Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

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 really haven't discovered it. We really don't know how to test first to see if this thing is human. It should be easy to tell after corporal punishment, but we haven't progressed to that stage yet. It seems that we need to put a magic mirror at the door next time." "Even the soul-searching technique can't detect that she is not 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.

(End of this chapter)