Half-step Purgatory

For a long time, Malin always felt that Fate had been quite generous to him. Although he had to face that life-threatening job every day, as long as he had the lovely Leopard Girl cooking delicious food for him daily, and as long as there was meat to eat and cats to stroke, life wasn't too unbearable. Working a bit harder and facing some difficulties on the job weren't really an issue for a man.
Moreover, being able to live two lives meant one shouldn't have too high demands, right, Mr. Different-Kind?
Having said that, and without waiting for an answer, the young man snapped his fingers, and the white flame on his fingertip lit the tobacco in his other hand, then he flicked it towards the non-human entity on the stake.
Welcome to Abield, to witness the last splendor of the steampunk era.
And the madness.

Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

"The people of the New Era are not entirely trustworthy, Mr. Malin." Jason behaved as if he were a human being.


"Then why do you trust the Gallo family, Jason?" Malin argued, wanting to understand how this artificial intelligence viewed the humans of this era.


"I have observed their family for six full centuries, and the people in this family have not yet become vessels of Chaos. Before such a vessel emerges, they remain trustworthy." Jason answered thus.


Then he blinked, "Anthony knows where your core is."


"So from that moment on, there have always been drones monitoring it, and if necessary, I will shut it up before it can speak," Jason's response made Malin raise his eyebrows, "I haven't sensed anything around my girls."


"Their level of scrutiny is too high, Mr. Malin. Haven't you counted?" A virtual projection appeared in front of Malin, the small One-eyed robot gesturing with its mechanical fingers towards him.


"Besides me?" asked Malin, somewhat helplessly.


Section 401: Mechanical Minds (Part 1)