Chapter 32: The Blood Test

Chapter 32: The Blood Test

Not only was Irene foul-mouthed, when she screamed at full volume the noise made people’s heads buzz.

Yu Sheng seriously wondered how she managed to make so much noise through a painting.

Was the entire canvas acting as an amplifier?

“Don’t ask me about the mechanism. I don’t even know what the mechanism is,” Yu Sheng said helplessly, digging at his ears while spreading his hands toward Irene. “What we can confirm for now is that I can open doors, and those doors can lead to all sorts of places. They can lead to an Other Domain, or to what you just saw... some distant location. Of course, we still can’t determine whether that’s another world, another planet, a parallel timeline, or something else entirely.”

He paused before continuing.

“Maybe I should ask the people on the other side of the door about it. But that female elf didn’t seem to be in a very good mood...”

Irene was still half stunned.

Only after listening to Yu Sheng ramble for quite a while did she finally react.

After thinking it over repeatedly, she asked, “Then... what about activation conditions and things like that? For example, under what circumstances can you open a door?”

“Still not entirely sure. I feel like I can do it anytime,” Yu Sheng said after some thought, honestly describing his current understanding. “As for the method, it looks like there are two types. One is opening a normal, existing door in reality. That kind is very easy. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’ve done anything, and the moment the door opens, it leads somewhere else. The second type is what you just saw...”

As he spoke, Yu Sheng made a pulling motion through the air.

“A door created from nothing. It’s much more difficult. It requires concentration, perception, and imagination. If I get distracted while opening it, the door can suddenly disappear. The advantage is that I won’t accidentally walk straight into an Other Domain.”

Irene stared at Yu Sheng’s crimson eyes, following the movement of his arm back and forth several times.

After holding back for a long time, she finally broke the silence.

“...Are you human?”

Yu Sheng immediately looked dissatisfied.

“What kind of thing is that to say?”

“At a time like this, how can you still say that line? That line you said to me not long ago,” Irene muttered while recalling it, then imitated Yu Sheng’s tone and expression. “If I’m not human, are you?”

She straightened herself and stared directly into Yu Sheng’s eyes.

“Some humans can master supernatural powers, but I’ve never seen anything like you.”

“Maybe you’ve seen it before and just forgot,” Yu Sheng stubbornly argued. “Your memory isn’t exactly reliable.”

Irene froze.

“...That’s... true?”

This time it was Yu Sheng’s turn to feel awkward.

He had only been talking tough and engaging in their usual bickering.

He never expected Irene to possess such clear self-awareness that her first reaction would be to accept it.

She accepted it.

However, he quickly adjusted his expression and coughed twice before steering the conversation back on track.

“So it looks like my falling into that Valley had nothing to do with any strange property of this house. It should’ve been because I opened a passageway myself at the moment I opened the door. Therefore, as long as I can reproduce that operation, I should be able to return to that Other Domain. At least in theory.”

When the topic turned serious, Irene’s expression became serious as well.

“Is this ability controllable?”

“...Partially controllable, I guess,” Yu Sheng replied uncertainly before elaborating. “I can basically control when I open a passage to somewhere else and when I open an ordinary door. But I have absolutely no control over where it leads. I can’t even rule out opening a door and falling straight into a volcano. However... there’s one thing I just confirmed.”

Irene hurriedly asked, “What?”

“The passages can definitely be reproduced. Under certain conditions, opening a door twice can lead to the same place,” Yu Sheng said. “Like that elf you just saw. I’ve already met her twice.”

Irene said, “...Oh. That explains her reaction.”

Yu Sheng looked slightly embarrassed.

“I’m still not sure how it works, but I vaguely remember that feeling. I think if I keep experimenting and training, I should eventually be able to stably reopen doors I’ve connected to before. But the biggest problem right now is that when I entered that Valley, I was completely unprepared. I’ve forgotten most of the sensation I felt while opening the door back then. That makes reproducing the passage extremely difficult.”

“But at least you finally have a direction now, right?” Irene immediately comforted him. “I used to think your plan to go back and save that fox was pure fantasy. But now it’s become an actually feasible plan, hasn’t it? Right? Right?”

Hearing that, Yu Sheng looked the doll in the painting up and down with visible surprise.

His gaze made her shrink awkwardly in her chair.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’ve already told you, there’s no future between you and a two-dimensional...”

Yu Sheng interrupted before she could finish her nonsense.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard you say something nice. I always thought you were nothing but a walking stream of trash talk. I never imagined you knew how to comfort people.”

Irene: “...”

Irene’s insults were spectacularly vicious.

But Yu Sheng was in an exceptionally good mood.

He could even treat Irene’s nonstop cursing as background music to daily life.

Looking at his hands, he waved them through the air, stood up from the dining table, and began pacing around the dining room with obvious enthusiasm.

Seeing this, Irene stopped her stream of colorful profanity.

Her eyes followed Yu Sheng as he walked back and forth.

“You’re not planning to start... uh... training right now, are you?”

“The earlier the better. I slept all day, so I’m completely energized right now,” Yu Sheng replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world. “Besides, this kind of practice doesn’t take up much space.”

“Just take it easy. If you open another door and run into that elf again, she might throw a giant fireball through it. Then you’ll splash blood all over me.”

Now that sounded like the Irene he knew.

Yu Sheng waved dismissively.

His gaze landed on the kitchen door nearby.

Creating doors from thin air consumed additional energy. For practice, using a physical door that already existed was obviously more suitable.

But before that, something else suddenly occurred to him.

“What did you just say?” he asked, turning toward the doll in the painting on the dining table.

Irene thought for a moment.

“...Take it easy? In case that elf launches a giant fireball at you?”

“I mean the more irritating part.”

The corner of Irene’s mouth twitched.

“Don’t splash blood all over me!”

“Right, that one. I want to test that first,” Yu Sheng said with a grin as he approached the table and picked up a small fruit knife lying on it. “My blood.”

Irene visibly jumped.

Clutching her teddy bear, she leaped straight out of her chair.

“Hey, what are you doing?! I was just saying it casually! Do you really need to pull out a knife? Let me warn you, I’m extremely easy to provoke! You don’t need a knife at all! Put that thing down! If you scratch the canvas, I might split apart...”

The moment she panicked, the doll launched into an endless stream of chatter.

Yu Sheng could not help frowning.

“Why are you panicking? I never said I was going to cut you.”

Before he even finished speaking, he pressed the knife against his finger.

After hesitating briefly, however, he moved it to the back of his hand instead.

Then he gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and sliced a cut into his skin.

It barely even hurt.

Irene stared at the scene in shock.

When Yu Sheng brought his bleeding hand toward her, she retreated repeatedly.

While backing away, she cried out:

“What are you doing?! Wait... don’t tell me you’ve fallen for that blood-binding nonsense from novels? I’m telling you, you should really read fewer...”

“First, I’m a novelist myself. Even if I’m not a very successful one, I still strongly object to your prejudice against novels,” Yu Sheng said, glancing at the horrified doll in the painting. “Second, this has nothing to do with blood-binding. I just want to test a few theories. Back in that Valley, Hu Li came into contact with my blood, and afterward both of us experienced certain changes. I want to see whether something similar will happen with you.”

What Yu Sheng meant was the way Hu Li had suddenly become able to perceive his Death after coming into contact with his blood, as well as his own ability to sense portions of Hu Li’s thoughts and memories.

He also suspected that the projection of the silver-white demon fox in his dream world was connected to this “blood bond.”

After hearing Yu Sheng’s explanation, Irene froze slightly.

Then she sensed the seriousness in his attitude.

Although she still did not understand exactly what was going on, she gradually quieted down.

Even though she still looked reluctant, mostly because she did not trust Yu Sheng’s suspicious testing procedures, she nevertheless chose to cooperate.

Of course, the main reason she cooperated was that she could not run away.

Sealed inside a painting, there was not much she could do besides making a lot of noise.

And by now, Yu Sheng had largely become immune to her making a lot of noise.

To be honest, however, Irene was not an ideal testing partner.

After all, her constitution was somewhat unusual.

Yu Sheng found it difficult to determine whether his blood was being applied to Irene herself or merely to the oil painting serving as her seal.

He smeared blood on the frame and, before the wound healed, squeezed several drops onto the canvas.

Yet no matter what he tried, he could not replicate what had happened with Hu Li and allow his blood to directly contact the doll’s actual body within the painting.

Irene looked up at him.

Yu Sheng had no idea what her perspective inside the painting was actually like.

But she clearly sensed the contact with the blood.

And that was all.

The oil painting did not absorb Yu Sheng’s blood the way Hu Li had when she licked it in the Valley.

After waiting for quite a while, Yu Sheng finally asked uncertainly:

“Do you feel anything?”

Irene thought about it.

“...It felt warm. But now it’s cold.”

Yu Sheng: “...”

“Then it looks like it doesn’t work.”