Chapter 59: Repair

Thirty minutes later, Yu Sheng looked at the small doll lying on the "Alchemy Table" with a bit of nervousness.

Irene slowly sat up, propping herself up with her hands, her eyes slightly dazed as she pondered life.

Doll, 66.6 centimeters, emitting the scent of lotus root.

The experiment was a success. jpg.

After watching for a long time, Yu Sheng felt that Irene didn't seem to have any problems, so his confidence gradually grew: "See, I told you it would work. If you can use flour, why can't lotus root..."

"Don't talk yet, let me think," Irene raised a hand to interrupt Yu Sheng, then looked at her own hands with a strange expression, "I just don't get it, how could this work? It's unreasonable, you know? How could this actually work..."

Yu Sheng tugged at the corner of his mouth: "You asked me to try, so how can you not believe it now that it's done?"

"I shouldn't have let you try! How was I supposed to know you'd actually succeed! Now my arm has really become a lotus root!" Irene widened her eyes, glaring at Yu Sheng in a huff, "I just wanted to see you make a fool of yourself! Your botched 'Alchemy' couldn't possibly succeed! I just wanted to make you give up out of fear... No, how did you succeed? Huh? How did it work?!"

"I don't know," Yu Sheng was also a bit stunned, "You agreed to try, so I tried. You didn't say you just wanted to see me make a fool of myself; I thought you really supported my scientific research career..."

Irene instantly wanted to jump up and bite someone, but since her legs weren't fixed yet, she couldn't jump successfully, so she could only sit on the table and curse loudly: "Scientific research my ass! What kind of scientific research is this! You turned my arm into a lotus root, what do I do! It's really grown together now! How on earth did you do it? Is it the power of overthinking? Huh?!"

Yu Sheng thought about it for a moment; he thought it really was the power of overthinking that overthought it into existence.

But Irene's intense reaction now was indeed beyond his expectations—he had absolutely no foundation in alchemy; every operation was just the doll saying one thing and him following with one step. When infusing blood and performing the spirit infusion into the two lotus root segments, he didn't think about anything at all and had no idea these were completely impossible, chaotic operations. The moment the two lotus root segments that had undergone the spirit infusion ritual suddenly writhed near Irene's elbow and transformed into limbs, he only felt that was a normal situation.

He didn't expect to scare this small doll so badly.

"Sorry..." Yu Sheng thought for a moment, and his heart truly began to feel a bit unsettled, "How about we replace it? I'll go downstairs and find an axe..."

He hadn't finished speaking before Irene glared him back with a single look.

"Alright, pretend I didn't say anything."

"It's like this now, what else can we do?" The small doll raised her arm resentfully, wearing a look of exhausted resignation, then she very cautiously clenched her fist and moved each of her ten fingers one by one. Her nervous manner was as if an octopus doctor's tentacle had been attached to her body, and she feared that moving even slightly would cause the two arms Yu Sheng had chaotically attached to suddenly go out of control.

But soon she discovered that the two hands Yu Sheng had chaotically fiddled with were actually quite useful.

Even if the raw material was lotus root.

"Um... is the test finished?" Yu Sheng watched cautiously from the side, and only broke the silence after confirming the doll wouldn't suddenly jump up and bite, "It should work normally, right? Doesn't hurt, right?"

Irene sighed: "Sigh, yes, no discomfort."

"If it works, it works, why sigh? You scared me," Yu Sheng finally truly relaxed, then his gaze fell on Irene's two legs that couldn't stand, "Now it's time to fix the legs, let me see how damaged they are."

Irene made an "oh" sound, but suddenly looked up and stared into Yu Sheng's eyes: "Wait, what do you plan to use to fix—let me tell you, if you pull out a bag of lotus root powder, you will definitely get hit by a dump truck in your dreams today..."

Yu Sheng just felt quite confused: "I just don't get it. Your body is made of clay, and you don't even mind using flour as a substitute, so why are you so resistant to other similar materials?"

Irene raised her hand and pointed at Yu Sheng's nose, but because her hand was so small, the action had no intimidation or provocation at all: "You humans usually keep pets, so why not keep cockroaches? You usually eat organic matter, so why don't you eat s..."

"Alright, I get it, you don't need to say more," Yu Sheng quickly interrupted the doll's words, and at the same time instantly understood how huge the gap in cognitive concepts could be between different races, "Rest assured, I have normal repair materials."

While speaking, he opened the drawer on the other side of the table and took out a small jar of epoxy putty.

"Theoretically, the best way to repair a clay doll is to use the same kind of clay, but since the clay is used up, using this as a substitute is the same anyway; after all, what matters is processing it with alchemy, right?" He confirmed with Irene, "Just using a spatula to smear it flat for you is fine, right?"

"This... is acceptable," Irene finally reluctantly nodded, then became a bit curious, "When did you prepare this?"

"It was a free gift given when I bought the clay; I put it at the very bottom and didn't notice it at the time," Yu Sheng said casually while studying the usage instructions on the packaging, "Alright, now let me see your wound."

Irene finally felt relieved, then slowly pulled up the skirt with its intricate lace a bit, and took off the long sock on her right leg. On her ivory-like calves, there were black cracks of various sizes everywhere; some cracks even penetrated the knee and extended all the way to near the thigh.

Yu Sheng was instantly startled: "... Holy crap!"

"At least it's not broken," Irene still seemed completely indifferent, "If it were broken, I'd have to have you attach another lotus root segment again."

"It's not a matter of broken or not, why are you so indifferent... Does it really not hurt at all?" Yu Sheng's voice even sounded a bit tight; although he had seen blood these past two days, even seen his own bloody and messy appearance, when he saw the shattered state of Irene's legs, he didn't know why he still felt his heart thump; it was a shock completely different from being punched a hole by a monster.

Probably because that appearance was too bizarre and terrifying, even scarier than the Young Lady doll's broken arms.

He reached out and touched the cracked areas on Irene's legs, feeling that the areas near the cracks were as hard as wood—Irene's normal limbs were soft and no different from humans; this hardened texture indicated that the structure near the cracks had begun to gradually lose "soul synchronization"; as long as there was a slight delay, the next step would be just like her previous arms, breaking and shattering directly.

Irene herself actually laughed out loud: "Haha, don't rub, it tickles... It doesn't hurt, not at all... Okay, just a little bit, very, very slight."

Irene gestured with her hands, bringing the index fingers of both hands very close together, as if emphasizing just how slight the pain was.

Yu Sheng sighed, took a small knife and cut his own hand back, began mixing his blood into the repair material, and muttered while mixing with a spatula: "This is too scary. I don't know what the physiological structure of you living dolls is actually like, but next time you get hurt, can you not be so calm? If the situation is serious, say it early, because in the end, I'm the one repairing you..."

Irene rolled her eyes: "You were also very scary when you died with your eyes open; I didn't say anything about you."

!.

Yu Sheng pouted, completed the subsequent material processing steps, and carefully applied the putty to Irene's wound with a spatula.

"Hey, it tickles..."

"Endure it, don't move around."

"Oh."

Irene was quiet for a while, then probably feeling the waiting process for repair was boring, she couldn't help but chatter again: "Those two Special Bureau agents I met today, I actually originally wanted to chat with them, see if they had any way to contact the sisters at Alice Cottage—although I can't remember the specific situation of this Special Bureau, I imagine it's an 'official institution' in Border City, so they should have some interaction with Alice Cottage..."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Yu Sheng said without looking up, his hands still carefully performing the repair.

The spatula smeared the putty, filling the cracks on the doll's legs; the repair material mixed with fresh blood would emit a slight hissing sound as soon as it was applied, then melt into black mud and mist, gradually merging with the doll's skin, restoring the texture and elasticity of flesh and blood.

"I don't know, I just suddenly felt a bit panicked," Irene said, "Spiritual warning, felt unsettled... Maybe because I just met those two people, I still don't dare to trust them? Or maybe it's because I've been disconnected from the outside world for too long; I'm not sure what the situation is between the various factions in the Borderlands right now..."

Yu Sheng stopped his hand movements, looked up at the doll once: "Then next time we meet them, should I still mention your situation to them? They've already seen you today; when they go back, they'll probably report it all together..."

"Reporting isn't something to fear; there are no 66.6-centimeter-tall living dolls in this world; if they report it, they should only think I'm some kind of alchemical creature similar to a living doll; this isn't rare in their eyes. As for the next meeting..." Irene paused here, hesitated for a moment, and looked into Yu Sheng's eyes, "We'll see. If their identities are real and confirmed to be people from an official organization, then ask them about Alice Cottage. If they can help make connections and help me find other living doll sisters in this city, that would be even better. Meeting my own kind... I should feel much more at ease."

Yu Sheng rarely saw this doll show such a worried and hesitant appearance.

But he felt he could understand this hesitation and vacillation.

If he had been sealed for half a century or even longer, then suddenly released to face a completely unfamiliar world, not knowing what the things he once knew had turned into, nor knowing the current world order and power structure, then seeking help from other factions... would indeed become something that must be handled with caution.

Yu Sheng exhaled slightly, put down the spatula in his hand, and gently reset Irene's knee joint.

"Try to stand up."

Book recommendation, "Reverse Cultivation Technique, I Reach the Peak," author's own introduction: This is the story of a young man who unknowingly possesses a deep secret, accidentally travels to a parallel ancient world, and meets a destined madman, a paranoid, and someone skilled at hiding.

Written by readers, and they've written several books; if you're suffering from book shortage, you can go support them.

(End of this chapter)