Chapter 315
Chapter 315: Yu Sheng’s Thoughts
Yu Sheng took a long time to explain to Little Red Riding Hood where the spaceship in front of them had come from. He also gave Irene and the others a rough rundown of what had happened after he followed the “high tower” and got lost in deep space.
Irene froze for a long time. Then, with her mind-blowing wisdom, she compressed Yu Sheng’s long explanation into six words (not counting punctuation): “We’ve got a spaceship now!”
Yu Sheng stared at her. “…That’s the conclusion.”
Irene’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Holy shit, you said you were going to buy an e-bike and you never did! Do you even have a license? Can a C-class license drive this thing?”
Yu Sheng had no idea how her mind could jump that fast. He couldn’t help laughing. “That’s not the same thing.”
“I-I’m a little scrambled. Let me sort it out.” Irene waved both hands like she was trying to catch her thoughts. No one knew what she was thinking, but she climbed onto Yu Sheng’s shoulder anyway and started giggling. “Hehe. A spaceship. Feels like we just bought a big-ticket item… a really big one! What are we going to use this spaceship for? Going on long trips? Scouting outside the Borderland?”
“I haven’t thought that far,” Yu Sheng said seriously. He lifted a hand and patted Irene on the head, then turned to the others. “Want to go inside and take a look?”
“Sure, sure!” Little Red Riding Hood nodded so hard her hood nearly slid off. “This is my first time seeing something like this…”
“It couldn’t be better,” Xuan Che said, clearly interested. “The Hermitage Order is a headache for our Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain too. Those crooked cults are slippery. We’ve traded blows a few times and still couldn’t pin down their trail. For you to seize an entire ship from them… that’s a rare chance to learn what they’re really doing.”
Little Red Riding Hood listened, then finally couldn’t hold it in. She turned to Yu Sheng, eyes full of curiosity. “Um… I wanted to ask earlier. Who is he?”
“Ah.” Yu Sheng smacked his forehead. “I got so dizzy I forgot to introduce him. This is Xuan Che from the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain. Do you know the place? His master knows me. He’s here as a guest this time.”
Xuan Che offered a smooth, polite greeting. “I am Xuan Che. Greetings, young lady.”
“And this is Wang Jia Jia,” Yu Sheng added, pointing at the red-clad girl beside him. “We’re more used to calling her by her codename, ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’ She’s the leader of the Fairy Tale organization. She works closely with Hotel, and she’s also my friend.”
“Uh, hi.” Little Red Riding Hood looked a little dazed. She greeted Xuan Che a beat late, then suddenly jolted. “Wait! Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain! The Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain that sells Immortal Spirit Pills?”
Xuan Che smiled and nodded. “That’s right.”
“So expensive,” Little Red Riding Hood muttered, lips pursed. “I only bought it once, and Rapunzel stole it all.”
Xuan Che and Yu Sheng both went silent.
Well… you could say Princess Rapunzel was being her consistent self.
After that, Yu Sheng introduced Squirrel and Hunter as well. Once everyone knew each other, he steadied himself and casually pulled open a phantom door. On the other side was the view inside the Pillar of Order.
Ever since he’d gained Door Opening, he took two fewer steps whenever he could.
Stepping through, the group finally entered the mysterious interior of the tower-ship.
The corridor was solemn and gorgeous, like the inside of a church. It looked nothing like what Little Red Riding Hood and Irene had imagined a “spaceship” would be.
“…These cultists suck, but their taste is on point,” Irene muttered from Yu Sheng’s shoulder, craning her neck to look around. “They practically turned the inside into a palace. Holy hell, even the isolation doors have bas-relief carvings! And there are marble statues just standing there!”
“The celestial ships built by the Grand Void Spiritual Axis also have decorations, but mostly in a simple style. Never like this… cluttered,” Xuan Che said, judging as he walked. “This ship must have taken a long time to build, and they wasted effort on details that serve no practical purpose. Even compared to other Hermitage Order creations, it’s overly ornate. Its purpose must be highly special, and it likely carries meaning beyond utility. Considering the obsessive doctrine of Holy Revere Hermitage, they probably built this ship to carry out some large-scale ritual.”
Foxy’s review was much simpler. “Too flashy. Don’t like it.”
“Later I’m clearing out all these statues,” Yu Sheng said casually. “These so-called ‘Hermitage Order elders’ make my skin crawl. Once they’re gone, the corridors and rooms will feel more spacious. Same with the reliefs and murals. Landscapes can stay, but everything else gets scraped off and replaced.”
“Sounds like a huge project,” Irene bobbed her head. “What are you going to replace them with?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” Yu Sheng thought for a moment. “But the structure is what it is. If I leave patches of bare wall, it’ll look ugly. There has to be something there. I’m planning to show off a bit of my artistic talen-”
“Or you could just leave it empty,” Irene cut in at lightning speed.
Yu Sheng paused. “…I’m planning to show off a bit of my-”
“Empty is great!”
Yu Sheng stared at her.
He decided not to argue. He would secretly unleash his outstanding artistic creativity and carefully refine the ship’s interior. One day, he’d amaze everyone. And if that failed… scaring them would do.
After that, the group passed through more cabins and corridors, then took an elevator into the core zone of the “high tower.” Yu Sheng would occasionally explain the function of certain rooms. He knew that much based on his “understanding of his own body.” He couldn’t answer anything overly technical, but his read of the ship’s overall layout was still pretty accurate.
They walked, stopped, and talked until they entered a special room. Only then did Yu Sheng’s expression turn serious.
It was a large chamber lit by warm yellow lights. A bright beam poured down from the ceiling onto a massive device in the center. Pipes and cables converged above it and fed into its base. And at the heart of that base, a black, heavy iron coffin rested quietly at a forty-five-degree tilt.
The coffin still hummed, low and steady.
Yu Sheng had already “cleaned up” the cultists who’d fallen in this room, but a faint smell of blood lingered in the air. The moment Little Red Riding Hood and Foxy walked in, they sniffed and stiffened, clearly noticing it.
Irene, meanwhile, noticed Yu Sheng’s face.
“What is this place for?” she asked, curiosity slipping into her voice.
Yu Sheng stepped up to the platform where the coffin was mounted and spoke slowly. “This is the Holy Coffin of the artificial saintess. She’s inside right now.”
Irene froze for a second, then blurted, “Huh? That C Buckle?! Why are you keeping her? Didn’t you say you were handing her to the Special Operations Bureau?”
Yu Sheng wasn’t surprised by her reaction.
He lifted Irene off his shoulder. With one hand supporting her, he reached forward with the other and gently stroked the cold metal.
“Do you want to hear the truth about the artificial saintess?” he asked, turning back to the others.
That was exactly why he’d brought everyone here.
Foxy blinked. “The truth about the artificial saintess… Benefactor, what did you find?”
Watching Yu Sheng’s expression, Irene gradually realized something was wrong. “Wait, wait! D-Don’t tell me this C Buckle was actually a good doll, and the Hermitage Order’s been controlling her the whole time. I’m telling you-”
“She’s not a ‘good doll,'” Yu Sheng cut her off, shaking his head. “Originally, she was a person.”
Irene locked up like someone had jammed her joints.
“And those bronze knights too,” Yu Sheng continued, calm and steady. “They were people as well. And they always believed they were people… even when they ‘died in battle.'”
Irene’s voice came out strangled. “…Holy shit?”
Yu Sheng turned and sat on the platform at the base of the coffin. His gaze drifted to the spot where he’d fought the artificial saintess for the last time, and he spoke like he was sorting his thoughts into order.
“These ‘weapons’ made by the Hermitage Order are transformed from living people. Some still retain a small amount of biomass. Others have their souls extracted and injected into machine bodies.
“When I fought the artificial saintess for the last time, I discovered it. A mixture of blood and engine oil flowed in her body. Human memories and a soul still remained inside her shell.
“She came from a place with vast wheat fields…”
Yu Sheng sifted through his memories and spoke of what he’d seen in those distant recollections.
The machinery’s hum ran alongside his voice. The Holy Coffin’s low vibration never stopped.
At some point, Squirrel hopped down from Hunter and climbed onto the platform, staring blankly up at the coffin. Hunter stood beside her without a word. Beneath that hood was only hollow darkness, and yet it felt like a blazing anger was brewing inside it.
Little Red Riding Hood and Foxy looked just as sick.
“F-Fuck…” Irene finally broke the silence. An ominous glint flickered in her crimson eyes, and the words spilling out of her mouth turned vicious. “Those Hermitage Order bastards are fucking monsters. If they’ve got the guts, they can do it to themselves! If they’ve got the guts, they can modify themselves! But no. Once they can’t trick enough cannon fodder, they pull this. I swear I’ll- I’ll wipe their whole damn line-”
“That’s the situation,” Yu Sheng said, exhaling slowly. “That so-called Sage ran at the last moment. But aside from him, every cultist on this ship who was still alive, I sent to the Special Operations Bureau. Now we wait and see when they can pry those mouths open and find where their nest is… even if we only find one of their planets.
“As for the Sage who escaped, I can’t track him right now. But he fought me for a long time, and I managed to leave some marks on him. When fate is right, I’ll dig him out… one way or another, I’m killing him.”