This Tentacle Can't Be Kept Either

The air suddenly froze, as though even the invisible dust had held its breath. Facing the gazes formed by pairs of damaged cameras and bionic prosthetic eyes, Ivette's face showed neither joy nor sorrow. She was as cold and lifeless as an exquisitely crafted doll with nothing inside.

She thought that perhaps only this Mechanical Puppet girl named Bingyu was somewhat foolish. The other Mechanical Puppets had noticed her human identity so quickly—now that was the reasonable development.

But she did not care. With her current strength, destroying a small village of several dozen old, weak, damaged, and disabled scrap-metal robots would be as easy as turning her hand. If a conflict broke out, the ones who should truly be afraid were the people on the other side.

But the very next second—

"Like... far too alike!"

"Mechanical God above, this—this is too beautiful! This young lady looks exactly like a human!"

"How did she do it? Look at that naturally elegant bearing. I doubt I could achieve that even in a lifetime!"

"Could this be the legendary realm of Man-Machine Unity? Is she about to become human?"

"She must be a messenger of the gods, right?"

Cries of amazement surged in from every direction. The Puppets assembled from discarded parts had points of light flashing wildly in their camera pupils, and they looked exceptionally excited.

Ivette blinked, wondering if something was wrong with this script.

Her calm eyes turned toward Bingyu beside her, only to see Bingyu puff out her soft bionic silicone cheeks and pout sourly. "I think I'm not that different from her..."

"Greetings, I am the Great Elder, executor of the Agasha Blacktide Subkingdom. May I ask the names of our two guests?" The old Puppet speaking through a battered loudspeaker walked over to Ivette. He laboriously bent his body and gave a slight bow in a less-than-standard posture, yet somehow still carried a hint of gentlemanly grace.

"Hello, I'm Bingyu, a traveler from the Sky Kingdom!" Bingyu said politely.

"Ivette Lochvia. I come from a remote island and am also a traveler." Ivette gave a small nod.

"Even her name has such an ancient charm!" The Puppets, who had shown no reaction when Bingyu introduced herself, immediately began shouting and exclaiming again upon hearing Ivette's introduction.

Ivette found this increasingly strange. The Mechanical Puppets in this village appeared to favor humans greatly, even taking pride in imitating them... Was that some local custom? But Bingyu had praised her name before as well. Did that mean all Mechanical Puppets in this world were like this?

What was the reason for it?

Spontaneous human worship?

Or did it have something to do with that mysterious "Mechanical God"?

As she pondered, the Great Elder, who called himself an "executor" and seemed to be this area's village chief, warmly invited them. "Since you two honored guests are passing through, don't stand around talking outside. How about coming to our reception room for some tea?"

Tea... After glancing at the Great Elder's rust-covered body and the old-fashioned megaphone he used to speak, Ivette said, "All right."

She wanted to see what these damaged Puppets, most of whom did not even have mouths, meant by drinking tea.

Led by the Great Elder, Ivette and Bingyu followed behind him, passing through countless admiring and envious gazes as they entered the interior of Puppet Town.

Like the abandoned towns Ivette had seen on Ish Island, the buildings in Puppet Town were dilapidated and old. Yet over the long years, they had merged with the local vegetation, radiating fresh, lush green vitality.

The Puppets here also seemed to understand the need for cleaning. Though the narrow paths in the middle had cracked ground, weeds did not grow too wildly, as if they had been trimmed. Above them, dense canopies intertwined freely through the gaps between the buildings. Sunlight, like molten gold dust, forced its way through layer upon layer of leaves and scattered fragmented patches of light across the ground.

Winding paths led into secluded depths, making it look rather like a hidden paradise... Ivette observed as she walked, then saw a small patch of grass ahead. At the end of the lawn stood a structure piled from abandoned shipping containers, like a rusted pyramid roughly four or five stories tall.

"Oh! Is this your home?" Bingyu looked around curiously.

"Yes, we built it ourselves," the Great Elder said proudly.

"I thought you would just live directly in human ruins," Bingyu said.

"That was how it was in the beginning. Back then, our realm was not high enough, and we thought that living in the buildings left behind by humans would bring us closer to humanity." The Great Elder sighed. "Then, after decades of cultivation, one day I suddenly attained enlightenment... Do you know what I realized?"

"What?" Bingyu asked obligingly.

"I realized that the key reason humans are human is that they know how to rely on themselves. Only then could they build such a glorious Pre-Civilization from a primitive world that had nothing. But our lazy behavior would only make us drift farther and farther from humanity. So we abandoned our old residences and began building our own homes. This is the result. We call it the Container Apartment. It looks good, doesn't it?"

Listening to the Great Elder's speech, Ivette examined the crude shipping-container pyramid and truly could not see what was supposed to look good about it.

Bingyu, however, was deeply shocked. Her bionic pupils widened slightly, her Mind Core ran at high speed, and she fell into a silence resembling sudden enlightenment.

Don't crash on me... Hearing the buzzing of the core in Bingyu's head running at full load, Ivette could not help feeling a little worried.

Puppet Town's reception room was on the first floor of the Container Apartment. Before entering, Ivette saw small robots in twos and threes hopping and playing on the upper floors. Footsteps and roller-wheel sounds clinked and clattered incessantly, making quite a racket.

After entering the somewhat cramped room, Ivette saw a wooden table and cabinets. Since there was not enough room for two people to move around, the Great Elder entered through the opposite entrance. He rummaged through a storage rack at the side and took out a bag of dark brown material that seemed to be tea leaves.

"How did you get this tea?" Ivette asked in surprise. The tea leaves definitely could no longer be brewed and drunk, but they did not look like something from centuries ago. They looked as though they had only recently become damp and moldy.

"A few years ago, when I was traveling abroad, a kingdom that knew how to grow tea sold it to me." The Great Elder chuckled, then said with admiration, "In order to grow closer to our creators, they actually opened tea plantations and learned to grow tea. This effort leaves this old one full of admiration. It was just rather expensive. I traded many human handicrafts found in ruins for only two bags of tea, and I could never bear to drink it."

"Creators?" Ivette asked warily. "Humans are your creators? Then what is the Mechanical God to you?"

"The gods gave us souls, while humans gave us bodies. Thus, humans are our creators, while the great Mechanical God is the god we believe in." The Great Elder seemed a little puzzled. "There is no conflict. Do you have... any doubts about this, honored guest?"

"I was presumptuous. The place I came from was rather remote. There was not even a church there," Ivette said.

"Hey, kind-hearted miss, why do you sound like such an illiterate?" Bingyu chattered beside her. "Why not ask me first in the future? Otherwise, I'll be too embarrassed to say you're with me."

When did we become a pair?

Ivette glanced at her, but did not deny it. She silently watched the Great Elder continue brewing tea.

He took out crude metal cups, placed the moldy tea leaves inside, and added cold water from a not-very-clean bucket. Just like that, the tea was ready.

Looking at the cup pushed before her, Ivette did not open her mouth. Instead, she looked to the side.

As a relatively new Mechanical Puppet, Bingyu seemed capable of drinking water. She directly downed the cold tea brewed from moldy leaves in one gulp.

That mouth can't be kept either... Ivette thought, then looked toward the Great Elder opposite her.

Unlike Bingyu, the Great Elder only had a camera on his head. The rest was an empty metal plate, and even his loudspeaker was mounted on his shoulder.

Under Ivette's gaze, the Great Elder solemnly lifted his cup with both hands like a tea master. He faced a spot on his head where there was nothing at all and fiercely poured the tea down—then, as expected, it all spilled over his chest plate.

Yet the Great Elder seemed completely unfazed. He set down the cup and said in a satisfied, lingering tone, "Ah, it has been so long since I last drank it. This tea is still so sweet and delicious, truly worthy of being one of the most popular beverages in human civilization."

What exactly did you drink? Doesn't your conscience hurt saying it's sweet and delicious...?

Ivette thought expressionlessly. If she were a psychiatrist, she could probably diagnose the Great Elder with cyberpsychosis on the spot. This was far too absurd.

But he had tried so hard. To maintain proper etiquette, Ivette still sighed, picked up the teacup, and pretended to drink. The instant she did, a tiny white tentacle extended from her fingertip and devoured most of the strange liquid in the cup.

This tentacle can't be kept either, she thought.