Chapter 286

Chapter 287: Battery Life Isn’t Enough

The blue beam blasted out with a buzz. Yu Sheng and Foxy were too stunned to react, and even Irene did not realize what had happened at first.

The 66.6 cm Irene Pro Max stared, dumbfounded, at the round hole burned into the far wall. Several seconds later she realized she had done that. She looked down at her fingertips, then up at the wall, back and forth a few times, and finally turned to Yu Sheng: “Oh my gosh.”

Yu Sheng snapped back to himself and gaped at the little doll: “Stop oh-my-goshing. How did you do that?”

“I do not know!” Pro Irene blinked wide-eyed and waved her hands. “I was just going to cast the threads like you said. I flicked like this and then…”

Yu Sheng jumped sideways on instinct as soon as she started demonstrating: “Talk without waving. Those hands are regulated weapons now, I swear.”

Foxy, meanwhile, had flown up to the wall. She studied the hole from below, then hovered to inspect the cut. After a while she came back wearing a puzzled look: “Benefactor, it seems similar to Fox Fire, but strange. I have never seen this kind.”

Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched. He looked at Irene and saw the little doll with her head down, counting on her fingers and muttering: “Light is a kind of thread too. How did I do that again…”

After a moment she seemed to get it. She glanced at the sky, then, like she was charging up a big move, she struck some mysterious poses, breathing deep and sinking her hips. Finally she thrust both hands upward: “Hey.”

A thicker blue beam than before speared into the sky with a buzz, leaving a bright scar among the clouds.

Irene’s eyes went wide as she watched. She bounced with delight: “Wow.”

“Have all your threads turned into that,” Yu Sheng asked after a long look, “or only this body’s?”

“Only this body,” Irene said, still thrilled, her fingers busy as she worked things out. “The others still produce normal threads. Only this one fires like a laser.”

She fired several more beams into the sky, then skipped back to Yu Sheng like a kid with a new toy: “Yu Sheng, this is amazing. Whoosh and biu biu. I feel super strong. This is definitely better than C Buckle. She may be fast, but can she beat light? Next time I see her I will poke holes all over…”

Yu Sheng could tell she had already forgotten everything she herself said earlier about the Progenitor of Dolls’ Blessing and an Alice’s Doll’s threads being a natural talent. Her wonderfully forgetful brain had tossed those thoughts aside.

Even so, he could not help thinking it through, connecting it with Foxy’s hint: “So this is related to your ‘skeleton’ this time?”

Irene blinked: “Huh?”

“I mean your power change might be tied to the skeleton in this shell,” Yu Sheng said thoughtfully. “Foxy said your beams are a bit like Fox Fire. And the skeleton of this body was Refined by her. According to her, that stuff has spirit.”

Irene listened with the face of someone trying to understand what she could not. After a pause she clapped: “Oh.”

Then she grinned and swung her arms: “Anyway, this body is strong, right?”

Yu Sheng smiled weakly: “Right.”

Sometimes he really envied the little doll’s lifestyle. [Green, low-carbon thinking. Ultra low-power brain. All available smarts dedicated to being happy.]

Leaving Pro Irene to her finger-counting, he moved to Foxy and lowered his voice: “Is this normal?”

“I do not know,” Foxy said honestly, shaking her head. “Back home we do not have a doll like Irene. We do have many kinds of Automaton, but I have never heard of one learning to shoot Fox Fire like a laser just because it used Spirit Fox Dark Iron for a skeleton.”

They were not going to solve this today.

Yu Sheng shook his head and did not dwell on it. He was surrounded by mysteries anyway, and one more laser-shooting doll hardly made a difference. Irene was happy, and this very expensive shell now clearly had higher combat power. That was good overall.

“All right, no more testing, and do not wreck my wall either,” Yu Sheng said, bending to rub the little doll’s head. “I will take down these temporary walls, plan a roof for the whole platform, and later I will open a practice range for you in the Valley by The Door. I will set up all kinds of targets so you can biu to your heart’s content.”

Irene nodded so fast she almost bounced: “Yes yes.”

Yu Sheng smiled and waved away the circle of temporary walls.

The sturdy gray-white “rock” began to squirm downward at once, softening and shrinking as if it rejoined the earth. In no time, the one-off “alchemy lab” fused back into the Portal Platform.

As the walls sank, Yu Sheng saw several familiar figures outside.

Rapunzel had King on her shoulder. Snow White held several Dollheads by the hand. Nearby stood Cinderella and Mermaid. The whole group stared, eyes wide at Yu Sheng and Foxy.

And at the four Irenes behind Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng asked, surprised: “Why are you all here?”

“We saw commotion over here,” Rapunzel said. “Those laser streaks in the sky were visible from a long way off. We came to check. Then we saw a ring of walls pop up for no reason. I figured maybe, big bro, you were inventing something again.”

As she finished, Snow White pointed at the four dolls behind Yu Sheng: “Why is there… another one?”

Yu Sheng knew anyone who saw an extra Irene would ask that. He grinned and said casually: “It just sprouted from the ground.”

He was joking, but someone took it seriously. Mermaid gasped: “Really?”

With a straight face, Yu Sheng said: “That is how our Hotel is. If you leave it alone, it will sprout dolls…”

“Do not listen to him,” Irene finally yelped, all four voices at once. “I just built a new body for fighting.”

Pro Irene hopped out from behind Yu Sheng, proud as could be, and faced the Fairy Tale members: “Listen up, I have a special ops model now. What you see is my super form. Hey, what is with those looks? Are you thinking I am short? I will show you…”

The little doll was about to show off her super power. She began to step and twist and strike cool poses. She did not need any windup to fire a beam, but for style she gave herself lots of flashy motions, almost like a full set of military boxing drills, then finally lifted both hands and posed as if launching an energy wave at empty air: “Ha.”

A blue flame the size of the Little Match Girl’s head flickered at her fingertips and went out in a blink.

Irene froze, staring at her hands. She tried again, straining, but this time not even a spark appeared.

“What…”

She muttered, wanting to look back at Yu Sheng, but her neck felt rusted, refusing to turn. In the next instant, every joint in her body dragged and grew heavy. Almost at once she could not move a finger.

Only her mouth still worked.

“Hey hey hey! Yu Sheng! Hel-hel- help… help! Something is wrong! I broke this body! I cannot move!”

Yu Sheng had been watching with a grin, sure the little doll was clowning again. Only now did he realize it was real. He rushed forward and picked up the Irene Pro Max shell. Every joint was stiff. In his arms she felt like a plaster statue.

The little doll was on the verge of tears. The other bodies crowded around. One tugged Yu Sheng’s sleeve, one his pant leg, one tried to climb him, all talking at once: “What do we do, I did nothing…” “No, I just got a strong body!” “It cannot be single-use, we spent so many high-end materials!”

Yu Sheng’s head pounded from the chorus of small voices, but then he felt the stiff Pro Irene move again in his arms.

Irene felt it too: “Hey! Yu Sheng! This body is moving again! My hand just moved!”

Utterly confused, Yu Sheng looked to Foxy.

The Fox Maiden had been thinking hard, watching Irene’s shell since the change began. Her ears twitched. She turned to Yu Sheng and said earnestly: “Her spiritual power may be empty.”

Yu Sheng blinked: “Huh?”

“There is no helping it. She just spent so much,” Foxy said with a helpless look. “She is this small. Poor battery life is normal.”

Yu Sheng looked down at the Pro Max Irene in his arms.

Sure enough, the little thing was about to cry again.