Chapter 572: Good Old Alchemy

What is the feeling of powerlessness in the face of reality? It's a feeling that both humans and puppets inevitably encounter when confronting capricious fate.

For example, you have a set of nanomachine systems that are among the most advanced in the world, puppet repair technology inherited from the ancient Holy Spirits, computing support from the Garden Network, and centuries of practical experience. But now the patient lying on the platform is one who has merged with a Dark Angel. After applying all that experience and technology, the result is that the patient has shattered into pieces. The dismembered patient is still lying there, nagging you about how your nanomachines don't stick...

What's worse is that the patient's family member nearby can't stand it anymore and says this technology isn't reliable; we need some high-tech. You're wondering what high-tech could be, and then you see the family member pull out a knife...

Then they start doing alchemy the old-fashioned way, using blood, clay, spices, and super glue to stick the patient's arm back on.

At that moment, the feeling is called "the helplessness of facing reality."

And what's more helpless is that they actually stuck it on, and it works better than the nanomachines. Marlene had never seen such a reckless and bizarre operation in her life. The traditional skills of the "Angel Hunter" and his gang were clearly beyond her understanding.

She watched Yu Sheng letting his blood, and then the nine-tailed fox beside him poured out all sorts of odds and ends from her tail, including alchemy materials, kitchen supplies, hand tools, and various other items that seemed utterly irrelevant to puppet repair. She watched Yu Sheng mix all the materials together, his mixing method and proportions full of wild imagination and untamed personal style. And then, she watched helplessly as those suspicious mixtures... came to life.

The clay began to breathe. The blood soaked into the spices and oils. The crackling candle flames seemed to celebrate the new life. In the temporary container holding the mixture, the radiance of spirituality and vitality was dazzling.

Marlene withdrew her gaze and saw Marys beside her had already disconnected from the nano-tank. This servo-assistant was staring blankly at the situation on the alloy platform. After a long while, she turned her head, a look of astonishment on her face.

The voice of the servo-assistant came through the mental link: "Miss Marlene... I detect a strong life reaction and psychic waveform."

"I know," Marlene said in her mind. "Don't interrupt. Record this process."

"Understood."

Yu Sheng wasn't paying attention to what Marlene and Marys were doing. At this moment, he was carefully applying the enchanted clay mixed with his own blood to Ailin's cracked arms and calves. He watched as the mixture quickly fused with the puppet's limbs, instantly taking on the color of skin. The cold, stiff puppet limbs gradually softened, began to warm up, and then flushed with color.

He knew that "old-fashioned alchemy" had worked.

"Aiya, how embarrassing," the small puppet babbled while helping. "I feel like you're being kind of pervy..."

"You were way more pervy when you pushed your own head around!" Yu Sheng said without looking up, busy working. After finishing repairing one leg of the golden-haired puppet, he lifted his eyes. "The crack on this leg is all fixed. Just need to reset the joint. You put it on yourself."

Ailin struggled to pick up her leg. "...Pretty heavy, huh."

Yu Sheng waved his hand and casually grabbed one of the golden-haired puppet's arms—this arm had been crawling around on the platform, just like Ailin's main body, never idle. In that moment, it had already crawled around the edge three times. "Stop moving, okay? The fingers are about to break off!"

The golden-haired puppet's head on the platform uttered an "Oh," and the arm finally quieted down.

Yu Sheng sighed and continued working.

To be honest, this feeling was indeed different from when he had helped Ailin make a body before. Real human-sized limbs were not the same as a 66.6 cm puppet shell, and these limbs were alive. But he honestly couldn't muster any impure thoughts. The reason... could only be that the limbs crawling all over the platform overrode everything from a creepy perspective.

Not to mention the golden-haired puppet head beside him, which was swaying left and right while chattering, occasionally humming out-of-tune songs, extremely rowdy and always pulling stunts.

"Yu Sheng! Yu Sheng!" The golden-haired puppet head spoke again. Somehow, she managed to tilt herself to the side, rolling half a turn, and then half her face was pressed against the platform. "Look! I can spin with my tongue! Just let me... hey, my tongue isn't long enough... Yu Sheng! I can't flip back!"

Yu Sheng's brain was boiling. He grabbed the noisy head. "Now quiet down! I'm going to fix the crack on your face, then touch up your makeup. If you move around, you'll mess up your face, I'm telling you."

So the golden-haired head finally quieted down. Yu Sheng breathed a slight sigh of relief and began the final repair work.

But the 66.6 cm tall small puppet Ailin came pattering over from the side again. "Yu Sheng! This body of mine can talk, right? Can you check if I put my hands on backwards..."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He kind of missed the first time he made a clay doll for Ailin. She had been so well-behaved in the painting back then—even if the character development was a bit flat.

"Benefactor is really working hard," Hu Li said quietly to Luna as they watched the excitement together. "I think the house is going to get even livelier from now on."

Luna turned her head to look at Hu Li, then after a delay: "Mm, right."

But anyway, Yu Sheng's final repair work was finally done.

He carefully filled in the crack on Ailin's (golden-haired) face, then gently wiped away the loose powder on her cheeks. After confirming there was no omission, he waved at the body on the platform.

Ailin controlled her headless body to sit up.

"Okay, keep this position and don't move."

As Yu Sheng said, he installed the puppet's head onto her body. After making sure no hair was caught in the joints, he slightly adjusted the angle—the whole process looked like a coronation.

The ball joint made a "click" sound when it reset.

The golden-haired girl on the platform blinked. Somewhat clumsily, she raised her hand, held her head and turned it left and right. Then she looked down, moved her hands and feet, and slowly opened and closed her fists a few times.

"Good old alchemy is still the way to go!" She cheered up and looked in Marlene's direction. "Sister, I told you your nanomachines don't stick..."

At this point, Marlene didn't want to explain anymore: "..."

Ailin quickly jumped down from the alloy platform. The feeling of re-controlling her body was completely different from the heavy, clumsy feedback just now. Although she didn't know how to describe it, she felt that this shell really had "come to life," even more flexible and powerful than any of her previous bodies.

She happily bounced in place, moving her wrists and arms, then took a step forward.

And immediately fell flat on her face.

Yu Sheng, who had been happily watching a second ago, was startled. He quickly went over to help Ailin (golden-haired) up, checking her anxiously. "What happened? How did you fall... Did you break anything? Is your leg cracked?"

But the golden-haired puppet girl just laughed happily. Although she was a bit wobbly when standing up, she waved her arm carelessly. "It's fine, it's fine. I'm just not used to this height and the length of a step. Normally for this field of view, I'd have to stack three bodies."

After confirming that she really had no problems and that her arms and legs showed no signs of cracking again, Yu Sheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. As he carefully released her, he reminded, "Move slowly. Forget about adapting or not. This body has been shut down for 3,700 years. Who knows if there are any aftereffects after restarting."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Ailin waved her hand impatiently, walking forward with stiff and cautious small steps while muttering, "You yourself are reckless as anything normally, and you're telling others to be cautious..."

Yu Sheng: "..."

Then he watched as Ailin began to slowly practice walking in the open space of the puppet printing room. From taking steps only a dozen centimeters long to gradually daring to take normal strides, from holding her arms out for balance to readapting to a normal walking posture.

She quickly got familiar with her body, her expression like an excited child.

Then she walked up to Hu Li, puffed out her chest and lifted her head, her eyes level with the other's. "Silly fox, look! I told you I'm 1.67 meters! Now I'm as tall as you!"

Hu Li nodded happily, but quickly added, "I'm over 1.7 meters with my ears."

"That doesn't count! Your ears can be taken off—they're accessories," Ailin waved her arm unreasonably, then went to Luna beside her. "C-clasp! Look, now I'm as tall as..."

The puppet girl's voice died halfway as she looked up at the artificial saint who was nearly two meters tall in front of her.

Luna looked down at the golden-haired puppet, saying nothing.

Ailin's momentum instantly dropped. She stepped back. "You, you're wearing high heels. That doesn't count either..."

She turned around in the room and dejectedly found that she was still the shortest in the house.

But she soon cheered up again.

Still her usual carefree self.

And it was not until she saw Ailin had more or less adapted to this body that Marlene broke the silence. "Although I don't quite understand the principle behind your technique, the repair process seemed quite smooth... But I still suggest doing a check next."

Ailin, who was happily walking around the room, stopped and turned to look at Marlene. "What check?"

"Mainly to confirm whether this body's condition is stable enough, and to check whether the 'Alice Key' has been reconstructed," Marlene spread her hands. "Also, to guide you to reconnect to the Garden Network... You haven't forgotten about that, have you?"

Ailin blinked.

The next second, her eyes lit up. "Great!"

(End of Chapter)