Chapter 1018 False Appearance
Zoro doesn’t have time to delve into the dark side behind the Heaven Cult. He just wants to solve the strange things in the Kingdom of Lulucia and meet Guina again.
Father Pucci took out the key from his pocket, inserted it into the lock and started turning it. The interior of the control room was revealed to outsiders for the first time. Miranda was lucky, but also unlucky.
"This is a magical place," Miranda was amazed by what she saw and felt like she had been living in a dog's stomach for the first half of her life.
Stepping into the bronze clock control room, the three of them seemed to have entered the body of a mysterious mechanical behemoth. The bronze walls around them, which were glowing with an ancient luster, were embedded with densely packed gears of various sizes.
The huge main gear is located in the center, turning slowly like a mechanical heart. Every bite makes a steady and powerful "click" sound, as if telling the whisper of time.
Its teeth are thick and neat, and are closely connected to the smaller gears around them. These small gears revolve around the main gear and operate in an orderly manner like loyal guards. The gears are intertwined and restrain each other with precision to the millimeter.
The surface of the gears is engraved with delicate and complex patterns, some of which look like winding rivers, and some like mysterious runes.
Under the dim light, it reflects cold light, adding a bit of depth and mystery to this mechanical space.
The transmission chain shuttles between the gears, like a tough blood vessel, continuously delivering power to every corner. The gears drive the chain to produce a rhythmic movement, driving other auxiliary devices to operate together.
Father Pucci also had a look of longing on his face, taking in the mechanical scenes around him, "It is not something that belongs to this era, it has at least several hundred years of history."
Through his Observation Haki, Zoro observed that there were some small gear sets hidden in the dark near the wall. They were turning quietly and inadvertently, like manipulators hidden behind the scenes, silently maintaining the delicate balance of the entire system.
Two men and one woman were inside it and could clearly feel the power and order of the machine, as if they had become a part of this huge machine, beating with the pulse of time.
Father Pu Fu explained the origin of this building. Once upon a time, this giant bronze bell and the entire control room sank into the deep sea.
After hundreds of years of corrosion from sea water, believers of the Heavenly Religion salvaged the giant bell and drained the excess water from the inside of the mechanism, allowing the gears to start turning again without obstruction.
The ancient machine was once again reborn in the hands of Tiandaoism and became a part of the church building, providing accurate timekeeping for the people of the Kingdom of Lulucia and reminding the living to cherish time.
"We, the descendants, cannot even imagine how advanced the ancient technology was at that time."
Father Pucci stroked the slightly damp gears, which did not affect the internal rotation of the clock, as if he was caressing a child, a child abandoned by time.
"If that era had not been destroyed, perhaps people's lives would have been better." Only by experiencing countless sufferings in reality will people strive to pursue a spiritual paradise. Unfortunately, Father Pucci is one of them.
Zoro is a person with poor sense of direction and is illiterate. In the pirate era, few people valued education, and most of those who did had been killed by the Celestial Dragons.
In today's world, only a very small number of people can understand the ins and outs of ancient machinery. It's a pity that Robin is not here. If she were here, she might be able to find some useful information.
Father Pucci watched the actions of the man and the woman, monitoring the behavior of Zoro and Miranda. As long as they did not deliberately destroy the gears, they would allow outsiders to touch and see them.
It is one of the priest’s duties to dispel the doubts of lost sheep, reduce misunderstandings and avoid unnecessary conflicts.
In the end, Zoro and Miranda looked disappointed. They didn't find anything useful. There were only gears inside the control room. There was not even a decent word. Even if they found an illiterate person, he wouldn't be able to recognize it.
The level of sophistication of ancient machinery is beyond the comprehension of later generations and a group of illiterate people. Even the teachers of the Heavenly Religion had read some books, but they were still unable to figure it out.
Since nothing was found after observing the control room, Father Pucci did not question Miranda's idea, "Today we have ruled out the church as a suspicion. If you still want to find information about the giant clock, you can try your luck at the palace."
The Heaven Church was trying to prove its innocence to two outsiders, and even a clay man would get angry. Miranda could tell that the priest wanted to drive them away, and she felt awkward staying for even a second longer.
Miranda felt that she was too unlucky and was always causing trouble for the people around her. She didn't want to be blacklisted by Father Pucci. When she had no work to eat, the woman still wanted to shamelessly run to the church to get relief meals.
After Miranda and Zoro walked out of the control room, the woman formally apologized to Father Pucci for today's impolite behavior, hoping that the other party would be magnanimous and forgive the sins of the Mysterious Lamb.
Father Pucci still appeared to be very friendly on the surface and did not say too many harsh words to the lady with dark circles under her eyes. He just asked Miranda to take care of herself and to rest for a few more days.
Only after adjusting her spirit, can she devote herself to work wholeheartedly and realize and pursue her own value. Miranda is burdened too much on the spiritual level and is in a state of being overwhelmed at any time.
Zoro and the lady with dark circles under his eyes left the church without any gain, without even a relief meal. They stared at each other in bewilderment at the result of today's investigation.
"Did I make a mistake?"
Zoro began to doubt his memory of yesterday. There was a high probability that he had misunderstood it, and a small probability that it had been tampered with manually. The latter was almost impossible as long as he had Uchiha Shisui as his teammate.
"Where are we going now? Are we really going to the palace?"
When Miranda mentioned the word "palace", she subconsciously took a few steps back. She was really afraid of being captured and taken to the palace as a slave.
Every day there is endless cleaning to do, endless dishes to wash, and endless heavy physical work to do. Miranda knows that the palace of the Kingdom of Lulucia is a devil's den where people are eaten without leaving any bones.
Once the untouchables entered the palace, they had no chance of coming out alive. Such cruel tyranny had already planted the seeds of resistance in the hearts of the people, creating the soil for revolution, waiting for a revolutionary spark to fall.
Zoro suddenly felt a strange vision. He turned around and looked at the church behind him, but found that the plagiarism place was empty. The Church of Heaven was not as simple as he imagined.
"Go back first, maybe there will be some unexpected gains in the evening"
Although Miranda didn't understand the meaning of Zoro's words, she could only nod blindly and get lost behind the swordsman. By the time she realized what was happening, she was getting farther and farther away from her home.
Zoro is so bad at finding his way that even if he was hit by Shisui's illusion, his bad sense of direction could not be cured.