An invincible journey starting from a different race

"How come you don't recognize me?!" Gan Qiu yelled, "I'm your old customer. I come here to buy parts from you every two months. Have you forgotten?"

The person inside pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Oh, it's the one who bought the smallest size XX cup."

"You fucking bastard!" Gan Qiu banged on the door desperately. "Are those first three words really necessary?! Ah, are they really necessary?!"

Soon, the door opened and a puppet of unknown gender walked out and snuggled up to the wall.

"Why are you looking for me now?" The puppet glanced at Aesop and Klim behind Ganqiu and said in a deep voice, "These are extraordinary times. I haven't been out to buy supplies for a long time."

"I don't need you to restock today."

"Then I don't have the size you want in stock. You've already bought the smallest one."

"Can you please stop mentioning size!" Gan Qiu was furious. "I'm here to find someone! Oh no, to be more precise, I'm here to find a puppet!"

"I told you the size you want is out of stock."

"It's not that puppet, it's another puppet!" Gan Qiu directly took the portrait of Aesop and showed it to the other party, "It's this puppet. Have you seen her? Do you know where she is?"

Seeing the portrait, the puppet immediately took a step back and said with a sneer, "So that's how it is. She's a lackey of the Holy See. Then give up. I won't betray her!"

Aesop also stepped forward and said, "You misunderstood. I am not from the church. This puppet has something to do with me."

"What does it have to do with you?" the puppet said coldly, "Give it up. Do you know what kind of relationship she has with me? There's no way I'd betray her."

"I won't hurt her either," Aesop said.

"I do not believe."

"Well, how about this? You say you have a relationship with her, and I say I have a relationship with her too." Aesop said, "In that case, why don't we both say what she is to us? What do you think?"

The puppet thought about it and nodded: "Okay."

"Okay, let's count down. One, two, three..."

"She is my goddess!" said the puppet seriously.

"She is my toy!" Aesop was also very serious.

One, two, one, what do you know about her?

Gan Qiu had already begun to regret why he had followed Aesop out alone.

Oh, although I’m not alone, there’s also Klim, but this angel flies away to the sky whenever he encounters something, as if this person doesn’t exist.

Why did Gan Qiu regret going out with Aesop? It was because he realized that going out with Aesop was dangerous. This danger came from... the possibility of being beaten. Yes, every time Gan Qiu thought he knew Aesop well enough, Aesop would always tell him with his actions, "No, you don't know me well enough yet."

Just like now, Gan Qiu felt that even if he grew three more eggs... oh no, three more brains, he still couldn't say what Aesop said.

Who can say that with any serious mind?

Anyway, Gan Qiu watched helplessly as the puppet's expression gradually became dull, and then suddenly he jumped up: "You fucking..."

"Calm down, calm down!" Gan Qiu had no choice but to do what Stank usually did, clinging to the puppet's legs tightly. "Aesop didn't mean that. You misunderstood! He just said that casually!"

"You just said that casually!" The puppet tried to push Gan Qiu aside. "He is insulting my goddess! He is insulting my faith! I must fight him to the death, let me go!"

"No! You are my friend, and he is my friend too. I can't just stand by and watch you..."

"Being charged with murder?" The puppet sneered, "I'm not afraid!"

"...No, no, I can't just watch you go up there and die." Gan Qiu said, "Don't look at him like that, he's actually very powerful. He can beat ten of me with one hand. If you rush up, he'll just tear you apart!"

The puppet glared at Gan Qiu: "Do you think I'm scared by this?!"

"Well, I know you're brave, but..."

"Oh, of course I'm not afraid of this guy!" The puppet's strength suddenly weakened a lot. "But for your sake, I won't argue with him."

Kelim and Ganqiu: "..."

What a wise man who knows the current situation. But this is also good. Gan Qiu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "If you have anything to say, please sit down and talk it out. Ye Lan, the most important thing now is peace. You should say something too, Aesop..."

Just as Aesop was about to speak, Gan Qiu suddenly realized something and immediately raised his hand: "Forget it, you'd better not say anything. It's good for you to remain silent!"

There was no way out, Aesop could only shrug his shoulders and give up for the time being.

Seeing that there would be no fight for the time being, Kelimu floated down slowly, and then looked at the puppet named Ye Lan with a little curiosity: "Well... should I call you Miss Puppet or Brother?"

"Ah, Ye Lan has no gender." Gan Qiu said, "Or can we say she is androgynous?"

Kelim's expression suddenly became interesting: "What?"

"The puppet's life core is genderless when it's created, but when it's loaded, you can choose whether it's more female or male. It depends mainly on the job you'll be doing," Gan Qiu explained. "Ye Lan's job doesn't require gender distinctions, so he..."

Jiuwu Mountain is famous for its wine.

"That was in the past." Ye Lan said coldly, "But soon, I will have a gender."

"……What?"

Ye Lan sneered and returned to his room without further explanation. It seemed as if he was closing the door to visitors, but the door was not closed, so the three of them walked in.

After entering, Aesop and Klim were amazed. The place was filled with puppet accessories, neatly hung on the wall. The variety was much greater than that in the puppet shop in Nightmare Town.

"Don't mess with my things." Ye Lan sat on the chair and looked at the three people in front of him unfriendly. "I let you in because it's too dangerous to discuss Miss Nolen outside. The church's lackeys are still looking for her."

Aesop asked, "Who is Norn?"

Ye Lan was stunned for a moment, then immediately became angry: "You don't even know Miss Noren's name! And you dare to speak so arrogantly!"

Aesop finally understood who she was talking about: "I didn't give her that name either."

"you!"

Seeing that Ye Lan was about to get angry again, Gan Qiu had to leave and change the subject.

"Ahem, speaking of which, Ye Lan, why do you suddenly want to shape your gender?"

Ye Lan glared at Aesop fiercely, and then said, "Because Miss Norn is my goddess. She is such a perfect person. I want to be by her side. I want to give her support. I want to give her everything I have..."

As he spoke, a light seemed to emerge from Ye Lan's eyes, which originally had no spirit, and they were filled with longing for the future.

Then Aesop said "Oh".

"I see." Aesop said, "I don't agree."

Ye Lan suddenly felt his brain freeze. When he came to his senses, he slammed the table and said, "Who do you think you are? How dare you disagree!"

Aesop answered very seriously: "Neither the first nor the second one agrees."

Ye Lan didn't quite understand. Although he was selling these things, what Aesop said was still too confusing. The puppet's brain capacity was not enough to support such information, but his intuition told him that it was not a good thing to say.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Ye Lan forced himself to calm down, and then said, "Who are you to Miss Noren? Why are you looking for her?!"

Aesop was about to answer, but when he saw Gan Qiu blinking at him desperately, he stopped talking.

"She's a good friend." Gan Qiu immediately took over Aesop's answer. "We knew she was in trouble, so we came to help her."

Ye Lan sneered and said, "I don't think you are her good friends."

As he spoke, he snapped his fingers, and the whole cabin trembled. All that could be heard was the sound of interlocking mechanisms. Soon, there was a muffled thud, and the door behind them was locked by several steel pipes.

"I will never betray Miss Noren!" Ye Lan said, "You must prove to me that you are truly Miss Noren's friends. Otherwise... I will never let you go, even if you cut me into pieces!"

The three of them exchanged glances. They didn't expect that a puppet could be able to do this.

"What do you want to know?" Aesop asked.

"Oh, it's very simple." Ye Lan looked at Aesop provocatively, "Do you know what Miss Nolen's favorite color is? Do you know what Miss Nolen likes to say the most? Do you know what Miss Nolen's favorite action is? Don't think about asking others to answer. I want you to answer, and I want you to answer!"

Ye Lan pointed at Aesop.

Aesop thought about it, then shook his head: "I don't know any of this."

"Oh, you don't even know such simple things, and you still dare to say that you understand Miss Nolen?!" Ye Lan's eyes were full of sarcasm. "I know all these things, so I am the one who knows Miss Nolen best!"

"I really don't know these things." Aesop thought for a moment and said, "But I know something else."

"what?"

"84, 61, 90."

"What the hell is this weird thing?"

"Her measurements," Aesop replied.

Ye Lan was stunned for a while.

"Are you fucking sick? You're looking for death!"

One, two, two, that strike, piercing the stars

"So you're Miss Norn's creator..." Ye Lan sat back in his chair, not as angry as before, but his attitude wasn't good either. "No wonder you know so much about her body, ahem, I mean her exterior. But, you know nothing about her interior."

Aesop said, "Who said that? I know her inner self better."

"Not that inner bastard!" Ye Lan really wanted to punch the guy who insulted his goddess at this moment, but when he thought that the other party was the creator of his goddess, he held back. "Since you are the creator of Miss Nolen, why did you lose Miss Nolen?"

"She ran away on her own."

"Oh, it must be because you abused Miss Noren! So she ran away from you!" Ye Lan clenched his fists tightly, "If that's the case, I will never tell you where Miss Noren is!"

Aesop tilted his head.

To be honest, he had never seen anyone with so much inner drama.

Oh, it’s not a human, it’s a puppet.

He had never seen a puppet with so much inner drama. It was obviously a very simple matter, but it was made so complicated that he still didn't know what Norn had done to be hunted by the Holy See.

This is really troublesome. Otherwise, he should just leave. Anyway, he has a way to find Noren on his own, but the method is more complicated.

Thinking of this, Aesop was too lazy to continue paying attention to Ye Lan. After all, he was just a puppet, so he slowly stood up and prepared to leave.

But the action of standing up scared Gan Qiu, and he immediately hugged Aesop.

"Aesop! Calm down!" Gan Qiu thought Aesop was going to attack him and shouted, "Ye Lan just has a misunderstanding about you! Please don't cut him into pieces!"

Ye Lan stared at Aesop with wide eyes.

"Uh, I didn't..." Aesop was about to explain.

"Don't disassemble him into parts and then soak him in acid water!" Gan Qiu continued to shout, "All his parts will rot! He will be in excruciating pain!" Gan Qiu pleaded.

Ye Lan's body began to tremble slightly.

"Actually, I didn't..."

"Please don't confine his consciousness to the XX cup, making him unable to speak or move, and forcing him to spend his days serving Xiaotou!" Gan Qiu cried. "He's my friend. He just doesn't want to answer your questions. He hasn't done anything harmful. Please don't treat him like this."

Ye Lan's body shook again, and then he fell to the ground with a "bang", and burst into tears.

"I'll tell you, isn't that enough!" Ye Lan cried, "You can kill me, but please don't make me into an XX cup. I still want to see Miss Norn, wuwuwuwu!"

Aesop: “……?”

Although he didn't know what happened, Ye Lan finally stopped beating around the bush and making sarcastic remarks, and instead answered them honestly.

"You should know how the puppet came to life, right?" Ye Lan asked Aesop and Gan Qiu, "Well, at least Gan Qiu should know."

But before Gan Qiu could finish, Aesop answered first: "The core of life comes from the life magic of the ancient elves."

Ye Lan looked at Aesop in surprise, but when he thought about how he was the one who created Norn, it would be strange if he didn't know. So he nodded and said, "Yes, as long as the life core is installed, the puppet will have thoughts and can be considered to have life. A puppet with thoughts can do many things, while a puppet without thoughts can only do some very basic, programmed work."

"Don't worry, we know this." Gan Qiu folded his hands and said, "It's the same in the Dream Demon Shop. The puppets with thoughts are Dream Demons, and the puppets without thoughts are XX cups! The prices are different."

Ye Lan: “…”

Using the nightmare shop as a metaphor always feels weird, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all, it’s quite simple and clear.

"Outside this country, thinking puppets are also treated as living beings, and puppets can even become a race." Ye Lan said, "But in Loen, the birthplace of puppets, this is not the case. Because thinking beings can indeed do many things, but it also means that they are no longer just tools and require more treatment. This is unacceptable to Loen's upper class. Therefore, before giving a puppet life, the Loen people will use the puppet's body to sign a magic contract. Even after the puppet has life, it will be bound by the contract and become a slave."

Hearing Ye Lan say this, Ke Lim opened his mouth slightly: "Is this also okay?"

Ye Lan nodded and said, "The magic contract binds the body, and the upper level controls the ability to transfer the life core. Therefore, as long as the puppet has not changed its body, it must always obey the instructions of the contractor. And only the contractor can make the puppet change its body..."

"This is a closed loop." Gan Qiu sighed. "Until they are completely destroyed, there is no way to escape. No wonder the puppets are trying every possible way to escape this country."

"That's right," Ye Lan said. "In Loen, puppets have no human rights and are merely tools. Even homeless people who want to satisfy their needs without spending money can find a puppet on the street to vent their anger on. As long as they clean themselves up afterward, the puppet's owner won't hold them accountable."

As he said this, Ye Lan clenched his fists tightly, and the mechanisms in his body began to click.

"It's truly pitiful." Kelimu also understood the sympathy. "Then the Church won't do anything?"