Chapter 48 -48- Mechanical Kingdom

Rolling down the car window, Yvette sat in the driver's seat, quietly looking at the puppet girl below her. There was no sadness or joy in her dark red eyes, and she didn't show any intention of responding.

For a moment, an awkward silence spread. The puppet girl waited for a moment, then spoke again with a slightly awkward tone, "Um... kind lady, could you please give me a ride?"

"Answer me a few questions and I'll agree." Yvette's voice was cool and steady, without any emotion.

Her silence just now was actually an attempt to hack, but surprisingly, the girl did not have any receiving ports on her body. She didn't know whether they were turned off or broken, but in any case, she didn't have the opportunity to hack.

Then we can only try verbal communication. I don’t know what attitude this mechanical puppet, which seems to have self-awareness, has towards humans.

"Okay." The puppet girl nodded decisively.

"Where are the human survivors?" Yvette asked.

"Humanity? Didn't they become extinct a long time ago? How could there be any survivors?" The puppet girl asked in confusion. "Don't you know this?"

"I used to live on a very remote island, isolated from the world." Yvette selectively revealed part of the truth.

"I see." The puppet girl believed it without a doubt.

Looking at the puppet girl's natural expression, Yvette narrowed her eyes, unsure whether she was too good at hiding her emotions or simply didn't notice that there was a living person right in front of her.

She decided to test it out: "What do you think I am?"

"Another robot." The puppet girl's tone was as if it was a matter of course, even with a hint of "Is there any need to ask?"

"Don't you think I look like a human?"

"Aren't you similar to me?" The puppet girl tilted her head to look at her. After a few careful glances, she said, "Well, I do look a bit like you. That's amazing. I wish I could be that similar."

Judging from the other party's tone, being human-like is actually a good thing? Yvette was puzzled, but she didn't intend to admit it directly.

It seems that the mechanical puppets are creating a new civilization, and exposing the identity of humans will only cause unnecessary trouble.

She then asked, "Why are they called the Mechanical Tribe? Why the Mechanical Puppets?"

"Isn't that our ancient name?" The puppet girl tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Whatever you like."

"You said you came from Silver Mirror Island. How did you cross the sea?"

"I prayed to God in the temple, and God ordered the messenger from the Kingdom of the Sky to send me to the Black Tide Continent."

"Who is God?"

"It's the great God of Machinery. How come you don't even know this? Haven't you received any oracle?" There was a hint of doubt in the puppet girl's tone.

"...The island where I live is too remote."

"Oh, poor lady." The puppet girl's tone was a little more compassionate, "But it doesn't matter. With my help, you will be able to return to God's arms soon."

"...Next question, please introduce yourself."

"My name is Bingyu. I'm a citizen of the Sky Kingdom and a free traveler."

"Sky Kingdom? Is that your country?"

"Yes." Bingyu nodded.

"Are there any other countries?"

"The only ones I know about right now are the Black Tide Kingdom, the Emberscar Kingdom, and the Sky Rift Kingdom. This is my first time leaving Silver Mirror Continent, so I don't know much about other places."

Upon hearing this, Yvette fell silent and fell into thought.

The Black Tide Kingdom, the Emberstack Kingdom, the Sky Split Kingdom, and the Sky Dome Kingdom to which the puppet girl named Bingyu belongs, are obviously taken from the Black Tide Company, Emberstack Chemical, Sky Split Group and Sky Dome Technology of the Origin Civilization.

What is different from the other four super companies is that these four companies all have businesses related to mechanical puppets, magical mechas or mind cores. Among them, Sky Technology and Sky Group are the strongest, followed by Black Tide Company and Cinder Chemical.

Could it be that after the end of the world, the mechanical puppets left behind by the four major super companies have developed wisdom over the long years and built social bonds through each other's production companies?

In a sense, this is the "national identity" of the mechanical race?

Wait, it may not be after the end of the world...

Suddenly, Yvette remembered the second time she explored the Abyss Base over two hundred years ago. She saw a log message from the maintenance personnel through the files in the computer room, which clearly recorded that the Firefly Core, the main control computer of the Abyss Base, had shown signs of being "alive".

In other words, the awakening of intelligence already existed before the end of the world!

At that time, she suspected that the core of the firefly was distorted, but now it seems that it may have really developed self-awareness!

Under this condition, it is known that the distortion factors in the doomsday process can infect machines. How did these mechanical puppets survive the doomsday and survive until now?

Is it just luck? Coincidence?

Or, as the ultimate winner, did the mechanical race also play some subtle role in the end of humanity?

…

"Hey, beautiful kind lady, do you have any questions?" Seeing Yvette sitting in the car with her brows furrowed and a look of deep thought, after waiting for several minutes, the puppet girl couldn't help but waved.

Coming back to her senses from her contemplation, Yvette glanced at Bingyu and said, "Get in the car."

"Oh! Thank you, kind man." Bingyu sat in the car immediately, and even did not forget to fasten his seat belt in the passenger seat.

Guided by Bingyu, the RV started and slowly drove in a certain direction. After moving forward about two kilometers, Yvette saw a small car parked on the side of an abandoned road.

This is a motorcycle that looks weathered, covered with welding marks and patches, obviously a patchwork of countless discarded parts.

Although Yvette could directly charge the motorcycle's energy storage panel and replenish its attenuated elements, she did not want to expose this. Instead, she let Bingyu tie the motorcycle to the roof of the RV herself.

Then she returned to the car and asked, "What is this sanctuary you're talking about? Where is it?"

"It's a place where you can pray to the great God of Machinery for help. Every kingdom has one," Bingyu replied matter-of-factly. "I prayed before coming to Kuroshio Island, and the God said there's a kingdom nearby. I can go there for supplies the moment I land. It's just south of the 'Agash City Ruins.'"

"What's the typical population of a kingdom?"

"I don't know. We have quite a few people in the Sky Kingdom, over a thousand." Bingyu shook her head. "Other kingdoms have very few, some with only two or three hundred people. But I don't know much about the Black Tide Continent. I only know that there are believers of God here, but probably only a few hundred."

More than a thousand? Two or three hundred?

Yvette was a bit surprised. In the previous conversation, she had imagined the mechanical kingdoms as a silicon-based civilization rising in the wasteland. Given a little time to develop, they would immediately sweep away the aberrant creatures and march into the universe...

So there are only so many people in a kingdom? How is it different from a village?

No, this is actually not as good as a village, right?

…

Driving the RV towards the nearest mechanical kingdom, after about four or five kilometers, the outline of a small town made up of broken walls and ruins emerged on the horizon. Among these abandoned buildings, the figures of some slowly moving people gradually emerged.

Only when I got closer could I see clearly that those staggering figures were all crude old puppets, their bodies covered with welding scars and rivet patches, their magic wires were twisted and exposed, their heavy energy storage plates were rusted, and their joints creaked under the heavy load. Every step revealed the sluggishness and fatigue of impending death.

"Hello, where is this?" Yvette, who was sitting in the driver's seat and didn't rush to get out, saw Bingyu had already gotten out and greeted them enthusiastically.

Then, an old puppet with a shattered shell and a lens covered in huge cracks like spider webs came over and said happily through an old loudspeaker, "This is the Agashe branch of the Black Tide Kingdom. Hello, guests from afar."

Sure enough, the puppets with the Black Tide company logo would be connected together in this way. Yvette wondered if brand discrimination would occur because of this. For example, the brands of the four super companies would be more noble, while the miscellaneous puppets of small and medium-sized enterprises would be bullied.

Then, seeing that there weren't many puppets from the Mechanical Kingdom, only about a few dozen, and their attitudes were very friendly, she felt that they were not dangerous enough and got out of the car as well.

But she never expected that the moment she came down, she found that the eyes of all the puppets were attracted by magnets, firmly locked on her, and motionless.

(End of this chapter)