Chapter 11: Never More Than... Three

Chapter 11: Never More Than... Three

In the final second before Death descended, Yu Sheng sensed an endless, immeasurably heavy darkness, as though it possessed substance like some kind of viscous fluid.

He felt his consciousness rapidly dissipating. He knew that the body supporting that consciousness was swiftly losing its vitality from its horrific injuries. As his biological functions shut down, the thoughts carried by his flesh likewise sank and dispersed. Such was the natural order.

Yet at the edge of consciousness fading away, a force, or rather, an intense... obsession, a strange fixation, seemed to bind Yu Sheng’s mind tightly in place. In his daze, he remembered the frog that had swallowed his heart. He remembered his previous “resurrection.”

What exactly had happened then? What had happened to him? Why was he alive?

These questions became an obsession that kept his consciousness suspended at the edge of that endless darkness. Though it teetered on the verge of collapse, it never fully sank. He truly wanted to know... what exactly had happened, and how, after dying, he had managed to “come back.”

The darkness pressed down upon him. Its viscous texture gradually became cold and rough. He felt as though he were buried beneath thick layers of earth, and under that crushing weight, his soul was slowly losing the ability to breathe...

But suddenly, that heavy pressure vanished.

In a moment of inexplicable enlightenment, a thought abruptly surfaced within his wavering consciousness.

In his death, Death died before him.

Yu Sheng’s death died. And so the dead Yu Sheng once again returned from that boundless darkness toward the realm of the living. He felt his “body” suddenly become lighter and begin accelerating away from that endless darkness.

During the process, he vaguely saw that there seemed to be something upon the surface of the darkness. He appeared to be racing past some sort of “upper layer,” but before he could make out what it was, he suddenly opened his eyes.

A cold night wind blew through the large hole in the wall. Beyond the half-collapsed roof stretched a chaotic, filthy sky. Deep within the night, the hollow wind of the Valley howled endlessly.

Yu Sheng sat in the corner of the ruined temple, his mind clouded and confused. The sensation was familiar.

Not long ago, he had experienced it once already.

But this time, he recovered much faster. In only a few breaths, he remembered everything, including the feeling of being buried by darkness.

After steadying his breathing, Yu Sheng slowly rose to his feet.

He felt every joint in his body gradually awakening from stiffness, as though a newly born body were rapidly learning how to “live.” Strength quickly filled him, and his mind grew clear. Only then did he look outside the ruined temple, toward the place where his blood had once soaked the ground.

It was completely empty now. The gigantic beast seemed to have left...

Or perhaps it was merely hiding again, just as before.

After a moment of silence, Yu Sheng cautiously spoke within his mind.

“...Irene.”

Almost the instant the words left him, Irene’s noisy voice exploded in his heart.

“Yu Sheng! Holy crap, are you okay?!”

Then she immediately launched into a rapid stream of chatter.

“You suddenly stopped responding earlier! No matter how much I called you, there was no reaction. I couldn’t even sense where your consciousness was anymore. I thought you’d died! You scared me to death. If you die, nobody will come fix the television anymore. Are you really okay?”

The muscles on Yu Sheng’s face twitched instantly.

“So what you’re saying is that your biggest concern was having nobody to come home and fix the TV?”

Irene thought about it.

“...Well, not exactly. I was also worried that you might really be dead...”

Yu Sheng: “...”

She had actually hesitated!

After struggling to calm himself, Yu Sheng finally gritted his teeth and forced his voice to sound peaceful.

“What if I told you I really did die once just now?”

Irene did not believe him at all.

“Oh, come on. You sound perfectly alive and kicking...”

“...Right, I was just joking with you.”

Hearing Irene’s reaction, Yu Sheng smoothly let the topic pass. After a brief silence, he suddenly asked,

“How long has it been?”

“Huh? How long since what?”

“Since I told you I was hanging up. How much time has passed?”

“Uh... I can’t see the clock in the living room from where I am. I’d estimate about half an hour? Not necessarily accurate. I’ve been sealed inside this painting for years, so my sense of time is kind of dull. But the sky outside doesn’t seem any different. At the very least, a whole night hasn’t passed. Dawn isn’t here yet...”

Yu Sheng: “...”

“Isn’t that estimate a little too inaccurate? Do you realize how much difference there is between half an hour and an entire night?!”

Irene fell silent for a moment.

Then a harsh, low snicker came from her side.

Irene instantly explained,

“That wasn’t me! It was this bear!”

Completely exhausted in both body and mind, Yu Sheng waved his hand.

“I know.”

Irene sounded delighted.

“Ah, you’ve finally decided to believe me.”

Yu Sheng could not even be bothered responding to the doll sealed inside the painting anymore. He did not have the heart to tell her that he did not believe her explanation.

He simply felt that if she ever wanted a beating, she did not need the bear’s help. The way she talked was already irritating enough.

The facts proved that compared to Irene’s sharp tongue, that bear’s cheap snickering merely added fuel to the fire.

With useless thoughts drifting through his mind, Yu Sheng once more stepped out of the ruined temple.

Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt his physical condition was even better than before he had died. His steps were light, his movements powerful, and even his eyesight seemed to have improved slightly.

It was as though he were gradually adapting to this place.

Adapting to its darkness.

Its jagged ruins.

And the malice and hungry gazes lurking everywhere.

He walked toward the open ground before the ruined temple, toward the forest beyond it, toward the deeper reaches of this Other Domain.

He knew he might die again.

Perhaps with his next step.

Perhaps in the next second.

“Yu Sheng,” Irene’s voice sounded once more in his mind. “You’re really okay after what happened?”

“I’m fine. Just a minor injury. It’s already healed.”

“Well... how about staying where you are for now? Or finding somewhere safe to hide? I’ll try thinking harder. Maybe I’ve encountered the ‘Valley’ you mentioned before...”

“Then keep thinking. I’ll keep looking around.”

Yu Sheng answered casually.

“Huh? That might be a little danger...”

“Irene.”

Yu Sheng interrupted her directly.

He had already reached the open ground. Taking a deep breath of the Valley’s cold air tinged with a strange stench of blood, he gazed toward the dim, sinister forest in the distance.

Suddenly, he grinned.

“Do you know something? These past days, I’ve been living in a complete daze.”

Irene was clearly unable to keep up with his train of thought.

“Uh... am I supposed to know that?”

Yu Sheng paid no attention to her reaction and continued speaking.

“...Earlier, you mentioned the Other Domain, and those incidents involving people accidentally entering one. Do you know what my reaction was?”

“What reaction?”

“Happiness.”

“Huh?”

“Happiness. I was extremely happy.”

Standing beneath the night sky, Yu Sheng could not suppress his smile.

“You said that some people accidentally open the wrong door, or step on the wrong floor tile at exactly the wrong moment under incredibly unlikely circumstances, and then fall into this hellhole called the Other Domain, right? And you also said that if someone trapped inside is lucky enough to discover its rules, they still have a chance to return...”

“That’s what I said...” Irene replied hesitantly. “But it really depends on luck. Professional investigators are one thing, but ordinary people without training are basically doomed once they fall into an Other Domain...”

Yu Sheng muttered softly,

“It’s fine. If I die enough times, I’ll eventually figure it out.”

Irene: “...What?”

“Nothing. I just suddenly found something to do.”

Yu Sheng let out a long breath, as though expelling in a single exhalation all the murky frustration he had bottled up during the past two months in this world.

“I’ll start from here. It may take a long time, but I’ll definitely get out of this place.”

“I don’t know what’s going on over there, but it feels like you’ve... gotten motivated?” Irene said uncertainly. “Well, I guess that’s a good thing. Good luck? Try not to die... I’m still waiting for you to come back and fix the TV... and find me a body or something...”

“Sure. Once I get back, I’ll figure out something regarding a body for you.”

Yu Sheng answered casually.

“I’ve had some exposure to sculpture and model-making before. Maybe I can make something work.”

This time, Irene was genuinely delighted.

“Huh?! You have experience as a doll maker?! Why didn’t you say so earlier? How good are you? What level of dolls or models can you make?”

Yu Sheng hesitated briefly, then answered honestly.

“About the level where I watch master craftsmen sculpt clay in online videos, and after watching, my brain tells my hands they know how to do it, but my hands refuse to believe it.”

Two seconds later, Irene’s insults became extremely creative.

But Yu Sheng’s mood had completely relaxed.

A strangely carefree confidence, one he himself was not entirely sure was healthy, pushed him onward. He walked ahead and raised his head into the night, intending to look toward the mountain at his side.

A gigantic flesh-and-blood beast several metres tall, seemingly formed from the fused limbs of countless twisted predators, was staring at him from beside the road.

Yu Sheng stopped walking.

After a moment’s thought, he called out in his mind to the doll in the painting, who was still cursing away.

“Irene.”

“What is it?”

“...Nothing. I’m hanging up again.”

“Huh?”