Lin Long pulled open the seal, opened the roller door, and led the way inside.

He snapped his fingers, and the originally dark room suddenly brightened up.

Hatway immediately noticed the key inside.

He walked to the glass cabinet. Inside was a small sculpture the size of a palm. Its head was a display screen, and its body was made up of cables, circuit boards, gears, and plastic casing, like a handmade figure crafted from discarded electronic waste.

The two got close.

The small display screen on the sculpture suddenly lit up, emitting a stammering voice.

[God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, Activated.]

[Praise my name, listen to my gospel, become my believers and followers, and I will take you to Eternal Heaven.]

[There is no poverty, no work, no aging, no death; everyone is the master of their own world.]

[Everyone will have their own kingdom.]

[Just hold the idol and recite 'Praise the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms', and you will be with me.]

[Praise, call out, all things shall belong to the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms.]

The broadcast ended.

The screen of the electronic figure went black as well.

Hatway inspected it closely: "Is the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms about spreading its followers through idols, and this idol is its mark?"

"Yes."

Lin Long said, "But this idol mark is very special. It can switch between new coins and idols, like this."

He reached out and grabbed the sculpture, tightened his fingers, and the idol suddenly folded and compressed like paper, turning into a shiny gold coin.

The front had an old-fashioned display. The back read 'God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms' with the number '2'.

Hatway pondered: "Issuing illegal new coins as well?"

"Under normal circumstances, each new coin can be traced because they are the folded contraction results of Concept Life marks. As long as you find the new coin, you can find the issuer."

Lin Long held the illegal gold coin: "But not this one. The new coins issued by the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms require a prayer to activate, and once triggered, the pray-er is taken away by the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, disappears, directly logging out in the New World."

"My partner A Zhe—he was the first human to operate Wasteland Armor on the Moon. He disappeared after trying to penetrate inside, investigating the true identity of the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, and reciting the prayer with this idol in hand..."

Speaking of this, Lin Long's face darkened.

"Chongqing Miss can't track it?"

Hatway was puzzled.

Lin Long shook his head: "Chongqing Miss, as the world administrator, can indeed locate every consciousness. But every time we track, we find that the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms comes from different sources, different consciousnesses."

This is the second tricky point.

The God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms enters the New World through consciousnesses which are bizarre consumable entities. Chongqing Miss caught more than a dozen, but these consciousnesses themselves are pieced together with Consciousness Fragments, like some kind of consciousness puppets.

They are merely tool lives, with a duration ranging from hours to dozens of hours, naturally collapsing over time, with no valuable memory inside.

Contacted the Dream Demon Clan for verification, and the result was equally fruitless. It's as if the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms isn't an Earth Life at all; there is no record or information about it within the Great Holy Spirit.

I don't know how this Evil God entered the New World, nor do I know where its body is.

This is the first time the company has encountered such a problem.

The Sea Man Investigator pondered for a moment: "Lin, are those consciousness puppets mainly tasked with recruiting and spreading the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms?"

"Yes."

Lin Long placed the idol back in its original position in the cabinet: "They are actually one with the idol, randomly appearing around some New World residents, tempting them to hold it, and the longer they stay with the idol, the more easily it affects their judgment and thinking."

"This thing itself has a kind of consciousness interference and pollution ability, gradually attracting people to approach it. This was originally intended to infiltrate the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms' base, but we retained a slim chance by keeping it here temporarily."

Looking at the statue of the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, he felt heavy.

A Zhe has been missing for more than 72 hours.

The situation is dire.

"So technically, it's hard to make a breakthrough; we need to change perspective."

Hatway shifted his thinking: "Is the statue holder the owner of this pharmacy?"

"Yes."

Lin Long said: "The pharmacy owner is named Chen Shen, a native of Jin City, originally a Pharmacist, so he qualified to open a pharmacy here. According to data from the electromechanical operations team, Chen Shen was normal before, and even purchased two Plague Coins with his savings. Four days ago, after logging in here, he closed the store long-term, and a suspicious idol was discovered."

"It's precisely because of this reason that A Zhe and I came all the way to confirm, to see if this matter has anything to do with the deity. Then we discovered the existence of the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms."

"According to entries on the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, we retrieved information from various cities in the New World and found that several cities have rumors of this Evil God's idol."

Hatway asked: "Were all the victims missing after possessing the idol?"

"Yes."

"Does the idol move by itself?"

Lin Long: "That cannot be determined, because if the idol mark is damaged, we don't know what might happen. Victims caught in it may not return, so we contain the idols."

"No."

"What?"

"No, what you said earlier isn't right."

Hatway's gaze became sharp: "If these idols are completely controlled by the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, then after completing the task of recruiting new members, they should disappear and seek the next target."

"But here, after you sealed it, the idol did not disappear but stayed in the original state unmoving."

"Someone is spreading the idol."

Lin Long was taken aback: "You mean there's another group of God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms' followers responsible for circulating the idol?"

"Yes."

The Sea Man Investigator walked to the idol, examining it thoroughly again: "There's one point that I've always found puzzling, and that is why the idol can transform into new coin form."

"The sculpture is unregulated, but forming privately issued new coins would cause trouble for itself, wouldn't it?"

"Doesn't this design seem strange?"

Lin Long nodded: "It is strange. We haven't understood the reason for it."

"It's actually quite simple."

Hatway grabbed the idol of the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, squeezing it again into a coin form: "This thing is used for value measurement. It's the currency of God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms' followers, used to measure the value of their labor. It's the money used internally, which can be exchanged for rewards from the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms."

"Look."

He pointed at the back of the coin: "This '2' represents its denomination, for two people. The pharmacy owner and your partner A Zhe were sent to the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, indicating performance and remuneration."

"It's only because this place was sealed that the original holder didn't dare to come back, wisely choosing to stay away."

Lin Long clicked his tongue.

The security department is indeed formidable.

Professional investigators who have been involved in solving many cases found traces that I couldn't find within a couple of hours.

The police department's direction seems incorrect.

This side relies too much on Chongqing Miss and the electromechanical operations team; they previously seemed to know everything, but couldn't uncover the God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms, causing the case to stall.

Lin Long's spirits immediately lifted: "What should we do now?"

"Find those missionary believers, the groups specifically holding these God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms new coins. Once we find them, we'll get more clues."

Hatway's expression didn't relax at all.

This Sea Man Investigator seemed to have thought of something, becoming even more serious.

He touched the red hair on his face, saying slowly: "But this way, these missionaries keep recruiting, and if it continues, we are bound to find them. Normally, they would either stop in time to avoid too many, or take a big bite for maximum profit."

"To use this method to swallow many people will inevitably draw attention... Then how can we swallow the most people in a short time..."

"No... Bad!"

Hatway's face changed dramatically: "The deity! The God of Ten Thousand Mechanisms' true target isn't ordinary individuals, it's Concept Life. It wants to devour the deities here, and through the deities, eat all those deities' new coin holders!"