Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 586: Glimmers of Days Gone By

Erin followed Maris to the entrance of the corner shop, and before the shimmering light screen, the blonde Erin looked up and saw the shop sign—

Alice and Duncan’s Antique Shop.

The sign looked old, yet the characters were quite clear. Although it was an ordinary line of text reflected in Erin’s eyes, it seemed to emit a faint glow, spreading a marvelous, warm power in her mind.

"This is the most important place in every assembly hall. The puppets call it ’Alice’s House,’ " Maris’s voice sounded beside her, and the spring-loaded maid patiently explained, "In the era when the Ancient Saints hadn’t left, the Mind Body of the Puppet Progenitor, Alice, was long associated with the Garden Network—she would sit in this shop, welcoming puppets who came to visit her.

"Every assembly hall has such an antique shop, except for the nineteenth assembly hall—it’s a huge villa whose entity floats in the crevices between the Garden Network and reality, while its ’foyer’ is projected on the network upper level. Headless butlers and attendants manage that place.

"Moreover, it’s said that only very fortunate Alice Puppets can see the nineteenth assembly hall, but in any case, my mistress has never seen it."

Erin listened intently to the spring-loaded maid’s introduction, then looked up again at the street corner shop blocked by the light screen, her tone slightly dejected: "But it’s closed now."

"Yes, it’s closed," Maris said softly, "What I just mentioned was from a long time ago. After the Ancient Saints left, the Garden Network and assembly halls still operated normally, but ’Alice’s House’ entered a state of long-term closure, and reportedly its last opening was already hundreds of years ago, with the nineteenth assembly hall never appearing since..."

Maris looked up, squinting slightly.

"There are occasional rumors in the Garden Network about shadows moving in the ’antique shop’ or the light screen at the shop entrance briefly disappearing, with the Puppet Progenitor stepping out and greeting passing Alice Puppets... but my mistress says those are urban legend-like stories, not very credible."

Erin listened carefully—these facts are almost common knowledge for ordinary Alice Puppets, but for her, they had long faded into the depths of memory due to the fusion with the Omen Goddess. Yet, without reason, she suddenly felt a strange familiarity and nostalgia—through the hazy light screen, she stared at the closed door for a long time, losing herself in thought, and absentmindedly even felt as if she had already passed through that door, imagining herself standing in the antique shop.

There was warm lighting, a ticking antique clock, an old staircase leading to the second floor, and many old vases glowing warmly under the light. The street outside the window appeared hazy under the gas lamps, and a silver-haired figure, dressed in a deep purple royal gown with a gentle smile, sat behind the counter.

Erin couldn’t recall that face, but she felt she was standing there at that moment, across from that figure—

"...go to her...try it...but if things go wrong...protect yourself, run if you can’t win..."

The intermittent words carried a nostalgic warmth, dissipating into fragments of memory.

Erin lingered before the antique shop for a long time, suddenly laughing happily: "I didn’t run away~"

"Miss Erin? Are you listening?"

Maris’s voice came from beside, snapping Erin out of her daze.

"Ah, I’m listening," Erin blinked, refocusing on the spring-loaded maid, "I fully understand now!"

Maris didn’t know what the other understood, but she didn’t delve into it, simply pointing in another direction: "That way leads to the plaza, where Alice Puppets share interesting experiences from all over, or post messages seeking help. Of course, you can also directly browse these messages through the quick view, but since you’ve entered the Garden Network with a Mind Body, chatting with everyone in the plaza can be a nice experience—even though I find this somewhat inefficient, my mistress has said that ’ritual’ is an indispensable part of life..."

Erin listened absent-mindedly, yet before leaving with Maris, she stopped once more, turned, and glanced at "Alice and Duncan’s Antique Shop," a mysterious scene surfaced in her mind—

Her rushing to push open the door, with a voice loud enough to be heard down half the street, happily greeting those inside: "I’m back!!"

It seemed to be a "plan" she had brewed many times in her heart long ago, an image she had once imagined of completing her tasks and returning home.

But now that door remained closed, surrounded by the light screen—and she had even forgotten what she looked like when she left here.

So after a moment’s hesitation, Erin merely nodded lightly to the door, muttering quietly in a voice she couldn’t even clearly hear herself—

"I’m back..."

"Miss Erin?" Maris again halted, turned her head, and looked this way with some confusion.

"Coming, coming~! I just zoned out for a moment..."

"Are you really okay?" Maris seemed worried, "You seem to have been zoning out... Do you need a check-up? Both I and my mistress are at home today."

"No need, no need, you don’t understand, I’m managing five squads of mass-produced puppets by myself, usually very busy!"

"Well... alright, as long as you’re okay, but if you feel any discomfort, be sure to let us know promptly."

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely tell you," Erin excitedly followed the spring-loaded maid and spoke quickly, "By the way, can I bring Yu Sheng here to play?"

"I’m afraid that’s not possible... It’s not that it’s forbidden, but the Angel Hunter gentleman is not an Alice Puppet, he can’t connect to the network here, right?"

Erin thought for a moment: "I think not necessarily."

Maris was immediately filled with confusion, watching the eyes of the blond puppet beside her dart around. Although not knowing what the other was thinking, the spring-loaded maid suddenly felt... a chill creeping into her heart.

But before she could ask anything, Erin’s attention had already shifted elsewhere: "By the way, Maris, if I want to find someone to team up in a game, can I post a message here?"

Maris blinked: "What does ’team up’ mean?"

"It means finding someone to play games together as a team..." Erin cheerfully crossed the street, gesturing to the spring-loaded maid beside her, "Oh, yeah, you’re a robot, right, can you play games?"

"I can... I suppose I can, but my mistress isn’t interested in such things, so my skill level in various games is probably still at factory settings."

"That’s fine! You can play games with me, team up to beat them," Erin immediately brightened up, "They keep saying that I can only beat computer players—today I’m going to bring a bot to beat them! Show those noobs they can’t even beat a robot..."

Maris: "....?"

...

After coming out of the Special Service Bureau, Yu Sheng didn’t head directly back to No. 66 Wutong Road but instead took a detour to the downtown mall.

The fur care product that Hu Li usually used had run out, and a few bottles needed to be replenished—after entering winter, her consumption of this stuff skyrocketed. Though Yu Sheng couldn’t understand why a Great Demon Fox would need this stuff to groom her fur, since the fox girl requested it, he definitely had to fulfill it.

Of course, sometimes when he watched the rapid decrease of fur care products, conditioners, shampoo, and the like at home, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but wonder, not because he was stingy with money, but because he always suspected that Hu Li was secretly drinking these things, just couldn’t catch her in the act...

Moreover, recently "Fairy Tales" had a child with a birthday coming up, and he had to prepare a small gift.

Additionally, the succulents Luna kept on the balcony were finally eaten by Hu Li (endured the chocolate sauce debuff to gnaw through them), he needed to buy a few more pots to compensate Holy Lady—they still needed to have a proper talk with Hu Li, advising her against causing trouble with the house’s ornamental plants.

Oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar might also need replenishing since recently Hu Li had been secretly drinking soy sauce... on reflection, her severe fur shedding lately might not actually be related to the weather change?

Walking in the downtown commercial district, Yu Sheng was mulling over various things in his mind while strolling around.

Some matters gave him a headache when he thought of them, while others, despite being burdensome, made it hard not to laugh.

He felt like he hadn’t been able to leisurely worry about mundane matters like oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar like this for a long time—it had actually become a kind of enjoyment.

However, just then, a sudden ring from his phone interrupted Yu Sheng’s shopping.

When he took out his phone, he was slightly surprised by the caller—Marin, the Alice Puppet.

Finding a quiet spot, Yu Sheng answered the call.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Yu Sheng..."

Marin’s voice was as gentle and courteous as ever, but for some reason, Yu Sheng heard a hint of fatigue and awkwardness this time.

"Uh, good afternoon," Yu Sheng felt inexplicably nervous, "what happened?"

"It’s regarding Erin— is she by your side now?"

"She’s not, I went out," Yu Sheng quickly said, "What’s wrong with Erin?"

"No, she’s fine, it’s Maris who’s having an issue—after accompanying Erin back from visiting the Garden Network," Marin seemed to sigh on the other end, "so I wanted to ask, what did Erin do?"

Yu Sheng was bewildered, hesitating for two seconds before speaking: "Maris... what happened?"

This time Marin really sighed: "Caught a virus, apparently downloaded a bunch of illegal accelerators and unknown game clients, now they’re walking with pauses, walking with pauses, stopping to play ads..."

Yu Sheng: "....?"

Three minutes later, Yu Sheng hurried back to No. 66 Wutong Road, gaping at the innocent-looking blond puppet sitting on the sofa.

"... What do you mean, you tried downloading a third-party accelerator for Maris causing a servo robot to be infected with a shake-to-skip ad virus?!"