Great, I'm surrounded by villains.

Chapter 257 Eternity and Immortality

Duan Mingyuan soon discovered something unusual.

The fragmentary memory mentioned that Linglong was the name of the Queen's sister. However, in the memories of Jiqiaoxing and the Prime Minister, there were hardly any traces of this person's existence. Although she had a prominent identity, she seemed like a taboo.

All these signs made Duan Mingyuan have a guess.

The companion who cooperated with Linglong's "parents" to steal the inheritance of the first generation of great craftsmen was most likely the Queen's sister. This could also explain how they sneaked into the royal court and stole the inheritance under the Queen's nose.

Perhaps it was because of the betrayal by her relatives that the Queen no longer trusted anyone. After the great rebellion, she expelled all the civilians in the lower city. Later, even the guards and attendants in the royal court were not exempted, leaving only nobles and androids on the throne.

"Linglong, is this the name those two criminals gave you?"

Someone else broke into the hall.

It was the young man who had brought them to the royal court before. According to the rank classification of Mechanical Star, he should be the commander of the royal guards of the royal court.

His current condition could only be described as extremely bad - his light armor was torn to pieces, his body was riddled with bullet holes, revealing the delicate metal structure in his body, the flesh on the right half of his cheek was burned, and his cold skeleton was clearly visible.

These are wounds sustained from fighting the rebels who launched the coup.

The young man stumbled along, and by the time he reached the hall he had already exhausted all his strength. He leaned weakly against the wall and fell to the ground.

He caught up with the last conversation between Duan Mingyuan and others, and unexpectedly learned the girl's name.

Duan Mingyuan felt that the metal puppet's brows relaxed a little after learning Linglong's name.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any human expression on a puppet's face.

But it must be said that the young man came at the right time, as they needed an insider to help them clarify the situation.

"What did they tell you? To return to Planet Jiqiao and take away the treasure they stole?"

The metal puppets could all imagine the purpose of Linglong's trip.

When they fled from the Mechanical Planet and boarded the ship to pick up refugees, this day was destined to come.

For many years, he buried the secret deep in his heart and planned to take everything to the grave, but when he met the "orphan" of his deceased friend, he changed his mind.

Facing the puppet's questioning, Linglong nodded.

"In my current state, I can't stop you, but I hope you can at least understand the significance of the Great Craftsman's legacy to this planet."

The puppet's eyes swept over the memory fragments on the table. "The reason for the 'cocoon' is due to the over-exploitation of the planet's energy. The Chamber of Commerce and the company predicted a countdown of 39 years and 4 months, which is the remaining lifespan of the 'Mechanical Planet'."

In the fable, the planet of Artificial will eventually be destroyed by a plague called the "Curse of Flesh and Blood".

The flesh and blood of people suffering from this disease will gradually turn into metal parts, becoming creatures like bionic humans.

When the Flash Flag Chamber of Commerce warned the Mechanical Star Royal Court, patients suffering from the "Flesh and Blood Curse" appeared all over the planet. When the transformation was completely completed, their thinking would be reversed, and they would regard people with flesh and blood as heretics.

The people of the Mechanical Planet are supposed to have their bodies made up of machines, which are a symbol of eternity and immortality.

In their eyes, the weak flesh and blood body is the disease.

"The Flash Flag Chamber of Commerce offered a bargaining chip to the Mechanical Star. Once the 'cocoon' transformation begins, it cannot be reversed. They will build a space station for the people of the Mechanical Star, take those who survived the 'curse of flesh and blood' to live in the space station, and teach them the laws of survival in the universe. In exchange, they hope to get the help of the craftsmen of the Mechanical Star and share their mechanical skills passed down from generation to generation with the Chamber of Commerce.

"The Queen rejected the invitation from the Chamber of Commerce. She firmly believed that she could find a way to stop the cocooning and cure the flesh curse. She established the Disease Research Association and asked Linglong, the most outstanding skilled physician at the time, to lead all the research."

"Excuse me, I have a question!"

September raised her right hand like a student listening to a lecture and asked, "What is a Skill Doctor?"

She came from another planet and couldn't understand the local terms of the Mechanical Planet.

"They are doctors who specialize in treating modified bodies. They believe that the 'flesh curse' is the result of the mechanical aliens over-modifying their own bodies... Every mechanical alien's body has been modified to a greater or lesser extent. The people here are no longer satisfied with creating sophisticated mechanisms. The transformation of themselves is a higher level pursuit.

"But even the most outstanding mechanical doctor on the Mechanical Planet could not find out the cause of the 'Flesh and Blood Curse', so she suggested a complete ban on all forms of self-transformation and a gradual reduction in the use of mechanical energy in the next few years, until the future Mechanical Planet people no longer need to rely on energy to survive.

"The proposal was rejected. For the Mechanical Star people, using energy and creating mechanisms is their nature. No law can suppress this innate nature. The Queen does not support Linglong's judgment. She believes that the key to the 'Flesh Curse' and the reason why the planet has become a 'cocoon' are hidden in the mechanical energy. They should further cultivate energy. I believe that the results of their exploration will eventually change the fate of this planet."

This story was very familiar to Duan Mingyuan.

He had heard similar stories aboard the Embers Consortium's flagship.

The last Archbishop Zalman had faced the same choice. He observed the increasingly agitated scorching sun energy and sensed that a crisis was about to befall their planet. At that time, Zalman also chose to believe that their exploration of scorching sun energy could help them overcome difficulties as always.

As a result, the Empire was eventually destroyed by the radiation of the sun's energy, making the people of the Empire the first refugees in the universe.

The metal puppet continued, "The disagreement over the 'Curse of Flesh and Blood' caused the two to drift apart, and eventually turned into an irreconcilable conflict. The Queen resigned from her position as the president of the Linglong Disease Research Association and placed her under house arrest, prohibiting her from conducting any research related to the 'Curse of Flesh and Blood'. At the same time, she became more and more obsessed with the legacy left by the first generation of great craftsmen, hoping to observe the mystery of mechanical energy from it."

After all, mechanical energy was originally developed by the first generation of great craftsmen, and the great craftsmen's reputation spread throughout the universe.

"On this issue, both sides believed that the other side was possessed. With the outbreak of the Great Rebellion, the Queen focused her attention on the rebels, while Linglong took the opportunity to steal the Great Craftsman's legacy. She seemed to think that as long as the legacy was taken away from the Mechanical Planet, the Queen would be forced to end her research. The one who assisted her in stealing the legacy was her retainer...but she didn't expect that the retainer had ulterior motives and wanted to take the Great Craftsman's legacy for himself.

"You already know what happened next."

Linglong's retainers fled from Jiqiao Star, and before being arrested, Linglong hid the inheritance of the great craftsman in a place where no one could find it.

For her, her goal would be achieved as long as she ensured that the Queen could not continue to explore the mysteries of mechanical energy.

"In order to force Linglong to reveal the whereabouts of the inheritance, the Queen used many tortures on her, but until she was sent to the execution platform, Linglong did not reveal anything about the inheritance."

The metal puppet lowered its head, and there was nothing much to say about what happened afterwards.

The Queen suffered backlash from overusing the energy of the "Golden Hourglass" and has been getting more and more crazy since then.

By now, the identity of the woman who was publicly executed was clear.

However, this story did not mention why Linglong showed a relieved smile when she was sent to the execution platform, and she also announced the existence of the great secret treasure to everyone, which indirectly led to the arrival of space pirates.

"But according to what you said, Linglong's retainers should hate her to death."

Linglong suddenly said, Linglong made them lose the duck they had in hand, and she also fled to Blue Star in a displaced manner, and lived on a strange planet for many years, "Why did they still give me the name 'Linglong'?"

"That's because the lost items were not only the legacy of the master craftsman, but also Linglong's private collection. Before the outbreak of the 'Curse of Flesh and Blood', Linglong was conducting a research project. The content of this research was to give the mindless puppets thoughts and life. When the retainer left, he also took one of her collections with him."

"You mean..."

Linglong's eyes suddenly widened and she blurted out in disbelief.

Give the puppet thinking and life.

“There is a way to verify it.”

The metal puppet said, "Only the blood of the heir to the throne can touch the secrets of the inheritance. If you have the mark of Linglong in your body, you can break the seal on the inheritance."

"But she's tried it before."

"The key is to inject energy and maintain the same frequency, just like when you uncovered the memory fragments."

The sound of the metal puppet produced some fluctuations.

He had no way of knowing the secret of the inheritance, but he witnessed countless people fighting for it and shedding blood.

Space pirates arrived one after another and turned the Mechanical Planet into its current state.

If his life were to come to an end today, he hoped to get a glimpse of the secret of this great treasure before he died.

Hearing this, Jiu Yue took out a black cane from her tail and handed it to Ling Long. She placed her hand on Ling Long's shoulder, giving her strength, "It's up to you to decide."

There was silence in the hall.

After an unknown amount of time, Linglong made a decision. She closed her eyes and gripped the black cane.

A familiar energy was awakened, flowing through her palms like a stream, and then flowing along her forearms into her body.

next moment--

"Yo~yo~yo~Congratulations on solving the mystery of the treasure. As a reward, I will give you a song that I recorded privately~yo~"

?

The rhythmic rock music echoed in the hall for a long time.

It contrasts with the same question marks above several people's heads.

(End of this chapter)