"Father, what has happened to the Temple now?"
Ed also said, "Yes! Magos, what happened to Gamma seems utterly preposterous!"
"Indeed, when I had my lumbar vertebrae replaced previously, the Temple Sages were particularly eager to enlighten me. The phrase I remember most deeply was: 'In following the path of the omnissiah, you must act within your means. What's important about 'walking on the path' is the 'walking,' and 'continuously walking' is the true path of faith!' But now…" Jacob touched his mechanical lumbar vertebrae as he spoke, then looked back in the direction of the omnissiah Temple, shaking his head and not continuing.
"Is that so? Is the difference that great?!" Paul asked in surprise.
Louis took over, saying, "There have indeed been some rumors in the past decade, but no one took them seriously. After all, that's the 'Temple'! This time has certainly been an eye-opener!"
"Hey, Louis, you're going too far! Look, Gamma's face is still pale from fright. How can you say it's an eye-opener! Right, Gamma." Leia said teasingly, her hand resting on the back of Gamma's head.
Hmph, you petty "Oil Girl"! If I weren't grateful you came to save me, I wouldn't endure this humiliation! Just watch me break your hand!
"Leia, look, Gamma has already apologized. Just forgive him!" The guilt-ridden honest man, Jacob, defended Gamma.
"Heh, it's truly a waste that we came with guns and cannons, traveling half a planet just to save some brat who suspected us of hiding things from him, ostracizing him, and even plotting against him!"
"Leia, I was wrong, please forgive me!" Gamma admitted his mistake in a low, muffled voice.
Women are still the ones who lie best! All four Priests thought simultaneously.
Magos Lauster, walking ahead, wasn't focused on Gamma and the others bickering behind him. His mind was constantly replaying the data recorded by all the detectors on him since they entered the Temple.
Everything that happened was too coincidental! They just happened to find a Temple Sage! They just happened to arrive at the last moment! They just happened to mention the Fabricator-General at the height of the conflict!
"Gamma, you said you were led to the operating room by a preacher named Alpha! Is that right?" Magos Lauster turned and asked Gamma.
It was fine not mentioning Alpha, but the moment Magos Lauster did, Gamma immediately turned red hot.
"Yes, it was that guy who was modified to look like a scavenging arthropod, disgusting on the outside! Even more disgusting on the inside!"
42K cockroaches are extinct, yet people are still everywhere in the galaxy. Who was it that predicted humans would go extinct before cockroaches in 2K?
"Modified to look like a scavenging arthropod? Was that Alpha's body heavily modified?" Magos Lauster asked again.
"I didn't see any organic matter on him," Gamma said truthfully.
"A preacher? Heh!"
There's something going on inside! Gamma thought.
Gamma's eyes darted around, looking at Magos Lauster, then suspiciously at Leia and the others, sensing something wasn't right…
"Bang!"
"Ow! Leia, why did you hit my head again!" Gamma wailed, holding his head.
"To make you remember! I didn't see you yesterday either, where did you go!?"
Speaking, Leia, using her height advantage, winked at Jacob, Louis, and the others: Quickly divert this kid's attention, haven't you seen his eyeballs almost spinning out!
Ed and the others sighed inwardly: How can this kid be so shrewd! Can't he be a bit dumber!
"That's right! Boss, where did you go yesterday?" Paul picked up the conversation and continued to ask.
Gamma stammered, dodged, and changed the subject, finally forced to tell the truth under Leia's interrogation.
"It was… it was that 'Source Power' Temple."
Paul asked, "Does Source Power even have a Temple?"
Paul, this newly initiated Priest, truly didn't know about the Source Power Temple. Louis next to him mimicked taking off his clothes and flexing his muscles, making accompanying sounds.
"Bleep bleep bleep…"
Paul seemed to recall something terrifying, verifying with Louis in disbelief, "The… the Lightning Monk Brotherhood?!"
"Mm!"
"Hiss…" Paul.
"Hiss…" Ed.
"Hiss…" Jacob.
Gamma thought: It seems the "Blue Man" masters also have a "formidable reputation" among the indentured servants and Priests. Is this the power of the "underworld"?
Even Magos Lauster began to consider whether to ground Gamma; this kid was too much trouble!
"What's with your reactions! I remember the Electric Monks are all quite kind, aren't they?" Leia, the only one who didn't "hiss," asked in confusion.
"Kind? Have you been there?" Gamma asked, looking at the "naïve" girl with a puzzled expression.
Leia answered readily. "I've been there. I visited a few years ago when I first became a Priest. I remember an Electric Monk brother even offered me pastries."
"Hiss!" Five times.
Magos Lauster: Grounding + 1!
That evening, another secret meeting, convened by Magos Lauster, was held without Gamma's knowledge.
Magos Lauster spoke first: "The situation is clearer now than before."
Leia asked, "Father, have you found out the reason?"
"Not yet, but through today's events, I have some clues. I still need to find some evidence to corroborate my hypothesis."
Jacob then said, "Magos, is it convenient to disclose?"
Magos Lauster shook his head and then nodded, saying, "There's nothing to hide. For now, it's all just my hypothesis."
"Hypothesis?"
Magos Lauster didn't answer but instead asked, "Yes, you all saw the situation in the Temple today. What are your thoughts?"
Jacob and Paul exchanged glances for a moment, then, after a brief contemplation, the youngest, Paul, spoke first.
"Magos, I truly didn't expect such a thing to happen in the Temple, and I never imagined the mastermind behind it would be the Fabricator-General."
Louis continued, "It is indeed incredibly baffling. The Temple Sage's remark about 'blasphemy' wasn't out of line."
"Judging by the Temple Sage's demeanor, he wasn't aware of it beforehand, but even if he was, what could he do under the Fabricator-General's oppression?!" Ed said angrily.
"Oppression?…" Jacob looked at the angry Ed, pondering without continuing.
Leia saw Jacob deep in thought, so she said, "Jacob, if you've thought of something, just say it! Don't just say half!"
"Uh, it just feels a bit dark! Do you think the Temple Sage truly didn't know? He's a high-ranking Tech-Priest, known as a 'Magos,' and he's in charge of the Temple!"
"This!"
Leia and the others were stunned upon hearing this. There are no fools among those who become Tech-Priests, and after Jacob pointed it out, the unreasonable aspects of the daytime scene instantly came back to them.
"How could he not know!"
"Such things happening in the Temple must not be the first time. That blood-soaked operating table, this kind of thing must have been going on for quite some time. How could it continue without his protection?!"
"When there's profit, he takes it! When there's trouble, he plays innocent! Truly a well-played scheme."
"How many people were forced to wear unsuitable prosthetics and cybernetics by them, and how many signed 'indentured servitude contracts'! Nine out of thirteen returned! How ruthless!"
"Omnissiah! Omnissiah! How could such blasphemous things happen!"
Magos Lauster looked at the indignant crowd, tapping the table with his finger to signal them to stop, and said:
"It's good that you can think of this, but have you considered that perhaps your current reactions are the result they desired?!"
Leia exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?"
Jacob said, "Anger! They want us to be angry!"
Paul asked, "Anger? If they ignite our fury, won't it ultimately burn them as well?"
Louis answered Paul on behalf of Jacob, saying, "Paul, there's another party involved! An absent party!"
Paul began to recall, muttering, "Absent? Absent! The Fabricator-General!"
"So that's it! To direct the fire towards the Fabricator-General, they're putting on a show!"
"They are just acting! They gave Gamma too much time and didn't cut off Gamma's communication with the outside! If they truly only wanted Gamma to sign the indentured servitude contract, there would be no need for such trouble; they could just electrocute him upon entry, like the Lightning Monk Brotherhood!"
Leia said in shock, "The Electric Monks electrocute people who enter?!"
"…"
Magos Lauster couldn't bear his daughter's naive demeanor any longer, so he took over the conversation and continued, "One possibility is that they are all working for the Fabricator-General, and what happened today was merely a way to shift blame."
Magos Lauster paused, then continued, "The second possibility is that they are directing resentment towards the Fabricator-General."
"But no matter which one, they themselves will inevitably be implicated!"
"The first one, taking benefits naturally comes with a price. The second one, either someone is protecting them from behind! Or they don't mind being burned together!"
Paul: "Setting themselves on fire!"
Louis: "The Fabricator-General"
Leia: "The Temple!"
Ed: "Mars!"
Jacob: "The Regent!"
Gamma didn't know that another secret meeting had been held behind his back last night. He had a nightmare all night, dreaming that he had become a "human pig," with his severed hands and feet preserved in transparent glass jars. Gamma lay naked and alone on the cold ground, his "little topknot" facing the jar, shouting, "My precious!"
Upon waking, Gamma, with dark circles under his eyes, found Paul, who was free, and asked him to accompany him to the last remaining faction: the Omnissiah faction!
He was truly scared! But thinking "third time's the charm," he decided to make one last effort. Leia, who was nearby, said she was also free and could accompany him.
Gamma vehemently refused, because he couldn't forget that at the end of his dream, this "Oil Girl" suddenly appeared, grabbed his "little topknot," and said with extreme wickedness, "This is the real precious!"
Gamma and Paul arrived at the "Temple of the Omnissiah." Gamma asked Paul to wait outside, telling him that if he didn't hear back in five minutes, Paul should immediately go back and get reinforcements!
The actual situation was much faster than Gamma had anticipated. He hadn't even entered the door when he heard someone inside loudly proclaiming:
"I believe the Emperor is not the Omnissiah!"
"That's right!" (A chorus of agreement)