Chapter 406

Chapter 406: Their “Target”

Yu Sheng had wanted to try cranking out a bunch of mass-produced Irenes for a long time. The idea had been circling in his head for at least half a month.

There wasn’t any special reason. It just sounded fun—like most of his ideas. When it popped up, it came with no explanation.

Of course, now he had a perfectly valid excuse: unlocking Irene’s combat potential, and dealing more easily with enemies as tricky as that priest.

And as the involved party, Little Doll was clearly on board. When it came to wild ideas, she and Yu Sheng always clicked. One of them loved chaos, and the other made sure it happened.

So they huddled together and instantly hit it off—perfectly in sync, shamelessly allied, partners in crime.

“There’s just one issue,” Yu Sheng said, rubbing his chin as he worked through the details. “Making a bunch of bodies isn’t hard. The hard part is whether you can control them.

“You’re already running four minds at once, right? I remember at the start you could barely handle two bodies without stumbling.”

Irene thought seriously, sparks still snapping around her. After a moment, she spoke. “I think I can. Remember what I told you at the start? My bodies can run on ‘low bandwidth.’ If you give some basic commands, ‘she’ can move on her own.

“From the perspective of doll alchemy, once spirit-infusion is complete, a doll is already a complete ‘life.’ It has basic spirituality, and if you leave it alone long enough, it might even develop intelligence…”

She paused, then added quickly, “Of course, since I’ll definitely connect to those shells, we don’t need to worry about that last possibility. Bottom line: if it’s just making them move and using them as grunts in a fight, I should be able to handle it.”

After thinking for a long moment, she continued, “Also… even with all that, I still don’t know exactly how many shells I can control. We’ll have to build them and test it.”

Yu Sheng listened to her serious analysis, stunned. Watching her sit there with a focused face felt unreal.

He was used to Little Doll being carefree and airheaded. He never expected she could actually think through real business. He couldn’t help feeling impressed. Specialization really mattered. She understood herself better than anyone.

Normally, she couldn’t even land a last hit on a minion online. If she went out to buy gear, she could fumble around the high ground for three minutes. But when it came to doll control? She was born to be a split-mind monster.

Irene caught the shift in his gaze immediately and snapped her head up. “Why do I feel like you’re insulting me in your head?”

“Your imagination,” Yu Sheng said, waving it off with a perfectly smooth lie. “I’m just admiring how amazing you are.”

“That’s right.” Irene beamed, her suspicion lasting less than two seconds. “Let me tell you, I noticed it too. I’m definitely talented at controlling clone technique! At first, controlling two bodies felt awkward, but four is easy now… bottom line, you just have to practice!

“Once you make the mass-produced ones, I’m going to test it properly. I really want to know my limit for clone technique…”

“Alright. I’ll prepare it.” Yu Sheng smiled, then turned and headed toward the coffee table. “But for now, we need to look into Yun Qing Zi, and what this sudden Holy Revere Hermitage is all about.”

The moment he said it, Old Hunk and Big Nephew—sitting across the coffee table—both snapped to attention. Even Luna, who’d been spacing out by the window, took two silent steps closer.

“I just can’t figure it out,” Yu Sheng muttered as he sat down and shook his head. “How did those creepy cultists end up working with someone like Yun Qing Zi? The vibes and their spheres of influence don’t match at all. They shouldn’t even be able to touch each other with an eight-meter pole.”

“True. Holy Revere Hermitage rarely operates in Featherwing territory, so I was also surprised when that ‘priest’ appeared,” Immortal Yuan Hao said, nodding. Then his tone shifted. “But recently, Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain did catch some of those heretics at the border.”

Yu Sheng frowned, thinking.

He remembered. Xuan Che had told him about it. In fact, one of the reasons he’d come to visit Featherwing in the first place was curiosity about cultists acting suspiciously here. But once he arrived, one accident after another happened, and the matter got pushed aside.

“You mean… those Hermitage Order nests you found in the border region back then?” Yu Sheng asked, then immediately grew curious. “Wait, aren’t you the type who doesn’t handle affairs? How do you know all this?”

Immortal Yuan Hao looked awkward for a moment. “These years… I truly have not personally managed Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain’s affairs, for reasons. But my information is still current. And after returning this time, I also learned quite a lot from Junior Brother and the others.”

“Oh.” Yu Sheng didn’t press a topic that clearly made Old Hunk uncomfortable. He returned to the point at once. “But as far as I know, those nests you found weren’t around here.”

Immortal Yuan Hao hadn’t even had time to reply when a familiar voice drifted in from outside the window.

“That can only mean the nests we found back then were just scattered edge outposts,” the voice said. “The place those fiends truly take root in Featherwing has always been Shu Ji!”

Yu Sheng looked up.

A streak of rosy light cut through the rain outside. As the voice fell, it shot through the crack in the window in a swift flash.

But Irene’s steel cable—the one she was using as a ground line—was still draped over the windowsill. That was why the window had been left slightly open.

Everything happened too fast. Yu Sheng didn’t even have time to warn anyone. He’d just lifted his hand when he saw the rosy light graze the cable—

In the next instant, a sharp crack split the air.

A twisting arc of electricity, seven or eight meters long and glowing bluish-purple, stabbed forward. One end linked to Irene’s arm, the other to the incoming light. The steel cable flashed white and vaporized in an instant.

Then Xuan Che shot out of the rosy glow like a ball of lightning, yelped, flew across the hall, and slammed hard into the opposite wall.

Cultivation physiques were no joke. Xuan Che sprang up a heartbeat later, shoved a handful of elixirs into his mouth without anyone seeing what they were, and spun around as if facing a deadly enemy.

“Wh-who released divine thunder?!”

Even as he spoke, static crawled over him. His hair stood straight up. His eyes scanned two directions at once before finally locking onto Little Doll, sitting stiffly in the middle of the living room, staring at him—crackling with leftover charge.

The room fell silent.

Even Yu Sheng, who dealt with strange people and odd powers all the time, didn’t know how to respond.

In the end, Irene broke the silence. She looked down at her palm, then stared at Yu Sheng in awe. “Hey! I discharged half my electricity!”

The next second, she sprang to her feet and fixed Xuan Che with a fierce glare. “Don’t move!”

Cold sweat burst out on Xuan Che’s face. Whether it was fear or the lingering shock, he went pale. “Miss Irene, calm down!”

“Calm down my ass!” Irene buzzed. “I love this body for gaming because it feels great, but right now I don’t even dare touch a mobile phone! Just bear with it. Treat it like a tribulation. One crack and it’s over—”

Xuan Che looked like he was about to die. He turned to Yu Sheng. “Mr. Yu, save me!”

“Irene, sit back down,” Yu Sheng said firmly, pushing her into place before she could do something worse. When Little Doll returned to the center of the living room, muttering under her breath, he looked back at Xuan Che. “You… ugh. You derailed my train of thought. Where were we…? Oh, right. Holy Revere Hermitage.

“You met Ink City’s City Lord? Did you find any intel related to those cultists?”

Xuan Che let out a long breath. As he walked over, he carefully gave Irene a wide berth while straightening his hair and clothes. “Sigh. I didn’t get any information. Whether it’s the Hermitage Order’s heretics or those black-robed cultivators, the City Lord here knows nothing about their existence.

“It’s too early to conclude anything, but in my view, whether it’s Ink City’s City Lord or Shu Ji’s star-guardian elder, they’ve truly been lax these years.”

He sat down beside Yu Sheng and organized his thoughts. “But on the way back, I did think of something.”

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“About why the Hermitage Order got mixed up with Yun Qing Zi,” Xuan Che said slowly. “Like you said, they shouldn’t have anything to do with each other. But what if they share a common target? Then it’s a different matter.”

“A common target…” Yu Sheng repeated, his expression darkening.

He didn’t know what Yun Qing Zi wanted yet. But he knew exactly what Holy Revere Hermitage’s biggest target was—at least lately.

“Dark Angels.”