Crimson Embers Chapter 24: This is the only miracle created on the last night before summer vacation, right?
In the main control room of the Conqueror's second-series mothership, now renamed "Family", all members of the Mason family sat in unison around a mechanical round table. Everyone had a different expression, but they all knew what was going on.
Just like every time he did something big there had to be a preparation process, Mason must have had a lot of manufacturing tasks for them to do before heading to the dangerous fighting world this time.
This is naturally considered overtime, but don't expect the captain to pay overtime pay on time.
We are all brothers, and you still ask me for overtime pay. Isn't that being too formal?
"You still have three days to prepare. This time we're going to do a lot of heavy work, so you may not have much time to rest."
Right in front of the mechanical round table, Mason was flipping through the plan he had written last night. The Masons below were all showing signs of giving up, and some were already lying on the table pretending to be asleep, in this way silently protesting against Mason's exploitative behavior, but they were all glamorously ignored by the captain.
He knocked on the table and assigned tasks:
"Let's not talk about Doom for now. I have already made arrangements for his tactics. There is no need to use special weapons or equipment beyond the conventional armaments. But Doom is just a gatekeeper boss. According to the information we have collected so far, the real heavyweight is obviously Dr. Bluebird, who has never appeared in Rorschach's diary but is closely linked to him.
I now doubt whether something has been deleted from Rorschach's brain. Under normal circumstances, he would not ignore that powerful and rational guy.
But there is no information throughout the story that proves that Dr. Manhattan is deliberately erasing any trace of his involvement in the entire disaster era, which is standard behavior for the big boss behind the scenes. "
"It's useless to figure it out."
The engineer leaned back in his chair and said helplessly:
"If it's a guy like Dr. Manhattan, don't expect the weapons in our hands to do any harm to him. He is immortal and omnipotent at the conceptual level, and can see through the past and the future. Any plan against him will not work. I even suspect that the guy was just 'watching the whole process' when we were having a meeting here."
As he spoke, the bastard stretched out his hand and waved it behind him, and said in a long voice:
"Hello, Doc, are you listening? We are planning to kill you, but this is just a crazy attempt, so don't blow us into pieces and use them to cover the wall, okay?"
"Don't be afraid, it's not that mysterious."
Mason shook his head and threw the plan in his hand on the table, and said to the others:
“According to my guess, that guy’s observation of the future may have been flawed, otherwise given his character, he would not have allowed a crisis that he saw as destroying his plan to develop to this point.
And I have a feeling that the all-powerful guy can't see us.
Do you understand what I mean?
It's like a blind spot in vision.
He may be aware of our presence, but he was unable to accurately grasp our action plan, so he allowed us to advance our cause against the Council to this point.
And that Rorschach diary!
Theoretically, the thing that reveals the secrets of the fighting world shouldn't appear, but it fell into our hands. Zero Tony said that he played a certain role in it.
So I think the Dr. Manhattan we are facing is not as omnipotent as we imagined..."
“Are you too optimistic?”
The inscription master raised his hands and grumbled:
"These five impacts came ahead of schedule. I suspect this might be the work of Dr. Blue Bird. If he can connect to the origin of the universe, he is fully capable of doing this.
Isn't this a response to the fall of the Council?"
“So we can’t wait any longer.”
Mason said in a deep voice:
“If this is his move to overturn the table, then waiting any longer will definitely not end well. The action in three days will be the final risk.
Everything that Dr. Bluebird is manipulating behind the scenes must be brought to an end!
As I said just now, we can't go crazy and challenge him head-on. There is no chance of winning. We have to solve this problem in the way we are good at.
Engineer, how is the assembly progress of the miracle machine? "
"Ah, I knew you were going to get that thing..."
The engineer uttered a wail, stood up, knocked on the table, and said to the others:
"Come with me, and I'll show you just how bad this mess I'm trying to fix is."
Everyone stood up and followed him to the engineer deck of the "Family", which was the territory specially allocated to him. The miracle machine was placed by the engineer in the mechanical workshop at the core.
Because the place was being rebuilt, the fast shuttle could not be used. While a group of Mark armors were diligently cleaning and renovating the place, the Masons could only walk to the place where the miracle machine was placed.
The captain walked at the back, and when no one else noticed, he winked at the jeweler next to him.
The two men slowed down their pace, and when they were some distance away from the other Masons, Mason took out a box from his bag and handed it to the jeweler, who took it in his hand, opened it, took a look and was shocked.
Inside the box was a crystal key.
It doesn't look special in appearance, it's just an ordinary old-fashioned door lock key. If I have to say something, I can only praise the superb molding technique of this thing. It is one-piece molded but it does not have a physical body in the conventional sense.
The jeweler can confirm with just a touch that this is an energy material shaped by pure magic power under highly concentrated conditions. In essence, it is a mass of magic power arranged according to special rules.
The jeweler knew what it was used for.
He looked around and whispered:
"Isn't this the key item that the guy who calls himself your 'brother' gave you to leave this universe? Why are you giving it to me?"
“I’ve studied it. This key doesn’t have a particularly sophisticated structure. It just contains a coordinate leading to the outside world. Once used, it can open a door.
That’s its only use.”
Mason whispered:
"Since it's not a very complicated creation, I think it shouldn't be a big problem for you to copy it, right?"
"What are you going to do?"
The jeweler's eyes widened immediately, and he lowered his voice and exclaimed:
"Is this also part of your plan to deal with Dr. Manhattan?"
"Just to be on the safe side."
Mason replied briefly:
"I actually doubt that even if the engineers assemble the miracle machine, it is still unknown whether it can work on Dr. Manhattan. In theory, it can make all wishes come true, but Dr. Bluebird is not an opponent that can be summarized under normal circumstances.
I have to make a perfect plan.
If it is certain that he cannot defeat the enemy, then exile is also an option. Although he can definitely come back, as long as the time is delayed until the end of the era change, even if he comes back, he will not be able to affect the overall situation.
Do you understand what I mean? "
"I understand, but this is too risky."
The jeweler looked at the crystal key in his hand, pursed his lips, and said with a rare lack of confidence:
“Although the structure of this thing is very simple, and I am confident that I can extract the coordinates with the help of the inscription master and then replicate the same magic convergence, I think with my current level of craftsmanship, it is still a bit difficult to simulate something of this level... How should I put it?
This is no ordinary fake!
Who knows what's going on outside? Once we leave this universe and head out to the outside world, we have to rely on this 'compass' to navigate to the correct location.
If there is any problem with my copying, we will be doomed."
"You try your best."
Mason also knew the source of the jeweler's worries. He reached out and patted his brother on the shoulder, encouraging him:
"If those guys can send us here, they will definitely be able to take us back. Even if something goes wrong, they will be there to cover it."
"OK."
The jeweler nodded, put away the box in his hand, and said:
"I'll come up with a blueprint as soon as possible, but it will take time to polish it to perfection. It definitely won't be done in three days, so if it really comes to that, you'll have to use up the real thing."
"What are you two talking about?"
The alchemist turned around and called out, Mason shrugged and hurried forward with the jeweler.
They soon arrived at the place where the engineers stored the miracle machine, and saw a bunch of assembled parts that had basically taken shape, like a complex mechanical system without a shell that could operate normally, but the problem was that there was a small pile of unused parts thrown next to it.
"Are you an aircraft engineer who studied at Stan Aviation? How come there are still a bunch of extra parts after you repair something?"
Seeing this, the other Masons couldn't hold back any longer. The tailor complained to the engineer venomously:
"I'm not saying anything bad about you, but who would dare to use this thing if it's made like this? Isn't it possible that once it's activated, it will kill its own people?"
"Yes, yes."
Other Masons also said venomously:
"You should at least install all the parts. It's really ridiculous that there are so many left."
"You know nothing!"
The engineer, who was mocked by others, immediately grabbed his big wrench and shouted:
"There's no correct assembly drawing for this thing, okay? I've already shown my ingenuity to have gotten this far, and at the very least it should work, right?
Let me tell you, this is high-end stuff, you can’t understand it.
According to my understanding of the law of causality, this thing can be considered complete when assembled as it is now, and it will definitely work. Of course, the effect will definitely be much worse than a complete combination.
It's an internally consistent system, you see? Even if I just put two gears together, it can theoretically be called a miracle machine.
The working principle of this thing is very complicated, and I can now confirm that there is no correct way to assemble it. Its effectiveness is entirely based on the degree of combination completion.
And I didn't say I've finished it. Isn't this just asking you to come and observe and give some suggestions?
Trying new combinations every day makes my head explode, but the combination level is stuck here and can't be increased, so I urgently need your craftsman wisdom, brothers. "
"Wait a minute, let me take a look."
Mason pushed up the frame of his glasses on his nose, and squatted in front of the miracle machine that the engineers had barely put together. He looked at the strange mechanical group in front of him that was assembled and operated in a way that he could not understand at all, and reached out to it.
The other Masons also quieted down. They knew that the master was going to use his golden finger. Although everyone could enjoy the improvement in craftsmanship brought by the proficiency system, the master still had to do the identification and recognition himself.
The captain stared at the miracle machine in front of him, and soon an information label popped up in front of him:
Miracle Machine
Quality: Engineering Cosmic Artifact
Combination degree: 65% Intermediate effectiveness
Wish fulfillment rate: 65%
hint!
Please try more combinations to further improve the Miracle Machine's combination degree so that the item can fulfill wishes in a more efficient way.
Producer: Enjenniel Mason
Item Description: You are so stupid, don't you know how to play with building blocks? Let me show you, first this way, then that way, and finally this way, and you're done, do you understand?
“That won’t work!”
Mason didn't even bother to complain about the damn item description. He frowned and stood up and said to the other Masons:
“The 65% combination degree only makes each wish come true at 65%, which means if I plan to kill Dr. Bluebird with this thing, I can only beat him to 65% of the death level.
For a guy like that, isn't this the same as being unharmed?
If we want it to be put into actual combat, the combination degree must be at least 85%, and 90% is even better. We still have three days to gather all the wisdom of the Mason family to complete the combination. "
"Don't just talk. Everyone knows that the situation is urgent. The problem now is that you have to come up with a solution."
The engineer sighed, stepped forward and disassembled the miracle machine he had assembled. With the help of a robotic arm, he arranged all the parts on the mechanical board in front of him.
He turned on the quantum computer next to him, projected all the combination drawings he had made since he got this thing, and said to the other Masons:
"So now it's time to brainstorm, brothers, use your brains and use your skills in other fields to provide me with some inspiration.
This thing is very strange. It is difficult to further combine it if you use only engineering thinking.
Just like those annoying weird exam questions, you need to consider it from a new angle and maybe you can get a relatively correct answer in a rather strange way. "
"well……"
Mason sighed, took out a shovel from his bag and put it in his hand with a clang.
This action made the other Masons look at him in surprise. They thought that Mason was going to use this thing to teach the useless engineer a lesson. By opening up his mind at the physical level, he could make the engineer, who had already gotten stuck in a dead end, achieve the result of opening up his mind at the thinking level.
Several guys who had long disliked Enjenniel had already rolled up their sleeves and were eager to help subdue the engineer so that Mason could execute him on the spot for everyone's amusement.
But that’s not the case.
The captain threw the shovel to the engineer and said:
"Go dig up the tyrant Tony's grave and take back the gem of wisdom. It can definitely help, but it's a burial object and we're not tomb robbers, so we have to put it back after we use it !"
"Hey, that's a good idea!"
The engineer's eyes widened, then he smiled and gave a thumbs up.
The effect of the wisdom gem is unknown, but what is certain is that it can provide great help in solving problems that require brainpower.
This guy had no psychological burden about digging graves. He whistled and rushed out with a shovel. Ten minutes later, he came back holding a box.
At this time, a group of Masons had gathered there and started a discussion meeting on the combination of the miracle machine. They criticized the engineers' drawings from various angles and occasionally quarreled.
The captain was relieved to see that things were on the right track. He checked the time on his watch, winked at the jeweler to remind him not to forget his work, then stepped behind the crowd and left quietly.
It always makes people feel at ease having these guys around. Mason hummed a song as he left the "Family" starship, thinking that it was a stroke of genius to create them in the first place.
Look, now he doesn't have to use his brain to deal with these difficult things. Well, of course he is very busy today and he has to go shopping with Harley and Quinn later.
Alas, it’s not easy for anyone.
