Chapter 323

Chapter 323: New Member

In the living room of Wu Tong Road 66, the Artificial Saintess sat on the sofa opposite Yu Sheng, her posture careful and restrained.

Mostly because she was three Irenes tall. Sitting on the sofa made her look like she was squatting.

“I told you,” Irene muttered beside Yu Sheng, sounding like she was trying to convince herself. “Being too tall is bad too. Look, she’s uncomfortable.”

Yu Sheng glanced at the little stump. Irene’s legs dangled off the cushion and didn’t even reach the edge. He suddenly didn’t feel qualified to mock anyone.

The awkward communication continued.

The good news: after some time, the Artificial Saintess’s reaction speed improved. She “crashed” less often mid-conversation. It was like she was adapting quickly to this state of resurrection.

The bad news: her language function seemed seriously damaged.

She could speak—Yu Sheng was certain her body wasn’t missing a voice module. But it was either broken or affected by her injured mind. She could sometimes force out sounds, but most were blurred and abrupt, almost impossible to understand.

Still, compared to total silence, it was a blessing.

Yu Sheng tried gently, “Do you remember your life?”

Then he clarified, “I mean… your life as a human.”

She nodded slowly, accompanied by a few short, meaningless syllables.

“And what happened to you after that—you remember that too?”

Another slow, firm nod.

Irene hopped onto the coffee table and sat cross-legged directly in front of her. “Hey, C Buckle. What do you want to do next?”

The Artificial Saintess went blank. This wasn’t a question you could answer with a nod or shake.

She thought hard, then began gesturing with her hands. After a long while, she forced out a few blurred noises.

“I can’t hear you,” Irene said, scratching her head. “I forgot you can’t say it. Okay, I’ll ask a different way.”

But this time, the Artificial Saintess waved both hands forcefully, shaking her head like she refused to give up. She kept trying to push out words—still too distorted to understand.

Irene blinked. “Hey, don’t force it. If you really can’t—”

She didn’t finish.

Yu Sheng lightly tapped her shoulder and pulled her back. He looked at the steel doll seriously. “You want to say it yourself, don’t you?”

The Artificial Saintess nodded.

“Then don’t rush,” Yu Sheng said. “Speak slowly. Your pronunciation is already clearer than before.”

She nodded again.

After a long while, she tried. And tried again. And again.

At last, Yu Sheng and the others managed to understand—partly by sound, partly by guessing.

“Want… go home,” the steel shell ground out, like rusty gears. Then she lifted a hand, worried it still wasn’t clear, and repeated, “Home.”

Yu Sheng went quiet for a few seconds, then nodded. “Okay. Home. I’ll find your hometown.”

The Artificial Saintess nodded—but she wasn’t finished.

She fought for more sounds. After many meaningless bursts, a few clearer syllables finally broke through. “Save… them… save…”

More noise followed.

Irene sprang back onto the table. “Okay, okay. I get it. You want us to help your hometown people. Save them from those Hermitage Order freaks. Uh… but honestly, that sounds like a huge project.”

Halfway through, Little Doll turned and looked at Yu Sheng with hesitation. “Did you already promise her?”

She swallowed. “Because I’m being honest. The three of us trying to take a whole planet might be tough. When the time comes, even if you get hit with blood calamity after blood calamity… it still won’t be enough.”

Little Doll was being impressively polite. Yu Sheng had the distinct sense she’d left out hundreds—maybe thousands—of extra calamities.

Foxy, meanwhile, leaned forward, tail swishing, fearless as ever. “It’s fine! When the time comes, I can be the vanguard!”

“Vanguard my ass!” Irene snapped. “With what—your pile of fox carrot missiles? If you pluck your tails bald, will it be enough to take a planet?!”

“No problem,” Yu Sheng said, waving a hand. “When the time comes, I can call people. The Borderland will act. The Hermitage Order built a tower right under the Councilor Council’s nose. They have to make an example of them, don’t they?

“Besides, it’s too early to talk about that. We don’t even have coordinates yet.”

He turned back to the Artificial Saintess. “Don’t worry. We’ll help you.”

She nodded slowly.

Then, with tremendous effort, she forced one more word out of the noise.

“Revenge.”

The room fell silent.

A few seconds later, Yu Sheng’s expression turned solemn, as if he were making a vow. “All right. Revenge.”

“Okay,” Irene declared, clapping her hands as if closing a meeting. “Then it’s those three things. Go home. Save your people. Get revenge. Easy enough. Nothing else, right?”

The Artificial Saintess shook her head.

“But let’s be clear,” Irene continued. “Those goals aren’t getting finished anytime soon. In the meantime, you’ve got nowhere to go, so you’ll stay in our organization and work.”

She turned mid-sentence, suddenly remembering her second-in-command setting and needing approval. “Yu Sheng, that’s what you mean, right?”

Yu Sheng didn’t mind. He smiled and nodded, then looked back at the steel doll. “If you want, you can join Hotel. We do need help, but we won’t force you. Even if you don’t join, you can still stay here. We’ve got plenty of room.”

He held her gaze. “What do you want?”

This time, her response was faster than any before.

She nodded hard.

Since she couldn’t form full sentences, she managed one clear syllable. “Okay.”

“Then welcome,” Yu Sheng said, smiling as he held out his hand. “From today on, you’re our fourth member.”

She hesitated—then copied him, reaching out.

Flesh and metal clasped. Warmth passed between them.

“Yay!” Irene immediately lit up, seeming to forget her earlier feud with “C Buckle” entirely. She ran to Foxy and poked her tail. “Fox fox, you’re senior now! Hotel has four bosses now…”

Yu Sheng couldn’t resist. “Weren’t you saying you wanted to fight C Buckle? Where did that attitude go?”

“Ah—right, right.” Irene froze like someone had yanked her plug, then started trying to resolve the conflict in her head. After processing for far too long and still not understanding her own emotions, she glared at Yu Sheng instead. “It’s just that the mood isn’t right! When the mood is right, you’ll see whether we fight or not… don’t laugh!”

Then she marched to the Artificial Saintess, chin high. “Listen. You’re a doll and I’m a doll, but you’re C Buckle and you’re junior. So from now on in the Doll Action Squad, I’m the captain and you’re deputy leader. Deputy leader listens to the captain. Understand?”

The Artificial Saintess only tilted her head, as if the noisy shorty had something wrong with her brain, and ignored her completely.

“Hey! Yu Sheng, look at her attitude!” Irene complained at once. “I generously accepted her as C Buckle and she won’t even respond—”

“Enough,” Yu Sheng sighed, hauling Little Doll back. “There are only two dolls total and you already want a captain and deputy leader. If you’re not embarrassed, I’m embarrassed.”

Then he looked at the steel doll with curiosity. “And stop calling her C Buckle all the time. She should have a name.”

He paused. “By the way… what’s your name?”

The Artificial Saintess froze.

No movement. No response. A long time passed.

Then she twitched and produced a string of completely indecipherable sounds.

Irene spread her hands. “Great. The biggest communication problem has arrived.”

Foxy’s eyes brightened. She fetched paper and a pen, set them on the coffee table, and pushed them in front of the steel doll. “Write it down. Can you write?”

“Oh, right!” Irene said, smacking her forehead. “How did I not think of—”

She stopped.

Because the Artificial Saintess picked up the pen and wrote a string of symbols none of them recognized.

She lifted her head and looked at Yu Sheng uneasily, clearly realizing no one could read what she’d written.

It was the script the cultivator back in her hometown had taught everyone.

After an awkward silence, she raised a hand and pointed at herself, then tried again—fighting to say the name she’d had before “saintess” became a cold, monotonous title. The name her parents had once called her.

“Lu—” Her voice broke into static. “Lu$#@%…”

She tried again.

This time, it came out clearer.

“Lu-na…”

“Your name is Luna?” Yu Sheng asked gently, repeating it to confirm.

“Mm.” She nodded, producing a brief syllable.

“All right, Luna.” Yu Sheng smiled, warmth settling into his voice. “It’s good to meet you, Luna.”