Chapter 586: Time's Gleam

Eileen followed Maryse to the entrance of the corner shop. Before the rippling light curtain, the golden-haired Eileen looked up and saw the shop sign above the door—

Alice and Duncan's Antique Shop.

The sign looked very old, yet the characters on it were clear. An ordinary line of text fell into Eileen's eyes, but it seemed to emit a faint glow, radiating a strange, warm power into her mind.

"This is the most important place in every gathering place. The dolls call it 'Alice's Home,'" Maryse's voice sounded from beside her. The wind-up maid explained patiently, "Back in the era before the Ancient Spirits left, the mental body of Alice, the progenitor of dolls, was connected to the Garden Network for a long time. She would sit in this shop, receiving the dolls who came to visit her.

"Every gathering place has an antique shop like this—except for Gathering Place No. 18. That one is a massive mansion whose physical form floats in the crack between the Garden Network and the real world, while its 'front hall' is projected into the upper network. The Headless Butler and the other attendants manage that place.

"Also, it's said that only very fortunate Alice dolls ever get to see Gathering Place No. 18. At any rate, my mistress has never seen it."

Eileen listened very seriously to the wind-up maid's introduction. Then she looked up again at the corner shop blocked by the light curtain, a hint of disappointment in her voice: "But it's closed now, right?"

"Yes, it's closed," Maryse said softly. "What I just mentioned was all from a long, long time ago. After the Ancient Spirits left, although the Garden Network and the gathering places continued to operate normally, 'Alice's Home' entered a state of long-term closure. They say the last time it opened was several hundred years ago, and Gathering Place No. 18 hasn't appeared since that time either..."

Maryse looked up, squinting slightly.

"Occasionally, there are rumors in the Garden Network that some doll saw a figure moving inside the 'antique shop,' or that the light curtain at the entrance briefly disappeared, and the progenitor of dolls walked out to greet the passing Alice dolls... But my mistress says those are just something like urban legends, not very credible."

Eileen listened very earnestly. This knowledge was practically common sense that ordinary Alice dolls were born with, but for her, it had long since disappeared into the depths of her memory along with her fusion with the Omen Goddess. And yet, for no apparent reason, she felt a strange familiarity and nostalgia. Through the hazy light curtain, she gazed for a long time at that closed door, lost in thought. In a daze, she even felt as if she had already passed through that door, as if she were standing inside that antique shop.

Inside, there were warm lights, a ticking antique clock, an old staircase leading to the second floor, and many vintage vases glowing with warmth under the light. The street outside the window looked hazy under the gas lamps. A silver-haired figure in a deep violet court dress sat behind the counter with a gentle smile.

Eileen couldn't quite recall that face, but she felt she was standing there at that moment, across from that figure—

"...Go pick her up... give it a try... but if things go wrong... protect yourself, if you can't win, run..."

Fragmentary words, carrying the warmth of nostalgia, faded into broken memories.

Eileen stood in front of the antique shop, stunned for a long time. Then she suddenly laughed happily: "I didn't run..."

"Miss Eileen? Are you listening?"

Maryse's voice came from beside her, startling Eileen out of her daze.

"Ah, I am listening," Eileen blinked, her gaze refocusing on the wind-up maid. "I fully understand now!"

Maryse had no idea what the other girl had understood, but she didn't press. Instead, she raised a finger to point in another direction: "That way leads to the square. The Alice dolls gather there to share interesting stories from their travels or to post messages seeking help. Of course, you can also read this information directly through a window quick-scan, but since you've entered the Garden Network in mental form, chatting with everyone on the square would be a nice experience—although in my view, it's somewhat inefficient. But my mistress says 'ritual sense' is an indispensable part of life..."

Eileen listened halfheartedly. But just before she turned to follow the wind-up maid, she stopped and looked back again at the "Alice and Duncan's Antique Shop." An image inexplicably rose in her heart—

Herself, rushing with great energy to push open that door, greeting the person inside with a voice that could be heard half a street away: "I'm back!!"

That seemed to be a "plan" she had brewed in her heart many, many times long ago—the way she imagined she would look when she completed her mission and returned home.

But right now, the door was tightly shut, surrounded by a light curtain—and she herself had even forgotten what she looked like when she left this place.

So, after a moment of hesitation, Eileen just nodded gently at the door and mumbled in a voice so soft even she could barely hear it—

"I'm back, you know..."

"Miss Eileen?" Maryse stopped again and turned back, looking at her with some confusion.

"Coming, coming~! I just spaced out a little..."

"Are you really okay?" Maryse asked, a bit worried. "It feels like you keep spacing out... Do you need to come in for a checkup? My mistress and I are both home today."

"No, no, ah, you don't understand. I'm personally controlling five regiments of mass-produced dolls on my own, so I'm really busy!"

"Well... okay. As long as you're fine. If you feel anything wrong, be sure to tell us right away."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely tell you," Eileen said quickly, happily catching up to the wind-up maid. "Oh, by the way, can I bring Yu Sheng here to play?"

"I'm afraid not... it's not that it's forbidden, but Mr. Angel Hunter isn't an Alice doll, so he can't connect to the network here, right?"

Eileen thought for a moment: "I'm not so sure."

Maryse instantly had a head full of question marks. She watched the golden-haired doll beside her, whose eyes were darting around. Although she didn't know what the other girl was thinking, the wind-up maid suddenly felt a chill creep up her spine.

But before she could ask anything, Eileen's attention had already shifted elsewhere: "Oh, Maryse, if I wanted to find someone to team up with for gaming, can I post a message here?"

Maryse blinked: "What does 'team up for gaming' mean?"

"It means finding people to party up and play games..." Eileen walked cheerfully down the street, gesturing to the wind-up maid beside her. "Oh, by the way, since you're a robot, can you play games?"

"I... I can. But my mistress doesn't have any interest in that, so my control level in all kinds of games should still be at factory default settings."

"That works! You can come play games with me, and we'll crush them together," Eileen immediately became excited. "They're always saying I'm only good enough to fight bots. Today, I'm going to bring a bot to fight them! And make those scrubs realize they can't even beat a robot..."

Maryse: "...?"

...

After leaving the Special Services Bureau, Yu Sheng didn't go straight back to 66 Wutong Road. Instead, he took a detour to the shopping center downtown.

Hu Li's usual hair conditioning spray had run out, and he needed to replenish a few bottles. Ever since winter started, her consumption rate had skyrocketed. Although Yu Sheng couldn't understand why a great fox spirit needed such things to groom her fur, since the fox girl had asked him for them, he had to comply.

Of course, sometimes when he saw the bottles of hair conditioner, leave-in conditioner, shampoo, and such at home disappearing at an alarming rate, Yu Sheng did wonder. It wasn't that he begrudged the money, but he always suspected Hu Li was secretly drinking the stuff—he just couldn't catch her red-handed...

Also, there was a kid from "Fairy Tale" having a birthday soon, so he needed to prepare a small gift.

On top of that, Luna's succulents, which she had been growing on the balcony, had finally been eaten by Hu Li (she had stubbornly gnawed through them despite the chocolate sauce debuff), so he needed to buy a few more pots to compensate the Saintess—he really needed to have a proper talk with Hu Li later, telling her to stop messing with the houseplants.

Some cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar might also need replenishing. Recently, Hu Li had been sneaky about drinking soy sauce... Come to think of it, was her increasingly severe hair loss lately really related to the weather?

Walking through the downtown commercial district, Yu Sheng wandered around while mentally tallying various things.

Some matters made his head spin; others, though strenuous and time-consuming, also made him want to laugh.

He felt like it had been a long time since he'd had the leisure to worry about trivial household matters like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar—and oddly, this had become a kind of enjoyment.

But just then, a sudden ringing of his cell phone interrupted Yu Sheng's shopping.

He pulled out the phone and saw the caller ID—it surprised him a bit. It was the Alice doll named Malin.

He found a quiet spot and answered.

"Mr. Yu Sheng, good afternoon..."

Malin's voice was as warm and polite as ever, but for some reason, Yu Sheng detected a note of weariness and embarrassment in her tone today.

"Uh, good afternoon," Yu Sheng felt an inexplicable tension. "What happened?"

"It's about Eileen—is she with you right now?"

"No, I'm out," Yu Sheng quickly said. "Is Eileen in some kind of trouble?"

"No, she's not. Maryse is in trouble—after accompanying Eileen on a visit to the Garden Network and coming back," Malin seemed to sigh on the other end. "So I wanted to ask: what did Eileen do?"

Yu Sheng was puzzled. After a two-second pause, he hesitantly asked: "Maryse... what happened?"

Malin sighed again, this time for real: "She caught a virus. Seems to be from downloading a bunch of illegal accelerators and game clients from who knows where. Now she takes one step, then stops; takes one step, then stops. And when she stops, she plays ads..."

Yu Sheng: "...?"

Three minutes later, Yu Sheng rushed back to 66 Wutong Road and stood dumbfounded, staring at the golden-haired doll sitting on the sofa with an innocent expression.

"...What do you mean you tried to download a third-party accelerator for Maryse, causing a servo robot to get infected with shake-to-open redirect ads?!"