Chapter 112: That was quick, and with a pop!

No matter how much Harvey roared in his heart and tried to control the situation, the facts wouldn’t change just because of his thoughts.

The doll came to a halt. Without a soul inside, Harvey couldn’t even muster the effort to fight back. What was meant to be a fine vessel for a next host had instead become a solid prison, holding the essence of life above.

Harvey didn’t want to replicate his previous escape method, hurriedly fleeing from his material body. But the attachment of the upper life force was not all-powerful. Having only just entered this doll, compounded by the injuries sustained when the Devouring Serpent was slain, a forced separation would lead to complete annihilation.

With no other option, Harvey had to stay put and silently pray that the two women chasing him wouldn’t find him. At least, for now, he hadn’t caught sight of that terrifying giant bird of light.

The others arrived even faster than he anticipated. Almost as soon as Harvey noticed the shadows in the sky and the doll losing control, a petite girl with black hair and a tall blonde girl appeared right beside him.

The material body received their voices.

“This must be Iriush, right? Puppeteer Clan members all look alike, but why is she just standing there?”

“Master, could it be a trap?”

“I don’t know, but wait—doesn’t she have a flash of light flickering on her chest? It’s a bit hard to see through her clothes… Hmm, I’m kind of curious about what the inside of a Puppeteer Clan body looks like.”

“Master, please don’t just stare at her chest so earnestly. Even for you, that’s too much.”

“Wow! Xiao Guang, you can dish out such sharp remarks now? What progress! But I really was just curious about that flickering red light. It seems kind of like that… what do you call it…”

“That…”

“Ahem, forget it. In short, let’s investigate further first. If there’s no problem, we can bring her back.”

With that, the black-haired girl, closely connected to the giant bird of light, reached out and placed her hand on the doll’s shoulder, seemingly murmuring a short phrase.

Invisible waves spread like a tidal wave, washing over the doll and, naturally, Harvey hiding within.

Though it didn’t seem to harm him, he suddenly felt an intense chill, as if a fledgling had shed all its shell and disguise, laid bare before some terrifying presence.

Wait, this feeling!?

Yes, yes it’s her! The terrifying presence that had glanced at him back then! It’s this woman!!!

No, no!!! This is wrong! Mistaken! She isn’t a material being; she is the same as him… she is…

“Oh? What’s this?”

But at that moment, the black-haired girl raised her hand as if she had spotted something amusing, holding it just above the body as seen through the doll’s eyes.

And then…

【Ahhhhhhhhh!!!】

A tearing sensation, an extreme, indescribable tearing sensation spread through this upper life form’s incorporeal body, as an overwhelming force gripped him like a giant’s hand, rudely pulling at him from the outside, as if trying to forcibly yank Harvey out of the doll.

【It hurts!! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!! Let me go!!!】

Harvey was nearly driven mad. He couldn’t understand why they, with an overwhelming spiritual power that made him tremble—far exceeding any upper life form he had encountered—would intentionally use this primitive method of removal. Were they trying to torture him on purpose!?

This wasn’t going to work. If a simple tug could make him leave this body, he would have escaped ages ago. His current spiritual state was too fragile, and forcing it would lead to…

Sizzle… sizzle… sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle…

“Pop!”

In the next moment, under the horrific force of the pulling, Harvey’s spiritual form shattered into fragments, taking his consciousness along with it, vanishing into the vast existence of the material world.

In the end, he still didn’t understand why such a terrifying existence descended upon the material world or why they chose such a cruel method to punish and kill him.

But Harvey was ultimately dead.

…

“Eh?”

Subconsciously squeezing her suddenly numb white fingers, Miss Vilyric stood frozen.

What happened to it?

Wait, let’s reorganize this…

After previously using Detection to investigate the Puppeteer Clan girl named Iriush in detail, she somewhat understood the truth about the Puppeteer Clan.

In simple terms, the Puppeteer Clan is a kind of special magical tool, equipped with an autonomous source of consciousness, while the magic patterns that bring and circulate magical power are engraved within the body.

Vilyric didn’t fully understand the specific materials and principles, but these biomechanical dolls are structured similarly to real humans. They utilized alchemical organs and magical power for physiological functions, akin to robots from the Blue Star, just a bit more “magical.”

Moreover, the dolls possess a very important core that serves as the center for their magical power circulation, much like magical cores for magical beasts or hearts for humans, flashing red where their heart would be, and their blood is a special magical active liquid.

The reason Iriush suddenly stopped dumbfounded is likely because her magic core—what Iwen and the others referred to as the consciousness core—had entered some strange state, halting normal activity, with some peculiar external energy residing within, unclear about its intentions.

Regardless, this odd energy is likely the reason she abruptly lost control and appeared here, so Vilyric planned to extract it and take a look.

As for the method, it was simple. Vilyric would use her own soul power, or spiritual points, to delve into the corresponding location and grasp that thing, since it seemed to be a special type of spiritual energy after all.

However, for some reason, it stubbornly clung inside the core as if glued, refusing to come out, so in frustration, the priestess resolved to use a bit more force.

As soon as she did that, she heard a pop, and the situation turned to what it was now.

“What on earth are these mysterious things…?”

After feeling around where nothing was, confirming that there was indeed nothing left in the heart of Iriush, the puzzled priestess could only give up.

“Master, what happened to her?”

“I’m not quite sure… It seems she’s malfunctioned or something. I tried to repair her, but it seems I failed, so how about we…”

Just as Vilyric was glancing at the expressionless figure standing there, the doll girl with a short, stylish haircut similar to Iwen and Iriush, pondering how to bring her back for the others to see, the girl suddenly blurted out in a cold yet melodious voice, devoid of any inflection, like a mechanical report.

“Beep beep, searching… searching… Unknown invading virus has been cleared. Suspected interference by external antivirus programs. Scan results show no remnants. Body status is good, system maintenance complete.”

“Rebooting consciousness core, estimated time 15 seconds, please wait.”

“…?” x2

   

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