Chapter 412

Chapter 412: The Manpower Problem Was Solved!

As much as Yu Sheng hated to admit it, Irene’s “analysis” did make one thing painfully clear: among all the special materials needed to make mass-produced dolls, his blood might actually be the cheapest.

At worst, it cost time—about thirty minutes per production cycle.

The good news was, he probably didn’t need to worry about output for now. Even if production had a natural bottleneck, Yu Sheng doubted he’d need an army of hundreds of thousands anytime soon.

He could stockpile slowly.

And when the third mass-produced doll sat up on the alchemy platform, Yu Sheng discovered something else: in the entire spirit-infusion ritual, even the final step—giving a name—could be done by the mass-production unit running the process.

Two mass-produced dolls shaped their “new sister,” then copied Yu Sheng’s earlier actions and stuttered out the name “Irene” over the bench. The cold lump of clay and metal suddenly came alive. Yu Sheng barely had time to blink before a blood-red sheen washed over the rough body. In the space of a breath, blood and spirit fused into life, and the new doll opened her eyes.

“…That works too?” Yu Sheng stared as the two dolls helped the newborn “sister” down from the platform. Then he watched her instantly absorb the others’ experience through their shared link and jog off to another platform to prepare the next unit. His shock only deepened. “So the naming step doesn’t even need a human involved?”

Even Irene looked stunned. “I don’t know either! I never even thought about dolls making dolls, okay? We’re exploring just like you are!”

“Maybe because every mass-produced doll has my blood,” Yu Sheng said slowly, thoughts loosening as he spoke, “they also have a way to give a name to other newborn dolls? Or it’s some kind of resonance… Or maybe because all mass-produced dolls are linked, once the first one has a name, that’s enough.”

“I think it’s definitely related to your weird blood,” Irene said after thinking hard, staring up at him with complete seriousness. “Even a ship that big got pulled back just because it got some of your blood on it.”

Yu Sheng didn’t confirm or deny it. He only watched the growing crowd of Irenes running between platforms, cups of fresh blood in their hands, and stayed silent for a long moment.

Finally, he said, “I think I should store more of it.”

Irene didn’t react at first. “Store more of what?”

“Blood,” Yu Sheng said, as casually as if he were talking about flour. “It regenerates anyway. Now it has a new use, so consumption is obviously going to go up. When I’m idle, I can bleed a bit and store it. As long as I don’t die on the spot, it won’t disappear… Keeping it flowing in my body feels like a waste.”

Irene gawked at him. Then, after a long, stunned pause, she shouted, “That sounds even less human than what I said earlier!”

“No kidding,” Yu Sheng said, glaring at her. “Me saying it and you saying it are totally different. You started out aiming to bleed me to death. I’m at least trying to stay alive.”

Irene blinked. “Is that how you use ‘stay alive’?”

“Of course,” Yu Sheng said. “I’m a writer. My word choice is precise.”

“R-right?”

Foxy didn’t say a word. She simply kept pouring molten iron into molds.

And so the mass-produced dolls began to proliferate—from one to two, two to four, four to a swarm.

A whole crowd of gothic dolls in black dresses, black hair, and red eyes scurried around the massive alchemy lab, making more dolls and awakening more sisters. They would keep executing that instruction until this batch of raw materials ran out.

Yu Sheng sat off to the side, watching the spectacle with a mix of amazement and a strange, unsettled expression.

For a moment, he shuddered as a nightmare image surfaced—hundreds, thousands of Irenes crawling over him, squealing and bouncing, turning the world into chaos until he went mad.

He shook his head and forcibly threw it away.

The part about hundreds and thousands of Irenes might come true soon, but the mass-produced Irenes were far quieter than he’d imagined. Most of the time, they simply carried out orders. When they ran into something they couldn’t handle, they exchanged a little information—outsiders couldn’t even tell how—then waited neatly out of the way. They rarely spoke, even though they clearly could.

Watching those quiet, busy little figures, Yu Sheng felt oddly unaccustomed to it—especially with the one Irene on his shoulder chattering nonstop with the same face. The mismatch was almost jarring.

Foxy finished casting the last batch of skeleton parts. She walked over, faint blue smoke drifting from her tails, and asked curiously, “Benefactor, if we make this many mass-produced dolls… what do we have them do when there’s no fighting?”

“Plenty,” Yu Sheng said, smiling as if he’d already mapped it all out. “Daily maintenance at the starport. Looking after the kids in Little Town. Watching and cleaning around the hub. All the facilities the Special Operations Bureau built—those need hands.”

“Right now those places are mostly managed by personnel the Bureau sends to support us. But that’s a favor. We can’t rely on it forever.”

“I originally thought that once Fairy Tale expands its recruitment, we’d have them send people to take over some facilities in the valley.” He sighed. “But then it starts to look like hiring child labor. Now it’s fine—mass-produced dolls exist, so the problem’s half solved.”

Irene immediately burst out, “So you can’t hire child labor, but you can make me do everything? I’m a mass-production unit that’s only 66.6 centimeters tall! I’m way shorter than those little brats, okay?!”

“So now you’re emphasizing you’re only 66.6 centimeters,” Yu Sheng said, laughing as he poked her. “Who was it that said everything in the valley was our family business, then got so excited you ran around all night without sleeping—sitting on the bed and giggling like an idiot? If it’s our own business, what’s wrong with taking care of it ourselves?”

Irene hesitated, then deflated. “Well… when you put it that way…”

Foxy still looked uneasy. “Can mass-produced dolls really do all that? Simple work is fine, but maintaining large equipment…” Her gaze drifted to the little ones weaving between platforms and occasionally bumping into each other. “I’m worried they’ll fall into machinery.”

“They do feel kind of dumb,” she added quietly.

“Machine spirit grows,” Yu Sheng said with confidence. “Haven’t you seen how they already move more smoothly than at the start? They share knowledge and experience. They understand basic cooperation and learning. I’m optimistic about their growth.” He waved a hand. “And I’m not going to give them anything too complex.”

Foxy thought for a moment, ears twitching. “Alright. That’s good.”

“Okay,” Yu Sheng said briskly, rising. “We’ve been cooped up in here long enough. Let’s take some of them out for fresh air and to say hello. Irene, arrange it—leave half here to keep making mass-production units, and take the other half out.”

“Yep!”

Thirty minutes later, Princess Rapunzel sat on a rooftop in Fairy Tale Town, staring in shock as Yu Sheng led a long line of more than a dozen Irenes down the street.

The mass-produced dolls marched in neat formation, eyes forward, following Irene (Rebar), who acted as the host. In every sense, they looked stamped from the same mold. It wasn’t just Princess Rapunzel—even the always steady Little Red Riding Hood nearly tripped when she saw them.

“H-hey… hey! Red Hood!” Princess Rapunzel practically rolled off the roof, sprinted over, and grabbed Little Red Riding Hood with both hands. “Did you see that?! Irene multiplied again—she multiplied into a whole bunch all at once, holy crap! What’s going on?!”

“I don’t know,” Little Red Riding Hood said, still dazed. “I thought I’d done too many driving-test questions and gone blind…”

While they spoke, Yu Sheng led the whole procession closer. Little Red Riding Hood walked up and didn’t say anything at first—she simply stared at the dozen Little Dolls lined up in front of her.

She held it in for a full half-minute before finally speaking. “…You didn’t slip and make extras by accident, did you?”

“Can you even slip that hard?” Yu Sheng laughed. He raised a hand in introduction. “Let me introduce them. These are Irene—mass-produced models.”

Little Red Riding Hood went stiff.

She stared at Yu Sheng, then at Irene—the only one in the line whose eyes carried any real spark, clearly the host. After a long moment, she blurted, “No, seriously. What were you guys thinking?!”

“You’re young,” Yu Sheng said with a grin. “You can’t let your imagination fall behind. Just treat it like new tech Hotel developed.” He gestured lazily toward the power station. “Didn’t you say the generators were short on people? This bunch is assigned there. Later I’ll teach you how to communicate with them.”

“There’ll be another batch coming out of the hub pyramid soon—going to the starport and the Black Forest lumber camp. And from now on, there should be an Irene walking out of the hub every few days.” He paused, then added, “If you see any that get lost or wander around near Little Town, take them to gather by the castle. These mass-produced dolls haven’t been tested much yet. They might be unstable.”

Little Red Riding Hood stared at him.

“…Huh?”