Chapter 662: A Certain Distance from People

For Yu Sheng, the facility size limitation was easy to solve. There was plenty of space in the valley, and there were a whole bunch of "subsets" and "secondary spaces" connected to it. Setting aside a special area for Ai Lin to handle production was a trivial matter.

But the raw material limitation was a headache.

The materials needed for mass-producing puppets were divided into two main parts: conventional and unconventional. The conventional part was clay (or any moldable base material) and alchemical ingredients. The former was available in unlimited quantities in the valley, and the latter could be bought as much as wanted from outside. Neither was a problem. The unconventional part was the spirit fox mysterious iron used as the puppet skeleton and the spiritual blood used as the "catalyst." The "supply" of these two things had always been an issue.

Relatively speaking, the problem with spirit fox mysterious iron was not that severe. On one hand, as long as Hu Li was fed enough, her heavy fusion product would be sufficient—and everyone knew how much Hu Li could eat when she let loose. On the other hand, the actual amount used was very small. A small amount of mysterious iron skeleton didn't provide structural support for the puppets; it was only used to give the puppets "spiritual power," enabling them to fire Ai Lin rays and have a certain degree of growth potential (like learning sword flight from Old Man Yun).

A puppet only needed a tiny bit of spirit fox mysterious iron inside. And even if supply truly couldn't keep up, Ai Lin could produce "non-spiritual versions" without the mysterious iron skeleton. At most, the mass-produced shells would lose their long-range capability and growth potential, but they could still manipulate threads. Such mass-produced puppets could still serve as support units or act as "worker bees" in the valley.

But if the supply of blood as "catalyst" couldn't keep up, there was no solution.

After all, this wasn't something that could be achieved just by working hard...

Another repaired Ai Lin climbed up from the alchemy platform. The small puppet sat on the edge of the platform, hugging her arms, wearing a thoughtful expression as she pondered. She exuded an aura of having many thoughts but being unable to figure them out.

Honestly, Yu Sheng didn't expect this little thing to come up with an idea, but he was curious (and polite) enough to ask: "Got any thoughts?"

To his surprise, Ai Lin actually had an idea: "Do you think we could exploit a bug..."

Yu Sheng was confused: "What bug?"

The small puppet said seriously: "Tell me, the blood that flows out of your body is your blood, right?"

Yu Sheng: "... I'm starting to get a bad feeling."

"Here's what we do: first, we match your blood type, then find a suitable blood source from outside—there's definitely countless people willing to line up to donate blood for you at Shu Ji's place. Then we transfuse it into your left arm while drawing it from your right, letting it pass through your body just like that..." The small puppet clapped her hands as she spoke. "Hey, that production cycle is set up!"

"My god, production cycle—is that how you use a production cycle?" Yu Sheng was stunned by the little thing's idea, but he felt quite uncomfortable. "Did you learn this craft from those profiteers who make fake protective charms, run them down Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, and then come back claiming they're blessed by immortals?"

Ai Lin crossed her arms: "Just tell me, is this a good idea or not!"

"... I suggest we think of something else," Yu Sheng said, his eyelid twitching. "Let alone whether your self-deceiving process would work, my blood type might not even match anything out there—I'm pretty self-aware about that."

Ai Lin made a small "tsk" sound. She hugged her arms and started thinking again, but it seemed that the previous idea had exhausted her threads; this time, she couldn't come up with anything else.

On the other hand, Yu Sheng seemed inspired by the small puppet's open-minded thinking. After a moment of thought, he suddenly had an idea too: "Maybe we could exploit another bug..."

Ai Lin opened her mouth: "There's another bug?"

"I remember we summarized the pattern of my blood and death, didn't we?" Yu Sheng said while recalling. "Under normal circumstances, if I die, my body 'resets,' along with the direct 'traces' related to my death being erased. For example, the bloodstains left at the scene and the memories of witnesses..."

Ai Lin listened blankly, a subtle look in her eyes: "That's true, but what are you driving at?"

"The bloodstains left at the death scene disappear, but there are two situations where the blood that left my body won't be affected by a similar 'rewind' effect," Yu Sheng said, shaking his head. "One situation is blood that is drawn before the 'death event' starts. Since this part of the blood has no causal relationship with my death event, it won't be affected by 'trace erasure.' The blood stored in the storage tank is preserved that way. The other situation..."

Yu Sheng stroked his chin, thinking very seriously.

"The second situation is blood that has already been 'used' or 'converted' before the death event ends," he said slowly. "For example, the fungal carpet I spread when I died—like last time on Black Rock Space Station. Even though I died on the spot, my blood had already seeped into the environment. Later, that death event was erased, but my infiltration effect on the space station didn't disappear. That's because blood that has already been used won't be rewound; it remains as an established fact."

To be honest, this topic was a bit bizarre, but Yu Sheng had experienced so much that he didn't find it strange. And since there was no one with normal values around to complain, his flexible thinking ran wild without restraint.

Ai Lin's expression grew more and more strange: "What exactly are you trying to say—"

"What if I attach a tube directly to that thing from my body?" Yu Sheng pointed at the diffusion device in the corner of the hall. "Then you work at full speed on production, while I just bleed myself to death over there... emphasizing the blood has already been used, no returns or exchanges."

Ai Lin: "..."

Yu Sheng: "..."

The two stared at each other, neither speaking.

Half a minute later, the small puppet exclaimed: "Are you even human?!"

Yu Sheng thought about it and nodded: "I think I am."

Ai Lin: "So you're the type who uses it fresh every thirty minutes, right!"

"... Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit strange," Yu Sheng said, rubbing the tip of his nose. His scattered thoughts slowly gathered. Then he said the same thing Ai Lin had said earlier: "But just tell me, is this a good idea or not!"

"Then I suggest we think of something else too," Ai Lin said, her small face scrunching up as she sat on the edge of the alchemy platform, hugging her arms and dangling her legs. "Even if you hang a couple bags of saline next time you bleed yourself."

As soon as she finished speaking, Luna beside her slowly nodded: "Finally, a normal idea."

Yu Sheng didn't say anything more. After that gloomy brainstorming session, it seemed he had suddenly... crossed a mental lock somewhere deep inside. Some doubts that had always been subconsciously ignored emerged from his heart. After a brief distraction, he looked up, and his gaze fell on the diffusion device in the corner again.

Thin threads of blood-colored mist drifted from the top of the device, slowly floating in the air.

It looked like blood, smelled like blood, and was warm red when it flowed out of the body.

Blood, full of life yet signifying death.

Yu Sheng raised his hand in front of his eyes and stared quietly at his palm. His gaze seemed to penetrate the layers of skin, seeing something crimson flowing inside—like liquid life, flowing death, an amorphous cycle of life and death.

"... What exactly is the principle behind this?" he muttered. "What exactly is this thing?"

Ai Lin suddenly heard some faint sounds. The sounds had no source, as if they were vibrating directly inside her mind. She saw Luna also suddenly look up, as if hearing the same sound. And then, she noticed Yu Sheng's figure becoming somewhat blurry—inside that human shell, something seemed to overlap.

Something pitch black, like a shadow of darkness.

A black shadow slowly seeped out from around Yu Sheng's silhouette, spreading in the air.

But suddenly, that death-like blackness vanished—along with the memory of witnessing it, fading from the puppet's mind. Yu Sheng just stared blankly for a few seconds, then quickly came to his senses, lowered his hand, and shook it.

"Alright, can't figure it out for now," he said casually. "It seems the raw material limitation problem still can't be completely solved for the time being, but there are ways to alleviate it... At worst, like you said, we can mix in some saline. After all, the amount needed isn't much."

The small puppet swayed around on the platform, sighing with exaggerated drama: "Ah, from now on, I'll have to use watered-down materials to make my mass-produced units."

Yu Sheng felt that this little thing's tone and actions were especially annoying—but there were too many of her around, so he probably couldn't win a fight...

"Ahem, let's check out the Black Forest first," he said, touching his nose. "Pick a location for your puppet town and finalize where the new 'puppet production center' will be."

"Okay!"

A moment later, near the Black Forest, Yu Sheng carried a mass-produced Ai Lin on his shoulder. He stood on a large tree stump, hands on his hips, looking at the open space in front of him.

Strictly speaking, this open area was also part of the Black Forest. It had been forcibly expanded in a corner of the original valley, and the terrain was flat, very suitable for construction.

In fact, the Fairy Tale children had already built a logging camp and sawmill at the edge of this open area near the Black Forest. The wood they used to build houses was basically transported from here.

A hard-surfaced road ran through the middle of the open area. This road passed by the logging camp and sawmill and extended deep into the Black Forest, ending at the hunter and squirrel's small house. The other end led to the Fairy Tale town in the center of the valley.

Additionally, this main road had a fork that led to the Starport.

The terrain was open and flat, there was an existing road, the forest resources were abundant nearby, and it was very close to the Starport. Power for the puppet town could be drawn directly from the Starport—just find all-purpose Engineer Sun to run a cable.

"This is the spot," Yu Sheng clapped his hands. "Let's get started!"

Ai Lin: "Okay!"

(End of chapter)