Chapter 180

Chapter 180: Puppet

This was a workshop, a mechanism workshop. The sound of unknown mechanical devices could be heard everywhere within the workshop. Giant gears on the ceiling interlocked and slowly turned. The air was filled with the scent of lubricating oil, and a large number of metal fragments were scattered on the ground.

Dorothy walked curiously around the workshop, observing everything in sight. She saw many strange small mechanisms on the tabletops, such as automatons that danced automatically and mechanical birds flapping their wings.

‘A mechanism workshop… This is also an ‘Extraordinary Being’ of the ‘Stone’ path. Compared to Audric carving stone statues and Lu Ke making bone monsters, is this person more skilled in metal mechanisms?’

As Dorothy looked around, she pondered in her heart. At this moment, a female voice with a peculiar tone suddenly echoed from a corner.

“Excuse me, can you help me?”

Upon hearing this voice, Dorothy was slightly startled and looked toward the source of the sound, but saw no one.

“Who is it? Who’s there?”

Dorothy continued to ask, and the voice replied.

“I’m right here. Please lower your gaze a bit; I’m on the floor.”

Listening to those words, Dorothy lowered her perspective and indeed saw something strange on the ground.

It was a head! A head with short gray hair, a beautiful face, and a young woman. One of her eyes was covered by a round lens, and her facial skin was damaged, revealing yellow metal underneath. The severed neck showed intricate mechanical structures.

“A robot head!?”

At the sight of this head, Dorothy blurted out directly. The head responded with a slight displeasure in its tone.

“It’s quite rude of you, guest from Igewent. My name is Beverly, not some robot head.”

Hearing the response, Dorothy was momentarily stunned. After stabilizing her emotions, she continued speaking.

“Oh… then… Miss Beverly, how may I assist you?”

“Please pick up my head and take it to the bookshelf on the right side of the workshop. There is a lever next to it; pull it,” said the head named Beverly. After hesitating for a moment, Dorothy decided to comply, walking over and lifting the lifelike female head with both hands, immediately feeling a sense of strangeness.

Then, holding the head, Dorothy started searching for the mechanism, while Beverly continued to guide her.

“Yes, yes… exactly there, next to the bookshelf, a lever mechanism. Pull it.”

Following Beverly’s instructions, Dorothy found a lever mechanism beside the bookshelf on the right side of the workshop. After pulling it forcefully, the wall beside the bookshelf slowly opened with a series of clicking sounds, revealing what lay behind.

Behind the wall, lined up, were several female bodies wearing simple clothing. These bodies had no heads. Looking at this scene, Dorothy was stunned again.

“Pick any body and attach my head to it.”

“Uh… how do I attach it?” Dorothy asked, puzzled. She didn’t understand anything about mechanical assembly.

“You only need to place my head onto the interface.”

Beverly said this, and Dorothy, after some hesitation, did as instructed, randomly choosing a body and placing Beverly’s head onto the empty interface on the neck. Then, she let go.

Next, Dorothy saw the mechanical parts at the severed neck automatically connect. Beverly’s head began to turn left and right on the new body, finally adjusting to a normal posture. Behind Beverly’s new body, a huge winding key popped out and inserted itself into a hole behind Beverly. Under the drive of the workshop mechanisms, it wound tightly with a series of clicks.

Finally, Beverly’s new body started moving amid the sounds of machinery. After mechanically moving her limbs, her movements became smoother. She eventually stepped out from among the row of headless bodies and approached Dorothy.

Apart from the skin interface on her face and the copper-colored joint around her neck, she now looked like a well-proportioned teenage girl.

“Phew… Thank you very much, Miss Meyshos. If not for you, I might have been stuck there for two hours, waiting until someone returned.”

Exhaling deeply, Beverly sat down at a table and said. Dorothy tilted her head and replied.

“Do you know my name?”

“Of course, that old man wrote me a letter saying you would come, so I’ve been waiting for you.”

Beverly said this, then picked up a cup of light yellow “drink” on the table and gulped it down. The smell confirmed to Dorothy that it was indeed oil.

“Are you a robot?” Dorothy continued to ask. After finishing the oil, Beverly wiped her mouth and responded.

“To be precise, I should be called a fully autonomous mechanism puppet. You’ve learned something today. Such existences are extremely rare in the world, maybe countable on one hand.”

“Puppet?”

“It’s a construct of a puppeteer. The ‘Stone’ path, primarily ‘Stone’ with auxiliary ‘Enlightenment,’ leads to becoming a puppeteer. The specialty is creating various semi-autonomous or fully autonomous puppets, like me. I am the creation of that old man during his peak period.”

Beverly sat at the table, applying a special gel to her damaged skin with a mirror in front of her, and continued talking. This made Dorothy even more surprised.

“What? You say you are the creation of Audric? He doesn’t carve stones?”

“Yes, so when I was first created, I was also stone, lifeless and hideous.”

“Don’t you like it?”

“Of course not. That old man has very conservative tastes, always liking to carve knights, fierce beasts, heroes… I prefer youthful and attractive girls, so I was very dissatisfied with my initial appearance.”

Beverly said this. Listening to her words, Dorothy recalled that Audric’s taste was indeed quite classical, often carving dignified, authoritative, or valiant male figures, mostly kings, generals, knights, etc. Occasionally, he would carve some ferocious beasts, rarely any female figures.

“Audric’s taste seems indeed like that. He created you, but you don’t like your creator’s taste, being dissatisfied with the image he gave you?”

“Yes, so I tried to carve myself with a chisel, wanting to change myself into a preferred image. But my craftsmanship isn’t as good as that old man’s, and I messed up the carving.”

Beverly said this. Her makeup became more refined as she started using some commercially available women’s cosmetics. Meanwhile, Dorothy, listening to her words, stood there with her mouth agape.

At this moment, Dorothy was imagining a once-authoritative knight or prince looking at himself in the mirror with sculpting tools, earnestly trying to transform himself into a beautiful girl, but botching the job due to lack of skill, turning himself into a grotesque mess.