Millennium Witch.

Chapter 51 - Clues
Later that evening, Yvette saw mechanical puppets coming to the sanctuary to pray, wanting to confide some problems to God.

The nun was transporting the energy storage box to the warehouse. When she asked it to wait a moment, it obediently sat on a church bench, holding a long, dark object in its hand.

Yvette was curious about the prayer, but not wanting the mechanical god to notice, she planned to observe from a distance. However, after seeing what the mechanical puppet was holding, she couldn't help but come over and ask, "What's wrong? Can you tell me?"

"Oh, you're that traveler from out of town?" The mechanical puppet noticed Yvette's human-like appearance and said in a surprised tone.

"Hmm, you haven't seen me yet?"

“Yes, when you and the other lady arrived, I was doing archaeological research and couldn’t make it.” The mechanical puppet bowed. “My name is ‘Film Roll,’ and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I am Yvette Losivia.” Yvette nodded in return.

This mechanical puppet called "Film Roll" is similar to most of the machines in the village. It looks like it was dug out of the garbage mountain on the scrap metal avenue in the Blackwater district of Ish City. Its body is not flexible and is full of stitches, so it looks a bit strained when it does some human-like movements, such as bending over and bowing.

"Going back to your question, what I really wanted to ask was, what exactly is this stick-like thing found in the ruins?" The film showed Yvette the object in its hand. Although it was completely dark, Yvette could roughly figure out what it was from its structure.

This should be a toothbrush, and the material is most likely "fungal plastic," which is an organic synthetic material developed by Lintui Biotechnology.

The film continued, "Actually, I basically knew what this was, but after my neighbor 'Furball' saw it, he insisted that it must be a human 'door key' used to open door locks. But I said, how is that possible? Human door locks have very small keyholes, how could something so big fit in? Furball insisted that it could fit in, and almost broke it."

“So what do you think this is?” Yvette asked.

"I bet this is the legendary 'ear pick'! I've seen portraits of humans, painted by an artist, and I noticed that the size of a human ear canal is just right to fit this thing in! And look at this little stick, it has some fine hairs, right? It must be for cleaning ears!"

The film roll sounded a little smug, and asked as if it wanted to take credit, "Well, Miss Yvette, don't you think my point of view is much more correct than the fur ball's?"

“A wonderful guess. I think the gods will be on your side too.” Yvette couldn’t help but smile, her eyes gentle.

"Right, right!" The film was delighted, then seemed captivated by Yvette's beautiful smile. After a moment of stunned silence, it said, "Speaking of which, Miss Yvette, you truly live up to your reputation. How come you look so human? Um, if I may be so bold as to ask, do you have any cultivation experience you could impart to me..."

As they were talking, the nun slowly approached.

After overhearing their conversation, the nun said to the film, "You can't do that, Mr. Film. Have you forgotten? Spiritual practice requires personal enlightenment. You can never become a true human being by relying on others to teach you."

"Ah, I forgot," the film roll said blankly.

“Alright, I have opened the ‘door’. You can go and pray to God now,” the nun said.

Following the nun's gaze, Yvette looked at the shrine beneath the central cube statue. The shrine was currently activated, with two small metal doors opening to reveal a glimpse of the weathered, old machinery inside.

Yvette stared at the object for a while, and then she roughly understood what it was.

Goodness, this is a signal base station from several centuries ago. Since it's still usable, it must have been repaired and maintained.

Meanwhile, next to the shrine was a multi-functional cable. After physically connecting one of the data cables to itself, the film immediately bowed its head, clasped its hands together, and entered a motionless state of prayer, like a statue.

Five minutes later, the process was over. Yvette hesitated for a moment, then abandoned the idea of ​​using her hacking abilities. While this could allow her to trace the location of the Machine God through the network, it would also expose her. Before she had a sufficient understanding of the Machine Race, she wouldn't do anything to alert them.

Then, after watching the film roll, Yvette unplugged the data cable from her body and asked, "What did God answer you?"

"God said that this needs to be explored by oneself..." The film's tone was still full of confusion. It pondered for a while and looked at the two people beside it with doubt, "Miss Yvette, Miss Sunflower, you are both at a higher level than me. Why do you think God doesn't just answer me directly?"

“There must be a deeper meaning to why God doesn’t tell you directly. Perhaps He wants you to focus on the process of finding the answer, which is more valuable than the result,” the nun said after thinking for a moment.

"I see, no wonder it's a god." The film immediately believed it.

I think the God of Machines is just too lazy to answer such a boring question... Yvette doesn't think so at all.

Perhaps because deep down she's still that delivery guy named Li You, working for a crowdsourced platform, the mechanical god that's popping into her head right now is a mentally exhausted online customer service representative who has to deal with all sorts of ridiculous problems every day. It seems being a god isn't so easy after all...

……

At night, the lights in Puppet Town come on, giving it a lively and bustling atmosphere.

Just as Yvette was about to wander around to other places, she saw a magical girl named Bingyu with short, ice-blue hair and a delicate, cute face emerge from a nearby alley, panting as she said, "Hey, kind lady, what are you doing here? I've been looking for you for ages."

Yvette watched her panting and strongly suspected it was part of human cultivation, then asked, "What is it?"

"The Elder invited us to his house for dinner," Bingyu said.

Yvette immediately thought of the cup of tea made with moldy tea leaves and dirty water that morning in the container apartment.

But in the end, she didn't refuse, because she also had something she wanted to ask the Grand Elder for help with.

After a while, they arrived at the container apartment. In the container belonging to the Grand Elder, Yvette saw the Grand Elder, who had already set out a table. There were some plates on the table, and surprisingly, there were quite a few berries on them. Some of them were obviously spoiled, but others looked like they had just been picked that day.

However, this is definitely not the staple food for mechanical puppets. After glancing at it a few times, Yvette saw the energy storage box hidden under the small table and roughly understood what the elder meant.

The table is powered by a magic wire underneath, and the table simulates human eating, achieving both material and spiritual benefits.

After they were seated, during the meal, Yvette suddenly said, "Elder, may I ask you a question?"

“Miss Yvette, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. I will answer them to the best of my knowledge,” the elder said immediately.

“Have you ever seen a blonde girl in the last one or two hundred years?” Yvette asked.

During their conversations, she learned that the Grand Elder had awakened in some ruins approximately 170 years ago.

It initially lived in the Black Tide Kingdom of Silver Mirror Continent for 120 years in a daze, when it suddenly had a whimsical idea to venture out into the vast world outside, filled with mutated creatures, dangerous yet mysterious, just like Ice Rain is now.

Unlike the three kingdoms of Sky Dome, Ember Scar, and Rift Sky, among the four kingdoms, only the Black Tide Kingdom originated from Black Tide Continent. Later, due to a divine decree, it moved its mother kingdom to Silver Mirror Continent. Therefore, compared to the other kingdoms, the citizens of the Black Tide Kingdom have a greater desire to travel.

Then, the young elder, armed with simple defensive weapons, set off, choosing the scattered kingdoms across the three continents as safe havens.

It traveled far and wide for more than 20 years, from Silver Mirror Continent to Emerald Continent, and finally returned to its ancestral homeland, Black Tide Continent, where it established the present-day Black Tide Kingdom, Agash Branch.

With such a long life experience, Yvette thought that if Rosalind had ever returned to the End of the World, the Grand Elder might have heard of it.

"A blonde girl?" the elder asked, puzzled. "Speaking of blonde girls, I have indeed seen quite a few in my life. I wonder which one Miss Yvette is referring to?"

Yvette thought for a moment and took out a portrait. It was a memory projection created using a spell, and it was basically no different from a photograph. It showed Rosalind at the age of 22, wearing a mage's robe, already a beautiful blonde mature woman.

Have you seen this girl before?

"Hiss... She has such a human aura. Her cultivation level must be very high, right? What's her name?" the elder exclaimed in admiration. Bingyu, who was standing to the side, glanced at her a few times and immediately showed a surprised expression, gasping in astonishment as she did.

“Her name is Rosalyn Theon, my student,” Yvette said.

“So she’s your student. No wonder her cultivation level looks so high, just like yours.” The Grand Elder stroked his non-existent beard and shook his head. “I’m sure I’ve never seen a mechanical race member like her before. Because if I had, I would have been very impressed.”

“Is that so…” Yvette sighed in disappointment.

But just then, Bingyu suddenly raised her hand and said cautiously, "Uh... I think I've seen her before..."

(End of this chapter)