Chapter 570: Repairing the Shell

If Yu Sheng hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he probably would have found it hard to imagine such a scene in the border region of the交界地, let alone imagine that amidst these shattered barren floating islands, giant boulders, and auroras, there stood a mysterious Gothic mansion—and on top of that, a bunch of faceless mannequins were walking around in the garden next door, so much so that the first time he looked at it, the words "witch's cottage" and "cursed mansion" instinctively popped into his head.

With that art style, Yu Sheng figured that if this thing were thrown into a game, it would at least be a dungeon that didn't open until after level forty, especially the two holes in the roof on one side of the mansion, which looked incredibly imposing, giving off a dark, destructively mysterious vibe—he had no idea what the renovation concept had been back then.

Yu Sheng was carrying Ai Lin on his shoulder, with Hu Li and Luna following behind him. The four of them looked up together, somewhat bewilderedly staring at the two big holes on the side roof, so much so that they didn't even take the time to greet Malin.

Two seconds later, Malin finally couldn't hold it in anymore and turned her face aside with slight embarrassment: "There's a reason for this..."

Yu Sheng blinked, looking at the living doll in front of him.

Marise sighed next to him: "This has to do with the battle before..."

Yu Sheng was even more confused: "Before? Wasn't the battlefield also within the boundary city's range? Did it even reach the border?"

"No, it didn't," Malin adjusted her expression, apparently trying to divert the attention of the guests before her so they would stop staring at the holes in the roof. "But those spatial fissures over the boundary city once spread to the outskirts area. At the time, we couldn't determine how far those fragmented zones would extend, so..."

She stopped awkwardly there, and Marise directly filled in the rest: "So the mistress decided to activate the floating island engine to make an emergency evasive maneuver."

Hu Li looked curious: "...And then what?"

"Our neighbor is the castle of the Hermit Society of Bamosa—they also decided to make an emergency evasive maneuver."

Yu Sheng and the others: "..."

Then Ai Lin craned her neck, looking around.

Malin: "No need to look for it. Their castle's main tower collapsed. They warp-jumped back to repair it."

Whether it was an illusion or not, when this living doll said that, she actually seemed a bit proud—even covering up her earlier embarrassment.

Yu Sheng listened in shock. It was the first time he had ever heard that buildings could rear-end each other. Moreover, during the fierce battle before, most areas of the boundary city had been perfectly protected by the Fox System, but the two embassies outside the battlefield had collided—what kind of unlucky situation was that?!

"Ahem, let's go inside first," Malin coughed dryly, interrupting this somewhat awkward topic. She turned sideways and made an inviting gesture. "The side wing will be repaired soon, and that area is mainly an observation deck and space lab. The doll printing room was unaffected, so today's repair plan won't be impacted."

Upon hearing that, Yu Sheng immediately came to his senses and quickly followed behind her.

They passed through the main hall of the mansion, and under Malin and Marise's guidance, they walked through a long corridor lined with many oil paintings. Along the way, Yu Sheng saw many low-level dolls at work, as well as "servo robots" similar to Marise—only they were clearly lower in level and didn't seem to possess the lively intelligence of Marise.

The Gothic mansion filled with a mysterious atmosphere, the living dolls and clockwork maids leading the way, the deep, long corridor, the ancient paintings, and the faceless dolls and mechanical attendants everywhere.

Yu Sheng thought this place would really be suitable for opening a themed horror house—no renovation needed, just turn off the lights and put someone at the entrance to sell tickets.

Then the group arrived deep inside the mansion, at a place called the "doll printing room."

Lights lit up in the chamber. Yu Sheng saw rows upon rows of incomprehensible control equipment and servo units arranged along the walls on both sides. A enormous "tank" was set on a platform in the center of the room, with silver-gray nano-swarms slowly surging inside the tank. A holographic projection in front of the tank displayed dazzling data charts.

Yu Sheng, who had just walked in from the "witch's mansion" outside, was a bit dazed looking at the scene inside this room.

"...Isn't there something wrong with this art style?"

Malin looked perfectly natural: "No, there isn't. The doll printing room is like this."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He thought hard about it but didn't know how to explain his shock at that moment to the living doll in front of him, so he simply stopped explaining.

Malin then instructed the clockwork maid to adjust the parameters of the "printing device" and pointed to an alloy platform on the side of the tank: "Place Ai Lin's original shell here. I'll check its condition first."

Hu Li nodded, walked over, and with a "clang" (sound effect) pulled off her own storage tail. She shook it vigorously over the platform, and a pile of fragments and debris began to clatter down onto the surface.

Marise, who had been busy beside the nano pool, saw this and instantly glitched to a dead stop.

Even Malin, who was usually elegant and calm, was momentarily stunned. It took her a few seconds to turn her head: "Isn't there something wrong with this art style?"

Yu Sheng felt that phrase sounded familiar...

But after all, she was an envoy sent by Alice's Cottage. In this universe, Malin had also seen all sorts of strange and weird species. She was only startled for a moment, then went over and effortlessly rebooted the glitched clockwork maid before coming back to the pile of doll remains with Yu Sheng.

The living doll silently stared at the dead doll on the platform.

Ai Lin was visibly tense, her body stiff.

Yu Sheng, influenced by the little doll's nervousness, watched Malin not speak for a long time. He carefully asked: "...Is it a bit too shattered?"

Malin opened her mouth, struggling to squeeze out a word from her throat: "...A bit."

Then she held it in for a few more seconds before finally blurting out: "I did hear you say before that Ai Lin's original shell was shattered by the Ominous Goddess, but you didn't say it was pulverized!"

Upon hearing that, Yu Sheng quickly tried to smooth things over: "You can't say that either. Look, there are still many big pieces here. The limbs, torso, and head all have relatively complete structures. It's just that there's a lot of debris falling off around the broken parts..."

"Theoretically, it shouldn't be this shattered... Even when an Alice doll disintegrates, most of the complete joint structures should be preserved, whether it's an old-generation or new-generation shell—they all have high 'toughness,'" Malin frowned. "...It can only be said that the power of the 'aberrant god' was too strong. It seems it exceeded the damage control limit of this body."

Ai Lin, while tugging at Yu Sheng's hair, looked nervously at Malin: "Then, then can it still be fixed?"

Malin thought carefully for a moment, then nodded: "...It can, but it might require more computing power and nano-swarms. I need to completely reshape those shattered structures. Don't worry, that's not a problem—I've already stockpiled sufficient materials in advance."

Upon hearing that, Yu Sheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. As long as it can be fixed."

Ai Lin, while also relaxing, thought of something else: "Ah, right, I remember you also mentioned an 'Alice Key' back then. That... I still haven't remembered it to this day."

"That's fine. Now that you've found your original shell, you don't need to worry about the key issue anymore. As long as this body can be activated, you will naturally regain your own 'Key,'" Malin waved her hand. "Besides, I see that you've also retrieved your frying pan—with that, your chances of reconnecting to the garden network will also increase significantly."

Ai Lin listened, half-understanding. Although she didn't understand the principle, this was obviously all good news, so she happily smiled.

Malin looked at the clockwork maid in front of the tank: "Marise, ready?"

"Yes, Miss Malin—nano-swarm is ready."

A faint mechanical friction sound and a humming machine operation prompt came from beneath the alloy platform.

Yu Sheng watched as the platform slowly lifted, then was taken over by a set of complex robotic arms and transported above the central "tank." The silver-gray nano-swarm began to surge, and the platform holding the doll remains descended, gradually sinking into the viscous metallic "solution."

The doll remains were completely submerged by the nano-swarm. The various devices in the room began to hum. The holographic parameters in front of the tank kept refreshing, and the outline of a complete doll body emerged—blue blocks representing repair progress began to fill in the outline.

Marise pulled a cable from the side of her own ear and directly plugged it into the control console. While monitoring the system-wide parameters, she reported the current situation:

"Original shell identification sequence read... Matching pool alignment... Backup sequence No. 85 available.

"Base blueprint imported... Printing missing skeleton and key structures.

"Repairing Alice Key, rewriting...

"Starting to print missing skin..."

Hu Li widened her eyes beside them, one hand gripping Yu Sheng's arm, her tail wagging, an expression of wonder on her face: "Wow... Ai Lin, the birth process of this body is way cooler than the previous ones, at least it looks professional!"

Even Luna, who usually didn't get along with Ai Lin, nodded in agreement at this moment: "Mm, right."

Ai Lin had one arm tightly wrapped around the handle of her own frying pan, and the other hand grabbing Yu Sheng's head: "Th-then of course! I, I'm amazing!"

The little doll was so nervous her body started trembling.

Yu Sheng was afraid she might drop the pan on his own foot.

And just as he was about to ask Malin how long the repair process would take, the humming sounds from the various devices around began to gradually fade.

The entire process was faster than he had anticipated—and it seemed to be going unusually smoothly.

The alloy platform that had previously been submerged in the tank rose again.

The blond doll in a dress was lying quietly on the platform, her body intact, her eyes tightly shut, as if sleeping.

The doll printing room was very quiet.

Even Ai Lin, who was usually the most noisy, was quiet now.

Yu Sheng slowly walked over to the platform, looking at the blond doll lying on it—it actually had a face identical to Ai Lin's, only with a different hair color and body type, so it looked especially different from the familiar image in his memory.

The little doll jumped down from Yu Sheng's shoulder, landed on the platform, stood beside her original shell, stared at her own face for a long while, then looked up: "I, I told you, I'm five-foot-five..."

"Mm, you're five-foot-five." Yu Sheng laughed, reached out and pressed the little doll's head. "Now try returning to your new body."

"O-okay!"

Ai Lin nodded nervously, then put her frying pan down on the platform first, walked over, pressed her hand against the forehead of her original shell, and began trying to directly transfer her consciousness.

A few seconds later, nothing happened.

She stood there blankly for a while, then turned her head, dazedly looking at Yu Sheng: "Yu Sheng, no, no reaction..."