Marin, the living doll, left with her "spring-loaded maid," but this time she also left Yu Sheng her contact information.

Before leaving, she pulled Yu Sheng aside to a secluded spot and chatted again about the "Erin" doll that went missing more than three thousand years ago, saying that she'd continue to investigate information about that doll in the network dedicated to Alice Puppets once she returned, while still collecting any clues possibly related to the "omen."

According to her, there is very little information left about the "Erin" who disappeared 3,700 years ago in today's "Garden" network, mainly because it's so ancient—over these three thousand years, the Garden matrix has undergone many rounds of iterations, upgrades, and node transformations, with even full-scale network reconstructions more than ten times. During these upgrades, some data that is too old and rarely accessed might have sunk into some "information black domain," making it nearly impossible to find through conventional methods, leaving everything to chance.

Of course, for Yu Sheng, hearing today's information is already a huge gain.

A black luxury car turned the far corner and disappeared on the streets of the old town. Yu Sheng turned back inside and saw the little doll sitting on the coffee table holding a remote control, watching TV.

The TV was still playing the same low-quality variety show, with a group of overacting guests running a blatantly scripted program. Yet, Erin watched intently, stretching her neck as if she wanted to dive into the screen, while the Omen Wandering Star twirling around her head seemed to be affected, spinning much slower than usual.

Another Erin was sitting cross-legged on the couch armrest, enthusiastically fiddling with her smartwatch, unclear if she had figured it out or not.

Yu Sheng walked over, sat on the couch, thoughtfully watching the little doll on the armrest, who merely lifted an eyelid before continuing her work.

After a few more minutes, Erin finally couldn't help looking up, her scarlet eyes staring straight at Yu Sheng: "What are you staring at me for?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, raising his hand to press on the doll's head: "Not what I expected."

Erin: "What's not the same? Suddenly saying something so inexplicable..."

"You've finally contacted the sisters of Alice's Cottage—but you're still here," Yu Sheng said unhurriedly, "If it were when I just met you, I would have thought you were about to leave."

Erin paused her hands, looked a bit dazed at Yu Sheng and then suddenly tilted her head back, grabbed Yu Sheng's finger, and bit down.

Yu Sheng yelped and jumped to his feet, a little doll swinging wildly from his hand: "Hey, hey, hey, let go! Let go! Don't bite!"

Erin turned over and clung to Yu Sheng's arm with all her limbs like an octopus, glaring up at him: "Where do you expect me to go? 'The cottage' has already moved to the border of the knowable universe, the Garden is a network that can only be remotely accessed, and I don't have any key or know any of the bases Marin mentioned, plus I don't know any other Alice Puppets—where am I supposed to go?"

"I was talking about when I just met you," Yu Sheng said, rubbing his fingers as he sat back down on the couch, bewildered as he looked at the little doll still hanging on his arm, "I was talking about what I thought back then."

But Erin didn't continue chattering. She suddenly fell into thought, and after a while, she raised her head, musing to herself: "Yeah, originally I wanted to 'go back'... but I just kept thinking about it, and now that I think of it, I don't even know where to go back to... where should I go back to?"

The little doll climbed down from Yu Sheng's arm, sat on the armrest beside him, and dangled her legs, suddenly a bit confused—as she finally achieved what she had been yearning for, she found she never really thought through what would happen next, even "finding other Alice Puppets" didn't quite align with her initial imagination.

Seeing this usually carefree little thing suddenly in such confusion, Yu Sheng too was momentarily at a loss. After hesitating for a while, he reached out and poked the little doll: "You know, if you can't figure it out, just don't think about it for now..."

Erin: "Okay!"

Then she immediately perked up, lifted the watchface of her smartwatch, and boasted excitedly: "Yu Sheng, look! This way, you can take pictures!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

Wait, isn't this a bit too easy to convince her?!

As he was still in a daze, a tuft of fluffy silver hair passed nearby, and Hu Li's voice came to his ears: "Savior, why are you zoning out? It's not like this is her first day acting like this."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "... Well, true."

...

"Someone sneaked into the 'castle' kitchen? And they ate and took things, even breaking a kettle?"

In Fairy Tale Town, Little Red Riding Hood frowned slightly, looking at the long-haired princess who came to report.

The long-haired princess nodded repeatedly: "Yes! And from the day before yesterday, people have been finding things in the kitchen and dining hall getting stolen—from pastries made and stored in the cupboard to semi-finished products in the freezer, even a good amount of potatoes, green onions, and turnips from the storeroom are gone, that burglar is so bold, they even drank half a bottle of soy sauce..."

Little Red Riding Hood listened fine to the earlier report, but her eyelid twitched at the last sentence, showing a peculiar expression: "Half a bottle of soy sauce? Are you sure?"

"How could I not be sure!" The long-haired princess put her hands on her hips, "I just bought that soy sauce! It was barely in the kitchen for a day before there was only half a bottle left!"

As she finished speaking, the Mermaid beside her muttered, rubbing her chin: "...Hasn't Fox been around these past few days either?"

"Even if she came by, she wouldn't need to sneak! She always eats openly," the long-haired princess waved her hand, "Besides, if she really had been here, would there still be half a bottle of soy sauce left?"

"And it can't be a rat problem; 'the King' is guarding here. Anyway, where would a rat come from in this place," the Mermaid frowned, "Our folks would be even less likely... I mean, how could anyone sneak in here? This is the Exotic Realm!"

The long-haired princess shook her head: "How would I know?"

"Take me over to have a look first," Little Red Riding Hood interrupted the exchange between the long-haired princess and the Mermaid, then hesitated for a moment before instructing the Mermaid, "You go to the security office to tell Mr. Yun... I just feel that normally there shouldn't be 'outsiders' able to get into the town."

"Oh, alright!"

A moment later, Little Red Riding Hood followed the long-haired princess to the town's cafeteria, where they saw a kitchen clearly visited by an uninvited guest.

The cabinets were turned upside down, the eggs in the fridge were completely swept away, the large barrels storing rice and flour showed signs of having been violently opened, and even the spice jars seemed to be rummaged through.

"Ah, this..." The long-haired princess who guided them here was a bit dumbfounded at the sight in the kitchen, "This looks even messier?"

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

Yun Qingzi's figure emerged from the light: "Just now, the Fish Girl came to tell the old man that there's a thief in town, so I came to check what it was about—thieves can enter this place?"

"Mr. Yun, you came just in time!" The long-haired princess immediately approached, "Take a look, there definitely is someone..."

As she was speaking, Yun Qingzi had already scanned the entire kitchen with his eyes, initially wearing a puzzled expression, then subtly nuanced: "Ah, this... Turns out a 'small' fellow snuck in, quite interesting."

The long-haired princess was taken aback: "Huh? You've found it out already?"

"It's no wonder you couldn't discover it—this little fellow sneaked in with some skills, and more importantly, she's in a different league than you guys," Yun Qingzi chuckled, waving his hand, "Don't panic, she's not a villain. I know where she's hiding. Follow me, please."

The long-haired princess and Little Red Riding Hood exchanged a glance and immediately followed Yun Qingzi.

The two rode on the Shadow Wolf summoned by Little Red Riding Hood, following Yun Qingzi out of the town and up the small river outside the town, quickly arriving at a small forest not far from the town.

Yun Qingzi stood in the clearing in the forest, glancing around twice, then beckoned towards a seemingly empty area: "Come out."

In the next second, a patch of hidden underbrush and a chaotic pile of stones abruptly appeared on the ground that had looked completely barren. Rustling sounds emanated from the stone nest, leaving the long-haired princess wide-eyed in amazement at the scene, only to see a black shadow rise behind the underbrush—

A massive snake's head emerged from between the bushes and debris, revealing an almost human-thick black giant python. The python quickly shrank its head towards Yun Qingzi, obediently crawling out from its hiding spot.

It truly crawled out—because beneath that half of the snake body were two long legs.

Yun Qingzi maintained his raised hand posture, probably just as surprised that the big snake came out in such a form, leaving him a bit dumbfounded on the spot.

The long-haired princess looked at Yun Qingzi, then at the half-human, half-snake creature standing on the ground, pondered for a moment, and shouted loudly: "...There's a strange thing!!"

"There's a strange thing!" The big snake was also startled, shouted back, and started to look around frantically, "Where's the strange thing?!"

The long-haired princess nearly jumped: "I'm talking about you!—"

"You're talking about me," the big snake continued to shriek, but halfway through, finally reacted, quickly bowing her head to glance at herself.

"Ah damn, it's reversed—"

Before she finished speaking, she dropped to the ground, followed by a "bang" sound, and a cloud of demonic mist dispersed, transforming the Snake Demon into the form with an upper human body and lower snake tail.

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

"Well, it's something I recently learned, not quite proficient," the Snake Princess stuck out her tongue, looking quite embarrassed, "Now it's better."

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