Chapter 729: Chapter 728: Everything Is Getting Better

In the Old World, there was a city called Plande.

It is said that it was a place where the "Captain" and the Puppet Progenitor lived together, a city-state floating on the sea.

It is said that it was the center of the Old World, the last place to be consumed and reset by the Captain’s power before the Second Singularity Explosion.

It is said that Alice Puppets return there in the Dream Realm, gathering, resting, and exchanging insights from across the Universe...

And being pulled by a strange puppet named Erin, who recently rejoined the network, to play games like King X Glory and X Delta.

Yu Sheng sat on the edge of this Puppet City, on the rooftop, marveling at the vastness of the small city.

Many Erin Puppets emerged from nearby buildings, gathering around him, with some even hanging on his legs.

A small steam engine chugged up from a distant slope, puffing along before suddenly screeching to a halt in the middle of the road, and a black-haired, red-eyed Erin jumped off, initially standing there dumbfounded, then her eyes turned lively as she began kicking the train’s front angrily.

Yu Sheng vaguely heard the little puppet muttering about the toy’s quality being unreliable and the deceitful tricks of online shops.

Closer by, Yu Sheng saw many shops along the street—those windows bright and beautiful, adorned with delicate bouquets and wrought iron canopies.

Many shops were empty, clearly Erin hadn’t had time to get them fully operational.

Or perhaps she never really intended for these shops to serve any purpose, since mass-produced puppets essentially only need a place to house their bodies, with possibly half of the buildings in the city simply serving as decoration...

But whether decorative or practical, Yu Sheng sat here like a giant who mistakenly wandered into a country of small beings, observing the earnestness and dedication of the little puppets in this cluster of buildings.

So he picked up the nearest Erin, raising her high in front of him.

"This place is amazing, even better than I imagined."

"Right? Right?" Erin said, smugly. This little fellow is someone who can brag to herself for half a day even without anyone complimenting her; now, praised by someone, the puppet seemed so proud she might just soar into the sky. "Let me tell you, I built this whole city modeled after the Assembly Hall in the Garden Network, and I even live-streamed it to show the sisters; they all said I was awesome... Of course, their words might have been gentler than that. Also, let me tell you, after this city was built, I feel the connection signal with the Garden Network is even stronger than before..."

Yu Sheng put the little puppet down again, happily listening to this tiny chatterbox. Then he saw, a short distance away, a small shop at the street corner, with gears, compasses, and vintage-style telescopes and other decorative objects adorning the exterior and rooftop. The window glowed with light, and there was a large sign at the entrance.

The sign read "Alice & Duncan’s Antique Shop" in crooked letters—scribbled like a dog’s crawl.

Clearly, handcrafted by the little puppet.

"That shop," Yu Sheng raised his hand, pointing to the street corner, "is special?"

Erin looked in the direction Yu Sheng pointed, and for the first time, the ordinarily carefree little puppet showed a bit of nostalgia and serenity: "...Ah, it seems special."

"What do you mean ’seems’?"

"Because I can’t quite remember," Erin scratched her head, "I only vaguely recall saying goodbye to the Puppet Progenitor here during one of my long-ago connections to the Garden Network. But what exactly was said at the time... I can’t remember at all."

"I see."

Yu Sheng nodded, refraining from further questioning.

A fluffy, large tail extended from nearby, over the rooftop edge, rubbing against the little puppet’s head.

Having entered the city, Hu Li transformed into a small fox shape, now lazily lying at Yu Sheng’s feet—though she tried to retract her body and tail, she still occupied nearly an entire intersection.

The mass-produced puppets passing by had to traverse mountains and rivers to climb over her body and tail.

Erin didn’t say a word, but was somewhat lost in thought as she gazed at the antique shop on the corner.

She stared dully at that closed door, and the shop window beside it, watching the light emanating from within the window. For some reason, she felt a bit distracted, and amidst her daze, she imagined that the door might just open the next moment, that someone was emerging in that small shop.

But in the blink of an eye, these illusions vanished into thin air.

A somewhat exaggerated exclamation came from nearby: "Wow! That’s how it looks inside!"

Both Erin and Yu Sheng looked up to see the head of the Snake Princess peering from the top of a small building in the vicinity—her giant tail was wriggling as it stretched along the street, evidently having crawled in cautiously along the road.

Erin looked up at this Great Demon’s face for a while, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at the stranger: "Let me tell you, if you scratch the nearby house, I’ll pierce a thousand holes in you with hot beams."

The whole body of the Great Demon instantly stiffened.

Yu Sheng was shocked—this was the first time in his life he saw a snake sweating like rain.

It’s understandable to see the upper half of the Snake Princess; after all, she cultivated half a human form, and the upper half looks like an ordinary girl. The key is how she’s sweating when her lower half doesn’t even have sweat glands...

...

After finishing the tour of "Puppet City," Yu Sheng didn’t hurry back to No. 66 Wutong Road. Instead, he took a detour to the center of the valley.

Beside Fairy Tale Town, large patches of vegetable fields were growing prosperously. Snow White was leading a group of children here to pick cucumbers, eggplants, and beans. This was part of the living classroom for the preschool kids. The vegetables they picked would be sent to the town’s cafeteria, and any extras would be taken to the city by the older kids to sell, in exchange for new seeds, fertilizers, and gifts for the little ones.

Luna had cultivated several large plots of land here, and the harvested vegetables were usually handled this way.

Of course, Hu Li who occasionally strolled here would also eat a lot—in fact, if Yu Sheng hadn’t reminded her, the fox girl could probably devour all these patches by herself...

Today, when Yu Sheng came over, he saw that the vegetables the kids brought back were sorted into several big baskets and placed on a piece of empty land by the field.

"These, take them home," Luna stood by the vegetable field, raising her hand to point at those big baskets, saying to Yu Sheng. Although she was still stammering and spoke slowly, her face made of living metal seemed to shine with a livelier and happier radiance than usual, "Pasture Star, without this, mom and dad, haven’t tasted it."

"We also baked cookies!" A cheerful voice came from beside him. Xiao Xiao ran to Yu Sheng from the crowd of children, with a radiant face, "Long-haired Sister also made a big bag of handmade candies!"

Yu Sheng initially just wanted to come and see the kids here but didn’t expect to witness such a scene. He looked at those vegetables piled at the field’s edge and the gifts prepared by the children from the orphanage. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say, and finally, all that was left was a big smile on his face: "Good, really good..."

A giant Shadow Wolf emerged from the vegetable field, pacing behind Xiao Xiao, its shadow subtly merging with the girl’s.

Erin looked surprised: "Wow! Xiao Xiao, you already have your own wolf?"

"I got it last month," the little girl said happily, proudly puffing out her chest, "Red Hat Sister took me all around the Black Forest, to those paths that used to scare me. After going a few times, I wasn’t afraid anymore. Then, a little wolf appeared in my shadow. It only took a few dreams before it grew this big."

Xiao Xiao spoke happily. The huge Shadow Wolf lingered by her side for a while, then lowered its head and melted back into the little girl’s shadow.

Around them, several children watched with envious expressions.

"But Red Hat Sister said I can’t yet let the wolf out alone," Xiao Xiao added, "She said I’m still too young and might, uh... misuse the power..."

Erin leaned in to Yu Sheng’s ear and whispered, "I told you, Little Red Riding Hood is like an old nanny..."

Yu Sheng pretended not to hear, his gaze falling on Luna.

"How are things at home?"

"Everything at home is fine," Luna nodded slowly yet happily, "Yesterday, saw two brothers, they got the message and came back from town to see me.

"The brothers welcomed me. Their children were a little afraid of me, but soon they weren’t."

She paused briefly, then said: "The Marine Soldiers opened the granary, sharing the grain with everyone. The church warehouse is full of food, enough to share with everyone..."

Luna spoke slowly, the bright daylight shining on her nun’s veil, giving it an aura of gentle light.

...It really seemed like a circle of gentle light emerged around her.

Because Freyia, who somehow floated over, was happily circling the sky over Luna’s vegetable field.

She didn’t remember many things, but she seemed to remember fields and warm sunlight.

The children exclaimed in surprise, including Snow White as a "parent."

It was their first time seeing this newly added "Artificial Angel" to the travel agency.

Freyia seemed startled by the sudden exclamations around her and swiftly dove into the ground. Several seconds later, she peeked half of her head from behind a large rock by the roadside, cautiously observing the human cubs.

After confirming the human cubs were harmless, she slowly floated up again, greeting everyone.

Nobody could understand the melodious sound she made, resembling wind chimes, but she seemed to directly blend friendliness and curiosity into her spiritual energy resonance, allowing everyone to understand her intentions at the moment. A warm ambiance spread from her surroundings, enveloping everyone in a soft glow.

Yu Sheng quickly stepped forward to introduce: "She’s Freyia, kind of elusive..."

Erin sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, watching the lively human cubs, the floating "ghost" in the air, and the vegetables by the field with the waiting C-type buckle. After a while, the small puppet squinted her eyes slightly.

"Everything is getting better..."