Chapter 492: Tranquil Waters
Irene happily waved her stone ball and showed it off to the two people on the castle roof - although she didn't know what there was to show off, she just felt inexplicably happy.
It’s nice to have the sun, it’s nice to have green grass, it’s nice to have many sounds around, it’s nice to have someone waiting for you in the distance, and your actions will be responded to… these are all things worth being happy about.
Yu Sheng and Hu Li jumped down from the castle. Irene climbed onto Yu Sheng's shoulders with ease, then released her hand holding the Ominous Star, allowing it to continue circling around her head.
But suddenly, Yu Sheng frowned and turned to look at the stone ball floating next to the little doll's head.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt that the stone ball seemed to stop spinning for a moment when he turned his gaze.
Irene grabbed Yu Sheng's hair randomly: "What's wrong?"
"This ball... seemed to be making a buzzing sound just now," Yu Sheng frowned. "Didn't you hear it?"
"No," Irene shook her head. "It's always been quiet."
Yu Sheng stared at the ominous Youxing for a while, then finally looked away. He thought carefully for a moment before speaking, "Erin."
"Um?"
"Marlene sent me some data she found deep within the Garden network. It's about... you. Specifically, it's the last memory you uploaded before you lost contact with Alice's Cottage. Would you like to take a look?"
Irene was stunned for a moment, then nodded vigorously without hesitation: "Okay, okay! I want to see it!"
The little doll's answer was expected.
The information about the "Blonde Irene" and the subsequent investigation into the mysterious tower, the Goddess of Omen and even the "Black Star" could definitely not be hidden from Irene, and Yu Sheng himself had no intention of hiding it from this little doll.
Because he knew very well that even though Irene usually seemed careless and didn't seem to care about many things, she also had a sharp side and her own ideas and personality. If he "protected" her too much from the truth, when something was really investigated one day, things might become even more difficult to resolve.
On the other hand, after coming across so much information about the Goddess of Omens and seeing a "normal" Alice doll like Marlene, although Irene looked no different from usual, she should have thought of some possibilities in her mind - after spending all day with this little doll, Yu Sheng could still feel that the little thing was spending more and more time in a daze.
Outside the fairytale town, beside the small river.
The sky was bright and the breeze was gentle. The riverbank seemed very quiet at this time of the day. Yu Sheng sat on a large rock on the shore, and Irene sat cross-legged on his lap. The little doll was holding a mobile phone that seemed a little too big for her, and was carefully reading the information sent by Malin.
She watched it over and over again, then paused the picture and pointed at the blonde's back.
"Is this me?"
"After screening, the only possible match," Yu Sheng said slowly, "is the other dolls named 'Erin', all of which have been ruled out."
"My hair isn't like that," Erin tugged at her hair. "And my face doesn't look like that either... My face is rounder! It's so beautiful!"
"Yes, yes, it's very beautiful—but after 3,700 years of being sealed, coupled with the interference between memories and spirits, it's very likely that your appearance has changed," Yu Sheng pinched the little doll's cheek and carefully considered every word. "Besides, your current body was processed by me. You know that things I process will change more or less."
"Yes, yes..." Irene muttered, obviously a little shaken for a moment, then she quickly ignored this detail and suddenly remembered something, "Ah, then you said before that you saw a broken blonde doll in the mirror on the second floor... Could it be..."
Yu Sheng took a deep breath. He knew that Irene would definitely react, so he just nodded calmly. "Well, now it's basically confirmed that it was you."
Irene didn't say anything for a moment, just stared at the phone for a few seconds, then raised her head and looked at Yu Sheng. Her eyes looked very big, and her scarlet pupils seemed to be glowing, and the deep sky was reflected in the depths.
"...Wow," she blinked and lowered her head again. It was unclear what she was thinking at that moment. After a long while, she suddenly broke the silence. "It seems that my body is quite damaged. Maybe I will have to fight for it myself in the future?"
Hu Li came over from the side and looked at Irene seriously: "I will fight with you."
"Then you have to wash your hands before you fight—just licking your fingers isn't enough, you eat random things all the time," Irene said immediately and forcefully. After a moment's pause, she added, "You have to comb your tail first, too, to avoid getting any hair on me and causing scratches."
Hu Li narrowed his eyes and nodded repeatedly: "Yeah."
The two of them discussed their future "Puhaoduo" very seriously, and without paying attention to Yu Sheng's subtle expression, Irene continued to focus on her phone.
"...Looking at it this way, he's actually quite handsome." She seemed to quickly accept what was said and nodded at the blonde figure in the picture. But then she became confused. "By the way, what's with this frying pan? Why did I carry a frying pan to fight the enemy back then?"
"Marin said this is the 'standard weapon' of your Alice doll—don't look at me like that, I don't know how to explain it. Your sister said the reason behind this is very complicated..."
"Really?" The little doll looked at Yu Sheng suspiciously, and after a long while, he finally looked away. "I don't remember it at all. Oh, amnesia is really troublesome..."
The picture on the phone finally stopped at the dome of the tall tower. Outside the shattered dome was a huge shadow crawling in the chaotic deep space, even as if crawling outside the dimension, from another world.
Even though this was video footage that had been "processed" by Marlene, and even though Yu Sheng was only looking at the blurry outline, he could still feel the astonishing power emanating from the shadow through the screen.
Outer Gods? Alien Gods? Or perhaps…
Dark Angel.
Yu Sheng couldn't help but think of what Baili Qing had told him about the Secret Service's "criteria" for Dark Angels. Apart from the characteristics that were difficult to judge directly from the video footage, such as "coming from outside the world", "unable to be killed by conventional forces", and "super-rational and super-logical operation", the most important criterion left was - "holiness", which could not be described in words but was naturally felt when witnessing it.
As soon as this idea came into his mind, it seemed to come alive and lingered in his mind. He could not help but repeatedly observe the details of the huge shadow in the picture, as if he wanted to find decisive evidence from this blurry frame to determine whether the behemoth was a dark angel or not.
Erin rested the phone on her lap and zoomed in with her fingers until the two crimson glows of the shadowy head almost filled the entire screen.
Then she closed the entire interface.
"Here you go." The little doll raised its head and handed the phone to Yu Sheng with both hands.
"What do you think after reading this?" Yu Sheng took the phone and asked casually.
"I was pretty impressive back then," Irene thought for a moment, looking up, "and I definitely looked like I was 5'67!"
Yu Sheng: "Is that all you think of?"
Irene thought about it carefully again.
"I want to go back and watch TV!"
"Don't you have three bodies left at home?"
"Two of them are playing games, and one is fighting an idiot. They're too busy!"
Yu Sheng: “…”
He looked at the little doll on his lap, and the doll also looked up at him, its scarlet eyes as clear as a mirror, without any haze.
"Okay, go back and watch TV."
"Okay!"
…
Looking at the documents that had just been delivered to him, Baili Qing's brows furrowed slightly, barely perceptible.
After a long moment, she looked up at Song Cheng and asked, "What else did that 'Special Envoy Alice' say?"
"She hopes to establish further contact with Yu Sheng and Irene. She also hopes the Secret Service can assist her in investigating the situation surrounding the 'tower'. The information she sent us contains numerous footage of investigators evacuating the area surrounding the tower. Although the footage is blurry and chaotic, the investigators are indeed wearing the attire of a city-state from the classical era."
"Classical times..." Baili Qing's gaze swept across the computer screen, which showed the scene of many investigators and spirit world detectives evacuating the area surrounding the eerie, broken tower. "If this footage is truly from 3,700 years ago—a time before the Secret Service was established, and everything in the border region was in unprecedented chaos—it would be difficult for us to uncover anything from such a distant period."
"That special envoy Alice said she was aware of the situation and was simply making a request. A result would be best, but no result would be acceptable. Those were her exact words."
"Hmm..." Baili Qing paused for a moment, then nodded gently. "I understand. Tell her we'll do our best to assist her. All matters concerning 'Bad Omen' are now on the Secret Service's top priority list."
Song Cheng nodded: "Okay."
Then he hesitated again: "Also..."
Baili Qing looked at him calmly: "Just say what you want to say."
"Regarding the... 'individual' that appeared at the top of the tower last," Song Cheng carefully considered his words, "from various characteristics, it doesn't look like an ordinary 'entity' generated in a foreign land. And according to the information we have so far, if this thing really came from 'outside', then the small doll at No. 66 Wutong Road is very likely..."
He didn't say anything else, but just looked at the director in front of him with a serious expression.
Baili Qing remained silent for a moment, only quietly staring at the subordinate opposite her. When Song Cheng began to feel a little awkward, she suddenly broke the silence: "Who do you think is more dangerous, the Dark Angel or Yu Sheng?"
Song Cheng opened his mouth, but was stuck for a moment.
"They're all dangerous, but fortunately, the more dangerous one now thinks he's human—so, don't wake him up," Baili Qing said slowly. "The same principle applies to the puppet as well."
"Yes, I understand."
(End of this chapter)
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