Chapter 630: The Doll's Dream

Ai Lin thought Yu Sheng's “go through the motions” idea was really unreliable. No matter how she looked at it, the most critical part of the whole process was just the blood. Whether she took her head off or not didn't seem to make much difference. But unable to resist Yu Sheng's constant prodding beside her, the little doll hesitated briefly before making a “pop” sound, pulling her head off, and holding it out to Yu Sheng.

Hu Li and Luna gathered nearby to watch the spectacle, clicking their tongues in amazement at the sight.

What could you say? One wasn't afraid to think of anything, the other wasn't afraid to do anything. That's just how the top two leaders of the Traveler's Society were.

This time, Yu Sheng strictly reenacted the “sacrifice” procedure. Later, worried there wouldn't be enough blood, he even had Luna cut him twice more, making the scene quite gruesome.

But although the blood absorption process went smoothly, nothing happened afterward—Ai Lin's head didn't sink into any pool of blood this time either. After absorbing the blood, it just lay on the ground blinking.

After a long while, the little doll suddenly snapped awake, controlling her body to approach her head. “…I don't see any growth?”

“Actually, it did grow a little just now,” Hu Li said seriously beside her. “About two or three centimeters? Then it immediately shrank back.”

Ai Lin was stunned. “...How is it getting worse each time?! ”

Then, while fumbling to pick up her head and put it back on her neck, she turned to look at Yu Sheng. “Yu Sheng, why is your blood so weak! Are you anemic? Why don't you go eat something to replenish your blood? You've been staying up late a lot lately… Maybe you should ask Xuan Che for some medicine, or have Hu Li cook something good to nourish you?”

Yu Sheng's head was spinning listening to the little thing mutter. Then his eyelids twitched as he suddenly thought of something. He raised his hand to stop the little doll's chatter. “Wait, I've got an idea… Is it possible that this thing has a cooldown?”

Ai Lin's babbling suddenly stopped. She looked up and blinked.

Then she drew out her voice: “Ah—ha?”

“During the first test, you had a fairly noticeable change, but during the second test, there was almost no reaction at all. That means the testing direction should be correct,” Yu Sheng said, spreading his hands. “I just completed my resurrection, so my condition is definitely fine. You've been lively and well, and your condition looks fine too. So the only thing left is a ‘cooldown’… Although I can't rule out other complex possibilities, I can't think of any for now.”

“When you put it that way, it does seem right,” Ai Lin said, seemingly accepting this explanation easily—probably because she was often addicted to games. “So, so how long do I have to wait for this cooldown?”

“How would I know?” Yu Sheng glanced at her. “You have to feel it yourself with your own body. Didn't you say there's a kind of ‘fatigue’ accumulating? That might be your ‘cooldown meter.’ Whenever you feel the cooldown is ready, we'll try again.”

Ai Lin scratched her somewhat messy blonde hair, let out a reluctant “oh,” and lowered her head, not knowing what she was thinking. Seeing this, Yu Sheng thought she was so upset she couldn't handle it, and hesitated on how to comfort her. But before he could speak, the little doll suddenly lifted her head. “Hey, I think my cooldown is done—let me take another sip…”

Yu Sheng stared expressionlessly at Ai Lin, who wore her thoughts plainly on her face. She tilted her head back with an expression of righteous indignation, shamelessness, thick skin, and even pride in her shamelessness…

“Fine, we'll talk about it later,” Ai Lin said, seeing Yu Sheng's reaction and knowing she couldn't fool him. She sighed dejectedly, climbing onto him while muttering, “I thought I'd finally found a permanent way to regain my height, but it turns out this thing has a cooldown too. Tch.”

Yu Sheng felt something was off. After thinking for a moment, he couldn't help pointing out, “You know, even if there were no cooldown, you couldn't keep it going forever—I still have to bleed. Have some respect for my life.”

Ai Lin thought for a moment. “…Then next time, should I use a straw when I suck?”

Yu Sheng: “…”

…

Although the process had some deviations from what was expected, the test of Ai Lin's new ability was largely completed smoothly.

After the test concluded, Yu Sheng and the others returned home.

After all the fuss, it was nearly dawn, but winter nights were always especially long, and it was still early before the sky would lighten.

So many things had happened this night, and there were still a mountain of issues to deal with, but no matter what, people had to rest.

—Although it seemed there weren't many humans at 66 Wutong Road either.

By the time they got home, Hu Li was already exhausted. She even went up the stairs on all fours. Yu Sheng watched as the girl didn't even get on the bed when she entered the room; she just curled up on the carpet, wrapping herself into a furball with her many tails and letting out steady snoring sounds.

Later, he couldn't stand it, so he went over and, with great effort, moved the giant furball onto the bed. During the process, he almost got electrocuted by the static electricity on Hu Li's body.

Luna prepared to return to the Transcendent Traveler's Society to repair her machine—and also to check on the remains left by that nameless Saintess.

Yu Sheng wanted to bury the nameless Saintess in the valley. Although he didn't know whether an “artificial Saintess” needed a funeral or what kind of funeral would be appropriate, he figured at least she shouldn't be left in that cold parking lot. So he told Luna and the others to bring her body back, which was temporarily placed on the spaceship.

Ai Lin (blonde) sat on a chest in the corner, spacing out.

The little doll, as if some thread of thought had suddenly connected, blankly looked up at Yu Sheng, who was lying down. “Hey, if I grow taller, won't I be able to sleep in your room anymore?”

Yu Sheng looked strangely at the pile of dolls in the corner. “Even if you didn't grow, you shouldn't be sleeping in my room in theory—it's just that I can't drive you away!”

Ai Lin seriously thought about it for a moment, then frankly admitted, “That's true.”

Then she arranged for her four bodies to climb into the chest in the corner, leaving one blonde shell to toddle over to the bed, burrow a couple of times next to Yu Sheng's pillow, and then let out tiny snoring sounds.

She fell asleep almost instantly.

In the darkness, Yu Sheng looked at the doll curled up into a tiny ball on the bed with a mix of amusement and exasperation. He originally wanted to say something, but soon he too sank into a groggy dream.

Ai Lin had a dream.

Actually, she didn't know if she was dreaming—as a doll with the ability to traverse dreams, her perception of “dreams” was always different from others. To her, ordinary people's dreams were like strange, fragmented stage plays that were easy to see through; the dreamers themselves could hardly perceive the boundaries of their dreams, but she could always soberly roam the paths between those illusions and memories. She… rarely felt “groggy” in dreams.

But this time, she felt groggy.

Around her seemed to be surging fog, and space itself appeared to exhibit a strange “fluidity” like the mist. Her consciousness drifted in this flowing space, occasionally hearing sounds from nowhere, occasionally seeing lights cast from afar.

But she wasn't afraid. Instead, she found this “floating” feeling interesting, with a kind of… relaxed looseness in her mind.

So she floated happily, occasionally reaching out to poke the lights and shadows cast from afar.

In the darkness, there were voices. At first, a kind female voice—

“Protect yourself—if you can't win, run…”

Ah, this voice sounds familiar?

Ai Lin was stunned, then heard this voice coming from another direction:

“…Looks like it's running normally… Should we add a bit more compatibility?”

Then a dignified voice sounded from beside her. “Necessary. I'll handle this part. Compatibility needs to be maxed out—after all, it's a prototype, and we need to leave room for future expansion.”

“Ah, then I'll connect to the Garden Network first and see if debug mode works well…”

Those vague sounds drifted away.

Ai Lin was puzzled in the chaos for a while, but soon she was attracted by another beam of light drifting nearby.

She happily floated over and saw a tall figure emerging in that light—it seemed to be a woman, very tall, perhaps even as tall as C-clip. Ai Lin couldn't see her face clearly, but only felt that she was warm and friendly.

She also heard a voice in the darkness, as if right in her ear—

“…They said your driver wasn't written well, so you need to learn some things on your own. This will help you adapt…

“…I'll teach you how to use your body. Come on, first run a couple of laps with me.

“Then we'll learn how to fight. I'll teach you a few moves…”

The lights and shadows shifted, and the voice in her ear was intermittent. Ai Lin felt some vague scenes sliding past the edges of her memory. She heard the woman speak again in her ear—

“You only managed to learn one move… That's fine anyway—this move is the most useful.

“Look, this is offense, this is defense, this is the captain of the Lost Exile—

“Jump up and hit his head… It's fine, the captain won't be angry. It's practice.

“Remember, the ‘jump slash’ is very useful. It's a powerful decapitation technique. When you use it, aim for the enemy's head, be full of momentum, don't overthink it—just strike… Of course, you can use ‘hit’ with your weapon too.”

Ai Lin slowly passed through the drifting lights and shadows, then turned to look at the chaotic flowing fog. The dream made her groggy, making it hard to think continuously, but she still instinctively had a question—Jump slash? Decapitation technique?

Wasn't this move used for hitting knees and toes?

But just as she puzzled for a few seconds, another faint light drifted from behind her, and she heard a new voice in the darkness.

That voice sounded very young and carefree—

“I heard about it. The driver isn't set up right, huh? Can't speak very well yet?

“The captain says I'm too noisy and idle all day, so she told me to come keep you company…

“Name? I'm Shirley—by the way, why do you look a bit silly?

“Ah, it's fine. Later I'll get Ah Gou to give you some cultural lessons…”