Chapter 127: Graveyard and Ice Coffin

As soon as the thought crossed her mind that this might be a ruin left by some otherworldly traveler, Priestess Iriush, who was already quite interested in the idea, couldn’t help but feel even more excited about what kind of surprises it might hold.

Iriush didn’t move forward immediately but turned back with a serious expression to warn the group behind her.

“Everyone, you must remember, some things inside are exceptionally dangerous. Many of them we, Puppeteer Clan, haven’t fully grasped yet. Whatever you discover, just observe; absolutely do not touch anything, especially those strange buttons. Understand?”

“…?”

So terrifying?

Surely they couldn’t be hiding something like a nuclear warhead in here…

Though she grumbled internally, Vilyric was not the type to be arrogant, and since Iriush was willing to share her secrets, it was already quite rare, so she immediately took the lead in expressing her understanding.

“Understood, we will be cautious.”

No further words were necessary; the other girls were reasonable as well. Since Vilyric had spoken, they all nodded in acknowledgment.

“Good, that’s settled then.”

Iriush nodded in satisfaction and led the way in.

Behind the wall disguised as a gate was a dimly lit, spacious inner chamber.

Upon entering, it felt as though she had suddenly stepped into an air-conditioned room on Blue Star, the hot temperature around them dropped instantly. The faces of a few girls still troubled by the heat relaxed considerably.

Although high-tech facilities were rare in this world, Vilyric had already encountered several in various unknown secret places, such as the “Sanctuary” from Afra’s memories, deep within Abyssal Demon Isle’s God-Made Beast breeding room.

She thought that no matter how bizarre the scene portrayed itself, it wouldn’t shock her much. However, as the voice-activated lights illuminated the room simultaneously, revealing hidden objects everywhere, the Priestess Iriush was still taken aback.

And so were the girls behind her, who had just relaxed their furrowed brows.

“By the gods! What is this place?!”

The first to react with an angry exclamation was Edwina, unable to tolerate the sight. The timid Tilysha was so frightened that she immediately hid behind the Priestess. Leila, Renée, and Aiste also wore grim expressions, and even Xiao Guang couldn’t help but furrow her brow.

Only Noviya, the little wolf cub who seemed not yet mentally grown, continued to huddle in her mother’s embrace, her bright, untainted eyes curiously darting around.

The floor was littered with dismembered limbs and incomplete female bodies, scattered all over the place in a chaotic manner, some even in a state of deplorable damage. Aside from the lack of bloodstains, it resembled a massive, tragic human slaughterhouse.

“This is… wait, dolls…?”

Recovering from the initial shock quicker than expected, Vilyric quickly realized this fact.

Right, they were dolls.

The most obvious clue was the absence of blood. If so many people had been dismembered to death in this room, the walls and everywhere else would be decidedly messy. Moreover, although most of the severed limbs were indistinguishable from those of real human girls, Vilyric distinctly noticed some parts that resembled screws and rivets.

Evidently, this was a doll manufacturing laboratory, but it seemed the personnel had encountered some accident or upheaval and left in haste without tidying up the various materials and traces, creating this “tragic” scene.

Once she spoke, the girls who initially displayed nervousness or anger, some like Edwina who had already drawn weapons from their waists, all froze and shifted to expressions of shock.

“Dolls?”

“Yes… If Lady Vilyric says so, it does seem to be…”

At the same time, Iriush, who didn’t care for the stir behind her, turned with a complex expression, first casting a somewhat sorrowful and timid glance over the scattered limbs on the floor before finally fixing her gaze on the few girls behind her.

“As Miss Vilyric mentioned, what you see here are the early failed doll materials from the River of Three Ways plan. They are… left here by the Father.”

“The River of Three Ways plan? What exactly is that?”

Though she knew it wasn’t the best time to ask this, Vilyric couldn’t help but suppress her growing curiosity.

Iriush shook her head.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know, and neither does Sister Iwen. We, the Puppeteer Clan, a total of 47 sisters, are all clueless about the true nature of the River of Three Ways plan. But its ultimate purpose─ seeing this scene… I suppose you have guessed it by now.”

“…Is that so.”

One thing became clear.

The intelligent dolls, now known as the Puppeteer Clan, at least Iriush and Iriush, undoubtedly were created in this laboratory; otherwise, it wouldn’t explain why the managing AI here recognized them.

But according to their words, it seemed they themselves didn’t remember this fact, likely due to the relevant records in their cores being deleted, or they might still be in an unactivated state.

Given their intelligence, even if they didn’t have relevant memories, they probably had already deduced this point.

Without saying much more, Iriush, along with Iriush, who seemed to want to ease the heavy atmosphere but didn’t know how, carefully avoided the scattered “remains” and continued onward.

Vilyric and the others silently followed.

They finally arrived at a place in front of a deep blue coffin, resembling one made of ice, placed deep in the laboratory. However, the lid of this heavy object wasn’t tightly locked; it seemed simply pressed down on whatever was inside.

As they approached, a chill mixed with warmth surged forward, and while it sounded strange, being near the ice coffin felt distinctly uncanny.

Though this level of sensation was nothing to true powerhouses, it seemed that due to the strange ice coffin’s suppression, whatever was inside didn’t release an excessively terrifying heat.

Iriush exchanged glances with Iriush, took a deep breath, and after a brief hesitation, finally nodded. The two of them placed their hands above the coffin lid and began to push it slowly.

“Creak, creak, creak, creak…”

The ice coffin emitted a heavy scratching sound, as if it were a colossal stone weighing a thousand pounds pressing down on it.

In fact, the need for the two legendary-class dolls, Iriush and Iriush, to combine their strength to move it already proved just how terrifying the lid’s weight was.

Vilyric didn’t foolishly rush forward to lend a hand, and the two doll ladies didn’t fully open the ice coffin, merely pushing it down to about a third of the way, allowing it to hover partially before withdrawing their strength in unison and signaling the onlookers to come closer and have a look.

Once they saw what was inside, the girls couldn’t help but exchange glances.

The answer was unexpectedly off the mark yet in line with reason.

Inside the ice coffin was a person.

At least, it looked that way.

It was a girl who bore a striking resemblance to Iriush, Iriush, and that high-ranking demon general Iwen, lying with her eyes closed in the ice coffin. Her beautiful long red hair flowed like burning flames behind her. Though it appeared she wasn’t wearing much clothing, the coffin lid covered her, revealing only one-third of her upper body’s fair skin up to her chest.

From her, Vilyric sensed not a single thread of life or soul’s energy, a condition shared by the other dolls, including Iriush and Iriush in front. Yet, the girl sealed in the ice coffin was particularly evident.

This was a doll, an unactivated, or perhaps… a doll that couldn’t be activated.

   

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