Chapter 288: Creating a Wonder

Hearing the analysis conclusion Hu Li gave, the little doll's expression clearly showed the sky had collapsed.

She never expected that the incredibly powerful body she had worked so hard to obtain was actually just a limited-time trial version.

Now that her energy was depleted, she found it exhausting just to move a single finger.

"What should we do..." Irene Unit One, carrying a picture frame on her back, chattered beside Yu Sheng while looking up at the new body still held in Yu Sheng's arms, unable to move, then turned with extreme distress to look at the fox girl on the other side, "Do you have any ideas?"

Hu Li stepped forward to carefully examine Pro Irene's condition, bent the latter's limbs, and performed some spells involving hand seals and incantations that seemed to have no clear purpose, before finally nodding after a long while: "Theoretically... just wait."

Irene and Yu Sheng spoke in unison: "Wait?"

"Wait for her to recharge herself," Hu Li pointed to the fingers of the doll in Yu Sheng's arms, "Her hands can already move, right—Black Iron has the property of automatically gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and after being forged into such a complex puppet body, this ability is naturally preserved. In theory, as long as she keeps waiting, she will slowly recover."

"R-really?" Irene Unit One on the side immediately blinked her eyes, "You're not tricking me?"

Hu Li tapped Irene Unit One with her tail: "Why would I trick you?"

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

Facts proved that Hu Li truly hadn't lied; after another few minutes of recovery, Pro Irene's body began to gradually regain its most basic mobility—although it was like an old tin man that hadn't been oiled in several years, at least she could finally move her limbs with creaking and groaning sounds, and even stand up and take a couple of steps.

The new body regaining mobility naturally made the little doll's mood slightly better, but obviously not that much better.

She walked half a circle around Yu Sheng with steps resembling someone who had suffered a stroke for ten years, 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 recovering mobility is this difficult, so when will I be able to accumulate enough energy to fire the laser cannon again!"

As she spoke, 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 and lots of food."

Irene: "..."

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

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

"Then hurry up and think of any other methods, something at least faster than this," Yu Sheng glanced at Irene's expression and quickly reminded, "She's about to cry again."

"Absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth?" Hu Li thought for a moment, but before Irene's eyes could light up, she shook her head again, "But I've only seen this in short videos about ancient cultivation methods; I don't actually know how to do it specifically... Or use something else to recharge? I can't think of how to recharge right now... We can't just touch an electric wire, can we?"

Hearing Hu Li muttering there, Yu Sheng knew that this nine-tailed fox who had dropped out of elementary school probably couldn't help, so he could only sigh, lift Pro Irene up again, and comfort her with kind words: "At least she can recover on her own; it's a bit slow, but you don't only have this one body anyway... If it really comes to it, treat this body as a last-resort trump card, keep it at home for slow charging, and when fighting, I'll open a door, pull you out, and let you fire the cannon..."

The little doll lifted her head in Yu Sheng's arms: "Yu Sheng..."

"Huh?"

The little doll gritted her teeth: "You really are f***ing good at comforting people!"

Yu Sheng felt the other party probably wasn't complimenting him...

After a while, Rapunzel and the others, who had been watching the commotion from the side for a long time, finally understood the situation and gathered around; some stepped forward to comfort Irene together, some curiously asked about the "replication" process of the little doll's one new body after another, some marveled at the rich and colorful daily life of the Inn, and others came to praise the military boxing set Irene had just performed—the last one being the heartless Rapunzel, who was pelted with headbutts by the three Irenes climbing all over her, making her jump and skip in a frenzy halfway through her praise.

Yu Sheng, after scanning the surroundings, noticed he couldn't see a certain familiar figure and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Where's Little Red Riding Hood? Gone on a mission again?"

"She's in class," Bai Xue said casually while watching the three Irenes and Rapunzel play and fight, "She'll be back tonight."

Yu Sheng: "Isn't this Saturday?"

Bai Xue: "Isn't she in Gao San?"

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

"By the way," Bai Xue suddenly leaned in a bit closer at this moment, whispering quietly, "Her birthday is next week, you know?"

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

"Have you picked out a gift yet?" Bai Xue whispered, then added, "I plan to give her a few books."

Yu Sheng's expression suddenly became a bit hesitant; after thinking for quite a while, he said hesitantly: "Actually, I was also thinking of giving her a few books..."

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

Saying this, Bai Xue walked away.

Yu Sheng looked at the scene of Irene and Rapunzel and the others playing and fighting not far away and fell into thought.

A gift... thinking carefully, he realized he truly didn't have much experience in picking gifts for people.

He didn't even have much experience in celebrating birthdays for people.

The past days were always as shallow and pale as clear water; in Yu Sheng's memory, the life before coming to this "Borderland" was mostly spent in "stillness"—quiet, calm, serene, alone and coming and going by himself; even "writing" was just a livelihood to make ends meet. Compared to now, those days without much turmoil seemed to have less excitement than the events that happened in just three days here.... Although sometimes it was too exciting.

Yu Sheng smiled and shook his head, glanced once more at the scene of Irene and Princess Rapunzel playing and fighting, and helplessly called out: "Stop playing and go to the side! Everyone stay away from this platform for now; I'm going to start construction!"

The moment these words were spoken, Irene and Rapunzel immediately stopped fighting.

Several gazes suddenly fell on Yu Sheng.

Rapunzel was the first to approach: "Brother, what construction are you going to do?"

"Build a wall around this platform and add a roof," Yu Sheng helplessly spread his hands, "After all, this is the core building of the Inn's headquarters; it can't always be just a bare foundation—and I also plan to build several more floors here, making it look grand."

"Build several floors?" Irene, hearing this, became curious too, "What will they be used for?"

"Haven't decided yet, build them first and perfect them later," Yu Sheng was quite open about it, "Anyway, the second floor definitely needs an alchemy laboratory—not a temporary one, but a proper one with an alchemy table, preparation room, storage room, and other supporting facilities."

Irene's eyes widened: "Used to make new bodies for me?"

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

!

"You know how to do other things?"

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

"Great!"

Anyway, after a bunch of messy interludes, Yu Sheng was finally going to put a roof on this "Hub Platform" that had been prepared long ago.

Due to their high understanding and trust in Yu Sheng's "house-building" skills, Princess Rapunzel and the others immediately retreated to a hundred meters away from the platform.

Even Hu Li and Irene ran away—Pro Irene, who had difficulty moving, was carried away by her other three bodies.

"Is that necessary..."

Looking back at the group already a hundred meters away, Yu Sheng muttered helplessly but didn't pay much attention to it, quickly settling his spirit and focusing his attention on the matter at hand.

He stood on an empty spot outside the platform; as his mind settled, the "blueprint" gradually surfaced in his heart.

First, a prime spot for "construction" is needed.

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

A gray-white square pillar rose from the clearing, with Yu Sheng standing atop the pillar, ascending together with it until he could overlook the entire portal platform.

Not far away, Erin watched this scene and couldn't help but mutter softly, "It actually looks quite the thing..."

Hu Li nodded firmly once more, "I told you long ago that Benefactor could become a Civil Engineering Immortal."

Yu Sheng heard the muttering coming from afar.

In fact, he could now hear every sound across the entire platform and a considerable area surrounding it.

This even included the faint rustle of wind blowing over gravel, and the whispering sound of grass blades pushing through the soil and unfurling their tender leaves.

There was also the faint friction of "rock" generating inside the platform and gradually growing upward.

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

High walls rose from the platform's edge, accompanied by a low rumble and grinding sound; rising together with the high walls were the ancient and solemn Shi Zhu—pillars encircled outside the walls to support a corridor surrounding the entire hub, while support pillars gradually grew inside the enclosure, like the ribs of a giant beast, preparing to support the subsequent dome.

Yu Sheng looked down upon those rapidly growing "bones" and "flesh," watching as the gray-white rocks quickly formed the hub's first layer, after which they began constructing the slightly smaller second layer.

In his blueprint, this was a massive pyramid-shaped structure.

The tower was divided into seven layers, each shrinking progressively, each distinct.

The first layer was the foundational structure of the portal platform, used to link the various places the Inn could reach—considering the vastness of the entire universe, even a grand hall would be insufficient by then, so the gates here would only link the most critical nodes, and thus it would be called the "Hub Hall."

The second layer was the place for research; its core was an alchemy laboratory for manufacturing more Erin shells, while the surrounding area consisted of numerous empty rooms awaiting use.

The third layer was the main storage facility; Yu Sheng felt he needed such a warehouse—to store the various strange and peculiar things he had collected, along with handy weapons, tools, and the like. After all, no matter how large the basement at 66 Wutong Road was, it could not compare to a wonder building in a valley, and considering the countless rare items in this world, the space in that basement would sooner or later prove insufficient.

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

The fourth through seventh layers—were of no use, mainly for aesthetics, to complete the Jin Zita structure...

(End of this chapter)