Chapter 176: 『Dear Sisters』

Liu Mu felt that her understanding of the church and its clergy had been crushed; the nun before her, aside from having her hair covered, wore clothes even more provocative than the little leather outfit Miao Hentian wore.

Although every inch of skin was covered, it was far too tight-fitting; that dark gray fabric was practically glued to her skin. Liu Mu, a woman herself, found it hard to look directly at her, even feeling her breathing quicken, always sensing that something was not quite right.

"You must be Mu Liu, sister. No need to be nervous, please come to my side."

The three nuns stood in a triangular formation, remarkably similar in figure and appearance, looking very much like a rare set of triplets.

The one in the lead, beneath her long robe, made no effort to hide a pair of pointed-toe high-heeled leather boots, the tips of which even featured metal accessories.

To Liu Mu, they looked more like sharp weapons, similar to the blades that would pop out of shoes in old martial arts films for assassinations.

Although their attitude seemed amiable, Liu Mu only stepped forward once; her height was what it was, and even with the advantage of high heels, the other party was still a few centimeters shorter than her.

"Greetings, three sisters," Liu Mu said, her attitude still respectful, her hands folded in front of her. She had even specifically changed into the Believer Robe given out when Haide Kanpu preached—a light gray long-sleeved shirt and trousers.

Perhaps considering that believers had work to do, this outfit was much looser than the exquisite and elaborate robes worn by the nuns.

"I am Mu Liu, currently in charge of mining operations at the Mine."

"Mm, we have already learned of your situation from Brother Kamp. Your work has been truly outstanding; therefore, we are going to bestow upon you the honor of a Level 3 Believer."

Believers of the Holy Sisterhood were also divided into ranks, with the lowest being the entry-level Level 5. One could be promoted through devout faith or sufficient contributions to the church, with the difference between the two naturally reflected in the time it took to be promoted.

Like Liu Mu, who had helped them extract iron ore in a short time and had also carried out infrastructure construction with significant results, she had skipped Level 4 and been promoted directly to Level 3. The higher one went, the fewer the people, and the better the treatment one could enjoy. According to Haide Kanpu, becoming a Level 1 meant one could be appointed as a member of the clergy.

Beyond that, there was an even more powerful promotion system.

However, Liu Mu was more concerned with what she could get right now.

The lead nun slowly took off her gloves and picked up the item handed to her by the nun on the left.

It was a Golden Moth Brooch; judging by its shape, it should be some kind of moth, possessing huge wings and a short, fat body. Made of pure gold, only the sharp needles on the tips of the two antennae had a silvery-white luster—too sharp, inevitably making one feel a sense of danger.

The brooch was placed in a lacquered red wooden box, the inside of which was lined with azure gold velvet, the moth appearing as if it were a moth temporarily resting within.

The nun's fingers, after removing her gloves, were slender, with the final phalange being particularly long, thus extending into sharp, inward-curving nails on both sides.

If it weren't for being close enough that Liu Mu could see the nails were indeed growing out of the fingers, she would have suspected they were actually the ornate nail guards from Qing Dynasty dramas.

That's right, these nails were actually golden as well, with black patterns on them. To be precise, these black linear patterns extended from the nun's cuffs, appearing on both the palms and backs of her hands, finally gathering on the nails.

The end of every pattern was a black dot, as if it were a hand-painted decoration on the golden nails.

Liu Mu lowered her head slightly, staring at those fingers, forgetting to react for a moment.

"My dear sister, welcome to our ranks." The lead nun pinned the Golden Moth Brooch onto Liu Mu's believer robe and said a few words highly encouraging her to continue contributing to the Holy Sisterhood.

"We see the contributions of every believer. My dear sister, I hope that one day in the future, we can meet at the Holy Court."

This was indeed a routine commendation, and it ended without requiring Liu Mu to say much.

Liu Mu left the Xiaojiaotang, tearful with gratitude, and just as she walked out, she ran into Haide Kanpu waiting at the bottom of the steps.

"Pastor Kamp," Liu Mu's face flushed slightly as she stepped forward and excitedly grasped Kamp's hand. "Thank you, it must have been you who helped me claim credit. I am truly so grateful to you, I don't even know what to say. Being able to contribute to the church is the most glorious thing in my life..."

Her incoherence perfectly expressed the excitement and bewilderment of a small person being noticed by a big shot.

"No need, this is all you deserve," Haide Kanpu was somewhat distracted, pulling his hands back, his expression showing some annoyance at such an enthusiastic Liu Mu. "Just work hard, the church will not treat you unfairly. That's enough, go back to work. Next time you go out to survey the surroundings, take more people with you and report your movements at all times."

Although it was beneficial for him to have these nuns stay a little longer, he did not want to be urged over and over again to go to the Mine to find people. As a devout believer, his time and energy were meant to be dedicated to his faith and should not be wasted in such a place.

Liu Mu immediately agreed wholeheartedly and firmly promised that she would work even harder in the future, before leaving the church while clutching the brooch as if it were a treasure.

With Xiaoliuzi driving, after the two left, Pastor Kamp glanced at the door of the Xiaojiaotang, a flash of resistance in his eyes, but in the end, he pushed the door open helplessly.

This church was only about fifty square meters in size; conditions were limited when it was built, and the main structures like the walls and roof were all made of wood.

There were four windows, only two of which used stained glass, vividly depicting the image of a goddess.

Through the hazy windows, some rituals that were unsuitable for children to watch, but considered sacred by the church, were being performed.

Not long after, the moans of a woman and the heavy panting of a man drifted out; the four of them expressed their loyalty to their church with the most primitive human pleasure.

At the end of the ritual, a phantom of a golden moth suddenly appeared on the dim ceiling of the church, and within the phantom, some swaying images could be vaguely seen.

"Very good, Brother Kamp, He will gestate a new child within her body!"

Heitao A's training of the new version of Xiaoliuzi was very thorough, and no one around suspected anything.

Liu Mu, however, was troubled. The golden brooch was sitting on the table, its pair of antennae turning everywhere like the stingers of a poisonous bee, searching for a target.

【Is this thing really alive?】

On the way back, Liu Mu had felt the brooch pricking her. At first, she thought she had accidentally let the spikes on it pierce her clothes during her movements, but Heitao A said there was a living organism inside, and the two needles were 'straws' it used to draw nutrients from a biological body.

【'Obtain', it is a relatively simple parasite. Its needles can inject parasitic eggs into a biological body. After the eggs hatch, the larvae will lurk in the muscles, and once mature, they will enter the brain along the blood vessels, thereby completely controlling the biological body.】

【So complicated,】 Liu Mu stared at the big moth expressionlessly, pondering whether to flip the table now or stabilize the people of the Holy Sisterhood first?

These people clearly weren't a legitimate sect. It would be easy to kill Haide Kanpu and his people, but she hadn't gotten her hands on the train tracks yet, nor had she figured out his cargo base, or where he intended to ship the iron ore in the future...

Just looking at the other party's grand scale, their strength was likely much greater than that of the Sky Viper.

From the moment she entered the Mine, Liu Mu had been constantly adjusting her strategy, but even now, she had no foolproof plan.

【It cannot survive inside your body; this type of parasite will be killed instantly by your bodily fluids.】

Heitao A provided a simple animation, showing that Liu Mu's blood could easily kill this invasive organism.

【Can't let it die. Is there any way to make it stay inside the brooch and enter a dormant state?】

Liu Mu had a premonition that this thing should still have great use, and if it died, the nuns might receive some kind of signal, thereby becoming suspicious of her.

After telling Heitao A her thoughts, the system provided a method to anesthetize it with poison; this toxin was precisely the hallucinogen collected from the Great Master Flower earlier.

Since that was the case, Liu Mu glanced at the potted plant on the table; the Great Master Flower branch was growing well and had already sprouted a small flower bud.

"I'll just put you here, and make sure not to break you," Liu Mu muttered, gently picking up the brooch and placing it on a leaf of the Great Master Flower.

After placing it, she acted as if she were admiring it, looking left and right, and even adjusted it onto the unopened flower bud. "Just like this, it looks so good; it should be kept safe here."

As she spoke, she clapped her hands, and some fine liquid fell, landing right on the brooch.

A few seconds later, the big moth's turning antennae drooped, and it struggled slightly in the middle, but eventually, it seemed to fall asleep and stopped moving.

The first time required Liu Mu to apply some hallucinogenic agent, but after the flower bloomed tomorrow, there would be a steady stream of agents to ensure the parasite inside the big moth would never wake up again.

No longer pretending, Liu Mu stood up and changed back into her work clothes, intending to take a walk around the Mine; after all, work is only done properly when it is done out in the open.

After one round, night had already fallen, and Liu Mu was the last one to enter the cafeteria.

By the way, the previous makeshift kitchen had already been upgraded and modified; now it had tables, stools, and a large building to shelter them from the wind and rain.

When she arrived, Ma Dajie spotted her from afar and beckoned her over to the table where the cooks were eating.

"It's all the things you like to eat," Ma Dajie said, pulling Liu Mu and pressing her down in front of the table. "Boss, I heard you went to the Great Lake? You didn't run into any danger, did you? The Eel Kings in there all have electricity."

"It's fine. I saw there were other fish, too. Another day I'll take some people to cast a couple of nets and improve everyone's meals."

Liu Mu certainly wouldn't stand on ceremony; she picked up her rice bowl and started eating. Ma Dajie was a genuine person, having hidden several fried eggs and some braised pork for her under the rice.

Although the food supplied by the Nun Society was sufficient, most of it was processed food easy to store and transport, and the meat was mostly canned; one could only eat fresh food once every few days.

Otherwise, Ma Dajie and the others wouldn't have gone to gather the green leaves that contained some toxins.

But now, eating vegetables didn't need to be that troublesome; right behind the kitchen, near the side of the valley stream, Liu Mu had people clear two mu of land specifically to grow vegetables.

Where did the Seed come from? Naturally, it was provided by the Nun Society. One must know that Haide Kanpu was also a foreigner who placed great importance on nutritional intake; as soon as he heard they could grow fresh vegetables, he agreed without a second of hesitation.

He even asked for seeds of other crops, requiring them to plant staple foods like wheat, potatoes, and rice.

However, these had long maturity periods, and Liu Mu stalled him by claiming they needed to focus on mining for the time being.

She had checked them; the seeds provided by the Nun Society were all from before the disaster, unlike the food seeds the Barrier had already begun researching to synthesize with Mutated Plant.

All signs indicated that although the Holy Sisterhood was wealthy, they had no measures for dealing with other natural disasters, or rather, they had no source of information in this regard.

Even Haide Kanpu, in his weekly sermons, preached that the future would be a beautiful era, that all disasters had already passed, and that they could live and multiply on this mine in peace.

Liu Mu, who kept an ace up her sleeve, deeply felt they were a bit cute, provided, of course, that they could continuously provide supplies.

This night it was Liu Mu's turn to guard the Mine—yes, she had scheduled herself for shifts as well, all to integrate with the broad masses of laborers and work together.

Although she had come, the workers on duty with her wouldn't be so lacking in tact; they took on the patrol tasks one after another and didn't even return to the duty room to disturb her rest.

There was that large golden moth in the dormitory, and Liu Mu was afraid it had other functions, so she could only stay in the duty room to finish what she needed to do.

After everyone had gone out, she locked the door, lay down on the single bed, and entered the space.

Heitao A had already stored the two Eel King carcasses under her instructions; the only pity was that there was no freezing function, and the carcasses already had a bit of an odor.

Liu Mu used her trusty Dog-leg Knife to directly slice open the two carcasses, carefully examining them within the enclosed space she had cordoned off.

"I remember there were surgical robots to assist with operations back in '24. You say you're so intelligent, how come you don't have even this little bit of ability?"

Beside her was Heitao A, carrying a tray and still wearing his black tailcoat suit.

His regular features, slicked-back hair, and tall stature, which stood exactly ten centimeters taller than Liu Mu, were all quite perfect.

The only drawback was that he wasn't a real person.

He was even capable of simulating human micro-expressions. "Host, I am not a medical robot; it is only natural that I lack certain hands-on capabilities, isn't it?"

Liu Mu actually heard a hint of doting in that, but unfortunately, she then got annoyed. "What 'only natural'? You aren't a person!"

Not giving Heitao A a chance to explain, she asked, "By the way, what exactly is going on with those three women? Can you analyze it?"

"I did not detect any drug information on them. Perhaps their sexiness moved you; that is also a human 'natural' occurrence."

"Hey, you're roasting me, aren't you?" How could Liu Mu admit she had blushed at the time? But it didn't matter now. "Do they show any signs of Mutation?"

"There is no Red Mist fluctuation," Heitao A, who could have finished his sentence, stopped here and made a thoughtful expression. "Perhaps they are Awakened; after all, it is not an easy thing to make you react. Their pheromones must be somewhat special. It is a pity there was no sampling, otherwise I could analyze it in detail."

"Enough, let's not talk about this for now," Liu Mu wasn't embarrassed, nor did she care about Heitao A's so-called 'not an easy thing'. Her gloved hand pulled an object from the carcass's abdomen. "What is this thing?"

It was a brownish-black metal cube, each face divided into sixteen squares of equal size. These small squares rose and fell at a very slow speed, and the direction and speed of the square movement at the same sequential position on each face were identical.

"Energy Orientation Instrument," Heitao A signaled for Liu Mu to place it on the tray. He let go, and the tray hovered in the air.

"This is one of the parts of the spaceship's power system; it has the function of guiding the directional output of energy and, to a certain extent, adjusting the output power. I need to dismantle it to see if it can still be used."

Liu Mu suddenly slapped away Heitao A's hand, which was about to press onto the Energy Orientation Instrument. Of course, this hand should have just been a projection, but to be realistic, Heitao A was very rigorously 'slapped away'.

"Host?"

"Heh," Liu Mu revealed a gloomy, untimely smile, scrutinizing Heitao A with eyes that saw through the truth. "Spaceship? Brother, you let something slip, didn't you? Come clean, what spaceship?"

The space suddenly went silent; Heitao A's projection stopped moving, as if it had suddenly lost its connection.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't go running a self-check at a time like this, or I'll kill you!" Liu Mu didn't give it a chance to evade and immediately slashed her knife toward the hovering Energy Orientation Instrument.

"Wait!" Having failed to evade, Heitao A grabbed the blade with one hand, his thick-browed, large-eyed face revealing confusion as he tilted his head very stiffly. "Apologies, I am searching the database for information regarding the spaceship. Apologies, the database after the Fourth Upgrade is a bit large, I need some time, apologies..."

Liu Mu gave it an eye-roll on the spot. "Don't think I'll forgive you just because you said 'apologies' a few more times. My moral compass isn't that high, hurry up!"

Heitao A's figure flickered, his body gradually turning into running digits, but under Liu Mu's gaze, he never disappeared.

"Hurry up!" Liu Mu's scalp tingled when she saw the digits, so she pretended nothing was wrong and went back to flipping through the small Eel King carcass.

She even deliberately hummed a song to cover up the embarrassment of being a math failure; it was good that she was handy with a knife, and she easily cut the eel into several pieces.

"How about I just put a freezer in here? Or just get a kitchen, too?"

Chinese people always have relatively high requirements for food, especially once they have the conditions; Liu Mu no longer wanted to eat things pickled with preservatives every time she went out.

Especially this time, the food Xu Xiaofeng had her bring was long gone, and Ma Dajie's cooking was just passable...

Just as she was struggling with whether she could hand-craft a freezer, Heitao A made a move. "Search complete. These are all the materials related to the spaceship."

The system, having returned to human form, handed over a folder shimmering with a faint light—that's right, it was the yellow icon type from old-fashioned computers.

"You this," Liu Mu didn't know whether she should reach out for a moment. "How about I dismantle the fish while you summarize the key points for me? I still have this much of one left."

"Host, you do not have a reading disability, but if you refuse to read and learn for a long time, you will find it very difficult to understand the files after the next upgrade."

"Don't I still have you?" Liu Mu instinctively refused. It had been so many years since she had studied; at first, the data and materials the system provided were very simple, and she was happy to read them.

But now? Every other moment it was dozens or hundreds of pages. The total amount of material she could see currently was already over a hundred thousand pages, and she was numb.

"Besides, is that an amount a human can finish reading? Even if I read one page a minute, I'd reach the end of my life before finishing it all. If I tell you to summarize, then summarize; otherwise, what use are you?"

Really, Liu Mu truly didn't know what kind of data it was that needed to record so much.

The helplessness Heitao A revealed was a bit over the top. "These are not human history, nor are they enough to record all of human history. Host, haven't you always been curious about the outsiders? There are some in here, too..."

"Then next time before I sleep, just read them to me as bedtime stories," Liu Mu said, hand rising and knife falling, continuing to hack at the next Eel King. Compared to text, she preferred doing things with her hands.

Heitao A was persuaded and began to read the data in an academic tone of voice.

Whether it was because the data was too abstruse, or because this news-broadcast-like tone was inherently difficult to absorb, Liu Mu let it go in one ear and out the other, failing to take any of it in.

However, the Da Manyu Wang did manage to dissect something out.