Chapter 90: Pounced on by the Maid Again

Apparently, that group leader called "Play Star" had used a function similar to a private chat to speak with Li Yu.

Or rather, it was a well-intentioned notification.

After finishing, she did not wait for Li Yu to reply and vanished once more.

The next moment, the group stars disappeared along with her.

"Alright, the newcomer has joined the group, everyone has met, next time we open, if you have matters, you may use the Demon Star authority to summon me."

This line of text appeared and then vanished.

One by one, the eerie stars also began to return to the ocean of Demon Stars above.

This gathering of the group stars ended amidst the mockery of the fun-loving prodigies toward Shang Yang.

With no target left, Li Yu naturally had no need to use his eighth Truth Bubble.

Of course, after reading the group leader's two sentences, the little anxiety he had in his heart dissipated by more than half.

It was indeed as Play Star said; to the gods, he, Li Yu, was but an ant or a speck of dust, and would not be paid any attention at all.

Furthermore, he vaguely knew that even if he really used the eighth Truth Bubble to peer into things, there would be no result, because "everything" within the Demon Star Order was encrypted.

Li Yu guessed: when the [Gate of Truth] in his soul approached perfection, the surging authority might be able to break the dual encryption of the Demon Star Order and the Reincarnation Heavenly Net, but by that time, he might also be close to ascending to godhood.

"The Truth Bubble is my greatest reliance; it is best not to waste it if I can avoid it."

"There is no need to worry unnecessarily; increasing my strength as quickly as possible is the right path. Shang Yang said he is already at Sequence Seven, so the difficulty of my next Strange Domain conquest will skyrocket. Before that, I must first promote to [Alchemist]."

As these thoughts settled, Li Yu's attention returned to the present.

After every conquest ends, the Demon Star Order grants one hour for rest and exploration.

Now, there was not much left.

After he exchanged for the Alchemist secret medicine formula, the promotion ritual, and those five pill formulas, he still had six thousand seven hundred merit points remaining.

Because that "Ancient Citizen Pill" might not be convenient to refine and consume, Li Yu immediately had a thought and spent one hundred merit points to exchange for the Blood Battle pill formula.

Although he was more interested in the rare pill formulas for Confucian Heart, Flower Maiden, and Alien later on.

But having learned from past mistakes, he decided not to waste points for now.

If an unexpected need truly arises later, it would not be too late to summon the Demon Star to exchange for them.

"With these, I can attempt to promote to [Alchemist]. How should I spend the remaining merit points?"

"Weapons? The Pill Disciple sequence doesn't need them. As for Alchemist, I'll see after I promote."

"Divine abilities or strange arts? That is also something to consider after promotion. Even if I exchanged for usable ones now, I wouldn't have time to cultivate them, and it might even delay my promotion."

"I didn't expect that one day I would be pondering how to spend merit points. Although I still can't compare to those prodigies in the group, I should have opened up quite a gap from ordinary Demon Star Order holders."

"Hm?"

Abruptly, Li Yu thought of something.

He immediately had a thought in his heart and summoned:

"Demon Star, display the Heavenly Craft Sect's wonder, [Blank Secret Core]."

"Anything under one hundred points, deduct it directly."

"Deducted!"

That's right, Li Yu had remembered his mechanical maid.

When he was in reality before, he had already been thinking that once he had enough merit points, he would try to exchange for a Blank Secret Core to see if it could allow Hong Dou to restore more functional modules, especially her memory.

If Hong Dou were truly just an ordinary Linglong puppet with all modules gouged out, leaving only an empty shell, Li Yu would certainly not be willing to spend his merit points.

But Li Yu knew!

Hong Dou was absolutely not simple.

That inexplicably high authority, the fighting style that remained fierce despite only a tiny bit left, the gradually recovering and evolving high intelligence... all sorts of signs proved that this Linglong puppet, Hong Dou, possessed very powerful, yet-to-be-realized potential.

Repairing her, for Li Yu, could also quickly increase his strength.

"Most importantly, there must be secrets within this."

"I previously peered into Hong Dou, though it was only with the second Truth Bubble, and the authority was very low, so I only discovered that there were some secret cores remaining in her body, but failed to know her true origin or what secret history she hides..."

"Now I do have the eighth Truth Bubble I can use. With the authority at this level, perhaps I could learn more from Hong Dou... but to use it just like that is truly a pity. The Truth Bubble can save a life at a critical moment. I will wait until I have recharged a few more before considering such waste."

"For now, I'll just exchange for a Blank Secret Core to take back."

As soon as his thought fell, a page of wonders appeared before his eyes.

On it, there were only Blank Secret Cores.

From the lowest grade, to mid-grade, high-grade, and some special secret cores, such as the Zhongqu Secret Core, Hundred Crafts Secret Core, Great Wisdom Secret Core, and so on.

Looking at the remarks and introductions below, those latter items clearly involved some secret history of the [Heavenly Craft Sect]. No wonder they charged Li Yu one hundred merit points.

Li Yu glanced at the merit points required for the exchange, gave up directly, and turned to look at the low, mid, and high grades.

"Lowest grade Blank Secret Core, requires three thousand merit points."

"Mid-grade secret core, requires nine thousand merit points."

"High-grade secret core, requires thirty thousand merit points."

"How could it be so expensive?"

After seeing the price, Li Yu's brows immediately furrowed.

Although it was priced in "merit points," he had some estimates in his heart, but this price completely exceeded them.

Without a doubt, it was even more outrageous than the price in reality.

"The wonder required by the Order Holder is a specialty belonging to the orthodox god sect, the [Heavenly Craft Sect]. At the same time, the Reincarnation Heavenly Net is also produced by the True God of that sect."

"Due to the enmity between the two camps, the Heavenly Craft Sect has initiated a sanction and blockade against our side."

"Related wonders, especially core wonders like the Blank Secret Core, have all doubled in price, and the possibility of further price increases in the future cannot be ruled out." "This is allowed?"

Hearing the answer, Li Yu's mind was full of question marks.

He had heard terms like sanctions and blockades, but he hadn't expected them to be used here.

Helpless, he seemed to have no other choice.

Although he knew that a normal Blank Secret Core would never need such an expensive price in the real world.

But unfortunately, he was not a member of the Heavenly Craft Sect, nor was he even in the three major countries. Instead, he was in Wanfu City, which was also blockaded, surrounded by forbidden lands, and required smuggling for many supplies. No matter how much money or how many wonders he had, he couldn't exchange them for a Blank Secret Core.

"Exchange for one lowest-grade secret core!"

"Deducted!"

During the conversation, Li Yu watched with his own eyes as his merit point balance jumped from six thousand six hundred to three thousand six hundred.

At the same time, the one hour had arrived.

……

=9+Shu_Ba

South District, meat shop residence.

Li Yu held an object in his hands and tumbled out of the mysterious vortex.

Once again, he fell into Hong Dou's hard and cold embrace.

Before he could even make eye contact with that fox-girl face still full of inquiry and doubt, Li Yu muttered directly:

"This won't do. I'll start picking out a [Bionic Skin] for Hong Dou later. This texture is just too hard."

"Hong Dou deserves better skin, and so do I."

After Li Yu said these shameless words.

This time, he didn't hear Hong Dou ask him if he wanted to start purchasing skin.

Looking up, he saw Hong Dou tilting her head, staring at the object he was holding in his hands.

Was that... a human brain?

It was composed of some kind of pale, miserable substance, and the grooves, blood vessels, and so on were exactly the same as brain matter. Li Yu had seen many human brains removed in his memories, and he was absolutely certain.

It was just that compared to real human brain matter, this object was far too eerie.

When Li Yu gazed at it, he actually felt coldness, wisdom, vitality, and other such Qi simultaneously.

"Is this the Blank Secret Core?"

He had just muttered it out.

The gemstone at the center of Hong Dou's forehead emitted a red light to scan it, and a mechanical voice followed:

"Detected wonder [Blank Secret Core], lowest grade."

"This object can be used as nourishment to urge Hong Dou to perform self-repair."

"Every time a low-grade Blank Secret Core is devoured, Hong Dou's related modules will have a chance to partially recover, with priority given to the wisdom module, memory module, and combat module..."

"How do I use it?"

Li Yu didn't wait for Hong Dou to finish her assessment and asked directly.

As soon as his voice fell, the familiar movement occurred.

Only hearing a "hissing" sound, steam containing a strange fragrance roared and sprayed out, and from the back of her head, a clicking sound came.

The next moment, a scene that made Li Yu feel somewhat horrified occurred:

He saw a "small ball of flesh" with extremely strong spirituality crawl out from the back of Hong Dou's mechanical head. Tentacles reached out, and with a few "plop-plop" sounds, it actually ejected directly into Li Yu's palm.

With a few more hissing sounds, the tentacles all pierced into the Blank Secret Core.

The substance that looked like it had a metallic luster was like tofu under the tentacles.

Scarlet red spread, and the Blank Secret Core shrank and disappeared crazily.

Correspondingly, the small ball of flesh swelled by at least one-third, and the spirituality and wisdom it emitted also increased by a lot.

It even rubbed and rolled in Li Yu's palm, as if it were a "pet," expressing intimacy toward its master.

Afterwards, it clicked a few times before sliding back into the back of the head.

An instant later, Hongdou opened her eyes once more.

This time, the intelligence displayed in her pair of fox eyes gave even Li Yu a start.

Before this, although Hongdou had also displayed the extraordinary intelligence of a high-level robot, he had instinctively still regarded her as a mechanical puppet.

But in this brief moment, he did not know if it was an illusion, but Li Yu felt as if he were looking at a human infant.

A kind of ignorant, nascent intelligence!

Before Li Yu could think it through, the ruby at the center of Hongdou's brow once again emitted a dazzling red light, locking onto and enveloping Li Yu.

A scene that had occurred long ago played out once again:

"Partial nutrients replenished, secret core beginning self-repair... partial module functions restarting."

"New master detected... master-recognition steps insufficient... severe lack of authorization."

"Restarting master-recognition... beginning collection of fingerprints, irises, bodily fluids, and Qi signatures..."

"Huh?"

Li Yu had completely failed to anticipate that after repairing Hongdou, he would actually have to go through master-recognition all over again?

However, when he was once again tackled by Hongdou and pinned to the bed, he quickly discovered that this master-recognition procedure seemed to have one more step than before.

How was a Qi signature to be collected?

Just as this doubt arose in the depths of Li Yu's heart, the next moment, he had an inconceivable sensation that was completely different from the past.

This time, Hongdou did not transform into an exquisite mechanical fox with a red mole on its brow; instead, amidst a gush of red mist and steam, she began to undergo a sort of "disassembly," while the limbs detaching from her body transformed into soft mecha that covered Li Yu.

From the outside, this human and this mechanical maid were merging, beautiful yet extremely eerie.

(End of chapter)