Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

Phaethon next to him thought for a moment and said, "We have deployed a demon god in Chernobyl, Ukraine, who can control nuclear fission without causing a nuclear explosion. If he fails, it will be classified as a Level IV leak here. It means a 'large-scale accident', which will cause trauma to the world, but it is still under control."

"What about the time before in New Antioch?"

"Level VI [Most Serious Accident] is the limit of the Roman Empire's control over disasters. Depending on the situation, it may rise to the highest level VII [Apocalyptic Level Natural Disaster], depending on whether we can later contact the Columbia Automata through language or through quadrupeds to curb the expansion of the Columbia Automata. Because if we can't control it, then the battle in heaven between humans and automata will begin."

[Of course, this is based on the level of the Roman Empire. From the perspective of the Roman Empire, if an automaton rebelled at this critical juncture, the entire Rome would not be able to leave with dignity - when this system was formulated, the strong intervention of Aurora was not taken into account.]

"Then according to this system, the current situation in Japan is quite serious?"

"Yes. Depending on the situation, it may be classified between [Large-Scale Incident] and [Severe Incident]. Although it sounds manageable, there are only a handful of such incidents in the entire history of Rome."

"Wait. That's a lot?!"

"Because it's still controllable, even if something goes wrong, it can be repaired," Phaethon replied. "Judging from the current situation, if Miss Fuji's case is an isolated incident, it should be just an accident. But if this is common among all Japanese people, then we should probably start intervening immediately—because the Japanese who have lost contact are trying to contact Columbia."

"Then I'll try to lend a hand." Shangluo shook his head. "Without interfering with the overall plan, the problem at the gate still needs to be resolved. And this matter is related to Colombia. It's very important. We don't know how to communicate with Colombia right now, but it seems they can."

[You seem to value those automata very much? ]

"Because if they can be used properly, they will become a huge help to our civilization. By then, it will not be impossible to move mountains and fill the sea, and transform the earth like opening an editor - of course, the premise is that they can be used. They have expressed their willingness to serve mankind before, and I think this is a good thing. If possible, I want to try to make things develop in a good direction. But."

【but? 】

"But if the current situation in Japan is caused by those automatons, I will look at them differently - you have to look at the owner first. Humans are human after all, and they cannot be touched by clockwork brains. They can do evil under our noses today, but who knows what will happen next."

[Don’t you sometimes not regard barbarians as human beings? 】

"This is divine authority. Divine authority can only be in our hands. If it was really done by Clockwork Brain, they have overstepped their authority. Overstepping authority is a serious crime, and there is no room for negotiation - I don't want them to do it. Moreover, the current evidence seems to be more favorable to them. After all, there is a time difference. The current situation in Japan should not have been a day or two, and the Columbia Automaton Country has just appeared on the scene."

[Not necessarily.] Apollonia reminded, [Although the Automaton Country was just born, automata have existed for a hundred years.]

"Then I can only hope that Japan is just hidden in the veil and nothing else happens - but someone has split into so many copies in front of me at once, it's hard for me to believe that nothing has happened. Anyway, let's capture them all first. Phaethon, can you do it?"

"No big deal." Through the shared vision, Phaethon saw the marked places, "Lend me the Spear of Apollo. I'll be done in an hour."

"Thank you." Shangluo handed over the Spear of the Sun God and said, "I'll wait for you in the Imperial Prison."

One hour later. At the gate of the Imperial Prison.

Shangluo called Lu Huaiyang and said, "Captain Lu, I have good news and bad news to tell you."

"." On the other end of the phone, although Lu Huaiyang had already prepared, he was still a little nervous, "Then tell me the good news first."

"The good news is that everything is normal. Nothing unusual has happened in Japan. Everything is the same as usual."

"Oh? That's great! Wait. What's the bad news?"

"Please check the inn where the Japanese envoys stayed to see if there are any signs of living people there."

"Wait, you mean"

"Everything in Japan is the same as usual, but something is wrong - they may not have been human from the beginning, not even the last time they came. And Miss Fuji down there, give her a chest X-ray. If the information provided by Phaethon is true, then the time when the changes in Japan occurred may have to be calculated in years. I will go to the post station first to verify the information. We will meet there later."

Chapter 1024 Puppet

King Mu of Zhou was on a hunting expedition in the west. On the way, a worker named Yanshi presented him as a gift.

The king asked, "Who is this person who came with you?"

Yanshi said: "What I created can be promoted."

Holding his head, he sings in rhythm; holding his hands, he dances in time.

King Mu looked at it in amazement, and hurried forward, looking up and down. Inside, the liver, gallbladder, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, intestines and stomach, and outside, the tendons, bones, joints, skin, hair, teeth and hair, were all fake, yet everything was complete.

The king tried to destroy his heart, and his mouth could not speak; he destroyed his liver, and his eyes could not see; he destroyed his kidneys, and his feet could not walk.

——"Liezi·Tangwen"

"Is this an automaton?" Shang Luo looked at the picture sent by Phaethon. It was a dissected abdominal cavity, with bones and flesh made of tendons and horns, and internal organs carved from sunken wood. The weight distribution and structure completely simulated the human body, so much so that Phaethon had to break one apart before he discovered it.

The broken body lay there, but there was no trace of blood, as if a bag of spiced peanuts had been opened and stuffed into the belly.

"Yes. This guy actually had a weapon. I smashed it with my spear, and then I discovered the secret inside - but it doesn't seem to be an automatic machine."

[Yes. This is not the case. An automaton has a clear definition. Its interior is a spark core made of Vulcan's holy fire. Apart from the spark core, there is no internal organs. But this puppet has everything inside, and it completely simulates the human body, and it seems to be too deliberate in its simulation. It seems that the purpose of creating this thing is to imitate humans. ]

"I always feel like it's a steamed bun." Phaethon replied.

"Steamed bun?"

"Look, isn't the steamed bun that Zhuge Liang wanted to make to imitate a human head? There's stuffing inside. Although it's not exactly the same, from a ritual perspective, it seems to have all the elements of a human. And it's quite sophisticated, even mature."

"what do you mean?"

"This technology is too mature. You may not be able to tell from the images I took, but when I cut it open, I noticed that even the arrangement of the meridians is exactly the same as that of humans - some parts are so similar that they are simply extravagant. This is definitely not something that can be put together in a few months. Without a hundred or eighty years of tradition, no one would be able to do it like this."

[What about the blood?] Apollonia asked, [What does the blood look like?]

As a Greek god, she was very concerned about the form of blood, because it could directly show the power of this puppet.

"There is no blood." Phaethon replied, "In fact, I was shocked before. If it was broken, blood would splatter everywhere, which would be difficult to deal with. But after it was broken, there was not a drop of blood."

[Ah! So you are talking about meridians, not blood vessels?]

"Yeah." Phaethon nodded. "I have learned some Taoist magic after all. Although my master, the Great Inner Alchemy Master Zhu Ye, is still in seclusion, I am different from Shangluo, the lazy guy. I have already started to prepare for the course content. The direction of the pipelines in the puppet is completely different from blood. Instead, it is similar to meridians. The pipelines are composed of silver threads, and there is no liquid flowing inside. The silver threads are like the silk threads of a puppet, covering the whole body of the puppet."

"This is getting weirder and weirder. Wait, I'll call Lu Qianhu."

"Shangluo." When the call was connected, Lu Huaiyang said in a deep voice, "You are absolutely right. We did a chest X-ray and found that there was not a single real thing in this thing's stomach. It was like a stomach full of fennel beans."

"I called specifically just to ask, didn't you notice it before?"

"I haven't noticed. We really don't test whether this thing is human or not first. It should be easy to tell after the corporal punishment, but we haven't progressed to that stage yet. It seems that next time we need to put a magic mirror at the door."

"Even soul-searching couldn't detect that she wasn't human?"

"That's the problem. At its current power, soul searching can only detect 'what she knows', but it can't tell her 'what she doesn't know'. If she thinks she is a human, then soul searching can't tell her - and this is too similar. When I caught her, I put the shackles on her, and it feels exactly the same as a human, there is no difference at all."

"Hey, Captain Lu, I have a question - is the Japanese craftsmanship very advanced?"

"Crafts? They don't even know how to forge swords, so how can they have any skills? It's just that the Japanese have a habit. Among all the crafts, there must be one person who is the best in the world. Once the 'best in the world' has made a skill, even if it is a trivial skill, the person who wants to learn it must pay a large sum of money. Even the trivial skills such as tying wood, painting walls, and building thatched houses have a 'best in the world'. Many crafts in Japan are of very poor workmanship, and only the official styles of folding fans and screens are good. Korea and Ryukyu are their customers."

"So this ingenious puppet just appeared out of thin air?"

"From what I see, it seems so." Lu Huaiyang replied, "I don't think the technology to make this puppet can come from Japan. There are not many people who have this skill, even in the Uchi."

"That's a strange question. I thought I didn't have enough information. But from the perspective of the Jinyiwei, who have plenty of information, this thing seems to have appeared out of thin air?"

[Wait, Shangluo, I think this Miss Teng seems a bit miserable.]

"how?"

[She seems to be completely unaware that she is a puppet - which means that her past identity may be completely fictitious. The craftsmanship of "her family came from a sugar workshop" may not even be her real memory. If even such a puppet can be made, it is not difficult to weave a memory into her. The family in her memory may just be a factory setting. ]

"That's too much." Shangluo thought for a moment, "I have to ask someone about this matter. Maybe he can give me some clues."

Shangluo glanced at the time. It was almost time for get out of class to end, so he should be free.

"Shang Tianjun? Do you have something to talk to me about?" Lei Fu answered the phone.

"Senior Lei Fu, I have something to ask you - how long have you and Miss Teng known each other?"

"It's been half a year."

"Did you have any close contact with her during the past six months?"

"Intimate contact? Uh, yes." Lei Fu hesitated, but still answered.

"Do you feel anything special?"

"Ah, this." The other party hesitated again, "Is this something you can say? I just feel my hands are very soft. And..."

"What else?"

"Lips. Smells a bit good."

"I'm not asking about this intimate contact. I'm asking about going a step further." Shangluo raised his voice a little and provided ample hints.

Chapter 1025 Yan Ou

"Ah? Ah!" Lei Fu suddenly exclaimed, "Junior brother, you are too bold. How can you say that?"

[Why is this fat guy so shy? Are all Aurora people like this? ]

"Ah," Shangluo covered his forehead, "Just think of it as providing evidence. If you don't mind, can you tell me whether there is one or not?"

"Ah, this... Of course not. She once asked me if I wanted to do this activity, and I was scared. I thought that the Ryukyu people were really open-minded, but I was still a little scared."

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid what will happen if she suddenly doesn't like me anymore. I'm afraid by then, I still have friends who like me now. I'm afraid that after we go further, there won't be any friends who like me anymore."

[I understand. It's not in front of the Aurora people, he is just particularly introverted. ]

"Oh, that's fine." Shang Luo shook his head, "Then there is no answer. Then, I still want to ask, when you go out to eat with her, have you noticed anything special?"

"Eat? Yes, yes. She eats very little. She only eats one bowl of rice for each meal."

"Isn't one bowl of rice a normal amount of food? Is there anything else? Didn't you notice anything unusual when you were eating?"

"Abnormal? Ah. Um. No. I just feel that she always smells good. Eating with her makes me more hungry."

[Of course. My stomach is full of spiced broad beans, and that tastes good with rice. It's a feast for the eyes.]

"Okay, I'll hang up first."

"Ah! Wait a minute." Lei Fu suddenly asked, "Is she still alive? Now, is it convenient for you to tell me?"

"All I can say is that she's getting involved in more and more complicated matters. Do you have any other information to offer?"

"All I can offer is that commemorative coin."

"coin?"

[It is the coin from Miss Teng that was handed to him before. According to your request, he has handed over the coin. You went to get it last night.]

"Tsk, I almost forgot. Because things were focused on other things for a while, I almost forgot this information."

Shangluo hung up the phone and took out the wallet that Lei Fu had handed over yesterday from his bag.

The wallet was placed in a silk bag, presumably to prevent fingerprints from getting on it and interfering with the case.

Shangluo certainly didn't have to worry about fingerprints. He took the wallet out of the brocade bag with his hands.

"Hmm?" Shangluo held the wallet, feeling something was wrong. It felt like artificial leather, with a smell of cheap industrial products.

He turned the wallet over and saw -

“???” Shangluo was completely stunned.

[What? Have you ever seen a white cat with blue ears? ]

"No wonder it smells so good! This isn't it."

[Ah!] Apollonia also searched it out using keywords, [Isn’t this the little brother who smells so good!]

"Then the coins in here may be the same." Shangluo reached in and touched it. It felt a little wrong, as if it was a little bigger than ordinary coins.

He took it out and took a look.

[Five hundred? Such a large denomination. Uh, the year number on it seems to be different? This is really overstepping one's authority.]

"Tsk." Shangluo zipped up his pants again. "It looks like the evil wind on the island is getting stronger. There's actually something like this. I'm afraid it has something to do with me."

Suddenly, the phone rang.

"Shangluo," Lu Huaiyang said on the phone, "Our people just went to Huitong Hall, where the Japanese envoys once lived. Behind their residence, we found unusually lush vegetation. After testing the soil, we found many traces of watering with food. The food they provided was used to cultivate the soil - it wasn't wasted, it was taken from the soil and returned to the soil, at least it wasn't thrown away randomly. What's the progress on your side?"

"Wait, let me synchronize the information with Fae. There is one last one, one last one that has not been caught. We will reunite after we catch him."

Phaethon quickly replied in the channel: "Damn it! How can she run so fast?"

"You can't catch up?"

"No! She seems to know where I'm going to block her, and always turns before I get there. I can't just cross over the street, so I can only jump on top of the building. But she always manages to dodge from my blind spot."

"Apollonia, let's lock on her trail."

[Okay, leave it to me.]