Chapter 20: Irene’s Intel and Advice
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation.
The doll-like girl within the oil painting greeted Yu Sheng with joyful surprise. Her voice carried a hint of astonishment—but there wasn’t the slightest trace of shock or fear one might expect upon seeing someone presumed dead return to life.
Yu Sheng thought to himself that Irene’s lack of reaction wasn’t because she was thick-skinned.
No, the issue was with him. But considering he’d died and come back so many times in such a short period, no matter how bizarre things happened to him now, it didn’t seem all that strange anymore.
“Kind of stumbled my way back,” Yu Sheng replied casually, turning to close the slightly ajar door. Immediately, he looked down to inspect himself, confirming that not only was his body fully restored, but even his clothes had returned to their original state.
He frowned. Connecting this to Irene’s reaction, he felt that rather than being “resurrected,” it was as if the entire event of his “death” had vanished into thin air.
He stood there, dazed in the doorway, which didn’t escape Irene’s notice. The doll in the painting asked curiously, “Yu Sheng? Are you okay? Why do you look so out of it? Oh, and tell me how you managed to come back. I tried contacting you, but it kept cutting in and out. There were all sorts of weird noises on your end. I have no idea what strange things you ran into in that Otherworld… Hey, what’s that you’re holding?”
Her reminder made Yu Sheng realize he was still gripping something tightly—it was a bizarre, ugly severed tail covered in dark scales.
Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched. “Oh man, almost forgot about this… It’s still here.”
The thing was even twitching slightly in his hand, but it was clearly not as “full of life” as before. It seemed that although the monster’s severed limb had astonishing vitality, it would gradually die after being cut off from the main body.
A strange feeling rose in his heart. For a moment, Yu Sheng didn’t even know how to explain the origin of this thing to Irene. After hesitating slightly, he carried the severed tail toward the kitchen, casually saying to Irene as he walked, “…Just a souvenir.”
The doll in the painting blinked. “…Huh?”
By now, Yu Sheng had already tossed the severed tail into the kitchen sink. After confirming that it didn’t have the strength to crawl out, he uneasily poked it a few times, then placed a pot lid on top of it—so at least if it did crawl out, he’d hear the lid falling. Only then did he return to the dining room, dragging his weary body and plopping heavily onto a chair.
His mind was in turmoil; there were too many things he needed to think about. More importantly, he was really tired.
But he forced himself to stay awake; it wasn’t time to sleep yet.
Across the table, Irene watched him cautiously. “Yu Sheng, tell me about your experience in that Otherworld, and how you…”
“I was just about to,” Yu Sheng interrupted, waving his hand before she could finish. He adjusted his sitting position, looking seriously at the doll in the painting. “I’ve got a ton of questions bottled up—let me first tell you what I encountered over there. I met a girl who was also trapped in the Otherworld, but she might have been stuck there for a very, very long time…”
Yu Sheng didn’t hold back and told her everything about his experience in that night-shrouded valley, including the information Foxy had revealed to him, and the monstrous creature that looked like a flesh-and-blood amalgamation straight out of an abstract painting.
Except for his own “death and resurrection”—he hadn’t figured out how to tell her about that yet, so he left it out for now.
He knew they weren’t very familiar yet and couldn’t say they trusted each other much, but he had no other options. In this city, Irene was the only “abnormal entity” he’d met so far who could communicate with him, and the only person he knew who understood “things beyond common sense.” Besides Irene, he really didn’t know who else he could discuss matters related to the Otherworld with.
He felt he should trust this doll in the painting a bit more. After all, up to now, her attitude had been relatively friendly—except when she swore at him.
Irene listened intently. When Yu Sheng mentioned the flesh monster, her expression grew particularly serious. Several times she seemed to want to speak but held back, never interrupting his story.
When Yu Sheng finished, the doll-like girl adjusted her posture. She sat upright on the chair with the red velvet cushion and spoke seriously, “First of all, I have to emphasize that I don’t remember much; this painting has erased too many of my memories, so the help I can give you is limited…”
Yu Sheng nodded. “I understand.”
“Alright,” Irene said, her expression relaxing a bit. “I’ll do my best to fill you in on what I know about the Otherworld. First, you should already understand that Otherworlds are areas that deviate from order and violate common sense. They’re collectively referred to as ‘Otherworlds.’ Do you know that within them, something called ‘entities’ can be generated?”
“…Entities?” Yu Sheng looked puzzled.
“Simply put, they’re the ‘natives’ or ‘products’ of the Otherworld. Entities don’t have a fixed form; sometimes they might look like strange humanoids, sometimes they might be beasts or monsters. They could even be a ball of fire, a gust of wind, or a stone that moves. As long as it’s something generated in the Otherworld, has obvious activity, and reacts to outsiders, it can be considered an ‘entity.'”
Yu Sheng nodded thoughtfully.
“Entities come in all shapes and sizes,” Irene continued. “Generally, they have very obvious abnormal characteristics. They’re born in the Otherworld and naturally possess traits that are contrary to common sense—bizarre and dangerous. Most entities lack rationality, or at least they don’t display thinking patterns humans can understand. But it seems a very small number possess intelligence… I can’t remember that part clearly.
“Anyway, most entities are dangerous. Their strength varies; some might just make your nose itch, but others can be lethal just by being seen. So people theorize that entities are a rejection reaction of the Otherworld—a kind of antivirus program generated to eliminate intruders. From this perspective, investigators and wanderers from the world of order and common sense are the real monsters to the Otherworld.”
Yu Sheng listened silently and suddenly realized, “So, the monster I encountered was an entity generated in that valley?”
“Probably,” Irene nodded.
“Can entities be eliminated?” Yu Sheng asked immediately.
“Entities can be killed, but they can’t be completely eradicated,” Irene said seriously. “Because, strictly speaking, entities are just products. Killing one will cause a new copy to generate in the Otherworld. They’re manifestations of the Otherworld’s rules. As long as the Otherworld exists, entities will continue to appear. But usually, generating an entity takes time, and there are ways to suppress certain Otherworlds, delaying or even blocking the generation of entities within them… I can’t remember the specifics.”
“Can be killed but can’t be eradicated…” Yu Sheng repeated, suddenly feeling that things were even more troublesome than he’d imagined.
He wasn’t afraid of death.
It seemed that monster was even less afraid.
Unknowingly, Yu Sheng had already assumed he would return to that valley and encounter that monster again. He didn’t even know where this idea came from. By the time he realized it, this thought—or perhaps some kind of intuition—had already taken root in his heart.
“Well, being able to kill it temporarily is still good,” he sighed softly, then looked up at Irene. “Besides that, what else do you know about entities? For example, their weaknesses.”
“Entities don’t have a unified weakness. Sometimes an entity’s weakness isn’t even part of it but lies within the Otherworld or its rules. Some entities might even change their weaknesses,” Irene shook her head. “So exploring the Otherworld and confronting entities is a professional and dangerous task. I suggest you find professional help—someone other than me, who’s stuck in a painting.”
Yu Sheng couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Easy for you to say. Where am I supposed to find professionals? They don’t advertise on lampposts…”
Irene smirked. “Actually, they do.”
Yu Sheng blinked. “…What?”
“They have ways of making contact—though not necessarily ads on lampposts,” Irene said, noting his bewildered expression. “Since Otherworlds are everywhere in this world, and they’re dangerous to ordinary people, there must be professionals who handle these things. In a big city like this, someone has to maintain order, both openly and in the shadows, right? Officially, there are specialized departments; privately, there are various organizations, big and small. Although I can’t remember the details, these people are definitely active everywhere.
“Of course, they usually keep their distance from ordinary people’s lives, staying hidden. Many Otherworlds have weird characteristics, like becoming active when known or approaching those who fear them. So it’s important to prevent ordinary people from coming into contact with information about the Otherworld. But once someone has already encountered an Otherworld, or there’s an Otherworld reaction in the city, these professionals have ways to quickly locate and get in touch.”
Yu Sheng listened, stunned. After a moment, he looked up and gazed out the window.
“So, since there’s already been an Otherworld reaction here, I just have to wait, and the professionals you mentioned will contact me, right?”
“They should… I think,” Irene said, her confidence suddenly wavering.
Yu Sheng noticed her uncertainty. “…Then why haven’t they come?”
“I don’t know. Logically, they should have come by now.”