"Dad's notes, Luo Xinglong?"
The greasy fatty was slightly startled. He narrowed his eyes and carefully sized up the two siblings with his sharp eyes. Then, he whispered something to the kitchen helper next to him.
The kitchen helper immediately brought two basins of boiling hot water, two rough towels, and even two pieces of dried loofah pulp and two steel brushes for shaving pigs.
"There's something on your faces."
The greasy fatty saw through their disguise at a glance. He said, "Wipe off the disguise and let me see your true 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 ignored the scalding hot water, wet the towels, and fiercely rubbed their faces.
The hot towels rubbed away most of the disguise. Then, they used the loofah pulp and steel brushes to wipe their faces again. Their cheeks were red and hot, and they were in extreme pain. Finally, they wiped their faces again with the hot towels. Then, the two siblings returned to their original faces and looked at the greasy fatty anxiously.
"Sure enough, it's you!"
The greasy fatty's eyes lit up. He laughed and said, "Gus, Grey, I knew you would come to me. I'm the Luo Xinglong you're looking for!"
"You're Uncle Luo?"
Gus and Grey were shocked. "You know us?"
"Yes, your dad once brought me home. I saw you from afar a few times, but you didn't know of my existence."
Luo Xinglong sighed first, and then he was overjoyed. "Glenn was a devout believer of the Church of Machinery and Steam. Unfortunately, he died tragically in the hands of the false god's lackey before he could see the rise of our church. I didn't expect that you two could inherit his legacy and even surpass him. You've comprehended the mysteries of the God of Machinery and Steam at such a young age!"
Gus and Grey were shocked. How could such disgraceful words be said in broad daylight in front of so many people?
Luo Xinglong waved his hand and said, "It's okay."
It turned out that this beef soup restaurant, from the waiters to the cooks, were all devout believers of the Church of Machinery and Steam. This was the biggest secret stronghold of the Church of Machinery and Steam in Qianyuan City. They were all on the same side, so there was no need to worry about the news leaking out.
In fact, because the activities of the Machine and Steam God Sect would release a lot of steam and noise, it would be difficult to hide from the observant.
When they were moving around, they would often choose to open a restaurant as a disguise. The chimney of the restaurant was used to emit steam, and a large amount of fuel was needed to start a fire. They had to openly purchase firewood and coal to meet the needs of the steam engine.
As he expected, after hearing Luo Xinglong say that the two siblings were "Gus" and "Grey", all the cooks and waiters were excited.
They looked at the two siblings with sparkling eyes, as if they had seen hope.
There were even people muttering the words "Saint Son" and "Saint Daughter", as if they wanted to prostrate themselves in worship to the two siblings. No one knew what they were up to.
"Please, I'll explain to the two of you when we're down there. The passageway is a little dirty, sorry for the offense."
Luo Xinglong ordered his men to keep watch in front of them. He led the two siblings to a small hut at the back where a large amount of firewood and coal were piled up. He moved away the bundles of dead branches, revealing two iron chains on the wooden floor.
He bellowed and pulled the iron chains, lifting a corner of the floor. Below them was a zigzagging cave. Simple footholds had been carved out on the wall of the cave. It was definitely easy to defend and hard to attack.
Luo Xinglong led the way in the front, and the two siblings followed him to climb down. The front part was indeed dark and rugged, making them feel suffocated. But after a while, it became clear that there was a whole new world inside. At first, there was a sloping staircase paved with bluestones that led downward. Then, it turned into a sturdy corridor. Later, the corridor became wider and wider, and gradually turned into an enormous underground warehouse!
The walls on both sides of the corridor were decorated with gears and pipes, just like the basement in Gus's house. They were like solemn and weird metal murals, giving a different kind of power and sacredness.
The warehouse was full of swords, sabers, armors, and bows. There was also an underground workshop and a training field. The serial mechanical crossbows that were banned by the Fist God Palace could be seen everywhere.
Gus even saw a few steam guns that were powered by high-pressure steam and could unleash the fist strength of a top-tier expert.
Hundreds of believers of mechanical demons and steam demons were working in the underground altars.
They were either following their mentors to learn the knowledge of manufacturing and maintaining mechanical devices and steam engines.
Some were holding serial mechanical crossbows and steam guns in their hands and learning how to manipulate the powerful weapons in the training field.
Some were praying and worshipping a twisted statue at the center of the altars.
The statue was made of countless broken gears that had been reforged and condensed together.
There were also hundreds of chains and pipes that dragged and drooped down from the gaps of the gears like tentacles made of steel.
Above the gears, chains, and pipes was a gargantuan steam engine, which seemed to have risen from hell on the back of a mechanical demon.
It was the first time that Gus and Grey had seen the statues of mechanical demons and steam demons.
Grey had no doubts about the path of steam. She was very excited and wanted to join the worship, too.
But Gus secretly frowned. For some reason, he did not like the fascination, excitement, and blindness on the faces of the believers in this place.
Maybe it was because he had seen the training and battles of the super warriors of the Xing Yao Federation, the Imperium of True Human Beings, and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant in his uncanny dreams.
Gus felt that the super warriors in his uncanny dreams were particularly calm when they were training and fighting. They were manipulating the tools instead of being enslaved by the tools.
Both machines and steam were discovered and invented by human beings after all. They were neither demons, devils, nor gods. Such a weird thought suddenly popped up in Gus' mind.
Was there any difference between the believers worshipping the statues of the mechanical demons and the steam devils and the believers outside worshipping the statues of the Fist God?
Of course, Gus did not say what was on his mind.
He simply followed his sister in silence, bearing in mind Lu Qingchen's warning that he must not tell the people in front of him about Lu Qingchen.
Luo Xinglong and the siblings came to the statues of mechanical demons and steam demons.
Luo Xinglong grabbed a lever in front of the statue and pressed it down heavily.
"Wu —"
Shrieking noises immediately echoed from the whistle on the top of the statue. A lot of steam spurted out, which was absorbed by the ventilation vents above the warehouse and dispersed into the smoke by more than ten chimneys.
Hearing the summon, the believers who were studying and training all dropped what they were doing and gathered around the statue.
Luo Xinglong's position in the secret altar was very high. All the believers held their breath and listened to his instructions. Some of them were observing Gus and Grey curiously.
"They're Gus and Grey."
Luo Xinglong puffed out his chest and pointed at the siblings. "Our saint and saintess have finally broken free from the pursuit of the false gods and returned to the embrace of the true gods!"
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