Chapter 111: Yu Sheng’s New Idea
As they stepped through a newly opened Door, the scenery shifted in an instant—the gentle breeze of the temperate Valley vanished, replaced by the stifling humidity of a tropical rainforest. Animal calls echoed faintly in the distance, and the rustling of insects crawling across fallen leaves surrounded them.
Out of caution, Yu Sheng didn’t close the Door. After guiding Irene through the passage, he kept the portal open, leaving a tether back to the Valley should they need a swift retreat.
“So, how about now?” He glanced down at the little doll clinging to his arm. “Can you still feel your other body? Is the connection broken?”
“…Whoa, it’s still linked!” the little doll exclaimed in surprise. “There was a split-second blur when we passed through the Door, like my senses got scrambled, but the link didn’t break. Now everything feels normal again, and there’s zero drop in connection between the two bodies.”
As she spoke, she lifted her head to scan the surrounding jungle.
“Hey, Yu Sheng, how far apart do you think my two bodies are now?”
“It’s probably beyond what we can measure in terms of distance,” Yu Sheng pondered aloud, shaking his head. “I’ve got no idea where this place is, but I know it’s not the Borderland. There’s at least a full ‘dimension’ between here and that Valley. If that kind of distance still doesn’t sever the link between your bodies, I don’t think we need to run any more distance tests.”
“Oh… So, wanna look around a bit?” Irene tilted her head curiously. “We’re already here…”
“Not safe,” Yu Sheng replied, shaking his head. “We’re heading back.”
“When did you get so cautious and conservative?”
“I’m carrying your Painting, remember? That’s your true form. If I die here, it’s whatever. But if something happens to your oil painting frame, who knows what the fallout could be.” He gave Irene a light shake, reminding her of the frame strapped to her back. “Let’s return. Tell Foxy to regroup at the starting point too.”
“Oh, alright!”
Not long after, Yu Sheng, Foxy, and Irene were back on the newly flattened ground deep within the Valley.
“So, we can summarize a few rules now,” Yu Sheng said, stroking his chin as he watched Irene run around, practicing walking with both of her Doll bodies. “First: at least one Doll body has to stay with the Painting—that’s the only way Irene can manifest in the physical world. Second: the body closest to the Painting becomes the ‘main body,’ and the others act as ‘copies.’ Third: the ‘copy’ seems to have an unlimited, or at least incredibly vast, control range—unlike the main body, which must stay near the Painting. But in exchange…”
Thud! Her duplicate body suddenly lost balance mid-run and face-planted into the ground.
Yu Sheng glanced down at the clumsy little doll scrambling to get up and continued, “The performance of the ‘copy’ is clearly inferior to the main. Perception, agility, control—all take a hit. That’s likely the cost of remote control over extreme distances.”
“I think it’s a good trade!” Irene dusted herself off, looking cheerful despite the fall. “Finally, I have a body that doesn’t have to lug around that heavy painting! I can run as far as I want! Plus, now I can watch TV in the living room and game in the bedroom!”
Yu Sheng’s eye twitched. “…You get two bodies and that’s what you do with them?!”
Then a sudden realization struck him. “Wait! Gaming? What games are you playing?!”
Irene instinctively shrank back, hesitated, then confessed softly, “Um… your account got unbanned…”
Yu Sheng’s eyebrows shot up in fury. “You’re not allowed to use my account again! Go register your own—you’ve got your own ID now!”
Irene looked crushed. “Oh…”
Though what exactly she was upset about was anyone’s guess.
Still, the little doll’s bad mood didn’t last more than a moment. She quickly perked up and guided her second body to Yu Sheng.
Both Dolls looked up at him in unison. “Also, I found something really interesting!”
Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“When controlling the second body, I don’t have to split my attention evenly,” Irene explained. Her ‘copy’ immediately fell still, its face going blank and expressionless like its soul had just departed. “See? Just a sliver of focus is enough to keep it moving.”
The soulless body began wandering about. It was a little wobbly, but clearly capable of autonomous movement.
Irene grinned proudly, while Yu Sheng’s expression turned thoughtful.
“And I noticed it even has a little autonomy,” she added. “If I just give it simple commands—like ‘go there’ or ‘bring something back’—it can handle them on its own…”
Yu Sheng’s thoughtful expression shifted in an instant to outright shock.
“Wait—are you saying… this shell has a mind of its own?!”
Irene paused, clearly stunned herself. After some serious thinking, she shook her head. “Not exactly. I wouldn’t call it a mind. It’s more like… instincts? Advanced instincts, maybe? And only when I connect with it—only then do those instincts seem to ‘activate.’ I don’t really know how to explain it better.”
Yu Sheng’s brow furrowed deeply.
This was not something he had anticipated at all.
One thing was certain—when he had just “crafted” that blank Doll shell, it had no motion, no awareness. Even when it suddenly began to show signs of life—like the rise and fall of its chest—it was still nothing more than a soulless husk, utterly devoid of instinct.
The instincts Irene spoke of had only manifested after she first took control of the new body.
Which meant… the key was Irene?
A trace of seriousness surfaced in Yu Sheng’s expression.
The little doll looked up and, on reflex, both her bodies instinctively took a half-step back. “Hold on. You’ve got another idea, don’t you?”
“I’m just a little curious,” Yu Sheng replied with utmost sincerity, fixing his gaze on Irene, who looked like she was facing down a beast. “Tell me—do you think you could control a third body?”
Irene blinked, her mouth falling open. “…Huh?”
“If all the new shells can develop those so-called instincts—and controlling them only takes a sliver of your attention—maybe two bodies isn’t your limit at all. What if I craft a few more Dolls? Think you could still keep up?”
Mouth still agape, Irene couldn’t find any words.
Even for the Doll Lady, who had grown quite used to Yu Sheng’s so-called “ideas” and possessed an exceptional ability to adapt, this one nearly made the New World’s Door choke on the spot.
But once the shock faded, she couldn’t help but follow the logic of this curious thought.
Even Foxy looked intrigued. “Feels like… worth a shot?”
Hearing that, Irene sighed. “That’s the thing with Yu Sheng’s ideas. At first, they sound like absolute nonsense—wild and impractical. But they’ve got this weird pull to them, like his ‘let’s-just-try-it’ attitude is contagious. Once you’ve heard one of his ideas, you just can’t help but wonder if it could work… and then you’re trying it with him.”
Yu Sheng looked mildly offended. “The way you put it, it sounds like my experiments are some kind of evil Door operation.”
Both versions of Irene bared their teeth at him. “You really don’t think they’re evil Door-level stuff?”
Yu Sheng cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ahem. So, shall we try it or not?”
“Well… it’s not impossible,” Irene mumbled, “I’m kind of curious too. Just promise me this—when we do the next test, give me a heads-up before the final phase. Let me mentally prep before I take over another body. Not like this morning…”
“Sure, sure,” Yu Sheng nodded quickly. “First time’s rough, second time’s smooth. We’ve got experience now.”
Then his gaze shifted again, zeroing in on the Doll Lady.
This time, Irene didn’t just take a half-step back—she fully backed away.
“You’ve got another idea?! Can you not drop them all at once?!”
“Uh, just a side thought,” Yu Sheng scratched his head, clearly a bit sheepish. “Since we’re already making new bodies, maybe it’s time to try some new crafting techniques…?”
Irene: “?”
“Well, your first body’s made mostly of clay and lotus root, right?” Yu Sheng explained, suddenly animated. “And you said lotus root wasn’t supposed to be usable for Doll material. Your second body’s clay too, but without your guidance, I doubt the additives were mixed properly. So I figured, for the next batch—why not try a bunch of different materials and methods?”
Irene looked deeply skeptical. “…Huh?”
“I’ve actually been bothered by how your first body got wrecked in combat,” Yu Sheng said with a straight face. “Especially the arm snapping clean off—and that leg, yikes.”
“I didn’t even care that much myself,” Irene waved it off. “What are you getting at?”
“I was thinking—since we can’t find any higher-grade alchemical materials right now, maybe there’s another way to boost your body’s durability.”
She looked even more baffled. “…So?”
“Basically,” Yu Sheng said, eyes gleaming, “next time, I want to try swapping your skeleton out. Replace the wireframe with rebar.”
Irene: “…What the—?!”
The several recent chapters have been suffering from lack of proofreading? Some names change, the negative/affirmative statements get mixed up and perspectives make it unclear who is saying what about whom (e.g. “he” vs “you”).