"Why do I feel... something's not right?" MDR muttered, frowning as she lifted Alchemist's eyepatch.
Although she was slightly disappointed that Alchemist wasn't truly one-eyed, she had expected this.
After all, replacing parts on a doll is incredibly easy, and it's rare for a doll to leave an eye injury unrepaired and wear an eyepatch instead, like M16 did.
There are only two possibilities for wearing an eyepatch: one is to cover a specific eye abnormality, and the other is naturally a matter of personal preference.
Clearly, Alchemist's situation falls into the latter category, right?
But MDR had a strange feeling, a feeling that the truth shouldn't be so dull...
And after removing Alchemist's eyepatch, she felt that her face looked different than when she was wearing it...
"Restore her facial expression and see again," Renault suddenly spoke. He glanced up at the stunned expression on Alchemist's body.
Hearing this, MDR immediately pinched Alchemist's eyebrows back to normal.
"Wow! No wonder! No wonder this girl wears an eyepatch! Now we have material for tomorrow's post! To maintain her intimidating power, a dignified Sangvis Elite T-Doll has to wear an eyepatch and pretend to be a one-eyed monster! Ahahaha!"
MDR spoke loaud and was about to run out of the workshop.
But before she could even lift a foot, she felt a hostile gaze piercing her back.
Renault had just called her over to take Springfield and the others to their respective places...
Want to run away without even doing your job?
"Ahem, everyone, come with me. I'll take you to the restaurant to meet G36 and the others and get you acquainted with them. You'll be able to navigate the ship on your own there."
Wiping a sweat off her face, MDR quickly turned around, forcing a friendly smile and addressing WA2000 and the others.
"Tsk, tsk, I didn't expect the fearless MDR to even flinch. She's so afraid of her own commander!"
Just a few steps out of the workshop, WA2000 folded her arms and teased MDR. After all, MDRs—even if she didn't know the current MDR, the one in Griffin HQ was plenty troublesome.
And ever since another MDR appeared in the anonymous Griffin version over a year ago, the bickering between the two, real and fake, has never ceased!
On one side is the Griffin MDR, using her dummy dolls to create smurfs and fan the flames, while on the other is the MDR of unknown origin who dares to say anything.
Anyway, these two girls... have been really making Griffin's anonymous board of the game lively lately.
"Shh!"
Hearing WA2000 speak at a normal volume, MDR quickly turned around and raised her finger, simultaneously warning WA2000 through the doll's own communication protocol.
"Don't say it! You idiot! Renault has excellent hearing! He can even hear the vibrations of your bionic respiratory system after only a few steps away!"
"What!?"
"Shut up! Wait until you've passed through three quarantine partitions before you speak!"
...
While MDR was taking Springfield and the others away, Renault confirmed that Ouroboros was able to control her new body and sent her directly to the repair pod to attach skin.
"A total of fifteen this time?"
"Yes, six normal ones, and nine waiting for new ones."
Renault nodded. Fortunately, he'd brought back a good amount of materials last time. Otherwise, this time, he'd have to make nine doll bodies. He might not have all those rare materials on hand. He certainly had common steel, aluminum, and the like, but what he lacked were rare metals and other rare elements.
Otherwise, Renault wouldn't have needed to deliberately find a black market base to purchase them. If he needed steel, he could just find a dilapidated city and pick it up in bulk. It would just require a little remelting.
"That's a lot! Including the Rippers and Vespids, the number of dolls on board is already over three digits," Scarecrow said, mentally calculating the expenses of Renault's small treasury.
Because Renault can produce and sell many of his own products, the majority of the commissions they receive, aside from the money used to purchase materials and ammunition, go to Renault as pocket money for his own dolls.
Now that there are fifteen more dolls at home, the expenses are going to go up significantly...
Luckily, Renault doesn't have to pay for electricity. Having a ship engine that doesn't require external charging eliminates the energy costs for so many dolls at home.
Though Sangvis Ferri never pays for electricity either, that's because Sangvis Ferri Industries already owns its own power station, so naturally, there's no need to pay.
But Sangvis Ferri Industries' power stations all date back to before Sangvis Ferri completely lost control. They also partially supply electricity to residential areas.
Unfortunately, after the Sangvis Ferri incident, the Mastermind immediately stopped supplying electricity to those human settlements. This is why most of the power generation equipment used at Griffin Base is independent.
"The people in the ship aren't that many."
For Renault's ship, the number of dolls that just broke three digits was really not that many, and at least half of them were just clueless Rippers and Vespids.
Seeing Renault's nonchalant expression, Scarecrow shrugged.
What else could she say? The real boss wasn't worried at all, so why should she overthink it?
Listening to the conversation between Renault and Scarecrow, M3 and the others in the virtual space exchanged bewildered glances.
They already had hundreds of dolls under their command.
Even among Griffin's commanders, a doll team of that size...
No Griffin commander could command so many dolls... Aside from Agent Helianthus and the boss, which Griffin commander didn't rely on just three or five groups of dolls?
Five teams were already a lot. Normally, there were only three or four. Including the dummy dolls, that was nearly a hundred combatants.
"We've come to a truly remarkable place," Stg-44 sighed, watching Scarecrow's retreating figure and then glancing at the Slicers passing through the door.
"But... is there no way we can return to Griffin now?" M1897 raised her hand and whispered to the several dolls gathered in front.
"That's for sure. Didn't you hear what Springfield and the others said? Griffin's technicians have already checked our bodies and neural cores. Every one of us has been declared dead," G43 said, shaking her head.
"Hey, hey, if that's the case, then we're going to see someone who looks just like us, even with the same memories..." M870 shouted, glaring.
"Isn't that a sure thing? Isn't that MDR at Griffin Headquarters a ready example?"