Dimensional Hotel

Chapter 745 - 744: Stirring Waves

The Alice Tree is a hardware node device set up in the real world specifically for connecting to the Garden Network. In a sense, this thing can be regarded as the material extension of the Garden Network. As for why it has such a strange name, it's because it really does look like a "tree" propped up by a mass of cables and alloy framework.Yu Sheng had seen this thing before, in that huge mansion of Marin's on the border of the Boundary Land.

"We can install it on that empty lot next to the Antique Shop," Marin surveyed the surrounding neighborhood and quickly came to a conclusion. "That way we don't have to alter the original building layout, and we won't damage the 'symbolism' of this Puppet City."

"Will it fit?" Yu Sheng was a little curious. "I remember that thing took up a huge area. Not only was the upper structure big, there was a whole pile of bases underneath too."

"We can get a smaller one," Marin said with a very serious face. "The one I've got is an old model installed at the embassy ages ago. The new models are all moving toward miniaturization now."

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin. "Then why don't you switch to a new one?"

"I can't replace it until it reaches the end of its service life," Marin spread her hands helplessly. "Even though Alice's Cottage doesn't have a clear hierarchy or leaders, we still have rules."

Yu Sheng showed an expression of understanding, while Erin beside him suddenly frowned, pinched her chin, and fell into thought. Two seconds later, the little Puppet muttered, "Why do I feel kind of annoyed…"

"That's your imagination," Yu Sheng said offhandedly.

"Y-yeah…" Erin blinked, then suddenly thought of something, raised her head, and looked at Marin with her eyes shining. "Hey, sis, if I put an Alice Tree here, won't my Garden Network latency be super low from now on?"

"In theory… yes," Marin nodded, though her gaze at Erin was a bit puzzled. "But it would only improve things a little, because the entire Boundary Land is already within the coverage of my Alice Tree… Do you feel any latency when you go online normally?"

"Of course I do!" Erin stared. "Whenever I pull people from the Garden Network to play games, everything's half a beat slow. If that's not network latency, what is?"

Marin: "...?"

"Personally, I don't think that's a network iss—" Yu Sheng opened his mouth, but swallowed the rest of his sentence under the little Puppet's stare. "Alright, maybe it is a network problem. Good luck."

At this moment, the fox girl came over and held a steaming hot roasted corn cob in front of Yu Sheng.

"Savior! It's done!"

Yu Sheng took the roasted corn and saw that two neat rows were already missing from it.

The fox girl's cheeks were slightly puffed as she chewed and said, "I helped you gnaw off two rows first. It's easier to eat this way."

Yu Sheng casually ruffled the fur behind Hu Li's ears twice, then grabbed the corn and started eating.

Corn roasted with Fox Fire tasted amazing. Even without any seasoning, it seemed to carry a special aroma.

Then Yu Sheng watched as Hu Li pulled out a bunch of corn, radishes, eggplants, and whatnot from her tail, strung them all together into an absurdly long skewer with an iron rod, then pressed several of her tails together to rub out a row of Fox Fire and roasted the vegetable skewer over it until it sizzled.

Right then and there, Yu Sheng felt that the all-out war between the Cyber Fox Deity at home and the cleaning bot was imminent again—this girl clearly took advantage of Luna being busy with Valhalla and Pasture Star these two days to go all out plucking those vegetable plots.

Marin, off to the side, just watched Hu Li happily roasting vegetable skewers with a smiley squint. After a long while, she spoke with a trace of emotion. "This is really nice."

Yu Sheng didn't react. "What's really nice?"

"The matter of the 'Angel Hunters' and the 'travel agency' has gradually spread through the various Civilization Circles. It seems many people have their own interpretations of this force of yours that can stand up to Dark Angels and influence the balance of the Star Regions…"

Marin spoke at an unhurried pace, smiling as she did so, but she didn't seem to be answering Yu Sheng's question head-on. Instead, she brought up some seemingly unrelated things.

"Some members of the Archaeological Association say you're a strictly organized and terrifyingly powerful military group, with an army that appears and disappears without a trace and infiltrates anywhere. Every member has undergone unimaginable bodily modifications in order to fight the Dark Angels. In some parts of Algered Planet, they're saying every member of the travel agency is a Spiritual Ascension Body, with souls that have long drifted away from human nature, which is why you can resist the mental pollution caused by the Dark Angels…

"And some interstellar peddlers who just love watching the drama have the most outrageous guess: they think the travel agency is actually an Ancient God leading a bunch of Dark Angels to help humans, which is why you can take down the Dark Angels over and over again—because this theory is so absurd, more and more people have started supporting it lately."

Marin went on unhurriedly, while Yu Sheng was already listening with his jaw practically on the floor. After a long moment, he managed to squeeze out, "…Guesswork has to be this wild, huh?"

The Puppet Lady shrugged.

Yu Sheng: "Wait, so we're already that famous?"

"What did you think?" Marin looked at Yu Sheng with a half-smile. "Just that one Inference Star Body almost crashing down on the Capital Planet of the Feiyu Star Domain was enough news to spread through half the known universe. 'Angel Fall' was the kind of thing that, if you'd mentioned it two years ago, no one would've believed it. And since most people on most planets have no chance to learn the real details, of course they're going to fill in the blanks however they like."

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin, thoughtful, finding the whole thing rather interesting.

Marin, however, seemed to have misunderstood his few seconds of silence and immediately spoke up. "If you consider these rumors inappropriate, Alice's Cottage and the Boundary Land can introduce some control measures. We can't eradicate them entirely, of course, but…"

Yu Sheng waved his hand before she could finish: "No need, I actually think it's pretty interesting."

Marin looked very seriously into his eyes, then after a moment lightly nodded. "...I understand."

Yu Sheng didn't say anything more. He just shifted into a more comfortable position and leaned against a nearby two‑story little building, lazily gnawing on the corn cob in his hand while watching the bustling scenery of the Puppets in this small town.

He also didn't keep asking what Marin had meant by that "that's so nice just now."

"If only it could stay this peaceful forever..."

The little Puppet leaned against his leg, face tilted up, speaking happily.

...

A film of grime coated the old fluorescent tube, the light flickering a few times as if there were a loose connection. In the shifting play of brightness and shadow, the surroundings looked all the more dangerous and deceitful; the colorful graffiti on the platform walls seemed to come alive, slowly extending toward the floor in the gaps between flickers.

The subway tracks stretched off into the depths of darkness. The platforms on both sides of the rails were completely empty; between a few rows of grimy benches, a blonde girl swung the golden scythe in her hand, humming a light, slightly off‑key tune.

The long-haired princess came to one of the rows of benches, let her gaze sweep around briefly, then bent down and picked up a black briefcase‑like bag from the floor beside the bench.

After that she turned her head, looking to her side.

A mass‑produced Puppet with a vacant expression followed beside her. It looked like it was spacing out, but upon noticing the gaze falling on it, it lifted its head and stared blankly over.

Ever since the mass‑produced Erins in the valley had gotten out of hand, the members of Fairy Tales would each bring one or two of these little guys with them whenever they went out to carry out a commission.

Without direct instructions from a mainframe, the mass‑produced Puppets weren't very bright, but they were more than enough as combat support. At the same time, thanks to their small size and immunity to mental contamination, they were also very suitable for being sent out to gather intelligence. And in Exotic Realms where some Spirit Fox Terminals didn't reach, these little guys could still maintain contact with the outside world via the Erin Network.

All in all, they were an indispensable helper for domestic life and exploration in Exotic Realms alike.

...Rumor had it Erin had even started thinking about renting these mass‑produced units out recently—to those Spirit Realm detectives and Investigators, even to Special Service Bureau operator squads. It was just that, given how impulsive she was, she'd probably already forgotten that idea.

The long-haired princess let these random thoughts swirl in her head as she casually drew the golden scythe, condensed from her magic hair, back into her hair, then checked the condition of the black briefcase.

"The 'subway package' has been retrieved," she said, switching on the recording function on her phone as she unzipped the briefcase, "beginning inspection of contents, current time is..."

She lifted her head and glanced at the clock hanging on one of the platform pillars.

"Internal 'subway' time, 3:10 p.m., twenty minutes until the next train. Current subway environment stable, 'graffiti' spreading at a medium rate, lights flickering at medium intensity."

A faint tearing sound, and the briefcase opened, revealing several grimy newspapers and two photographs inside.

The long-haired princess quickly glanced at the main headlines on those newspapers.

"Thick Fog Invades Track Hub, Slender Shadow Appears Between Rails"

"Yesterday Lasted 25 Hours, Dispatch Center to Subtract 1 Hour Today"

"New Missing Person in Surface World, Train Operations Unaffected"

"...Unfortunate, but that unlucky guy who fell off the platform is probably done for," the long-haired princess's gaze lingered on the last newspaper for less than a second before she let out a soft sigh. "Next I'll try my best to find his body... if he hasn't already been eaten by the 'subway.'"

She put away the newspapers, then turned her gaze to the two photos beside them.

One of the photos was badly damaged; you could only vaguely make out the outline of someone falling from the subway platform.

The other photo was slightly clearer; it looked like an utterly ordinary landscape. But the moment the long-haired princess's eyes fell on it, the scenery in the image shifted in an instant.

A long‑haired girl's back appeared in the photo. Even in the slightly faded colors, you could still make out a trace of gold. The girl stood between the subway benches, back to the camera, seemingly bowing her head and looking intently at something.

The long-haired princess frowned.

"Tch."

She clicked her tongue through her teeth, body whipping around in a sudden twist. Her golden hair flared up in midair, and in the next second a greatsword condensed from golden hair appeared in her hand.

A tall, brilliantly multicolored shadow had already manifested in front of her.