After the arrival of the Deep Sea Age, humans are not the only intelligent race that have survived from the Old World and established city-state civilizations. In addition to humans, there are three other races: the Gypsies, the Sen'jin, and the Elves living in this world and developing their own civilizations.

This was the knowledge written in Nina's textbook. Duncan had already known it, and he had long been interested in these "alien races" mentioned in the textbook, especially the elves - this race that always appeared in various fantasy stories and was surrounded by a mysterious aura actually existed in this world. This once made him extremely curious.

The illustration in Nina's textbook had described the appearance of an elf to Duncan. The illustration was just like the elves he had in mind, with long pointed ears, a slender figure, and a beautiful face, so beautiful that it was almost impossible to tell whether the elf was male or female.

This directly formed his initial impression of the "elves" in this world: a long-lived species with a lifespan of up to a thousand years, generally extremely good-looking, elegant and mysterious.

And in his superficial initial impression, it seemed that he had not imagined the appearance of elves with a lifespan of thousands of years when they grow old... He had not even thought that this race would experience changes in appearance after aging just like humans.

But now he knew that his understanding of the "elves" in this world was too superficial.

The owner of this "Rose Doll Shop" is an elf, a plump, kindly smiling old elf woman - except for her iconic pointed ears, emerald green pupils and the faintly discernible youthful beauty between her eyebrows, she looks no different from an ordinary old lady next door.

It is rude to stare at others.

Duncan reacted quickly, and quickly retracted his overly curious and prying gaze. He touched his chin awkwardly and said, "This is the first time I have seen an elf."

He was not worried that his "ignorance" would be exposed, because elves were rarely seen in the city-state of Pland.

Each major race has its own city-state, and due to the inconvenient transportation in the deep sea era, most civilians rarely leave their homeland in their lifetime. Only brave ocean explorers and caravans will travel between city-states, and they are just passers-by and will hardly settle down in a city-state of a different race - this is the case for all major city-states, and more than 99% of the residents are the "main ethnic group."

A person who lives in his own city-state and rarely goes out may never see a "foreigner" living on the other side of the city in his entire life.

"That's normal," the old elf lady laughed. "There are probably no more than a hundred elves in this city, not to mention the dozen or so who have been staying at home in the Institute of Mathematics for two hundred years without leaving the house. Is there anything I can do to help?"

After hearing the old woman's reminder, Duncan finally realized his original purpose. He looked back at the puppets that filled the windows, counters and staircases, and said while thinking, "I want to buy some puppet-related items. If possible, I would also like to ask some questions related to puppets... But I was overwhelmed when I came in."

"Oh, it looks like you are a 'newbie'," the old woman nodded, "Is it a female doll? Is it your own collection, or..."

"Female, I 'collect' them myself," Duncan answered casually, but he felt something was strange right after he finished speaking, and the corners of his mouth twitched subconsciously, "Isn't this hobby weird?"

It would have been fine if he hadn't asked, but it felt even weirder when he did...

"Of course it's not surprising. Collecting and taking care of dolls is a tasteful hobby." The old woman didn't react much. Perhaps this was the knowledge accumulated from running a shop that had been around for hundreds of years. "Do you want to buy some clothes or accessories for your doll?"

Duncan thought for a moment and said, "Let's get a wig first..."

"Over here," the old woman led Duncan to a corner of the store, and asked, "What size is the doll? Four points? Or three points?"

Duncan: "... life-size."

The old woman paused unconsciously and turned around. "This... is rare. A doll as big as a real person? I guess it must be worth a lot, right?"

"...Actually, I'm not sure how much she's worth," Duncan said, trying to keep a straight face while suppressing the awkwardness in his heart. "Someone gave her to me..."

"It seems you have a generous friend," the old woman smiled, opening a wooden box near the circular counter and placing the contents on the counter next to it. "Large-sized dolls are rare, and the matching items are even rarer. They are all here - wigs and hair accessories."

Duncan coughed twice, leaned over and muttered: "I don't know if he is rich or not, but he is a captain... This matter is quite complicated."

His eyes fell on the things the old woman took out.

It is exquisitely made and well maintained, and it is obvious that the maker has put a lot of effort into it.

He selected them carefully, imagining in his mind how Alice would look wearing them, but he stopped thinking halfway.

...The elegant, beautiful and mysterious cursed doll will one day become bald and have to rely on a wig to survive. The sense of incongruity brought about by this matter is so severe that even he himself can hardly bear it.

Fortunately, he came up with this idea himself.

But soon Duncan made up his mind and picked a person he liked, thinking that since he had already started to persecute, he would persecute to the end...

A gorgeous blonde wig with matching silver hair accessories.

Yes, silver hair accessories - as a luxury item that only the upper class is eligible to get, the things that come with the dolls are really not cheap at all!

Looking at the wig set in front of him, Duncan couldn't help but imagine what Alice's reaction would be after receiving these things... That silly girl might burst into tears or run away, just like everyone who faces fate with the issue of hair volume. This requires a little psychological adaptation process. But no matter how Alice reacts at that time, he has already begun to feel happy.

While selecting things, he casually said, "By the way, can I ask you about the maintenance of the dolls?"

"Of course," the old woman smiled kindly, "Dolls need careful care."

"That is... what should I do if the puppet's joints are often loose?" Duncan gestured while organizing his words. "It's mainly the ball joint where the neck and the head are connected. For some reason, it's loose, and the head keeps falling off."

"Wear and deformation of the ball head and bowl can cause the joint to loosen. If it's not due to neglect or violent treatment, then the original design or material is not up to standard," the old woman said immediately. "If it has reached the point where it often falls off, then ordinary repairs will not be effective. You can consider replacing the joint directly."

She thought for a moment and added, "But it's not easy to replace the joints of a large doll. You may not be able to do it yourself. You can bring the doll here and I can help replace it - I'll only charge for the parts."

After listening to this, Duncan thought about it and felt that this was not very reliable.

Alice's "Guillotine" ability is secondary. The main thing is that Anomaly 099 is not an ordinary doll! Can her joints be replaced?

If I tell her that she has to go to the city-state for surgery and have her neck removed and replaced with a new one, she might just run away...

So Duncan brushed the topic aside and then asked about the technique of hair transplantation for dolls...

The old lady who owned the shop patiently explained many things to him. After finishing her explanation, she added: "...From what you said, your doll comes with its own hair. If this kind of doll needs hair transplantation later, it will be difficult to achieve the most perfect state unless the maker does it personally. In addition, you just said that her head joints have problems. I suggest that you directly customize a head sculpture..."

Duncan: “…”

The old lady owner was quite enthusiastic: "From your reaction, you seem reluctant? Don't worry, our craftsmanship has always been very good. We have never let our customers down for hundreds of years, and none of our old customers have complained..."

Duncan thought that the old lady's "old customers" might not even have a bone to find now, so how could they come to complain? But he certainly couldn't say this out loud, so he could only smile awkwardly and find a random excuse to get away with it: "That's not the case. The main thing is... the head has been changed, so she is not herself anymore, right?"

He just said it casually, but he didn't expect the old lady's eyes to light up immediately, and even her smile became more sincere than before: "Ah, your idea is really not simple. Many people only regard dolls as objects. Even if they like them, few people think about them like you do."

Duncan was a little embarrassed for a moment: "Ahem, I feel a little embarrassed when I say that..."

"I'm telling the truth," the old lady sighed, "Dolls need to be cared for carefully. The moment they are given a human form, they should no longer be treated as dead objects. There is a saying among puppeteers - puppets that are treated carefully have their own souls. You should even believe that they have their own joys, sorrows, anger and happiness..."

Duncan immediately thought of Alice's harmless "Hehe" and nodded repeatedly: "You are right, you are right."