Chapter 589 Unexpected Turn of Events

Luo felt that she hadn't been this happy or relaxed in a very, very long time.

She took a very long vacation, one that hadn't been seen in nearly a century. Although she temporarily put aside her research projects, she also put aside her headache-inducing management work, the mountain of troubles in her business operations, those difficult clients, and her constantly tense nerves.

In a daze, she felt as if she had distanced herself from those "borderline relics" and forbidden knowledge that could easily kill, as if she had never even come into contact with them. She felt as if she had returned to her childhood days of schooling, guarding the dilapidated observatory on her remote and desolate home planet, watching the stars. She remembered that a scholar from Terra had passed by and given her a seed collected from the high mountains of Mera-IX. She planted that seed in the open space next to the observatory, and when the Cloud Season arrived, the alien flower would bloom brilliantly, shining like stars in the night...

The mushrooms were delicious, and the grilled fish was also very tasty.

There are some really strange and wonderful things in this strange valley.

She made a new friend, a human—everyone here calls her "Golden Retriever," an affectionate nickname—Golden Retriever taught her to catch fish in the river, to find those mushrooms in the forest that can see little people, and to steal fruit from a giant snake's den. They also used twigs they found to start a fire and cooked food in the most primitive way...

There was no advanced nutrient management system, nor were they the kind of "products" produced by automated farms that were almost identical in size. The fruits varied in size, the fish had an earthy taste, and the campfire was difficult to control. Things would easily burn or be half-raw, but the mushrooms were really delicious.

Luo rolled over in the grass, chewing contentedly, forgetting all her troubles.

Yu Sheng stood expressionlessly to the side, carrying Eileen on his back. He watched as the once-powerful warlord with the black spot on his head was immersed in a sea of ​​poisonous mushrooms, seemingly oblivious to the world around him.

Eileen (blonde) reached out and tugged at Yu Sheng's hair: "What do we do now?"

“What can we do? She’s drooling, what can we do? We definitely can’t send her to Blackrock Station in this situation,” Yu Sheng sighed. “I’ll tell Baili Qing to send her for a stomach pump… I don’t know if elves can treat this.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Rapunzel, who was also lying in the grass, suddenly sat up. The dazed girl seemed to have regained her senses: "Ah, no need, no need, this mushroom isn't that strong."

Yu Sheng gave the large, unruly kid, who had been drooling with Luo just a moment ago, a strange look in his eyes. Before he could speak, the kid patted his bottom and stood up, a fawning smile on his face: "Heh, heh heh..."

Yu Sheng was even more furious when he saw the girl's sly smile, and instantly understood Little Red Riding Hood's usual state of mind: "Heh heh! You finally get a weekend and instead of doing your homework, you bring guests here to roast poisonous mushrooms?!"

"What poisonous mushroom? It's just a regular magic mushroom from the Black Forest. I can eat it raw without any problems..."

Yu Sheng laughed in exasperation: "You think everyone has the same constitution as you? You can eat two steamed buns and twist the head off the Hell Guardian—this guy next to you can only tighten screws even after he's full!"

As he spoke, he opened a door leading to the Secret Service. Opposite the door sat Baili Qing, who was sitting behind her desk, and several Secret Service department heads who looked bewildered and were giving reports to the director.

Bai Liqing's expression remained calm. She stood up from behind the table, her gaze quickly falling on Luo behind Yu Sheng, her eyes filled with inquiry.

Yu Sheng didn't explain in detail, but simply pointed and said, "She ate poisonous mushrooms. Use your infirmary to give her a stomach lavage."

Baili Qing nodded knowingly, accepting the situation very smoothly and naturally—and then arranged for someone to take Luo over for a stomach pumping.

"Return her to me after you're done," Yu Sheng said, watching the medical staff take Luo away. Before closing the door, he reminded Baili Qing, "I'm still waiting to arrange for her to go back and manage Blackstone Station."

A reassuring voice came from across the door: "Don't worry, I remember."

The door closed, and Yu Sheng turned around to look at Rapunzel, who was bowing her head. He heard her muttering, "That mushroom is really fine. It's a magic mushroom, you know, they're in fairy tales, not the same as poisonous mushrooms in real life..."

Then she secretly raised her eyelids to glance at Yu Sheng, and seeing that he didn't seem angry, she immediately perked up and picked up an apple from the ground next to her and handed it to him: "Brother, try this, I got it from the Snake Queen's den."

Yu Sheng sighed, taking the apple as he said, "Can you guys please stop bullying Snake Princess? She's a guest, and she was asked by Master Yuanhe to take care of her..."

"Who bullies her? We love her!" Rapunzel immediately defended herself. "We always share our good food with her, and Grandpa Yun gives her all the pills he refines for practice. All she does is eat and sleep..."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, recalling the Snake Princess's usual living conditions in the valley, and found that the situation seemed to be true. So he waved his hand and sent Rapunzel back to do her homework.

Although there was a minor hiccup on Luo's side, the repair and restart of the Blackrock Space Station was not something that could be completed in the near future, so Yu Sheng wasn't too concerned about it—after all, he still had a lot of things to do.

We can prioritize increasing production capacity for mass-produced Eileen, while also providing a more suitable place for the growing number of mass-produced dolls. Currently, they mainly live in the warehouses of the Hub Pyramid and temporary settlements throughout the town. Although the little ones have low requirements for their living environment, we can't keep them crammed into boxes forever… The “research and development” work of the three evil cultivators on the Shuji side also needs close monitoring. The diffusion device they developed last time was very useful and should be prioritized… The Crystal Tree on the Soul Wilderness side should ideally be “watered” again; its growth rate is very fast, and we must ensure a sufficient supply of “nutrients”…

Yu Sheng took a grilled fish from the now-extinguished campfire on the riverbank and slowly walked towards the town, munching on it as he mentally tallied up his tasks. But after reviewing his list of responsibilities, he suddenly realized something—

These things... seem to drain your energy.

Mass production of Eileen requires blood as an "alchemy catalyst," and the weapon development on the other side of Shuji also requires blood as a raw material. The growth of the Crystal Tree also requires his blood, and in large quantities.

Yu Sheng pondered silently for a moment, then added another thought to his mind: He would soon ask Xuan Che if there were any qi-replenishing pills in Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain...

"How about we try diluting the blood with water?" Eileen, sitting on his shoulders, suddenly blurted out.

Yu Sheng was taken aback: "Then it still needs to be diluted with saline solution... Wait, how did you know what I was thinking?"

The little doll ruffled his hair haphazardly: "Nonsense! Your inner monologues are driving me crazy, you're totally missing something."

"Oh, I almost forgot about that."

Yu Sheng scratched his head, and just then, another series of footsteps suddenly sounded from nearby.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a huge shadow wolf emerging from the grove—with a red-clad girl looking preoccupied sitting on its back.

Little Red Riding Hood looked up and saw Yu Sheng. She immediately controlled the Shadow Wolf and walked over quickly, her expression clearly showing that something was wrong: "Great, I was just looking for you."

"Looking for me?" Yu Sheng was taken aback. "What is it?"

Little Red Riding Hood didn't waste any words: "Do you remember the 'dark alley'?"

Yu Sheng nodded immediately; "Of course I remember, what about the dark alley?"

“I just got a job to go to the alleys—but something seems off there. There’s a warning on the border communications that something strange has happened in the alleys, with extra entities appearing in the deeper alleys. The Secret Service has raised the danger level there… I think you might be interested in this.”

Yu Sheng frowned, casually took out his phone, and began searching for the latest news related to "Dark Alley" on the border communications platform.

Soon a bunch of newly posted posts appeared before his eyes, one of which had a particularly eye-catching title—

"A large number of 'shops' have opened simultaneously deep in the alley; beware of humanoid entities!"

Upon seeing the title, Yu Sheng's expression changed slightly.

"Would such a change occur in another realm?" He looked up at the girl in red on the wolf's back.

“It’s extremely rare, but some alien realms do suddenly change, such as the emergence of new areas or changes in the activity frequency and range of internal entities,” Little Red Riding Hood nodded. “But the changes in the alley seem even more strange… The simultaneous opening of a large number of shops indicates that the deep-seated operating ‘rules’ of the alien realm have changed, and new entities have appeared. The original danger rating has lost its reference value. I’ve never heard of such a thing before—I reckon that soon, the Secret Service might even temporarily seal off that area.”

Hearing Little Red Riding Hood's speculation, Yu Sheng frowned and remained silent for a moment, but his eyes changed rapidly.

He quickly understood why Little Red Riding Hood had said he might be interested in it.

The dark alley was the place where the "anomaly" first occurred on the eve of the Boundary Bridge crisis. The power of the Goddess of Omens first manifested there, and then gradually spread to other alien realms, until it spread to the entire "Mist City".

Those black spider webs that spread everywhere did indeed cause changes to the rules of operation in the alley, and even trapped the "native entities" in the alley, breaking through the alien barrier behind the "old bookstore".

But after the crisis at the Boundary Bridge ended, those spiderwebs had clearly disappeared... and the order in the alley should have been restored.

Yu Sheng raised his head and looked at the little doll on his shoulder.

Eileen turned her gaze at the same time, her azure eyes filled with confusion.

"I don't know anything."

“I know you don’t know,” Yu Sheng said casually, “but this matter is indeed strange… Let’s go back and call Hu Li and Luna, and we’ll go check it out.”

(End of this chapter)