Chapter 321

Chapter 322: Hard to Communicate

When Yu Sheng arrived, he saw a scene that made his head spin: Xiao Xiao and a few kids were standing helplessly by the vegetable patch, while the scary looking Artificial Saintess was in the field carefully pulling weeds. Dirt and bits of grass clung to her metal shell, like she had been at it for a while.

Xiao Xiao spotted Yu Sheng pushing the door open and rushed over to complain, remembering to switch how she addressed him as she greeted him: “Uncle… brother! She stole our labor class assignment… who is this big sister?”

Yu Sheng was still confused. He had no idea what was going on, but he coughed twice when he heard Xiao Xiao and rubbed her head as he said, “Uh, she’s a new guest… it’s fine, go play somewhere else for now. I’ll explain to Teacher Su later.”

Xiao Xiao gave a half understanding “oh,” then led the other Cursed Children away. At the same time, the metal doll seemed to finally notice them. She straightened up, turned her pale face with that hollow smile toward Yu Sheng, and stood there without moving.

Yu Sheng faced her from ten meters away. One side was a silent steel metal doll. The other was a “resurrected one” who had been killed by her twice. Neither broke the silence. Wind drifted up from the depths of the valley and set the leaves along the roadside rustling. Now and then the happy shouts of the Cursed Children swept over the field with the breeze.

After a long moment, Yu Sheng tried to speak: “Uh, hello… can you hear me?”

He waited a few seconds before the Artificial Saintess gave a slight nod.

“Can you come over here?” said Yu Sheng. “That plot is a patch I set aside for the town’s Cursed Children to care for together. I know you want to help, but they don’t seem to like it.”

After a few more seconds of awkward waiting, the Artificial Saintess nodded again, stepped out of the vegetable patch, and with a careful, hesitant air, slowly walked up to Yu Sheng.

Her posture was still as graceful as when they first met, but Yu Sheng could clearly feel that her reactions seemed a little slow.

Wearing a thoughtful look, he studied her, trying to find some trace of human warmth in that beautiful yet empty shell that lacked expression and heat, then asked with curiosity, “Do you still remember me?”

The Artificial Saintess hesitated, then raised a hand and pointed at Yu Sheng’s arm, then at his chest.

Yu Sheng thought: [This is a little awkward.]

“Uh, right,” he said with a wry smile, rubbing his nose. He realized she did remember him, though the memory marker was a bit much. “Two slashes, eight holes… hey, wait, where’s your blade?”

Only now did he notice her hands were in a normal shape. The half meter long fingertip blades she used to have were nowhere to be seen.

Hearing his question, the Artificial Saintess stood still for a moment, tilted her head like she was trying to understand, then seemed to get it. She lowered her hands to her thighs. With soft mechanical clicks, hidden cases in her legs flipped open, and blades sprang out to merge with her fingers.

She lifted both hands and flexed the sharp knives, showing them to Yu Sheng very seriously.

The sight of ten knives waving right in front of him made Yu Sheng feel like he might grow a few extra eyes. He hurriedly waved his hands: “Got it, got it, no need to demonstrate… wait, your blades are detachable?!”

The metal doll slowly nodded, put the blades away, and fell back into silence as she stood before him.

Yu Sheng thought: [Maybe this body cannot speak at all.]

He started to feel a little pressure, mostly because he was not used to this. He was used to noise. On a normal day, just one Irene was like four mouths talking. That little doll could chatter all morning over something tiny. When she teamed up with Foxy, the place never had a quiet minute. The daily racket at No. 66 Wutong Road felt like an old marketplace on execution day. He had gotten used to saying one sentence and hearing four channels of replies looping around him. Sometimes Foxy joined in and it became five channels. Now, he was facing someone who not only did not talk but also reacted a beat slow.

He thought: [It feels like going from fiber optic speed to sending messages by pigeon. When I stare at the Artificial Saintess face to face, I keep wondering if she has frozen.]

Luckily, just as the slow pace of saying one line and waiting half a day started to drive him nuts, help arrived.

With the pounding steps of some giant creature, a familiar mix of squeaks and yowls came from far away: “Hey hey! Yu Sheng! Foxy and I are here! What’s going on, you just said in the Spiritual Link that the Artificial Saintess woke up? Hey Foxy, slow down, slow down! Oh no, sto-ah!”

Yu Sheng turned. A giant white fox was racing toward them from the Portal Platform, kicking up dust. Only when she was very close did she remember to brake. She planted her forepaws, swung her whole body sideways, and whipped her nine tails like auxiliary jets for an instant reverse thrust. It worked. Foxy stopped at once. The problem was the four Irenes went flying like stones from a catapult.

Thankfully, Yu Sheng reacted fast. He lunged forward and caught one little doll.

He only caught one. The other three went in headfirst and evenly spaced into the vegetable patch. Unit One, the one with the picture frame on her back, flew the farthest because the painting worked like a glider.

The scene went quiet for two seconds. Yu Sheng looked down at the Irene in his arms. She lifted her dazed face. Their eyes met. The next second, the doll in his arms let out a howl, sprang free, and charged the big white fox who was strolling over: “You silly fox, you did that on purpose! When you carry Yu Sheng you use your tails to block for him!”

Yu Sheng reached out to stop her but missed. At the same time, he caught a movement at the edge of his vision. The Artificial Saintess, who had been standing like a statue, suddenly reacted. She looked left and right as if thinking it through, then walked toward the vegetable patch, pulled each struggling, short legged Irene up out of the dirt, shook the soil off them, and tucked the still fighting little doll under her arm.

Soon she came back and set three little dolls neatly on the ground at Yu Sheng’s feet.

For some reason, Yu Sheng thought of a neat pile of carrots at the end of a row.

Only this pile of “carrots” had very foul mouths. The three Irenes hit the ground and started hopping and swearing, then had to stop to shake dirt out of their hair and clothes. After a while they looked up and saw C Buckle standing there, staring down at them with that fixed smile. It felt like mockery. Irene’s heart collapsed at once: “What a shame! I, Alice’s living doll… silly fox, I am not done with you!”

Foxy, still in her Demon Fox form, walked over. The only Irene Yu Sheng had caught was hanging in midair, clutching a tuft of fur under Foxy’s chin. Foxy felt awkward but did not dare fling her off. She touched the little doll gently with a forepaw: “Next time I’ll use my pocket money to buy you a new dress.”

Irene let go at once: “Deal.”

And just like that, the grudge ended.

As for Yu Sheng, in just a short while he felt the familiar mood return. The noisy chaos around his ears made him feel at ease.

He turned his head. The Artificial Saintess still stood there. The fuss Irene and Foxy had made did not seem to stir any reaction in her, but Yu Sheng soon noticed her posture looked a bit more tense than before. She seemed… at a loss? Or maybe nervous?

One of the Irenes finally focused on the metal doll. Chin up, she strutted over and called, “Hey! C Buckle!”

There was no response.

The little doll turned to Yu Sheng: “Yu Sheng, why won’t she answer me?”

Yu Sheng quickly explained, “Her reactions seem a little slow.”

“R-right?” Irene blinked, then turned back. Sure enough, she saw the Artificial Saintess lower her head, as if answering the call a moment late.

“Fine, maybe it’s some aftereffect. Or maybe her mind got torn,” Irene said, heart light as ever, and dropped the detail. She introduced herself: “I’m Irene, the Hotel’s second in command. The big fox is Foxy, the Hotel’s third in command. And this is Yu Sheng, our boss. Did you get that?”

The Artificial Saintess kept her head lowered. After a while she slowly nodded, as if she really understood.

Irene looked at Foxy: “Hey silly fox, why are you still in that form? Not changing back?”

Foxy did not answer. She studied the Artificial Saintess a few more times, like she was judging something, then said “oh,” and with a burst of radiant light changed from Demon Fox to her usual human shape.

She greeted the metal doll politely, “Hello.”

The Artificial Saintess nodded in return.

“Why aren’t you talking?” Irene finally noticed the biggest problem. “Can’t you speak?”

The Artificial Saintess hesitated, gave a small nod, then shook her head.

Irene froze, then glanced at Yu Sheng: “Why is it so hard to talk to her?”

“It was like this just now,” Yu Sheng said with a helpless shrug. “Maybe like you said, some aftereffect.”

He lifted his head and looked not far away.

More and more Cursed Children were gathering to watch.

“This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s go home and figure it out.”