Chapter 405

Chapter 405: Yu Sheng’s Scheme (Confirmed)

After returning to the Immortal Conclave Isle, the first thing Yu Sheng did was rush to the bathroom and run hot water for Little Doll.

A clockwork girl couldn’t catch a chill—but she could sprint around, scratch at everything, and track mud across the whole suite.

Hot water thundered into a bathtub big enough for Irene to swim in. Steam rose in thick curls, chasing away the rainy night’s cold, and the steady sound of splashing water gradually smoothed the knots in Yu Sheng’s mind.

He folded his arms and leaned against the tub, staring at the churning surface, half lost in thought. Irene (Rebar), filthy from head to toe, clung to the rim and stretched on tiptoe, watching the water level climb. The steam fogged her face. She smiled anyway, tried to scoop up some hot water with her hands, and promptly discovered she couldn’t quite reach it.

“Are you done yet?” Irene craned her head up at Yu Sheng. “You’ve been filling it forever.”

“Give it a few more minutes,” Yu Sheng said absently. “The hotter it is, the easier it’ll be to wash you clean.” Then his gaze dropped to the trail of muddy footprints stamped across the bathroom floor. “…Should I have tossed you in the shower first to rinse you off?”

Irene thought about it. Her eyes flicked around, and a wicked grin spread across her face. When Yu Sheng wasn’t paying attention, she spun and pounced, grabbing at his pant leg with her tiny hands.

Two neat, muddy handprints appeared instantly.

“Damn it!” Yu Sheng yelped and hopped back. He dodged, then quickly grabbed Irene by the belt and lifted her into the air. “What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

“Ahaha…” Irene dangled, giggling without a hint of fear. “Because you kept zoning out. When you zone out, your brain just dies…”

Yu Sheng looked at the tub—now steaming and full—and casually tossed Little Doll right in.

Irene flailed wildly and started cursing at the top of her lungs.

“Glug-glug! Glug… glug-glug-glug!!”

Yu Sheng didn’t understand a single word.

His mood still lifted.

He clapped his hands, ignored her dog-paddling in furious circles, and turned toward the bathroom door. At that moment, Foxy pushed it open and walked in.

The demon fox girl had a huge bundle of tails hugged against her chest.

Yu Sheng blinked. “What are you doing…?”

“I got rained on, so I need hot water,” Foxy said with complete seriousness. “If I don’t wash, my fur gets rough, and I’ll feel awful tomorrow.” Then she noticed the muddy handprints on Yu Sheng’s pants. “…Irene was causing trouble again?”

Yu Sheng waved it off with a grin. “It’s fine. These pants needed washing anyway.”

“Then later, just leave them by the bathroom door. I’ll wash them for you.” Foxy smiled sweetly. “I’m washing a ton of stuff anyway~~”

“Sure.”

Yu Sheng stepped out. Foxy, still hugging her pile of tails, turned in a slow circle twice and realized there wasn’t really anywhere suitable to wash eight tails at once.

In the tub, Irene suddenly felt a chill crawl down her spine. She looked up and saw it: a giant furball—an enormous, writhing ball made entirely of tails—creeping closer.

“Silly Fox, what are you doing…? I’m warning you! I’m warning you, don’t come any closer! This is my bath! We’ve got a washing machine at home. Go home and wash your tails there—aaah…”

Foxy acted like she hadn’t heard a word. She lifted her arms and tossed the entire bundle of tails straight into the steaming water. Then she dragged over a stool and started scrubbing—first her own tails, and then Irene, who ended up wrapped in fluff like a burrito.

The goal was simple: no favoritism. Whatever came out of this tub today had to be spotless.

The bathroom sounded like it was turning into a battlefield.

But that had nothing to do with Yu Sheng.

He went straight into Wu Tong Road 66, changed into clean, dry clothes, and only then returned to the Immortal Conclave Isle Hotel suite.

Zheng Zhi sat behind the coffee table, phone in hand, writing a work report. Immortal Yuan Hao was using the spirit-link mirror to contact Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, apparently updating them on whatever was happening on Shu Ji. Luna stood by the window as always, motionless as a statue—though in truth, she was in the Soul Wilderness, leading her knight groups as they continued polishing details on the cathedral.

And aside from those three, the emptiest corner of the living room held Little Doll. Irene (Pika) sat cross-legged on the floor, sparks crawling over her body. Nobody dared get close.

When Yu Sheng came out after changing, she was sulking. The moment she saw him, she buzzed angrily, electricity snapping in the air. “Yu Sheng, go deal with Silly Fox! She’s washing her tails in my bathtub! And she scrubbed me too… I only zapped her a few times earlier!”

“So you do know you started it,” Yu Sheng said, raising an eyebrow.

He would have gone over and ruffled her hair out of habit, but the crackling arcs made him stop short. Keeping a careful distance, he frowned. “Seriously… you’re still discharging? You can’t keep sparking like this forever, can you?”

“I’m discharging, I’m discharging.” Irene lifted a hand, showing the steel cable she was holding. It ran from the living room to the windowsill and drooped down the outside of the building. “Overcharged power like this can’t be stored. It’s just leaking out—kind of slowly. I even hooked up a ground line… but I don’t know why it’s still so slow.”

Yu Sheng frowned deeper. “So you’re basically just leaking electricity, right?”

“Uh… is there a difference?” Little Doll blinked. She rubbed at the air with her other hand, as if testing her charge. Then she snapped her fingers.

A bolt nearly two meters long whipped out from her fingertip.

Everyone’s hair stood on end. Zheng Zhi let out a strangled sound and slid behind Immortal Yuan Hao in one smooth motion. “Let me borrow a shield—let me borrow a shield…”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Yu Sheng threw up both hands. “If you fry the hotel’s stuff again… how about I open a door to outer space for you? Go find an empty spot in orbit and let the extra energy out. You can’t keep crackling like this.”

To his surprise, Irene actually considered it. Her expression turned oddly eager. “That… kind of sounds interesting…”

Then she shook her head. “No, never mind. It’d be too loud, and if I mess up the control, this body might overload and burn out. That’d be a huge loss. I’ll just ‘leak’ it like this. It’s slow, but steady.”

As she spoke, she looked down at herself and waved an arm at Yu Sheng. “And look—the sparks are already way less than before!”

Even without her pointing it out, Yu Sheng could see it. The stray arcs around her were much weaker than when they’d first come back. Overcharged electricity really couldn’t be stored.

Charging to four hundred percent and firing a light cannon that could end the world was undeniably cool. The downside was that afterward, she’d leak electricity for a while. At this rate, Yu Sheng roughly estimated she’d keep crackling for at least two more days.

“Looking at it like this, your body still has a lot of room for improvement,” Yu Sheng muttered, stroking his chin as strange ideas churned. “You can charge from lightning, overcharge several times without damage, and turn that stored energy into a massive light cannon. But you can’t keep the overcharge, and you leak afterward. Whether that’s a strength or a flaw… none of this was in my original plan.”

Irene rolled her eyes. “Be honest. When you made this body for me, did you actually ‘design’ anything? Didn’t you just make it up as you went?”

“How is making it up not design?” Yu Sheng shot back, suddenly dead serious. Then he rubbed his chin again. “I’m being serious. This is inspiring. I feel like your body’s ‘traits’ can be used. If we get the mechanics right, we might be able to develop some really nasty moves.”

Irene tilted her head. “But it’s not like we can have someone strike me with lightning every time we fight, right? Normal charging can’t do this. Usually at home, I use that charging dock you made. Once I’m full, it won’t take any more…”

Yu Sheng didn’t answer. He just stared at her, thoughtful for so long that she started to get nervous.

“Yu Sheng,” she said cautiously, “y-your eyes look kind of dangerous. What are you thinking?”

“I just had an idea.” Yu Sheng’s voice warmed as a plan took shape. He couldn’t wait to share it. “Up to now, every body I’ve made for you has been one of a kind—different models with totally separate capabilities. But what if I made you some mass-produced bodies to a single standard?

“Same materials. Same process. Identical shells. Then between those bodies… could there be some kind of coordination?”

He leaned forward, excitement rising. “And if we push it further—this shell you have now has the trait of charging and discharging. If we gather multiple shells like this and charge all of them up—”

He stopped.

Across from him, Little Doll went from confused to thoughtful. Her eyes widened, little by little, until Yu Sheng’s lips curled into a grin.

“Want to try building something like an Irene matrix?” he asked, rubbing his chin, suddenly bright with anticipation. “Foxy can mass-produce the core materials. The rest can be mud from the valley. The biggest cost is ritual oils and incense, and we can even ‘borrow’ that from the Special Operations Bureau. All things considered, it’s cheap.”

Irene stared, mouth hanging open, listening for a long moment.

Then she slapped her hands together. “I feel like something’s off… but this sounds insanely cool!”