Chapter 58: Yu Sheng’s Spirit of Exploration

Chapter 58: Yu Sheng’s Spirit of Exploration

The two Special Operations Bureau agents and the spirit world detective who called herself Little Red Riding Hood (vacation worker) had left. Standing at the front door, Yu Sheng let out a light breath before turning around and returning to the living room.

Irene, who was watching television, immediately turned her head.

“I thought you were going to talk for a long time. Didn’t you have a lot of things you wanted to ask them about?”

“My main goal was to establish contact with them. Anyway, Hu Li’s already been brought out, so the other things aren’t particularly urgent,” Yu Sheng replied casually, his gaze falling toward the coffee table.

Sitting on the floor guarding a pile of food, the demon fox girl sensed the gaze and looked up with a happy smile.

“Benefactor!”

“You need a bath. More importantly, you need a change of clothes,” Yu Sheng said concernedly after looking at Hu Li’s miserable condition.

The unfortunate fox had been trapped in the Other Domain for years. She had even been a child when she was first trapped there. No one knew which dead person’s clothes she had taken her current outfit from, but it was obviously ill-fitting. By now it had practically deteriorated into a pile of rags.

Her body was covered in dirt and grime.

Although there had been a water source in that Other Domain and she probably had opportunities to wash herself, she had been living in the wilderness far from civilization. Even her tails had become matted and tangled.

Hu Li lowered her head and looked at herself.

She had probably long grown accustomed to her appearance.

She had never even considered what would happen after leaving that valley one day.

Now that she heard Yu Sheng’s words, fragments of long-forgotten memories and common sense slowly returned to her mind.

She stared blankly for a long time.

Just as she had gradually relearned how to speak recently, she was finally beginning to mentally separate herself from the state of a beast.

Right.

She needed to clean herself.

She also needed new clothes.

Benefactor’s cave abode was so clean. She could not dirty it.

She nodded vigorously.

Yu Sheng then looked toward Irene.

The little doll’s two arms were still broken. She looked rather pitiful too, yet she seemed completely unconcerned and continued watching television happily. Even a silly variety show had her laughing nonstop.

Yu Sheng could not bear to watch any longer.

“Shouldn’t I repair your arms first?”

“You should take that fox to have a bath first. She definitely won’t know how to use anything in the bathroom,” Irene said indifferently while waving her broken arms. “I’m not in a hurry. You can repair me later.”

“All right then. I’ll come help you as soon as possible.”

Yu Sheng nodded and extended a hand toward Hu Li.

“Come with me.”

Hu Li stood up, but then hesitated while looking at the food on the floor, as though she did not dare leave it even for a moment.

Yu Sheng laughed when he saw that.

“Don’t worry. The food won’t grow legs and run away. You can eat after your bath. Irene’s helping watch it.”

Yet Hu Li still hesitated.

She looked uneasily at the doll watching television on the sofa.

Then she suddenly bent down, grabbed two cans of eight-treasure porridge and two packets of biscuits from the plastic bag, and casually stuffed them into her tails before finally turning and walking over to Yu Sheng.

The smile remained on Yu Sheng’s face.

But his entire body froze.

For a moment he could not process what had just happened.

Two or three seconds later, he stiffly turned his head and looked at the large tails behind Hu Li.

“...Where did you hide them?”

Hu Li pulled the biscuits and porridge out of her tails and showed them to Yu Sheng.

Then she immediately stuffed them back in and blinked her large eyes at him.

Yu Sheng was astonished.

“You can use them like that?!”

“Mm.”

The demon fox girl nodded, still wearing that expression of having no idea what was strange about the situation.

Then Yu Sheng suddenly remembered something else.

“...Didn’t you launch one of your tails earlier?”

“It’s already grown back.”

Yu Sheng: “...?”

His mind filled with question marks.

So demon foxes were like this?

Unfortunately, no one could answer his question.

Even Irene did not know a second fox like Hu Li.

Maintaining a straight face, Yu Sheng shook his head and temporarily cast aside the flood of questions.

Then he dragged the demon fox girl into the bathroom on the first floor.

“This is the water heater. You don’t need to worry about it for now. Hot water comes out from here. This valve controls the temperature. Turn it left for hot water and right for cold water. Pull this up to start the water flow... The bathtub works the same way. The valve is here. This bottle contains body wash. Use this sponge to make foam. Don’t squeeze out too much. This bottle is for washing hair... It should also work for washing tails.”

Yu Sheng carefully and patiently introduced everything in the bathroom to Hu Li.

He spoke slowly and only moved on to the next item after making sure the demon fox girl understood and nodded.

Even so, he suspected she would still be in a panic when she actually tried to take a bath.

“Anyway, as long as you know how to use water, you’ll be fine. You can soak in the bathtub for a while. The towels and bath towels are hanging beside the mirror cabinet. Remember to dry yourself off before coming out so you don’t catch a chill.”

Hu Li nodded vigorously.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Before your bath, remember to take out the things you hid in your tails... Actually, never mind. Do whatever you want. They’re packaged anyway.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I don’t have any girls’ clothes here. I’ll give you a set of mine for now. Make do with them tonight. Tomorrow I’ll go to the mall and buy you some new ones.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Hu Li seemed capable of nothing but nodding now.

Whatever Yu Sheng said, she nodded.

Yu Sheng was rather worried.

At that moment, he suddenly envied Irene’s carefree attitude.

After giving a few more instructions and having Hu Li test the showerhead herself, he finally relaxed a little.

He then brought over a set of loose pajamas and left them outside the door before turning around and returning to the living room.

Irene was struggling to climb back onto the sofa with her broken arms.

Yu Sheng: “...What are you doing?”

“I laughed too hard earlier and fell off the sofa,” Irene explained awkwardly while climbing. “Hey, don’t just stand there watching. Come help me back up.”

Yu Sheng stepped forward and casually picked up Irene along with her picture frame.

“All right, stop watching television. I’m going to repair your body.”

Irene froze.

“What about that fox?”

“She’s bathing by herself in the bathroom,” Yu Sheng replied casually. “I already taught her how to use everything.”

“Can she handle it? She just got free from Hunger’s influence. Her brain hasn’t fully recovered yet, has it?” Hanging from Yu Sheng’s arm, Irene glanced suspiciously toward the bathroom. “She won’t blow up the bathroom, right...”

Upon hearing that, Yu Sheng hesitated as well and looked uneasily toward the bathroom.

By now, the sound of running water could already be heard.

“Probably... not. Unless she suddenly launches one of her tails halfway through her bath.”

“Forget it. Don’t think about it so much.” Irene waved her arm. Her carefree attitude quickly returned. “She’s not stupid. She’s survived in the wilderness for so long. She’ll definitely adapt quickly. Upstairs, upstairs. Fix my arms first. It’s really inconvenient being like this. Even changing channels is a hassle.”

Yu Sheng responded with an “oh” and carried Irene upstairs.

After reaching the attic and turning on the lights, Yu Sheng removed the picture frame from Irene’s back and carefully placed the little doll on the large table.

“You don’t need to be so careful. I’m not made of porcelain,” Irene laughed at his cautious movements. “You won’t accidentally crush me.”

Yu Sheng gave the porcelain-like fracture on her arm a strange look.

“You can’t blame me for being careful. The break looks terrifying. Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt. It only hurt a tiny bit when it first broke.” Irene raised her arm and looked at it. “Though now that I look at it, it is kind of scary. Hurry up and fix it.”

She paused before beginning to explain the procedure.

“The process is similar to making a body, but you don’t need to make the torso again. Just make the arms. The spirit infusion process is the same as last time. I’ll guide you through it. After the arms, you’ll repair the legs. There are several cracks in my legs, but they haven’t completely broken off yet. You’ll need to activate the alchemically treated clay and use it for repairs. That part requires more precision. You’d better use a scraper to smooth it properly. It’ll save me some effort too...”

Yu Sheng listened to the doll’s explanation.

Only after she finished did he speak hesitantly.

“By the way, there’s something I wanted to tell you earlier...”

“Huh?”

“We actually used up all the clay we bought last time.” Yu Sheng spread his hands. “At this hour, I probably won’t be able to buy any more.”

Irene froze.

“...Why didn’t you tell me earlier?! Then why did you bring me up here for all this?”

Yu Sheng pulled out the lotus root he had bought last time from a nearby drawer.

The little doll’s eyes immediately widened.

She practically jumped up, though her broken legs prevented that.

“Hey! You’re really obsessed with lotus roots, aren’t you?! Didn’t I already tell you... Wait. Why is there a lotus root in the drawer of the alchemy workbench?! You’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you?”

“I was just curious whether it would work.”

Yu Sheng admitted that there had indeed been a tiny bit of premeditation involved.

But he classified it as scientific curiosity.

It was just like when he had researched how to cook Hunger entity meat so it would taste good.

It was all for the sake of research.

“Let’s just try it. This lotus root was pretty expensive.”

“Try your grandpa!” Irene glared at him with crimson eyes. “Leaving everything else aside, before the spirit infusion you have to mix your blood into the material. Even if you used dough, you could knead it in. But if you’re using a lotus root, how are you supposed to...”

Halfway through her sentence, the little doll saw Yu Sheng pull a syringe out of the drawer.

Irene: “...Hey, seriously, what is wrong with you?!”