Chapter 23: Doubts

Chapter 23: Doubts

After a simple inspection of the television, Yu Sheng discovered that the thing had merely frozen.

A classic problem that cheap smart devices developed after prolonged use: Oh no, I’ve been running continuously for two hours, my CPU is smoking / my memory has thrown an error / my power supply is overheating / nothing’s actually wrong, I just feel like dying for a bit...

Yu Sheng could not help feeling nostalgic for the rugged old televisions he remembered. Household appliances back then were not nearly as delicate as today’s smart devices. Although they had fewer functions, he did not think all these fancy smart features were all that useful anyway. Every so-called artificial intelligence seemed more like artificial stupidity...

“Just cut the power and restart it after two minutes,” Yu Sheng thought to himself as he casually switched off the television and turned to Irene. “The quality of this thing isn’t great. If it’s left on too long, it’ll freeze up on its own.”

“Then are you going to buy a new one?” Irene’s eyes immediately lit up. “Get one with voice control. Then I can change channels by myself. I could watch TV even when you’re not home...”

“You’ve really got the nerve to make demands, huh?” Looking at this freeloader who treated his house as her own, Yu Sheng was amused instead of angry. “You’re squatting in my home and I haven’t even complained. Now you want a new television too. Are you paying for it or contributing labor?”

“I...” Irene opened her mouth, and her face actually turned slightly red. She stammered as she spoke. “I-I-I don’t have any money, but I’ve been helping fill you in on Other Domain knowledge! That counts as being a consultant...”

“A consultant with a terrible memory, right? You aren’t even confident that the things you say are reliable,” Yu Sheng curled his lips. “If I hired you as a consultant, I’d have to hire another consultant to consult for you.”

Irene’s face reddened even further, but after struggling for a long while she could not find any way to refute him. She could only lower her head and sulk. Fortunately, she had a good temperament. After sulking for three seconds, she recovered and looked up at Yu Sheng.

“Then once you get me out, no matter how you get me out, I’ll work to pay you back. And aren’t you going to keep dealing with the Other Domain in the future? I can be your helper! I can fight for you, alright?”

Yu Sheng had never really considered that possibility.

In fact, he had never thought about what would happen if Irene actually emerged from the painting one day.

Hearing this, he raised an eyebrow.

“You? Really?”

“Hey, don’t underestimate me! I’m one of Alice’s Dolls!” Irene stood up from her chair with her hands on her hips, looking unbearably smug. “A living doll is blessed. In the Other Domain, I can fight way better than those so-called investigators and spirit-world detectives...”

“And then somebody stuffed you into a painting, right?”

Irene’s eyes instantly turned redder, although they had been red to begin with.

“Y-you... y-you just wait until I get out and you’ll see! Don’t turn your head away!”

“Sure, sure. I believe you, I believe you.”

Laughing, Yu Sheng turned away and waved a hand helplessly.

In truth, he had never taken this doll too seriously from the start.

After all, she stayed inside the painting. Although she was technically freeloading in his home, she did not eat his food. Even lying flat on the floor, she occupied less than half a square meter. Hanging on a wall, she was even less of an inconvenience. Aside from watching television, she consumed almost nothing. Arguing with her was also a good way to pass the time.

More importantly, she really had provided him with a great deal of knowledge about the “other world.”

As for her talk about working off her debt or becoming his sidekick after getting out of the painting...

He would just pretend to take it seriously for now.

The television screen lit up again. Yu Sheng pressed a few buttons on the remote and found a mindless urban drama series.

Irene was not picky about television programs at all.

After all, even Teletubbies were more interesting than wallpaper.

But at that moment, while looking at the television screen before him, Yu Sheng suddenly thought of something he had never paid attention to before.

“Irene.”

He turned around and looked at the doll girl inside the painting.

“Hm?”

“I remember you saying that you’ve been sealed inside that oil painting for a very long time, right?”

“Yeah. A really, really long time. I can’t even remember when I got trapped in here...”

“Then how are you so familiar with all kinds of modern things?” Yu Sheng asked very seriously. “You even know about smart televisions with voice control.”

He had discovered a flaw in Irene’s words and behavior.

It was not actually a major issue.

There were many possible explanations. For instance, she could have learned about changes in the world by observing people’s dreams. Or perhaps the painting had hung in other modern households before arriving at this house.

Yu Sheng thought her answer would probably be something along those lines.

Instead, what Irene gave him was a blank, stunned:

“Huh?”

The doll inside the painting seemed completely bewildered by the question. In fact, she looked as though this was the first time she herself had ever realized it.

After staring blankly for a long time, she slowly turned her head.

“I... don’t know why.”

“You don’t know why?” Yu Sheng looked astonished.

“Yeah. I... really have been trapped inside this painting for a very, very long time. Really. It could even be decades. But... but I just know what the modern world is like. Even though I don’t know how I know it, I...”

The doll stammered.

As she spoke, she seemed to begin doubting herself.

Eventually, she hesitated and could not continue.

Yu Sheng stared intently at Irene’s expression, trying to find even the slightest sign of deception on her face.

“Then do you remember exactly how you ended up trapped inside this painting? And what about before you were trapped? Do you remember that?” he continued.

“I... only remember that it was a curse,” Irene said hesitantly. “This painting is also some kind of entity. I think I came to deal with it, but ended up being trapped inside instead. But I can’t remember the specific process. And as for before I was trapped... before I was trapped...”

The doll gradually fell silent.

Fragments of her shattered memories seemed to entangle her thoughts.

Lost in recollection, she remained that way for a long time before finally speaking softly, almost as if in a dream.

“I’m Irene from Alice’s Cottage. I’m one of Alice’s Dolls...”

She raised her head.

An uneasy expression filled her face.

“Yu Sheng, that’s all I remember.”

Yu Sheng frowned deeply.

In that instant, countless possibilities sprang into his mind.

The creepy ones, the conspiratorial ones, even the absurdly funny ones.

The only thing missing was a plausible one.

Because he possessed no evidence or clues capable of explaining the mysteries surrounding Irene.

Meanwhile, Irene appeared extremely uneasy. She hugged the teddy bear in her arms tightly enough to deform the plush toy.

“Is my brain broken?”

Yu Sheng mentally crossed out several conspiracy theories.

Then he looked up at Irene and increased the probability of the comedic explanation by another ten percent.

“If you can’t remember, don’t force yourself to. At least not right now,” he said, exhaling softly and shaking his head. “Maybe being trapped for too long really did mess up your memory and thought processes.”

“I-is that so?”

Irene nodded hesitantly.

Then she seemed genuinely reassured.

Yu Sheng: “...”

No, wait.

Why did learning that her memory and reasoning might be damaged make her feel relieved?

Didn’t that just prove that her brain really was broken?!

How exactly had anything he said comforted her?!

Yu Sheng’s head instantly filled with question marks.

Still, he had to admit that Irene’s reaction did ease quite a few of the doubts that had arisen in his mind moments earlier.

Honestly, if the doll in the painting had come up with a perfect explanation for the source of her “modern knowledge,” Yu Sheng might have become even more suspicious.

Instead, the moment that heartfelt “Huh?” escaped her lips, her entire character suddenly seemed far more transparent and genuine.

Thinking of that, he shook his head and casually said while walking toward the staircase leading to the second floor:

“You stay downstairs and watch TV. I’m going upstairs to catch some sleep.”

Irene waved her hand.

“Alright, go ahead.”

So Yu Sheng left the dining room and went upstairs, carrying with him the exhaustion accumulated in that valley beneath the night sky. Yawning repeatedly, he headed toward his bedroom.

He was genuinely exhausted and sleepy.

After eating and drinking his fill, the drowsiness had only grown stronger.

Right now, what he needed most was a good sleep.

However, when he reached the bedroom door, he could not help stopping and looking toward the end of the hallway.

The door that had once been sealed by an unknown force stood quietly within his line of sight.

The room at the end of the hallway.

That was where he had found Irene.

Yu Sheng frowned.

Something stirred within him, and he began walking in that direction.

Upon arriving at the door, he immediately noticed that the handle’s position had changed.

The hinges and handle had switched places, becoming the “correct arrangement” that had ultimately allowed him to open the door.

After hesitating briefly, he reached out and grasped the handle.

Click.

With a soft sound, the door that had once refused to open now swung open as easily as any other door in the house.

Pushing it open, Yu Sheng saw the room beyond.

Simple and ordinary furnishings.

Against the wall to the left stood a single bed and bedside cabinet.

Against the wall to the right were a wardrobe, a desk, and a chair.

The old floorboards looked somewhat faded, while pale blue wallpaper covered the walls.

Above the desk was a window.

Bright sunlight streamed through it, making the entire room feel warm and cheerful.

And on the wall directly opposite the door, where Irene’s painting had once hung, there was now a mirror.

Reflected within the mirror was Yu Sheng’s gradually widening expression of astonishment.