Chapter 7: Irene’s Escape Plan

Chapter 7: Irene’s Escape Plan

Irene’s swearing was truly vicious.

Yu Sheng had no idea how a doll sealed inside an oil painting could possess such an extensive vocabulary.

What was more, she managed to keep up a continuous stream of insults all the way down the staircase without even pausing for breath.

Perhaps it was because her true form was a doll and she simply had no need to breathe.

Yu Sheng, however, remained completely calm.

After Irene slid down the stairs and landed on the floor, he let her curse as much as she wanted. He simply held onto the railing and slowly made his way downstairs at his own pace.

Mainly because his back hurt and he could not move any faster.

Only after reaching the first floor did he bend down with difficulty and pick up Irene’s frame.

“Are you sick in the head?!” Irene sat inside the painting hugging her teddy bear, glaring furiously. Her clothes and hair were a complete mess. “Who just throws someone downstairs like that? What if the painting had broken?!”

“My back hurts. Your painting is too heavy. I couldn’t carry it downstairs,” Yu Sheng replied calmly while carrying the frame toward the dining room. “I observed it carefully. Your frame is sturdy as hell. Besides, if the frame really broke, maybe you’d escape.”

“If it were that easy to get out, would I still be sealed in here?!” Irene huffed as she sat back in her chair. “Ugh, my head feels all dizzy...”

Yu Sheng suddenly stopped and looked very seriously at the girl inside the painting.

The stare made Irene’s scalp tingle.

“Y... you’re not thinking of doing something else, are you? Let me tell you, if you throw me down the stairs again, I won’t let you off. I’ll sneak into your dreams every night while you’re sleeping. If you’re dreaming about an exam, I’ll ring the bell. If you’re dreaming about playing games, I’ll disconnect your internet. If you’re dreaming about going out, I’ll chase you with a dump truck. If you’re dreaming about dating someone, I’ll...”

Why did this unlucky doll have so much trash talk?

Suppressing the urge to drag Irene back upstairs and throw her down again, Yu Sheng kept a straight face and tried to sound serious.

“I just want to ask, how exactly does this ‘sealing’ work? You said you were looking for someone to help you escape. How would someone help you escape?”

Irene had not expected that question.

She froze instantly.

Two or three seconds later, she finally spoke in disbelief.

“Y... you’re willing to help me get out of here?!”

“Weren’t you the one who said you were looking for help escaping?” Yu Sheng frowned, then added, “I’m only asking. I haven’t agreed yet...”

But Irene seemed not to hear the second half of his sentence.

Before he could finish, she hurriedly spoke up.

“There are thr... no, two methods! The first method is the best. Find my body. I don’t know where it is now, but it’s definitely somewhere. Maybe not far from this painting. Anyway, once you find my original body, everything becomes easy. Just bring me close to it and I can get out of this stupid painting.

“But if we can’t find it, or if my original body has already been destroyed, then there’s only the second method, creating a new one. Although a newly made body definitely won’t work as well as the original and adapting to it would be troub...”

Yu Sheng had been listening attentively, but now he could not help interrupting.

“Create a new one? How? Can I just buy a ready-made doll from a doll shop?”

“Of course not!” Irene immediately exclaimed. “I’m one of Alice’s Dolls! A blessed living doll, understand? How could I be compared to those dolls sold in shops?”

She paused before continuing with a somewhat serious expression.

“All living dolls are born in the Garden of Alice’s Cottage. Our original bodies also come from there. But I’ve lost contact with the Garden and can’t leave this painting, so I can’t return there for rebirth. Even so, we have an emergency method for creating temporary bodies in the real world. But even though they’re only temporary bodies, they’re not easy to make.

“First, you need hair that grows by itself, soil that writhes like a living thing, the bone of a dead person that breaks and heals itself, and a tear from a living doll. Two tears would also work, my skin would turn out a little nicer that way. Then you use alchemy to reactivate those materials, and smear your own blood over...”

She suddenly stopped.

“Why are you making that face?”

Yu Sheng stared expressionlessly at the girl in the painting.

After a long moment, he sighed.

“...Let’s talk about the plan to find your original body instead.”

Irene blinked.

“...You don’t know alchemy?”

“Is that supposed to be something everyone knows?!” Yu Sheng looked exasperated. “And forget alchemy. Where am I supposed to find all those ridiculous materials? Are you sure this wasn’t copied out of some third-rate fantasy magazine? A living doll’s tears? If I could find another living doll, I’d just hand you over, painting and all! Wouldn’t having one of your sisters take you home be a lot easier than making me run around blindly?”

Yu Sheng considered himself relatively new to this “world” and still unfamiliar with the strange shadows and the supernatural realm behind them.

But based on every source of information he had encountered so far, the materials Irene mentioned were definitely not things ordinary people could get their hands on.

How could she list them so casually?

Seeing his reaction, Irene looked somewhat embarrassed as well.

She shifted slightly in her chair, changed posture, and lowered her voice considerably.

“Actually, other materials can work too. You could buy some clay, paint, and a wig online...”

Yu Sheng: “...?”

He stared at the girl in the painting with an expression that plainly said, Are you screwing with me?

Unable to withstand his gaze, Irene shrank back slightly in her chair.

“I just wanted the temporary body to work as well as possible... But if we can’t make legendary equipment, ordinary gear is fine.

“Even with those normal materials, though, the final step still requires your blood and a little alchemical knowledge. I can teach you. It’s very simple. Even ordinary people can lear...”

Yu Sheng did not respond immediately.

He remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Several seconds later, he suddenly spoke.

“At first, you were going to say there were three methods, weren’t you? Why didn’t you mention the third one?”

“...That method isn’t very good. It comes with a price.” Irene waved her hand and answered honestly. “You probably wouldn’t agree to it. And I don’t really want you to try it either. We don’t know each other very well.”

“If you know we’re not familiar, stop talking so much nonsense all the time.”

Yu Sheng casually shot the girl in the painting a glare.

Irene pressed her lips together and looked at him somewhat awkwardly.

Only now did she seem capable of feeling self-conscious.

Carefully, she asked, “So... will you help me get out of here? The second method is actually pretty easy. You could even just mold a body however you want. Poor craftsmanship doesn’t matter. As long as the ritual process is correct, I can reshape it after entering the shell... Just don’t make it too ugly. At least make it look human.”

This time, Yu Sheng did not banter with her.

Instead, he thought seriously.

He continued thinking for nearly half a minute before finally giving a solemn answer.

“I can’t promise anything right now. I need time to think about it.”

He did not trust the girl in the painting.

At least, he could not trust her completely.

She seemed honest and sincere, somewhat talkative but not malicious by nature. Her personality was vivid, and she appeared harmless to people and animals alike.

But all of that was merely a surface impression formed after less than a day of acquaintance.

Stripping away those humanizing impressions, Irene’s essence remained that of a strange entity sealed inside an oil painting.

Yu Sheng was not about to be charmed by her cute appearance into immediately creating a body and releasing this “ghost in the painting.”

What if she emerged, her expression changed completely, and she swung down that teddy bear and executed him beneath a Gothic dress?

Yu Sheng had only died once not long ago.

For the time being, he had no desire to die a second time.

After hearing his answer, Irene said nothing.

She merely looked at him for a while before naturally nodding.

“Oh. I understand.”

Yu Sheng was surprised.

He had assumed he would need to argue with her for quite some time about the matter.

Instead, she was unexpectedly... generous.

“Because we’re not familiar yet, right?” As if sensing his confusion, Irene suddenly smiled and winked out from the painting. “When we know each other better, I’ll ask again.”

“...Alright. We’ll talk about it later.”

Yu Sheng smiled as well.

Carrying Irene’s frame, he entered the dining room and casually set it upright on the dining table against the wall before turning toward the kitchen.

“I haven’t had dinner yet. I’m going to cook first.”

“Okay... Hey, could you turn on the television across from the table first? I want to watch TV for a bit...”

“You sure ask for a lot.”

Yu Sheng casually switched on the television opposite the dining table.

Only then did he pick up the vegetables and seasonings he had bought from the supermarket and left on a nearby shelf before beginning to prepare dinner.

He was actually someone who loved cooking.

Ever since arriving in this familiar yet unfamiliar Boundary City, he had felt compelled to prepare almost every meal himself at home before he could relax.

After all, only inside this large house could he avoid being disturbed by those strange shadows.

He did not mind encountering gaunt ghostly figures while traveling outside.

But not while cooking or eating.

Those two activities were major events in his life.

...Though now even this “safe house” contained the strange presence known as Irene.

Still, compared to the ghostly shadows wandering the city streets, the freezing rain, and the frog, an unlucky doll that could do nothing but chatter inside an oil painting was much more lovable.

At the very least, she would not dig out his heart.