Chapter 40: Things Didn’t Go as Expected

Chapter 40: Things Didn’t Go as Expected

Irene cried her heart out.

Yu Sheng didn’t try to comfort her. First, because he genuinely had no idea how. Second... because he was worried that if the doll became too distraught and lost her senses, any attempt at consolation might only provoke her into jumping up and biting him.

She genuinely had to jump now if she wanted to bite someone.

Of course, the good news was that she could bite people now. Back when she was trapped in the painting, all she could do was talk.

After a long while, Irene’s sorrow finally eased a little. Yu Sheng quickly stepped closer to the table and spoke hesitantly.

“Well... don’t be too upset. Next time I’ll make you a new body, a normal-sized one. For now... just make do with this one, okay? If it really won’t do, I’ll make another one tomorrow...”

“I... I’ll have to use this one for the time being,” Irene said, sniffling miserably. “Let’s just leave it like this. You don’t need to trouble yourself. Even if you made me a new body tomorrow, I couldn’t switch into it right away. A living doll’s soul can’t withstand constantly changing containers. It’ll take... at least a few months...”

As she spoke, her sadness welled up again.

It looked like she was about to burst into tears once more.

Yu Sheng immediately grabbed a small glass bottle and held it beneath her face.

“What are you doing?” Irene asked between sniffles as she stared at him in confusion.

“Living doll tears,” Yu Sheng replied seriously. “Next time we make your body, we’ll use premium materials. Over the next few months I’ll gather resources, and then I’ll build you one that glows with golden light...”

Irene thought about it for a second.

Then, with a loud wail, she cried out, “Yu Sheng, you bastard... Aaaah!”

After quite some time, the doll’s grief finally subsided again.

Irene climbed onto the stack of old books nearby and sat atop the pile, staring blankly into space while contemplating life. Yu Sheng sat beside the table accompanying the doll and contemplating life with her.

“At least... at least it’s better than before,” Irene muttered softly, apparently unsure whether she was speaking to Yu Sheng or herself. “At least now I can run around on my own.”

“And watch television by yourself,” Yu Sheng quickly added. “That’s way more convenient than before, right?”

Irene let out a long sigh.

She seemed to be trying to make herself appear solemn and profound, but because she was so tiny, 66.6 centimeters tall, the sigh failed to convey even the slightest bit of gravitas.

Meanwhile, Yu Sheng secretly examined her.

His gaze settled on her exposed wrists and knees.

The doll’s distinctive ball joints were particularly conspicuous.

“Even though we used a clay doll as the container, you still ended up with these puppet-like ball joints,” he observed thoughtfully.

“Obviously. I’m an articulated doll. How am I supposed to move without joints?” Irene shot him a glance. “This is the form recorded in my soul. So regardless of what shape the original container had, once reconstruction is complete, the body becomes this. If you don’t like ball joints, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Oh, it’s not that,” Yu Sheng replied casually. “But speaking of the form recorded in your soul... your soul also remembers that you’re one meter sixty-seven.”

Instantly, Irene launched herself off the stack of books and onto Yu Sheng’s arm, grabbing his thumb and trying desperately to bend it backward.

“Can you stop bringing up the one thing I don’t want to hear?!”

Yu Sheng let out a yelp and jumped to his feet. While struggling to pry the very small, 66.6-centimeter-tall but incredibly strong doll off his arm, he hurriedly explained:

“I’m just curious! Curious! What exactly went wrong during reconstruction? Your appearance came out perfectly fine, so why did your size shrink so much?”

“How would I know?!” Irene shouted.

Yu Sheng finally managed to pull her off his arm. At the moment, he was holding her suspended in the air by the collar.

“There shouldn’t have been any problems. Everything felt normal during the regeneration process. Somehow only my size ended up wrong... Hey! Could you put me down already?!”

“You have to promise not to try breaking my fingers again,” Yu Sheng said sternly while dangling her by the collar.

Only after she nodded did he set her back down on the table.

“Forget it. There’s no point overthinking it,” Irene said with another sigh. After pacing back and forth across the table for a few steps, she shook her head. “I still need to find a way to contact the sisters from Alice’s Cottage. If I can get home, they’ll definitely know how to fix this...”

Yu Sheng’s curiosity was immediately piqued.

“You keep mentioning Alice’s Cottage and the dolls. Where are these sisters of yours usually located? Are there other dolls besides you in this city? And this organization of yours... what exactly does it do?”

These were questions he had wanted to ask for a long time.

The problem was that one troublesome event after another had kept interrupting things, and only now had he finally found an opportunity.

“Us? We’re a race created by the Ancestor of Dolls. As for our mission... honestly, we don’t really have one. Sometimes we deal with Other Domains. Sometimes we help other organizations handle troublesome entities. But most of the time, dolls just spend their days doing whatever they like,” Irene recalled as she spoke. “Most of my sisters don’t operate in the human world, but there should indeed be a contact point in Boundary City. The problem is that I don’t remember where it is. And after all these years, the contact methods and personnel have probably changed anyway...”

She climbed back onto the stack of books and propped her chin up with both hands as she continued reminiscing.

“Whenever we operate in the human world, we use disguises. Living dolls look very similar to humans, so it’s easy for us to blend into crowds. This city is enormous. Without a specific method of contact or the right contact person, finding a hidden living doll isn’t easy.”

Yu Sheng listened from the side.

Although he had already suspected that all sorts of strange beings might be hidden throughout the city, hearing it confirmed still felt surprising.

“Unbelievable... I always thought the city’s residents were all human.”

“As if,” Irene replied, rolling her eyes. “This is the Boundary Zone.”

“The Boundary Zone...” Yu Sheng repeated softly.

“In a place like the Boundary Zone, anything can show up. Forget everything else, isn’t there already a strange guy like you hiding in this old district, someone who insists he’s human?” Irene waved dismissively and jumped down from the stack of books. “Let’s head downstairs. I’ve had enough of this attic. I finally have the freedom to move around on my own, so I’m going to explore this big house properly.”

“Good point.” Yu Sheng exhaled and slapped his cheeks lightly to wake himself up. “Making your body took most of the day. I’m starving. Let’s go make something to eat.”

As he spoke, he turned toward the attic exit.

After only a couple of steps, he heard Irene shouting behind him.

“Hey, wait for me! I haven’t gotten down yet!”

Turning around, Yu Sheng saw Irene take a short running start across the table before leaping onto the creaky old chair. Then she crawled to the edge and slowly slid down the chair leg using both hands and feet.

It took her quite a while before she finally reached the floor.

Yu Sheng: “...”

Pumping her little legs as quickly as possible, Irene ran to his feet.

Only then did she notice him staring at her.

Immediately, she tilted her head up and planted her hands on her hips, trying her best to appear imposing.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.” Yu Sheng shook his head. “I just think you’re pretty c... cute.”

He had nearly said “pretty amusing.”

Irene blinked.

She didn’t seem to notice the suspicious pause in his sentence.

“I... is that so?”

Then she followed Yu Sheng forward.

After only a couple of steps, she reached out and tugged at his trouser leg.

“Oh, right. Thank you.”

Yu Sheng looked down, tugging at his waistband slightly while giving her a puzzled look.

“Thank you for preparing a body for me. Everything was so chaotic earlier that I never properly thanked you,” Irene said seriously.

Yu Sheng couldn’t help looking her up and down.

This current doll was exactly 66.6 centimeters tall.

After holding it in for a long while, he finally failed to resist.

“Even after ending up like this, you’re still thanking me?”

“Those are separate issues. The size problem happened because something went wrong during my reconstruction. But the body itself was something you carefully prepared for me.” Irene looked up at him with remarkable solemnity, though she did not actually appear very solemn. “Even if it is a little ugly.”

“...You could’ve left out that last part.”

“A-anyway, what I promised you before still stands,” Irene hurriedly said. “I’ll help you from now on. Whether it’s fighting or providing mystical assistance, I’ll be useful. Even if I eventually find my other sisters and return to Alice’s Cottage, I’ll still come back and help you. Let’s...”

She paused and thought for a moment.

“Let’s make it one hundred years?” she suggested cautiously while looking at Yu Sheng. “You’ll probably have died of old age by then, right?”

Yu Sheng: “...I’ll do my best.”

“Then one hundred years it is.”

Irene smiled happily.

For some reason, her mood suddenly improved dramatically.

Then she turned around and ran toward the attic exit with her little legs pumping.

“Then let’s hurry downstairs...”

Her voice cut off abruptly.

She suddenly pitched forward like a puppet whose strings had been severed. Momentum carried her tumbling a considerable distance until she crashed into the opposite wall.

The smile on Yu Sheng’s face froze the instant Irene fell.

“Holy... holy crap?!”

He stood stunned for a moment.

Then he rushed to her side in just a few strides and bent down to scoop the tiny doll into his arms.

The doll’s eyes were tightly shut.

Not a single part of her body exerted any strength.

Limbs that had possessed warmth only moments ago now felt cold like ordinary clay.

Only the skin retained its soft, living texture.

There was no sign of life whatsoever.

Yu Sheng was completely bewildered.

Then he heard Irene’s voice coming from the large table nearby.

“Yu Sheng! I... I’m back inside this thing!”