A Core Ship From The Start Chapter 503

Chapter 503: Chapter 376: Exploration Discovery_1 Chapter 503: Chapter 376: Exploration Discovery_1 While dispatching puppets for a carpet-style search of the entire base, Duanmu Huai, feeling bored, also started to look around.

From the construction here, it seems to be a very old Mechanic Religion Base. At least many of its constructions and decorations indicate that it probably originated from the earliest period of the Human Empire, but… this also means that there may be some unknown secrets hidden here.

Well, this is all nonsense, almost every Mechanic Religion Base is like this.

In fact, in the game, what players despise the most are the actions of the Mechanical Religion. They believe that without the strong religious flavor of the Mechanical Religion, the technological development of the Human Empire might have advanced a few more steps and wouldn't have ended up as it did.

The reason is quite simple.

Though the Mechanical Religion appears to be a scientific research organization on the surface, at its very core, it's a religious organization. They fervently worship the God of All Machines, believing that knowledge is a sacred manifestation and all creatures or artifacts with knowledge are sacred because of it—— entities with more knowledge, naturally, will be worshipped.

It seemed alright, but it was very annoying when brought into the religious attributes of the Mechanical Religion.

The key is this sentence—— knowledge is a divine manifestation, the more knowledge an entity possesses, the more it will be worshipped.

Under such doctrine, there's basically no exchange and sharing of knowledge in the Mechanical Religion. Of course, if it's general knowledge or knowledge of no use or worth, that's one thing, but they always hide the really cutting-edge stuff. Because according to the doctrine of the Mechanical Religion, if I gain this high-end knowledge, I'm closer to the God of All Machines than other people. If I reveal this, then other people will also have the same amount of knowledge, and will be just as close to the God of All Machines.

So, the Mechanical Religion keeps many good things hidden, not telling anyone. However, as everyone knows, if knowledge does not spread and circulate, there's little progress to be made.

And once the secret Casting World or the Mechanical Religion Base is breached, it means the entire research results and knowledge system are completely lost.

So it goes without saying, religion hurts people……

Of course, the Human Empire is already toast, and it's meaningless to settle accounts with the Mechanic Religion now, but for the players, any place related to the Mechanical Religion will excite them—— After all, there might be some sort of Holy Artifacts of black technology buried inside.

As for Duanmu Huai, he wished there could be the Machunium treasure manual here, then he could enter a well-off society running. But unfortunately, the chances are slim. After all, no player in the game has unearthed the STC of the Machunium treasure manual. Anyway, it doesn't matter when you think about it…… After all, everyone has the right to fantasize, and the Judge is no exception chuckle……
“Huh?”

Just as Duanmu Huai was fantasizing about getting the Machunium treasure manual and sweeping the entire Milky Way, the report from the puppet brought him back to reality.

According to the reactions of the puppets, there was nothing in this base—— no threats, no traps?

Could it be just a long abandoned shell?

“Let's go inside and see.”

Duanmu Huai tightened his grip on the War Hammer and strode in.

Just as the puppets had investigated, the entire base was a mess inside. There were signs of battle everywhere, it was clear that this place had experienced battle and attack before, with most things already destroyed. However, there seemed to be an issue with the condition of the bodies.

“Well…… how strange.”

Duanmu Huai squatted down, looking at the corpse of a mechanically enhanced man at his feet. This man, like most mechanically enhanced individuals, had modified his body beyond recognition, all over him were metal prosthetic limbs, looking more like an alien mechanical insect than a human. If the Tribunal's criteria of determining purity among humans weren't the skulls, then these things would have been treated as aliens long ago.

Forget it, never mind.

From the bodies, the cause of death for these mechanically enhanced men was strange, they just fell on the ground, even their weapons were not picked up. That is, instead of suffering an attack, it seemed more like they had faced a sudden disaster, like some kind of irresistible factor that suddenly swept the entire base, and then these mechanoids just died on the spot without any preparation.

A Subspace Storm? But if it was a Subspace Storm, wouldn't the entire base just explode on the spot?

Or some kind of virus? Impossible, after all, this research institute is right at the foot of the mountain, if there really was a virus leak, the outside world would have become a death zone by now.

Forget it, you'll know once you see it. The strange ways these mechanoids get themselves killed are endless, there's no way Duanmu Huai could have guessed what they did.

In fact, it was.

“What on earth were these mechanoids trying to do…”
Looking at the scene before him, Duanmu Huai was dumbfounded. Right now, he was in a huge room at the deepest part of the base. There was a large tank in the room that resembled the ones you would see in an aquarium. The tank had already burst, from the instruments and bodies of the mechanically enhanced men scattered around, this should be the first scene of the incident.

But…… how did a tank explode?

“Huh?”

Just then, Duanmu Huai suddenly felt a gaze coming from the void. He quickly turned and looked towards the location of the gaze. He saw nothing there, but the next moment, accompanied by a “yikes!” scream, the figure of a blonde girl quietly appeared, curled up trembling, staring at Duanmu Huai anxiously.

Seeing this, Ogis tilted her head with curiosity.

“Ghost?”

“Probably.”

Duanmu Huai nodded, after all the girl was floating in the air, semi-transparent, if she's not a human, then she's probably a ghost. Just then, the blonde girl, after hesitating for a moment, looked at the rose knot on Duanmu Huai's chest and quietly said.

“Excuse me…… could you be the honorable Judge?”

“Oh?”

Hearing the blonde girl's question triggered a flash in Duanmu Huai's eyes.

“Who are you?”

Duanmu Huai stared at the ghost girl and asked. Although she looked a little scared, seeing that Duanmu Huai didn't seem to have any malicious intentions, she hesitatingly opened her mouth.

“I am…… experimental subject 28912…”
“Experimental subject?”

On hearing this introduction, Duanmu Huai furrowed his brows.

“I'm sorry, but could you tell me exactly what happened here?”

“Ah, sure…”

The Ghost Girl nodded, then started telling her story —- much to Duanmu Huai's surprise, this girl was actually an Imperial Citizen (yes, that empire of the Human Empire), and also a Psychic, albeit not a very strong one. After her Psychic powers were discovered, she was brought to this base. The girl didn't know what these greasers were up to at the time, only that they seemed to be conducting experiments and she was the subject.

Then she died.

Yeah, the experiment failed, and then she died.

As normal as it gets.

However, whether due to the experiment or some issue with the girl's Psychic abilities, she didn't completely die, her soul was bound to this space. The girl herself didn't understand what happened, so she stayed here, watching these greasers conduct their experiments, slowly discovering what they were trying to do.

“They… seem to have found a special STC, a device that allows the Spiritual Energy of Subspace to merge with a living body, creating the perfect Psychic Creatures… Although I didn't quite understand most of what they said, they seemed to want to… recreate an Emperor…”

“Heh.”

On hearing this, Duanmu Huai kept his face unchanged, chuckled.

Typical of the greasers, completely within expectations, daring to think about anything.

Of course, it's understandable for the greasers to have such thoughts. Judging from the timeline in the girl's story, she lived during the later period of the Empire when the Emperor was on the throne. At that time, indeed, many factions were researching this issue. In fact, even within the Tribunal, there were similar divisions.

For example, in the Tribunal, there were two factions, one dedicated to resurrecting the Emperor, the other to find a completely new body for the Emperor's soul to possess for reincarnation, and to manage the Empire anew.

Of course, the former is very difficult, and the latter was denied by many Judges at the time.

After all, if you say possession, it's possession, if you say reincarnation, it's reincarnation, how can you ensure that the possessed person is the Emperor and not some other devil? The Human Empire has only one Emperor, and if there's a problem, we don't even know who to turn to for solutions!

So, it's no surprise that the Mechanic Religion has similar factions.

Moreover, according to the historical records of Imperial Truth, the Emperor… seems to be man-made?

Then the experiment kept failing.

“So how did all this end up?”

“Um…”

On hearing Duanmu Huai's question, the Ghost Girl frowned, reminiscing for a moment.

“They said… it seems to be a body-size problem, unable to withstand too much Subspace energy, so they found a really big whale…”

“Oh…”

Duanmu Huai now knew where the big water tank came from.

“And then?”

“…It seems like there was an explosion during the experiment, and then… everyone died.”

Typical of the Mechanic Religion, no surprises there.

As for that STC… it's probably screwed too.

“So what do you plan to do now?”

“I don't know…”

In response to Duanmu Huai's question, the Ghost Girl shook her head cluelessly. She had been in this slumber ever since, and if it weren't for Duanmu Huai's arrival, she probably wouldn't have woken up.

“Truly worthy of the master.”

Whether Ogis's comment was a compliment or not…Duanmu Huai couldn't be bothered to care.

“By the way, how did you suddenly appear?”

“Huh? Well…”

On hearing Duanmu Huai's question, the Ghost Girl hesitated for a moment, then blushed and looked down.

“After being looked at by you, Judge Sir, looking into your eyes… makes my heart race, there's this strange feeling…”

“Um…?”

Looking at my eyes? Heart racing?

Could it be…?

Upon thinking of this, Duanmu Huai pondered for a moment, silently reaching out his hand.

“…Judge Sir, what are you pulling out the rope for?”

“I say, would you like to be my Familiar?”

“…Huh?!?”

Chapter end

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