Chapter 110: Testing
This was a process as fascinating as it was unbelievable.
Earth and stone shaped themselves to his will. Expanses of ruins and wreckage melted into the land like chocolate in hot milk, slowly devoured by the Valley. In the distance, farmland had already taken form, and where the ruins of the old shrine once lay, a flat stretch of ground—smooth as if leveled by machines—had swiftly taken shape.
Then, stone rose from the center of the clearing, Ascending to form a large platform hovering just a few inches above the ground.
Yu Sheng felt his bond with the Valley growing deeper. His control over it became increasingly fluid and precise. He focused harder, refining the details of the platform, reinforcing its strength, and anchoring it deep into the ground.
The sensation was akin to gradually becoming familiar with one’s own limb.
He had always intended to turn this Valley into a base. The very day he confirmed this Otherworld had been rendered harmless, the idea struck him—this would be the perfect place for growing crops, for Irene to use as a testbed, for Foxy to run and train, and in the future, to host any “projects” unfit for the outside world.
What he hadn’t expected was that the construction would begin in such a fashion.
Foxy stared wide-eyed, standing beside the two Irenes, her gaze brimming with admiration. After a long silence, she finally sighed in awe, “Benefactor could totally be a Civil Engineering Immortal…”
“So in your homeland, there’s an Immortal for literally everything, huh?” Irene couldn’t hold it in any longer. She’d been dying to say something. “What’s next? Stir-Fried Noodles Immortal? Braised Noodles Immortal? Beef Noodle Immortal?”
“Those fall under the umbrella of Cooking Immortal,” Foxy replied earnestly. “If you register each individually, it’d be a waste of societal resources. The Immortal Alliance wouldn’t approve.”
Irene stared at her in disbelief. “…There’s actually a Cooking Immortal?!”
At that moment, Yu Sheng finished laying the foundation. From one corner of the platform, he raised a small shelter, simple but sufficient to block wind and rain (though oddly, there seemed to be neither in this Valley). He walked up to the two Dolls, curiosity in his eyes. “What are you two chatting about?”
The two Dolls raised their arms in unison and pointed at the Demon Fox Maiden: “The silly Fox said you could be a Dust Immortal.”
“No, Civil Engineering Immortal,” Foxy corrected immediately, very seriously.
Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched. He held it in and quickly shifted topics, gesturing toward his creation. “Look—this will be our second base outside of Wutong Road No. 66. I’ve got a grand architectural plan. I want to build a massive structure on the ruins of that old shrine, something like a temple from an ancient civilization. It should feel awe-inspiring, majestic, mysterious. This will be the future headquarters of our ‘Hotel’ organization…”
“Three people claiming a whole city, huh? You’ve got guts,” Irene retorted without hesitation. Then her gaze landed on a grayish box-like shape at the platform’s edge, large and dull like a matchbox. “That thing… is it a temporary toilet?”
Yu Sheng stood frozen. After a long pause, he muttered, awkwardly, “…That’s phase one of the architectural plan. You could say it’s Temple Model One.”
Irene: “…”
For the first time ever, the notorious Bibi Ji was struck speechless.
Yu Sheng seized the opportunity to change the subject. “Anyway, let’s get to business. Time to test the remote-control range of your new body.”
Sure enough, Irene’s attention snapped back. Both Dolls looked up at Yu Sheng. “How do we test it? I run in opposite directions and wait until the signal breaks?”
“With those stubby little legs of yours, who knows how long that’d take?” Yu Sheng shot her a glance and, before she could erupt, lifted the Doll body carrying the painting frame (the main unit) and pointed to the other. “That one goes with Foxy. You two run toward the far end of the Valley. I’ll take your main body and use a Door to warp to the mountain edge we reached last time. We’ll see what happens.”
Even before he finished speaking, Foxy had already dashed ten meters ahead and flopped to the ground. Instantly, divine mist swirled, radiant light shimmered, and a gigantic Nine Tailed Fox the size of two vans emerged from the glow. She looked eagerly at the secondary Irene on the ground. “Irene! Come on! Let’s run together!”
Irene instantly recalled the last time she was dragged at sonic speeds across the Valley by this booster rocket Fox. Her face scrunched up in agony. “Can we not do it this way…?”
Yu Sheng immediately passed the Doll with the painting frame to her. “Okay then, switch. This one goes with Foxy. You come with me.”
The two Dolls froze.
A second later, they snapped in unison, glaring at Yu Sheng: “That’s still me, damn it!”
As the conversation flowed, the Irene lying on the ground shakily stood up, wobbling as she made her way toward Miss Foxy. Muttering to herself along the way, she said, “Fine, I guess this body can go with that silly Fox. At least this one is duller to sensation… maybe it won’t react as much.”
Miss Foxy laid one of her massive tails flat on the ground, watching as Irene scrambled on hands and knees, climbing up the tail and settling onto her back. “Sit farther back and grab some fur,” Foxy reminded her, tossing a glance over her shoulder. “I’m going to accelerate. Don’t fall off.”
Clutching a tuft of soft fur cautiously, Irene tried negotiating, “Just… go a bit slower this time, alright? Don’t shoot off like last time.”
“Mmhm! Don’t worry, my acceleration curve is much better now!” Foxy replied with several eager nods—clearly not listening at all. Her mind was already lost in the thrill of the upcoming dash, her bushy tails swishing back and forth with such force that the swirling dust on the Valley Floor turned to flying sand and gravel.
With a swift turn, she bolted in the direction Yu Sheng had indicated earlier, gradually picking up speed.
Irene’s scream grew distant in seconds as the great Demon Fox launched like a rocket, the thunderous boom trailing behind her. A ring of compressed air shimmered in her wake as the Fox Fire streaming from her tails reached supersonic speeds.
“She’s definitely running on a full stomach,” Yu Sheng commented from afar, watching the silvery streak tearing across the Valley Floor, the deep rumble echoing through the mountain walls.
Then Irene’s voice erupted from the version riding on his shoulder, yelling near his ear, “I should never have trusted her to go slow! I feel like I’m falling apart!”
“No worries, if you fall apart, I’ll patch you up,” Yu Sheng chuckled, opening a massive Door that led to the opposite side of the Valley. “Come on, let’s go wait over there.”
Even the rocket-boosted Nine Tail Acceleration of a Demon Fox Maiden couldn’t outpace a Door-wielding Yu Sheng. By the time he reached the other mountain edge with Irene dangling from his shoulder like a painting on a strap, Foxy and the other Irene were still midway through their run.
From atop the mountain, they could see her blazing across the Valley like a divine meteor, the spectral blue Fox Fire now condensed into a blazing tail-flame. Her trajectory arced fiercely toward the far mountain boundary, kicking up such a storm of dust and light that it resembled a battlefield explosion.
“…I suspect she really could fly with just those tails as boosters,” Yu Sheng murmured, stroking his chin, “not just skimming the ground. I mean real airborne flight.”
Suddenly, the Irene on his shoulder leaned in and bellowed beside his ear, “Silly Fox said she really can!”
Yu Sheng winced and immediately pulled her away by the strap of the oil painting on her back. “Don’t scream into my ear! I heard you just fine!”
Dangling mid-air by the strap, Irene swayed and added, “Oh, the noise around the other body was too much. Took me a moment to switch focus.”
“How about now? Feeling any signs of disconnection between the two bodies?”
“Not at all,” she answered, maintaining her aerial swing as she pressed a finger to her chin in concentration. “Actually, not only is there no disconnection, I don’t even feel a weakening of the link.”
Yu Sheng’s eyes tracked the luminous booster-flame now streaking up the mountainside, nearing the far boundary.
“Still tightly synced,” Irene reported before he even asked. “Zero delay. Zero decay.”
“No decay at all…” Yu Sheng frowned, pondering aloud. “Then if there is a limit to the connection range, it must be absurdly far.”
“This whole section of the Otherworld is huge, especially with the surrounding mountains counted in,” Irene noted. Then, with a nimble curl of her body, she lifted herself and hooked her legs around Yu Sheng’s forearm. In a deft, doll-like maneuver, she crawled up and perched on his arm, scanning the horizon. “Foxy just hit the summit. She wants to know what to do next.”
Yu Sheng fell silent in thought before speaking. “So far, we know that within the same space, both bodies maintain perfect communication over long distances. But we still don’t know what happens if they’re in different spaces.”
Irene’s eyes lit up. “Oh? So…?”
Yu Sheng reached out and pulled open another great Door.
Beyond it lay a nameless Dense Forest—one of countless forgotten places discovered during his many tests. Unremarkable. Safe.
“Want to try something more extreme?” he asked, gazing at the doll perched on his arm. “Let’s see how far apart your two bodies can go.”
“…Is it safe over there?”
“I checked it out before. Apart from a few hotspots, it’s harmless.”
Irene hesitated briefly, then bit her lip and nodded. “Alright. Let’s do it.”