Dimensional Hotel-Chapter 617: Further Intelligence on the Artificial Saintess

Yu Sheng mentioned contacting an expert, and at first, Xu Jiali and Lingdang didn't understand. But soon, they saw Yu Sheng casually opening a door leading to No. 66 Wutong Road. As they saw the figure emerging from the door, they instantly grasped the situation.

Luna came over—accompanied by Hu Li and Erin, who were there for the spectacle.

Upon seeing the tall figure stepping through the door, Xu Jiali, who was lying on the bed grimacing in pain, instinctively moved his body, almost gasping aloud. Meanwhile, the cat-eared girl next to him reacted with a startled meow, arching her back, and her tail puffed up to at least twice its size, with the fur on her ears standing on end...

Of course, Lingdang knew Luna—but her reaction was instinctive. The psychological shadow left by the previous encounter was truly significant; the terror induced by an Artificial Saintess as an opponent is hard to dispel.

"I might have nightmares for the next couple of days, meow," Lingdang murmured, coming to her senses after the momentary outburst. She turned her head and grabbed her tail, trying to smooth out the fur. "This is way too sudden..."

Luna was also a bit stunned; she glanced at Yu Sheng, then turned to look at Xu Jiali lying on the hospital bed, riddled with holes, and finally stammered a few words: "Who did this to him?"

"What's going on, what's going on, I can't see…" Erin, who was cluelessly following along for the commotion, was anxiously turning in circles on the ground. She climbed onto Yu Sheng's shoulder to get a better view of the situation on the bed, and immediately exclaimed in amazement, "Wow! The flower knife alteration…"

"Encountered Luna's former colleagues again," Yu Sheng sighed and began to explain, "Still in the dark alley, this time, besides a full complement of the Knight Order, an Artificial Saintess appeared…" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

He gave a brief rundown of what he understood from Baili Qing and Xu Jiali, with Xu Jiali himself adding many details—mainly the specifics of the encounter, with some points emphasizing his superior skills. Eventually, even Erin couldn't stand it and sarcastically commented from her superior vantage point: "Superior skills? You were cut up like a Squirrel Fish and you've got the nerve…"

"It depends on the opponent, you know? Surviving in close combat with an Artificial Saintess during a surprise attack is a win in itself, haven't you heard?" Xu Jiali defended himself from the bed, his voice vigorous, probably because the painkiller was kicking in again. "Can any of you actually win against Miss Luna in close combat?"

Yu Sheng, listening from the side, felt like teasing but dared not to; recalling his own encounter with Luna left him with two stabs and eight holes, a record that was both verifiable and embarrassing.

Moreover, Xu Jiali's words were precise, emphasizing "close combat"—because when it really came down to it, Hu Li was the most destructive force at the travel agency. Even Luna's armor-grade shell couldn't withstand a re-entry orbital strike, and under a Fox Radish Shock, all are equal; the Cyber Fox Deity doesn't argue with you...

Luna, the subject of the conversation, appeared indifferent—her attention was entirely focused on the "other Artificial Saintess." When Erin mentioned the "Squirrel Fish," she had already approached the bed, examining Xu Jiali's injuries closely. After a while, she raised her hand, reaching towards the deepest wound.

Xu Jiali's forehead was almost breaking into cold sweat, and he stopped boasting about his superior skills, eyes widening: "Hey, wait, I…"

But it was a false alarm; Luna didn't press down—her hand hovered just above the wound as if scanning something, with occasional faint buzzing coming from within her.

Yu Sheng leaned in: "So, can you deduce anything from the wounds?"

Luna remained silent for a moment and then lightly shook her head after a few seconds.

However, within the blood-forged connection, Yu Sheng "saw" more information from her memories—

He saw a majestic Holy Temple and a battlefield filled with glory. He saw an army of Temple Knights and Saintesses gathering and departing from Glory Fortress, cutting through the demon-filled battlefield. Within these Holy Light-filled and hazy scenes, all the faces seemed veiled by a thin layer, the "comrades" merely luminous projections filtered through a recognition shield.

Luna's voice reached his ears, stammering: "I don't, know, their, faces."

The recognition shield imposed by the Venerate Saints Monastery covered the minds of the knights and Saintesses; they held no true recognition or memory of past experiences, leaving Luna unable to identify certain former "comrades-in-arms"—even if, in the past, they had celebrated and trained together in the same Holy Temple.

She could only recognize those "knights" who, like her, escaped the recognition shield—and even this recognition relied on Yu Sheng's blood linking their minds together.

"Tsk…" Xu Jiali, lying on the bed, made an irritated noise through his teeth.

As the victim of the encounter, his feelings were complex. Towards the "Artificial Saintess" who attacked his team, he felt a mix of trepidation, but he was more angered by the controllers behind the Artificial Saintess and knights—as an experienced deep diver, he always respected those who confronted him openly, yet often he contended not just with honorable enemies, but far more with cultists lurking in the shadows.

"This stab is quite shallow," Luna broke the silence, pointing to a wound on Xu Jiali's side, "Did the opponent miss?"

"At that moment, Lingdang performed the Spiritual Energy Scream," Xu Jiali quickly returned to the present, explaining after recalling the situation at that time, "The Spiritual Energy Scream can suppress all enemy mental activities, and this move is effective against the Artificial Saintess as well—I seized this moment to successfully counterattack."

Hearing this, Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow: "Successful counterattack? You managed to injure the opponent?"

"I was already in bad shape at the time, so I didn't see clearly, but based on the feel, I stabbed at least four times, two of which should have pierced through the opponent's armor shell," Xu Jiali tried hard to recall, enduring the pain from the wound, and lifted a hand to demonstrate the angle of her strikes in front of Luna, "I was using the Special Service Bureau Type 26 Enhanced Laser Dagger; one stab definitely hit under the opponent's ribs—I'm not sure if an Artificial Saintess has ribs, but another could have hit the lower back or side waist."

He sighed with regret: "At that time, her speed finally slowed down. If only I hadn't been injured at first, I could have won."

Lingdang mumbled beside him: "Boss' mouth is tougher than Power Armor, meow."

"Under the ribs... there's a seam, lining, Living Metal," Luna tugged on Yu Sheng's sleeve, pointing to the corresponding spot on herself, "Laser Dagger, potential to pierce."

"Really possible?" Yu Sheng blinked and immediately asked, "Does this place count as a vital point?"

"No," Luna shook her head, pointing to herself, "Whole body, no vital points."

Yu Sheng: "..."

Just then, a voice suddenly came from the door of the ward, interrupting Yu Sheng and his group's conversation: "Let me explain."

Yu Sheng turned his head and saw a familiar face—the captain of the second squad, Song Cheng.

Obviously arranged by Baili Qing.

Song Cheng exchanged greetings with everyone in the room, instructed the grimacing Xu Jiali to lie back down obediently, and then focused on Luna. After a moment of hesitation, he sighed lightly.

"Recently, we've collected information about the Venerate Saints Monastery through various channels, including some intelligence related to the Artificial Saintess from the Bamasa Hermit Association and Terra Academy. In short, the 'Artificial Saintess' is an extremely complex technology involving biotech, AI, and mechanical engineering, as well as various fringe technologies classified as 'Black Spirit Ability'; some might even derive from Subspace... We don't know how those Hidden Monastery Sect managed to concoct such a thing, but it seems their so-called 'Great Sages' must have acquired some incredible 'knowledge'.

"The shell of the Artificial Saintess itself is already an outrageous black technology, but inside that armor lies the even more unbelievable part—Living Metal coexisting with biomass, no clear life cycle system. This internal structure resembles a kind of... 'distributed life', completely eliminating the concept of 'vital points', which is why Miss Luna says she has no vital points.

"Indeed, the Artificial Saintess has no vital points. Theoretically, unless it's completely dismantled and shattered in a short time, regardless of how many wounds are inflicted on it, even if they penetrate all over, it merely changes the 'distributed life' appearance—hardly fatal."

At this, Song Cheng's gaze fell back on Yu Sheng.

"...Of course, it's your peculiar ability that weirdly ignores the Artificial Saintess's characteristics."

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched, unsure of what to say. He could only awkwardly smile, grabbing Luna's hand.

The metal-crafted hand felt cool, but it gently returned the grip.

"Then... what about the consciousness? Where is the consciousness?" Yu Sheng cautiously asked, looking into Song Cheng's eyes.

"This relates to a forbidden technology—something akin to black witchcraft, extracting the soul from a living person, then transforming it into a state similar to 'artificial machine soul' or 'Artifact Spirit', embedded throughout the structure of the Artificial Saintess," Song Cheng absentmindedly reached for his clothes, seemingly intending to light a cigarette but instantly remembered he was in a ward and forcibly stopped, "As I said—no vital points, no weaknesses, except when encountering you, Yu Sheng, as its 'nemesis', it's a natural counter."