Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 647 The Holy Temple is Dead
This is a building that is quite different in style from other churches.

Gone are the towering spires and pointed arches; the roof is no longer a pointed ribbed vault, but a square box shape.

The exterior facade is covered with thick pipes, interspersed with many mechanical structures.

For some reason, seeing this building made the group feel inexplicably relieved and even more at ease.

It reminded some of Castells.

However, upon closer inspection, the group all frowned.

They all passed the advanced class assessment. Gaia, needless to say, was highly accomplished in mechanical technology and chemistry, and served as the chief engineer of the military factory.

Zoe is a college graduate; she not only attended advanced classes but also taught. While she might lack some expertise in research and development, her basic knowledge is quite solid.

Although Erwin was originally a soldier in the training corps, he was formally admitted to the Imperial Truth through examination. Coupled with the learning atmosphere in the Guardians of the Faith, his practical knowledge was also quite good.

Therefore, they all noticed the awkwardness of these mechanical structures.

Take steam pipes, for example. The flanges on them should be connecting the two sections of pipe, but there are a bunch of them inexplicably connected on these pipes, while there are none on a long stretch of the side.

For example, both valve discs and levers control the opening degree, but two of them are installed at the same time. This not only does not increase safety redundancy, but also interferes with each other.

For example, these gear sets could be solved simply by adding another drive shaft, but instead, a whole bunch of gears with different gear ratios are piled on top, which is not only inefficient but also completely useless.

Like
People who know absolutely nothing about mechanics are piling up mechanical elements based on their intuition.

It's not a real machine, but rather has a "mechanical flavor".

It was precisely because the three of them understood these basic principles that they felt extremely awkward, as if it were a kind of blasphemy, completely losing the simple and practical beauty of industry.

Gaia even spent a long time carefully examining the pipes, but still couldn't figure out its operating logic.

It's like the kind of design drawings that only those people with Castells syndrome on the island could produce when they have an episode—crazy, chaotic, and nonsensical.

Hela didn't notice the strange expressions on the faces of the others. She stepped forward, pulled the lever, kicked the butterfly valve twice, chanted a few verses, took the wrench from the person next to her, and smashed it hard into the dent in the pipe!
Under Gaia's stunned gaze, a clump of white, viscous paste was spurted from the tube onto the tray in the believer's hands.

"How... how did you do that? You just opened the valve, but then you closed the bottom one halfway. This side is open, but it's branched off, what about the other side?"

Gaia's gaze fell on the carefully maintained dent, and she suddenly exclaimed with realization, "Oh!"

"This knock shook the valve open. The liquid inside was already flowing, so the valve opened wider. The water hammer effect caused the pressure on the other side to increase instantly, which squeezed out the grease."

Her face twitched, and she didn't know how to start the conversation.

In the Lord's words, this is what they mean by "the equipment is running thanks to a bug."
And it wasn't just one or two bugs; one bug triggered a whole bunch of other bugs, and several bugs piled up together, which actually made it work normally.
Gaia glanced at the carefully stored wrench, and several believers dressed in robes with gear patterns immediately rushed forward, carefully chanting holy scriptures while wiping the sacred dent.

This slightly rusty wrench, this dent—they're all "special."

She suddenly realized something.

Only by striking the indentation at a specific time, with a specific wrench, at a specific angle, and with a specific force, can a specific effect be achieved. Because one bug is connected to another, no one knows which part is actually responsible. It might just be that the broken wrench caused an uneven center of gravity, adding two harmonics to the vibration of the strike, which allows the pipe to work normally.

Therefore, everything had to follow a fixed procedure, requiring the recitation of sacred texts, a devout mind, and the use of this whole set of redundant and inexplicable methods in order to start the machine.

If the wrench is lost, if the dent changes, or if the person who mastered this technique is lost, then it can no longer be used.

She suddenly understood the contempt in the prince's eyes that day.

Indeed, he was right. The Mechanical Temple was merely a dead corpse, its immense size temporarily making people forget its death.

"Please wait a moment, everyone. I'll apply some holy oil and do some maintenance."

Hela said with a smile as she skillfully removed the eyeball and placed it into the white ointment.

She carefully placed a booklet in front of her, but did not turn the pages. Gaia glanced at it and saw the words "User Manual - Parts Replacement and Maintenance" written on it.

She quickly cleaned herself of the filth and applied lubricant to the gears.

Now she exuded a pungent, lubricating fragrance, and the mechanical sanctuary followers around her were noticeably more devout, even with a hint of fanaticism in their eyes.

Even the voices reciting scriptures were louder.

After completing her treatment, she prayed a few more times before finishing the ceremony and standing in front of the gate.

She pulled the lever on the door, and the complex mechanical structure of the door clicked a few times, then didn't move.

Several church members immediately rushed forward, carefully grasped the intricately patterned handles welded to the door, lifted it up, and slid it to the sides.

Even Erwin, who knew the least about mechanics, was starting to lose his composure.

Are these believers also part of the structure that opened the door?
"Please come in, gentlemen. This is the Gear Sanctuary, the preaching hall of the Mechanical Sanctuary, and there is also a lounge for our guests."

The group followed her inside. The room was still decorated in a "mechanical style," but this time no one cared about that anymore.

Their gazes all fell on the high platform in the center of the room.

It was a gear-shaped, disc-shaped platform with a long table on it and a blackboard hanging on it.

In front of the blackboard, a "person" was writing and explaining at the same time.

His body has no flesh and blood; it is entirely made of machinery, with intricate gears, transmission mechanisms, complex hydraulic pipes, and elegant, simple limbs.

He did not make it look extremely detailed like a human, but rather imitated the general shape. For example, the hands were actually more practical, like clips that could be opened and closed, rather than five fingers.

A slightly harsh voice came from the speaker on his neck.

"Students, today we will talk about the relationship between rejection reactions caused by metal implants and hormone levels in the body, as well as the resulting mental illnesses, somatization, and phantom limb pain."

(End of this chapter)