Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 409: The First Mass-Produced Machine

Chapter 409: Chapter 409: The First Mass-Produced Machine

Lodge Valley, Teleportation Hub, on the terrace connected to the external corridor of the second floor of the Great Pyramid.

The bustling City of No Night amidst the eternal rain and night of Shuji is indeed a novel alien planet landscape, but staying too long in such a perpetually rainy place inevitably makes one feel somewhat oppressed—after returning to this sunny and bright valley, Yu Sheng felt his mood greatly relaxed.

Standing at the edge of the terrace outside the Hub Pyramid, Yu Sheng took a deep breath of the valley’s unique fresh air and looked around with a sense of joy and relaxation.

Not far away, the Fairy Tale Town was basking in daylight, with various imaginative wonderful buildings seemingly having added a few new ones since before. The King’s knights were patrolling between the town and the forest, while Little Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Pack was chasing and running in the fields. Sleeping Beauty was pruning the lush rose bushes in front of her house, and suddenly a silver-gray drone flew straight over the town, carrying a basket full of snacks and a brand new axe, clearly intending to deliver these gifts to the hunters and squirrels in the forest.

In the farmlands between the town and the Teleportation Hub, Luna was leading a group of children to identify crops in the fields—she was still wearing the "nun’s habit" she got from Shuji, looking as if she quite liked this new outfit, while the children around her obviously had become familiar with this strangely-looking "sister," running around her with great joy.

On the terrace nearby, Hu Li had just set up a long drying rack, and now basking in the sunny days of the valley and a gentle breeze, the demon fox girl was humming an unknown tune, happily hanging her freshly washed tails neatly on the rack—eight fluffy fox tails gently swaying in the wind, with a puppet’s dress in between them.

Erin (Reinforced Steel), having just finished her bath, was sitting cross-legged on the railing post of the terrace, wearing new clothes, her hair still slightly wet. When the breeze blew, she tilted her head into the wind, closed her eyes enjoying the moment, and a silly smile appeared on her face.

"I still prefer sunny days!" The little puppet suddenly turned around and said earnestly to Yu Sheng, "Over at Shuji, the rain never stops, I always feel like my joints will get moldy in such an environment sooner or later."

Yu Sheng laughed and walked over to ruffle Erin’s hair.

"We’ve rested enough, time to get to work."

"Alright!" Erin immediately said happily, and then jumped from the railing post onto Yu Sheng’s shoulder, turning around to wave vigorously at Hu Li, "Silly fox!"

Hu Li had just finished hanging the tails and was standing in front of the drying rack, happily admiring her handiwork. Upon hearing Erin’s shout, she immediately perked up and gleefully ran over to Yu Sheng, "Coming, coming! Are we making a new body for Erin?"

"Let’s go," Yu Sheng nodded and beckoned with his hand, "let’s go and stock up some combat power for our travel agency."

The three of them left the terrace and entered the Hub Pyramid through the external corridor, then quickly passed through a short hallway, arriving at the alchemy laboratory that Yu Sheng specifically established inside this "wonder structure."

Of course, considering Yu Sheng did not know any alchemy beyond making puppets, this place could easily be considered a dedicated puppet workshop for making Erin...

The alchemy laboratory was located on the second floor of the Hub Pyramid, and even when disregarding facilities like the hallway storage prep rooms, the remaining lab space was astonishingly spacious, with its large alchemy operation area resembling an indoor plaza—when Yu Sheng initially built this place, he actually regretted a little, thinking that a space this large dedicated solely to making puppets might be a bit wasteful, but now it seemed he had inadvertently made it just right.

The lab was brightly lit, and the three of them went straight to an alchemy table at the center of the operation area. Yu Sheng steadied himself and began the preparations for puppet manufacturing with practiced ease.

First, he laid out various ritual materials he had procured from the Special Service Bureau, then directly controlled the alchemy table to generate an alchemy array for Spirit Injection, while simultaneously gathering rocks and soil from near the Teleportation Hub to bring to the lab for use...

While Yu Sheng was making these preparations, Hu Li had also started preparing a new "skeleton" for Erin.

The demon fox girl extended her hand and pulled out a lump of Spiritual Fox Mysterious Iron from her tail, then ignited a dazzling flame at the tip of her tail, beginning to cut and cast the metal using argon fox welding.

Yu Sheng casually created a mold for casting the skeleton on the ground next to the alchemy table, then pondered for a moment, making some adjustments to the mold, while reminding Hu Li, "Cut a bit less, don’t make it as sturdy as last time, this is for mass production, let’s keep the costs down as much as possible..."

Erin, watching wide-eyed from the side, couldn’t help herself when she saw Yu Sheng had reduced the size of the skeleton mold on the ground three times, exclaiming, "Stop shrinking it! The femur is going to be reduced to a wire! It’s supposed to be part of the combat power, keep some basic strength at least!"

Hu Li also reminded, "Savior, if the Spiritual Fox Mysterious Iron usage is too low, it might affect the ’energy storage’ effect, it might run out of power after a dozen beams during a fight..."

Yu Sheng thought about it, initially thinking that for a production model, it wouldn’t last long in battle anyway, being able to fire a few rounds of beams with the main unit or act as a power bank for the main unit would be good enough. But seeing Erin’s distressed expression and considering that firepower should be sufficient, he reluctantly adjusted it back a bit...

"Let’s first make a sample," watching Hu Li pouring the skeleton, Yu Sheng said while stroking his chin, "then we’ll have Erin control it in her so-called ’low bandwidth’ mode to test how well this production model body functions independently if it only receives simple commands. If it works, we can start mass-producing the final products."

Erin had already climbed onto the nearby alchemy table by now, resting her chin on her hands while watching Yu Sheng and Hu Li busy themselves, sporting a contemplative expression. Who knows what was going through that little head of hers. After a few minutes, her eyes suddenly lit up: "How about adding a self-destruct feature...?"

Yu Sheng was pondering where else he could cut costs for the mass-produced machines, and didn’t immediately react upon hearing the puppet’s words. When he realized what she meant, he was shocked: "...Are you serious?"

"After all, it’s a mass-produced machine. If it gets smashed, it’s not a big deal. Considering its limited performance, if it gets caught during a solo exploration mission, it might not be able to escape. Why not add a self-destruct feature to surprise the enemy," Erin continued, still resting her chin while analytically explaining, "Plus, I think it’s kind of thrilling..."

Yu Sheng was utterly amazed by the puppet’s idea, but a second later, he became very interested in the concept. Suddenly, any sense of incongruity disappeared from his mind, and he leaned over to Erin to discuss: "How would it explode? Stuff two bombs in its stomach? We could ask Dorothy, she has a bunch of ammunition over there... Or borrow some incendiary bombs from the Fire Stick? Set up a self-destruct with arson capability?"

"Doesn’t seem quite right; how much can you fit there, anyway? It feels like the firepower wouldn’t be enough..."

"Should we ask Master Yuan Hao? He’s into Artifact Refining, and those celestial beings have a bunch of black technology; lots of them are pretty powerful."

"I really don’t want to stuff bricks in my stomach!"

"...Then we’ll need some innovation in the body’s structure itself," Yu Sheng mused, "See if it’s possible to integrate an overload mechanism directly inside, releasing all the energy stored in the Spiritual Fox Mysterious Iron at once..."

"I’ve got an idea," Erin said excitedly, her eyes shining, "Based on my experience making Electric Light Balls lately, if they aren’t done well, they really do explode..."

Their train of thought opened up on the spot, and they enthusiastically started discussing back and forth, analyzing how they could stuff a big bang into Erin’s mass-produced body. No one felt this topic was out of place, and they continued the discussion for quite a while before they both stopped simultaneously and pondered. Yu Sheng broke the silence first, thoughtfully: "I kind of feel this topic is a bit too twisted."

Erin, mimicking Yu Sheng’s thoughtful chin-stroking: "Seems like it..."

"No, I still feel that the self-destruct plan is unreliable," Yu Sheng pondered carefully for a long time and finally shook his head, "These mass-produced machines are usually active in the valley, which is our main base—having a bunch of mass-produced puppets with bombs running around here, one accidentally exploding would be quite the spectacle. And besides, there are a lot of kids here."

"Seems like it..."

"But you really did remind me," Yu Sheng said after a moment of thought, very seriously, "We can indeed add some ’features’ to these ’mass-produced machines’—previously, I made a body for you solely as a shell without considering this approach, but now I have an idea."

Erin blinked, looking at Yu Sheng with some suspicion: "What’s your idea?"

"Do you still remember my ’portable No. 66 Wutong Road’?"

Erin: "...?"

"This thing, it might be built into mass-produced machines."

...

A moment later, a newly adjusted puppet skeleton was transferred to the alchemy platform.

For Yu Sheng, the upcoming operation was practically second nature.

Rocks and soil in his hands were granted a brief false life, rapidly squirming to envelop the skeleton on the platform, forming the puppet’s shell. A drop of blood was mixed into the shell, becoming the key medium for carrying spirituality. The incense used in the Spirit Injection Ceremony was thrown into the candle flame, and in the suddenly rising flames, real vitality gradually emerged.

The rock and soil-formed body took on a hint of blood color, turning false life into genuine breathing and simulated heartbeat—and then, at a suitable moment, Yu Sheng bestowed a name upon this empty shell.

"Erin—"

The Spirit Injection Ceremony was completed in the blink of an eye, and the Erin (mass-produced) on the alchemy platform sluggishly opened her eyes.