Gardening Shop

Ren Yi looked up speechlessly, meeting the waitress's smiling eyes. Despite a hint of helplessness, he stepped into the Puppet Shop.

The scene inside the Puppet Shop was somewhat magical.

For instance, a row of "waitresses" stood neatly by the entrance. Dressed in standard uniforms with rabbit masks covering their faces, they stood as stiff as statues, completely motionless.

Talk about selling yourself.

Beyond that, the shelves were packed with a dizzying array of items. There were humanoid and animal puppets that looked no different from ordinary people or livestock, but there were also highly abnormal "human skin-type," "oddity-type," and "armor-type" puppets...

Ren Yi's gaze lingered on the suit of armor for a few extra seconds.

Was he really going to pilot a Gundam inside an Anomaly Instance?

As if sensing his thoughts, the waitress explained with a sigh.

"The appearance of this puppet can be changed. It can be used as a Headless Knight trap or something similar in castle-themed Instances."

While she spoke, Ren Yi walked over to another row of shelves and suddenly came to a halt.

This row didn't have anything particularly bizarre, just the most ordinary humans and animals. However, beneath each price tag, a line of small, inconspicuous text was printed:

"Can be controlled by NPCs."

"There are even puppets that NPCs can control?" Ren Yi looked up, slightly surprised.

The smile at the corner of the waitress's mouth turned meaningful. "Puppets... such things aren't rare across various worlds, and they are inevitably controlled by local natives."

"The Alliance isn't some isolationist civilization. I've borrowed puppet techniques from other worlds and fused them with my own craftsmanship to create these."

"Sometimes, the appearance or abilities of subordinates don't fit the setting of an Instance. Some Instance masters come here to buy puppets specifically for their NPCs."

"Oh, by the way, we also support custom orders."

Ren Yi nodded in agreement as he listened to her.

He thought he knew why she had brought him here, and he was indeed a little tempted.

Wang Zhixin was still a crystal right now. A flying crystal didn't fit "human cognition" and couldn't move around in public places within the Alliance.

Furthermore, while he didn't know the exact effects of Xin City's soul technology, he couldn't just let a bunch of soul consciousnesses manifest physical bodies out of thin air.

Therefore, he would eventually need a few bodies to serve as temporary vessels for his NPCs.

With that in mind, Ren Yi turned around immediately, intending to find Wang Zhixin and ask for his opinion.

But as soon as he stepped out of the Puppet Shop, he saw Wang Zhixin floating over slowly. Their eyes met, and they spoke at the same time.

"Wang Zhixin, I have something to show you..."

"Mr. Ren Yi, um, I saw..."

Both stopped simultaneously.

Wang Zhixin's tone was hesitant. Ren Yi was stunned for a moment, then realized something and smiled at him.

"You go first. What is it? Did you find something you want to buy?"

Wang Zhixin floated in front of him, the light within his crystal body flickering constantly with an irrepressible excitement. He tilted his crystal body slightly, as if nodding vigorously.

Ren Yi was a bit surprised; it wasn't common to see Wang Zhixin this excited.

Most of the things here were Anomaly equipment or Instance props. What could Wang Zhixin have encountered that would make him this worked up?

He nodded. "Alright, let's go see what you want to buy first."

After following Wang Zhixin for just a few steps, a shop filled with lush greenery came into view.

Ren Yi stared blankly at the shop's name, "Single-Minded Flower," for a long while before realizing it was a floral gardening shop.

Wang Zhixin... was actually interested in gardening?

Led by the enthusiastic Wang Zhixin, Ren Yi entered the shop.

Though it was called a gardening shop, it was a shop opened in an Anomaly world, so every "product" inside was far from simple.

Ren Yi looked at the most "ordinary" potted plant near the entrance.

The plant was a head taller than him, topped with a red flower so vibrant it was jarring. Its petals were larger than half his face, and beneath them, the leaves—which were lined with sharp serrations and were slightly opening and closing—revealed its true identity.

A textbook Man-eating Flower, looking exactly like the ones in movies.

The Man-eating Flower seemed to sense Ren Yi's presence and actually shrank back slightly. Ren Yi reached out and pulled down the tag on the plant, reading the text on it.

【Ordinary Man-eating Flower. Non-toxic and easy to keep. Seven-day no-questions-asked return policy. Just water it weekly and feed it one unit of flesh.】

【Individual combat strength is roughly equivalent to an ordinary adult human male. Can be used for Instance landscaping and restricting Participant movement.】

Ren Yi then looked at a lavender-like plant nearby, which emitted a faint, refreshing fragrance.

【Sleep Grass. Slightly toxic and easy to keep. Just water weekly. Seven-day no-questions-asked return policy. This is only a sample; large-scale planting by the acre is recommended.】

【The toxicity of a single Sleep Grass is weak, but large-scale planting is extremely beautiful, and its scent has the effect of making one lower their guard, luring units with weak willpower into the flower field.】

【An ordinary adult male unit will fall into a deep sleep after one minute in the center of the field. Within three minutes, the central nervous system will be paralyzed, and within five minutes, brain death will occur.】

【Can be used for Instance landscaping, restricting Participant movement, increasing the complexity of Instance rules, etc.】

As he kept looking, Ren Yi felt his horizons expanding.

According to the shop's notices, these were only basic varieties collected from various worlds and then improved.

The varieties with more dangerous abilities and more bizarre designs were not displayed in the shop. One had to go to the owner's private flower field to purchase them or add the owner's Anomaly Web account to place an order.

In essence, this shop specialized in providing plant landscaping services for Instances.

Ren Yi grew increasingly puzzled. Why was Wang Zhixin even more interested in these dangerous things than he, the Instance master, was?

He followed Wang Zhixin through the dense thicket of plants for a while before finally stopping in front of a counter.

【Giant Plant Area. Ordinary plants scaled up in size. Can be used for landscaping to create the visual effect of Participants being shrunken. Characteristics are identical to the original plants. Non-toxic and easy to keep...】

"This is the one, Mr. Ren Yi," Wang Zhixin said, hovering in front of a plant two to three meters tall, his tone unable to hide his joy.

The plant stood tall and straight, its thick stalk a healthy green. The surface was smooth yet possessed a tough texture. Its broad, long leaves spread out in layers, casting mottled shadows.

At its top hung heavy, spike-like fruits, tightly wrapped in layers of leaf sheaths. The entire plant was robust and bursting with life, carrying a majestic vitality.

Ren Yi instinctively looked for a tag, only to find that the entire Giant Plant Area only had that one general sign from before, with no detailed introduction for this specific plant.

He had no choice but to turn and ask Wang Zhixin, "What plant is this? What's so special about it?"

"Aside from being big, it isn't particularly special," Wang Zhixin answered the second part first.

His tone was very serious. The shadow of the plant above cast down, making the crystal in the darkness seem to glow.

"But it is millet."

He paused.

"Very large millet."

"It has one massive advantage that no other plant here can match."

"It can fill people's stomachs."