“Dad’s notes, Luo Xinglong?”
The fatso was dazed for a moment. He narrowed his eyes and observed the two siblings carefully before he whispered to the cook next to him.
The kitchen assistant immediately brought over two basins of boiling hot water, two coarse towels, and even two pieces of dried loofah and two steel brushes to shave pigs.
“There’s something on your face.”
The fat man saw through their disguises immediately. He said, “Remove your disguises and check your faces.”
At this point, Gus and Grey could only believe that the greasy fatty was the one they were looking for. Gritting their teeth, they wet the towel and rubbed their faces hard despite the hot water.
The hot towel wiped away most of the camouflage. Then, Li Yao rubbed his face with a loofah and a steel brush until it was red and burning. The pain was so excruciating that he felt that he was about to wipe his face off. Finally, he wiped his face with the hot towel. The two siblings resumed their original appearance and looked at the greasy fatty anxiously.
“As I expected, it’s you!”
The greasy fatty’s eyes lit up as he burst into laughter. “Gus, Grey, I knew you would come. I am the Luo Xinglong that you are looking for!”
“Are you Uncle Luo?”
Gus and Grey were surprised. “You know us?”
“Yes. Your father brought me home and saw you from afar several times, but you didn’t know about me.
Luo Xinglong sighed at first, but then he was overjoyed. “Glen was a loyal believer of the Mechanical and Steam Sect. It’s a pity that he was killed by a false god’s lackey before he was able to witness the rise of our sect. I didn’t expect that the two of you would be able to carry on his legacy and even surpass him. At such a young age, you have already comprehended the mysteries of the God of Mechanical and Steam!”
Gus and Grey were both shocked. How could such outrageous words be spoken in broad daylight?
But Luo Xinglong waved his hands and said, “It’s alright.”
As it turned out, the beef soup restaurant, from the workers to the cooks, was full of loyal believers of the mechanical demons and the steam demons. It was the biggest secret base of the mechanical demons and the steam demons in Qianyuan City. They were all on the same side, and there was no need to worry that somebody might find out.
In fact, since the activities of the machinery and the Church of Steam would release a lot of steam and noise, it was hard to hide them from other people.
When they were active in various places, they often chose to open a restaurant as a disguise. The chimneys of the restaurants were perfect for venting steam. Besides, it would consume a lot of fuel to start a fire and purchase firewood and coal in order to meet the needs of the steam engine.
As it turned out, when Luo Xinglong said that the two siblings were ‘Gus’ and ‘Grey’, the cooks and workers nearby were all excited.
They looked at the siblings with glittering eyes, as if they had seen hope.
Some of them were even chanting ‘saint son’ and ‘saint daughter’, as if they were worshipping the two siblings. There was no telling what they were up to.
“Please. I will explain it to you when we reach the bottom. The channel is a bit dirty. Please excuse me.”
Luo Xinglong asked someone to keep watch in the front. He brought the two siblings to a small house in the back where a lot of firewood and coal were piled up. He moved the dry branches away, revealing two chains on the wooden floor.
He roared and lifted a corner of the floor with the iron chain. There was a zigzagging hole below the floor. Simple footholds had been dug out on the wall. It was definitely easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Luo Xinglong led the way, and the two siblings climbed down together with him. The first part was indeed dark and rugged and suffocating, but after climbing for a while, they found themselves in a completely different world. At first, there was a flight of stairs made of bluestone, and then a solid corridor. Later, the corridor became wider and wider, until it gradually turned into an enormous underground warehouse!
The walls on the two sides of the corridor were decorated with gears and tubes just like the basement of Gus’s house. They looked like solemn and weird metal paintings and gave a different feeling of power and holiness.
The warehouse was packed with sabers, swords, armor, crossbows, an underground workshop, and a training field. Chain crossbows that were forbidden by the Temple of Fist were everywhere.
Even the steam guns driven by high-pressure steam, which could unleash the strength of a top expert, had caught Gus’ attention several times.
Hundreds of believers of the mechanical demons and the steam demons were active in the underground altar.
Some of them were following their professors and learning how to build and maintain mechanical equipment and steam engines.
Some of them were holding chain crossbows and steam guns and learning how to control such powerful weapons in the training field.
Some of them were praying to a twisted statue at the center of the altar.
The statue was the amalgamation of countless broken gears.
Hundreds of chains and tubes dangled down from the gaps of the gears like iron tentacles.
On the gears, chains, and tubes was a gargantuan steam engine, which looked like a mechanical demon that had risen from hell while carrying a steam devil.
This was the first time that the two siblings had seen statues of mechanical demons and steam devils.
Grey firmly believed in the path of steam. She was very excited and wanted to join in and worship together.
But Gus frowned. For some reason, he did not like the believers here. There was fascination, excitement, and blindness on his face.
Maybe it was because he had seen the super warriors of the Star Glory Federation, the Imperium of True Human Beings, and the Holy Accord Alliance training and fighting in his dreams.
Gus felt that the super warriors in the dream were always calm when they were training and fighting. They were people who were using tools instead of slaves.
Machines and steam were both discovered and invented by human beings. They were not demons, devils, or gods. Such a weird thought suddenly occurred to Gus.
The believers in front of him were worshipping the statues of the mechanical demons and the steam demons. How different were they from the believers outside who were worshipping the statues of the Fist God?
Of course, Gus did not say what was on his mind.
He simply followed his sister and kept Lu Qingchen’s instructions in mind. He could not tell the people in front of him about Lu Qingchen.
Luo Xinglong and the two siblings came to the statues of the mechanical demon and the steam devil.
Luo Xinglong grabbed one of the joysticks in front of the statue and pressed down heavily.
“Wu—”
High-pitched noises came from the whistle on the top of the statue. A lot of steam was spurted out and absorbed by the ventilation tubes on the top of the warehouse. Then, the steam was dispersed by the chimneys and dispersed.
Upon hearing the call, the believers who were studying and training put down their work and gathered around the statue.
Luo Xinglong enjoyed a high position in the secret altar. All the believers held their breath and listened to his instructions. Some of them eyed Gus and Grey curiously.
“They are Gus and Grey.”
Holding his head high, Luo Xinglong pointed at the two siblings and declared, “Our saint children and saintesses have finally broken out of the siege of the false gods and returned to the embrace of the true gods!