Chapter 410: New Features

The 66.6-centimeter-tall little doll sat up from the alchemy platform, blinking somewhat sluggishly. After a long moment, as if it had finally booted up, it raised its head and stared blankly at Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng had originally wanted to ask Elin whether this mass-produced shell was currently in "low-bandwidth mode," but one look at the new doll's dull and dazed eyes told him he didn't need to ask—with that slow-witted and "wise" look, the bandwidth couldn't be high.

Even Hu Li beside him couldn't help muttering, "This one doesn't look very smart."

"No kidding! Low bandwidth—do you even know what that means?" Elin (rebar), standing beside Yu Sheng, rolled her eyes and then began trying to give orders to her mass-produced self on the platform. "I'll have her get down and walk around first..."

As soon as the little doll finished speaking, the mass-produced Elin on the platform wobbled her body, then slowly examined her hands and feet like a newly started machine running a self-check. After another two or three seconds, this mass-produced unit awkwardly stood up, climbed backward off the alchemy platform—and then fell flat on the ground with a splat.

Yu Sheng: "..."

Hu Li: "..."

"What's with that look? A body that just woke up isn't used to it yet!" Elin (rebar), temporarily acting as the main host, looked a bit embarrassed but still insisted, "Before, I directly took over new bodies, so I was steady. Now I'm trying to let the new body rely on instinct to move, and I'm telling you, this is very—"

Before she could finish, the mass-produced Elin, who had just gotten up, fell flat on the ground again with a splat, then began to crawl darkly in a strange posture...

Yu Sheng couldn't stand it anymore. He stepped forward and helped the crawling mass-produced Elin up. "I think your first step should still be to take over, at least teach this body what 'walking upright' means."

Elin blinked blankly. "R-right?"

Then came another round of fussing—Hu Li, who was a complete amateur; Yu Sheng, who was only half-knowledgeable; and the little doll, who wasn't all that reliable either. The three unreliable people gathered together to figure out how to make a living but mindless humanoid doll move according to simple commands. After who knows how many failures, Elin finally seemed to grasp some trick and successfully activated the dormant "spirit" within this completely blank mass-produced shell.

Yu Sheng could hardly describe what happened at that moment—but he truly "sensed" a change.

He felt a hint of... vivid "texture" suddenly appear within the hollow doll shell in his hand. The shell, which had only held empty vitality, seemed to instantly transform into a true, spiritual "life." Then the tiny body slowly turned its head, its somewhat stiff eyes staring blankly in his direction.

Yu Sheng hesitated, set the mass-produced Elin on the ground, watched her wobble a few times, and then she stood steady.

She had no self, let alone any "intelligence." In essence, she was still a "vessel" directly controlled by Elin, but now, this vessel had been infused with the most basic "spirituality."

It was something between a "soul" and an "empty shell."

"...Is this the 'machine soul'?" Yu Sheng frowned slightly, watching the mass-produced doll slowly turn its head, lost in thought. "Or, as Xuan Che and the others would call it... an 'artifact spirit'?"

"Come here."

Elin beckoned to the mass-produced doll. For the first time, instead of "taking over," she tried to command her "shell" by giving orders.

The mass-produced doll reacted immediately. After locating Elin, she walked toward her.

"Oooh! It works! Yu Sheng, Yu Sheng, look! It works!" Elin instantly got excited, turning to Yu Sheng and shouting happily. Then she turned back and looked at her "mass-produced self" standing before her, examining her up and down with great delight. "Wow—seeing my own shell like this for the first time feels pretty amazing..."

"Only you could adapt so quickly. Anyone else would first feel weird seeing another themself wandering around," Yu Sheng remarked beside her, then waved his hand. "Alright, alright. First, try some more complex commands, then test the 'new features.'"

"Okay!"

Elin immediately responded and began a series of tests on the mass-produced doll.

The most basic running and jumping, then finer movements like climbing and grasping, and finally the high-difficulty imitation of writing.

The mass-produced doll silently executed a series of commands from the "main host." Though her expression remained dull, almost every command was completed flawlessly.

Yu Sheng watched with a hint of amazement as Elin conducted various tests—now, two little dolls were lying on the ground. Elin was using a ritual carving knife to inscribe a complex set of alchemical runes on the floor, while the mass-produced doll, lying beside her, imitated her actions with another knife, replicating the rune exactly.

...Truth be told, watching two little ones lying on the ground scratching and carving was quite amusing.

"Basic movements are fine. Execution ability is fine. Tasks that have been performed or referenced once can be easily completed. She can also understand human speech," Elin said, getting up from the ground and clapping her hands. Then she turned and helped the mass-produced doll next to her brush off her skirt. "It's just that sometimes the reaction is a bit slow, and she can't handle complex or sudden situations—but she should ask for help when encountering difficulties... I think I've successfully taught her the concept of 'asking for help.'"

The mass-produced doll beside her stood blankly, as if listening to Elin or just silently observing Elin's actions. After a moment, she suddenly also clapped her hands, then went to brush off Elin's skirt.

"...Learning and imitation ability are strong." Elin added.

Hu Li asked curiously, "Will you have to teach each mass-produced doll like this in the future?"

"No. Later ones can learn from each other," Elin waved her hand. "Although mass-produced dolls aren't flexible, sharing knowledge and experience among themselves is even more convenient than among humans. You just need to teach something to one of them, and the others will quickly learn it."

Hu Li thought for a moment and quickly understood. "They're networked?"

"It's 'we,'" Elin corrected in all seriousness. "All Elins are connected, whether mass-produced or not. But right now, there's only this one 'test subject,' so I can't say what it'll be like when the mass-produced units scale up... I'll see then."

Though a little doll, she had a big heart—and to be fair, she had always been so carefree.

After the basic tests were complete, it was time to test the "new features."

"Next, we'll see if the mass-produced unit's 'special ability' actually works," Yu Sheng said softly, his gaze falling on the blank mass-produced doll. "Move further away first."

The mass-produced doll reacted, seemingly confirming whether she should obey Yu Sheng's command, but soon nodded and turned to walk to a corner of the lab.

"Will it really work?" Elin asked Yu Sheng nervously. "Don't break my first mass-produced unit!"

"Can't you trust me?" Yu Sheng glanced at the little doll, then focused on the "mass-produced unit" not far away.

Strictly speaking, he focused on the "pre-installed gate" inside her body.

He took a soft breath, steadied himself, and raised his hand toward the air beside him—

Imitating the principle of "Portable Number 66 Wutong Road," Yu Sheng had left the imprint of a "gate" in the mass-produced unit's skeleton. But at the same time, it wasn't the same as the "gate" he usually used.

In terms of the "creation process," each "Elin" contained Yu Sheng's blood, which had effectively given every "Elin" equivalent gate-opening permissions and "activation keys."

Blood and gate—the combination of the two completed the whole.

Yu Sheng gently pushed the space beside him.

The mass-produced doll standing at the end of the lab suddenly became blurry and illusory. Her small figure rippled on the spot, and the next second, she seemed to turn into a fissure that kept "folding" inward, disappearing instantly, only to reappear beside Yu Sheng.

Hu Li blinked in shock at the scene, then quickly realized—this process was exactly the same as when the "Otherworldly Inn" warped in and out of the valley!

Yu Sheng smiled.

Just as he had expected, the "Otherworldly Inn's" method of teleportation could be reproduced.

When he had sent that massive spaceship from outer space into this valley, he had fused the "gate" he opened with the ship's phase engine, treating the entire ship as a gate. That was why he could, at the moment of opening the gate, "fold" the ship's coordinates to the other side, thus sending it to its destination, the "Black Forest."

This process differed from the way he usually opened a gate, but the principle was essentially no different.

At least in Yu Sheng's eyes, the essence behind both was the same—

A gate symbolized separation and connection, a bond linking two isolated places. The opening of a gate was the fusion and coexistence of two spaces—"you" passed through the gate, or the gate passed through "you"; "you" stepped to the other side of the gate, or the space on the other side came under "your" feet. It was all the same.

As long as the result was consistent, the form and process of opening the gate didn't matter at all.

Even the form of the gate itself didn't matter.

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then looked down and smiled at the mass-produced doll still standing beside him, looking somewhat dazed—whether because she was startled by the sudden teleportation or because she was always that dull.

Elin strolled over, tilting her head. "By the way... the mass-produced unit's new function isn't just that she can be 'summoned' to you anytime, right? If that's all, then you could just open a gate and pull someone over yourself."

Yu Sheng smiled at her words. "Of course it's not that simple. These mass-produced dolls with pre-installed gates can play a much bigger role."

Elin blinked and fell into thought.