40: Chapter 40 Spiritual Machinery

The flesh is weak, mechanical Ascension.

This was the most common mantra among players of the Mechanical God System, and in his previous Life, Chen Mo could indeed be considered half a member of the Mechanical God System.

It was for no other reason than that, aside from the constantly mutating [Prion X], he held another 'ace card' in his hand with limitless growth potential.

"Sister Wei, aren't there any cheaper ones? I don't have any particular requirements for the quality of mechanical followers."

"This is already the cheapest mechanical follower we have here. It's not like you don't know, aside from a few slaves captured from the Intelligent Machine Civilization, mechanical followers are all artificially made. Whether it's material costs or technical costs, it all means their price won't be too low."

Chen Mo found Xie Wei's explanation quite reasonable.

Mechanical followers weren't simply piles of iron. The reason followers could be called followers was that, in essence, a deity could obtain faith from them.

And the prerequisite for obtaining faith was that the other party must possess 'Life'.

So, mechanical followers actually had another name: 'Spirit Machine'.

In a sense, Spirit Machines were no different from true Life, because, like most Life, they possessed their own 'Soul'.

As for how to give mechanical creations a Soul, this inevitably involved the spiritual extraction technology developed by the 'Intelligent Machine' civilization.

All things possess spirituality. Refining the extracted spirituality into a mechanical body—this was the most basic production process for 'Spirit Machines'.

However, precisely because of this reason, the price of Spirit Machine followers had always remained high.

For example, among the few cards Chen Mo was holding now, not a single one was priced below 500,000 credit points.

"I remember there's a basic Spirit Machine specifically for mining. Do you sell those here?"

Chen Mo put down the Spirit Machine cards in his hand and looked up at Xie Wei.

"Are you sure you want that thing? This kind of Spirit Machine doesn't have any attached 'modules,' nor does it have any room for upgrades."

Xie Wei frowned as she looked at Chen Mo. It wasn't that she thought Chen Mo was stingy, but she was genuinely considering his situation.

For a Spirit Machine to develop, technological upgrades were essential.

Therefore, most Spirit Machine followers, even the most basic models, came with some improvement modules attached. As long as funds were sufficient, upgrading from Tier 1 to Tier 9 was possible.

But the mining Spirit Machine Chen Mo just mentioned was essentially the 'black slave' of the Spirit Machine world, a 'consumable' specifically developed for complex mining environments.

"Just tell me if you have it or not!"

Chen Mo couldn't be bothered to explain. His methods for cultivating Spirit Machine followers were different from all other Mechanical God System deities. Cheap, durable 'little cuties' like mining Spirit Machines were his first choice.

"We do have them, but they've already been reserved by 'Star River' Mining Industry. We usually only get these from headquarters when someone places an order. Do you need them urgently?"

"Hmm, naturally, the sooner the better." Chen Mo nodded somewhat disappointedly.

"Is that so?" Xie Wei seemed troubled. Biting her red lip in hesitation for a few seconds, she finally made a certain decision.

"Xiao Yue!"

"Yes, Supervisor." The assistant who had been waiting nearby for instructions immediately stepped forward.

"Bring over that batch of Spirit Machine cards meant for Star River Mining Industry."

"Huh?" The assistant looked at her supervisor in utter astonishment.

"Just go and get them." Xie Wei frowned and called out.

"Yes!"

The assistant finally stopped hesitating and headed straight for the warehouse.

"This... isn't very appropriate, is it?"

Chen Mo, of course, understood what Xie Wei intended to do. She was willing to breach the contract to give him this batch of Spirit Machines.

"It's fine. I can find a way to stall Star River Mining Industry for a few days. At most, it'll just lower my credit score within the conglomerate a bit. It's not a big problem."

Xie Wei said with an air of nonchalance.

"Is that so? Well then... thank you, Sister Wei!"

Chen Mo gave Xie Wei a deep look, then chuckled softly. Xie Wei returned a smile. Everything was understood without words.

It was also at this moment that Xie Wei completely abandoned the idea of going to the North Region Branch.

In her view, the Chen Mo before her held far more value than a lateral transfer to become a supervisor at the North Region Branch.

"Sister Wei!"

A call broke the subtle eye contact between the two.

Assistant He Xiaoyue brought a small, square box to Xie Wei's side. Inside were precisely the Spirit Machine cards.

"This is it." Chen Mo happily took these most 'inexpensive' Spirit Machine cards into his hand.

In his previous Life, it was by relying on these Spirit Machines that others looked down upon as trash that he rapidly grew in strength.

In the mid-to-Late Stage of the version, the combat power this Spirit Machine legion could unleash was even comparable to Chen Mo himself.

"150,000 each! According to the conglomerate's regulations, internal members enjoy a 10% discount, management an 20% discount. Although you are a reserve member, you belong to the core management, so you can get a 30% reduction off the base price, which is... 105,000!"

Xie Wei spoke slowly.

"Supervisor, our base price isn't 200,000, is it? Our wholesale price to Star River Mining Industry is 180,000!"

He Xiaoyue hurriedly 'kindly' reminded her, assuming her supervisor had simply remembered wrong.

"Don't speak out of turn."

Xie Wei extended a slender finger and flicked He Xiaoyue hard on the forehead.

"Ouch, Supervisor!" He Xiaoyue covered her forehead, looking pitiful.

He Xiaoyue was just an 'ordinary person' who hadn't yet achieved demigod status.

Although the Main World had long entered the Age of Deities, relying solely on gradual cultivation to become a demigod took at least several decades or even over a hundred years.

Clearly, He Xiaoyue's family circumstances were poor; otherwise, she wouldn't have come to work at Blue Cave Technology at an age when she should be studying.

"You still know it hurts!"

Xie Wei glared at He Xiaoyue, but inwardly praised the little girl.

A favor unknown to others was no favor at all.

He Xiaoyue's thoughtless remark had actually given her an assist.

"Sister Wei, there's really no need. I can't let you take a loss."

Now it was Chen Mo's turn to feel embarrassed, though he understood perfectly well this was Xie Wei showing goodwill.

"It's not taking a loss. Our procurement price from headquarters is 150,000."

"Alright, then thank you, Sister Wei."

Chen Mo also couldn't be bothered with pretenses and directly stored the box of Spirit Machine cards into his storage bracelet.

He had just taken a quick glance. There were 26 cards in total. Buying them all would instantly empty out more than half of the 5 million he had just received.

"Money flows like water. Indeed, the Mechanical God System is for rich guys to play."

Sighing inwardly, Chen Mo spoke again: "Yu Mo, transfer the funds."

"Yes, Master."

Yu Mo, who had been 'lurking' in the virtual wristband, popped out half of her small head. With a wiggle of her fingers, she completed this massive transfer of over 3 million.

Aside from the 2.7 million for the Spirit Machine cards, it also included the 537,600 for the 96 blood beast cards.

"Let's add each other as virtual friends, Sister Wei."

To return the favor, since Xie Wei's intention to 'cling to a powerful figure' was so obvious, Chen Mo couldn't show no response at all.

"Great!"

The smile on Xie Wei's face grew even brighter as she hurriedly gave Chen Mo her virtual ID.

"'A Smiling Wei Conquers Cities'!"

Chen Mo's mouth twitched. He clearly hadn't expected the mature and dignified-looking Xie Wei to have chosen such an ID.