OBS Chapter 266 Blue Veins
Chapter 266 Blue Veins
"What a good girl." Esrick first praised the obedient Jasmine, then he opened the office door and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please come in."
Howard blinked. "Um... you said before that you would take us to see a mysterious sage, right?"
"Yes, what's your problem?"
"So shouldn't we go meet this person from behind some closet or through a secret passage under a carpet?" Howard asked.
After hearing what Howard said, Esrick thought about it for a moment, then smiled and said:
"Mr. Howard, your idea is truly creative. Although this sage doesn't like to communicate with others, he's not someone who hides himself from the public. He's right here in the Governor's Mansion. Everyone knows where he is, but normally no one dares to disturb him."
"Okay," Howard said.
Then Esrick took a step out of the office, but stopped.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Although the sage himself does not need to hide, you—this group of guests who visited late at night with unclear motives—it is best for you not to be discovered."
"Just a reminder, turn left from the office door and go down the corridor twenty meters away. The one standing on the left is a spy for a certain lord. The lady who should be cleaning the stairwell right now is another powerful person's employee. And everything you see with electricity flowing inside could be the eyes and ears of that sage," Esrick reminded.
Then he added, "But since you were able to find me without being discovered, these should be small problems for you, so this little trouble... I wish you good luck."
After saying that, Esri walked out of the door in a dignified manner. The nun who was completely controlled beside him looked angry and helpless.
So Howard quietly approached the nun and said, "Don't be depressed, he is actually panicking too."
"How do you know that?" asked the nun.
"If he really could control everyone, he should have sent spies to other nobles' homes instead of the other way around," Howard said.
Not to mention…
He stole a glance at Jasmine who was sorting through the papers.
Not to mention he still has the girl.
This person named Jasmine was probably someone's spy before, but she was eventually turned against him. If there was someone else available, Esrick, as the governor, would never have kept her around.
If the minutes of the meeting were true, Esrick practically announced in front of everyone that she had sided with him, so this girl couldn't even be a double agent.
"Miss Jasmine, can I call you that?" Howard asked. Without waiting for Jasmine to answer, he said, "When he no longer needs you in the future, perhaps it would be better for you to leave on your own initiative."
Jasmine was confused at first when Howard spoke to her, but when Howard finished speaking, her mood became visibly depressed. However, she did not respond, but lowered her head and continued to do her unfinished work.
Howard's eyes twitched. Why couldn't he control his mouth?
In this situation, if he said it wrongly, he would just be a clown, but if he said it right, perhaps there would be fewer stomach-breaking plots in the future.
Regardless of whether he is right or wrong, he should actually shut up at this time.
"let's go."
What was said could not be taken back, so Howard instructed the nun and May to catch up with the Governor who had just left.
Half an hour later.
The young governor was walking alone in the luxurious palace in a purple robe. This was very unusual on other planets. As a governor, he would be accompanied by a group of attendants and staff even when he went to the toilet. But Esrick did not have that.
The people he met along the way seemed to be accustomed to this. When they saw the governor, they did not kneel down to salute. Many people just bowed slightly, and some simply ignored him.
And after crossing a certain "boundary", the Governor stopped.
This boundary is the dividing line between stone bricks and steel. Although it is still within the Governor's Palace, if you take one step forward, the chalky walls will no longer be covered with paintings or decorations, but with various twisted and winding pipes and valves that are constantly emitting steam.
The lamps used for overhead lighting have also been changed from exquisite crystal chandeliers to strangely structured devices that can only emit dim light. Perhaps providing lighting is the least important function of this device.
At the end of this steel road, a blue-gray iron gate is closed.
"No one else will come here, you can come out now," said Esrick.
Mei walked out of the shadow silently, and Esrick was a little surprised because the shadow was less than the size of a palm, and although it was called a shadow, it was actually just a slightly dark area under the interlaced lights.
"I heard that each of you is a master of stealth. I heard that you can hide an entire army in an inconspicuous corner. It seems to be true." Esrick said.
Mei still ignored him.
A moment later, the nun came out from the corner of the corridor with Howard.
Following the Governor was not a difficult task. This was the Governor's Mansion, and the guards patrolled far less frequently than outside. The nun carried Howard for a long time on the road from the edge of Blackwater Fortress to the Governor's Office... After all, it was impossible for Howard to jump over a four or five-meter-high obstacle silently... And inside the Governor's Mansion, Howard walked the entire road by himself.
It was just hard work for Mei. She had to go back and forth between the Governor and Howard all the time. In addition to reporting the Governor's location, she also had to figure out the patterns of action of other people around her. Sometimes, she even needed to block some cameras to allow the nun and Howard to pass through the blind spots of the surveillance.
"I assume you're taking us to see a Mechanicus," Howard said. "The one in the records you showed me."
"Indeed, it's better to tell you in advance that this sage is not hospitable, but if we want to accomplish anything here, his attitude is crucial."
"He sounds more like the Governor." Howard mentioned it deliberately.
"That's true, if he wants to." Esrick said frankly.
Then Esrick walked to the front of the gate and entered a long password. After entering the password, a small window opened on the iron gate. Esrick then reached in to verify the genes. Everything was done. The gears on the iron gate turned, and with a huge roar, the gate slowly opened.
Behind the door was a huge laboratory, which was filled with countless mechanical devices that Howard could not understand. It was covered with drawings and formulas and connected with countless wires and pipes.
In addition to these, the most eye-catching things in this laboratory are the huge culture tanks, which are filled with yellow or green opaque liquid. Standing outside, Howard can only see the vague black outlines of the things soaked inside, but Howard can be sure that the things soaking inside are definitely not human beings.
This laboratory was larger and more complete than the one Howard had seen before, but it made Howard feel like something was wrong. After a little thought, he found the reason:
It’s too “deserted” here.
The oil men are always busy, and so is their laboratory, but at this moment everything here seems to have been paused.
The machines that Howard couldn't understand had stopped operating, and many of them still had half-processed products hanging on them; the crucible on the test bench had burned dry, and the contents inside had turned black and charred, but the flame of the blowtorch underneath was still jumping; liquid that had seeped from somewhere was flowing all over the floor, and various drawings were soaked in it, turning yellow and rotting.
Howard didn't even see any of the servitors that were supposed to be working in the laboratory.
"Don't touch anything. Some things may be electrically charged or corrosive." Esrick warned, and then he led Howard and the other two through the shut-down laboratory and came to the end of the laboratory.
This is the only place that is not so "hard".
Inside the steel, there are two small sofas, a wooden table, a few books, and some things more closely related to "life" such as faucets and coffee machines.
Howard even saw a small teacup on the table. The cup was filled with soil and contained an unknown plant that had wilted a little.
At this moment, a mechanical monk in a red robe was sitting on one of the small sofas. He had his back to the crowd and looked so thin.
Esrick gestured for Howard and the others to wait there, then walked up. He didn't immediately greet the Mechanical Sage, but instead picked up the cup of plants with ease, put it under the tap to collect some water, and then returned it to its original location.
Then, he sat down on the chair opposite the Mechanical Sage.
"Your plan has failed, and your men will not return," said Esrick.
The Mechanical Sage did not answer.
"But someone unexpected came back and brought this back." Esrick said as he placed the key and chip given to him by the nun on the book and pushed it in front of the Mechanical Sage.
"Things haven't reached the point where they can't be undone. They want to talk to you, Uncle Vicklor." When saying this, Esrick deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of the last title.
Seeing what Esrick took out, the oil man finally stood up slowly and turned to face Howard and others.
He was not wearing the ball mask he wore when attending the meeting. Under the red robe was a face that had been completely mechanically transformed, covered with the same blue lines as the Karenya alien.