Chapter 49-49- I can't keep this tentacle anymore
The air suddenly stagnated, as if the invisible dust itself had held its breath. Facing the gaze of the broken cameras and bionic eyes, Yvette's face remained expressionless, as cold and indifferent as a meticulously crafted puppet, its interior hollow.
She thought, it was indeed just that this puppet girl named Bingyu was a little silly. Seeing that the other mechanical puppets noticed her human identity so quickly, this was a reasonable development.
But she didn't care. With her current strength, destroying a small village of dozens of people made up of old, weak, sick, and scrap metal robots would be a piece of cake. If a conflict occurred, the one who should be afraid should be the other side.
But in the next second——
“Like… so similar!”
"God of Machinery, this is so beautiful! This lady looks exactly like a human!"
"How does she do it? Look at her natural elegance. I doubt I'll ever be able to achieve it!"
"Could this be the legendary state of 'machine-human integration'? Is she almost becoming human?"
"She must be a messenger from the gods, right?"
Exclamations poured in from all directions. The pupils of the puppets, assembled from discarded parts, flickered violently, appearing to be exceedingly excited.
Yvette blinked, wondering if there was something wrong with the script.
Her calm eyes turned to Bingyu beside her, but she saw Bingyu puffing up her soft bionic silicone face and pouting sourly, "I think it's similar to me..."
"Everyone, my name is 'Grand Elder', and I am the executive officer of the Black Tide Branch of Agasa. May I ask the names of the two guests?" The old puppet who spoke with a worn-out loudspeaker walked in front of Yvette, bent down with difficulty, and bowed slightly with a not-so-standard posture. He looked quite gentlemanly.
"Hello, my name is Bingyu, and I'm a traveler from the Sky Kingdom!" Bingyu said politely.
"Yvette Roshivia, from a remote island, is also a traveler." Yvette nodded slightly.
"Even the name is so ancient!" The puppets who had been silent when Bingyu introduced herself started shouting again after hearing Yvette's introduction.
Yvette felt increasingly strange. It seemed the mechanical puppets in this village favored humans, even taking pride in imitating them... Was this a local trait? But Bingyu had previously expressed admiration for her name. Did this mean that all the mechanical puppets in this world were like this?
What is the reason for this?
Spontaneous human worship?
Or is it related to the mysterious "God of Machinery"?
While she was thinking, the elder who claimed to be the "executive officer" and was suspected to be the village chief of the area warmly invited her: "Two distinguished guests passing by here, please stop talking outside and come to our reception room for some tea, how about it?"
Drink tea… Glancing at the Great Elder’s rusty body and the old-fashioned loudspeaker he used to speak, Yvette said, “Okay.”
She wanted to see what these broken puppets, most of which had no "mouths", meant by drinking tea.
Led by the Great Elder, Yvette and Bingyu followed behind, passing through countless astonished and envious gazes, and walked into the interior of the Puppet Town.
Like the abandoned towns I had seen on the Island of Ish in the past, the buildings in this puppet town were dilapidated and old, but over the years they had blended in with the local plants, exuding a new, verdant vitality.
The puppets here also seemed to have a knack for keeping things clean. Although the ground along the path was cracked, the weeds weren't overgrown, as if they'd been pruned. Dense treetops intertwined freely between the buildings overhead, and sunlight, like molten gold, forced its way through the leaves, casting tiny specks of light on the ground.
The winding path leads to a secluded place, which looks like a paradise... Yvette observed as she walked, and then saw a small green meadow in front of her. At the end of the meadow, there was a building made of abandoned containers, like a rusty pyramid, with about four or five floors.
"Oh! Is this your home?" Bingyu looked around curiously.
"Yes, we built them all ourselves." said the elder proudly.
"I thought you would live directly in the human ruins." Bingyu said.
"That was the case in the beginning. Back then, my cultivation wasn't high enough, and I thought that as long as I lived in a building left behind by humans, I could get closer to them," the Great Elder said with emotion. "Then, after decades of cultivation, one day I suddenly realized... Do you know what I realized?"
"What?" Bingyu asked cooperatively.
"I discovered that the key to what makes humans human is their understanding of self-reliance. This is how they were able to build such a brilliant pre-civilization from nothing in this primitive world. Our lazy behavior will only make us further away from humanity. So we gave up our original homes and started building our own houses. This is our result. We call it a 'container apartment'. It looks great, right?"
Listening to the Great Elder's speech, Yvette looked at this simple container pyramid and really couldn't see what was so beautiful about it.
Bingyu was very shocked by this. His bionic pupils dilated slightly, his mind core worked at high speed, and he fell into a kind of silence as if he had suddenly realized something.
Don't let your system freeze... Hearing the humming of the core in her head working at full capacity, Yvette couldn't help but feel a little worried.
…
The reception room of the Puppet Town is on the first floor of the container apartment. Before entering, Yvette saw groups of small robots jumping and playing on the upper floors of the apartment. The sound of footsteps and roller skates was very noisy.
Entering the somewhat cramped room, Yvette saw a wooden table and cabinets. Since it wasn't convenient for two people to move around, the elder entered through the opposite entrance. He rummaged through a nearby shelf and pulled out a bag of dark brown stuff that looked like tea.
"Where did this tea...come from?" Yvette was a little surprised. Although this tea leaf was definitely not suitable for making tea, it didn't look like something from hundreds of years ago. It looked like it had only recently become damp and moldy.
"A few years ago, when I was traveling, a kingdom that knew how to grow tea sold it to me," the elder said with a smile, a touch of admiration. "To be closer to our creators, they actually opened up tea gardens and learned how to grow tea. I admire their efforts immensely. They were a bit pricey, though. I traded a lot of human artifacts I found in the ruins for two bags of tea, but I've never been able to drink them."
"Creator?" Yvette asked warily, "Humans are the Creator? Then what is the Machine God to you?"
"God gave us souls, and humans gave us bodies. Therefore, humans are our creators, and the great God of Machinery is the God we believe in." The Great Elder was a little puzzled. "There's no contradiction. Does your Excellency have any concerns about this?"
"I'm sorry for being so presumptuous. The place I came to before was quite remote and there wasn't even a sanctuary there," said Yvette.
"Hey, Miss Kindhearted, why are you like an illiterate?" Bingyu whined beside her, "Why don't you ask me first next time, otherwise I won't be able to tell you that you and I are together."
When did we get together?
Yvette glanced at her, but did not deny it. She watched the elder continue to make tea in silence.
Take out a rough metal cup, put in moldy tea leaves and not-so-clean cold water from the bucket, and the tea is ready.
Looking at the cup pushed in front of her, Yvette didn't move her mouth but looked to the side.
Bingyu, as a relatively new mechanical puppet, seemed to be able to drink water, and he directly drank the cold tea made from moldy tea leaves in one gulp.
I can’t keep this mouth anymore… Yvette thought, and looked at the elder opposite.
Unlike Bingyu, the Great Elder only has a camera on his head, and the rest is empty metal plates. Even the speakers are on his shoulders.
Under Yvette's gaze, the Great Elder, like a tea connoisseur, solemnly lifted the cup with both hands and poured the tea violently over the empty space above his head - and as expected, all of it spilled onto the chest plate.
But the Great Elder seemed to feel nothing at all. He put down the cup and said contentedly with a tone that was full of aftertaste: "Ah, I haven't had this tea for a long time. It is still so sweet and delicious. It is worthy of being one of the most popular beverages in human civilization."
What on earth did you drink? It's so sweet and delicious, won't your conscience hurt if you tell me about it...
Yvette thought expressionlessly that if she were a psychiatrist, she would be able to diagnose the Great Elder with cyberpsychosis on the spot. This was too outrageous.
But everyone was trying so hard, so in order to maintain etiquette, Yvette sighed, picked up the teacup, and pretended to drink tea. In fact, at the moment of drinking, a tiny white tentacle extended from her fingertips and swallowed most of the strange liquid in the cup.
This tentacle can't be kept anymore, she thought.
(End of this chapter)
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