The Mechanic [BL]

[104]

Chapter 104 – Twin Cities (2)

News of the twenty six prisoners being healed spread throughout the city and all the other participants in the Ascension Project and their families gathered outside the pyramid, pleading with the priests to distribute the "cure" to them.

The shouts echoed beneath the pale gold dome of the city, through the thick walls and into the intricate glass corridors of the pyramid.

Zhang Xun followed two monks in white robes through the long corridors that reflected him clearly in every direction. At the end of the corridors was a triangular-shaped sanctuary, in the centre of which a ten-metre-high sculpture of a giant serpent covered in golden feathers looked proudly in all directions. The High Priest and his six priests, as well as the twelve counsellors of the city and the ministers of the various departments, were all prostrate under the sacred image of the serpent god, worshipping this god that had been gradually forgotten by the world.

Zhang Xun, who had rarely seen religious scenes of this scale before, stood silently at the entrance, not intending to follow the two monks in front of him.

With the sound of several drums, the worshippers stood up in unison. A monk brought a dish full of golden corn kernels and passed in turn in front of the priests and all the worshippers. Each one picked up a kernel of corn and put it in his mouth and ate it, then worshipped again, thanking the serpent for his gift.

Only when the worship was over did one of the monks who had brought him to the service push his way through the crowd that had begun to talk to each other and whisper something in the High Priest's ear. The High Priest nodded slightly, his eyes looking straight through the crowd into Zhang Xun's eyes.

"The saviour from the North!" The High Priest's voice suddenly became so loud and broad that it resounded throughout the hall and for a moment, all chatter stopped and eyes gathered from every corner.

The people looked at the thin, expressionless Asian man standing at the entrance and all sorts of whispers were heard again.

The crowd automatically parted to either side and the High Priest beckoned Zhang Xun. Zhang Xun's eyes swept around and he moved his feet, passing through the web of surprised, suspicious, speculative and curious eyes.

"Zhang Xun, you bring hope to Feathered Serpent City." The High Priest smiled kindly and reached out to hold his shoulder. Zhang Xun swept the hand away without saying anything.

"I didn't heal those people. I just...... made them more controllable." Zhang Xun said flatly, "You should soon observe a noticeable change in their characters."

"A change in character? For the better or for the worse?" Another priest, who was about fifty years old, asked.

Zhang Xun gave him a look, "There's no such thing as a good or bad character. There are many factors that can influence the formation of a personality, from genes to nutritional environment, but this change...... will gradually erase a person's character traits, causing all people to tend to have the same personality."

The old priest laughed, "As long as it's a kind and peaceful character, isn't that a good thing?"

Zhang Xun's brow furrowed and his tone gradually became a little sharper, "Do you think that losing oneself is a good thing? Or do you think that as long as they are well controlled, it doesn't matter what they become?"

The old priest's expression froze and took on a slight look of anger. At that moment the High Priest said, "What factors are responsible for this change?"

"I have some guesses. The robots I'm currently building use Eden's design and he modified the human genome when he designed the nanobots, causing functional deformities in the corpus callosum during the body's self-healing process. Eden has apparently cracked the human genetic code, but he has only passed part of that information onto humans, so I am currently unable to determine exactly which genes he is targeting. To decipher his design, I will need to work with a genetics engineer."