Outside the barrier maintained by a series of "Boundary Stele" at the edge region of Boundary Land, lies the physical border of this space-time convergence—beyond the hazy light curtain and large swathes of desolate, dim terrain, at the extreme distance visible from the last outpost set up by the Special Service Bureau, are vast stretches of fragmented, floating island-like landmasses hovering in semi-chaotic air.

Aurora-like streams of light flow among the countless shattered floating islands, with small space stabilization devices visible everywhere. The starlight from the external universe occasionally penetrates the gaps randomly appearing between the floating islands, casting reflections over those islands, whether desolate, lush, or illusion-like.

On one of these islands, whose material structure and existence are relatively stable, stands an old mansion shrouded in a mysterious aura, surrounded by a flourishing garden.

Faceless puppet artisans with textures of wood and ceramic on their surfaces are busy in the garden. Two spring guards, wearing red and blue frocks, stand guard at the mansion's door, while a spring-loaded maid, her entire body made of alloys, ceramics, and bionic skin, stands motionless at the entrance, as if waiting for someone's return.

Suddenly, a "ding" sound comes from within the silent, standby spring doll, the mechanical components softly buzzing. She pulls a pocket watch from her skirt and sees its hands spinning cheerfully, pointing to a slot marked "Puppet Print Room."

The spring-loaded maid tilts her head, turns, and heads back into the mansion, lightly passing through the long foyer and dim corridors, arriving at a secret room deep inside the mansion.

The lights in the secret room have already been automatically turned on. In the center of the room, silver-gray liquid surges within a sink, with nanomachines rapidly printing a new puppet body. Moments later, a body stiffly sits up from the silver-gray liquid, its surface swiftly tinged with human-like skin color—and after another half-minute, the dazed puppet finally stands up clumsily and steps out of the sink.

She moves each joint of her body, rotating them to a degree that would be enough to break for ordinary people, before quickly resetting the joints with a self-check motion. After finishing, she reaches out to receive the clothes handed to her by the spring-loaded maid.

But her movement suddenly halts. She lowers her head, looking with a somewhat wooden gaze at her empty right wrist.

The puppet's expression gradually becomes lively and animated. She frowns, bends down, and reaches her right arm into the print slot, where the silver-gray nanomachines immediately swirl around, forming a new hand on her wrist.

However, as soon as she pulls her arm out of the print slot, the hand instantly dissolves back into a puddle of silver-gray liquid, uncontrollably falling back into the sink.

The puppet lady frowns, slowly stands up, and glances at the spring-loaded maid still holding clothes on standby nearby.

"Maris, help me dress—I've lost my right hand."

"Yes, Miss Marin."

The spring-loaded maid steps forward, skillfully helping her mistress into the clothes. As she dresses her, she curiously asks, "Why are you back from the print room? Did you miss the Boundary Domain train?"

"...I accidentally saw something I shouldn't have, triggering an emergency escape," Marin replied, her tone somewhat muffled. "Though, to be fair, I might have set the trigger threshold a bit too sensitively..."

"Being cautious is your strength," said the spring-loaded maid, her voice devoid of emotional fluctuations, tinged with a peculiar mechanical tremor. "A higher rate of retreat ensures a higher mission completion rate—this precisely forms a subtle dynamic balance with the additional print material you usually consume."

"...Maris."

"Present."

"Clear the database of cold jokes."

"Permission locked; this is a unique feature of this unit. If you insist on turning it off, it is recommended to activate the Gold Crown SVIP Diamond Card annual membership. If there is no objection, it will be considered as consent, and the system will automatically deduct the fee in ten seconds. 3, 2..."

"Alright, I get it, don't need, thank you."

"Very well, Miss Marin."

Marin sighed, yet stubbornly reached her arm into the print slot again.

This time, the right hand still did not return.

"You seem a bit troubled, Miss Marin," the spring-loaded maid quietly watched her mistress, "it seems this 'loss' is quite severe."

"...Yes, my 'right hand' was 'taken away,'" Marin slowly rose, her gaze heavily upon the print slot, which was gradually calming, "looks like I'll still have to visit... hopefully, I can get the hand back smoothly."

"Should you talk with Director Baili Qing again? She could perhaps offer some advice for your upcoming contact actions."

"...No, it's embarrassing."

"Alright, Miss Marin."

...

Yu Sheng and Hu Li sat on either side of the coffee table, staring wide-eyed at the motionless puppet hand.

Erin, however, sat cross-legged directly on the coffee table, curiously reaching out and flicking a finger at the hand.

The finger joints made a slight clicking sound and quickly returned to their original state, as if a remnant of vitality was still running through them.

The three had been staring at the hand for some time, pondering it without any result. At this point, Yu Sheng, stroking his chin, couldn't help but chime in, "…What's the meaning of this, then?"

No one spoke next to him, so he turned his head to look at the small puppet on the coffee table: "Do you puppets have this custom? When meeting for the first time, you take off some parts to give as a gift to the other person…"

"How could there be such a custom!" Erin glared with scarlet eyes, but then seemed a bit unsure, "Um… but maybe? After all, I haven't been back for a long time, perhaps there's some popular new trend, as each generation becomes more abstract…"

Suddenly, the small puppet stopped, lifted its head to stare into Yu Sheng's eyes: "Wait, don't tell me you have such strong hands that you yanked it off! You even took the glove together…"

Yu Sheng chuckled: "I'm not a pervert, do I meet a girl for the first time and cause such damage? Even if I did yank it off, it must be because her wrist wasn't strong enough."

Erin thought for a moment, didn't speak, just turned over the puppet's hand, using her own hand to compare it against the puppet's.

Same spherical joints, same texture that felt like fine porcelain yet exuded the warmth and elasticity of human skin, only a few sizes different.

The small puppet sighed, a hint of sadness in its voice: "If I had hands this big, I wouldn't have let those soldiers escape last night…"

Hu Li tapped Yu Sheng's arm: "Savior, after leaving you that hand, did the puppet calling itself 'Marin' leave? Did you see how she departed?"

"I didn't see clearly, I suspect it was a very skillful transfer and illusion technique," Yu Sheng said seriously, "I was a bit dazed at that time—that's why I find this 'Alice Puppet' mysterious and strange; she must have done it with deep intention."

"What's the deep intention, she must have come looking for me!" Erin lifted her head, a smug expression on her face.

She was in a great mood because not only did an Alice Puppet appear in Boundary City today, she also received a "gift" she had been yearning for.

Another Erin was sitting on the sofa, enthusiastically tinkering with the phone watch Yu Sheng gave her.

Halfway through tinkering, she thoughtfully muttered: "I just don't know why she left, without even leaving a contact method… Hey, you could ask that Ironclad Expression! The Alice Puppet you met might be the new 'Envoy' arranged by my hometown over here. If she entered legally, she must be registered with the Special Service Bureau."

Yu Sheng thought for a bit, found it reasonable, then got up and went to the kitchen to dial Baili Qing's phone number.

At this time, she should still be awake… right?

The phone rang twice, and the familiar, calm yet subtly magnetic voice came from the other side: "Yu Sheng? What's up?"

"I met a puppet named Marin today, who claims to be from Alice's Cottage," Yu Sheng said, glancing back towards the living room—one Erin was still fiddling with that hand, another Erin was playing with the phone watch, another Erin was running the Omen Wandering Star around the room, and another Erin was watching TV, the small puppet busy and seemingly unaware of his actions here, "but I feel the situation is a bit strange…"

He briefly told Baili Qing about the odd occurrences today, particularly emphasizing the mysterious disappearance and the strange "gift" left by the other.

"…I'm calling you to confirm the background of this 'Marin,' whether she truly is from Alice's Cottage, considering… you know about Erin's situation." Yu Sheng concluded.

The other side of the phone fell silent; Baili Qing's every silence was deafening.

It took nearly ten seconds before Yu Sheng heard the hesitant voice from the other side: "Marin… is indeed an Envoy recently sent by Alice's Cottage to Boundary Land, she helped us resolve a minor issue some days ago, not a suspicious person.

"But the situation you described… seems different from what I anticipated.

"I'll go verify, hold on a moment."

Baili Qing hung up, and Yu Sheng patiently waited.

He didn't wait long, within ten minutes she dialed back.

But for some reason, the usual cool and calm female director's voice sounded slightly strained.

"Contacted her, seems there's some… situation on her side."

"Situation?" Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow, "Is she okay?"

"…No major harm."

"Oh… this thing, she seemed fine when meeting me, no wonder she hurriedly left without leaving a contact," Yu Sheng smirked, "so then…"

"The border of Boundary City is already closed, she'll visit you tomorrow," Baili Qing calmly said, "Does the 'thing' she left you still exist?"

Yu Sheng turned to see Erin waving the puppet's hand around the coffee table—the puppet's action patterns were as always, motives unclear and abstract.

"It's still here," Yu Sheng turned back, "Does she still want it?"

"…Yes, she does."

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