Dimensional Hotel

Chapter 741 - 740: News from Beyond the Border

Although there was a little commotion, it didn't actually delay much time — because Erin originally would have cried for quite a while, but the head of the Puppet Progenitor successfully interrupted the little one's already underused thought process, and after helping put Alice's head back, Erin forgot about crying…The scene is quiet again.

Erin has a belly full of things she wants to say, a heap of questions she wants to ask.

But the puppet's memory is fragmented, many chaotic pieces and past silhouettes swirl in her mind like a storm, and as soon as she opens her mouth, she realizes she doesn't know where to start, past events slip through her fingers like sand.

The Puppet Progenitor seems to have many things to say to her as well, but after a moment of hesitation, this elegant Ancient Saints (aside from the moment her head fell) merely pursed her lips.

"Erin, listen, this contact time is limited, the Captain wants me to tell you the most important thing first."

The little puppet widened her eyes.

"The Lost Home has reached the void border, we are now at the edge of the World Barrier, the situation outside the Universe is bad, this world has not completely escaped the range of the Great Annihilation's aftermath…"

The Puppet Progenitor Alice quickly said, occasionally slightly tilting her head as if someone else beside her was talking.

"Last time Agatha said she suddenly contacted the internal Universe, but after testing several times, we found that due to interference from the aftermath of the annihilation, communication is difficult to establish.

"The current urgent task is to reconstruct a stable communication channel.

"We detected a new special node emerging in the Garden Network, this node is still weak, but demonstrates an… oh? Displayed an incredible resistance to interference…"

The Puppet Progenitor paused again, seemed to hurriedly exchange words with someone beside her, then refocused her gaze on Erin.

"We are not yet sure what this new node is, but it seems to point to you — find this node, strengthen its connection with the Garden Network's backbone, perhaps it will restore stable communication between the Lost Home and the internal Universe."

Erin was stunned, raised her finger pointing at herself: "Point to me? What do you mean?"

"I don't know what's going on either," the Puppet Progenitor shook her head slightly, "my connection with the Garden Network is weak now, unable to determine the new node's condition…you don't know either? Have you done anything lately?"

"I… I do lots of things every day," Erin said subconsciously, "watching TV, playing games, fighting with the silly fox, bickering with the C-type buckle, and mass-producing myself in the valley…"

Then the Puppet Progenitor got stuck, looking like she froze.

Two seconds later, this elegant puppet came back to senses, it was evident she wanted to ask about Erin's current lifestyle, but now was clearly not the time for that.

"It's crucial to understand what the new node is, to find it." Alice suppressed her curiosity and seriously said to Erin.

"I… alright, I'll remember," Erin nodded earnestly, but seemed a bit nervous, "but, but I… my mind is not working well now, I'm afraid I can't figure it out… then, then I'll go back and think with Yu Sheng, he's better at thinking things."

"Yu Sheng?" Alice frowned slightly, expressing some puzzlement.

"The person Agatha saw last time, I came here with him," Erin gestured, "but somehow, he suddenly disappeared earlier."

"We are now connected through information entanglement; the connection between you and me is close, so we can see each other," Alice quickly explained, and at almost the same time, the light from the lantern in her hand seemed to dim a little, "his name is Yu Sheng now, right? Are you always with him?"

"And there's a silly fox, a C-type buckle, recently added a spirit, and lots and lots of people, like nephew, handsome old man, second-hand scientist and so on…" Erin spoke and got increasingly excited, eyes sparkling, "Yu Sheng opened a Spirit Realm detective agency, I'm the second-in-command, we usually don't do serious work, just fight with all kinds of strange things, it's so lively!"

Alice listened seriously, but didn't understand.

It's no wonder she couldn't understand, after all, with Erin's scatterbrained nattering, no one could understand just like that — it would take two hundred thousand words to clarify the whole story.

"I'm not good at thinking things through either, anyway I'll go back and tell the Captain these circumstances, maybe he understands what's going on," Alice quickly said, followed by asking another question, "just… how did you meet Yu Sheng, has he always been like that?"

The Ancient Saints said this last part with obvious hesitation, seemingly having many more questions but swallowing them.

"How we met… initially I didn't know what happened, I fell into his house, at that time I was trapped in an oil painting… oh, it was because I was fighting with the Omen Goddess, after the fight, she and I both became part of the painting."

Erin gestured as she spoke, her excellent communication ability and linguistic talent on full display.

"…he wanted to use a lighter on me, but was persuaded by my superior negotiation skills, yielding his nightstand, and then the concession expanded to a third of the master bedroom…

"... When I first got to know him, he was like that—a rather careless person, always getting himself killed... Yeah, he got himself killed, but he could come back to life soon after. Boundary Land is a place full of talented people, with many capable and extraordinary individuals..."

Erin spoke rapidly, describing to the Puppet Progenitor her unique perspective on Boundary Land and many things about Yu Sheng.

The elegant puppet in front of her was listening intently, occasionally furrowing its brows in thought, with an expression of surprise and puzzlement.

Erin suddenly frowned, seemingly realizing something.

"Wait, I heard Yu Sheng mention that Agatha's reaction was quite strange before... Your reaction now is also a bit odd," she said, looking directly at the Puppet Progenitor, "Do you really know Yu Sheng? I always felt there was something to his background... but I don't recall anyone like that on the ship before?"

Alice opened her mouth.

But she quickly shut it again, as if someone beside her was reminding her of something.

"The Captain won't let me say," she waved her hand, "He said he wants to meet this 'Yu Sheng' personally to determine what's going on. Speaking randomly now might lead to unpredictable consequences."

Erin, with her hands on her hips gleefully (though it's unclear what she's so pleased about), said, "So there is something to it, right?"

"... You could say that, probably."

The light from the brass lantern dimmed a bit more, and the figure of the Puppet Progenitor began to waver and flicker.

Erin immediately noticed the change, her small face creasing into a frown, "Ah, is time almost up?"

"There's still a little bit left, there's still a little bit," Alice said, moving closer to Erin with the lantern, "I'll get a bit closer; it's clearer this way."

"Can't we just keep in touch like this?" Erin asked, "Do we have to find some new node? We're in the stable layer of Black Star right now; this thing seems to enhance the signal too..."

"Black Star? What Black Star..." Alice showed a puzzled expression, but soon realized, "Ah, you're talking about the World Gate?"

Erin: "... What the heck?"

"World Gate, that's what the Captain calls it," Alice explained seriously, "We observed this hole on the world barrier, which is why Agatha came over to check things out... The Captain calls this hole the 'World Gate,' he says it resembles a cross-world transmission structure he theorized about before, but he also says this gate isn't complete... By the way, how did this hole appear?"

"It was blasted out by the World Bridge," Erin scratched her head, "The cultists of the Hidden Monastery built an artificial world bridge called the Gate of Eden, we came to take down the Hidden Monastery, and Yu Sheng went into the Earth Core to blow up the Gate of Eden. After it was blown up, this Black Star popped up right there... Uh, that's the World Gate you mentioned. We don't really understand the specific principles."

Alice showed a visibly blank expression again, clearly surprised by Erin's exceptional storytelling, and it took her a couple of seconds to respond, "World Bridge... the passage device used when the omen came?"

"Yeah," Erin nodded vigorously, "But the original World Bridge is gone, eaten by Yu Sheng."

For a moment, Alice completely froze, and the next second, with a "pop," a silver-haired head bonked Erin back to the ground.

"Whoa!"

The little puppet exclaimed in surprise, hurriedly putting the head back on the Puppet Progenitor.

Alice, holding her head with one hand and the lantern with the other, looked at the small puppet before her with a subtle and amazed expression, as it was completely different from the Erin in her memory but radiated a familiar soul wave.

As the lantern's glow dimmed, her figure quickly faded and gradually became a semi-transparent shadow.

"... The World Gate is unstable; it can't consistently map to the Lost Home every time, and using it as a communication channel is very unsafe—Annihilation remnants are still outside, and this area is full of world debris and echoes out of control. Although the Captain set up some safety measures on this side of the hole, there might still be stragglers slipping through.

"... These echoes are very hungry, many have lost their minds, and any information leaking out from the orderly universe will attract them fatally, even just a call.

"The safest way is to activate that special new node and connect it to the main Garden Network.

"Unless necessary, don't use the World Gate as a communication means anymore... At least not until this gate is 'complete'.

"We'll also think of ways here to see if we can activate some other communication nodes or find ways to contact some old friends within the inner universe...

"Once a stable communication is established, the Captain wants to have a direct chat with that 'Yu Sheng'.