117: Chapter 117 Cyber Guanyin, and Android 18
The temple was in the center of the village. It was a pagoda made of alloy, covered in glowing blue circuits, and built upon a three-tiered white stone platform.
He looked around, but there wasn't a single nun in sight.
After telling the older and younger Teacher Su, Yun Zhuo walked up the steps to the front of the temple, and the alloy doors opened automatically.
A scent, a mixture of the faint fragrance found on women's clothing and sandalwood, rushed to his nose.
There were no windows, so the indoor light seemed somewhat dim, relying entirely on the glowing circuits on the floor for illumination.
At first glance, it looked more like a church.
Upon closer inspection, the rows of backrests were not chairs, but metal meditation cushions, like iron stools shaped like round cakes.
They were covered in smooth butt imprints, clearly indicating that this place was often filled with people.
Looking forward along the central metal aisle, a massive cyber guanyin reaching the ceiling sat atop a transparent lotus pedestal, with every petal flickering with points of code light.
The cyber guanyin's skin was made of transparent material; on its forehead, instead of a cinnabar mole, there was a blue laser Heavenly Eye. A rotating swastika symbol floated before its chest, and its ribbons were flowing fluorescent cables.
Floating holographic scriptures circled its body, as if it were using technology to ferry digital sentient beings to salvation.
Yun Zhuo arrived at the altar table; the incense sticks placed there were exactly the same as those in his memories.
He casually picked up three incense sticks, lit them, and just as he was about to insert them into the incense burner, Yun Zhuo froze again.
"Why does this incense burner look so much like the one in my own home?"
Except for being slightly larger, even the reliefs on it were identical.
"Could it be that this one also contains a map and a digital matrix?"
Thinking this, Yun Zhuo looked back a few times. After confirming that he was the only one in the entire temple, he reached out and collected the incense ash inside into his wristband.
There really were patterns inside the incense burner.
So, he took out his towel, wiped the inner walls clean, placed a cup in the center, and took a look by the light of the holographic fluorescence from the bodhisattva's body.
There really was a map and a set of digital matrix.
However, it was different from the one at his home.
Yun Zhuo didn't have time to overthink it; he used his wristband to perform a holographic scan of the incense burner, then poured the incense ash back in.
Holding the three incense sticks, he bowed three times to the cyber guanyin and inserted the incense.
Just as he was about to leave, he realized something seemed off, so he grabbed some incense ash and smeared it twice along the rim of the incense burner.
He covered all the places he had just wiped clean with ash.
"Hmm, that should do it."
...
"He is quite cautious."
In the basement of the village chief's house, there was a wall entirely covered in surveillance screens, one of which displayed Yun Zhuo in the temple.
The big-bottomed nun sitting in front of the console, named Di Zhenzhen, was the village chief of this village.
Sitting beside her was the village's second-in-command, the temple keeper Jiang Jingjing. Twenty minutes ago, she was still playing the role of the proprietress at the small shop at the village entrance.
The remark just now had been made by her.
"Did you tell him to go to the temple?" Di Zhenzhen asked, looking at her.
"Yes. Now it seems he should be Dr. Qiu's son."
"Not necessarily. Although he could recognize the goddess statue, knew the rituals for worship, and even knew the secret of the incense burner, to say he is Dr. Qiu's son still requires further investigation."
"Hey, big sister, do you want to listen to what you're saying?"
"Did I say something wrong? This is a serious matter; we must be careful, careful, and more careful."
"Then what else do you want? Of course, we need DNA verification. By the way, did Number Eighteen come too?"
"Yes, but she doesn't seem to recognize us anymore."
"She is different from us.
Besides, how old was she back then? So many years have passed, everyone has grown up, and facial features will change; it's normal that she doesn't recognize us."
"Yeah, I've missed her quite a bit over the years. But seeing that she's doing well now, we won't have to worry so much in the future."
Di Zhenzhen nodded. "Call her over; let's have a chat with her."
"Chat about what?"
"Anything is fine."
"Don't you think his current Rank is too low?"
Jiang Jingjing thought about it for a moment. "That's true. Should we leave a mark first?"
Di Zhenzhen smiled slightly. "Go ahead."
"It's no problem for me to call them over, but after you see them, there might be a little trouble."
"What trouble?"
"You'll know when you see them." Jiang Jingjing smiled slightly, holding back the answer.
...
After paying his respects with incense, Yun Zhuo came out of the temple, but the older and younger Teacher Su were nowhere to be seen.
They agreed to wait here, so where did they run off to?
"Are you looking for your companions?"
Just as Yun Zhuo was suspecting whether the two of them had been kidnapped, a nun sister walked out from behind the stone platform.
"Yes." Yun Zhuo nodded. "Sister, do you know where they went?"
"They just passed by here. It looks like they went to the village chief's house."
"Thanks."
Yun Zhuo hurried to catch up.
I hope they are just delivering a letter, and that these nuns aren't causing me any trouble.
I was planning on collecting all of you.
These nuns are all mortal rank Medium Grade, with nine inlay slots each.
Including the nun he just saw.
If he could collect them all and then help them activate their hidden inlay slots, he would be able to build his own Imperial Rank army.
By then, not to mention being able to send all the Twelve Families to hell, at the very least, he would have the capital to settle down and make a living in this world.
In the courtyard of Di Zhenzhen's house, she and the older and younger Teacher Su sat around a table.
A pot of jasmine tea and three plates of small snacks were set on the table.
"May I ask, between the two of you, who is the older sister and who is the younger sister?"
Di Zhenzhen finally understood what trouble Jiang Jingjing was talking about.
She knew that Number Eighteen had been cloned by Dr. Qiu back then using the genes of the Su Family, but she hadn't expected the originals to come today, and the clone was so identical that not even a single mark had been left.
She also took the opportunity while pouring tea to use a scanner to scan for the barcode on Number Eighteen's body, but it turned out that neither of them had one.
Now she couldn't tell who their sister, Number Eighteen, actually was.
The older Teacher Su pushed up her glasses and said, "I am the older sister, and she is the younger sister."
"You two sisters, this pair of twins, are definitely the most identical I have ever seen, just like they were cloned."
As she spoke, her gaze carefully observed their expressions, but she found that both of them had no reaction to the word "cloned."
The older Teacher Su smiled slightly. "Everyone says that."
Then she changed the subject. "We came this time because someone entrusted us to bring you a letter."
"A letter?"
"Yes. Do you know Professor Su Zixing from the Imperial Capital Martial Arts University?"
"Him?" Di Zhenzhen was stunned for a moment. "I didn't expect him to be a professor already. When I knew him, he was still a student at Tianding Martial Arts University."
Seeing that the two were indeed acquaintances, the older Teacher Su finally took out the crystal card.
She was afraid that she might be delivering a letter to an enemy, which would implicate herself and her sister.
In any case, she didn't really trust her thirteenth brother.
Di Zhenzhen took the crystal card, casually tossed it into her wristband, and turned to look at the younger Teacher Su. "Little Yuan, we have met before, do you remember?"
"Have we?" The younger Teacher Su frowned. She couldn't remember where she had met this woman.