Alien Hotel.

Chapter 484 Strange Things

The living doll named Marlene left with her "wind-up maid," and left Yu Sheng her contact information before leaving.

Before leaving, she took Yu Sheng to a secluded spot and talked about the "Eileen" doll that disappeared more than 3,000 years ago. She said that after returning, she would continue to investigate information about the doll in the matrix network dedicated to Alice dolls, and continue to collect any clues that might be related to the "ominous sign".

According to her, there is very little information about "Eileen," who disappeared 3,700 years ago, in the current "Garden" network. The main reason is that the era is too long. The "Garden" matrix has undergone countless iterations, upgrades, and node modifications over the past 3,000 years. There have even been no fewer than ten upgrades at the level of reshaping the entire network. In these upgrades, some data that is too old and has not been accessed may have already sunk into certain "information black areas" and cannot be searched using conventional methods. Everything depends on luck.

Of course, for Sheng, hearing this information today is already a great gain.

The black luxury car turned past the distant intersection and disappeared into the streets of the old town. Yu Sheng turned back into the house and saw a small doll sitting on the coffee table, holding a remote control and watching TV.

The TV was still showing low-quality variety shows with no substance. A group of guests with exaggerated acting skills were performing an abstract program with no cooperation whatsoever, and the script was obvious at a glance. Eileen, however, was watching intently, craning her neck as if she wanted to crawl into the screen. Even the ominous Yusei that was circling around her head seemed to be affected, turning much slower than usual.

Another girl, Eileen, was sitting cross-legged on the armrest of the sofa, enthusiastically fiddling with her phone watch, though it was unclear whether she had figured it out yet.

Yu Sheng walked over, sat on the sofa, and looked thoughtfully at the little doll on the armrest. The doll only raised its eyelids slightly before continuing to work.

Several more minutes passed before Eileen finally couldn't help but raise her head, her scarlet eyes staring straight at Yu Sheng: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then raised his hand and patted the doll's head: "It's not what I expected."

Eileen: "What's different? Why did you suddenly say something so nonsensical..."

“You’ve finally made contact with the sisters at Alice’s Cottage—but you’re still staying here,” Yu Sheng said unhurriedly. “If I had only known you for a short time, I would have thought you were definitely going to leave.”

Eileen stopped what she was doing, stared blankly at Yu Sheng, and then suddenly tilted her head back, grabbed Yu Sheng's fingers and took a bite.

Yu Sheng yelled and jumped up, swinging a small doll around his hand with great force: "Hey, hey, let go! Let go! Don't bite!"

Eileen rolled over and clung to Yu Sheng's arm like an octopus, staring at him with wide eyes: "Where do you expect me to go? The 'cabin' has already moved to the edge of the known universe, the garden is a network that can only be accessed remotely, I don't have that key yet, I don't know any of the outposts Marlene mentioned, and I don't know any other Alice dolls—where am I supposed to go?"

“I was referring to when we had just met,” Yu Sheng said, rubbing his fingers as he sat back down on the sofa, looking at the little doll still hanging on his arm with a wry smile. “I was talking about what I thought back then.”

Eileen didn't continue rambling. Instead, she suddenly fell into deep thought. After a while, she looked up thoughtfully and muttered to herself, "Oh right, I initially wanted to 'go back'... but I just kept thinking about it. Now that I think about it, I don't even know where I should go back to... Where should I go back to?"

The little doll climbed down from Yu Sheng's arm and sat on the armrest next to him, swaying her body. Suddenly, she felt a little lost. After the thing she had been longing for had finally come true, she realized that she had never really thought about what would happen next. Even the idea of ​​"finding other Alice dolls" seemed to be different from what she had initially imagined.

Seeing this usually carefree little thing suddenly lost in thought, Yu Sheng was also at a loss. After hesitating for a long time, he finally reached out and poked the little doll: "Well, if you can't figure it out, just stop thinking about it for now..."

Eileen: "Okay!"

Then she immediately perked up, flipped open the watch face of her phone watch, and proudly exclaimed, "Yu Sheng, look! This way we can take pictures!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

No, isn't this a bit too easy to persuade?!
While he was still in a daze, he saw a fluffy, silvery-white creature swaying over from the side, and Hu Li's voice reached his ears: "My benefactor, what are you daydreaming about? It's not like she's been like this for the first time."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and said, "...Okay, that makes sense."

……

"Someone sneaked into the 'castle's' kitchen? And they even broke the kettle while eating and taking things?"

In the fairytale town, Little Red Riding Hood frowned slightly as she looked at Rapunzel, who had come to report to her.

Rapunzel nodded repeatedly: "Yes! And it started the day before yesterday that people began to notice things being stolen from the kitchen and canteen—from pastries that were put in the cupboard after they were made to semi-finished products in the freezer, even a lot of potatoes, green onions and turnips stored in the storeroom were missing. That thief was so arrogant, he even stole half a bottle of soy sauce..."

Little Red Riding Hood listened to Rapunzel's report without much trouble, but when she heard the last sentence, her eyelids twitched involuntarily, and her expression became subtle: "Half a bottle of soy sauce? Are you sure?"

"How can I not be sure!" Rapunzel said, hands on her hips. "I just bought that soy sauce! It's only been in the kitchen for a day and there's already half a bottle left!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the mermaid who had come along to watch the drama unfold stroked her chin and muttered, "...Sister Fox hasn't come these past two days either?" "Even if she came, she wouldn't need to sneak a bite! She always comes openly to eat," Rapunzel waved her hand, "And if she really had come, would there still be half a bottle of soy sauce left?"

“It can’t be a rat infestation, the ‘King’ is guarding it, and besides, where would rats come from here?” The mermaid frowned. “It’s even less likely to be one of our own… wait, how could anyone possibly sneak in? We’re in another world!”

Rapunzel shook her head: "How would I know if you ask me?"

“Take me there first,” Little Red Riding Hood interrupted the conversation between the long-haired girl and the mermaid. Then, after hesitating for a moment, she instructed the mermaid, “Go to the security office and tell Grandpa Yun… I always feel that under normal circumstances, no ‘outsiders’ should be allowed into the town.”

"okay!"

A moment later, Little Red Riding Hood followed Rapunzel to the town's canteen and saw the kitchen, which was clearly the result of an uninvited guest's visit.

The cupboards were ransacked, the eggs in the refrigerator were all gone, the large buckets of rice and flour showed signs of being forcibly opened, and even the spice jars looked like they had been turned over.

"Ah..." The long-haired princess who had led the way was also a little stunned when she saw the situation in the kitchen. "This seems even more chaotic?"

Little Red Riding Hood frowned and sniffed, as if she had noticed something, but before she could speak, a streak of light flashed into the kitchen.

Yun Qingzi's figure emerged from the stream of light: "Just now, Yu Yatou came to me and said that a thief broke into the town. I came to see what happened—how could a thief break into this place?"

"Uncle Yun, you've come at the perfect time!" The long-haired princess immediately went to greet him. "Look, there's definitely someone here..."

As she spoke, Yun Qingzi had already scanned the entire kitchen with her gaze. The old man's expression was first puzzled, then became somewhat subtle: "Ah... there really is a 'little' fellow who has come in. How interesting."

Rapunzel was taken aback: "Huh? You found it already?"

“It’s no wonder you didn’t find her—the little one who sneaked in is quite skilled, and more importantly, her abilities are not what you’re used to,” Yun Qingzi waved his hand cheerfully. “Don’t panic, she’s not a bad person. I know where she’s hiding. Come with me.”

Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood exchanged a glance, and then Rapunzel immediately followed behind Yun Qingzi.

The two rode the shadow wolf summoned by Little Red Riding Hood and followed Yun Qingzi out of the town. They then traveled upstream along the small river outside the town and soon arrived at a grove of trees not far from the town.

Yun Qingzi stood in the clearing in the forest, looked around, and then beckoned to a place that looked empty: "Come out."

The next second, a large patch of hidden bushes and haphazardly piled stones suddenly appeared on the seemingly empty ground. Rustling sounds came from the stone hollows. Rapunzel stared in disbelief at this scene, then saw a dark shadow rise from behind the bushes—

A huge snake head emerged from between the bushes and pebbles, revealing a black python almost as thick as a person. The python then shrank its head towards Yun Qingzi and obediently emerged from its hiding place.

It really did run out—because beneath that half-snake body were two long legs.

Yun Qingzi was still holding her hand up. The old man probably hadn't expected the giant snake to come out in such a way, and he was a little stunned on the spot.

Rapunzel glanced at Yun Qingzi, then at the half-human, half-snake creature standing on the ground. After a moment's thought, she shouted, "...There's something strange here!!"

"Something strange!" the giant snake cried out in fright, then began looking around frantically. "Where is the strange thing?!"

Rapunzel almost jumped up: "I said you—!"

"You mean me..." the giant snake continued to scream, but halfway through, it finally realized what it was doing and quickly looked down at itself.

"Holy crap, it's backwards!"

Before she finished speaking, she lay down on the spot, and then with a "bang", the demonic mist dissipated, and the snake demon transformed into a creature with a human upper body and a snake tail lower body.

Long hair & Little Red Riding Hood & Yun Qingzi: "...?"

"Well, I just learned it recently, so I'm not very good at it yet," Snake Princess stuck out her tongue, looking quite embarrassed. "But I'm better now."

(End of this chapter)