Chapter 780: Chapter 780: Missionary
“Praise the machinery! Praise the steam!
Knowledge is power, and Mr. Newton is the pioneer with infinite wisdom.
Hearken to , the age of machinery is about to dawn!”
chanical preaching echoes throughout the entire street.
Their copper-edged crimson robes,
The data-asuring eye and the semi-mask respirator,
Preserving the skeletal structure, with the rest of their bodies replaced by a full-body steam-powered combat suit,
A chanical religious emblem – the ‘Book gears’ badge forged into a disk shape on the belt buckle, accompanied by a thick book with a brass cover on each side – the “chanical Bible,” personally written by Newton.
With four tentacle-shaped chanical extra limbs installed on their backs, it not only enhances their work efficiency but also permits them to kill enemies faster during battles.
These are the [priests] from the chanical God Sect, who have undergone more intensive modifications than the average residents, with even parts of their anterior brain lobes modified to serve the church more devotedly.
They advocate the nobility of the chanical God Sect, emphasize the importance of knowledge, and recruit more people into the faith.
At the sa ti, they will also take early action against so Steam City residents who harbor impure thoughts.
The ones currently visiting the Franky Factory are not ‘friendly’ preachers.
Instead, they are a forty-person ard preacher squad.
They are not here to preach, but because the [Sacred Ring]’s supervision database has issued a red warning, indicating that more than five people in this factory are potential threats, and the overall thought danger index of the factory has reached the ‘warning line.’
Indeed.
Factory owner Franky himself has a certain degree of aversion to ‘body modifications.’
He believes that machinery can serve humanity and is at our disposal.
While it can make life more convenient or even defend against dangers outside the city, he disapproves of mixing machinery with the human body.
Especially the chanical God Sect, which seeks to modify the brain, is strongly rejected by him.
Therefore, both Franky and the technicians he recruited for his factory, hold similar views and belong to the [conservatives] in Steam City.
They can reluctantly accept physical modifications but will never allow changes to the brain.
That’s why.
As the influence of the chanical God Sect grows, they have tried several tis to use the excuse of ‘impure thinking’ to force the technicians here to undergo forced modifications at the Sacred Ring.
But Franky had a backup plan.
There is a strong conservative faction in Steam City, including a soldier-level figure in the Steam Knights.
At the sa ti, the Gold Master himself has stated that the chanical God Sect’s recruitnt of priests must respect the residents’ free will.
Franky and the conservative knights maintain secret contacts, whenever the chanical God Sect shows up, he imdiately contacts the conservative knights… The knights’ arrival would an that the priests would not dare to abduct anyone openly.
But this ti it’s different.
The instability factor detected by the Sacred Ring was too high.
After receiving permission, a squad was sent to deal with matters.
The one in charge is a steam knight bearing an order – clad in heavy steam armor and wielding a giant power ax, this knight is three tis bigger than the typical priest, the pressure he exuded had the workers struggling for breath.
“I hereby read the compulsory arrest warrant issued by the [Sacred Ring], Franky and all workers in his factory will be taken to the Sacred Ring for ‘cognitive review.’
Those troublemakers who have ideas of blasphemy against machinery in their minds will be dealt with severely in accordance with the laws of the Holy City.
Take them away!”
With the official order in place, there is no room for negotiation.
Forty heavily modified chanical priests with combat capabilities nearly comparable to the knights, imdiately carried out compulsory restraints on all the workers.
Just then, while one of the priests approached factory manager Franky,
on the factory’s assembly line, a semi-finished robot suddenly ca to life.
In an instant, he moved ten ters closer, approaching the priest.
With just one punch!
Crack~ (sounds of machinery falling apart)
Various chanical parts scattered in all directions.
The trunk and four limbs were completely disintegrated.
Only a head remained, rolling on the ground, its face filled with terror as it stared at the suddenly ‘resurrected’ chanical doll.
The priests were not the only ones baffled by this sudden turn of events. Even the workers here had no idea what was happening.
The chanical dolls they produced were only shells and had to be sent to the Steam Pillar via the ‘Underground Transport Pipe’ where high-level life technicians would install their ‘brains’ for them to perform various activities.
Moreover, these dolls fundantally were not built for combat, let alone being able to smash a powerful priest to pieces with a single punch.
Only Factory Director Franky knew what was going on.
The only one who could do this was his friend – The Puppeteer, Charlie.
“What is this? Have you guys secretly implented an ‘Artificial Intelligence System’ into these chanical puppets? This is an utter blasphemy!”
A priest being injured directly attracted the attention of the Steam Knights.
Activating their massive steam armors, they approached the ‘resurrected’ chanical puppet, powered by hydraulic devices.
Hiss hiss hiss!
As the steam hissed, a ton-level power ax heavily crushed down.
Bang!
The pressure spread out, even causing the entire factory to shake.
But what happened next left everyone dumbstruck.
The chanical doll on the production line, yet to be completed, caught the ‘Drive Slash’ unleashed by a Steam Knight with its frail arms.
The iron plate under its feet groved into a large round pit.
Logically, such a weight should have long exceeded the theoretical load limit of the doll.
The only reason it could hold up was due to so invisible threads interspersed within the doll’s body, increasing its body compliance several tis over.
Manipulating a half-finished puppet in secret and being able to go toe-to-toe with a Steam Knight, this was the strength of The Puppeteer, Charlie.
Inside the rest area on the second floor of the factory.
Knight Charlie was emitting a faint gloom all over his body, a gloom that should have been eliminated by Captain Hugo in ten years…if it were the old tis, Charlie may have killed them all due to his volatile temperant.
Just at this mont-
Han Dong was holding the shrinking Mia’s hand while another hand was resting on Charlie’s shoulder.
“Elder Charlie, we have pretty much learned all about Steam City during our journey… You should take so ti to catch up with Director Franky here.
I will take care of the factory matters to avoid complicating things.
Anyway, I was also planning to visit Mr. Newton at [Sacred Ring].
It’s good for these priests to take
there, will save so ti…I hope you will take care of us during the Big Expedition.”
Charlie was silent for a while, then he silently nodded, and his gloom also receded.
“…Hmm.”
Han Dong, staring at Knight Charlie, who quickly returned to his normal state, recalled the terrifying entity known as ‘Puppet Demon’ at the Knight Convention ten years ago, which nearly killed the contestants in front of the entire Holy City.
He had to admit, Captain Hugo really had so skill.
As Han Dong stepped out of the rest room, standing by the handrail on the second floor corridor, he cleared his throat and then projected his voice out.
“Hey! Don’t any of you know that I, Dr. Nicholas, am conducting a life chanics experint here?”
“Dr. Nicholas? Who’s that?”
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