Seeing the warm smile on Shilude's face, the last bit of doubt in Yu Sheng's heart disappeared.Just like Luo said, the souls of the artificial saintesses have been completely modified. As semi-spiritual bodies and semi-mechanical souls, their only way to operate in the real world is through mechanical shells driven by living metal. Previously, parties on both sides, whether from Boundary Land or Qianfeng Ling Mountain, were stuck in a dead-end, always thinking about reverting them to their original form, or at least to the appearance of "live humans"...
To be honest, the moment those victims, deceived by the Hidden Monastery, destroyed their original shells with their own hands, these pursuits lost all meaning.
Eventually, it was Luo's seemingly compromising approach that worked out.
Yu Sheng let out a gentle sigh, looked at Luo with a bit of admiration in his eyes, and just as he was about to say something, the golden-haired elf in front of him suddenly laughed and patted her chest while laughing: "Honestly, it's thanks to my extensive experience with living metal symbiosis that this path worked out..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Erin nodded vigorously: "That's right, the living metal content on you is no less than a C-type buckle. The difference is that the living metal of the C-type buckles is external, while your living metal is usually built-in..."
Yu Sheng hurriedly cleared his throat: "Ahem, this is a bit of a hellish scenario..."
"It's fine, Erin is right," Luo replied nonchalantly, completely different from the look of disgust and resistance when previously mentioning her body modifications. "I've extensively referenced the technical data left by Old Qiao—even though every piece of data is stained with much blood, including my own, it's not in vain if it can be put to positive use."
Upon hearing these words, Yu Sheng instinctively looked into Luo's eyes. In those starlit eyes dotted with tiny golden glints, he saw nothing but calm and relief.
He could feel that the former Black Spot Warlord was now living a content and peaceful life, and this good mindset even garnered a bit of his respect—
Not getting paid for work while still losing money, yet being so happy—this is amazing... Should I be a bit nicer to this unlucky elf lady?
"When will this technology be rolled out?" Hu Li, who hadn't said much, curiously asked at this point.
Luo nodded: "We have now successfully cracked the control key left in the artificial saintesses by the Hidden Monastery and found a stable method to rewrite the underlying protocols, so mass modification can start anytime.
"I plan to write the new control protocol directly into the model production centers so that the newly manufactured artificial saintesses' shells come equipped with a 'bionic' mode, saving a lot of time costs."
She paused for a moment and added: "The only problem is the existing models... These need to have their protocols rewritten one by one. There are a lot of them in stock, and only a few labs in this test site can execute the rewrites, with a maximum of adjusting dozens per day—it might take up to a year to get through all the artificial saintesses.
"Therefore, I plan to modify the two production centers at the Polar Plateau as well. Although this will add some extra engineering work, it will shorten the entire project timeline to within half a year... or even less."
As she spoke, she carefully observed Yu Sheng's expression, seemingly a bit worried that this self-initiated plan and expanding scope of authority might cause any misunderstanding, so she hurriedly added: "Ah, of course, the facility control rights remain with the Valhalla Corps..."
"It's fine, just do as you said," Yu Sheng, who was a bit distracted just now, reacted when he heard Luo's latter words and immediately waved his hand, saying, "You are the expert in this field, I respect professionals."
After speaking, he rubbed his chin, pondered briefly, and, as if casually, asked: "Oh, by the way, what about the equipment concerning space stability and interdimensional monitoring, any resources available to you?"
Luo immediately perked up: "Ah, space technology is my specialty. Besides living metal, I excel in this area..."
Just as she was speaking, Erin's chattering interrupted: "Back then, you let a World Bridge Fragment defeat you till you were bruised up, and the lab got ripped open with a bunch of gashes—almost all your assets nearly dropped into Boundary Land..."
"The World Bridge! You said it; it's the World Bridge!" Luo was anxious hearing this, "Fighting that thing for several years before going down was already damn impressive, okay? You think everyone is as absurd as the boss who could devour a World Bridge whole?"
Yu Sheng immediately coughed: "Ahem, ahem..."
Luo quickly shifted the topic back: "Hmm, anyway, I'm very professional in the field of space technology. Several of my trade routes and production facilities are dedicated to this... Speaking of interdimensional monitoring, isn't Boundary Land the best at this? That stone-cold person has a ton of technical reserves..."
"You should prepare; Boundary Land might need a considerable amount of space stabilization devices soon, might even procure interdimensional monitoring equipment externally—even temporary transitional systems," Yu Sheng whispered to Luo, deliberately lowering his voice, "You can find an appropriate excuse to contact Baili Qing... don't say I told you."
Luo froze, probably not expecting that beyond demanding dividends from her as his employee, the "boss" in front of her would have a moment of conscience, leaving her momentarily unable to respond.
After a few seconds of delay, she snapped back to her senses, her eyes lit up instantly, and she rushed over to grab Yu Sheng's arm: "Boss! Where did you pick up your conscience?!"
Just as she finished speaking, she heard the sound of grinding teeth nearby, and upon looking up, she saw Hu Li staring at this side, making a low "wuooo" from his throat while grinding his teeth...
Luo was startled on the spot, his hair standing on end.
Yu Sheng laughed and rubbed the fur behind Hu Li's ear with his hand.
The Great Demon Fox's protective demeanor instantly turned into a hum in its throat.
Erin looked on in disbelief, "…What the hell have you adjusted this to…"
Yu Sheng said nothing, he just glanced back at Luna, then his gaze fell on Luo.
"Can Luna be arranged to make adjustments first? The lab should be free now, right?"
Luo nodded, but before she could speak, Luna suddenly stepped forward and shook her head to refuse.
Yu Sheng didn't react immediately, "Huh? Luna, you…"
Luna turned to look at him, speaking very seriously, "I, am the last one."
"Why?" Yu Sheng asked instinctively, although he had already thought of the answer in his heart, he still couldn't help but remind, "You've... waited a long time, and this time, upon hearing the news, you rushed here immediately..."
"I rushed here just to take a look at what this technology looks like," Luna spoke earnestly and slowly, then after a few seconds of silence, she continued, "I am the corps commander."
Yu Sheng didn't speak for a moment.
"I have already gathered everyone at Valhalla," Luna continued, "held a meeting to set the order — mainly based on the situation of living relatives..."
"Oh, C-type buckle you fool," Erin scratched her hair hard, "You know if you do this, you won't be scheduled for at least six months — your parents have waited so many years, if you cut in line here it would only take a few hours..."
Luna looked very seriously at the Little Puppet, the deep blue glow in her mechanical eyes, "The corps needs discipline, not even a minute, Erin you don't understand."
Erin: "Whether I understand or not, you couldn't fix a pronunciation problem for two years..."
Yu Sheng ignored the nagging coming from his shoulder, only seriously looking into Luna's eyes — the intricately structured mechanical eyes and the almost perfect living metal face were like a mask controlled by a program, only able to display a few expressions that match the "Saintess" identity within the preset range of the Hidden Monastery, but having been together for so long, Yu Sheng felt he could see Luna's true thoughts and feelings through this strictly programmed mask.
...Of course, the main reason being he could directly chat with this talkative girl in the Great Cathedral.
"Have you decided?" Yu Sheng's figure appeared in the black Great Cathedral, he called the golden-haired Knight girl to a lounge next to the hall, "Actually, Erin is not wrong, you cutting in line wouldn't really make much difference..."
"Perhaps it won't have much impact if other sisters cut in line, but I absolutely cannot break this precedent," Luna shook her head, speaking rapidly, "If the corps commander's situation is special and can be adjusted early, then should the deputies and squad leaders I arranged be adjusted early too? If they are advanced, should the team leaders be advanced too? Some sisters have served too long, their mental state is already very unstable, and some sisters have still not been able to normally contact family members in the real world... not to mention the guard knights who come later, relatively speaking we've already been 'prioritized' a lot... Besides, my parents are more open-minded than most, the situation in my family is better than others..."
Yu Sheng quietly watched the knight girl in front of him, who was expressing her thoughts rapidly with both words and gestures, a moment later, a smile appeared on his face.
"Then follow your decision — first let the batch of Artificial Saintesses in the most unstable situation undergo adjustments, and those with special family circumstances. In short, confirm this first batch list as soon as possible, later orders can be gradually adjusted, in any case the labs at the testing site must not be idle starting today."
"Okay!"
Yu Sheng refocused his attention back to the real world, informing the golden-haired elf of the final decision.
Luo naturally had no objections, "Alright, you're the boss, I'll do whatever you arrange anyway..."
Watching the completely immersed worker state, but her eyes still shining brightly having just seen a big opportunity, golden-haired elf, then looking at Shilude walking around in the lab continuously touching the various items in the environment, Yu Sheng sighed in relief, a smile in his eyes.
He felt like everything was finally going well.