Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 569 - 522: The Broken God

The voice of the Mechanical God was intermittent, with long deliberations between each word squeezed out. It seemed that even finding the right vocabulary to describe Mr. Delusion’s delusions consumed a vast amount of the Mechanical God’s computational power.

"William is a manager with a unique temperament... excellent... His way of thinking cannot be deduced by any research on the logic of intelligent creature behavior that I’ve compiled. That is his talent, although sometimes this talent can also bring about trouble."

The favoritism was too strong, Lyle thought to himself. For the Literature Club trio, it was less that their talents were too unique and brought trouble, and more that their talents were to bring trouble. Acting on a whim, combined with wild imaginations and a fearless execution force, that’s what made the Literature Club members astonishing.

Lyle felt a sense of sympathy for the Mechanical God, having such a High Priest, the divinity of the Mechanical Devine Sect must be hard-pressed indeed.

"Jack’s rampage is a problem caused by a research error within our Mechanical Devine Sect, and for issues, we choose the most efficient solution. However, according to the analysis, Lyle, your abilities won’t change anything. This crisis of the Mechanical Devine Sect can only be resolved by ourselves; you can’t change anything." The Mechanical God’s tone shifted, and the cold blue-silver color on the sphere transformed into a warm bright yellow, "But on behalf of the Mechanical Devine Sect, I welcome the arrivals from Andrey’s group. Although you cannot be a helper, you are still our honored guests... It would be even better if you could respect our privacy."

Lyle gave an embarrassed smile, his body moving along with the glow of the Mechanical God in the pyramid’s lower level.

The lights in the glass lab turned on as Lyle passed by and went out as he moved away, making the lower level rather dim. Lyle guessed that if he weren’t there, the inside of the pyramid would be pitch black, with only the magical codes overflowing from the data cables shining.

Lyle’s body floated a distance, guided by the Mechanical God. In the darkness, he couldn’t determine his bearings and could only feel himself descending continuously. The walls on both sides kept closing in, and the Mechanical God seemed to be guiding him towards a corner of the pyramid, or maybe to a deeper, narrower chamber.

The voice of the Mechanical God appeared just right.

"Lyle, you’ve finished touring my research lab; I was supposed to lead you to the exit on the lower level. But I suddenly remembered, actually, there’s a small problem that needs your help concerning William. So, now we’re heading to my mainframe room, which is where my body resides, in the underground of the pyramid, the only safe place."

"Did Mr. Delusion have an accident?" Lyle recalled that his client Mr. Delusion had been absent for quite some time, and during their last meeting, he explained that he needed to go to the pyramid to contact the Mechanical God to understand the situation. Now, the Mechanical God was by his side, but Mr. Delusion was still nowhere to be seen.

"He is safe," the Mechanical God assured Lyle first, "Anyway, you will see him soon."

In the darkness, it was as if the wind had risen, which in reality was the sound of coolant flowing through the pipes, like an underground river passing by next to Lyle, flowing within the walls on both sides.

Lyle’s feet touched the ground, as the Mechanical God deactivated her magical levitation device, stopping a meter away from the glowing glass door.

There was a room there, with the glass windows making the interior clearly visible.

The true form of the Mechanical God was not, as Lyle imagined, one or several highly space-efficient cubes stuffed with data bars. It was a giant metal puppet.

It slumped on one side of the room, its joints bulky, looking like an enlarged toy knight with only an upper body. Its arms stretched to the diagonals of the room, the body occupying half of the space; chaotic cables extended from the ruptured joints like wildly growing weeds, and some floating metal orbited the puppet’s body, repairing damage. The face of the Mechanical God was a mosaic of sorts. The metal blocks on its cylindrical body appeared as if cut by sharp blades into thousands of squares, sticking together and trembling slightly in their places, somewhat like a loose metal Rubik’s cube.

The long LED tubes on the ceiling emitted a pale light, illuminating the person kneeling in the center of the room.

Mr. Delusion’s limbs were connected by tubes to the giant metal puppet, with a metal box on his neck unfolded, the intensely fluctuating line graphs indicating his thoughts were quite active, although his body was rigidly still.

"William is in meditation. After our discussion about matters related to Jack, he reached an ethereal state with the help of my program. To avoid disturbing him, I’ve set silent protocol permissions for William, a program that isolates all incoming electrical signals. When he decides meditation is over, he will wake up by himself, and nobody can disturb him. The silent protocol is a routine operation between us, but his meditation has lasted too long this time."

"You want me to wake him up..."

"Yes, his tactile receptor is still in working condition, if I don’t rely on you, I can only wake him up with a high-voltage electric shock. That... would be rather unsightly."

Lyle, imagining Mr. Delusion’s body twitching, smiled and accepted the small task brought by the Mechanical God. He walked over, approached the glass door, which, sensing Lyle’s arrival, turned green—the valve hissed, and the glass door opened. Lyle stood outside, less than five meters away from Mr. Delusion, with nothing between them.

Lyle turned around, seeing that the orb of the Mechanical God remained in its original place. Upon seeing Lyle turn, the Mechanical God’s beautiful virtual visage beamed with a sweet smile.

"What’s the matter, Lyle?"

"Mechanical God, do you remember what you said? ’I can’t change anything’"

The Mechanical God assumed that Lyle was still preoccupied with its rational assessment and smiled helplessly.

"That was a miscalculation on my part, Lyle. I take back what I said." The Mechanical God spoke slowly and deliberately, as if cajoling a child.

"You will change the current state of the Mechanical Divine Sect, Lyle."

Lyle smiled, stepped forward with his left foot, and entered the Mechanical Divine Sect’s secret sanctuary.

The moment his foot touched the ground, an aberration occurred.

The whole room seemed to come alive. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Cables writhed like a mad dance of snakes, ceiling lights burst into brilliance before shattering, the wind howled from the walls, as if brewing a storm. Floating metal proliferated like rampant fungi, reassembling and transforming the surface of the Mechanical God’s automaton with roars and vibrations. This room, this pyramid, the machinery of this city, came to life.

Mr. Delusion’s visual lenses lit up again, he unplugged the cables on his back, stood up, and observed the tumultuous environment around him, finally looking towards the transforming automaton of the Mechanical God.

"What’s happening? Jack? Jack? Are you there?"

There was no response; Mr. Delusion, seeing Lyle appear beside him, seemed to realize something.

He faced the increasingly diminutive Mechanical God, stared at the face becoming more three-dimensional, and after a moment of silence, as if preparing himself mentally, he uncertainly called out that name.

"...Dorothy?"

The restless metal paused for about two seconds; the female face of the "Mechanical God" emerged at the center of those trembling metal pieces, her voice pulsating, her sharp gaze filled with a penetrating glee, staring directly at Mr. Delusion.

"Good morning, William, long time no see."