Chapter 37: The First Step in Preparing a Body

Chapter 37: The First Step in Preparing a Body

Hearing Irene’s request, Yu Sheng was somewhat surprised. He did not understand why she had chosen this moment to raise the matter with such seriousness.

They had discussed making a body for the doll trapped within the painting more than once before, but nothing had ever been finalized. Partly because Yu Sheng and Irene still lacked mutual trust and understanding, and partly because there were simply too many chaotic things happening for Yu Sheng to devote attention to Irene’s body problem.

But now, seeing the extremely serious expression on Miss Doll’s face, Yu Sheng realized she was not bringing it up on a whim or out of temporary stubbornness.

He looked at Irene questioningly.

“I want to go with you,” Irene answered simply. “Think of it as having an extra pair of hands.”

“Are you sure?” Yu Sheng’s expression became somewhat complicated. “Of course, I’m not doubting your abilities...”

“Listen,” Irene interrupted him.

She moved to the edge of the frame, her face occupying nearly two-thirds of the painting, and spoke with unusual seriousness.

“I’m not joking. Even though I don’t know exactly how you’re planning to deal with that entity, the fact that you’ve managed to bring back local specialties from it means you must have some capability. I won’t ask what kind of capability it is. But you need to understand that when dealing with Other Domains, being able to fight isn’t enough. At least, it’s not enough when facing troublesome entities like Hunger.”

She backed away slightly.

“Make me a body and give me back some freedom of movement. It doesn’t matter if it’s crude. As long as I can break free from the constraints of this damned painting, there will be many more things I can do. I won’t recover all my strength, but I’ll definitely be far stronger than ordinary investigators or so-called spirit world detectives and Other Domain hunters. Even though I’ve forgotten most of my knowledge, a living doll’s instincts are still there.”

Yu Sheng looked steadily at Irene.

Irene returned his gaze with her crimson eyes.

“I can help you, Yu Sheng,” Irene said seriously. “We’ve already worked together once when we entered Hu Li’s dream.”

This time, Yu Sheng thought longer than he ever had before.

Then he had to admit that Irene had a point.

His mind was filled with thoughts of returning to the Valley and dealing with the entity known as Hunger.

But he also knew that charging in by himself and destroying that monster was unlikely to succeed.

Of course, he did not fear death. And through consuming the entity Hunger, he had gradually become stronger.

But that strengthening clearly had limits.

And Hunger...

Would not be easy to eliminate.

Perhaps repeatedly dying and using sheer persistence to wear the monster down could work.

But that was obviously a last resort.

If he could have a capable helper who understood supernatural powers, that would certainly be better.

All it required was giving Irene a measure of trust and releasing her from the painting.

And that trust had already been established when they had fallen into Hu Li’s dream together, awakened from it, and then promptly vomited at each other.

“Looks like I’ll need to make a trip downtown,” Yu Sheng said softly with a sigh, leaning back in his chair. “Things like clay and wigs have to be bought from specialty craft stores. Places like that don’t exist in this old district.”

The doll girl in the painting blinked.

When she realized what he meant, delight immediately appeared on her face.

“Y... you agreed?!”

“If your standards for body quality aren’t very high, and if you trust my craftsmanship,” Yu Sheng said with a wave of his hand, “then I can give it a try.”

“My standards aren’t high at all. As long as it vaguely looks human, that’s enough. I can reshape it myself, provided you don’t mess up the alchemy part.”

Irene hurried to answer, as if afraid Yu Sheng might change his mind if she spoke too slowly.

After speaking, she thought for a moment and turned her face slightly to the side with an odd expression.

“And... and if you really can’t find suitable materials...”

Yu Sheng looked curious.

“If I really can’t find suitable materials, then what?”

“...Dough will do.”

Yu Sheng froze for two or three seconds.

Then, for the first time since meeting Irene, he displayed an expression of absolute shock.

“Huh?!”

Irene explained quietly.

“The materials are only a medium. The part that actually matters is the alchemy. Your blood and my soul...”

Yu Sheng looked completely bewildered.

“No, wait... I understand settling for second-best, but that’s way too second-best!”

Irene thought about it.

Then she decided to give Yu Sheng an innocent, harmless smile in hopes of getting away with it through sheer cuteness.

It worked.

Nevertheless, Yu Sheng still decided to go out and buy supplies.

“I’ll just get some proper clay. Making your body will probably require a lot of material, and we shouldn’t waste food. Besides, there are other things I need to buy as well.”

He stood up while speaking.

“You stay home and watch television. If anything happens, contact me remotely. And if the TV freezes again, just wait for me to get back.”

As he spoke, he picked up the remote and turned on the television for Irene.

Inside the painting, Irene obediently nodded.

“Oh... then come back quickly.”

Yu Sheng answered affirmatively, put on his coat, and headed toward the entrance.

Grasping the doorknob, the first thing he did was steady himself.

After confirming that the other side of the door did not contain volcano craters, meteor showers, sulfur lakes, little green aliens carrying lightsabers, or heavily cybernetically enhanced elf ladies, he took a deep breath, opened the door, and successfully stepped out onto the old streets of Wutong Road.

Yu Sheng suddenly found the situation rather amusing.

Traveling to the ends of the world was easy for him now, setting aside whether he could return or whether he would die out there.

Yet opening a door and walking onto the street had somehow become much more difficult.

As he walked toward the bus stop, Yu Sheng casually observed his surroundings.

At some point, his attitude toward walking through this enormous and unfamiliar city had subtly changed.

The oppression and unease of previous days had quietly faded away.

Walking along this street, which could not really be called his hometown, he felt not only calmness but also a trace of excitement and anticipation.

Even the overly bright sky now looked pleasantly sunny.

A vendor was selling goods at the intersection.

A handful of pedestrians passed by.

A child who had clearly caused some sort of trouble ran down the street shouting loudly, while an adult chased after him and cursed all the way.

Yu Sheng found himself wondering whether any of the people Irene had mentioned were among them.

Those professionals who secretly protected the city and fought against Other Domains.

Had anyone noticed the small irregularities hidden within this peaceful old district?

His thoughts wandered even further.

He began speculating which passersby looked unfamiliar, which seemed like plainclothes operatives, and which might be spirit world detectives or investigators.

The uncle making jianbing at the street corner seemed suspicious. The cook had changed today, and his skills were terrible.

The aunt hanging laundry from the balcony across the street was another possibility. Yu Sheng had never seen her before.

Could that noisy little troublemaker who had just run past be one too? According to Irene, spirit world detectives possessed tricks that allowed them to alter their appearances.

Quite remarkable, really.

In any case, that flashy young man crouching nearby in a sleeveless shirt, with dyed blond hair and music blasting from his phone, definitely wasn’t one.

He looked far too unlike one.

Humming a tune, Yu Sheng walked through the old district and passed right by Li Lin, who was crouching there in a sleeveless shirt, dyed blond hair (a wig), and music blasting from his phone.

Some time later, Xu Jiali, male, nearly two meters tall, wandered onto the street.

After glancing down at Li Lin, who was conducting surveillance, he crouched beside him, lit a cigarette, and squatted there like another idle street loafer.

“Is that disguise of yours actually reliable?” Xu Jiali asked.

“Extremely reliable,” Li Lin replied casually. “I always dressed like this during surveillance assignments. Even when colleagues disguised as jianbing vendors got exposed, I never did. I’ve even got a complete anime outfit. The concealment’s even better. One time I pinned down a border smuggler, and he still refused to believe an anime fan was a Special Operations Bureau informant.”

The giant stared blankly.

“What’s an anime outfit? Sounds like some kind of force-field powered armor. Aren’t those prohibited in the Boundary Zone?”

“...There’s no explaining it to you.”

Li Lin looked disgusted and shifted farther away.

“Move over. You’re too huge. You’re going to expose me.”

“Impossible. I look even more unemployed than you do.”

The giant curled his lip.

“Besides, you haven’t found anything all morning, right? Honestly, even if something really is hidden around here, I doubt it’s a person. More likely some weird entity or a point of Other Domain contamination. That would fit the clues you’ve uncovered so far. Damn it, after all the chaos in Boundary City last night, who knows what’s happening at headquarters now? Meanwhile, the two of us are stuck here like idiots, wasting time watching something we don’t even understand...”

Li Lin could not be bothered responding.

He pulled out an oversized power bank, connected it to his phone, and turned the external speaker volume up even higher.

Two or three hours later, Yu Sheng had finished buying everything he wanted at a shopping mall in the city center.

Now he stood in a deserted location, dragging several large bags while deep in thought.

He had purchased quite a lot.

The weight itself was not a problem for him anymore.

But carrying everything onto a crowded bus and hauling it home would still be inconvenient.

Therefore...

He had a bold idea.

And he felt it was definitely worth trying.

Yu Sheng raised his head and once again confirmed that nobody was paying attention.

Then he silently extended a hand toward the empty air beside him.

A door took shape beneath his hand.

Three seconds later, somewhere within a concealed Depth deep inside Boundary City, countless Special Operations Bureau agents, office workers, team captains, and their Director Baili Qing, all of whom had already worked so much overtime that their minds were numb, launched themselves out of their chairs as alarm sirens suddenly erupted throughout headquarters...

Yu Sheng carried several large plastic bags home.