Dimensional Hotel

Chapter 744 - 743: Marin's Speculation

Yu Sheng, Erin, along with Marin and her servant, and the fox girl who came to watch the excitement, stood together on the high ground by the riverbank, observing the Puppet City that occupied the entire river beach and even reached into parts of the Black Forest.Aside from the scale, it truly is a beautiful and somewhat grand city.

Also, it must be said that it's even more orderly than Val↑halla↓...

Everywhere in the city, groups of mass-produced Erins can be seen. Even on the large open spaces outside the city, there are small puppets with black hair and red eyes running around. Although it's unclear what they're busy with, most of them appear constantly bustling.

Of course, there are some who aren't busy—occasionally, one might see mass-produced dolls appearing like disconnected marionettes. They often meander around the riverbank and forest edge aimlessly, suddenly stopping as if a thread in their thoughts snaps and resets, before joining the bustling crowd again.

But this isn't due to Erin's lack of computing power—this was already happening when there were only a few hundred mass-produced puppets, and it continues even now, with seven units of mass-produced puppets.

It can only be said that "offline brain" is an inherent characteristic of these little things, and occasional threading issues are normal.

"...I don't remember there being so many," Miss Marin looked at the mass-produced Erins both inside and outside the city, and after holding her words for a while, she finally couldn't resist, "Last time you showed off your 'mass-produced army' on the Garden Network, there were only..."

But before she could finish speaking, a clanging bell interrupted her words. The group turned to see a large pyramid-shaped building opposite the Puppet City opening its doors with a rumble, and a large group of mass-produced puppets with black hair, red eyes, dressed in black skirts, emerged in orderly formation.

Some mass-produced Erins, who seemed to have been waiting nearby, quickly rushed up, each carrying a large flower cannon. When the newly born mass-produced puppets approached, they crammed the flower cannons under their arms, twisted the canisters with force, and amidst several bangs, the puppets with flower cannons tumbled to the ground...

But the little welcome ceremony seemed completely unaffected, as the puppets immediately got up, continued clapping welcome, and then dragged the spent flower cannons along with the newly born dolls into the city.

The procedure appears to be just like that.

Erin, beside Yu Sheng, proudly turned her small face.

"Eight units now!" she announced joyfully.

Upon hearing these words, Miss Marin's eyes twitched noticeably, and she hesitantly looked at Yu Sheng: "Is she exaggerating or speaking literally about these 'eight units'..."

"One unit is 1500 people," Yu Sheng nodded calmly, "This is the manufacturing efficiency after it has been reduced—you must understand, she's using mass-produced puppets to create mass-produced puppets. As long as the raw materials aren't limited, these eight units could become sixteen units in just two hours, even accounting for the time required to cast the framework from scratch."

Hu Li, holding a roasted corn, strolled over and said casually while munching on it, "For an army, this quantity is actually okay, not too exaggerated."

Marin: "But for one... puppet, it's somewhat absurd."

After saying this, the Puppet Envoy fell silent, looking towards the small town by the river with a contemplative gaze.

Erin, curious as she watched: "Sis, what are you thinking?"

Marin: "I suddenly doubt whether it's your newly built city or your ever-expanding mass-produced army that the Puppet Progenitor observed at that node."

Clearly, Erin and Yu Sheng hadn't considered this, momentarily stunned by the suggestion.

And then, nearby, the fox girl spoke leisurely while munching on her corn, "Why not consider both? Anyway, Erin keeps churning out mass-produced machines without pause, so all we need to do is strengthen the connection between this city and the Garden Network, as those mass-produced puppets are living here."

"Yeah, sounds reasonable," Yu Sheng agreed, unable to resist glancing at the piping hot roasted corn in the fox girl's hand, "Hey, where did you get that roasted corn from?"

"I just plucked it from Luna's field," Hu Li replied casually, pulling another fresh ear of corn from her tail, and skillfully peeled away the leaves, "Do you want some, Savior? Hang on, I'll tell you this is really tasty..."

As she spoke, she pulled out an iron rod, stuck it into the corn cob, then whipped her big tail to the front, scuffing the tip to spark a fox fire, roasting the corn carefully above the flame.

Yu Sheng: "..."

Seeing her pulling corn from her tail, Yu Sheng dared not imagine how much she managed to grab from Luna's field in the little time she was away...

Erin never holds back her words: "Silly fox, you just wait, the C-type buckle will sooner or later smear chocolate in their vegetable patch."

"Chocolate tastes pretty good too," the fox girl nodded, "You can overcome the stomach ache by sitting quietly."

Erin: "...Wow, that's badass."

Marin and Maris, standing by, seemed hesitant to speak, but eventually forced their attention back on the Puppet City before them.

The group walked into the city, carefully stepping around the little puppets hurrying by, heading towards a certain area in the lower city.

Marin moved with ease, appearing to be quite familiar with every part of the city and having a clear destination in mind.

But as she walked, she suddenly stopped, as if noticing some discrepancies.

"Here, it's somewhat different from the Assembly Hall in the Garden Network?"

She pointed to the roof of a nearby shop, asking Erin curiously.

"Yeah, the shop's roof in the Garden Network is dark blue, but I thought it was ugly, so I changed it to a dark red," Erin said, raising her hand to point to a distant street corner, "I also made some changes there; I added a security kiosk, although I don't know what it's good for, but I thought there should be a kiosk there."

Marin didn't say anything further, just frowned slightly and began to wear a contemplative expression.

After that, they continued forward for a while and arrived at an old commercial district.

The antique shop, which held special significance in all of the Puppet Assembly Halls, stood quietly at the street corner.

On the signboard of the antique shop were large characters written by Erin herself:

"Alice and Duncan's Antique Shop"

With a crooked, painfully amateurish scrawl.

Marin stood at a higher vantage point and observed for a while, noting that compared to the reduced-scale model of the shop in the Network Assembly Hall, there were many subtle "differences"—its windows were not as bright, the sign at the entrance appeared quite crude, and there seemed to be an extra window somewhere on the shop's second floor, from which a warm light faintly emanated.

In the open space in front of the antique shop, Marin also saw a small bicycle—it seemed to be hand-assembled by the puppets from discarded materials salvaged from some construction site, looking more like a model than something functional.

It leaned against the wall at the edge of the open space, as if it was just an ornament to prevent the street scene from being too plain.

Erin noticed her sister's gaze.

"I don't know why I placed this here either," she said frankly, "it's just that some of the mass-produced puppets brought back some construction waste when they helped at Sun's worksite, and I had nothing to do, so I welded this thing together. There are lots of similar decorations around the city: abandoned houses, dilapidated small chapels, flower pots by the roadside, and flags on the rooftops, among others."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Although the Assembly Hall in the Garden Network is quite pretty, too, it always feels like something's missing, oh, like a sense of life and realism. After all, everyone only gathers there and doesn't actually live there..."

Marin touched her chin, thoughtful: "So, you just feel that these things 'should' be here?"

Erin: "Yeah."

Marin lightly nodded, squatted down at the entrance of the antique shop, and gently pulled at the shop's door.

The door didn't budge at all.

"What's inside? Have you created the internal structure?"

"Of course I have, I'm not one of the architectural geniuses from Valhalla who can build solid houses," Erin said casually, "it's just that this shop hasn't been put to use yet, so I locked it up for now."

"…Leave a surveillance here," Marin suddenly suggested, "and then unlock it."

Erin was taken aback, and Yu Sheng promptly reacted: "You mean..."

"From an occult perspective, the power of 'symbolism' lies in its 'proximity to the source.' Erin may not be the first Alice Puppet, but she is evidently one of the puppets personally created and given a mission by the Puppet Progenitor, that's the first layer of 'proximity.' She built this Puppet City based on her own impressions; this city may be closer to the Puppet Progenitor's memories than the Assembly Hall in the Garden Network, that's the second layer of 'proximity.' Perhaps it is precisely due to these two points that a new node has emerged.

"This 'antique shop,' in the Garden Network, functions as the data hub for every Plande Gathering Hall, whereas in the Old World, it was a place where the Puppet Progenitor and the Captain lived together. If the Lost Home attempts to establish a connection via 'symbolic' means to send a signal here, then this would most likely be the focal point for delivery.

"I also don't know what it would look like when the connection is established, but by then, this antique shop will undoubtedly undergo some changes, so I suggest monitoring it closely from now on."

Erin immediately put on a serious expression, "Then I'll simply arrange for a mass-produced puppet to keep watch here; it's better than surveillance."

Just as she finished speaking, a black-haired, red-eyed mass-produced puppet stepped out from a small house nearby. The little guy walked to the open space in front of the antique shop, sat cross-legged, and entered standby mode with its dead fish eyes.

Literally just 'watching.'

Yu Sheng had a slightly strained expression watching this scene: "…That works too."

Marin had a similar expression, but she still tried to maintain an elegant and composed demeanor: "Besides, I think some external methods should be used to enhance the effect of this node. Erin, would you mind if I installed an 'Alice Tree' in your city?"