Chapter 164: Irene MK-II (Still Not Taller)
Say what you will, but the Argon Fox Weld technique wielded by Hu Li was truly impressive. With Cyber Immortal Arts—or perhaps Demon Fox Magic—infused into her Fox Fire, the sizzling fusion welds she conjured gleamed with a strength and precision that outclassed any mundane machine. More than that, she could slice and fuse in one elegant sweep.
Within moments of preparation and planning, sparks danced across the Alchemic Platform.
Several threaded steel rods were cut into varying lengths and arranged according to the markings Yu Sheng had drawn across the Alchemy Formation. These formed the outline of the Doll’s skeleton. Hu Li, her tails floating like anti-grav mechanical limbs, deftly maneuvered in mid-air. Adjusting, aligning, welding with pinpoint accuracy—the sizzling sound of molten metal and the scent of fusion filled the air. The glimmering sparks lit up Yu Sheng’s face.
Meanwhile, Irene sat nearby, an oil painting frame strapped to her back, expression blank. The welding flashes reflected off her palm-sized face, and every few seconds, she muttered, “This is not Alchemy… This is not Alchemy…”
“Why isn’t it Alchemy?” Yu Sheng responded, excitement clear on his face as he overheard her mumbling. “Isn’t melting still ‘refining’? Isn’t metal still ‘gold’? Refining metal is still Alchemy, isn’t it?”
He plopped down beside her and gestured at the radiant scene unfolding on the Alchemy Formation. “Isn’t it beautiful? Demon Fox Maiden’s sorcery, the secret arts of Alchemy, modern industrial threaded steel—these three in harmony… doesn’t it have a sort of—”
“Abstract beauty,” Irene said flatly.
Yu Sheng paused, then nodded. “…Fair point.”
At that moment, the sparking ceased. Hu Li wiped imaginary sweat from her brow and turned cheerily. “Benefactor, welding complete!”
“Well done, Hu Li!” Yu Sheng clapped joyfully, standing as he pulled Irene to her feet. “Forget the abstractness—let’s move on. Check if you like the frame I made for you.”
Irene still grumbled, but as her eyes fell upon the finished work, her complaints vanished.
There it lay, at the heart of the Alchemy Formation—a Doll skeleton forged to the height of a grown human.
Irene stared at it, astonished. After a long moment, she turned to Yu Sheng. “This size…”
“I promised you a one-sixty-seven body,” Yu Sheng said with a gentle smile, setting the little doll down beside the steel skeleton. “Time for the next step.”
“Yay!!” Irene finally burst into joy, her earlier pouting evaporated. She threw herself onto Yu Sheng’s arm, shaking it with excitement, then dashed over to the Soul Imbuement Node, urging him on. “Hurry up, let’s see what you’re going to do next!”
Yu Sheng smiled, saying nothing, and moved with focus to commence the next phase of crafting the Doll.
This time, there was no clay, no dough, no lotus roots. For this specially designed “Irene vessel,” he had some bold new ideas to try.
He scattered the Alchemical Materials evenly across the steel skeleton and the surrounding ground.
Then, taking out a small knife, he sliced open his own hand. Mixing his blood with the materials, he sprinkled the crimson blend around the formation.
Under the curious gazes of Irene and Hu Li, Yu Sheng stepped to the outermost ring of the concentric circles. Taking a breath, he knelt and pressed his still-bleeding palm against the earth.
The platform began to tremble subtly. A low grinding sound echoed from deep within the rock, as though the ground itself was waking.
Yu Sheng intended to use the soil and stone of the Otherworld Valley to forge Irene’s new body.
After a few seconds’ delay, the center of the Alchemy Formation began to rise. Earth and stone started to crawl—alive. The grey-white substance liquefied into a molten flow, engulfing the welded skeleton in layer after layer. The sound of its undulating mass echoed softly.
Irene watched, eyes widening in awe.
“Living soil that moves like a creature…” she murmured. “He actually pulled it off?”
The forming body progressed rapidly. Soon after Irene’s words, the Doll lying in the center had taken basic shape.
Yu Sheng was still at work, meticulously sculpting—differentiating the fingers, carving facial features.
He stepped into the formation, sat beside the Doll’s shell, and used his hands to fine-tune every detail.
[This feels easier to mold than clay,] he thought.
“He’s actually… pretty serious about this,” Irene whispered, tugging gently on one of Hu Li’s tails. “He messed up all my previous bodies so badly, I thought he was just goofing off.”
“Benefactor has always been serious,” the Demon Fox Maiden said solemnly to the Doll Lady. “It’s just that what he focuses on isn’t quite the same as others.”
As they spoke, Yu Sheng completed the final adjustments.
Faster and smoother than he had expected.
The Doll Lady, shaped of iron, earth, and stone, lay quietly on the ground. Though not yet awakened, her form resembled that of a young girl. More than that, she radiated a strange aura—a breath of life, as if she might stir at any moment.
“Let me think… how did I do it last time?” Yu Sheng muttered, recalling the process of creating the second body for Irene. “Soul Imbuement Rite… yes, first guide the soul, bring it to life…”
He gently placed his hand upon the Doll Lady’s forehead.
“Awaken.”
The stone began to pulse.
“You should be alive now.”
The earth trembled faintly.
“Ready to open your eyes—”
The steel skeleton shifted. A breath stirred from the soulless shell—life had emerged.
“Irene,” Yu Sheng whispered.
“Eh?” the nearby little doll instinctively replied. In the next instant, she felt a portion of her consciousness torn from her body… detached. A new link flared into existence. The sudden and inevitable sensory dissonance left her briefly disoriented. She couldn’t see what was happening around her, only caught Yu Sheng’s surprised, “Huh?” and the Demon Fox Maiden’s startled exclamation—then, nothing.
But the disconnection lasted mere seconds.
Irene successfully entered and seized control of her new vessel. She attempted to open her eyes and immediately confirmed the presence of a third perspective.
“It worked!” the little doll exclaimed from the center of the alchemic formation, rising to her feet with joy. She planted her hands on her hips and looked up proudly at Yu Sheng and the Demon Fox Maiden. “I can’t believe this chaotic mess actually worked—Yu Sheng, you might really have a talent for alchemy. Look at me, standing tall at one meter sixty-sev—”
She suddenly froze.
Yu Sheng looked tall. The Demon Fox Maiden also still looked tall.
She stiffly looked down, finding the ground alarmingly close. Then, through the eyes of the other vessel standing outside the formation, she saw the new body.
Moments later, she realized what was wrong.
“Why am I still this short?!”
“I don’t know,” Yu Sheng looked more confused than she was. “A second before you opened your eyes, the body was still one meter sixty-seven. Then, visibly, it started shrinking. I didn’t even have time to react—now it’s just half a meter tall… Foxy can vouch for me, I didn’t do anything.”
The Demon Fox Maiden rapidly nodded, her tails swishing. “I swear, Benefactor didn’t do a thing! You shrank all on your own!”
Irene stood there, dumbfounded. For a long while, she said nothing. Yu Sheng was about to worry that the Doll Lady had suffered mental collapse from the shock when she suddenly exploded:
“No, seriously—why?! Wasn’t the shell already molded to be one meter sixty-seven? Wasn’t it already coming to life? Why did it shrink to half a meter the moment I entered it?! What’s the reason?!”
Yu Sheng silently backed away several steps and leaned toward the Demon Fox Maiden, whispering, “Maybe we shouldn’t provoke her right now…”
But before he finished, the other Irene—still standing at the edge of the formation—turned her head and drew a deep breath:
“—WHYYYYY?!”
Yu Sheng sighed and turned to Foxy. “I forgot we had another one over there.”
And so began the whirlwind of two Irenes circling the formation and Yu Sheng—complaining of unfair fate, bemoaning the hardships of Dolls, jumping around one moment, screeching the next. They alternated between blaming Yu Sheng’s clumsy hands and questioning the integrity of their own soul.
By the sixth or seventh lap, Yu Sheng’s brain was buzzing—[I bet this is what an Investigator feels like listening to the ramblings of an elder god…]
Finally, when the little doll began her tenth loop, the Demon Fox Maiden had had enough. With a flick of her tail, she swept both versions of Irene into the air and cocooned them tight.
“Irene, you two are way too noisy…”
The two 66.6 cm tall little dolls squirmed in the tail cocoon, unable to move, muttering pitifully and staring deadpan at Yu Sheng.
“Am I doomed to be this short forever?” moaned the oil painting-carrying Irene.
“Why did it happen…” whimpered the rebar-limbed Irene.
“Temporary setback… maybe,” Yu Sheng scrambled for consolation. “Look, I’ve already made this much weird alchemical progress—who’s to say I won’t someday craft you a body with proper proportions? Maybe this shrinking is due to the materials. Or those shady rose essential oils… Next time I won’t get them from a five-yuan shop.”
Irene (Steel) paused. A moment later, she suddenly realized something and burst from the Demon Fox Maiden’s tail, lunging at Yu Sheng’s arm.
“FIVE-YUAN SHOP?! Last time you said it was a ten-yuan shop!”
In the next second, Yu Sheng discovered that this furious little doll was very different from before—
Rebar strength was real.
Those tiny claws pinched like a vice grip!