Chapter 412 29. Toy (6.5k)
“Ah, looks like you all slept well last night.”
Early the next day, when Hela brought up the food, Fisher and Tang Zeming Asuka were still not fully awake. It was only when they heard Hela’s words that Fisher sat up. Fortunately, the terrifying noise of the sun ring did not sound again this morning, so they had all slept in a bit, basked in the peaceful sunlight filtering through the seal cage.
“The sun ring has stopped?”
“Ah, it stopped last night. Finally, we can have some peace. Every time Lord Michael’s sun ring rings, not just in the Holy Realm, but even the ground and the World Tree can hear it clearly, and it has quite an impact on us~”
Hela sat down in the center of the room looking troubled and distributed the fruits she brought to Gouwen and Fisher. When she turned to the drowsy Tang Zeming Asuka, her smile deepened as she asked,
“Did you miss home last night?”
“Eh?”
Tang Zeming Asuka’s awareness became slightly clearer. She turned to glance at the characters on the wall behind her, unsure of why Hela could understand the Japanese she had written. But before she could voice her question, Hela spoke first,
“The Trans on the Fifth Day was not very clear-minded when he first arrived. Lord Michael said that the external objects in his body invaded him and made him develop a mental illness. Every time he had an episode, he would say things we couldn’t understand, but it was probably something about missing his home. Later, after Lord Michael personally removed the prosthetic from him, he became a bit better. You are younger than him, so your longing for home should be even stronger, right?”
“Ah, well, I’m fine now. Thank you, Archangel Hela.”
“That’s good.”
Watching Tang Zeming Asuka hug the fruits and thank her, Hela smiled, glanced at Fisher, then stood up and said to them,
“The sun ring has stopped rotating, and the forging energy in the Holy Realm is fully charged. Lord Michael has just finished forging the artifact of the Gospel and is preparing to head to the Sixth Day to look for clues about the tears of the World Tree. You can return to the Fifth Day with me.”
Gouwen was the first to stand up, raising a hand toward Hela, saying,
“Before that, can I send a letter home? It doesn’t have to be complicated; I’ve marked it specially. Just throw it into the sea, and there will be fish that will help bring it back home.”
Fisher glanced at Gouwen, completely unable to imagine how he could do such a thing.
But just as he finished speaking, Hela couldn’t wait to rub her hands together, looking very interested,
“Sure, no problem! Just give me the letter, and I’ll throw it into the sea for you. Don’t worry; I absolutely won’t peek to see what’s inside, and I definitely won’t write anything extra inside. Just trust me.”
“…”
Faced with Hela’s completely untrustworthy assurance, Gouwen forced a smile and wisely retracted the envelope he was about to hand over, saying instead,
“Forget it. After careful consideration, I think I need to reconsider the contents of this letter. I’ll personally throw it into the sea after I’ve thought it through, if there’s a chance later.”
Hela, being politely refused, didn’t get upset at all. She simply responded with a “Alright,” turned, and exited the seal cage, heading toward the previous cylindrical passage while playfully beckoning behind her, of course, to Fisher.
Tang Zeming Asuka was still putting on her shoes. After a moment of contemplation, Fisher stood up and followed the smiling Archangel Hela ahead of him. This angel had a very high rank, but Fisher only felt pressure when he first met her. Subsequently, apart from her bad habit of seeking amusement, she didn’t have any particularly notable traits.
“Did you sleep well last night? There aren’t any blankets or bedding favored by other races in the Holy Realm; after all, we are all nocturnal creatures that don’t sleep, so you’ll have to bear with sleeping on the ground.”
Fisher glanced at her and found her expression relaxed. Most of her body was hidden under a loose white robe, making it hard to distinguish between genders besides her face. But just imagining it, the female form that angels take should be very beautiful and could easily bind with his Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans.
“It was alright, except it got a bit chilly at night.”
“Mm, that’s normal. After all, the food I provided for you is only fruits. I hear the races that live in the snowy realm need to eat large amounts of meat to maintain heat levels.”
“You angels don’t eat; where do you draw energy from?”
“The sun.”
Hela smiled back at Fisher, then pointed to the circular halo above her head that resembled a crown, explaining,
“Our bodies and souls can be nourished by drawing energy, and the halo above our heads is the organ we use to store energy. You can determine the current state of the angels by the brightness of the halos on their heads; the brighter, the better the state.”
Fisher silently noted this and looked at her two pairs of illusory blue-golden wings behind her, then asked,
“What about those wings?”
“They are symbols of our rank and attributes. The quantity of four indicates that my rank is at seventeen. The blue-golden wing shape shows I am a Virtuous Angel. If it were a Wise Angel like Lord Gabriel, the shape would be an eye. If it’s a Seraph, then their wings would present irregular pale silver-gray, and they’d have an extra halo, symbolizing their ability to walk among mortals.”
“So, Archangel Shaliyah is one of the Seraphim?”
“No, she is a divine envoy and not part of these angelic ranks.”
Hela shook her head and had already reached the cylindrical passage, waiting for Tang Zeming Asuka and Gouwen to catch up from behind.
Fisher could keenly sense that the angels’ attitudes toward Pandora, that is, Archangel Shaliyah, were somewhat intriguing, just like the question the archangel Michael posed to Pandora at the end of that day’s judgment. Moreover, she not only lacked eyes but also presided over an empty Seventh Day.
Everything seemed to relate to the legendary Heavenly Lock Jehovah, but thus far, Fisher was still unclear about where this being, referred to as ‘God’ by the angels, was; it seemed he had never been in the Holy Realm.
So, would it be feasible for him to see the Holy Grail through the conditions given by Pandora and thus escape death?
As Fisher pondered, Tang Zeming Asuka, tugging at her skirt, approached slowly. After hesitating for a moment, she moved half a step closer to Fisher. Gouwen also hid the letter in his bosom, and then they all vanished along the cylindrical passage back to the Fifth Day.
Fisher had mostly become accustomed to this quick traveling sensation. By the time they descended to the Fifth Day, the enormous sun ring in the sky was still slowly rotating, seemingly cooling down, and the temperature of the entire Fifth Day was quite hot, causing Tang Zeming Asuka, whose complexion was pale, to feel nauseous again.
Fisher looked back at her, and she immediately shook her head, puffed out her cheeks, trying to control her muscles and not vomit the food she had eaten.
“Why do I always have this feeling of danger…”
At this moment, Gouwen glanced around, noticing that in the darkness of the universe, a terrifying deep crimson wave of light surged everywhere, as if it contained a strong sense of destruction. He smiled and touched his cheek, where a drop of sweat had already slipped down.
In the distance, many angels had begun to return, standing by their energy-filled forges, contemplating how to continue completing their creations. Only this saintly angel, who would not forge at all, looked back at Gouwen with a smile. Before she could explain in person, a steady male voice came from behind them,
“It’s likely that Lord Michael is upset. He rarely gets angry; usually, it only happens when the things forged don’t meet his expectations. He has forged that item more than four times; it’s something he spent a considerable amount of time on. I wonder if what you talked about with him that day made him lose focus, thereby resulting in some deviations?”
“Mikhail?”
Tang Zeming Asuka turned to look back and saw the one-armed, one-eyed Russian man stepping out from the cylindrical passage. He inhaled the residual ether that stirred Michael’s anger, coughing a few times, and muttered,
“I don’t know if the machine I’m building has been damaged by him. Do you want to come with me to take a look?”
Tang Zeming Asuka instinctively nodded, but then immediately shook her head. She glanced at Fisher, who also remained silent, just casting a side glance at Hela, causing her to laugh.
“It’s alright. Although there were a few other arrangements initially, I was planning to take you there to wait for Lord Michael. Lord Michael has already left the Fifth Day to go to the Sixth Day’s whirlpool. Without Lord Gabriel’s help, it will be quite difficult for him to find clues about the tears in the vast sea of books.”
“Then let’s go help him. What I create is very fragile compared to what these angels make; it might be wasted and need to be restarted.”
Fisher nodded at Mikhail, who had come to this world even earlier than Tang Zeming Asuka. He was quite interested in this Trans; if he was also a member of the Creation Society, then could he possibly be the true Mechanism?
Then, Hela mentioned that she had some matters to attend to nearby the Fifth Day, so she directly let Fisher follow Mikhail to check out the machinery he was supposed to have created near Michael’s forging room, not worried at all that they would run away.
Gouwen had just taken a few steps when he began to crazily examine the stars below the Fifth Day, squinting and using his finger to estimate the uncertain distance. Tang Zeming Asuka, looking at Gouwen squatting on the ground, couldn’t help but ask,
“Mr. Gouwen, what are you doing?”
“I’m considering if I can throw the letter into the sea from here. After all, I can’t feel assured letting Archangel Hela help me throw it. If she messes it up while it’s in her hands, I might as well just die outside.”
Tang Zeming Asuka chuckled, sizing up Gouwen for a moment, and said,
“It feels like Mr. Gouwen is a typical henpecked husband.”
Gouwen’s face darkened, and he looked up with a forced smile, making no rebuttal to Tang Zeming Asuka’s words but simply said,
“Oh, I’ve noticed that Little Tang Zeming seems a lot more lively today, considering you didn’t talk much in the past few days. Did something happen last night? I’m really curious!”
“You you you you didn’t sleep last night?”
“Mm? What? I slept! What are you talking about? Oh… so something really happened last night! Could it be with Fisher…”
Tang Zeming Asuka’s face flushed in anger, directly standing up and turning to leave, clearly not able to hold up against Gouwen.
Of course, mainly because last night was too embarrassing; she was caught crying and carving words by Fisher, and she had rambled on about a bunch of boring things to him.
Tang Zeming Asuka squeezed her skirt, looking at Fisher’s back ahead. Fortunately, he hadn’t mentioned what happened last night this morning, so she wouldn’t be so embarrassed.
She felt that Fisher was very mature and reliable.
However, Fisher didn’t care at all about the conversation behind him. He was focused on Mikhail ahead of him. Under his careful scrutiny, he vaguely noticed a hint of blue fluorescence flickering in Mikhail’s eyes, unsure of the reason.
Before long, Mikhail led Fisher and the others to the second-floor room he had been in before. Thankfully, he had closed the windows and doors in advance. The machinery inside looked intact, exposing the complex high-tech machine tools to the “bumpkin” Tang Zeming Asuka’s eyes.
Last time, she had hurriedly engaged in conversation with Mikhail as soon as she woke up from her dream, so she hadn’t had the chance to examine his creations in detail. Now looking at them, she saw that the entire room was filled with various square and complex devices that were about two people tall, all linked by some lines Fisher had never seen before, making it impossible for the locals, Gouwen and Fisher, to determine their function.
“Wow, these things are so high-end! Mr. Mikhail, how did you do this? You can create so much after coming to this different world. I’ve only been here for a few days and I have already forgotten the math formulas that last week’s teacher taught us.”
Tang Zeming Asuka marveled at the machine tools as she spoke, while Mikhail did not look at her; he was checking his machine tools and casually said,
“Maybe it’s because you didn’t properly memorize the math formulas in class. It’s not that your memory is problematic. But you are right; after coming to this world, my chips have already disconnected and failed. It shouldn’t be that I can remember the structure of these machines so clearly.”
Having been exposed for not paying attention in class, Tang Zeming Asuka bit her lip, feeling a bit shy. For some reason, she secretly glanced at Fisher, and seeing that he showed no reaction to her past bad behavior, she finally relaxed.
“Chips? Like the ones that go in computers?”
“Mm, it was like that in your era. In our place, our bodies are all equipped with access ports to stay connected and obtain information at any time. You can also implant specific types of chips to work with prosthetics or weapons.”
Mikhail pondered for a moment, then gently pressed on the back of his head, popping out a chip the size of a telephone card, startling both Gouwen and Tang Zeming Asuka, as they had suddenly noticed that Mikhail had two ports resembling computer sockets behind his ear that seemed able to connect directly to the brain.
“Don’t be surprised; I mentioned this before. In our time, those who maintain a素体 like yours are not ordinary people. Because that means you don’t need mechanical prosthetics to survive, indicating you are almost entirely separated from production and do not need to obtain information this way. However, these things became ineffective after disconnecting, but for some reason, the memories of mechanical manufacturing in my head remain particularly clear.”
“Particularly clear?”
Fisher latched onto this point in Mikhail’s words, curious enough to ask,
“Mm, clear to the extent that not only do I possess knowledge of mechanical manufacturing, but even some machines I’ve seen for which I did not know the production method, I’ve begun to develop ideas for creating them. The machines in front of me have all been modified by me according to local conditions because this place lacks the power we use in our world, and using the high energy the angels use is too unstable. So I prepared to try using different energy sources to manufacture machinery.”
Mikhail pointed to several types of ores on the shelves in the room. Fisher turned to look, and soon he saw a particularly familiar item. He frowned and said,
“Moonstone?”
“Eh? You recognize this kind of mineral? These are things the angels occasionally use for forging. The properties of the mineral you mentioned are quite interesting, having a good affinity with the particle weapons that New Siberian Wind specializes in. I used to work as an engineer there, so I know a bit about these things.”
But what Fisher realized wasn’t just about the new source of energy; through this mineral in front of him, he suddenly felt that this man could very well be the true Mechanism in the future Creation Society—not the clearly mechanized David No. 1, but the true Mechanism.
Mikhail didn’t notice Fisher’s examining gaze; he was just squatting down, linking the lines connecting the various machine tools, and clicked his tongue, saying,
“Uh oh, the scattered power line seems to be broken. Can you two help me lift it up?”
“Sure thing.”
Gouwen cheerfully walked over to help lift the machine tool in front of him. Fisher walked over as well, squatting down to look at the lines leading down to the first floor. Mikhail said to Tang Zeming Asuka,
“Can you help me check if the line near the direction of Lord Michael’s forge has been burned out? Although I have taken some protective measures, the abilities of these angels are just too incredible.”
“Ah, no problem! I’ll go right now.”
“Remember not to enter Michael’s forge; there are many of his Gospel relics in there, and it’s very dangerous.”
“Alright.”
Tang Zeming Asuka nodded, then turned and ran downstairs. Mikhail then gestured for Gouwen to set the machine tool down. Fisher glanced at the machine tool in front of him and asked,
“Is this machine tool used to create the weapons you mentioned earlier?”
“Mm, Lord Michael is quite interested in the weapons I’ve described, so I helped him replicate them. Although that thing has great destructive power in our world, I think for them it’s like a toy. It’s just fortunate that I don’t know why my memories of these machines are so clear; otherwise, it would be troublesome.”
“Hela mentioned that when you entered the Holy Realm, you were not very clear-minded. This person is a doctor; if you want, you can let him check you.”
Mikhail glanced at Gouwen, who was smiling and waving at him, then shook his head, looking at his remaining hand, the shadow in his single eye deepening gradually,
“No need. That was just due to the prosthetic causing a mental issue. Ever since the prosthetic was removed by Michael, I haven’t had any episodes. I just occasionally have some strange dreams.”
“Dreams?”
“Mm.”
Although Tang Zeming Asuka wasn’t present, Mikhail seemed to finally have some trust in the two in front of him. He didn’t shy away, nodded, and said,
“I dreamt of my hometown, New Moscow. I dreamed of many tall buildings, machinery, countless corpses, and oceans piled high with all kinds of weapons manufactured by New Siberian Wind. I dreamt of my wife; in the dream, she told me to wait for me to return home, but when I went to find her, I only saw countless prosthetics overwhelming me.”
“Typical symptoms of cyber-mental illness. When I was afflicted in the former world, I would also often see my wife’s shadow and see company dogs chasing her; so I would shoot at them, but almost every time I woke up, I almost shot my companions.”
Fisher stroked his chin, carefully contemplating Mikhail’s words, unwilling to miss any potential information he could obtain.
“I see.”
“Hey, the line… is this way.”
Meanwhile, downstairs, Tang Zeming Asuka was looking around. Since this area was Michael’s forge, there was no one else besides them. The sun ring in the sky continued to rotate and make noise. She soon raised her head to look for the lines Mikhail had linked, following those lines on the wall to the other side. Tang Zeming Asuka quickly spotted a strange damage on the other side of the wall.
She saw that the lines on the wall were neither broken nor burned, but were covered by a viscous, translucent, colorless strange substance. The odd colorless material clung to the surface of the wall, invading it like a climbing tiger, completely occupying the wall while still writhing.
“What is this?”
Tang Zeming Asuka furrowed her brows, instinctively wanting to return to report the situation to Mikhail, but when she shifted her feet, she sensed something was wrong. Suddenly, she felt her feet turn cold and damp.
“Eh?”
Looking down, she realized that the translucent substance on the wall was actually spreading from the ground upwards, and her shoes perfectly landed on a mound of the translucent matter. Instantly, her shoes and socks were corroded away, but for some strange reason, when it touched her exposed feet, there was no corrosive effect, merely wrapping around her feet smoothly without movement.
Tang Zeming Asuka’s face turned pale as she opened her mouth and stupidly turned her head towards the direction of Michael’s forging room, only to see a small iron box that had been knocked over in that forging room, from which this seemingly endless translucent strange liquid was oozing out. The liquid slowly gathered after grabbing hold of one of Tang Zeming Asuka’s feet, gradually rising taller than her, staring blankly at her, writhing and making strange sounds,
“Glub glub~”
Tang Zeming Asuka’s face grew whiter and frightened her whole body into tremors. She quickly yanked her foot back and turned to run, crying out as she fled,
“Help! Help! Help! Boohoo.”
“Glub glub!”
The translucent blob tilted its head, watching the pitiful Tang Zeming Asuka run away on one foot, seemingly becoming even more excited while writhing its body and rapidly swelling. In an instant, it became larger than the house in front of them.
“Glub glub!”
Inside it, bubbling noises similar to boiling water echoed, and while writhing its flexible, amorphous, sticky body, it quickly chased after Tang Zeming Asuka. The oppressive shadow looming over her was almost upon the crying Tang, who screamed in terror,
“Mr. Fisher! Boohoo, save me!”
Not far away, in Michael’s forging room, the small box that had completely spilled and released this terrifying monster had an elegant and beautiful sentence inscribed on it. If someone who recognized angelic writing were present, they might understand its meaning.
It read,
“Toys”
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(End of this chapter)
