Alien Hotel.

Chapter 715 Ancient Holy Spirit, Lost Home, and Black Star
"...What do you mean you just took a nap on the outdoor terrace and dreamed about the people on the Lost Home, and you even felt like you knew them well?"

On the bridge of the Mass Effect, Bai Liqing's facial muscles reached their peak for the day—her eyelids twitched upwards by at least four pixels, her tone filled with amazement.

Although she didn't say it explicitly, Yu Sheng managed to glean from those four pixels the unspoken message, "Dad, can you ever stop for once?"

Well, Yu Sheng himself was actually a little embarrassed, especially after seeing Baili Qing's sleepy and drowsy eyes... He wanted to suggest that she take a vacation first, but then he remembered that she was indeed on vacation. Although taking a vacation while on the front lines was a bit of a joke, he was too embarrassed to say anything more.

Raising his hand to scratch his cheek, Yu Sheng finally spoke: "First of all, don't ask me about the principles. You know how reasonable the things that happen to me are. Secondly, don't ask me if it can be reproduced. If this thing could be reproduced, I wouldn't be looking for you. I would just call that bandaged woman a couple more times and find out for myself..."

He coughed twice and stroked his chin. "I came to you to ask if the person I described is one of those legendary ancient holy spirits? The ones who went to the edge of the universe with the Lost Home and never came back."

Baili Qing and the red-faced woman beside her exchanged a glance, while Yuan Hao Zhenren, seemingly lost in thought, spoke first: "Bandages, black clothes, a woman holding a lantern, appearing in a mirror-like medium... When I traveled to Terra years ago, I did hear local scholars mention such a person..."

“Agatha, the Twin Stars, the Protector of the Mirror, the Messenger of Night, Cold and the Dead,” Red began slowly, then continued, “Based on your description, this is the one I can think of.”

Just as Hong finished speaking, before Yu Sheng could even open his mouth, the bridge gate suddenly opened, and a short figure strolled in.

Eileen overheard a few words when she opened the door, and without understanding what was going on, she looked up at Yu Sheng blankly: "Huh? We're having guests? So many people?"

"What nonsense! I had a dream and I'm looking for someone to interpret it," Yu Sheng said, bending down to pick up the little thing and put it on his shoulder. "Have you finished visiting their spaceship? Any thoughts?"

"I can't see anything, and they won't let me see anything," the little thing grumbled. "I just wanted to see what's inside that macro-element reactor, but as soon as I climbed up the railing, the two Unified Army soldiers acting as guides almost fainted from looking at me. It's so boring. Hey, you had another strange dream? I missed it this time. What did you dream about?"

Yu Sheng was still mentally processing the long list of titles Hong had just mentioned, marveling at how many titles these ancient holy spirits had. He was suddenly taken aback when he heard Eileen's words, then remembered something.

“Wait a minute, I suddenly remembered,” he turned to look at the little thing on his shoulder, “you were a primitive puppet created by the ancient holy spirit on the Lost Home, right? And you even received your mission to guide the Goddess of Omens directly from the Ancestor of Puppetry, right?”

Eileen blinked, and although she didn't know why Yu Sheng suddenly brought this up, she instantly became proud: "That's right! I'm not bragging, but I, the Alice doll, am a veteran! I'm super awesome, you know?"

“Agatha, does that name ring a bell?” Yu Sheng reached out and took the little doll off his shoulder again, holding it up to her eyes with both hands under her arms. “She’s wrapped in a lot of bandages, wears black clothes, and sometimes carries an antique lantern…”

He then told the little doll what he had seen in his "dream".

Eileen listened, stunned. When she first heard the name Agatha, she clearly didn't react much, obviously because her fragmented memory had no corresponding impression. But when she heard the words "lantern," her expression subconsciously changed, and she seemed to mutter unconsciously, "They treasured their lanterns so much, they wouldn't let me touch them."

Instantly, several pairs of eyes fell on the little doll.

"W-what are you doing?" Eileen suddenly snapped to attention, looking at the people around her with a wary expression. "I don't have much of a memory. You all know that I died together with the Goddess of Omens back then, and my soul was shattered."

Yu Sheng seemed not to have heard what she said after that, and with a slight frown, he casually asked, "Two? Two people?"

“Yeah, Agatha is two people, Gemini,” Eileen scratched her head. Her memory, like her brain, was in a state of overlapping issues of poor communication and difficulty finding a connection. Occasionally, when she did manage to connect, she could casually recount some unbelievable things. “You only met one?”

Yu Sheng nodded: "I only saw one, and it was blurry."

“...It’s also possible that the two of them are superimposed on each other again,” Eileen said thoughtfully. “Sometimes they are each other’s shadows.”

After saying this, the little doll fell silent again, as if its memory had been cut off once more.

“This ancient spirit is one of the more low-profile ancient spirits,” Hong continued. “In the early years after the Second Singularity, when the world was still unstable, she was responsible for maintaining the boundary between reality and illusion and protecting psionicists who were suffering from ‘Old World Nightmare Syndrome’ because their souls were too sensitive. After the world stabilized, she almost never appeared in front of the world.”

“There is another theory that this protector in the mirror was a ‘messenger of death’ in the old world,” Baili Qing continued. “She was responsible for guiding souls and guarding the cemetery—but there isn’t much information about that, so I’m not very clear on it.”

Yu Sheng frowned slightly, his eyes flickering as if he were thinking about something.

Then he recalled the last words the other person had conveyed before leaving.

"She also mentioned that the Lost Home has now reached some kind of void boundary," Yu Sheng frowned slightly, "She also mentioned something about an engine... Do you have any thoughts on this?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, but no one spoke.

“It seems there’s nothing left,” Yu Sheng said thoughtfully, then muttered to himself, “I have a feeling this is unusual… The Ancient Holy Spirits have been out of contact with this world for far too many years. You all say it’s because they’re patrolling the edge of the universe, maintaining the world’s operation or something, but the more I hear what Agatha says, the less it sounds like a simple patrol.”

Master Yuanhao had barely spoken since the beginning, and now he simply stroked his chin thoughtfully before turning to look out the observation window. The black star hung high, still quietly orbiting along the original path of the Sacred Realm.

It is truly incredible that this elusive "celestial shadow" still remains stably present in the material world.

“In any case, this happened after Black Star appeared in the world,” the old man suddenly broke the silence. “Fellow Daoist Yu Sheng also often saw Black Star in his illusions, and the key to breaking the deadlock is probably here.”

Luo Yi, standing beside him, raised an eyebrow: "What suggestions do you have?"

The old man suddenly produced a fan from somewhere and waved it in front of him: "I suggest that after the next new type of probe is ready, we should first have Yu Sheng cast some spells to imbue it with spiritual energy, and then send it into Black Star. Perhaps we can gain something from it."

"Huh? My boss can use magic?"

"...I suggested he smear some blood on it, a more polite way of putting it."

"oh oh."

Yu Sheng watched this scene from the sidelines, and for a moment he felt quite conflicted.

Well... how should I put it... this is a master craftsman from the Flying Feather Starfield and a tech warlord from the Black Dot Group, and they've been brainstorming together for so long that their final suggestion is to smear some blood on the probe. It feels like a server crashed, the company called in a bunch of experts for an engineering consultation, and while they're still figuring out whether to try restarting it, the chief engineer has already put on a Taoist robe...

In contrast, Baili Qing and Hong appeared much calmer.

Their composure wasn't because one had a blank expression and the other had closed eyes, but because the displeased machine spirit at the border did indeed need incense burning—from the perspective of "when a machine malfunctions, you have to resort to some mysticism," Yu Sheng's blood was at least potent.

But in any case, the design concept for the next stage of the Black Star probe was indeed decided in a rather haphazard way.

However, Yu Sheng still seemed preoccupied.

A large, fluffy tail curled up from the side and gently rubbed against his back.

“My benefactor,” Hu Li said softly, though her face still showed signs of sleepiness from not having eaten all night, her expression was unusually serious, “If we’re going to go on that Lost Home ship, you have to take me with you, okay?”

"……it is good."

“I’ll be your guide!” Eileen said happily. “I know that ship very well. Before I lost my memory, I knew everyone on board, although I don’t recognize the way now…”

Yu Sheng: "..."

As I said before, he genuinely envied the little guy's carefree attitude.

Just then, the door leading from the bridge to the outer corridor suddenly opened again, and a tall figure appeared in the doorway, interrupting Yu Sheng and the others' conversation.

Luna is back—a large number of artificial saintesses and brass knights were urgently evacuated from the Holy Land along with the transport ships of the Unified Fleet, and she was sent by Yu Sheng to assist in their settlement and communication. She should be done with her work now.

Luna walked straight toward Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng was about to raise his hand to greet the other party when he noticed something from the mechanical girl's expression—although Luna usually didn't have much of an expression change, her face was actually much more lively than before.

"what happens?"

Luna looked at Yu Sheng and slowly, word by word, said, "We might have found it, Ranch Star."

Yu Sheng: "?!"

"Holy crap, how did you find the C-shaped buckle?!" Eileen exclaimed in surprise. "Those experts at the border still don't seem to have figured out that star map array thing?"

“There is a sister, whose body is on Ranch Star,” Luna said slowly, “whose soul has entered the Cathedral.”

(End of this chapter)