Chapter 732: Chapter 731: Plans and Concerns

When Luna returned from dealing with matters on Pasture Star, she happened to catch Erin sitting by the tea table, recounting her experiences in the Garden Network—how the status of the central node changed suddenly, the reception of Lost Home’s communication from beyond the border, and the interference with the communication.

"...When I went there, the sisters were discussing solutions," the little puppet shook her head, as if she herself had become a communication expert, "Someone suggested sacrificing a spiritual creature beside the data node, but for some reason this good idea was abandoned..."

Before Erin could finish speaking, Yu Sheng heard a sharp vibration in the air, and looked up to see Freyia’s head emerging from the ceiling, Miss Angel looking terrified.

"Hey, ghost, I wasn’t talking about you," Erin quickly waved to Freyia, "And this plan has already been rejected."

Yu Sheng remained silent for a moment, holding his arms and showing a thoughtful expression.

Somehow, what he recalled first was the "illusions" he had seen while dozing on the Black Star orbit— that bandaged woman holding a lantern, named Agatha the Ancient Spirit, and the hurried message she conveyed to him.

"Don’t you have any other way to contact Lost Home?" Hu Li blinked, "Or maybe you could hook up a high-power antenna to your Garden Network or something..."

"Not easy," Erin pondered for a while, recalling some knowledge Marin had told her earlier, "Lost Home has pretty much left the real Universe now, communication with the Inner Universe can no longer be done with simple ’signals’. Marin said it’s something about... ritualistic or symbolic transmission, anyway, it’s about transmitting messages using mystical means. The Garden Network was set up by the Puppet Progenitor and the Captain, there’s nothing in this world closer to the relationship between the Garden Network and Lost Home."

She paused and added, "And now there’s a big problem, Lost Home has already crossed the border, Marin said that place is very dangerous. We’re also afraid to boldly send signals out there—Lost Home sending messages back is fine, but when we send them out, what if the recipient isn’t the Captain and his crew? What if... we attract some things from beyond the Universe?"

Luna walked over and spoke slowly, "In the dark, in the wilderness, exposing oneself, is a very dangerous thing."

The little puppet clapped her hands, "Right, it’s pretty much like that."

"...It feels like things started to change after I had a strange dream over by the Black Star," Yu Sheng finally spoke, "I met that Ancient Spirit named Agatha in that ’Dream Realm,’ she should be on Lost Home, and from her reaction at that time... she seemed very surprised to see me. Maybe because of that, Lost Home suddenly started trying to send signals back."

Hu Li suddenly perked up her sharp, furry ears, her golden-red eyes staring at Yu Sheng, as if she had thought of something.

"Exactly," a moment later, the fox girl nodded thoughtfully, "Black Star, Savior saw images transmitted from Lost Home over by Black Star, so could the breakthrough point also be at Black Star? Maybe that thing could be used as an antenna?"

"That’s what I think too," Yu Sheng nodded, "Black Star appeared after the Gate of Eden collapsed, regardless of what its essence truly is, it clearly has something to do with ’space-time’, maybe it’s this characteristic that allows it to communicate with Lost Home at the Cosmic Border."

"So?" Erin raised her head, blinking in confusion, "Hasn’t that second-hand scientist already placed an observation station next to Black Star? So let’s wait and see if she can receive any signals from there?"

"...The safest way is definitely to ’wait’, since you just mentioned that sending signals out from the Universe might attract danger, but I think there’s a need to make some adjustments to the observation station by Black Star— after all, the research facilities there aren’t specifically prepared for cross-border communication either."

Yu Sheng stopped here, thought for a moment, then looked at the little puppet.

"Can your Garden Network interface with other equipment?"

"I don’t know," Erin scratched her head, "I usually go online wirelessly with my original body, but Marin does have a wired setup, something called Alice Tree or whatever... Maybe that thing can connect with other systems?"

Yu Sheng: "Just ask her directly."

"Alright."

The little puppet nodded dumbly, then her head tilted slightly to the side, her eyes vacant, and the entire puppet exuded an ethereal aura as if wandering outside the universe.

Luna walked over, curiously glanced at the little puppet accessing the Garden Network wirelessly, gently poking the latter’s forehead with a fingertip.

With a snap, Erin fell down.

Luna quickly picked her back up, pretending nothing happened.

Meanwhile, in the Assembly Hall of the Garden Network, Marin, who was just about to log off and return to the real world, was somewhat surprised to see Erin suddenly reappear hastily in front of her.

She quickly understood Erin’s intention.

"Are you saying Mr. Yu Sheng suspects that Black Star could serve as a communication bridge to contact Lost Home? He hopes we can connect part of the Garden Network to the observation station next to Black Star?"

"That’s probably what it means," Erin nodded, "Anyway, I don’t really understand the technical stuff, he just asked me to find out if it’s feasible hardware-wise, since the Garden Network is specifically for Alice Puppets, and whether it can be compatible with other things..."

"...Compatibility is actually not a big issue," Marin said, raising her hand to point at the spring-loaded maid beside her, "You see, Maris is a servo robot assistant produced by Algerde, not an Alice Puppet, but she can still access the Garden Network.

"Alice Puppet is constantly evolving; the software and hardware of the Garden Network are not as closed or conservative as outsiders might think.

"The only issue is safety.

An observation station orbiting the Black Star, no one knows what signals it might pick up from that dark celestial body, directly connecting the Garden Network physically to such an observational facility... we must be especially cautious."

Erin: "Yes, indeed."

Seeing Erin’s somewhat blank stare, Marin suddenly chuckled.

"It’s not impossible, just requires a bit more caution. I think I need to find some sisters to specifically design a set of connection equipment suitable for the Black Star observation station. This equipment should preferably be capable of operating independently from the main network of the Garden Network...

This will take some time. You can go back and tell that Mr. Angel Hunter to be patient—within half a month, regardless of the progress, I’ll contact you."

"Okay!"

Erin stood up, and her figure disappeared in the network access layer.

The spring-loaded maid Maris standing by the bench gave a slight nod.

"Maris, do you have any thoughts?"

"Isn’t this somewhat... reckless?" Maris hesitated a bit, "Although you mentioned needing some cautious safety measures, ultimately you’re going to connect part of the Garden Network to a set of unknown observation equipment, and then access a similarly unknown mysterious celestial body—we know very little about that Black Star."

"I understand your concerns, but... Maris, have you noticed a lot of unusual things happening around the world recently?"

"Unusual things, do you mean the few thousand reckless Insect Race members that blew up a Spiritual Ascension Body in the direction of the Ancient Star Cluster?"

"... It was quite a commotion, but from an ’unusual’ perspective, this can only be considered a minor incident."

As Marin spoke, she gently shook her head.

"Have you heard? The Archaeological Association of Terra received signals near Deep Lake suspected to be from beyond the universe, and not long ago, cultists from the Hidden Monastery almost opened an artificial World Bridge...

In the depths of the Southern River Nebula, a warning station claimed to have detected signals of the simultaneous descent of the Beauty God and Heka Star. Although subsequent investigations concluded it was a false alarm, based on the information I have, all the personnel on duty at that warning station showed varying degrees of Angel Pollution symptoms after returning.

In the past, these unusual things would happen, but never this frequently. Not to mention the previous awakening of Anka Aela and the Inference Star Body’s ascension events... these incidents were only promptly stopped by that Mr. Angel Hunter; but think, if those two events had not been stopped, what would the situation be now?"

"... My mind core needs a moment of cooling," Maris’s somewhat mechanical voice seemed to carry a hint of tension, "Do you mean... I won’t survive to the warranty period?"

"... We’re discussing business, disable the cold joke module."

"This isn’t a cold joke, I’m seriously expressing my anxiety, this is the highest level of tension for a servo robot," Maris said earnestly, "and I think I understand what you mean—our universe might be destabilizing, which is the highest level of alert signal left by the creator and the Puppet Progenitor in the Garden Network."

"The universe itself should be stable, but the environment beyond the universe is uncontrollable, and that is the greatest source of instability," Marin took a soft breath, "That is why the Lost Home goes to the border, to intercept those dangerous things outside the universe, but it seems that the closed system of the real universe is ultimately facing an unfortunate situation.

In any case, we must find a way to contact the Puppet Progenitor and creator... it is very likely they will need our help as well."

Maris tilted her head.

As a servo robot assistant, she seemed completely unable to imagine a scenario where "even the Puppet Progenitor would need help from the Alice Puppets."

Yet she still sensed her mistress’s worried mood during her brief contemplation. After a slight hesitation, she gently held Marin’s hand.

"Would you like me to provide mental guidance and psychological support? I have integrated a complete set of related psychology tutorials."

"Is there a charge?"

"Yes." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"..."

"But this time it’s free."