I have a long-lived pawn shop.

The chaos in the chamber did not stop any time soon.

Wei Xi touched the head of the mechanical bird and poked his head out from behind the bookshelf. He saw Gabiya and a thin middle-aged man holding a whole ham and chopping each other wildly. Meat scraps flew everywhere and sparks flew everywhere.

A whole band was playing on the stage, their staggered positions made them disappear into the shadows, but from time to time someone would jump onto the stage, take out their own instruments and pluck out a string of increasingly high notes, bombarding the hall with the sonorous and majestic sounds of heavy metal, rock roaring, laughter rising and falling, and a doomsday-like madness in the bustle.

Wei Xi hesitated to speak, but Deputy Director Buster Wilson always looked at the revelry crowd seriously through the gap. His face was still gentle as he listened to the heavy metal noise, as if he was facing his naughty children.

Understanding Wei Xi's tangled look, Deputy Director Wilson smiled and sighed softly: "The war has begun, and the pressure on everyone in the Perpetual Motion Institute has begun to increase. The intervention of the military has greatly increased the density and intensity of experiments, so the incidence of experimental accidents is also increasing. The debugging of the Black Cross Legion and the improvement of steam soldiers have consumed too much of our energy. Fortunately, the Empire has briefly gained a little advantage, and the Perpetual Motion Institute can also relax for a while."

"Military? I thought the Black Cross Legion and the Military were parallel organizations, and were only dispatched by His Majesty the Emperor." Wei Xi placed the mechanical bird on her shoulder and asked softly. Of course she knew where the advantage came from. It was the chain reaction caused by her last assassination, but there was no need to say that part.

"Well, we are actually the ones who manage the equipment of the killing corps."

Wilson said calmly, "In the past hundred years, since the birth of the first steam device, most of the empire's technological innovations have come from our agency. We are unknown to the world, but we interpret the truth and we represent the truth. On the road to exploring the truth, we need to abandon many secular concepts, and we may be misunderstood during the process, just like in the old days, doctors who dissected corpses were regarded as pagans whose minds were controlled by the devil."

Perhaps it was because most of the mechanics who could enter the headquarters were geniuses, and geniuses were always independent. Therefore, almost everyone in the hall that Wei Xi met was extremely sincere and genuine. They would not hide their emotions in their hearts like ordinary people, so they always gave people a sense of unreality and exaggeration, just like a drama actor on the stage, ignoring the audience's gaze and releasing their full and unrestrained emotions.

There is only a fine line between a madman and a genius. Apparently, the mechanics don't see any outsiders here. Most of those who are qualified and capable of coming to the meeting hall are their own kind, and they don't mind opening up their thoughts to their own kind.

The "property" that ordinary people pursue is meaningless to them. Top mechanics are like artists, who are always seeking the favor of new inspirations throughout their lives. This makes their emotions fluctuate in extreme ranges most of the time: sensitive, irritable, easily angered, crazy...

Using the current method to vent is already a very calm way - think about it, these are a group of guys who can rub mechanical soldiers by hand, which in this era is as powerful as rubbing nuclear weapons by hand.

"God provides every soul with a choice: either truth or peace, one can choose one, but not both." *Wei Xi glanced in the direction of the hall. Wilson understood what she meant and shook his head and said, "The foolish inherit folly, and the wise receive knowledge as a crown. And do not be like the ignorant mule, which must be restrained with a bit and bridle, otherwise it will not obey." *

The girl wrapped in the black military uniform understood the hidden meaning of Bastet from this sentence in the Vatican scripture, so she smiled at the former cardinal.

She was so young that her jet-black hair looked as rich as raven feathers in the room. The concept of "young" was almost tangible compared to Buster. Her equally young and dark eyes were giving Buster Wilson a familiar and complex look.

Bast thought that this girl was indeed a bit like Gabia in his early years. Their attitudes towards life were too clear and objective, lacking empathy and shame, with few obvious emotional changes, and focusing on spiritual connections... like calm lunatics who were born unable to see the world like normal people.

Unlike Gabia, Abigail is someone who can control destructive power.

After the initial surprise, Wei Xi quickly adapted to the strange atmosphere of the Perpetual Motion Institute and resumed her usual polite attitude. She even casually turned her wrist through the empty space of the bookshelf when a crystal glass was thrown at them, and the entire glass of wine was caught steadily without a drop leaking, to avoid spilling it on these books of unknown value.

She held the crystal glass, her lips curled into a smile, her eyelashes curled slightly, as if she was at an upper-class banquet, with an appropriate posture. And this shackle of etiquette became a jeweled crown adorning her hair because she was used to it, heavy but also made her shine.

"I don't think Gabi will be able to resolve her battle in a short time." Deputy Director Bast originally wanted Gabia to lead Abigail to visit the exhibition hall, but plans could not keep up with changes, and he could not let the countess waste her precious time in vain: "Perhaps I can guide you around, there are some things that will interest you, Miss Abigail."

Wei Xi put down the crystal glass and looked the old man in the eyes respectfully, like a young man seeking knowledge. "Okay, I think this is the best arrangement."

The two of them quietly opened the cherry wood door and left without disturbing the revelers.

In this huge building, the meeting hall is located in the center, with passages consisting of rooms on both sides. Although the passage looks straight visually, in Wei Xi's perception, this passage with a new style after each door has a fixed angle offset to the left, and the offset is exactly the same, as if the entire passage is just a section of a circular passage.

No matter which way you go, you will eventually return to the starting point.

"We call this the Ring of Showoffs." Deputy Director Bast smiled and motioned Wei Xi to look at the huge machine next to it. "This is a tool for maintaining the Ring of Showoffs. Gabia named it the 'Snowden Giant', which is very fitting. Some of the safety equipment in the exhibition hall is controlled by it."

The "Snowden Giant" is almost as tall as the hall and as majestic as a mountain. Countless gears mesh with each other, springs and levers work together, and there are many mechanical birds jumping among the metal branches. It looks like the World Tree supporting the atrium in the legend, but there is no black dragon entwined and gnawing on it.

Wei Xi didn't look carefully before entering the exhibition hall. Now that he thought about it, there seemed to be a closed bell tower on the front of the "organ". It turned out that there was a huge mechanical core embedded inside. What they saw now was the back of the mechanical core. There was a small room on one side, probably the maintenance worker's workshop. Next to the room was a strange-looking machine connected to the track. Wei Xi pondered for a moment and roughly guessed that this was the workbench where the maintenance worker would repair the core.

Inside the exhibition hall, there were only some soldiers in black standing on both sides of the passage. They had dark golden bracket-like structures on their bodies, tightly attached to their spines and limbs. The metal power packs behind them were not started, so no steam was generated.

This situation was really unusual. Even outside the Silver Moon Church, there were mechanical soldiers guarding it. It didn't make sense that there were only ordinary soldiers in such an important place as the Perpetual Motion Center. It was unreasonable not to use the ultimate force to guard the place where it was born. Wei Xi was curious, so he asked.

Deputy Director Buster was not surprised that Wei Xi considered attack and defense first. He took out a photo album and a notebook from a secret compartment on the wall, which recorded in detail the scene when the "Snowden Giant" was launched.

In the overexposed photo, four doors engraved with the ritual of "Preserved Things" fell down, each with three shovel-shaped surfaces embedded in the ravine below, blocking the exit of the corridor. Alien guns descended from the top of the corridor, and the revolver composed of multiple barrels began to rotate. Amid the thunderous gunshots, it spit out a storm of fire.

"Under extreme circumstances, this mechanism can fire continuously for twenty minutes. Every minute, countless bullets made of mithril and red steel are poured out. Those bullets are as thick as an adult's thumb, and each one is engraved with a psychic circuit. Even a single steam soldier will be blown to pieces under this special firepower. Of course, that's because they can't exert their mobility in a small space." Bast said, "There is also a linkage device in the Ring of Showoffs. In the most urgent situation, we can abandon this building. There is a sufficient amount of black gunpowder in the dark room of the 'Snowden Giant', but the ignition mechanism can only be opened by the director and deputy director of the Perpetual Motion Institute together. Only we know the location of the dark room. After it is opened, everything on the surface of this building will turn into nothingness. But because the mechanics are still there, it is only a matter of time to rebuild it."

Wei Xi: “…”

She did not comment on this approach, but just stroked her chin and stared at the "Snowden Giant" for a while, with a thoughtful look on her face.

Buster Wilson waited patiently for her to take a look. Although he didn't know that Wei Xi was copying the blueprint of the machine into her own memory palace, the old man's nature always made him maintain enough respect and understanding for others.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wilson, I'm fascinated by it." Wei Xi's eyes were shining like moonlight, but the difference was that her gaze was not cold, but rather eager, which was enough to prove her interest in all this.

"Thank you for your love, Miss Abigail. It seems that you will not be bored with the following process." Buster came to the opened cherry wood door and made an inviting gesture, as if inviting people to worship the throne of God.

Wei Xi followed the instructions and walked over. Just as he passed through the door frame, he suddenly heard a sigh.

The sigh was like a layer of gauze, gently floating down from the ceiling and landing on Wei Xi. Wei Xi felt something invisible seeping into her body.

Before she could guess what kind of psychic ritual this was, the next moment the crystal chandelier in the first room lit up, and hundreds of huge mirrors surrounded them. The mirrors reflected each other, and the light came towards them like a tide!

Room after room, lights gradually lit up - a majesty, a god-like majesty enveloped them:

This is the temple of the mechanic, the masterpiece of the show-off, the foundation of the arrogant, and the pursuit of the traitors!

Wei Xi had seen many steam machinery works, but she had never seen so many masterpieces like works of art presented on a large scale: large and small brass parts meshed tightly, gears and springs shone with a cool luster, and patterns obviously related to psychic energy were engraved on the barrel, flowing with strange light; a huge egg-shaped metal cabin, the surface of which was inlaid with round yellow transparent crystals, through which one could see the sophisticated and complex operating table; and a jellyfish-like "creature" made of gems and bearings. Wei Xi read the signboard introduction and realized that it was really a product left over from the centuries by some gods, and after being mechanized, it was used to detect precious mineral deposits underwater...

Compared with the simplicity and lightness of modern technology, the steam machinery in front of us is indeed not convenient, but there is a reason why this style fascinates countless people. Wei Xi is very lucky. Unlike those who can only glimpse the imaginary steam world in various film and television works, she can feel its charm personally.

And her first thought was, this is beautiful.

Almost instantly she was conquered by the magical feeling of the exhibition hall. Even the ubiquitous mechanical clicking sound was not so annoying anymore. It seemed like a grand symphony that could shake people's hearts.

Each room had different exhibits, from cold weapons to fantastic relics from the Age of Gods. Wei Xi even saw an entire exhibition hall that looked like butterfly and flower specimens.

From Buster's introduction, she learned that these small things that sparkled like crystals were the works of Ms. Bold. Among them, an orchid-like plant was particularly eye-catching. It was named Asenroth Orchid, which means the most beautiful thing.

It is made of gold wire, and the base of the flower has colorful refraction like mother-of-pearl. The bud is a jewel-green columnar cone, full and round, and the petals are like gauze and mist, engraved with a fine psychic matrix. After being activated, it has a particularly good effect of confusing people, and it is always successful in assassination... Unfortunately, the assassin himself will often fall into the trap, and fight with the target of the mission who is also hit, and get bloody...

Halfway through the Ring of the Showoff, corresponding to the exit, there is an extremely empty room. There are no brass pipes and shelves commonly seen in other places. There are only countless gorgeous curtains and exquisite pendant decorations. The ground is a flat mercury mirror, and stepping on it is like stepping on a windless lake.

In the center of the room was a statue-like object, covered in black velvet, silent, as if it was not something that could see the light of day.

After seeing the object in the center of the room, Buster Wilson also became serious. The smile that was always on his face disappeared, and his expression was as hard as steel. The mechanical bird also felt something, tilted its head and looked at the statue, the gears in its head turned, and its eyes glowed blue.

Suddenly, it spread its wings, the luster of the brass flickered, and every part inside the wings was spinning wildly, supporting it to roar into the air and rush into the distance.

"This is the ultimate power held by the empire, and it is also the divine bone that we stole from the tomb of the gods." Buster led Wei Xi to the velvet-covered statue. Wei Xi felt that something unknown was coming from somewhere and poured into her lungs like air, causing her to involuntarily take two quick breaths before she felt her feet land firmly on the ground.

"For hundreds of years, it is this kind of thing that has ensured the Kafa Empire's dominance over half of the continent, and it is also the cornerstone of our progress from theology to truth." Bast stared at the tall statue and said, "Count Abigail, a determined person controls power, while a confused person is devoured by power. The military steam soldiers are not the same as those produced by external companies. We named them 'Living Soul Bones', indicating that they are between life and death. Without an iron will and outstanding talent, the soul of the person driving the machine will be devoured and become the fuel of the divine bones..."

The old man spoke slowly. He did not look back, nor did he see the dark eyes of the girl in military uniform. It seemed that some strange and suppressed desire suddenly surged towards the statue, but her calm face was so restrained that the desire was like the vague black shadow of a sea monster swimming on the ocean, or more like the groundless speculation and delusion of others.

The sound of clapping rang out in the empty room. A machine seemed to vibrate at the top of the tall statue, and then black velvet flowed down like an all-encompassing shadow, falling onto the mercury mirror.

The devil-like figure finally revealed itself!

The mechanical giant was twisted in the crystal-like solid material, like amber from thousands of years ago. The pair of empty eyes were stained with a strange chaotic atmosphere. Although they were in the center of such a bright mirror, they looked gloomy and cold. The cold air lingered between the bones of the person and seeped into the depths of the bone marrow bit by bit.

Wei Xi raised his head and looked into the dark void.

The light from the ceiling of the room cast a high beam of light, bathing the mechanical soldier. A neat, oppressive, dark reflection grew in the light, but it did not spread out straight forward. Instead, it followed the folds of velvet and covered Wei Xi's calm face like a black veil.

Silent ecstasy exploded in her heart, her dark eyes were like quiet mist on a swamp, her gaze fixed on the past like a gust of wind, and she thought: Ah, of course I won't be swallowed up by it.

I will manipulate it.

I want to control it.

——I control it.