wishing Machine, a robot that seems to possess intelligence and calls itself A001, and a white ceramic window."

"Based on conversations with neighboring cities, it can be determined that not only us, but several cities are within the influence of these three extraordinary items."

"According to the intelligence we have so far, the fully automated machine was created by a wandering magician who calls himself Merlin Hermes. However, we cannot rule out other possibilities. At least I think that Merlin Hermes may just be an illusion created by this machine to induce people to use it to make wishes."

"The robot A001, on the other hand, does not possess similar disguises. It is not accompanied by any humans or humanoid beings, but it seems to have higher intelligence and can take the initiative to talk to humans. Moreover, compared to the fully automated wish-granting machine, the behavior of this machine is not as friendly."

"Finally, there is the white ceramic window. Although it appeared at almost the same time as the previous two, its nature is very different. It lacks humanity, has no way to communicate, and currently does not show any characteristics of being 'alive'."

After writing this, Dunn paused his pen and let out a long sigh.

The outbreak of war significantly impacted the small city of Tingen. As the captain of the Night Watch squad, he was given the opportunity for promotion, becoming a Sequence Six Requiem Master.

A cup of coffee was placed next to Dunn, and he suddenly felt a bit more weight on his back.

Dai Li hugged him from behind, showing no disgust at this "old and faded" man.

Dunn's lips curled up almost imperceptibly, but he maintained a calm and composed expression, pretending not to hear the laughter coming from Old Neil's side. He gently put the report aside and reached for a few handwritten brief files.

[Temporary File: The All-Powerful Wishing Machine]

Temporary Number: 1-701

[Appearance Description: This machine is entirely dark green, painted in a style reminiscent of the "jungle camouflage" invented by Emperor Russell. It resembles a rectangular cabinet with transparent glass panels, exposing gears, bearings, rivets, metal pipes, and other parts, suggesting it's a product of modern industry. Through the front glass, one can see a shelf inside displaying items resembling records. On the right side of the glass is a coin slot, a tray, and a button.]

Its use involves another randomly appearing item, which we call the "Smiling Coin" based on its appearance. It's a randomly appearing golden coin with the number 1 on one side and a smiley face on the other.

[The Smiling Coins were initially given to passersby by a magician who called himself Merlin Hermes. After being inserted into an automated wishing machine, one could make a wish. After a period of time, they began to appear randomly throughout the city.]

The fully automatic wishing machine is invisible; only those who possess a Smiling Coin can see it. Furthermore, it will randomly appear in any corner of the city, and those who possess the coin can easily locate it intuitively.

According to users, most wishes made through the fully automatic wish-granting machine are granted normally, while a small number are distorted. Normal, not overly greedy wishes are fulfilled, while overly greedy and unrealistic wishes are fulfilled in a distorted form. If someone makes a wish such as "to see relatives and friends who died in the war," they will begin to hallucinate, claiming that they can see the dead.

The range of wishes it grants is vast, bordering on omnipotent. Its frequency of appearance is also irregular. It is a typical magical item that requires sealing and clearly surpasses the level of a Level 2 sealed artifact.

[Case 1: A young girl whose face was disfigured by fire encountered an automated wishing machine in the city square. Her wish was to return to her original appearance, and it was granted.]

[Case 2: A man wished to acquire 10 gold pounds and become a millionaire. Then, he was noticed by a slightly plump woman whose wealth was nearly 20 gold pounds. He refused. In a sense, his wish came true, but he himself was unwilling to accept it.]

[Case 3: A man wished to see his wife, who had recently passed away from a serious illness. His wish was granted, but only he could see her in the form of a hallucination. According to his description, he could only see her; he couldn't interact or communicate with her. His wife seemed to be sleepwalking, repeating her daily life in a dream.]

[It's important to note that while the Smiling Coin can be transferred, it cannot be obtained through robbery, fraud, or other means. Otherwise, when using it, the user will find that the coin has suddenly turned into a chocolate wrapped in gold paper, and will forever lose the possibility of seeing the fully automatic wishing machine.]

After that, even if the rejected person holds the Smiling Coin, they can no longer see the machine itself. Instead, a disproportionately large protrusion appears on the top of the machine, bearing a line of Rune words: "Not my type, direct rejection."

(End of this chapter)