Can't Have These Tentacles Either

The air suddenly grew still, as if even invisible dust held its breath. Facing the gazes of broken cameras and prosthetic eyes, Ivette's expression was neither joyful nor sorrowful, as indifferent as a meticulously crafted doll with an empty core.

She thought, it was just as she suspected, this puppet girl named Bingyu was a bit simple-minded. The other mechanical puppets noticed her human identity so quickly; this was the reasonable development.

However, she didn't care. With her current strength, destroying a small village of a few dozen people composed of scrap robots, old, weak, and disabled, was as easy as flipping a hand. If a conflict were to arise, the ones who should truly be afraid would be the ones on the other side.

But in the very next second—

"So... so much like it!"

"Mechanical God above, this, this is too beautiful! This lady is practically identical to a human!"

"How did she do it? Look at her natural elegance; I suspect I'll never achieve that in my lifetime!"

"Could this be the legendary realm of 'body-machine unity'? Is she about to become human?"

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

Exclamations surged from all directions. The puppets, pieced together from discarded parts, had the light spots in their camera pupils flickering violently, appearing exceptionally excited.

Ivette blinked, wondering if the script had gone slightly awry.

She cast a serene glance at Bingyu beside her, only to see Bingyu puff out her soft, bio-synthetic silicone cheeks and pout sourly, "I think I'm pretty much the same..."

"Everyone, my name is 'Great Elder,' and I am the executive officer of the Agasha Black Tide sub-branch. May I ask for the names of our two guests?" The old puppet, speaking through a worn-out loudspeaker, walked up to Ivette. He bent down with difficulty, in a less-than-standard posture, and bowed slightly, appearing quite gentlemanly.

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

"Ivette Lochvia, from a remote island, also a traveler." Ivette nodded gently.

"Even their names are so ancient and poetic!" The puppets, who had been silent during Bingyu's introduction, started shouting again upon hearing Ivette's.

Ivette found it increasingly strange. It seemed the mechanical puppets in this village were very fond of humans, even taking pride in imitating them… was this a local custom? However, Bingyu had also praised her name earlier. Did this mean all the mechanical puppets in this world were like this?

What was the reason for this?

Spontaneous human worship?

Or was it related to that mysterious "Mechanical God"?

As she pondered, the Great Elder, who called himself the "executive officer" and seemed to be the village chief, warmly invited them, "Since you two esteemed guests are passing by, don't talk outside. Come to our reception room for a cup of tea, how about it?"

Tea… Ivette glanced at the Great Elder's rusty body and the old-fashioned loudspeaker he used to speak. She said, "Alright."

She wanted to see what "drinking tea" meant to these broken puppets, most of whom lacked "mouths."

Led by the Great Elder, Ivette and Bingyu followed behind, passing through countless admiring and envious gazes, and entered the interior of the puppet town.

Similar to the abandoned towns she had seen on Ish Island before, the buildings in this puppet town, though dilapidated and old, had merged with the local flora over the years, exuding a brand-new, vibrant, green vitality.

Furthermore, the puppets here seemed to have a sense of cleanliness. Although the small path in the middle had cracked ground, the weeds did not grow vigorously, suggesting they had been trimmed. Between the gaps of the overhead buildings, dense tree canopies intertwined freely. Sunlight, like molten gold dust, forcefully pierced through layers of leaves, scattering dappled light spots on the ground.

A winding path leading to quietude, it actually looks like a paradise… Ivette observed as she walked, and then saw a small patch of green grass before her. At the end of the grass was a building constructed from discarded shipping containers, resembling a rusty pyramid, about four or five stories high.

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

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

"I thought you would be living directly in human ruins," Bingyu remarked.

"In the very beginning, it was like that. Back then, our understanding wasn't sufficient, and we thought that by living in buildings left behind by humans, we could get closer to them." The Great Elder sighed sentimentally. "Later, after decades of cultivation, one day I suddenly had an epiphany… Do you know what I realized?"

"What?" Bingyu obligingly asked.

"I discovered that the key reason humans are humans is their self-reliance, which is how they were able to build such a glorious precursor civilization from a primitive world with nothing. And our lazy behavior like that would only distance us further from humans. So, we abandoned our original dwellings and began building our own houses. This is our achievement; we call it the 'Container Apartment.' Isn't it beautiful?"

Listening to the Great Elder's speech, Ivette glanced at the simple container pyramid, unable to see anything beautiful about it.

Bingyu, however, was greatly astonished. Her prosthetic pupils slightly widened, her mind core operating at high speed, falling into a contemplative silence as if she had experienced an enlightenment.

Don't you dare crash now… Hearing the buzzing sound of her core running at full capacity, Ivette couldn't help but feel a little worried.

The reception room of the puppet town was on the first floor of the Container Apartment. Before entering, Ivette saw small mechanical figures, in twos and threes, hopping and playing on the upper floors of the apartment, their footsteps and the sound of rollers clattering noisily.

Upon entering the somewhat narrow interior, Ivette saw a wooden table and cabinets. As it was inconvenient for two people to move around, the Great Elder entered from the opposite entrance. He rummaged through a shelf on the side and took out a bag of dark brown items that appeared to be tea leaves.

"Where did this tea come from?" Ivette asked, somewhat surprised. Although these tea leaves certainly couldn't be brewed for drinking anymore, they didn't look like they were hundreds of years old; they seemed to have gotten damp and moldy recently.

"A few years ago, when I went on a long journey, a kingdom that knew how to grow tea sold it to me," the Great Elder said with a chuckle, adding with some admiration, "In order to get closer to our creators, they actually opened tea plantations and learned to grow tea. This effort truly earns the old me's respect. It was a bit expensive, though; I exchanged many human artifacts found in ruins for two bags of tea, and I've been reluctant to drink them."

"Creators?" Ivette asked vigilantly, "Humans are the creators? Then what is the Mechanical God to you?"

"The God gave us souls, and humans gave us bodies. Therefore, humans are our creators, and the great Mechanical God is the God we believe in." The Great Elder sounded a little puzzled, "There's no conflict, is there? Esteemed guest... do you have any concerns about this?"

"It was my impoliteness. The place I came from was quite remote; we don't even have a holy temple," Ivette said.

"Alas, kind lady, why are you like an illiterate?" Bingyu mumbled from the side, "Perhaps you should ask me first from now on. Otherwise, I'll be too embarrassed to say you're with me."

When did we become "together"?

Ivette glanced at her but didn't deny it, silently watching the Great Elder continue to prepare the tea.

He took out rough metal cups, put in the moldy tea leaves and some not-so-clean cold water from a barrel, and the tea was considered ready.

Looking at the cup pushed towards her, Ivette didn't react, but glanced to the side.

As a relatively new Mechanical Puppet, Bingyu appeared to possess the ability to drink water, and she promptly downed the cold tea brewed from moldy leaves in one gulp.

I don't want this mouth anymore... Ivette thought, then looked at the Great Elder opposite her.

Unlike Bingyu, the Great Elder's head only had a camera; the rest was just empty metal plates, with even the speaker located on its shoulder.

Under Ivette's gaze, the Great Elder, like a tea connoisseur, solemnly cupped the mug with both hands and poured the tea directly downwards towards a spot where there was nothing on its head—as expected, it all spilled onto its chest plate.

But the Great Elder seemed utterly unfazed. It placed the mug down and said with a tone of endless aftertaste, "Ah, it's been a long time since I had this. This tea is as sweet and delicious as ever; it truly lives up to its reputation as one of humanity's most popular beverages."

What on earth did you even drink? How can you call that sweet and delicious without feeling guilty...

Ivette thought expressionlessly. If she were a psychologist, she could have diagnosed the Great Elder with cyberpsychosis on the spot; this was too absurd.

But since they were making such an effort, and to maintain etiquette, Ivette sighed, picked up her teacup, and pretended to drink. In reality, the moment she brought it to her lips, a tiny white tendril extended from her fingertip, consuming most of the strange liquid in the cup.

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