The darkness here is a bit like a horror story. Coupled with the cold air, damp rooms and the sound of rain outside the window, even if the ghast Jenkins suddenly appeared now, he was not surprised.

　　 He looked around and followed the aura that was densely scattered throughout the space, trying to find the location where the aura was the strongest. Finally, behind the desk in the study, a 14-year-old girl wearing a skirt and a butterfly hairpin appeared there.

　　 No matter how you look at it, that young girl doesn't look like a living person. The part of her right hand where the sleeves were exposed was completely copper-colored metal, the left half of her face was like a metal plate, densely covered with some small nicks, and the right half of her face was still flesh, but pale like a corpse.

　　 And, when Jenkins's eyes met her normal profile face, Jenkins didn't see any humanity in that eye, he only saw holes.

　　 Fini is also at the age of thirteen or four, but because of chronic malnutrition, she is much shorter than the girl in front of her. Jenkins looked at the girl sitting behind the desk with some sadness, knowing that he could not save her.

　　 "Father's books gave me the wisdom of childhood enlightenment."

　　 The girl opened her mouth and said, but it was no longer a human voice. The sound came from her abdomen, and Jenkins didn't want to think about the principle of sound.

　　 "I am also interested in my father's books. The rigorous knowledge, the elaborate design, and the brilliance of wisdom that I can't imagine when I was young have all enlightened me."

　　 The girl rose to the sky out of thin air. To be more precise, the steam jetting from her skirt made her reach high in the sky and could look at Jenkins. This is like an exquisite doll, exquisite to make Jenkins angry.

　　 "On that day, my father saw wisdom...that day, I followed my father's guidance and also saw wisdom."

　　 A book that violated the laws of physics floated out from behind her and stopped in front of Jenkins. Jenkins took the book called "Mechanical Principles and Mechanical Design (Volume 1, but did not open it.

　　 "Stranger, do you have the courage to pry into wisdom? Do you have the talent to acquire wisdom?"

　　 The girl asked Jenkins, the corner of Jenkins's mouth quivered, and he shook his head slightly:

　　 "I don't know what wisdom you are talking about."

　　 "Then open this book, if you can see the wisdom in it, then you can move on, otherwise, please stay with me here and feel the wisdom crystals that you have no talent to touch."

　　 This book has been influenced by Misuo, which has caused a certain degree of alienation. When I held it in my hand, I could feel that the weight was wrong. After trying to open it, I found that a considerable part of the paper inside became a mixture of ordinary paper and thin metal sheets.

　　 The content of the book is nothing unusual. Although Jenkins is not very interested in this kind of book, he can judge that there is no knowledge beyond the level of steam technology in this era.

　　 just opened, the power of the lock was applied to Jenkins' body. He felt that a malicious force was trying to transform his skin into metal. This is a bit like the black metal tower transforming humans, but it is much weaker. Even if Jenkins does nothing, the power of mystery cannot transform him into something else.

　　 The book has a total of about 100 pages, which is quite heavy. Coupled with the numbers and explanatory texts that frequently appear in the illustrations for annotations, if you want to read it carefully, it will definitely not work without a day or two of sleepless concentration.

　　 So Jenkins just looked at the table of contents, looked at the preface and the introduction, and flipped two pages in it, then put the book on the desktop.

　　 "Do you see wisdom?"

　　 "I saw it."

　　 Jenkins nodded, thinking in his heart whether the girl in front of him should be considered a brainwashed mechanically modified person or a mechanical corpse that appeared after death. But no matter which kind it is, it is cruel enough.

　　 "Then you explain the wisdom you see."

　　 said, the girl stretched out the metal right hand and pressed it on her right side face, which was like the part covered by a copper sheet.

　　 Slowly and forcefully, Jenkins heard the "squeak~" sound. As the hand moved a little bit to the outside, the metal "skin" on the right was lifted, exposing the inside of the face.

　　 is not bright red flesh with muscle texture, but similar to the interior of a high-end mechanical watch. Large and small densely packed gears bite together, and the chain drives the power of rotation.

　　 The inside of her right half of the face is a cavity, and the cavity is filled with miniaturized machinery in operation, and some gears are even smaller than those produced by Jenkins irradiated with [Mechanical Light].

　　 "Show me the wisdom you see and fix this half of my face."

　　 "What's wrong with your face?"

　　 "It can't make any expressions."

　　 Hearing this request, Jenkins looked down at the book "Mechanical Principles and Mechanical Design (Volume 1, then looked at the complex mechanical structure in the lower half of the girl's head:

　　 "I know the knowledge of this book is very useful, but..."

　　 He hesitated to pick up the book again, suppressed the anger at the scene before him, pretended to open it, and tried to calmly think:

"Those cultists are definitely not using Mizuo for fun. Even a large ceremony such as Mizuo, even if it is Alexia, takes a long time to be launched. Looking at it now, although it does endanger the life of those who enter it, the real purpose is It seems that it is not intended to kill all the entrants. Otherwise, these tests will not be needed. Getting a few more corpses and crafting them into gear people is enough to cause more trouble. So, what is it for?"

　　 Jenkins didn't carry the wrench that can repair the machinery at any time, but hid it in the basement of his home. After all, the wrench may play a role in repairing the differential engine. Jenkins has no reason to wander around with it, and others may discover his relationship with the believer of lies.

　　 "So, I can only rely on myself for repairs."

　　 He looked at the girl's face, and after a few tens of seconds, he realized that it was absolutely impossible to repair it by himself. His current situation is somewhat similar to that of the two women from the Witch's House. They rushed into Alexia's apartment, and then they were struck by math problems.

　　 But those witches can get the answer by praying to the so-called "Shadow of Mother God", but Jenkins cannot pray to the sage for the answer, because the Church of the Sage maintains that knowledge must be obtained by himself.

　　 "So you have to force it?"

　　 finally came to this conclusion, but before doing it he still looked at the mechanical structure of the girl's cheek. He thought of the unique feeling he had gained by repairing that ancient machine when he entered the underground with Alexia yesterday. So suddenly he raised his hand and knocked on the girl's cheek.

　　 The curved fingers turned into a copper color when they touched the opponent's cheek. At the same time, the abnormality was still trying to spread to the wrist, but it quickly returned to its original appearance with the green light emitted from the arm.

　　 Jenkins squinted his eyes, and in the quiet vibration, the mechanical structure of the girl's face, including the appearance of the flesh and the machinery entangled in the middle of the cheek, was very clearly reflected in his mind.

　　 Although such a mechanical structure is very complicated, for Jenkins, it is not much more complicated than a small circuit, at least the part he has observed so far is like this. For a living person with a mechanized body, the most critical technology is power, and algorithms to keep the body active and intelligent, rather than the minutiae structure, so this is not completely incomprehensible to Jenkins.

"Maybe......"

　　 The feeling of boredom that I wanted to sneeze but couldn’t get it out again appeared in my heart. Jenkins suppressed this feeling and let his brain go to listen to the sound of falling rain outside. It took him a long time to say:

　　 "I know, I will fix you with wisdom."

He took the white paper from the table and used [Reading] to list the exploded view of the mechanical structure he had just seen on the paper. Finally, he pointed out that the size of a set of gears was inappropriate, which caused the face to be unable to express expressions. In the end, the exact appearance of the gear of the correct size was drawn accurately.

Chapter 1877 Chapter 1848 Steam Code

　　 "That's it, can I continue walking up?"

　　 Jenkins put down the paper that was covered with mechanical structures and asked.

　　 The girl looked at the paper on the table, and stayed still for a few seconds as if it had crashed before returning to her seat from the air and nodding:

　　 "Since you have seen wisdom, then you can continue to move up. You are a gifted person, maybe like me, enlightened by great wisdom and witness the true wisdom of the crystallization."

"very smart?"

　　 Jenkins repeated.

"Yes, although you came from a stupid organization like the Orthodox Church, your talent has not diminished. Go on, I think, you are qualified to reach the top floor attic, I will bless you, and may you be as eternal as a machine ."

　　 Jenkins nodded, got up to go upstairs, but turned around and said to the girl:

　　 "I will set you free."

"I do not understand."

　　 "You really don't understand now."

　　 just came to the third floor of the apartment. There were no other people who disappeared here, only the thick steam pipes were all over the room.

　　 The original purpose of the third floor is no longer known. Now it is filled with white hot steam, but the steam only lingers on the third floor and has no effect on the downstairs.

　　 "The first floor is the father of the family, and the second floor is the daughter, so the third floor is..."

　　 He raised his head and looked at the figure behind the white steam mist. Even with the monocle on, he could not see the whole picture hidden behind the steam.

　　 He did not speak, but carefully observed the other person. Not surprisingly, the original three members of the family have all died here, and the woman after the steam has probably turned into a desecrated corpse.

　　 "My husband is a very good machine factory engineer."

　　Some unclear voices came into the ears, and Jenkins understood that this layer of fascinating characteristics began to appear.

　　 "My daughter is a very gifted child."

　　 The black shadow behind the white mist began to move, not approaching Jenkins, but spinning around the wall.

　　 "They often talk about mechanical topics, and I, an ordinary housewife who knows simple words, never understand what they are talking about."

　　 "It's okay if you don't understand, and I don't understand what every member of the family is saying."

　　He refers to his cat, but the other party did not stop because of this sentence:

"I would check the books I brought out of the study on the third floor when everyone was not paying attention. It was very interesting, but I couldn't understand it. Until one day, my husband came into contact with the great wise man, This also gave me a chance to inspire myself."

　　 The husband on the first floor is a ghast-like existence, and the daughter on the second floor retains the entity, but the phenomenon of mechanization is serious. According to Jenkins' observation, the housewife on the third floor seemed to have lost her body and turned into a black mist, so she couldn't see her appearance through the steam.

　　 "That great wisdom~"

　　 The woman sighed, and the white mist of steam on the entire third floor fluctuated up and down with the sound. As the white mist rose, the criss-crossing steam pipes lying quietly in the room became clear. The length and thickness of the pipes are different, they are connected to each other, forming a very beautiful picture on the floor.

　　 "Stranger, since you can walk up to the third floor, you must be recognized by my husband and daughter. Then, I also want to give you a test. Please answer my questions and prove your knowledge."

　　 Jenkins nodded, indicating that she could start.

　　 "I have gained wisdom, and because I have seen more, I have more doubts. Steam machinery is almost omnipotent in this era, but people still have not found a suitable long-distance communication method."

　　 Jenkins's mouth moved, but he didn't speak.

"But I have an idea, maybe we can use steam pipes to transmit information. Assuming that there is no steam as the number 0, and the steam as the number 1, then simple digital communication can be realized. If a specific 01 is combined to form a cipher book , You can achieve remote communication. What do you think?"

"It's very inconvenient. The steam transmission process is lossy. It is necessary to frequently set up relay stations and manually transmit the on-off state of the steam. Moreover, the transmission speed of steam is very slow, even if it is a newly invented near-vacuum doped special iron alloy It’s impossible to deliver high-speed and low-consumption steam. So although your idea is valuable, it is not feasible."

　　 Jenkins seriously commented that he had similar ideas and considered whether to apply for a patent to make a fortune, but eventually gave up because of the reasons mentioned above.

　　 "My problem is not the practicality, but the design of the codebook. Maybe you can give me suggestions on how to use steam to effectively transmit information other than numbers."

　　 The black shadow has been floating in the steam mist, and the sound seems to be coming from all directions.

　　 Jenkins put his hand in his pocket and touched the small bottle, and replied without thinking:

"It's not simple. Since you don't think about practicality at all and only consider the question of passwords, why not use more steam states to express the meaning of numbers? The two states of steam can be expressed, and the pressure of steam can be expressed, even The composition of steam can also be expressed. Putting so many states together, it is enough to correspond to all the letters one by one, then transmitting steam is equivalent to transmitting state, and transmitting state is equivalent to transmitting letters. This is not more than 0 and 1 Are the numbers more efficient?"

　　 Of course, the practicability is also lower, which is almost impossible to achieve with the level of contemporary steam technology.

　　 Actually speaking about binary language at this time, and then explaining the simple mechanical language, it is probably a better answer. But Jenkins didn't know what was behind this manipulating the mystery. He didn't want to tell this group of people the knowledge from another world.

　　 "Are you satisfied with my answer?"

　　 Seeing that the dark shadow said nothing to comment, Jenkins took the initiative to ask.

　　 "You are indeed a very talented person, and you are qualified to go on."

　　 There was a sound from the ceiling, and then, the trapdoor and stairs connected by hinges slowly fell from above to the floor of the third floor:

　　 "Go ahead, you will face the honor you deserve in the attic."

　　 Jenkins shook his head:

　　 "But before I move on, can I see you? I admire you as a progressive woman who is hungry for knowledge. Before I move on, do I have the honor to be able to see you like you?"

Chapter 1878 The first thousand eight hundred and forty-nine

　　 "Yes, you can see my appearance, it is also my honor."

　　 The black figure slowly floated from the depths of the steamy white mist. Just as Jenkins expected, the woman had lost her body, and her soul had merged with a cloud of mist. This is not a ghast, nor a mechanized corpse, but a completely new form of existence.

　　 Although Jenkins can't understand how this is done, he also understands that such a deformed soul will probably soon collapse.

　　The shadows are getting closer, and Jenkins can see more details. Although it is roughly human, the body and face made of black mist have no details, only black dust is bound. On the front of the chest, a woman's face is looming.

　　While Jenkins stared at it, the woman also asked a question not related to this mystery:

"I have seen wisdom and basic mechanical knowledge, and even have my own ideas about the application of machinery. I think my husband and daughter will call me to join in the next discussion. Right?"

　　 Jenkins nodded, a smile appeared on the face of the woman in the dark mist body.

　　 left the third floor and boarded the attic. There was no light on the attic either. Only a little light from the skylight from the roof could barely allow Jenkins to see the surroundings clearly. This is the highest floor of the building, and the roof above it conveys the sound and strength of the heavy summer rain. When Jenkins climbed up the attic, the stairs and trapdoors connecting the attic to the third floor were closed again. Although he did not try, Jenkins knew that it must be in a state of being unable to open now.

　　 Probably because of the hostess’s hard work, the attic looks very clean, there is no dust or too much debris on the ground, only the old furniture is placed on the wall, and some cardboard boxes are stacked in the corners. On the floor, a blue chalk with a special fluorescent color was used to depict a huge ceremonial array that envelops the entire attic. Jenkins looked at it and knew that this was the core position of the mystery lock. But judging from the separation of the people as soon as they enter the door, this mysterious lock has certain spatial characteristics, and it is difficult to say whether the ritual core in front of it is the real ritual core.

　　 Apart from him, there are three men in black coats sitting on chairs in the attic. The three of them sat in the dark in a triangle shape, and the position was at the center of the ceremony. The vertices of the equilateral triangle drawn with chalk on the ground were facing the center of the chairs.

　　 "You can choose to be silent or not silent, because no matter what, I will teach you a lesson."

　　 Jenkins said he was about to do it.

　　 "The demigods of the Orthodox Church, maybe you can wait a few minutes and listen to us finish a short sentence."

　　 Among the three men, the one closest to Jenkins said.

"We felt that someone broke into the lock, so we knew the identities of you and your companions a long time ago. Since you can come here so quickly, it means that you do have a talent for mechanics. May I ask who you are from the Mechanical Church? Demi god?"

"It does not matter."

　　 Jenkins shook his head:

　　 "If this kind of nonsense continues, then don't continue. I don't have the habit of giving the enemy time to ask for help."

　　 "No, no, of course it's not nonsense. Since you can also understand the mystery of machinery, and have your own ideas about the content that the church does not focus on, why not join us?"