Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 411 The Proliferation...

Chapter 411: Chapter 411 The Proliferation...

What can a group of mass-produced living dolls with pre-installed "gates" inside their bodies do?

Erin couldn’t help but ponder, her small head seemed to be filled with many thoughts all of a sudden. She vaguely felt that this feature had many uses, but she couldn’t think of anything specific for the moment. After a while, a vague idea gradually took shape.

"Let me think... Can they be summoned and also teleported away?" She tilted her head, looking curiously at Yu Sheng, "Can you directly teleport them to places you have been?"

"That’s one of them. Besides, these mass-produced dolls can also serve as ’mobile beacons’," Yu Sheng nodded, casually explaining, "As you know, the prerequisite for me to open a door is that there has to be a ’beacon’, either a place I’ve been to or a place I’ve marked during a random door opening. But I can’t be everywhere at once—however, with these mass-produced dolls it’s different. The ’gate’ built inside them is a complete beacon in itself, wherever the mass-produced dolls go, it’s like my door is there.

"Additionally, because they have full ’blood permissions’, these dolls can also activate the ’gate’ inside themselves on their own. You can add this feature to their ’shelter knowledge’, so if they face a fatal danger while outside, they can instantly teleport back to the valley.

"Lastly, theoretically, mass-produced dolls can interlink summon each other. One mass-produced doll can summon others nearby—although this is possible hardware-wise, I’m not sure if the ’software’ will keep up. It depends on how high the autonomous judgment ability of these dolls is. After all, they don’t really have the ability to think, performing such complex operations is still a bit challenging."

"Oh, that’s not a big deal," said Erin, waving her hand confidently with her hands on her hips, "Even when their brains aren’t enough, they’ve still got me! Normally, I’m controlling these mass-produced machines in low bandwidth mode, but in crucial moments, I can log in myself!"

"...That makes sense," Yu Sheng rubbed his chin. He almost forgot Erin had the option to ’log in herself’, which suddenly sparked his thoughts. But then he became a bit worried, "So, if your ’main consciousness’ can transfer among a bunch of mass-produced dolls at will... Won’t transferring too much cause a mental split?"

He said it offhandedly, but the little doll actually gave it some serious thought: "Mmm... should not? I’m currently controlling four ’hosts’ and I haven’t gone crazy? Honestly, the longer I operate on four threads, the more spirited I feel. Recently I’ve been researching whether I can have one body sleep while the other three pull an all-nighter, and there’s already been some progress—one body can sleep while the other three sleepwalk around the house..."

"...So the reason you’re crawling around the room like a ghost in the middle of the night is because of this?!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He stared at the little doll for a long time, and she didn’t have any particular reaction. In the end, he could only helplessly wave his hand, while his curiosity about her mental structure grew again—how did this person, who doesn’t even have a brain, not only manage to think but even think in four threads?

Although strictly speaking, her usual "thinking" is quite limited...

Yu Sheng shook his head, throwing out the unrelated thoughts in his mind, and refocused his attention on the mass-produced machines in front of him.

He knew that the "pre-made doors" within the mass-produced dolls had more potential uses than just the few he and Erin had thought of—as long as one’s imagination kept pace, the things these specialized mass-produced dolls could achieve were expansive. Even if you didn’t consider the "additional features," these mass-produced machines themselves still had some combat capabilities.

Although their "skeletons" had been produced at a much-reduced cost, they still counted as a youth version of Spiritual Fox Mysterious Iron. Normally, Erin’s Beam still zipped along as it could, killing enemies, and sent solo on exploration missions, they’re capable of defending themselves.

Thinking of this, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but stroke his chin and mutter, "Able to explore when heading out, fight when encountering enemies, run if need be, considered as born scout Sacred Body."

The little doll beside him instantly lit up, "What’s this sco-fight-retreat?"

"Stop playing those things that are too high-level for you," Yu Sheng glanced at the small figure by his feet, turned, and walked toward the alchemy table, "Do you even understand what you’re playing?"

Erin immediately turned to follow, while pumping her short legs and babbling loudly, "Hey, with those words! I’m quite powerful, you know! The enemy can’t even kill me when I play... hey, why aren’t you listening? I’m really formid... hey, what are you going to do next?"

"The first test machine has passed; of course, I’m going to keep on crafting," Yu Sheng glanced back at the little doll, "Mass production machines, mass production machines, how can they be called mass production if the output doesn’t go up?"

Saying this, he generated a dozen molds for shaping doll skeletons on the ground in an instant, then raised rows of operation platforms within the broad alchemy laboratory, and began continuously transporting "soil" from the valley to the platforms, clearly aiming to immediately expand production.

Erin seemed to remember the "mass production" thing at this point but then frowned slightly, feeling something wasn’t quite right as she watched Yu Sheng’s operation: "...So next you’re just going to be here handcrafting dolls? This isn’t quite what I imagined..."

"Who said I have to keep handcrafting?" Yu Sheng chuckled, getting the preparations more or less done before pointing at the mass-produced doll standing nearby, looking a bit dazed, "Next, let her learn."

Erin blinked and quickly responded, "...6!"

The mass-produced puppet received the command and swiftly climbed onto the alchemy platform, staring intently at Yu Sheng.

Next, Yu Sheng began instructing the fox to prepare the "youthful framework" while demonstrating to the mass-produced puppet how to engrave the Spiritual Array, arrange ritual materials, and shape the clay. He managed a quick explanation to Erin, "The mass-produced model can’t instantly shape the soil and rocks in the valley like I can, so we must prepare these materials for them, and the shaping process will be slower. However, once we have enough of them, the lack of individual efficiency will quickly be compensated by scale..."

While speaking, Hu Li was already busy smelting Mysterious Iron and casting the framework, whereas Yu Sheng completed the engraving and material configuration on the first alchemy platform. He then handed the engraving knife to the mass-produced puppet, instructing it to repeat the process on other platforms.

The small mass-produced puppet, holding a penknife akin to a short stick in her hands, scampered to the nearest alchemy platform and clumsily began replicating the operations she had just "learned." Initially slow, she quickly picked up the pace, improving noticeably.

Watching the little one busily engaged and becoming increasingly adept on the platform, Yu Sheng momentarily wondered if Erin might be secretly controlling it—only to dismiss the thought shortly.

...Because Erin couldn’t manage something like this herself; she doesn’t have the patience to repeat such mundane tasks over and over.

"This could indeed be considered a true delight of the Mechanical Soul," Yu Sheng couldn’t help but muse.

Then he found a cup to begin collecting blood—another crucial material needed for creating a living doll.

Arguably, the most crucial material.

The skeleton, simply tempered and cooled with a spell by Hu Li, was placed on the alchemy platform. Yu Sheng demonstrated to the mass-produced puppet how to mix a tiny amount of blood into the soil and then wrap the soil around the skeleton to form a crude humanoid shape.

This step was quite challenging for a mass-produced puppet just 66.6 centimeters tall.

"...When we have more mass-produced models, they can collaborate in groups of three to four to craft new puppets," Yu Sheng said, watching the little one diligently kneading the clay. After a moment’s pause, he turned to Erin and Hu Li, "The materials could also be switched to normal lightweight clay, which is easier to work with and isn’t expensive in large quantities."

As Hu Li cast another batch of puppet frameworks, he pondered Yu Sheng’s words. "It seems now that these mass-produced puppets can carry out the Spirit Injection Ceremony and shape the puppets on their own. We could even set up a simple casting room with a furnace, allowing them to do the framework casting themselves, just adapting things according to their height. Currently, the only limit on ’production’ seems to be the two ’vital materials’."

"Vital materials, huh..." Yu Sheng muttered, folding his arms, deep in thought.

One was Hu Li’s "Spiritual Fox Mysterious Iron," which granted spirituality to the mass-produced puppets.

The other was his own blood—it granted the puppets life.

"Honestly, that silly fox’s iron block production is quite high," Erin casually commented, "She pulls out large chunks every so often, sells some to the Special Service Bureau, and still has leftovers—and the amount needed for a puppet framework is minimal since to cut costs, you’ve reduced it almost to wires."

With those words, her gaze shifted to Yu Sheng.

Erin pondered for a moment.

"Hey, Yu Sheng, it seems like your blood production is also pretty high! If you drain completely, I reckon you could make at least a few hundred, and if rationed, potentially a thousand of them..."

Seeing the puppet’s little eyes spinning mischievously, Yu Sheng knew she was up to no good and reacted, "Do you even hear yourself?"

"True, if you actually died, your blood would disappear by itself after a while, so there wouldn’t be time to use it," Erin thoughtfully continued, with a serious expression, "So maybe just go half-dead."

Yu Sheng: "...Is that really the point?!"