Chapter 322: A Laborious Exchange

When Yu Sheng walked over, this was the bewildering scene he saw—Xiao Xiao and a few children stood helplessly beside the vegetable patch, while the intimidating Artificial Saint was diligently weeding the ground, her metal shell covered in mud and grass clippings, as if she had been at it for a while.

"Uncle Yu... big brother!" Xiao Xiao spotted Yu Sheng as he pushed open the door, and she immediately ran over to tattle, not forgetting to change her address as she greeted him. "She took our gardening assignment... who is this big sister?"

Yu Sheng was still dazed. He had no idea what was going on, but upon hearing Xiao Xiao, he cleared his throat twice and reached out to pat her head. "Uh, she's a new guest... It's fine. You kids go play somewhere else. I'll explain to Teacher Su later."

Xiao Xiao gave a half-understanding "oh," then led the other children away. At the same time, the nearby iron puppet seemed to finally notice what was happening. She slowly straightened up, her pale face with its hollow smile turning toward Yu Sheng, and then stood perfectly still.

And so Yu Sheng stood facing the other at a distance of ten meters—a silent steel puppet and a "resurrector" who had been killed by her twice. Neither broke the silence. They simply let the breeze blow from deep in the valley, stirring the leaves on the roadside nearby, while occasionally the sounds of children's laughter and play drifted across the field ridge with the wind.

After a long while, Yu Sheng finally tried to speak to her. "Uh, hello... Can you hear me?"

He waited a few seconds before seeing the Artificial Saint nod slightly.

"Can you walk over?" Yu Sheng said again. "That plot of land I set aside for the town's children to tend together. I know you want to help, but they don't seem to want that."

After another few seconds of slightly awkward standoff and silence, the Artificial Saint finally nodded again. She stepped out of the vegetable patch, then approached Yu Sheng slowly, with a hesitant and cautious manner.

Her posture was still as graceful as when they first met, but Yu Sheng could clearly feel that her reactions seemed somewhat sluggish.

With a thoughtful expression, he carefully observed her, trying to see some trace of "human" warmth in that beautiful but hollow shell, which lacked expression and temperature. At the same time, he asked curiously, "Do you remember me?"

The Artificial Saint hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand, pointing at Yu Sheng's arm, then at his chest.

Yu Sheng: "..."

This was a bit awkward.

"Uh, yeah," Yu Sheng said with a wry smile, rubbing his nose. He figured she did remember him, but the memory was somewhat absurd. "Two slashes, eight holes... Hey, wait—where are your blades?"

Only then did he notice that the iron puppet's hands were in their normal form, and her original half-meter-long "finger-blades" were missing for some reason.

Upon hearing Yu Sheng's question, the Artificial Saint stood blankly for a moment, tilting her head slightly as if trying to understand. After a while, she seemed to finally comprehend. She lowered her hands to her thighs—and with a soft mechanical click, hidden compartments in her legs flipped open, blades sprang out, and merged with her fingers.

She raised her hands, flexing those sharp blades, and earnestly showed them to Yu Sheng.

As soon as Yu Sheng saw ten blades on two hands waving in front of him, he felt like he would grow several more holes. He quickly waved his hand. "Okay, okay, I understand, no need to show me. By the way, your blades are detachable?!"

The iron puppet slowly nodded, then retracted all the blades, and continued to stand silently in front of Yu Sheng, motionless.

Of course, it was more likely that this body of hers simply didn't have the function to speak.

Yu Sheng gradually felt a bit pressured—mainly because he wasn't used to it.

After all, normally just Elin alone had four mouths. She could yap all morning about the tiniest thing without stopping. When she joined up with Hu Li, it was complete chaos, nonstop. The daily liveliness at 66 Wutong Road was comparable to an execution ground during a beheading. This meant he had long been used to a rhythm where, whenever he said something, four sound channels would banter back and forth around him (sometimes adding Hu Li made it five). And now he had to deal with someone who not only didn't speak but also was half a beat slow...

In short, it was like suddenly switching from a 10-gigabit fiber optic connection to carrier pigeons. When he stood face to face with the Artificial Saint like this, he couldn't help wondering if she had actually crashed...

But luckily, just as he was feeling particularly awkward at having to wait half a day for every sentence, someone finally came to the rescue.

Accompanied by the sound of some giant creature galloping closer, a familiar cacophony of noises came from afar. "Hey! Yu Sheng! Hu Li and I are here! What happened? You suddenly said in the mental link that the Artificial Saint woke up? Hey Hu Li, slow down, slow down! Oh my gosh slow down... Ah!"

Yu Sheng turned to look and saw a giant white fox galloping toward him from the direction of the teleportation platform, kicking up a cloud of dust. Only very close did it belatedly remember to slow down. So it planted its two front paws and swung its entire body sideways, while its nine tails swung around like auxiliary thrusters to perform an instant retro-braking maneuver. It actually worked—Hu Li stopped instantly, but the four Elins were flung into the air like they had been thrown from a catapult, flailing wildly.

Luckily, Yu Sheng was quick and reacted fast. He rushed forward in a single bound and caught the small puppet.

But he caught only one. The other three went headfirst into the vegetable patch at even intervals—Unit 1, carrying a picture frame, flew the farthest because the painting on her back acted like a glider.

The scene fell silent for two seconds. Yu Sheng looked down at the Elin in his arms, and Elin looked up with a dazed expression. Their eyes met.

The next second, the puppet in his arms let out a howl and sprang to the ground. She charged toward the big white fox that was now strolling over at a leisurely pace. "Silly Fox, you did that on purpose! When you carry Yu Sheng, you always use your tail to shield him!"

Yu Sheng reached out to stop her but failed. Just then, from the corner of his eye, he saw the Artificial Saint, who had been standing still, suddenly react. The iron puppet looked around, seemed to think seriously about something, then walked toward the vegetable patch. She pulled out each Elin who was still stuck in the dirt, thrashing her stubby legs. After pulling them out, she even helped shake off the dirt. Then she casually tucked the still-struggling small puppets under her arm...

After a moment, she walked back and set the three small puppets neatly on the ground in front of Yu Sheng.

For some reason, Yu Sheng thought of radishes neatly stacked at the edge of a field.

Except this pile of "radishes" was profusely cursing—as soon as the three Elins hit the ground, they started hopping up and down and spewing profanity, while pausing to frantically shake dirt out of their hair and clothes. After making a fuss for a while, they looked up and saw the C-clasp standing beside them, looking down with that smile on her face, which seemed like mockery. This made Elin feel like the sky was falling: "Disgraceful! I, a noble living puppet of Alice... Silly Fox, I'm not done with you!"

At this moment, Hu Li, in her fox form, also walked over. The one Elin who had been caught by Yu Sheng was now hanging from a tuft of fur under her chin, holding on for dear life. This made Hu Li a bit uncomfortable, but she didn't dare shake her head directly. She could only gently tap the small puppet, who was still trying to pull off some fur, with her front paw. "Next time I'll use my allowance to buy you a new dress."

Elin immediately let go. "Deal."

And so the grudge was settled.

As for Yu Sheng, in that short moment, he felt that his familiar atmosphere had returned. The chaotic noises around him made him feel completely at ease...

He turned and saw that the Artificial Saint was still standing in the same spot. The sudden commotion caused by Elin and Hu Li didn't seem to provoke much reaction from her. But soon, Yu Sheng noticed that her posture seemed slightly more restrained than before—as if... at a loss? Or perhaps a bit nervous?

At this point, one of the Elins finally turned her attention to the iron puppet. She walked over with a proud air and looked up. "Hey! C-clasp!"

But the other side gave no response.

The small puppet turned to Yu Sheng. "Yu Sheng, why isn't she acknowledging me?"

Yu Sheng quickly explained, "Her reactions seem a bit slow."

"Oh? Is that so?" Elin was stunned for a moment, then turned her head again. Sure enough, she saw the Artificial Saint lowering her head, as if responding to her earlier greeting.

"Alright, it looks like it might be a bit of aftereffects? Or maybe related to the mental split?" Elin was easygoing; she muttered a couple of things and set aside the detail. Then she introduced herself to the other. "My name is Elin! I'm the second-in-command of the 'Lodge'! This big fox next to me is Hu Li, the third-in-command of the Lodge. Got that? Oh right, and this is Yu Sheng, our boss!"

The Artificial Saint lowered her head. After a moment, she slowly nodded, as if she truly understood what Elin meant.

Elin then turned to Hu Li, who was beside her. "Hey, Silly Fox, why are you still in this form? Not changing back?"

Hu Li didn't respond. She just scrutinized the Artificial Saint a few more times, as if assessing something. Finally, she let out an "oh," and with a burst of radiant light, transformed from her fox form into her usual human form.

"Hello." She greeted the iron puppet politely.

The Artificial Saint responded with a nod.

"Why haven't you said a word?" Elin finally noticed something off about the other. "Can't you speak?"

The Artificial Saint hesitated, nodded slightly, but then shook her head.

Elin was taken aback for a moment, then turned to Yu Sheng. "Why is it so hard to communicate?"

"It was like this just now," Yu Sheng said helplessly, spreading his hands. "Maybe it's the aftereffects, like you said."

As he spoke, he looked up and glanced to the side.

More and more children were gathering to watch the excitement.

"This isn't the place for talking. Let's go home and figure it out."

(End of Chapter)