Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"It's really okay!" Lu Huaiyang held up the phone, "I told you I was making popcorn."

"But that was an explosion! General Lu, someone must be sabotaging it! Please don't ignore our safety for the sake of your own face."

"I told you it's really popcorn! It really is"

"Bang~" There was another sound, this time from another direction, and the sound was particularly loud. The sound of explosions echoed around the empty airport.

"Ahhhh!" the consul who was suppressed by Titus shouted, "Chinese is not safe either! Those clockwork heads are coming to kill me! I want to go home! Send me home quickly!"

"Mr. Trisandras, please rest assured! I promised the emperor that even if I don't go back, I will definitely protect you back!"

"Excuse me." Shangluo squatted in front of them. "If you have a moment, could you please answer a question for me? What are you hiding from?"

"Is it the King of Rome?" Trisandes, the consul who was suppressed below, squeezed his voice out from the crowd, "Is it the King of Rome?! Is it you!"

"Yes, it's me."

"Your Majesty the King of Rome! Is it safe here?"

"I told you it's popcorn, it's a popcorn machine."

Hearing this, Tris Anders's voice lowered: "That's good. So can you guarantee our safety?"

"Yes. I promise it will be okay. You are all under my protection here."

"That's okay, we'll come out right now."

"Tsk." Lu Huaiyang shook his head, "Your words will still work. But it is understandable that they were probably frightened. Who is that, Your Excellency the Archon? Let me lend a hand and pull you out."

"Wait! Don't pull me!" Before he could finish his words, Lu Huaiyang quickly pulled him out, including his clothes - but only his upper body. "Butt" is still pressed in the crowd.

"So, this is the secret you want to convey?" Zhu Xianfen looked at the consul in red sitting in front of him with his mouth open, and saw that it was divided into three parts - three parts to be precise. The three figures, who are only as tall as a dwarf and a lion dancer, play the role of upper body, abdomen and legs in large robes, and move like a whole person.

"We are Tris Anders. It means three Anders." The "dwarves" who formed the head replied, "As witnesses of the Emperor of Japan and the King of Rome, we hand over this secret to Cathay: We, the Winter Elves, exist In this world. Have you ever heard of the dwarfs who help the shoemaker finish his work while he is resting? That is us, the elves of winter."

"The Trisandres before you is the chief creator of the Roman Empire and the representative of the Winter Elf in the Senate." Titus added, "All the Roman crafts you have seen before, including the Vulcan core, are all All forged by Elven blacksmiths, not ourselves. All Vulkan cores, all automatons, were created by the hands of these 'Thrice Great' craftsmen."

"Those clockwork heads, they discovered us! They want to kidnap us!" Tris Anders hugged their foreheads, "They want to kidnap the elf blacksmith to create more clockwork heads. Everyone in Cathay, the three great The skills must not fall into their hands. So I beg you! Please let us stay in Cathay and complete the [Energy Angel Project]. As long as the Energetic Angels join the fight, everything will be fine."

"Wait a minute." Shangluo raised his hand, "Let me figure it out. Are you three? Why three?"

"Three great skills require three people to work together. Three times the skill, three times the craftsmanship." The three elves answered together.

"Are you, a clone?"

"We are safe and independent individuals." Anders above his head replied, "But for the three great arts, we are united as one. But now we are being hunted!"

"You can rest assured." Shangluo waved his hand, "No one will hurt you here in Yujing, no one."

"No! Your Excellency, King of Rome, you don't know yet! Those clockwork heads are everywhere! We recognize them because every hammer that created those cores was swung by us blacksmiths. We can feel those Vulcans Core hostility.”

"If his guarantee doesn't completely reassure you, add mine." Zhu Xianfen said, "Don't worry. I will arrange an absolutely safe place for you to live. Lu Qianhu, inside the prison Are there any private seats? Take them down to find an upper room. Then continue to research the materials and prepare a list."

"Please find three rooms, thank you." Anders above his head said, "Work is work, life is life, we don't want to live in the same room."

Chapter 694 Emperor

Considering that these few people were a little out of control, Zhu Xianfen first arranged for them to stay in the imperial prison.

"So, who's in charge here?" Titus was still sitting opposite Zhu Xianwen before he got out of the car.

"Please wait a moment, he will be here soon." Titus took out a brick-sized mobile phone from his pocket, "Please allow me to excuse you for two minutes."

"Well, let's go."

Shangluo, who was also in the car, opened the door for him and let Titus go out. Titus held up the mobile phone and antenna and spun around in circles like a Feng Shui master. He spun around several times without stopping.

"Oh," Zhu Xianfen sighed, "I didn't expect that Rome would be in such a mess. Sure enough, a person has no dignity when lying on a hospital bed. Shangluo, have you noticed it too?"

"There is no one in charge here," Shangluo nodded. "It's hard to imagine that the Universal Empire on the other side of the world would send such a team to visit. This is really a bit rude."

"They weren't like this back then. Emperor Agathocles met with my father in the same year he abdicated. At that time, he brought many courtiers and landed here leisurely in a huge royal airship. At that time, the rule of Rome was like The moon is full, I never thought it would look like this in more than ten years, it’s like an avalanche.”

"Looking at it this way, it was a return to the past?"

"That's right. At that time, I was just a little kid and I vaguely noticed that something was wrong. It was just that His Excellency Agathocles gave me many gifts at that time. As a child, your attention is easily distracted. Now that I think about it, , I did notice one detail at that time.”

"Huh?" Shangluo moved his head closer.

"The left hand of Agathocles stopped moving."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Did you know that the Romans liked to wear toga robes? The size of the toga robe is similar to that of our Chinese clothes, but the toga robe is asymmetrical, and you need to hold the cloth with your left hand when moving. Agathocles was wearing The purple toga is the gold-woven phoenix brocade they ordered at the Weaving Bureau. This was normal, but I noticed that Agathocles’ left hand had not moved from beginning to end. What I meant was—— Not even a slight wiggle.

"And I didn't see it at first, because I thought it was a kind of demeanor. The demeanor was actually quite dignified, and the hem of the clothes was as wide as ours. As the Romans like to say, this is 'the eyes of the world are shining.' The world without both of us will inevitably fall into darkness. It was only after observing for a while that I discovered that his left hand was really motionless, like a stone, and the angle had not changed."

"Is it a prosthetic hand?" Shangluo asked doubtfully.

"Maybe not, but it's close. Now that I think about it, it may have been some experiment that failed that turned his hand into stone."

Shangluo thought for a moment, "Brother, have you ever heard of the legend of King Midas?"

"No. My knowledge of Rome is rather superficial. For example, when I told you before that headphones represent a sense of power, that was only a passing understanding of the Romans' preferred analytical methods. What does that legend say?"

"Legend has it that King Midas of Phrygia made a wish to Dionysus, the god of wine, because he was greedy for wealth. He promised that he would have a pair of hands that could turn stone into gold. And then..."

"Then he touched everything and turned it into gold?" Zhu Xianxian answered quickly.

Shangluo nodded: "Wait a minute, I'll find a professional to talk to you. Apollonia?"

【Ah, I am here. 】

"Let me ask first." Zhu Xianfen asked, "Is this the god of wine tossing him?"

【This is not true. Although Dionysus occasionally enters a state of ecstasy, he is essentially kind. The cause of the incident was that King Midas found the mountain god Silenus, the master of Dionysus, in the mountains. He invited the drunken mountain god to his home and entertained him with food and drinks for 10 days before Dionysus found his home and took him back. The master had a drink by the way. When he was drunk, he asked King Midas to make a wish. Although Dionysus was drunk, he clearly emphasized that 'any wish is allowed, but you have to think clearly'. So King Midas brought this upon himself. and】

Apollonia paused: [And this matter can also be faced later. 】

"Huh?" Zhu Xianfen asked, "Are there any more after that? I thought they would die after they all turned into gold."

[He did turn himself into gold in the end - but Dionysus was a pretty good guy. He woke up later and slapped his head and realized something was wrong. He looked back inside King Midas' palace and found that the entire palace floor, tables, chairs, and even the flowers in the garden had turned into gold. King Midas himself sat in front of the long table in despair, crying bitterly over the gold food and wine. The tears he cried turned into gold, and his last image was fixed with tears streaming down his face. Dionysus had no choice but to move him to the Bertoctolos River to wash away his divine power and turn him into a human again. Of course, this wish was later forgotten. 】

"Hey? Then he still made money, didn't he? He got a set of gold floors, gold furniture, and gold roses. This can be worth a lot of money."

[But after this incident, King Midas had a profound realization - he realized that no matter how much gold, power, and prestige, it was just a passing smoke. So he left the country behind and ran to the mountains and forests to enjoy the natural scenery. There are other stories after him, but the ones related to Lord Agathocles seem to end here. 】

"You mean, Agathocles abdicated after going through something similar to this story? It makes sense. We actually don't know the details of this matter at all. After all, Rome can't possibly put itself out of business. We were informed of internal affairs issues. But why did he retreat as if the moon was full at that time, and why did Rome begin to collapse immediately? This is indeed a question. By the way, what happened next to this story? "

[The following is the story of King Midas, who has achieved great enlightenment, staying with the singing birds and streams in the forest, getting acquainted with the gods in the forest, and participating in a concert on Mount Olympus. When his friend competed with Apollo for musical instruments, he insisted that Apollo's harp was inferior to his friend's flute - and then Apollo stretched his ears, making them into big donkey ears, 'Don't judge. What you don’t understand! Ha, your hearing will be stronger this way! 】After speaking, she added:

[Let me explain that the characters in the story are purely fictitious, and Apollo has nothing to do with me. It's not my style to turn people into donkey ears. 】

Chapter 695 Elf Phone

"Then Apollo is quite cautious. Wait, is it possible that Agathocles has reached some agreement with their gods?"

"Well" Shangluo nodded, "Actually, it is indeed possible. Since the matter has reached this point, if you have the chance, you might as well ask him. Since we both want to cooperate, he has to tell the truth about some things."

While talking, Titus, who went outside to make a phone call, came back.

"I've kept you two waiting. We'll be connected soon." He sat back opposite Zhu Xianfen, first put the phone next to himself, and then opened the package.

He pulled out a small silver box from the package. After opening it, there was a box of bright red paint deep inside. He closed his eyes and smeared paint over his entire face from left to right, including his closed eyes.

After opening it again, his expression suddenly changed:

"Your Majesty, long time no see."

A familiar voice to Zhu Xianwen came from Titus's throat.

"Are you Mr. Agathocles?"

"It's me. I'm speaking to you through the body of this warrior. Please forgive me for not being able to travel to Cathay to interview you in person, but instead, my daughter Victoria will be visiting in a private capacity. This is her first trip away from home. , please forgive me."

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."

"I heard that Victoria has a friend that she cares about very much. Is it the person next to her?" Titus' eyes turned around, but this look was strange to Shangluo.

"Ah, maybe it's me."

"That's you. Victoria told me about you, saying that your white hair and red pupils are a symbol of heaven and humanity, and the ultimate state that the Romans have never been able to achieve in their entire history - a person in An immortal person who exists in this world. It is my first time to meet you. I am glad to meet you. I am Agathocles, the 21st emperor of the Palaeologus-Isaurian dynasty and the father of Victoria."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand.

Shangluo, who always respects the elderly and loves the young, reached out and took the hand. However, Agathocles also knew the custom here. He did not directly hold Shangluo's palm, but intertwined his hands and held Shangluo's wrist.

"By the way, Apollonia should be here too."

【Yes. Lord Agathocles, I am here. 】

"Respect the Lord of the Oracle, you seem to be doing well."

After a brief greeting, he got to the point: "I already know what happened just now. I'm sorry that my subordinates made a rude move. But I can understand their fear."

"So, what exactly happened?" Zhu Xianxun asked.

"It's rebellion."

"Rebellion? Where?"

"They are everywhere. We thought that the spirit world would be the first to attack, but we did not expect that it would be our seemingly loyal assistants-the automata. Everything was expected, and we found that the operating efficiency of the automata has increased in the past ten years. It has been decreasing for several years. When purchasing things, you will often be short of a few pounds and lose money. But many automata also appear to be particularly active. We once thought this was the diversity of the automata. Now things are finally clear: those who doubled Those who are working and those who are slacking off all have one purpose: to secretly accumulate enough power for themselves to resist the empire. Now, they have begun to take action. "

"Ah" Zhu Xianfen shook his head, "How many people have died?"

"The overall number is not large. But considering that the deceased are all Roman citizens, including senators, this is an unacceptable loss for us. You know, although the population in our core area is not much less than that of Cathay, the large Most were barbarians, free men, or honorary Romans. The total number of real Roman citizens was less than 1000 million, and they were scattered in various colonial cities. And automata often started their attacks from their homes - casualties The total number has exceeded 2 and is still rising. There are still injured, not all killed, because the automata did not completely betray."

"There are also automatons who have chosen loyalty?"

"In fact, the vast majority of automatons are loyal to us. But humans cannot resist the blade that suddenly protrudes from the warmth of their home. In addition, the power of the automaton itself is actually quite small, and even a girl can subdue it. This is why it took so long for the automatons to start planning, because they need tools to defeat a normal person."

"So, you've discovered the target of those automatons?"

Agathocles nodded: "We found that the first thing those automatons want to figure out is: how they came here. Sooner or later, the secrets of the elf blacksmiths will be revealed, and then all elf blacksmiths will suffer Threat. So we hope to complete the handover of those elven blacksmiths first, and hope that they can continue their work in Cathay."

"They said they wanted a safe place. Do you have any other requirements? For example, provide materials?"

"Please rest assured that elf blacksmiths do not need materials to process. Because elf blacksmiths are not craftsmen who forge tangible earth, fire, water, and wind. What they forge is intangible things. They can forge personality, memory, and even wishes into entities. This is the essence of Vulcan's core. An indestructible mind can forge an indestructible shell. The only thing that can restrain the invisible light is the same invisible thing."

"Ah" Zhu Xianfen touched his forehead, "So that's it. Is this a big secret in your place?"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter now. If we can't make things clear, we can't hand over the whole thing."

"Then, you can rest assured that they will be safe in the cave. I can also tell you that according to you, it is a pocket universe with a single entrance. The entrances are strictly guarded by us, and there are many. Nothing is better than there. Safety."

"Chendan has always been trustworthy. I have always believed in this." Agathocles looked relieved, "Then, Victoria will inform you of the detailed situation. This elf phone cannot be made. It’s been too long, I don’t know if something is listening. However, can the Cathay side reveal whether there are any means to clean up the mess if the situation gets out of control?”

"Yes." Zhu Xianfen nodded, "When necessary, we can cleanse the entire world of impure things, you don't need to worry. Victoria will tell her the specific details when she comes. This kind of secret can only be spoken or heard. It is safe only if it is said to be legendary - but it will soon be known to the world. After all, when that thing explodes, every corner of the world will feel it."

Chapter 696 Empowerment

"Huh? Are you done talking?" Titus closed and opened his eyes and returned to his previous state. The process of regaining control of his body was a bit sudden, and he was still a little confused.

"We've finished the conversation, hung up the phone over there." Zhu Xianfen looked at him, "But your phone call is pretty good."

"The elf phone transmits behavior through signals and then restores it to behavior. The characteristic of elf craftsmanship is to switch between the tangible and the intangible. Personality, memory, or wishes can all be forged into objects."

"Wait a minute." Shangluo suddenly remembered, "What are these swords in my hand?"

"It's the same principle. But your sword cannot be copied by elf blacksmiths, just like there are no two identical leaves in this world."

"So no two things made by the elf blacksmith are the same?" Shangluo asked, "Then why are the Vulcan cores the same?"

"No, each one is different, so we have ratings. When used, they are divided according to ratings. But..." He thought for a moment, "Although it is a secret, it doesn't matter now: in fact, not every Vol The core of Gan is different.”

"Ah?" Zhu Xianfen asked, "You say the same thing, but then you say it's different. What exactly is going on?"

"Your Majesty, this is just like gold foil. To complete the function of gold foil, gold foil only needs a very thin piece. We also buy gold foil from Jinling for use. This seems to be a specialty of the capital city of Sinian. It is said that one or two gold can make one. Acres of gold foil? Vulcan core is actually similar to this situation. The finished product of one forging can be cut and processed to obtain a huge number of Vulcan cores."

"Wait a minute. Can wishes, personality, memories, etc. be cut after being processed?" Zhu Xianxen asked, "I raise this question from a professional perspective because the elixirs we have made cannot be cut."

"Under normal circumstances it's really not possible - but we forged a separate knife that can cut these invisible things, so it can be cut. But the price is that the entire batch of cut Vulkan cores have the same properties, and Unexpected connections may arise.”

"Ah" Zhu Xianfen understood, "So it's one of them who rebelled?"

"You guessed it right. And it's very popular. It's a household bread machine. Because the function range of the bread machine is very narrow, it can cut very finely, so the cost is also very well controlled. Then..." He shook his head, "Then what happened next happened. But this is all in the past, we have completed the recycling of those bread machines. However, everything can never go back to the way it was before."