Hu Li carried her Left and Right Guardians on her shoulders, went downstairs, and sat in front of the dining table, waiting obediently for the meal. Erin stood on the table, staring intently at the two chickens on the fox girl's shoulders.

The two pairs of crossed eyes stared back at the small puppet on the table, both sides exuding an aura of equally matched wisdom.

"I think they're up to no good," Erin suddenly said, "There's mischief brewing in their eyes."

"Impossible, White Cut and Salt Roasted are very well-behaved!" Hu Li said seriously, "They usually just sleep in my tail, and they never fight when they're let out..."

"Obviously they're passing out because they can't handle the weird stuff you feed them!" Erin glared. Although no one could quite figure out why the chicks looked the way they did thanks to Hu Li, the reason undoubtedly had to do with the Nine-Tailed Fox's bizarre 'Immortal Techniques' and the 'Spiritual Essence' she concocted. Realizing this made Erin nearly lose it, "It's amazing these two creatures are still alive after being fed by you — three days in shock, two and a half days comatose, and they're not dead yet..."

Hu Li was taken aback, then pondered for a moment and clapped her hands: "So that's what's going on! No wonder they sleep for so long after each meal."

Erin: "Three days in shock, two and a half days comatose?!"

"Spirit beasts undergoing Feather Transformation find it tough, let alone these that are mere poultry. It's normal to face difficulties," Hu Li waved her hand confidently, "No matter what, I will keep them safe. I'm telling you, I'm quite skilled at raising spirit beasts and immortal birds. Back in school, I was always the group leader for small animal care. Those two Mystic Feathered Sparrows in the back mountain of our school were fed by me..."

She even shrugged her shoulders and glanced at her two Guardians: "Right? I've taken good care of you, haven't I?"

White Cut and Salt Roasted nodded modestly.

Erin was shocked: "These two feathered creatures can really understand?! They look so silly..."

No sooner had she spoken, White Cut and Salt Roasted soared into the air, each diving to peck the puppet, knocking it over on the table.

Erin hadn't reacted when she rolled on the table, only then did she become furious, jumping up to fight the two chickens, shouting while battling: "I told you these two are up to no good!"

Hu Li was also startled, quickly getting up to save Erin while still emphasizing the truth: "But clearly, you were the one who started insulting them first..."

Yu Sheng was just finishing cooking in the kitchen when he heard the commotion from the dining room. He initially thought it was just Erin and Hu Li's routine banter, but midway through he sensed something was off. He quickly turned off the stove and rushed out, only to see the small puppet held down on the table by White Cut pecking its head, and Hu Li trying hard to grab Salt Roasted back and stuff it into her tail...

Yu Sheng was dumbfounded: "..."

After finally controlling the chaos, figuring out the story, Yu Sheng could only look at the puppets tidying her hair angrily: "So, you insulted them first, started fighting with the chickens — and ended up losing?"

Erin was so mad she jumped: "No need to emphasize that last part!"

She quickly added: "Also, what do you mean lost against chickens! What kind of good chickens come with auspicious clouds when they fly and lightning arrows when they dive — fighting them is certainly challenging!"

Yu Sheng found himself quite amazed.

"I'll definitely discipline them later," Hu Li thought Yu Sheng was angry because he was silent, so she lowered her head and said quickly, "They're just starting to transform and don't understand many rules yet."

"No big problem, no big problem," Yu Sheng waved his hand with a grin, "Let's eat first, I'll go get the dishes."

Hu Li immediately jumped up: "I'll help you!"

"You stay here," Yu Sheng immediately pressed the demon fox girl back down, "If I let you carry a dish, you won't even reach the kitchen door before you have to come back to wash dishes. If I let you get the dishes, I won't get to eat this meal..."

Hu Li's ears drooped: "Oh."

Moments later, a table full of delicious food was laid out.

Despite not needing to eat, Erin always claimed a spot when it was mealtime. She stood on the table, eyes wide open: "Wow — what day is it today, eating so well!?"

"The Special Service Bureau sent funds — reward for the discovery of 'Mist City' and the rescue of citizens," Yu Sheng said happily, "And we just received news that the subsidy for the placement of 'Fairy Tales' has been approved too, although this money will take a bit more time to arrive since the amount is quite large, and some procedures still need to go through the Council... Anyway, from now on we won't lack money, we should celebrate today."

"Great," Erin clapped joyfully but soon realized, "Hey wait, when did you buy these ingredients?"

"Just now when I was cooking, whatever I was missing, I went to the market to buy," Yu Sheng said casually, "Also, this big pot of rice is directly from the Special Service Bureau cafeteria—I just took this pot from their window, and I have to return it later."

Erin was dumbfounded, and after a long pause, she managed to say: "...Your door-opening skills are really amazing."

Hu Li couldn't even bother to comment; by this time she already had her head buried in the pot.

Luckily, Yu Sheng was quick to scoop out a bowl of rice in advance, otherwise, this whole pot might not have been enough for Hu Li to eat alone.

And when the meal was almost finished (which was when Hu Li began licking bowls one by one), Erin, who had been lost in thought at the table for quite a while, suddenly spoke up: "Right, Yu Sheng, make me another body."

Yu Sheng was quietly enjoying the warm scene of the fox deity licking bowls when he heard this, and couldn't help being a bit surprised: "Huh?"

"Didn't we discuss making a new body for me if the opportunity arose? We brought back so many great materials from the Special Service Bureau..."

"Uh, we did say that, but why did you suddenly think of it now?"

Erin looked very serious: "Make one that's more combat-capable, and if possible, normal-sized."

Yu Sheng was taken aback: "...Just because you lost a fight to a chicken?!"

Initially, Erin's face was full of seriousness, but she couldn't hold it anymore, jumping up and pointing at Yu Sheng's nose: "Who told you it was because of that?! Do you really think I'm that petty?!"

Yu Sheng didn't have the heart to nod directly, so he maintained a straight face and answered indirectly: "Yeah."

"It's because I lost to that C-type buckle!" the little puppet fumed, glaring with frustration, "It's humiliating, utterly humiliating! I, a proud ball-jointed doll, lost to a C-type buckle..."

Yu Sheng: "...Is that the point? Also, I recall the 'Artificial Saintess' wasn't entirely C-type buckles; she also had a complex mechanical structure... like that self-destructing cover."

"You see, we both have similar grudges—I'm because I lost, and you're because you got ambushed. Regardless, it all stems from that C-type buckle," Erin walked over and patted Yu Sheng's arm, "That thing is really dangerous, even though we only encountered one, its combat power is higher than many dangerous entities, and it can even be mass-produced on a small scale... What if we encounter it again next time? What if it's two or more? And... what if we meet someone even stronger than that C-type buckle in the future?"

The little puppet had an unusually serious, stern expression, which even prompted Yu Sheng to become serious as well.

"I have a feeling that sooner or later, we'll face more of these troublesome enemies and difficult situations. Even the Special Service Director said you're always in trouble... I don't mind, it's fun going everywhere with you, but not winning is not fun. We can't always be opening doors and running or sending you to deliver yourself every time..."

Erin sat cross-legged on the edge of the table, looking at Yu Sheng, and turned back to look at the Nine-Tailed Fox, who was focused on licking the bowl, seemingly not paying attention to their discussion.

"Your body is getting stronger every day, and you've become more adept at using those bizarre abilities. As for Hu Li, Hu Li is inherently strong and learns quickly. She's even trained two sparring companions now—though that was somewhat unexpected, but in any case, she can fight and might become even better."

The little puppet said this while pointing to herself.

"This body of mine, made of rebar, is indeed sturdy, but not sturdy enough. It only satisfies part of the battlefield survivability. When fighting that C-type buckle, my reaction speed and offensive capabilities were obviously inadequate, and strictly speaking, I didn't even have offensive capabilities..."

Yu Sheng nodded: "That's right, your head isn't even as long as the fingernail of that Artificial Saintess."

Erin jumped up and headbutted Yu Sheng's chin: "Yu Sheng, you jerk!"

Yu Sheng let out an "ow," scaring the bowl-licking Hu Li across from him. He rubbed his chin and said, "Alright, alright, go on... Ah, you don't have to say it. I got your point. We'll make a precision-crafted body shell to make up for the combat deficiencies."

"Right," Erin stood with her hands on her hips in front of Yu Sheng, with a determined look as if she wanted to fight to the end with all the C-type buckle dolls in the world, "This time, I'll guide you using a higher-level Spirit Injection Magic Technique. We'll use the best materials, the best skeleton, and filler materials, fix all the loopholes that could potentially cause the ritual to fail, and strive to bring out my true strength—I tell you, I'm really amazing, how could the true Alice Puppet possibly lose to a fake mass-produced product made by a cultist..."

As she spoke, the little puppet's resentment began to overflow again, but this time Yu Sheng didn't poke fun at her. Instead, he reached out and patted Erin's hair.

"Alright, since the Special Service Bureau won't have results for a while anyway, we have free time... let's go make an Erin Pro Max!"

"...What kind of ridiculous name is that?!"

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