Clockwork Bride

Page 128

Her smile was like a spring breeze, a spring breeze that represented vitality.

The spring breeze blows across the earth, and the grass becomes fragrant.

The spring breeze blows through the valley, and flowers bloom.

The spring breeze blows through the woods, bringing with it birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.

The spring breeze blows in all directions, and thus all things come into being.

Finally, this gentle breeze reached Angela's hands.

Pazuzu's "ascension ceremony" was not yet complete. Seeing this, he was overjoyed and reached out to grab Angela, wanting to absorb her supreme life force and completely sublimate himself.

Angela didn't even try to dodge.

“Watch out, Pazuzu.”

She simply said calmly, and stood still.

"Misfortune is now closer; misfortune is at the door; misfortune has already pulled the bolt."

Pazuzu, however, didn't hear a word she said.

Although Pazuzu has not yet fully "ascended to heaven," its power is now far greater than before. Its body is now enormous, and with a backhand grab, it looks down from above, leaving Angela with nowhere to escape.

But the next moment, its movements stopped.

The next moment, it, Angela, and even Hayden all sensed that the situation had changed. In fact, because they were concerned with different things, Hayden noticed the change earlier than Pazuzu. He was now looking up, staring blankly at the sky above the mountaintop.

He knew this would happen; it was part of their original plan, but he never expected it to turn out this way.

Pazuzu also sensed an overwhelming power and immediately followed Hayden's gaze, then also showed a blank expression.

Because of the typhoon, the typhoon sweeper that used to constantly rub against the city's boundaries has now changed.

It burst forth with sparks like countless stars, and trillions of tiny electric orbs instantly filled the sky. Through electrical induction, they connected end to end, then grew like living organisms, transforming the typhoon itself into a giant formed of lightning, revealing its form between heaven and earth.

Pazuzu didn't recognize the giant. But Hayden and Angela knew her and were quite familiar with her.

[Thank you for your hard work, Hayden. I've finally got the legal registration for this city and the temporary access to the climate control system approved.]

Standing ten thousand feet tall, reaching the heavens, this is the daughter of the gods demonstrating her power through the climate control system, revealing her form through storms and lightning, and speaking.

The colossal Karen's voice boomed like thunder, resounding endlessly. Her power was so immense, and her current size so enormous, that all pollution inside and outside the city was instantly sucked away and flung far away.

Pazuzu wasn't thrown off, but that only made things worse. It immediately realized the dire situation it was in and, without a second thought, tried to escape—

But Angela had already grabbed it firmly with her other hand.

"The time has come."

She said calmly.

Pazuzu then realized that Angela hadn't sung for quite a while.

Because she no longer needed to sing.

The next moment, in the lightning-streaked sky, the giant Kallen raised her hand and waved it. The wind, clouds, lightning, and rain immediately began to spin, and all celestial phenomena obeyed her command.

Even Pazuzu, who originally wanted to break free from Angela, found that she couldn't control her body at all.

Because even it itself is [wind]!

Hayden once said that wind, rain, thunder, and lightning have always been the power of the gods and symbols of their divine authority.

If that's the case, then what are the climate control systems of modern large corporations?

It is of course a higher and more dominant power than the authority of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning; it is an extremely powerful force.

This is the power of modern capitalist gods, the supreme power that completely dominates the natural phenomena of the entire planet.

The key to calling upon this divine power on the earth lies in the foundation of the city's geomantic energy that Hayden laid together when he planted the apple saplings that day.

Now that Karen has finally obtained legal registration for this small mountain town, the calamities of the gods will naturally no longer befall legal cities.

Heaven and earth, yin and yang, resonate with each other. Now, she can use this divine power to annihilate demons on behalf of the lawful citizens of the earth!

"You're Pazuzu? You don't look particularly special."

Giant Karen glanced down at Pazuzu one last time, then shook her head.

Die.

"No no no no no no no no no no no no no—I was so close!!!"

Pazuzu let out a final, agonizing scream, filled with fear and madness.

But is it really just a little bit off?

The giant Karen extended a finger and casually pointed at it, much easier and simpler than clicking a mouse.

The lightning tribulation descended by the modern celestial deity connected with the earth's spiritual veins, bathing the world in a white light. This heavenly lightning contained energy capable of killing a thousand evil immortals, blasting away even the great demon who dared to aspire to become an immortal ancestor, leaving not a trace behind.

140: Brave New World

Two days ago, Hayden had discussed with Karen how to deal with Pazuzu.

Hayden, a good son of the working class, still had a simple and honest mindset at the time: "Although we don't know why yet, Pazuzu is clearly afraid of arcane industrial pollution. As long as we figure out the reason, we can attack that weakness..."

This approach to countering classical magic isn't necessarily wrong.

However, Karen, being a young lady from a wealthy family, thought differently. After hearing Hayden's words, she immediately retorted: "Why bother about its weaknesses? I'm about to help this city get its legal registration. Then I can just spend money to purchase weather control services, rent them for an hour, and use the weather to blast Pazuzu to smithereens."

This isn't a war movie; winning with simple methods is the best approach. Victories achieved by overwhelming odds only please the audience. Forget classical theories of restraint; the basic idea of ​​modern arcane warfare is to directly annihilate everything with greater productivity and firepower.

Is this approach wrong?

Obviously not. The gods of capital have the resources to do such things; that is indeed their ability.

But Hayden couldn't help but feel speechless: "You really are a capitalist's daughter."

Karen, however, was quite confident: "I used money I earned myself."

Despite its many flaws, even Hayden had to admit that Karen's plan was very effective, and most importantly, it had no shortcomings other than costing money. After all, legal registration for the city required an application anyway, so subscribing to weather control services for a short period was a minor matter in comparison.

As it turns out, everyone really did turn the tide thanks to this short-term rental of weather control.

Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning are the powers of the ancient gods, while the climate control systems of modern corporations represent the supreme power of the new gods of capital, dominating the world and arguably the most powerful weapon on Earth. When Karen, as a new god, personally wields it, the climate control system can unleash boundless power.

No matter what kind of great demon has lived for thousands of years, it will be blasted to dust by the power of modern gods.

This was the first time Hayden had ever seen a climate control system used to kill. Although he had known about this use beforehand and had prepared ground infrastructure to support Kallen's power, he was still utterly shocked.

Angela, on the other hand, remained calm. After watching the commotion, she immediately reminded Hayden to treat the sick demi-humans and repair the damaged barrier. Although typhoon sweepers would deliberately avoid passing through legally registered towns, a leaky barrier was still undesirable.

After Hayden and his team had been busy for about an hour, Karen teleported over. Everyone looked at each other for a while, and only then did they truly feel that the matter had been settled.

"Pazuzu is dead."

Hayden couldn't help but sigh as he finished speaking.

"Even after it was blasted to smithereens, we still didn't figure out why it was afraid of arcane industrial pollution."

During its battle with Angela, Pazuzu was not afraid of the power of the pollution storm; in fact, it even used that power against itself. This was quite inconsistent with its previous behavior of being afraid of pollution.

Needless to say, Hayden had just witnessed a dark miracle, a bizarre phenomenon leading to the unity of Yin and Yang, so of course he would be very interested. Even if he couldn't copy it exactly, if he could learn more, he might have a chance to modify it based on what he saw.

As for magic—although it wasn't his major subject, Hayden certainly knew a little about it.

Upon hearing Hayden's words, Karen appeared thoughtful: "I do have a hypothesis now. When I was controlling the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning using the climate system just now, I discovered that Pazuzu, this demon of the [South Wind], is actually also affected by the system and can be controlled by the wind control function."

"The Typhoon Sweeper was originally made using a climate control system. Those pollution storms amplify Pazuzu's energy, which is why you were so badly attacked by it before. But Pazuzu is actually very afraid of the Typhoon Sweeper. Is it possible that it's afraid of being completely dominated and controlled by the company's climate control system as the 'South Wind'?"

Hayden scratched his head, speechless.

If Karen's hypothesis is true, then Pazuzu's previous situation is not hard to imagine. It would have become stronger if it had absorbed the energy of the pollution storm, but the more it absorbed, the easier it would have been for the company's climate control system to control it.

"In that case, Pazuzu said before that it would not directly absorb Angela's life force to avoid being controlled."

Karen's words reminded Hayden of the matter again.

Because it didn't want to be controlled, Pazuzu didn't directly absorb these powers. Its wandering and even territorial claims to avoid the storms were likely just to prevent itself from absorbing too much of the polluted storms, rather than out of genuine fear of the toxins produced by arcane industries.

Finally, it attempted to use the dual power of Yin and Yang, life and death, to refine itself and ascend to immortality, which must have been a desperate decision made at a critical moment.

If this hypothesis is correct, then Pazuzu could be considered a demon who would risk his life to pursue freedom.

It's not that there's anything to be proud of, after all, Pazuzu was ultimately extremely evil and deserved to be killed.

But a [Wind] attribute demon, who should have been naturally unrestrained and able to fight and battle the old gods at will in ancient times, has now fallen to the point where it can be treated as a plaything and manipulated at will by the new gods. Thinking of this, Hayden felt a sense of shared sorrow.

His favorite element was also the wind. Hayden also loved freedom the most.

Wind, once the symbol of the freest element in the world. In today's world, the power of capital can even control the wind.

Strength and Control

Hayden had also used powers he couldn't control before. Last time he fought the Tengu ninja, using leyline magic and Beast God transformation sorcery, he almost turned himself into an out-of-control beast. It was undeniably powerful, strong enough to overpower high-ranking demons. But out-of-control power would control the user. Even Pazuzu wouldn't want such power lying around.

But then again, does truly free power exist in this world? Is the power of modern capitalist gods something they can freely use at will?

Hayden didn't think so. He had heard Karen's stories and knew very well that capitalists themselves were puppets of capital. The proletariat was merely a machine for producing surplus value, and capitalists were simply machines for transforming that surplus value into additional capital. If capitalists didn't strive to increase their capital, if they wasted their energy elsewhere, they would be eliminated by capitalist society.

If that's the case, then where exactly is this so-called "freedom"?

"Pazuzu, Pazuzu, you want to attain great freedom like an evil immortal, but you are walking a dead end."

As Hayden pondered this, he thought back to his past self and felt a chill run down his spine, muttering to himself.

Doing things my own way, seeking only to be a hermit, and wanting to become an immortal—in this era, freedom is impossible to attain.

That being said, Hayden could still thoroughly study and comprehend the Yin-Yang Life-Death Transformation technique that Pazuzu used before his death. Pazuzu died without leaving anything behind; this spell was his greatest trophy from this battle.

“I know you’re probably feeling a bit sentimental, but honestly, now is not the time for sentimentalism.”

Karen overheard Hayden muttering to himself and misunderstood his meaning, then spoke up.

"There are still things that need to be dealt with. That's why I rushed over here."

She frowned as she said this.

"I finally figured out what this new energy source called 'Kowtowing Bug' really is today."

Hayden snapped out of his daze and listened attentively: "Judging from your tone, it can't be anything good?"

Therefore, Karen quickly told Hayden the answer.

To say that this answer is "not a good thing" would be an understatement.

--------------------------

New Yatu, the secret area on the thirteenth basement level of the Mitra Group's branch building.

This secret floor was almost deserted because most of the systems were already automated. Interestingly, in such a nearly fully automated system, the bourgeoisie, who controlled and occupied the factors of production, were the factors that had not yet been replaced.

The true owner of this floor, this area, and this entire "Kowtow Bug" project is actually Dhritarashtra, the Heavenly King. However, the person standing here now isn't him. The God of Capital is very busy.

Therefore, the person in charge of managing this place is Adam, the son-in-law of Dhritarashtra.

He stood in this secret area, in this huge underground white space, looking at the hundreds of small boxes arranged neatly like matrix substrate components, listening to "them" emitting indescribable, strange incantations that sounded like a mixed male and female voice singing.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form; all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; there is no wisdom; there is no attainment; there is no fear; ultimately, Nirvana is attained.

As the small boxes continuously chanted wondrous scriptures, the entire system generated and gathered immense energy. This energy was so vast and boundless, seemingly inexhaustible, that it even surpassed the spiritual vein nodes of the industrial zone!

Unfortunately, at the same time, this energy fluctuates wildly, surging like a raging torrent, making it difficult to control. Even if such a system could generate more energy than the spiritual veins of an industrial zone, how could such violent energy be used for production?

I'm afraid even the production line will be blown up!

The energy generated by the "Kowtowing Bug" system is so powerful yet so unstable. Therefore, in order to conduct a real-world test, the Heavenly King Dhritarashtra simply connected its energy to the climate control system and created a super typhoon to sweep away all environmental pollution in Evergreen Prefecture, thereby testing the upper limit of the energy that the "Kowtowing Bug" system can generate and whether it can be used stably.

If experiments are only conducted secretly underground without utilizing the energy generated by the "clickbugs," they might even blow up buildings if things go wrong. Otherwise, why would capitalists be cleaning up air pollution for the general public for free?

Besides, in this world, things that are free are always the most expensive.

Adam glanced at the energy icons displayed on the [Kowtowing Bug] system while casually scribbling a new marketing plan on the projection screen. This experiment was nearing its end, but Adam thought that a typhoon-themed robot vacuum could be used periodically from now on. In the future, if anyone needed to leave the city during a typhoon and wanted to ensure their safety, they would have to purchase a membership from the company and be added to the robot vacuum's whitelist…

So easily, they've brought a sector that originally didn't require companies or capital into the category of those who have to pay protection money to companies. Fantastic!

However, these are, of course, just minor details in the grand scheme of things.

The Prajnaparamita is the great divine mantra, the great bright mantra, the supreme mantra, the unequaled mantra, capable of removing all suffering—truly and without falsehood.

Adam finished drafting the plan and looked up again at the little boxes that kept chanting. Even he, a great villain, still felt an instinctive nausea every time he saw these boxes.

Because in this vast, sterile space, within those countless translucent biochemical maintenance boxes, there are just as many human brains, each implanted with a dream education chip.