Chapter 586 The Glimpse of the Past
Eileen followed Maris to the entrance of the corner shop. Before the shimmering light, the blonde Eileen looked up and saw the shop's name on the signboard—
Alice and Duncan's Antique Shop.
The sign looked old, but the words on it were clear. The seemingly ordinary line of text seemed to glow faintly in Eileen's eyes, radiating a wonderful, warm power in her mind.
“This is the most important place in every gathering place. The dolls call this place ‘Alice’s House’,” Maris’s voice rang out from the side as the clockwork maid patiently explained, “In the days before the ancient spirits left, the mind of Alice, the progenitor of the dolls, was connected to the garden network for a long time—she would sit in this shop and receive the dolls who came to visit her.”
“Every assembly hall has an antique shop like this, but Assembly Hall 18 is an exception—Archive Hall 18 is a huge mansion whose entity floats in the gap between the garden network and the real world, and its ‘front hall’ is projected on the upper part of the network, where headless butlers and waiters take care of the place.”
"In addition, it is said that only very lucky Alice dolls can see Gathering Place 18. Anyway, my mistress has never seen it."
Eileen listened attentively to the clockwork maid's introduction, then looked up at the corner shop blocked by the light screen, her tone a little dejected: "But it's closed now."
“Yes, it’s closed,” Mary said softly. “What I just said happened a long time ago. After the ancient spirits left, the garden network and the meeting place continued to function as usual, but ‘Alice’s House’ went into a long-term closure. It’s said that it last opened its doors hundreds of years ago, and Meeting Place No. 18 has not appeared since then…”
Mary tilted her head back and squinted slightly.
“There are occasional rumors on the garden network that some dolls have seen shadowy figures moving around in the ‘antique shop’ or that the light curtain at the shop’s entrance has briefly disappeared, and the ancestor of dolls has come out to greet the passing Alice dolls… But the lady of the house says that these are just things like urban legends and have no credibility.”
Eileen listened intently. This knowledge was practically common sense for ordinary Alice dolls, but for her, it had long since vanished into the depths of her memory after merging with the Goddess of Omens. Yet, for no reason, she felt a strange sense of familiarity and nostalgia. Through the hazy light, she stared intently at the closed door, lost in thought, and in a daze, she even felt as if she had already passed through that door and was standing right there in the antique shop.
There were warm lights, a ticking antique clock, an old staircase leading to the second floor, and many old vases that gleamed warmly under the lights. The street outside the shop window was hazy under the gas lamp. A silver-haired figure, wearing a deep purple court dress, sat behind the counter with a gentle smile.
Eileen couldn't remember the face, but she felt she was standing there, opposite that figure—
"...Go pick her up... give it a try... but if things don't go well... protect yourself, run if you can't win..."
The intermittent words, carrying a touch of nostalgia, dissipated into fragmented memories.
Eileen stood there in front of the antique shop, stunned, for a long time, then suddenly laughed happily: "I didn't run away..."
"Miss Eileen? Are you listening?"
Marise's voice came from beside her, startling Eileen from her daze.
“Ah, I’m listening,” Eileen blinked, her gaze refocusing on the wind-up maid. “I understand completely now!”
Maris didn't know what the other person understood, but she didn't delve into it. She simply pointed in another direction: "That leads to the plaza. The Alice dolls share anecdotes from their travels there, or post messages seeking help. You can, of course, quickly read these messages through the windows, but since you've entered the garden network as a mental being, chatting with everyone in the plaza would be a great experience—although I think it's a bit inefficient. But the mistress said that 'ritual' is an indispensable part of life..."
Eileen listened half-heartedly, but before turning to leave with Marys, she stopped. She glanced back at "Alice and Duncan's Antique Shop," and a scene inexplicably surfaced in her mind—
She rushed over and pushed open the door, her voice audible across half the street, and cheerfully greeted the person inside: "I'm back!!"
It seemed to be a "plan" that she had been brewing in her heart for a long, long time, the way she imagined herself returning home after completing her mission.
But at this moment, the gate was tightly closed, and a light curtain surrounded it—and she herself had even forgotten what she looked like when she left this place.
So after a moment's hesitation, Eileen simply nodded slightly at the door, muttering something barely audible to herself—
"I'm back..."
“Miss Eileen?” Marise stopped again, turning her head to look at them with some confusion.
"Here I am! I was just spacing out..."
"Are you really alright?" Marise asked with some concern. "You seem to be distracted... Do you need to come over for a check-up? The lady of the house and I are both home today."
"No need, no need, you don't understand. I control five brigades of mass-produced dolls all by myself. I'm usually very busy!"
"Well... okay, I'm glad you're alright. If you feel unwell in any way, please let us know immediately."
"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll definitely tell you," Eileen said excitedly as she followed the wind-up maid. "By the way, can I bring Yu Sheng here to play?"
"I'm afraid that won't work... It's not that it's not allowed, but Mr. Angel Hunter isn't an Alice doll, so he can't connect to the network here, right?"
Eileen thought for a moment and said, "I don't think so."
Maris was immediately filled with questions. She looked at the blonde doll beside her with her eyes darting around. Although she didn't know what the other person was thinking, the wind-up maid suddenly felt a chill creep up her spine.
However, before she could ask anything, Eileen's attention had already shifted elsewhere: "By the way, Maris, if I want to find people to play games with, can I post a message here?"
Mary blinked: "What do you mean by 'playing together'?"
"I just want to find people to play games with..." Eileen walked cheerfully down the street, gesturing to the clockwork maid beside her, "By the way, aren't you a robot? Do you know how to play games?"
"Yes... I can, but the mistress has no interest in that area, so my skill level in various games should still be at the factory settings."
“That works too! You can play games with me and we’ll team up to crush them,” Eileen exclaimed excitedly. “Let them stop saying I’m only good at playing against bots—today I’m going to take bots to beat them! Let those noobs realize they can’t even beat robots…”
Maris: "...?"
...
After leaving the Secret Service, Yu Sheng did not go directly back to No. 66 Wutong Road, but instead took a detour to a shopping mall in the city center.
Hu Li's usual fur conditioner ran out, and she needed to replenish a few bottles—her consumption of this stuff increased dramatically after winter began. Although Yu Sheng couldn't understand why a great fox demon would need to use this stuff to groom her fur, since the fox girl had asked him for it, he certainly had to oblige.
Of course, sometimes when he saw the hair care products, conditioners, shampoos, and the like dwindling rapidly at home, Yu Sheng would get worried. It wasn't that he was heartbroken about the money, but he always suspected that Hu Li was secretly drinking these things, though he couldn't find any evidence...
In addition, one of the children in "Fairy Tale" is having a birthday recently, and he also needs to prepare some small gifts.
In addition, Luna's succulents on the balcony were finally eaten by Huli (who ate them all despite the chocolate sauce debuff), and he has to buy a few more pots to compensate Miss Saintess—he still needs to have a good talk with Huli later to stop her from ruining the ornamental plants at home.
We might need to replenish some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. Recently, the leopard has been secretly drinking soy sauce... Thinking about it, could her recent increased shedding actually have nothing to do with the weather changes?
Walking through the downtown commercial district, Yu Sheng strolled around while pondering various things in his mind.
Some things are so complicated they make your head spin, while others, despite being exhausting, make you want to laugh.
He felt that it had been a long time since he had been able to calmly worry about mundane matters like cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar—and this had even become a kind of enjoyment.
However, at that moment, a sudden cell phone ring interrupted Mr. Yu's shopping.
He took out his phone and was a little surprised to see the caller—it was the Alice doll named Marlene.
After finding a quiet place, Yu Sheng answered the phone.
"Mr. Yu, good afternoon..."
Marlene's voice was as gentle and polite as ever, but for some reason, Yu Sheng could hear a hint of fatigue and embarrassment in it this time.
"Um, good afternoon," Yu Sheng said, a little nervous for no apparent reason. "What happened?"
"It's about Eileen—is she with you now?"
"She's not here, I went out," Yu Sheng quickly said. "What happened to Eileen?"
“No, she’s fine, Marise is the one who’s in trouble—after accompanying Eileen on her visit to the Garden Network,” Marlene seemed to sigh. “So I wanted to ask, what did Eileen do?”
Yu Sheng was stunned. After a couple of seconds of silence, he hesitated before asking, "Marilyn... what's going on?"
Marlene sighed deeply this time: "It's infected with a virus. It seems to be caused by downloading a bunch of illegal accelerators and game clients from who-knows-where. Now I keep stopping as I walk, and when I stop, ads start playing..."
Yu Sheng: "...?"
Three minutes later, Yu Sheng rushed back to No. 66 Wutong Road, staring dumbfounded at the blonde doll sitting on the sofa with an innocent look on her face.
"...What do you mean you tried to download a third-party accelerator for Marys, causing a bot to become infected with the 'shake-to-redirect-to-ad' feature?!"
(End of this chapter)
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