Chapter 43: Irene’s Plan

Chapter 43: Irene’s Plan

Irene truly possessed many miraculous abilities. Yu Sheng had already experienced that firsthand when he followed the doll down into Hu Li’s dream.

That said, this unlucky doll had so many moments of incompetence in daily life that people constantly and unintentionally forgot about that fact...

“Then only one thing remains now, the most critical part,” Yu Sheng said seriously to the little doll beside him while sitting on the sofa. “We need to find a way to recreate that door leading to the valley within the Other Domain.”

“You’re still planning to rely on brute force?” Irene asked curiously. “Trying every frequency you think might be close?”

Yu Sheng sighed.

“That’s all I can do. Back when I first entered the valley, I hadn’t truly mastered the technique of opening doors. I overlooked too many details.”

Irene turned her head and looked at him.

The little doll seemed to be thinking hard.

After a moment, she spoke hesitantly.

“Actually... I have an idea.”

Yu Sheng immediately leaned forward.

“Hm? You have a solution?!”

“It might not work. I don’t really understand how your door-opening ability works, and I don’t understand what you mean by frequencies either,” Irene said as she spun around atop the sofa cushion. “But based on my understanding, what you really need is some kind of characteristic that helps you lock onto the destination. Or perhaps some sort of navigation signal?”

“...I guess that’s a reasonable way to put it?” Even Yu Sheng sounded uncertain. “To be honest, I haven’t completely figured it out myself. The whole process was something I explored blindly on my own. A lot of it relies on intuition. But your navigation signal description is pretty accurate. The destination on the other side of a door is completely random at the moment I open it. But if I can accurately remember a certain characteristic of the place beyond the door, the passage collapses into a single possibility. That’s roughly how it works.”

“Then doesn’t that mean that if we can leave a navigation marker on Hu Li’s side, you’ll be able to recreate the passage directly?”

“Probably.” Yu Sheng nodded, but then looked puzzled. “But where are we supposed to get a navigation marker? The whole problem is that we can’t find the route to the valley. If we could leave a navigation marker there, we wouldn’t be worried in the first place.”

“From inside the dream?” Irene suddenly said.

Yu Sheng froze.

Then he vaguely understood what the doll was suggesting.

Irene continued her explanation.

“The last time I entered Hu Li’s dream with you, I already established a weak connection with her. If that connection deepens further, I might be able to link to her senses. Then I’ll bring you along. At that point, you’ll be able to directly experience the aura of that valley through Hu Li’s perception. Wouldn’t that be equivalent to creating a navigation marker?”

Yu Sheng listened blankly to Irene’s plan.

The more he listened, the more he felt that this wild idea of hers...

Actually seemed feasible.

“There are two difficulties with this process,” Irene continued. “The first is that we need Hu Li’s cooperation. She has to be willing to open her mind to you. But that shouldn’t be a problem. We just need to explain things properly. She should trust you.”

“The second difficulty is a bit... dangerous.”

Yu Sheng did not interrupt.

He merely gestured with his eyes for her to continue.

“The second difficulty is that Hu Li’s mind no longer contains only herself.”

Irene’s expression grew somewhat serious as she looked directly into Yu Sheng’s eyes.

“The entity Hunger has already penetrated deep into the foundation of her mind. So once you establish a deep connection with Hu Li, it will be equivalent to establishing the same connection with Hunger. I don’t know what will happen then. Theoretically, you should be able to withstand brief contact. But what if Hunger’s power takes root in your heart? Then when you finally enter the valley and confront that monster, the influence that has taken root inside you could erupt at any moment.”

Yu Sheng fell into deep thought.

The moment Irene noticed he had gone silent, her eyes shifted slightly and she immediately understood what he was thinking.

At once, she stood up on the sofa with her hands on her hips, though she was still shorter than Yu Sheng while he remained seated.

“Don’t start thinking about dying once to see whether it clears the influence!” she declared. “I’m telling you, that tendency of yours is dangerous. What if dying and coming back doesn’t get rid of it? Then you’ll be in serious trouble...”

Yu Sheng immediately adjusted his posture awkwardly.

“I didn’t say that...”

“I can tell!”

Yu Sheng: “...”

Why was this doll, whose brain usually worked so poorly, suddenly so frighteningly perceptive?

“Fine, fine. Under any circumstances, I’ll push the idea of dying once to the bottom of the list,” Yu Sheng said, surrendering under the stare of Irene’s crimson eyes. He waved his hand and forcibly steered the conversation back on track. “But I still want to try your plan. The risk of direct contact with the entity Hunger definitely exists, but I think... it’s worth taking.”

Irene continued staring at him with her crimson eyes.

Only after several more seconds did she finally speak.

“All right. It looks like you really want to save that fox. And her situation can’t be delayed much longer. Then we’ll go with this plan.”

But at that moment, Yu Sheng suddenly remembered something else.

“There’s still another problem.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll dream the dream where Hu Li appears,” Yu Sheng said, spreading his hands. “I didn’t even dream last night. I have no idea how to control my dreams.”

Hearing that, Irene laughed instead.

Her smile was filled with pride and self-satisfaction.

“I can.”

The little doll stood proudly on the sofa with her arms crossed over her chest, all 66.6 centimeters of her.

“You just focus on dreaming. Leave the rest to me. I’m telling you, ever since I got free from that painting’s restraints, I’ve become unbelievably powerful. Even I myself am afra...”

Before she could finish, Yu Sheng shifted his position on the sofa.

The sofa cushion deformed beneath him.

Standing near the edge of the cushion, Irene immediately lost her footing.

“Ah!”

She toppled off the sofa before she could finish shouting.

Then the painting frame on her back became wedged between the sofa and the coffee table, leaving her dangling underneath it.

The doll flailed wildly beneath the frame as if she wanted to fly up and bite someone.

The insults she shouted were extremely creative.

Yu Sheng reached over and lifted the painting frame.

“I’d say those restraints are still pretty serious.”

“You... If you keep laughing, I won’t help anymore!” Irene’s arms were trapped between the frame’s shoulder straps, leaving her suspended in the shape of a cross as Yu Sheng lifted the frame. “Put me down! Put me... hey, hey! My arm, my arm joint is stuck! Bend it back for me...”

Speechless, Yu Sheng looked at Irene.

He casually removed her from the frame and began straightening her jammed joints while enduring her endless shouting and complaints.

Late at night, Yu Sheng finished all preparations for sleep.

Meanwhile, Irene was still running all over his bed like a tiny rocket darting around at random.

“Seriously, can’t you calm down for even a moment?” Yu Sheng lay on the bed, looking helplessly at Irene as she bounced up and down beside him. “I’m trying to sleep.”

“Your bed is so big!” Irene happily ran toward the head of the bed, jumped onto the bedside table, and began shaking the lamp on top of it as though she had not heard a single word Yu Sheng said. “Hey, hey! This lamp is shorter than me! Yu Sheng, look! This lamp is shorter than me!”

“Next time I’ll buy a nightlight that’s even shorter than you!” Yu Sheng rolled his eyes and plucked Irene off his lamp. “Did you forget what we’re supposed to be doing? Keep this up and I’ll lock you in the wardrobe.”

Only then did Irene finally quiet down.

She smiled sheepishly.

“I’m just a little excited... All right, all right. Go to sleep. I won’t make trouble anymore.”

Exhausted in both body and mind, Yu Sheng sighed and set Irene down.

“Go turn off the light.”

The doll replied righteously.

“I can’t reach it.”

“...Move a chair.”

“Oh.”

At last, the world became quiet.

Yu Sheng let out a long breath.

In the darkened bedroom, he enjoyed this brief period of peace as he adjusted his state of mind and tried to fall asleep.

Then he turned his head.

And immediately saw two glowing crimson eyes staring at him from beside the bed.

Irene was hanging from the edge of the mattress like a koala, gripping it tightly and staring directly at him.

“...Now I definitely can’t sleep,” Yu Sheng said helplessly. “By the way, why did you insist on coming into my room? You used to be able to enter my dreams while staying downstairs. Did you really need to come up here?”

“The signal is better when I’m closer.”

The doll answered confidently.

The explanation sounded like complete nonsense, yet somehow convincing.

At least she understood what Yu Sheng meant.

Finally, she jumped down from the bed and ran over to a nearby chair, where she sat down.

Yu Sheng sighed again.

He knew Irene was still watching him.

He had no idea what was going on inside the doll’s head, assuming there was anything in there at all.

But from the look of things, she was not leaving tonight.

He could only try to ignore the crimson gaze coming from the darkness and clear his mind as much as possible while waiting for sleep.

He had no idea how long he tossed and turned in bed.

Perhaps an hour.

Perhaps longer.

Only when exhaustion finally reached its limit did he drift into a hazy darkness.

The dream arrived.

And within the mist of the dream came Irene’s soft voice.

“You finally fell asleep... Come on, this way.”

Instinctively, Yu Sheng turned toward the direction of the voice.

The next second, the mist dispersed, and light emerged within the darkness.

Once again, he saw that gloomy wilderness.

A heavy sky hung over the land.

Distant unnamed hills rose on the horizon.

And the silver-white demon fox still slumbered upon the plain.

Yu Sheng walked forward.

Then he noticed the guide floating beside him.

It was Irene, guiding him through the dream.

Yu Sheng stopped walking.

His expression became strange as he looked at the oil painting floating in midair.

The Irene inside the painting stared back at him.

Yu Sheng said, “...Why do I feel like this painting is your real body?”

Irene lowered her head to look at herself.

Then she looked around at the surroundings.

Only after a moment did realization finally dawn on her.

“Hey, why am I back inside the painting again?!”