Chapter 164: Irene MKII (But Didn't Grow Taller)

To be honest, Hu Li's argon-arc welding quality is actually quite high; with the support of an immortal technique (or perhaps a demon technique), the fox fire hisses and melts everything, producing a weld far more beautiful than any welding machine, radiating an aesthetic of strength and statistics—and more importantly, she can cut and weld simultaneously.

So after a brief explanation and preparation, sparks began to fly across the alchemy platform.

Several rebar rods were cut to varying lengths according to proportion, then arranged and assembled into the outline of a puppet skeleton at the points marked by Yu Sheng on the alchemy table; Hu Li commanded several tails floating in the air, moving with the flexibility of a swarm of anti-gravity mechanical arms, adjusting angles and welding precisely, the air filled with the scent of molten metal, hisses coming one after another, and the dazzling firelight illuminated Yu Sheng's face.

Irene sat nearby, expressionless, carrying her painting frame; the flashes from the rebar welding struck her palm-sized small face, and every few seconds she couldn't help but mutter: "This isn't alchemy... this isn't alchemy..."

"How is this not alchemy?" Yu Sheng, face brimming with excitement, immediately refuted Irene's muttering, "Smelting isn't refining? Metal isn't gold? Can't refining metal be alchemy?"

While speaking, he simply sat down beside Irene, raised his hand to point at the scene of blazing flames on the alchemy array, and spoke in a leisurely tone: "How beautiful... the demon arts of a Cyber Fox Immortal, the secret lineage of alchemy, the modern industrial rebar—don't you think these three coming together have a..."

"A kind of abstract beauty."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then nodded: "... Indeed."

Just then, the dazzling firelight finally stopped; Hu Li wiped the non-existent sweat from her forehead, turned her head, and waved happily: "Benefactor, the welding is done!"

"Hu Li did great!" Yu Sheng immediately clapped his hands in delight, and as he stood up, he lifted Irene up as well, "Stop worrying about whether it's abstract or not, hurry up and handle the next step; first, take a look at the skeleton prepared for you and see if you're satisfied."

Irene was still mumbling, but the moment she saw the finished product, she suddenly stopped.

Lying quietly in the center of the alchemy array was a puppet skeleton welded to the height of a normal adult.

Irene looked at that skeleton in surprise for a long time, then suddenly realized something, looked up at Yu Sheng, and said: "You... this size..."

"I promised you, I'd mold one for you at one meter sixty-seven," Yu Sheng placed the small puppet on the ground, a faint smile on his face, "Now it's time for the next step."

"Great!!" Irene finally cheered up, the previous complaints instantly vanishing into thin air; she jumped up, grabbed Yu Sheng's arm, and shook it vigorously, then ran to the spirit-infusion node and urged him on, "Start quickly, start quickly, I want to see how you handle what comes next."

Yu Sheng just smiled and said nothing more, then began seriously performing the next operation in shaping the puppet.

This time he did not prepare clay, nor did he get any dough or lotus roots; on this specially made "Irene Shell," he intended to try some bold ideas.

He directly sprinkled those "alchemy materials" evenly over the rebar-welded skeleton and onto the ground surrounding the skeleton.

Then he took out a small knife, sliced open a wound on the back of his hand, mixed his own blood with those "alchemy materials," and sprinkled it onto the ground as well.

Under the curious gazes of Irene and Hu Li, Yu Sheng finally retreated to the outermost ring of the concentric circles; he took a light breath, gradually focused his spirit, then squatted down and pressed his still-bleeding palm onto the ground.

The platform began to tremble slightly; faint friction and writhing sounds came from the depths of the rock, as if... the entire ground was gradually waking up.

Yu Sheng intended to use the soil and rock of this foreign valley to shape Irene's new shell.

After a delay of a few seconds, the center of that "alchemy array" gradually rose; immediately, the soil and rock began to writhe rapidly as if alive, gray-white matter turning into "molten slurry," swarming to cover the steel-cast skeleton layer by layer, emitting rustling sounds during the process of writhing and gathering.

Irene watched from the side, her eyes gradually widening.

"Soil writhing like a living creature..." she suddenly whispered softly, "He actually managed to make it happen?"

The speed at which the "living soil" writhed into shape was extremely fast; not long after Irene finished speaking, the puppet body lying in the center of the array had already taken initial form.

Yu Sheng was still carefully carving its final parts—dividing fingers for the shell's palms and shaping the features for its face.

He simply entered the array, sat beside the puppet shell, touched it directly with his hands, and adjusted the shell's appearance bit by bit.

He suddenly felt this was much easier to control than clay.

"He's actually... quite serious," Irene reached out and tugged Hu Li's tail, whispering, "My previous body was all messed up by him; I thought he was just faking it."

"The Benefactor has always been very serious," Hu Li looked at the puppet very seriously, "It's just that the things he usually cares about seem different from others."

While speaking, Yu Sheng finally completed his final adjustments.

Faster than he imagined, and smoother than he imagined.

The puppet, shaped from steel, soil, and rock, lay quietly on the ground; though not yet awakened, it already displayed a maiden-like physique and... an atmosphere of "vitality" as if it might come to life at any moment.

"Let me think, how did I do it last time..." Yu Sheng muttered while recalling his experience from creating Irene's "Second Shell" previously, "Guide the spirit infusion, yes, first guide the spirit infusion, let it come to life..."

He reached out and gently pressed on the puppet's forehead—

"Wake up."

The rock began to throb.

"It's time to come to life."

The soil rose and fell slightly.

"Ready to open your eyes?"

The steel skeleton moved slowly; the soulless shell emitted a faint breathing sound—vitality had appeared.

"Irene." Yu Sheng called out softly.

"Huh?" The small puppet standing nearby instinctively answered, and the next second, she felt her consciousness rapidly withdraw from her body... withdraw partially; a brand new "link" appeared in her perception. The brief and unavoidable sensory disorientation left her temporarily confused; she couldn't see the surroundings clearly, only heard Yu Sheng unexpectedly say "Eh?", Hu Li seemed to exclaim in surprise nearby, and then she knew nothing more.

But after just those two seconds of disconnection, Irene successfully entered and took control of her new "shell"; she tried opening her eyes and confirmed the existence of a third perspective.

"It worked!" The small puppet paused for a moment, then happily shouted in the center of the array; she pushed herself up with her hands, stood, placed her hands on her hips, and looked up at Yu Sheng and Hu Li, "Even such reckless nonsense can succeed; Yu Sheng, you actually have quite an alchemical talent! Look at my one-meter-sixty-seven tall, long..."

The small puppet suddenly froze, feeling something was wrong.

Yu Sheng looked so tall; Hu Li also still looked so tall.

She dully lowered her head, glanced at the ground right in front of her, then saw the appearance of her new body through the eyes of the other shell outside the array; after a moment, she finally knew what was wrong.

"Why am I still this tall? Huh?!"

"I don't know," Yu Sheng looked even more confused than she was, "One second before you opened your eyes, this body was one meter sixty-seven; then, visibly, it started shrinking; before I could react, it was already down to just over half a meter... Hu Li can testify, I did nothing at all."

The demon fox girl standing nearby immediately nodded vigorously: "I testify, the Benefactor did nothing! You shrank yourself!"

Irene stood dully in place, silent for a long time; just as Yu Sheng was even starting to worry that the puppet might be too shocked and have problems, she suddenly screamed in a frenzy: "No, why... why?! Wasn't a one-meter-sixty-seven shell already molded? Wasn't it already coming to life... how come the moment I got inside, I was left at just over half a meter tall?! Why?!"

Yu Sheng silently stepped back several paces, arrived beside Hu Li, and muttered softly: "I think we'd better not provoke her for now..."

But before he finished speaking, the other Irene, originally standing at the outer edge of the array, had already turned her head, took a deep breath, and shouted: "—WHYYYYYYY!"

Yu Sheng turned his head and sighed at Hu Li: "I forgot there was another one over here."

Then the two Irenes circled the array round and round, then circled Yu Sheng round and round, chattering endlessly; sometimes complaining about unfair fate, sometimes about the hardships of being a puppet, sometimes jumping up and down, sometimes screaming wildly; sometimes doubting Yu Sheng's poor craftsmanship, sometimes even starting to suspect their own soul was flawed; after six or seven circles, Yu Sheng's head was buzzing—he figured even an investigator listening to an Old God ramble would probably have this experience...

When the small puppet circled to the tenth lap, Hu Li finally couldn't hold back; the demon fox girl directly used her tail to wrap up both small puppets at once: "Irene, you're so noisy..."

The two 66.6-centimeter-tall small puppets were wrapped tightly by the fox tail, unable to move; they could only mutter a few more words, then looked at Yu Sheng together with expressions of utter despair.

"Is this the only height I'll ever be for the rest of my life?" Irene, carrying her painting frame, said with a tearful face.

"Just why..." Rebar Eileen was on the verge of tears.

"A momentary failure, just a momentary..." Yu Sheng didn't know how to comfort this unlucky doll, so he could only spout nonsense. "Look, I've already figured out so many weird and wonderful alchemical methods anyway — maybe someday I can craft you a properly proportioned shell. This shrinkage might actually have something to do with the materials, or maybe it's because those rose oils or whatever aren't reliable... Next time I won't buy them from the five-yuan shop."

Eileen (Rebar Edition) was stunned for a moment, then caught on. With a "poof," she wriggled free from Huli's tail and flung herself straight onto Yu Sheng's arm: "Five-yuan shop?! Last time you said you bought it from a ten-yuan shop!"

The next second, Yu Sheng experienced exactly how this furious little doll was different from before—

Rebar really does have some grip.

Those two tiny claws pinched like a freaking bench vise!

(End of chapter)