Chapter 482 Yes or No

As soon as Marlene said the word "sister", Yu Sheng immediately noticed that Irene's tense body relaxed a little - the relaxation of the little doll was visible to the naked eye.

It seems that this little thing is not completely heartless.

At an unnoticeable angle, Marlene turned her head slightly towards Yu Sheng, and the two of them exchanged glances quickly.

Irene had already stood up and excitedly grabbed the hand of the living doll in front of her. "Really? Girls! I told you I'm an Alice doll. I've been an Alice doll my whole life, but people always don't believe me. Only when you're close do you understand!"

Marlene was being swung around like a dryer by the dwarf in front of her. She quickly grabbed her wrist with her other hand and said, "Calm down, calm down. My wrist isn't strong..."

"Oh, I forgot," Irene quickly released the other person's hand. Seeing him checking his wrist joints, she couldn't help but start nagging, "Then your hand really needs repairing. Otherwise, you can ask Yu Sheng to make you a new one. Let me tell you, my body is made of spirit fox black iron mixed with exotic building materials. It's usually charged with 220, and in an emergency, it can even absorb the thunder tribulations of those gods..."

Marlene seemed to be stunned again.

But this time she stayed there for only half a second before she came to her senses. While observing Irene, she casually said, "That's very strong... Can I see the painting behind you?"

"A painting?" Irene was startled, but immediately turned to look at Yu Sheng. Seeing him nod slightly, she turned around, took off the picture frame from her back, and with great effort, raised it with both hands and handed it to the living doll opposite. "Hey, okay... Be careful, my perception is synchronized with this painting. Yu Sheng threw me down from the second floor..."

This little thing is quite vindictive.

Marlene remained silent, but carefully examined the simple and elegant oil painting before her. Her gaze then fell on the stuffed teddy bear sitting on the chair in the painting.

"What's wrong with this bear?"

"I don't know. It's been sealed in the painting with me ever since I can remember," Irene scratched her head. "I only vaguely remember that it seemed to have some sense a long time ago, but then it became uncommunicative. When I was in the painting with it, it would giggle from time to time, but after I came out of the painting, it became much quieter."

Marlene frowned slightly and lightly brushed her fingers across the rough surface of the painting.

Irene, who was lost in thought, suddenly showed a slightly uneasy expression. While observing the expression of the adult doll, she whispered again, "I really am the Alice doll, right?"

"...There's no doubt about it," Marlene smiled, looking in the direction of the little doll, but her gaze didn't seem to be completely focused on Irene, "You are one of the Alice dolls, but something unexpected 'changed'."

"Can it be cured?" Irene asked quickly, then paused, raised her hand and pointed at herself to explain, "Look, I'm only this tall now, so I can only use these temporary shells. Yu Sheng has thought of many ways, but I just can't solve this problem. Do you think there will be a solution if I go back to Alice Garden? Or you can take me back to see a doctor?"

Marlene paused and looked up at the doll: "Take you back to Alice's Garden?"

"Yeah, don't all the Alice dolls come out of the 'Garden'?" Irene nodded. "If something happens outside, they go back there to reshape their bodies. That's what I remember..."

"Alice Matrix Network—codenamed 'Garden'," Marlene's expression grew serious, and she looked into the doll's eyes. "'Garden' isn't a place you can 'return' to physically. It can only be connected through Alice Keys and broadcast nodes throughout the universe... Do you want me to help you reconnect to the network?"

Irene's expression froze.

She stood on the coffee table in a daze for a long time before she raised her hand and slowly scratched her head. After a long while, she finally muttered softly, "Yes, yes?"

She turned her head and stared at Yu Sheng blankly: "Yu Sheng, is that so?"

Yu Sheng didn't reply directly to the little girl with a "How would I know" as usual. Instead, he reached out and took Irene down from the coffee table and placed her on his lap. "It seems that there was just a slight error in the technical details."

He raised his head again and said, "Ms. Marlene, can you help her reconnect to the network?"

"...It's difficult. Judging from Irene's appearance, she must have forgotten her 'Alice Key'. This thing is recorded directly in our souls at the moment of birth, and it is the only bond from birth to death. Even sisters who are Alice dolls have no right to interfere with each other or read the key. Besides..."

Yu Sheng and Irene said in unison: "What's more?"

"Besides, hundreds of years ago, Alice's Matrix closed its direct connection with the 'Garden'. Now the Garden Matrix's authentication rules are even stricter than before."

"Alice's Matrix...is that the 'Ancestor of Dolls' that Irene always talks about, one of the Ancient Holy Spirits?" Yu Sheng couldn't hide his astonishment. "She closed the connection to the garden? Why?"

Even Irene, who was still in a daze just now, suddenly reacted at this time. The little puppet almost jumped up: "Something happened to the puppet ancestor?!"

"No, the Puppet Ancestor is fine and still regularly sends safety signals. However, she and the other Ancient Spirits are now at the edge of the perceivable universe. We don't know the specifics, but the Ancient Spirits are likely carrying out a very important mission, and therefore have severed most of their contact with the 'inner realm.'"

Irene seemed slightly relieved, letting out a drawn-out "Oh," but then frowned again. "Why is the situation unclear again... That guy with the steely expressionless face said the same thing. Where on earth did the Ancient Holy Spirit go? Isn't anyone curious?"

"The boundaries of the perceivable universe—what happens there can't be casually transmitted back to the 'inside,'" Marlene said immediately, her face serious. "Intelligence outside the system boundary carries a high risk to the system. Any information transmitted from there has the potential for memetic contamination—there's a term called a 'transsystem event,' which refers to this kind of accident."

Irene scratched her head again.

This knowledge was completely beyond her ability to process.

Yu Sheng felt a furry tail poke his arm. Hu Li came over and whispered, "...Didn't they say that Alice dolls are all from kindergarten correspondence courses?"

Yu Sheng frowned, thinking that Irene's special case certainly couldn't be judged by common sense, but after a long pause, he finally said, "Maybe it's the difference between a large class and a small class."

Irene seemed to be completely unaware of what Yu Sheng and Hu Li were whispering about.

She sat down on Yu Sheng's lap, her little brows furrowed, as if she was still thinking hard.

She seemed to be trying to sort out her memories, looking for details about the "garden" or recalling what her "Alice Key" was. She pondered for a long time and muttered softly, "Did I really remember it wrong? Why can't I remember anything..."

Then she raised her head again and looked at the big puppet opposite her.

"Then... what about Alice's cabin? Did she follow the Puppet Master to the border? What about the other sisters? I clearly remember... Well, even if I remember it wrong, what did everyone do when they needed to rebuild their bodies? There are always people with physical injuries, right?"

"A puppet printing room," Marlene replied. "Every outpost has one. I have one here too. When the Alice puppet suffers fatal damage, it does return to the 'garden,' but that's when its consciousness is uploaded to the Matrix network and then recreated in the puppet printing room. If conditions permit, it might skip the upload process and directly disassemble the body and transfer it to the printing tank for repair. I've already... Anyway, in a sense, your memory isn't completely wrong. It's probably just a deviation. You've confused the concepts of 'garden' and 'recreating.'"

Irene listened in confusion, and only vaguely understood what was being said. After a while, she finally grasped what the other person was talking about: "So, then, that 'doll printing room' you mentioned..."

"The prerequisite for using it is to connect to the 'garden'." Marlene looked into the eyes of the little doll and said calmly.

Irene was visibly frustrated.

Hu Li came over, picked up another Irene from the sofa, and wrapped the little doll with his tail.

"At least you finally contacted the other sisters," she said to Irene. "Wasn't your biggest goal originally to contact the organization? Now that the organization has been found and the situation of the Puppet Master has been confirmed, you can talk to Miss Marlene about anything later. It's just that your body won't recover for a while, but you now have two bodies, and aren't you used to it?"

Irene was stunned by Hu Li's series of words. After a few seconds, she looked up hesitantly: "Yes, really?"

"Of course."

Hu Li had a gentle smile on his face and reached out to rub the head of the doll in his arms vigorously.

The little guy was rubbed so hard that he felt dizzy: "Silly fox, don't fool me, I'm telling you..."

Hu Li didn't say anything, but just took the time to turn his head slightly and winked at Yu Sheng, and the big ears on his head trembled.

Yu Sheng took the opportunity to stuff the other Irene on his lap into the middle of Hu Li's pile of tails, and then stood up naturally: "By the way, Miss Marlene, I have some other technical details to ask you about deep space navigation..."

"Of course." Marlene nodded naturally with a faint smile on her face, then stood up.

Yu Sheng took the living doll directly to the second floor.

"…Is it really an Alice doll?"

Looking back at the direction of the stairs, Yu Sheng asked straight to the point.

"Yes," Marlene nodded gently, "I'm not entirely trying to comfort or appease her."

Yu Sheng understood the other party's implication: "...How much?"

"About half."

"What about the other half?"

"It's a terrifying darkness."

(End of this chapter)