Chapter 288: Building a Wonder

When the little doll heard the conclusion of Hu Li's analysis, her expression was one of utter devastation.

She had never expected that after finally getting such a powerful body, it would still be a limited-time trial version.

After her energy had been exhausted, she could barely move a finger now.

"What do we do..." the little doll, carrying her picture frame, muttered beside Yu Sheng, looking up at the new body still held in Yu Sheng's arms, unable to move. She then turned to look at the fox girl on the other side with particular distress. "Do you have any ideas?"

Hu Li stepped forward and carefully examined the condition of Pro Ai Lin, moving the latter's limbs, and then performed some unknown spells with finger gestures and incantations. After a long while, she nodded. "In theory... just wait."

Ai Lin and Yu Sheng said in unison, "Wait?"

"Wait for self-recharging," Hu Li pointed at the doll's fingers in Yu Sheng's arms. "Her hand is already able to move, right? Darksteel has the property of automatically gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. After being refined into such a complex puppet body, it naturally retains this ability. In theory, as long as you keep waiting, she will slowly recover."

"R-really?" the little doll beside immediately blinked her eyes. "You're not lying to me?"

Hu Li tapped the little doll's head with her tail. "Why would I lie to you?"

"Alright, then let's wait..."

As it turned out, Hu Li wasn't wrong. After a few more minutes, Pro Ai Lin's body gradually began to regain basic motor functions—though it was like an old tin man that hadn't been oiled for years, it could finally creak and move its limbs, and even stand up and take a few steps.

The restoration of mobility in her new body certainly improved the little doll's mood a bit, but clearly not by much.

With steps like a ten-year stroke patient, she walked half a circle around Yu Sheng, then stopped beside her other three bodies, looking utterly despondent. "I feel like I'm carrying a human-shaped coffin... This recharging is way too slow! Just restoring mobility is this hard, so when will I ever save up enough energy to fire the laser cannon again?"

She looked up at Hu Li again. "Isn't there any way to speed up the recharging?"

Hu Li thought for a moment. "...I usually eat, eat a lot of things."

Ai Lin: "..."

"Well," Yu Sheng had to remind her quietly from the side, "she doesn't have a digestive system."

"Even if she did, it wouldn't help," Hu Li's ears twitched. "An ordinary stomach can't 'refine' matter."

"Then quickly think if there's any other way, at least faster than this," Yu Sheng glanced at Ai Lin's expression and quickly reminded. "She's about to cry again."

"Absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth?" Hu Li thought, but before Ai Lin's eyes could light up, she shook her head again. "But I've only seen this in various ancient cultivation short videos, I don't actually know how to do it... Or use something else to recharge? Can't think of how... Can't just touch a live wire, can we?"

Listening to Hu Li's muttering, Yu Sheng knew that this nine-tailed fox who had dropped out of elementary school was unlikely to help. He could only sigh, pick up Pro Ai Lin again, and comfort her gently. "At least it can recover on its own. Slow, yeah, but you're not limited to this one body... If worst comes to worst, treat this body as a trump card, keep it at home for slow charging, and when fight breaks out, I'll open a door and bring you out to fire..."

The little doll looked up in Yu Sheng's arms. "Yu Sheng..."

"Huh?"

The little doll gritted her teeth. "You really know how to comfort someone, don't you?!"

Yu Sheng felt that she probably wasn't complimenting him...

After a while, the Rapunzel and the others who had been watching the excitement finally understood the situation and gathered around. Some came to comfort Ai Lin, some curiously asked the little doll about the 'reproduction' process of her new bodies, some sighed over how colorful daily life at the hostel was, and some came to praise Ai Lin's military boxing just now—the last one was the carefree Rapunzel, who, in the middle of her praise, had three Ai Lins climb onto her and headbutt her until she jumped around.

Yu Sheng, after looking around, didn't see a familiar figure and asked curiously, "Where's Little Red Riding Hood? Out on a mission again?"

"She's in class," Snow White said casually while watching the three Ai Lins and Rapunzel playing around. "She'll be back in the evening."

Yu Sheng: "Isn't it Saturday?"

Snow White: "Isn't she a senior in high school?"

Yu Sheng: "...Right, I forgot about that."

"Oh, by the way," Snow White suddenly leaned in and whispered, "Her birthday is next week, did you know?"

"I know," Yu Sheng nodded. "She told me a long time ago."

"Have you picked out a gift?" Snow White muttered, then added, "I'm planning to give her a few books."

Yu Sheng's expression hesitated. After thinking for a while, he said uncertainly, "Actually, I was thinking of giving her a few books too..."

"That's fine, she usually likes reading."

Snow White then walked away.

Yu Sheng looked at the sight of Ai Lin and Rapunzel fooling around in the distance, lost in thought.

A gift... Thinking carefully, he realized he really had no memory of picking out a gift for anyone.

He didn't even have many memories of celebrating birthdays for others.

The days of the past were always as bland as clear water. In Yu Sheng's memory, before coming to this "Borderland," his life was mostly spent in "stillness"—quiet, calm, tranquil. He came and went alone. Even "writing" was just a means to make a living. Now, in comparison, all those uneventful days together didn't seem as lively as the events of the three days here.

...Although sometimes it was a bit too lively.

Yu Sheng shook his head with a smile, then glanced at Ai Lin and Rapunzel's roughhousing, and called out helplessly, "Take your horseplay somewhere else! Everyone, stay away from this platform first, I'm going to build!"

As soon as he said that, Ai Lin and Rapunzel immediately stopped fighting.

Several pairs of eyes instantly fell on Yu Sheng.

Rapunzel was the first to approach. "Bro, what are you going to build?"

"Build a wall around this platform and add a roof," Yu Sheng spread his hands helplessly. "At least it's the core building of the hostel's base; it can't stay as a bare foundation forever. And I'm planning to add several floors here, make it more impressive."

"Several floors?" Ai Lin became curious upon hearing that. "What will they be used for?"

"Haven't figured it out yet, just build first, then perfect it later," Yu Sheng said frankly. "Anyway, the second floor definitely needs an alchemy lab—not a temporary one, but a proper one with alchemy tables, preparation rooms, storage, and the like."

Ai Lin's eyes widened. "To make me new bodies?"

Yu Sheng looked displeased. "Can't I research something else?"

"You know how to do other things?"

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched. "...To make you new bodies."

"Yeah!"

Anyway, after a lot of messy interruptions, Yu Sheng was finally going to put a roof on this "hub platform" that had been prepared a long time ago.

Out of high understanding and trust in Yu Sheng's house-building skills, Rapunzel and the others immediately retreated a hundred meters away from the platform.

Even Hu Li and Ai Lin ran away—the inconvenient Pro Ai Lin was carried off by her other three bodies.

"Really..."

Looking back at the group already a hundred meters away, Yu Sheng muttered helplessly, but didn't pay it much attention. He quickly calmed his mind and focused on the matter at hand.

He stood in an open space outside the platform. As his mind settled, a "blueprint" gradually surfaced in his heart.

First, he needed the optimal point for "construction."

The soil beneath his feet began to writhe, condense, harden, and then rise gradually.

A gray-white square pillar rose from the open space. Yu Sheng stood on top of the pillar as it ascended, until he could overlook the entire portal platform.

Ai Lin in the distance watched this scene and couldn't help muttering, "It actually looks real..."

Hu Li nodded firmly again. "I said it before, Benefactor could be a Construction Immortal."

Yu Sheng heard the murmurs from afar.

In fact, he could now hear all sounds within the entire platform and a considerable area around it.

Even the faint sound of wind blowing through gravel, and the rustling of grass blades breaking through the soil and spreading their tender leaves.

And the slight friction of "rock" being generated inside the platform, gradually growing upward.

This land, in his "vision," had become a ... "living thing" that could be shaped and grown quickly.

High walls rose from the edge of the platform with a low rumble and scraping sound. Rising with the walls were ancient and solemn stone pillars—columns encircling the outside to support a colonnade around the entire hub, and support pillars grew inside the walls like the ribs of a giant beast, ready to support the future dome.

Yu Sheng looked down at the rapidly growing "bones" and "flesh," watching the gray-white rock quickly form the first level of the hub structure, then begin to construct a slightly smaller second level.

In his blueprint, this was a huge pyramid-shaped building.

The tower had seven layers, each smaller than the last, each with its own purpose.

The first layer was the foundation structure of the portal platform, used to connect to all the places the hostel could reach—considering the vastness of the entire universe, even the largest hall would not be enough, so this gate would only connect to the most important nodes, and thus it would be called the "Hub Hall."

The second layer was for research. Its core was the alchemy lab for making more Ai Lin bodies, surrounded by many empty rooms ready for use.

The third layer was the main storage facility. Yu Sheng felt he needed such a warehouse—to store all sorts of strange things he had collected, as well as handy weapons, tools, and the like. After all, no matter how big the basement at 66 Wutong Road was, it couldn't compare to a wonder building in the valley. And considering the countless rare items in this world, the basement space would eventually run out.

The entire third layer was his personal "Treasure Pavilion."

The fourth through seventh layers—not much use, mainly for appearance, to complete the pyramid structure...