The above "stories" are fabricated by Jenkins based on his guesses about the original owner's original fate, coupled with reality, but at least they sound quite credible.
"continue."
The sonic signature of the Difference Engine means it's impossible to get a hold of its thoughts.
"We and the enemy both have sinful mechanical power, and even the source of the power is the same, resulting in the fact that 'the enemy and the enemy have the same source'. The similarity in the nature of power makes it impossible for us and the enemy to express external power. Defeat each other. But the opponent's purely mechanical body is more suitable for exerting strength. Therefore, the fact is that we have lost, and in the fact that we cannot further break through the mechanical strength in a short period of time, we can only seek strength from within."
"..."
Of course, the speaking voice will not appear as an ellipsis. This is because Jenkins automatically converts the mechanical sound of the other party's silence into an ellipsis.
After telling this story, he himself admired his ability to lie. This was a temporary solution he thought of during the few tens of minutes of climbing the hanging palace just now. It's a little risky, but he really thinks he's doing a good job.
When he spoke just now, he had actually used the power of the priesthood of lies. In the dream state it is pure spiritual communication, so the power of the priesthood of lies acting on the soul should be more easily effective.
But the difference machine is still skeptical, which can also show that the other party is no longer an ordinary thing in essence.
Jenkins didn't care whether his lie was true, so he stood there quietly and waited for the difference engine to think.
After waiting, a full half an hour passed, which was longer than he imagined:
"I counted your 'facts', and it does make sense."
It's a made-up story based on what happened and what didn't, and of course it makes sense. To some extent, Jenkins did not lie, he just concealed the truth a little, and then mixed the two facts he knew.
"So, do you believe yourself to be Jenkins Williams?"
"I don't believe it, my body structure is definitely not human."
"Of course, Jenkins is no longer a human being. We are mechanically transformed humans."
"..."
"I should have thought a long time ago that taking the risk of discovering the inner spiritual power through deep sleep is really a very risky action. I didn't expect you to get lost to this extent."
"Then why did you come to find me?"
"We need to wake up, but not now. I came to you to make you understand the embarrassing situation we are in at this moment. Waking up means continuing the decisive battle, but if you don't wake up, the loss will become more serious. Everything Everything is up to you to decide. After all, you and I are alone."
"..."
"Don't you want to express some opinions? For example, how do you perceive yourself? What do you think you are at this moment?"
"I am who I am, gaining power, winning, achieving goals, that's all."
"No, what I want to ask is a deeper question. Let me give you an example. In a dream, a person dreams that he has become a butterfly, and then the butterfly in the dream dreams that he has become a person. Then , Is he a human or a butterfly?"
"..."
"The only consensus we have now is that we all agree that we are in a dream at this moment, so in the dream, is our perception of ourselves the same as our perception of ourselves in reality? Can you understand what you want to express? ?”
"… clear."
Jenkins thought it seemed possible that he could successfully deceive the other party.
"So it doesn't really matter what you think you are now. It's like, even if I think I'm a mouse now, it doesn't affect the fact that I'm Jenkins when I wake up. In the same way, you think you are a mouse now." A machine, right?"
"Yes."
"So, is it important to think that you are a machine in your dream?"
"unimportant."
"Very well, we have reached two consensus points. First, we are dreaming now. Second, our perception of ourselves at this time is actually not important."
"Yes."
Jenkins held back a smug expression, this time he really admired himself. That's pretty rare for a guy like him.
"What we know about ourselves at this moment is not important, so obviously, what we hear about ourselves from others at this moment is also not important."
The Difference Engine said again.
"It's like this, so you can ignore what I say, and everything is up to you to judge."
Jenkins admitted.
"I... can't judge. This is a dream, and everything here is unimportant."
Speech became more staccato.
"Yes, reality is what matters. Everything in the dream is just an illusion."
Jenkins followed the other person's thoughts to continue the conversation, so that the other person could relax his vigilance and think that he was one of his own.
"Since everything in the dream is an illusion, why not wake up immediately?"
asked the Difference Engine.
"Because we are not sure whether the strength accumulated at this moment is enough."
Jenkins did not express a desire to wake up, nor did he express a desire to continue sleeping.
"I have absorbed the spiritual power of millions of people to catalyze my own spiritual growth. The city in front of me has become a part of my spiritual world. I think this power is enough."
"..."
"Why don't you speak?"
"Because everything is up to you to decide."
He tried to keep his tone as sincere as possible.
"Yes, it's up to me to decide."
The Difference Engine agrees with this idea.
"Then decide."
Jenkins said that he didn't get any reply. Under the quiet decaying sky, only light flickered on the cylinder, and mechanical noises came one after another from all directions in the world.
The faceless human face in the beam of light flickered for a moment, then disappeared immediately. Only Jenkins was left on the highest platform again, and he looked up to see a huge brass-colored mechanical whale swimming overhead.
The reality beyond the dream, although Jenkins is experiencing another wonderful adventure, but the flow of time is only a few minutes. After the church confirmed that Jenkins had indeed fallen into the dream entangled with Nolan, he immediately accelerated the action of forming a team to enter the dream.
At such a time, the church of course also thought of asking the believers of lies to help. Although Mr. Candle was rejected only ten minutes ago, now is not the time to care about losing face.
Miss Bevanna personally went to find Miss Bailing from the music church to explain the situation, but Hathaway dared to lie that the believers were in the church. In her heart, she wished to see Jenkins immediately to confirm his safety, but the reality could only perfunctory Miss Bevanna's request, claiming that it would take time to find believers of lies, so that the church should not place its hope on those people.