Chapter 323

Chapter 324: The Hotel’s Headcount Is Still Steady

The Hotel somehow gained one more person: a Metal Doll named “Luna.”

The funny part was that even after the new member joined, the people count at 66 Wutong Road barely went up at all.

Yu Sheng took it well. Since the first “ally” he met in this world had been made of clay and wire, his standards for organization members were always low. His basic rule was simple: alive, human shaped, and able to speak human words. Luna just barely hit the passing line on all three.

After that, the first thing Yu Sheng asked Luna to do was memorize every Hotel member’s name.

She worked hard to learn how to say his: “Yu Sheng.”

Then she pointed at the Fox Maiden and, tripping over the syllables, tried to say Foxy’s name: “Hu, hu… li.”

Last came the little doll standing on the coffee table with arms crossed and an air of pride. Luna pointed at the doll and stammered from deep inside her body: “Ai, ai, ai…”

Foxy could not hold it in and burst out laughing halfway through.

Irene stared wide eyed at the fox, and just as she was about to ask what was so funny, Luna finally got the name out clearly: “Irene.”

The little doll kept staring. She felt something was off, but after thinking hard and getting nowhere, she dropped it.

Next came a house tour for the new member and a place to live.

Yu Sheng led Luna around 66 Wutong Road, then told her after they returned to the living room: “That’s the basic layout. There’s a spare room on the first floor with decent conditions. There’s also an empty room on the second floor, but that one is a bit weird, so I don’t recommend anyone live there. The basement and the attic are clean and spacious too, but I think you should stay on the first floor. Also about your daily needs, uh…”

He trailed off, eyeing the Metal Doll in front of him as his thoughts started spinning.

[What daily supplies does a two meter tall Metal Doll need? How does she take a bath? Does she need new clothes? What kind of bed and bedding would work? Judging by her build, she probably doesn’t eat… so what does she need? WD-40?]

Seeing Yu Sheng suddenly freeze, Luna tilted her head in confusion, then looked toward the fox and squeezed out a few words: “Yu Sheng, not moving, thinking?”

Foxy spoke like it was normal while chewing on a half eaten drumstick: “Benefactor does that a lot. He’s probably thinking about what to set up so you can live here. When I moved in, he looked after me all the time.”

Luna understood. A few seconds later, she reached out and tapped Yu Sheng’s shoulder.

She spoke a muffled phrase: “Holy Coffin.”

Yu Sheng did not catch it the first time and blinked: “Huh, what?”

Luna repeated, this time much clearer: “Holy Coffin.”

It took Yu Sheng a few seconds to realize what she meant, so he asked: “You’re saying you want to sleep in that Iron Coffin?”

Luna nodded slowly. Then, worried he might misunderstand, she added with effort: “Must.”

Yu Sheng blinked again, and this time he fully understood.

“You mean you have to rest inside that Holy Coffin, so we don’t need to assign you a room here?”

“Mm.”

Yu Sheng ran a hand through his hair. This was not what he had planned.

Then he thought of Foxy, who could shoot her tail like a missile, and Irene, who could split into four bodies, and he felt better.

Borderland was famous for exceptional people and wild Earth Spirits. It was normal for the Hotel’s members to be a little off. Compared with Snow White and her seven Thunder Titans, his new member only needed to sleep in a coffin. Nothing to panic about. [I’m already planning to make a few small boxes for Irene anyway.]

So he decided: “All right. You’ll keep sleeping in the Holy Sarcophagus Chamber. That ship is part of the Hotel now and the cultists on board are all cleared out,” he said as he rubbed his chin and looked at Luna. “But that is inconvenient for you. I’ll open another The Door in the basement here that goes straight to the Holy Sarcophagus Chamber.”

They settled it like that.

Just then, another thought struck Yu Sheng.

He looked Luna over from head to toe and asked: “Luna, do you still remember what happened in that ‘wasteland’?”

Luna did not answer right away. A low hum came from inside her frame.

Irene jumped, startled by the sound: “Huh? She crashed again?”

Before the words finished, Luna turned her gaze toward the little doll, raised her hand, and mimed lifting a sword and slamming it down, as if calling up a broken memory. Then she nodded: “I remember.”

Irene froze for a beat, then exploded with anger: “I’ve put up with you for long enough, C Buckle! You totally did that on purpose!”

She leapt, flailing her fists as she threw herself at the Metal Doll, but Luna easily caught her midair. Irene stretched with all her might and still could not even reach Luna’s elbow.

Irene’s advantage was numbers. One body got caught, and the other three pounced. They did not fight fair at all. They ambushed and swarmed, clinging all over Luna. Sadly, all their stomping and kicking did not even scratch her.

Luna did not fight back. When she realized that having these shorties hanging off her body did not feel like anything, she simply set the Irene in her hand back on the floor. After thinking seriously for a few seconds, she added to Yu Sheng: “Thought… was a dream.”

Yu Sheng had been about to keep order so Irene would not go too far, but when he saw how things went, he let it be. He thought for a second and asked: “From your view, you thought you were just having a dream?”

Luna nodded lightly.

Yu Sheng frowned, thinking.

After a brief pause, Luna broke the silence and asked with curiosity: “Then, not a dream? What… is it?”

She had to try several times to get those words clear.

Foxy finally finished the drumstick and pulled a bun from her tail, speaking first: “A sanctuary. A sanctuary for the soul. I’ve been there before.”

Yu Sheng explained further: “People who touch my blood have two possible outcomes. For enemies, I erode and control them. For allies, I open The Door and grant permissions and protection.

“In the last battle in the Holy Sarcophagus Chamber, to repair your body, I finished the last step of Blood Bestowal the ally way. While rebuilding your shell, I also gave you access to enter the Sanctuary Wasteland.

“But you were in bad shape. I think that process may have even torn your mind more. So part of your mind drifted, dazed, into the Sanctuary Wasteland, while the other part stayed in the Holy Coffin.”

Luna listened carefully. She tried to think and understand. She remembered meeting and fighting Yu Sheng several times. She remembered the feeling when his blood first touched her: panic, anger, even fear.

Back then, the false cognition mask still covered her. A veil of lies sat over all her senses and understanding. She felt that nameless horror creep along her limbs like a corruption, inch by inch stabbing into her soul. She even severed one of her arms, yet the erosion kept spreading through her body, and for a time it even spread to the Knights linked to her mind.

Only when the mask shattered and when Yu Sheng pushed her into the Holy Coffin and the lid closed did she feel the peace behind that “erosion.”

After that, she dreamed.

She dreamed she stood on an endless plain. Rivers of souls roared through the far sky. A tall mountain rose at the place where the plain met the soul flood and the The End Web. A heavy, solemn Door stood on that mountain.

She also dreamed of a grand Bonfire. The Bonfire burned suffering as fuel and shone with a light called “hope,” blazing in the wasteland. She and her Knights guarded the Bonfire and talked and planned their future journey there.

She dreamed of a great voice beyond words speaking with her. The voice was gentle and friendly. It seemed like Yu Sheng, but she was too foggy to hear clearly.

Oh, and she dreamed of a little shorty who kept bouncing around while that great voice was talking.

Very noisy.

So she gave the shorty a light pat. The shorty flew and landed headfirst in the ground.

Luna snapped out of the memory and looked down to see shorties hanging from her arms, shoulders, neck, and thighs. There were four.

Three dead, one alive, or maybe all dead, or maybe all alive.

[What a strange life form. It hardly feels like something that should exist in this world.]

But that was fine. No need to overthink it. The shorties were friends, new family in the Hotel.

She smiled, lifted Irene off her arm, held her up to eye level, looked at her seriously, and said with care: “No fighting. Fighting is bad.”

Irene suddenly froze. The Artificial Saintess held her in the air, and, unless it was an illusion, Irene felt that the pale face, always smiling yet empty and cold, had gained a bit of warmth. Even the smile changed a little into a real, living expression.

“Uh,” Irene said as she scratched her head. The other three bodies climbed down from Luna. “That was an amazing fight. Since you admit defeat, we won’t fight anymore. Fine, I’ll spare you, C Buckle.”

Luna nodded slowly and gently set Irene on the floor.

“Okay, little shorty.”

Two seconds later, 66 Wutong Road shook with the little doll’s furious roar: “C type buckle! You totally did that on purpose!”