Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 660 Guests Entrance
Zoe and Gaia entered the banquet hall side by side.

Although the two walked together, their clothes were completely different. Zoe wore a long dress and dressed more like a noblewoman—in fact, in terms of aristocratic temperament, Hughes could not compare to her.

Hughes was just a time traveler, while Zoe had indeed come into contact with many noble ladies when she worked as a maid in the Duke's mansion.

In addition, she was engrossed in novels all day long and secretly practiced a lot in front of the mirror.
Gaia, on the other hand, was much more plain, wearing the priest's robes of the Imperial Truth.

Zoe is a civil servant stationed at Bloodharbor by Castel, while Gaia is a technical priest of Imperial Truth; they are not from the same system.

Castel's priestly robes are unremarkable and lack ornamentation, but they have one notable feature: they are bulletproof.
After all, Castells's technical priests were constantly engaged in dangerous experiments, not to mention the war priests who came from the friars of the Church, who needed to go to the front lines.

Gaia's priestess outfit actually includes a protective helmet and gas mask, but she didn't wear them this time.
Several mechanical priests covered in prosthetic limbs led the two to the banquet hall.

Despite being called a banquet hall, it is actually a mechanical sanctuary, a tall church with a dense network of pipes and mechanical structures covering the entire wall.

Gaia only glanced at it and didn't look at it again. The mechanical workings of the Mechanical Sanctuary were often too bizarre, and it was not worth spending time exploring them.

Zoe glanced at the mechanical priest. They had seen many of these mechanical priests in the Rhine. These people would replace parts of their bodies with machines, and generally, the more parts they replaced, the stronger they became.

These mechanical priests who appeared in the banquet hall were no longer distinguishable in terms of flesh and blood; at a glance, they were all densely packed steel parts.

Zoe suddenly had a ridiculous idea: if steel can replace limbs and flesh, then can the head and brain also be replaced with steel?
If a body has no trace of a human being, is that "person" or a machine?

The banquet had not yet begun, and His Holiness the Pope had not yet appeared. Lady Hela, the Privy Councillor, was exchanging pleasantries with others at the long table.

“Look, Hela is over there too. Although you can’t see any flesh and blood on her body, she’s the one who looks the most human,” Gaia whispered to Zoe.

Zoe smoothed her hair; it was rather long, and Gaia's breeze had blown it into her ears, making it tickle.

Indeed, these mechanical priests are usually very rigid, and sometimes they even speak like emotionless machines.

Zoe assumed Gaia would be comfortable dealing with people like that, given her technical background and years of experience working on the production line.

But Gaia said that machines are more human than these mechanical priests.

Especially with steam engines, sometimes people went too far with their humanity, and younger stokers could only cower and endure the scolding.
"Welcome, distinguished guests." Hela nodded slightly, and the two men stepped forward to greet them and began to chat.

"Lady Hela, it's been a long time."

As the Principality of Machines, Hela holds a high position in the Mechanical Sanctuary. Her personal greeting that day was already a demonstration of goodwill, something they rarely see on a daily basis.

"It hasn't been too long. Her Holiness the Pope is also very concerned about you. She had promised to meet with you, but unfortunately her health has not been very good, so it has been postponed until today."

Hela's eyes, hidden beneath her veil, suddenly shifted and fixed on the two of them.

"This time she plans to personally bestow those technical documents upon you. There will be this ceremony at the banquet later."

The two nodded quickly.

Such transactions cannot be discussed openly. It is acceptable to give gifts to the Pope, but exchanging technology for goods would be too low-class, especially since this Pope's status is extraordinary.

The Ruoan family has always been backed by the royal family, and its members have joined both the Candlelight Society and the Mechanical Sanctuary.

For example, Mr. Yule, whose surname was Joan, was from the Mechanical Sanctuary, and Beatrice joined the Candlelight Society as was customary.

Therefore, she actually carries a triple identity: the Pope of the Candlelight Church, the Emperor of the Empire, and the Pope of the Mechanical Sanctuary.

Both churches recognized her as their supreme leader, and in name, the Mechanical Church and the Candlelight Church were equal.

Therefore, if Beatrice attends this banquet, all the high-ranking members of the Candlelight Society and the Mechanical Sanctuary must also attend.

As for the nobles of the empire, perhaps they might exist, but no one cares about them anymore.

Beatrice became empress only because the nobles who were ahead of her in the line of succession died unexpectedly in time; it's hard to say how many of them are left now.

After a brief conversation with Hela, the two casually strolled around the banquet venue.

Hela would occasionally introduce them to some of the church's high-ranking officials, and Zoe would step forward to acknowledge them, while Gaia would subtly observe her surroundings.

Having finally found a moment of respite, Zoe rubbed her cheeks, which were a little sore from maintaining a smile, and looked at Gaia with questioning eyes. Gaia shook her head: "I can't see any setup, but this is the territory of the Mechanical Sanctuary, so there might be some special structure here, and it's hard to say if they've hidden any people here."

Zoe looked around the church and slowly nodded.

The church here is very spacious; even with over a hundred people attending the banquet, it still feels quite empty.

Moreover, the entire church is square and upright, giving it a somewhat mechanical and orderly feel.

As for the two men who were lying in ambush, they observed for a long time but found nothing. Gaia even started to examine the carpet, wondering if there might be explosives underneath.

Bang!

Suddenly, a muffled sound came from below, startling Zoe and Gaia. They thought the Mechanical Sanctuary had made a move, but after looking around, they realized it was just a misjudgment.

The mechanical priests discussed for a few words, then walked to the pipes on the wall and extended mechanical arms from their bodies to begin repairs.

Gaia gradually relaxed; she had almost used her supernatural abilities.

"Look, the main character is here!" Zoe suddenly tugged at Gaia's sleeve.

Through the main entrance of the church, a group of Candlelight Fathers dressed in priestly robes walked in neatly. The two men did not recognize most of their faces, but the insignia on their robes were unmistakable.

"A cardinal, tsk tsk, and the cardinal's scepter too, the high-ranking members of the Candlelight Order really have all come!"

"Look at that! What's that?!" Zoe suddenly widened her eyes.

Gaia followed her gaze and gasped in shock.

The man was wearing a thick trench coat, boots with iron plates, and delicate gloves.

However, it seemed to be wearing a long mask on its face, covering its entire face, with the whole face protruding forward and eventually converging into a pointed beak like a bird's beak.

Two round pieces of glass were inlaid in the corresponding eye areas, but they were filled with fog, making it impossible to see what was inside.

If it were anyone else, they would only think it was a strange mask, but Gaia and Zoe were both superhumans, and at this distance they could see every detail clearly—the leather mask was not worn on the face, but rather it was sewn onto the skin with fine stitches.

as if--

They peeled off the entire face and then sewed the mask back on.

The mask was covered by jagged stitches that ran from the back of the head, leaving no gaps. A thin leather tube emerged from the mask and connected to the man's trench coat, its destination unknown.

Gaia and Zoe felt a chill creep up from their feet; the man's appearance was far too distorted.

“That is the Skinflint, also known as the Sleepless Son, from the Unending Sanctuary of the Southern Continent, one of the four great churches, and one of the guests at this banquet.”

A faint voice came from beside them, startling both of them.

“Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Ms. Hela,” Gaia replied quickly.

"This banquet was originally intended as a candlelight dinner to entertain guests from all sides and to formally declare our control over the empire. It's a pity that we couldn't contact the people from the Silent Church, otherwise the people from the four major churches would have all been gathered."

Hela's eyes shifted to Gaia, the shutter in her pupils flickered, and she asked softly, "Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Gaia hesitated for a moment before speaking hesitantly, "His Holiness the Pope hasn't arrived yet. I'd like to see her; I heard she's about my age."

"I'm sorry, you probably won't be able to see it."

Gaia looked up in surprise, but only saw Hela's back. The Grand Master of the Mechanical Sanctuary did not speak to her again, but walked straight to the center of the hall.

Gaia's vision suddenly went dark. She instinctively reached out and grabbed it, but when she looked down, she saw only a black veil.

She recognized it; it was the black veil Hela always wore over her face.

boom!
With a loud bang, everyone turned to look and discovered that the church doors were closed.

(End of this chapter)