Chapter 483: "Ailin"

Yu Sheng felt a resonance with what Malin had called "the terrifying darkness." Subconsciously, he lifted his head to look at the door at the end of the second-floor hallway.

He wasn't sure how this living doll sensed and judged the "unknown components" inside Ailin, but one thing was clear—this real Alice Doll saw Ailin's situation more clearly than ordinary people. Professional matters should be left to professionals, and now a long-pending problem had finally been solved.

The good news was that Ailin was indeed an "Alice Doll." Her sisters, her memories, her "hometown" were all real.

The bad news was... not entirely.

Now Yu Sheng was almost certain that the "terrifying darkness" inside her came from that unknown "Goddess of Ill Omen."

"In the records of your 'Alice Cottage,' is there any information about the name 'Goddess of Ill Omen'?" he looked up, his expression serious, breaking the silence.

Malin immediately understood: "...Is that the source of that 'darkness'?"

Yu Sheng nodded slightly.

Malin didn't speak for a moment. Her eyes suddenly became hollow. She stood still, and from within her body came a faint hum barely detectable. After a while, she "woke up" again, slightly frowning and shaking her head: "There is no such record in the Matrix Network."

But soon she added: "But it's not ruled out that this information might be stored in the local databases of some remote nodes—if it has memetic contamination risk, the relevant data would be automatically intercepted by the 'Coffin' system at the source. I've already issued a wide-area inquiry in the Garden Network to see if any other sisters have come across information suspected to be related, but there has been no response yet."

Yu Sheng wasn't very clear about the internal situation of this doll organization, but from Malin's few words, he judged their professionalism and caution in this regard, so naturally he didn't say much, only bringing up another question.

"Are there any other dolls named 'Ailin'? Any missing? Any that look like my Ailin?"

Malin immediately nodded: "That's another purpose of my visit today."

Saying so, she casually took out a silver-gray metal rod, gently stroked its surface, and the rod quickly unfolded into a light screen—as images changed on the screen, she explained: "The name 'Ailin' is not too rare in Alice Cottage, and among them, three are listed as missing. Here are their profiles..."

Yu Sheng leaned in and saw images scrolling on the light screen. Three missing dolls named "Ailin" came into view.

The first was not, the second was not—but the third made his gaze instantly freeze.

"Stop—it's this one."

A doll with long golden hair, expressionless, stood in the image, very similar to the broken doll he had seen in the illusion at the temple ruins.

"I saw this face in an illusion of a ruin!" he said quickly.

"Are you sure it's this one?" Malin's tone held some astonishment.

Yu Sheng took the light screen and carefully examined it again—after all, compared to what he had seen before, the doll in this ID photo was not as shattered, and there were some differences. After a few seconds of comparison, he nodded: "It's this one. By the way, she looks very cold... completely different from the 'Ailin' I have now."

Malin casually said: "That's how ID photos are."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "...Not necessarily. The photo on Ailin's ID card also looks like she's about to jump up. When I took her to get the ID card, it was a hassle to pin her down on the sofa."

Malin: "..."

"Cough," Yu Sheng coughed dryly, pointing at the "Ailin" on the light screen, "When did this one go missing?"

"...Three thousand seven hundred years ago," Malin's expression turned serious. "So I was a bit startled just now—if it really is her, this matter will probably be even more difficult to investigate."

Three thousand seven hundred years!!

Hearing Malin's answer, Yu Sheng couldn't hide his shock—this time span far exceeded his expectations.

That is to say, if that little thing at home really was the missing "Ailin" from these records, if the scene of mutual destruction in the dark ruins really happened so long ago... then by the time he opened the door at the end of the hallway, Ailin had already been sealed in that oil painting for three thousand seven hundred years?!

Yu Sheng again turned to look at the door at the end of the hallway. Malin quickly noticed his movement and asked curiously: "Is that the room where you first found 'Ailin'?"

Yu Sheng nodded, directly led the living doll to the end of the hallway, pushed the door to check the situation inside, and then brought her into this eerie empty room.

"At first, Ailin's 'oil painting' was hanging right here," Yu Sheng pointed to the wall opposite. "After I took down the painting, the room changed. The second time I pushed the door open, the place where the painting hung had turned into this mirror..."

He roughly explained the situation in the room and what had happened to Malin. She became curious and leaned close to the mirror. Yu Sheng quickly warned: "Don't touch that thing—that mirror is very unstable and sometimes leads to dangerous dimensions. I'm telling you, this whole room is creepy..."

Malin obediently withdrew her hand, but when she heard Yu Sheng's latter words, she showed a subtle expression and couldn't help but glance at the hallway outside the room.

That hallway was hazy, large and small cracks extending from the floor to the ceiling. The "projections" from various time-space coordinates were chaotically mapping into every corner of this house. The entire building was filled with incomprehensible, indescribable distortions and anomalies—every inch of it seemed to exist simultaneously in various places across the universe—

But the owner of No. 66 Wutong Road said that the room at the end of the second-floor hallway was creepy.

Was there any place in this whole house that wasn't creepy!

...

One Ailin again sneaked under the coffee table, taking advantage of her height to crawl under the sofa, silently moving toward the wind-up doll standing beside the sofa.

Malis helplessly turned her head, looking at the shortie behind her who was standing on tiptoes but couldn't even reach her waist.

"Miss Ailin, my wind-up key cannot be installed on you..."

Ailin put her hands on her hips and looked up, not at all embarrassed at being caught, but instead said with confidence: "So you really use a wind-up key for power?"

"It's not power," Malis shook her head. "My wind-up key is purely due to the mistress's personal aesthetic and hobbies—when she's bored, she comes over to turn it for fun."

"Oh..." Ailin nodded blankly, then suddenly asked curiously, "Does Malin herself have a wind-up key?"

"Of course she does," Malis explained systematically. Perhaps convinced that this shortie was also a special model of Alice Doll, she showed great patience to the inquisitive Ailin. "All Alice Dolls have their own wind-up keys."

Ailin blinked: "Also for decoration?"

"No, the wind-up key for an Alice Doll is a crucial accessory that can enhance strength or protect herself in emergencies—that's what Miss Malin said."

Ailin thought for a moment, scratched her head: "I don't have one."

She turned around and showed her back to Malis—of course, with clothes on, nothing could be seen, but she clearly didn't think about those details: "This body of mine is temporary! Once I find my own Alice Key later, I'll reconnect to the Garden Network and recreate my original body. Then I'll have a wind-up key too!"

Malis was stunned for a moment, seemingly not used to the rhythm of communicating with this "mini Alice Doll." She could only respond perfunctorily: "Then, I look forward to you successfully retrieving your key."

The next second, she heard Ailin blurt out another question: "Is the key the same as the wind-up key?"

Malis: "..."

Finally, the fox on the sofa spoke up to relieve the wind-up doll's embarrassment: "Of course not! A key sounds more like a password, while a wind-up key is for twisting..."

"Oh, is that so?" Ailin scratched her head again, turned to look at Malis: "...Ah, and, you're not an Alice Doll, right?"

"I am a Universal Servo-type Personal Assistant purchased by Miss Malin," Malis slightly bowed, "manufactured by Algread-Universal United Industries, specially customized for Alice Cottage, with multiple functions tailored for Alice Dolls, fully capable of meeting the daily life and work needs of living dolls..."

Ailin's eyes immediately lit up: "Oh? Like what?"

"Like maintenance and cleaning of ball joints, helping the mistress create and command other subordinate work dolls, managing daily life, and telling dry jokes."

"Sounds like... nothing much?" Ailin rolled her eyes, waved her hand, "I have Yu Sheng—although he can't tell dry jokes."

With that, the little doll seemed to suddenly lose interest in Malis, turned around and climbed back onto the sofa, sat cross-legged on the cushion, and began to draw out her words: "Ah—when is Yu Sheng coming back... Yu Sheng! Yu Sheng! Yu Sheng—I'm bored!!"

But just as she was halfway through her shouting, hurried footsteps came from the stairs, along with a helpless mutter: "I heard you, I heard you. Stop calling like you're summoning a ghost."

Ailin looked up, saw Yu Sheng and Malin coming down the stairs, and immediately became happy again. She jumped off the sofa and ran toward the stairs, chattering briskly as she ran: "Hey Yu Sheng, let me tell you, it turns out all Alice Dolls have keys! When we get back, drill a hole in my back too. Malis said her key was installed later, and you can turn it for fun when bored. After turning it, it activates hidden energy. I'll have to bring a power bank when I go out. How long does the phone watch battery last..."

Malin stopped halfway down the stairs, her expression dazed. After a long while, she looked at Yu Sheng and blurted out: "...Is she always like this logically?"

Yu Sheng sighed: "Always like this. Today is actually a relatively mild case..."

(End of chapter)