Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Hmm" Shangluo thought about it.

He patted Wen Yuan's shoulder and said, "Wait a moment, I'll think of a way."

"No." Wen Yuan shook her head and said, "I don't want you to open a convenient door for me. I also have a heart for Taoism. If I let you open a back door, my heart for Taoism will be broken."

"That's not what I meant. I know you have principles. What I meant is, how about I give you a chance to make some meritorious service?"

"That's fine." Wen Yuan smiled, "Assign me a task, the harder the better, the harder the better. If I can get great merit, maybe I can come back and become a thousand households, which is half a level lower than old man Lu. Who knows~~"

Chapter 979 Interrogation

Ding, the elevator has arrived. The door opened.

Lu Huaiyang stood at the elevator door with his hands behind his back.

"Yes, you are very ambitious."

"???" Wen Yuan turned around suddenly, "Master?! Why are you here?"

"I could hear you guys talking in the elevator from two floors away."

"So where did you start listening?"

"I heard you say that you are half a level lower than someone else. Tsk tsk, it's good to be young. You have a promising future."

"Ah! Master, it's not that you have to listen to my explanation, I just want to make progress too much."

"Come out." He ignored Wen Yuan and signaled him with his eyes not to block the way. "I'm not looking for you. Shangluo, I have something to talk to you about."

"Ah?" Shang Luo was stunned for a moment, "Looking for me? What's the matter?"

Lu Huaiyang walked in directly. The other Jinyiwei in the door got off the elevator tactfully, leaving only Lu Huaiyang and Shangluo here - the elevator door was about to close, Lu Huaiyang glanced outside, and Wen Yuan immediately rolled in.

After the elevator pressed the 12th floor underground and started to go down again, Lu Huaiyang continued:

"I have something for you to take care of. I was planning to come to you with the information after you finished touring the school. You are in court right? It's a good opportunity to merge the courts, and I have another matter for you to take care of."

"Is it a big deal?"

"Ha." Lu Huaiyang smiled. "It's a big deal. A very big deal. If it's done well, someone else's contribution will surpass mine. Then I can count on him to write a recommendation for me for the merit exam. Right? Master Wen, I'm a thief in the army. I'll count on your support when the time comes."

"Master, I was wrong! I won't dare to do it again! Once a teacher, always a teacher."

"How many times have I told you to use your job title when you're working? Are the Jinyiwei members of the underworld? What master-apprentice relationship? You're eating the emperor's food!"

"It's Qianhu, I was wrong"

"Stand nearby. Listen carefully to what the big deal is that Shang Tianjun and I are talking about. Listen carefully."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Wen Yuan nodded vigorously.

Lu Huaiyang left him aside, took out the jade token and sent a FeiXin message to Shangluo in person: "Look."

Shangluo glanced at——

"Oh?! Have you captured an automaton from New Antioch?"

"After you arranged it last time, we went to capture it. Although we encountered a lot of problems in the middle, and you even went out to fight with General Fu, the Jinyiwei has been doing what you ordered. Although the movements in New Antioch have temporarily stabilized, we still need to find out what those automatons are doing - so, according to your request, we captured an automaton and brought it back. But... there is a problem. Otherwise, we would not have waited for you to come for retrial."

"Won't it tell?"

"No. If it really keeps silent, it doesn't matter. We can pry open even a clockwork head. But this automaton seems crazy and can't answer a single useful question. We thought that letting you ask might open a breakthrough."

As we were talking, the elevator had already passed the ninth floor. We could vaguely hear people talking on the ninth floor, because the interrogation of the unconscious prisoner in cell 9672 was being prepared. Although the prisoner was still unconscious, the large memory recovery technique was already being set up.

A human voice flashed by, and the elevator continued to go down to the 12th floor, and the surroundings returned to silence again.

The elevator reached the target floor, and the inner and outer doors opened. It could be seen that the layout here was similar to that of the ninth floor.

Just like the ninth floor, there were usually not many people here, but there were many more people here. The people up there were mainly alchemy practitioners, while here were Xuan practitioners.

"Are they coming?" Han Wu was standing against the wall with his arms folded, waiting for Shangluo to arrive.

"Brother Han Wu, why are you here?"

"The Emperor isn't at Yuxi Palace, so I don't need to be on duty there—I can't be sure Daozu needs me to look after the gate alone. So I've been staying at headquarters lately. And just in time, this weird clockwork-head came here, so I came to lend a hand. Tsk, nothing has come of it all morning, it seems you'll have to step up again."

Shangluo blinked and glanced inside—there were many familiar faces there, all professionals he had met in the Imperial Guard. Some were standing in the aisles, while others were walking in and out with briefcases and documents, each one of them with a look of confusion on their face.

[Wow, so many people have no solution, do you have any solution? ]

"I still don't know what the situation is." Shangluo had no idea. He had a way to punish the person who committed a crime above. He had a way to punish this one.

"Anyway, let's take a look first?" Shangluo asked, "So what's going on?"

"Come with me, stand at the door over there and you'll see."

Han Wu led Shangluo to the front of cell No. 12281, and a roar was heard from inside -

"Who are you?" asked the Jinyiwei.

"Little Pompey? They are all dead! All dead! You are to be centurions, and be my thousand and ten thousand! Make bread! Make bread!"

"What a mess?" Shangluo was stunned.

"It's just such a mess. One question is answered by ten people, and the sentences don't make sense. The only thing they keep repeating is making bread. I can't get any other questions out of them. So, I have no choice but to come to you. Do you have any ideas?"

Shangluo shook his head: "I can only go in and take a look. Maybe he will recognize me."

Shangluo opened the door and followed Han Wu in. There were seven or eight Jinyiwei standing inside, surrounding the interrogation chair in the middle, which was connected to various instruments. Some were outputting fluctuations on the oscilloscope, and some were printing paper tapes, but it was all a mess.

The machine is like any other automaton, with a clockwork head and clockwork body. Its face is covered by a piece of white porcelain mask-like material1, with real human eyes. When the Romans designed it, they completely imitated the appearance of a human, with all the functions that a human should have, and even the voice is very human-like.

The roar of the machine still echoed in the room - but as soon as Shangluo entered the room, the sound stopped immediately.

"Ding——" The degrees of all the machines suddenly became a straight line, and then began to jump regularly.

Didi, didi, didi

The automaton tied to the chair slowly turned its head and stared straight at Shangluo.

"You, recognize me?" He looked at the automaton, "Who am I?"

"Oh my god!!!" The automaton suddenly looked up at the ceiling.

"The sky?" Shang Luo also looked up, "If it's not the sky, who is under the sky?"

"It's the White Emperor Sword Immortal!"

“???” Everyone present was stunned—everyone looked at Shangluo.

"Wait a minute." Shang Luo touched his forehead. "Let's not talk about how you know this name. What are you doing in New Antioch?"

Shangluo asked the question that he was most concerned about.

"Making bread! I made so much bread! I can't eat it all! I can't eat it all!"

"You just mentioned the Pompey family, but what about the chef?"

"The chef is dead. He died 500 years ago."

"It seems to be somewhat organized. Although a little strange, at least there are questions and answers, and there is a back and forth." While Han Wu was taking notes, he lowered his head and whispered a few words to Shang Luo. He had a question that he needed Shang Luo to ask.

"I see." Shang Luo nodded and asked, "After all this talk, who are you?"

"I am the Columbian Automaton Nation."

Chapter 980: Automata Country

"I am the Columbian Automaton Nation!"

Before he finished speaking, with a series of sounds of gears and springs popping, the entire automaton exploded from the heart. Although the face did not change, it had lost its life.

The Jinyiwei behind him was still looking at the readings on the instrument - after the explosion, the readings on the instrument all turned into a straight line.

"???"

Everyone looked at each other, and no one, including Shangluo, understood what was going on.

He collapsed.

"Is there any hope?"

[The part that collapsed was the Vulcan core in the heart. If it exploded, there would be no hope, because that was also the source of thinking and motivation. After the core exploded, the entire automaton was nothing more than scrap metal, and at best could only be considered a clockwork puppet.]

"How did it explode? Do you think it was done by an outsider?"

[As a power source, the Vulcan core itself has the potential to explode, otherwise it would not be able to drive the entire automaton. But as you can see, this energy is actually quite weak. Even if it explodes in front of you, it will still shatter your face. As for the cause of the explosion]

Apollonia paused:

[In fact, I was observing it just now. But I didn't see anything unusual - no energy or signal was transmitted from the outside. I think this should be completely internal. The automaton exploded by itself. The reason should be "can't think straight". ]

"Does he look like he's in a state of depression? I saw him acting crazy, but now he finally started to talk like a normal person when he saw me. I wanted to ask him a few more questions, but why is he suddenly in a state of depression now?"

[I think that's the problem. Maybe it's because he started to answer your question that something strange happened inside him. His previous incoherent speech might just be a self-protection mechanism. And, combined with his answer just now, we may have to consider a situation - Columbia's automaton has been integrated. ]

"Is this going to happen? Is there such a function?"

[That power comes from fire. Fires approach each other and merge into one big fire. This may not be impossible. He said that the chef is dead, which should be describing the facts - the chef as an individual is dead, but now the entire Colombian automaton country is making bread. His vision may have become the core of the fusion. This may be because they were enlightened by you. ]

"Can I understand it this way?" Shangluo thought for a moment. "They are now running a complete set of logic in the form of Gestalt intelligence between all the automata, but this thinking mode cannot run on a single automaton. So once we pull one out alone, it will become disabled. Just like many ants separated from the colony will become at a loss."

I agree with this view. The sudden explosion might be due to... This needs to be looked at from another perspective. Shangluo, one fact is certain: although these automatons are behaving strangely, they don't seem to have any malicious intent.

"Wait a minute." Shangluo confirmed with the Jinyiwei next to him.

"That's exactly the case," Han Wu replied. "According to our information, these automata didn't put up any resistance when they were captured. We didn't see any specialized combat automata in their forms, and we rarely saw tool-type automata. All automata are inexplicably made to look like 'people', which should be inefficient for baking bread. I think their tempers are indeed a bit strange - of course, it's also true that they have no ill intentions."

[Then it is certain. Not only do they have no ill intentions, but they also have positive and optimistic visions towards you, especially towards Shangluo. So before they met you, they were just saving energy, and after seeing you, they were willing to answer questions, even to the point of burning themselves out.]

"Wait a minute." Shangluo asked Han Wu, "Have we tried to communicate with that city?"

"We tried. They really didn't mean any harm, but they didn't intend to cooperate with us. The automatons just carried boxes between buildings and drove trucks to move goods. Although they didn't resist when we caught them, they didn't cooperate further. It wasn't until they met you that they started to answer useful questions."

[Ah!] Apollonia understood, [The Columbian Automata have no ill will towards Zhendan, but that is only the limit, and they are not willing to communicate. They are willing to have an intellectual conversation only after meeting you, Shangluo. In other words, you may need to go to New Antioch in person. By then, they should be willing to talk to you. By then, the chef's current situation, their vision, and current behavior and goals can all be answered.]

"Is it okay?" Shangluo asked Han Wu about the situation. Although Han Wu was not his superior, he was theoretically just his "subordinate" and part of the Heavenly Court. But when it came to official business, Shangluo would not make a decision on his own.

"I don't think so." Han Wu shook his head and said, "We regretted letting you go out last time. It was Caesar Victoria of Rome who came to invite us personally, so we thought there should be no problem with this trip - but who knew that something big would happen as soon as we went out, and almost poked a hole in the sky. No matter what you say this time, don't go to Shangluo. Those Roman things are not reliable at all."

"Also." Lu Huaiyang beside him also added, "When the emperor left, he asked you to take charge of the overall situation so that he could rest assured to retreat. Now that you are gone, if something happens in the court, who should we find to make the decision?"

"Ah, that's true." Shangluo nodded, "Let me stay here to look after the house. I can't run around."

"And most importantly, I haven't told you yet." Han Wu, a Xuan cultivator, looked at him. "As a professional, I can understand what you mean, but I also want to express my concerns about this - if a single automaton cannot express complete intelligence, but all automatons combined can express complete intelligence, then my question is: how complete is it?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is - Shangluo, when you rushed to look directly into the abyss, were you ready to be looked into by the abyss? The unfathomable 'Colombian Automaton Country' formed by thousands and thousands of flames, if you just rashly go over and look directly, are you sure you won't see something terrible? The explosion of the automaton may be a warning. Those who peek into the abyss will be pulled into it. For him, it exploded, but for you... I can't say. But I think you shouldn't take the risk."

Chapter 981 I am a toaster

[Ah! That's right!] Apollonia also discovered the problem. [The consequence of looking directly at the sun is that your eyes will be blinded. Maybe the automaton exploded because it, as an individual, faced the truth that should not be seen. If it were you, I wouldn't know what would happen. It was a close call. The advice of professionals is the most accurate.]

"So the Roman stuff is really unreliable! Playing with fire? You guys are setting the mountain on fire! We can't stop this now!"

[Ah, this. How about I apologize to you on behalf of Victoria? Or you can apologize to her directly. But she can't do anything except apologize, and this automaton was not built by her order. ]

"Ah, you have a big problem now. Now they are making bread, but bread doesn't just appear out of thin air, right? They have to consume resources to make bread. Question: If they make bread from the entire East Coast, the entire New World, and even the entire Earth, what do you think they should do?"

[No way? That shouldn’t be the case. They don’t seem to be that powerful.]

"The source of a wildfire may be just a small spark at first. What happens if the fire spreads? It will be too late to put it out once the fire becomes big."

"How about this." Han Wu suddenly said, "I think we can compromise. What do you think, Shangluo?"

"Hmm? How do you compromise?"

"Look." He spread his hands. "On one side is 1, and on the other side is infinity. There is only one automaton here, an artificial idiot. If you ask a few more questions, it will die in front of you. On one side is the unknown infinity, and we don't know how big the abyss is waiting ahead. So between 1 and infinity, is there a compromise interval: this interval can answer questions with intellect, but it will not cause any disasters, as long as it can answer the questions in detail."

"Oh! This is good." Shangluo nodded repeatedly, "This plan must be reliable."

"Because we all like to compromise, but we still have to test how many to catch."

"It's okay, just capture them." Shangluo suggested, "They won't resist at all, I suggest you capture a hundred of them and put them together to see if the combined power of a hundred can reveal the tip of the iceberg of the 'Colombian Automaton Country'. You don't need to do too much, as long as you can answer the questions."

"That's not difficult." Han Wu glanced at the broken heart of the automaton on the chair, then looked at the whole body, "By the way, this thing is quite exquisite. There are so many such exquisite puppets that they can cover a whole city. This is worth asking. Oh, and this."