Chapter 175: Old Matters Raise Suspicion
Yu Sheng quickly shook his head, pushing aside the chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind for the moment.
Whether this was a unique mental space or truly his ‘dream,’ the matter at hand was Xiao Xiao’s presence here.
Yu Sheng naturally thought of the other two individuals who had appeared in this place: Little Red Riding Hood and Foxy.
If he had to count, Irene should be included too—though Little Doll had entered here on her own through her ‘Dream Entry’ ability.
[…Could it be due to a blood connection?]
Xiao Xiao stood beside him, blinking her eyes at him with a puzzled look on her face.
Yu Sheng reached out and ruffled the little one’s head. He had no idea how to explain this place to a six-year-old, so he decided to skip the explanation. ‘You’re dreaming.’
‘Then, uncle, are you the person I dreamed of?’ Xiao Xiao asked, her face full of curiosity.
Yu Sheng froze for a moment, then steeled himself and replied, ‘…Yes, I’m the one you dreamed of.’
‘Then, uncle, can you turn into an X-face Knight?’
Yu Sheng finally realized that the conversation had taken a turn he hadn’t expected. ‘…No, I can’t.’
Xiao Xiao thought for a moment. ‘Then can you turn into an X-man?’
Yu Sheng couldn’t hold it in anymore. He crouched down to Xiao Xiao’s level and spoke seriously, ‘Even though this is a dream, there are still things you can’t do in a dream…’
‘Ah.’
Xiao Xiao seemed to give up on this far-fetched idea, only to follow up a few seconds later.
‘Then can you turn into Rainbow X…?’
‘No, I can’t.’
‘Okay, then I won’t change.’
Xiao Xiao sat down on the spot and started pulling up some grass, carefully tying the blades into knots.
Yu Sheng couldn’t help but think back to Little Red Riding Hood’s complaint the last time they were here. He crouched down next to Xiao Xiao. ‘Doesn’t it feel a bit boring here?’
Xiao Xiao nodded but quickly shook her head.
‘There’s no Wolf,’ she said quietly. ‘I feel like this dream is better than the others.’
Yu Sheng froze for a moment, then fell into thought.
But just as he was about to say something, he vaguely heard a sound.
He paused, realizing it was a noise coming from the real world.
‘Uncle’s leaving,’ Yu Sheng thought quickly. He turned to Xiao Xiao and said, ‘You should stay here. When nap time is over, Teacher will wake you up. Don’t be scared, this place is safe.’
Xiao Xiao blinked and politely waved her hand at Yu Sheng. ‘Goodbye, uncle.’
Yu Sheng then released his control over the consciousness, allowing his thoughts to fall into the ‘dream’ before the sounds in his mind tugged him back to reality.
The next moment, he was acutely aware of the pressure on his body, the weight on his chest making it hard to breathe. He opened his eyes and, unsurprisingly, saw three Dolls—two Irenes pressing down on his arms and a leg, and another Irene sprawled across his chest.
Even though the three Dolls looked identical, he could instantly tell the one on his chest was Steel Irene.
‘Get off, get off, you’re going to crush me!’ Yu Sheng quickly struggled, trying to move the Irenes off him. It felt like he was wrestling with a pile of koalas, and by the time he finally freed himself, it felt like half his body wasn’t even his. He even wondered if he might have actually been crushed and had just now revived.
He hurriedly reached for the phone on his bedside table, which had been ringing nonstop. When he saw that it was Little Red Riding Hood calling, he quickly answered, ignoring the grumbling Dolls still half-asleep beside him.
‘Hello?’
Little Red Riding Hood got straight to the point, though her news was completely unexpected: ‘Do you remember the mission we had at the Museum?’
Yu Sheng was momentarily stunned. He had been thinking about Xiao Xiao entering his ‘dream,’ and had assumed Little Red Riding Hood was calling about something related to anomalies at the Orphanage. But instead, she brought up the mission at the Museum. After a beat, he nodded, still processing. ‘Yeah, I remember.’
‘Do you remember the ‘reward’ from that mission hasn’t come through yet?’
‘Ah, I almost forgot!’ Yu Sheng quickly reacted. ‘The reward never came… Is something wrong? Did you go to collect it? Are they refusing to pay?’
As he spoke, he felt a bit odd. Lately, his conversations with Little Red Riding Hood had mostly revolved around matters concerning the ‘Fairy Tale’ Otherworld, talking about the Black Forest or the Big Bad Wolf. So, to suddenly shift to the Museum mission from days ago, the change of topic caught him off guard.
But Little Red Riding Hood’s next words immediately erased that discomfort from his mind.
‘My client is dead.’
‘…What?!’
‘Because the Association of Strange Objects hasn’t sent the payment, I thought it was strange and decided to check in. But when I tried to contact them, none of the contact methods left by the client worked,’ Little Red Riding Hood explained, ‘So, I reached out to some other people in the Association, and they told me that my client had died in an accident a few days ago.’
Yu Sheng did not speak immediately, but from Little Red Riding Hood’s words, he had sensed that something was off.
After a moment, he finally pinpointed what was strange: “…Wait, what about the commission for the ‘Weeping One Statue’?”
“I see you figured it out,” Little Red Riding Hood’s tone grew serious. “The Association of Strange Objects is a highly influential organization, and their commissions have a protocol in place for any accidents during execution. Even if something happens to the executor, there should be a procedure for reassignment. It shouldn’t be the case where the person responsible for the commission dies and the follow-up reward is swallowed. So, I followed their protocol and checked the commission… Guess what I found?”
“No need to guess,” Yu Sheng already knew the answer from her tone. “The commission doesn’t exist, right?”
“Correct, it doesn’t exist. There’s no record of any commission for the ‘Weeping One Statue’ in the Association of Strange Objects’ public offerings,” Little Red Riding Hood sighed. “But what I don’t know is whether the commission was fake from the beginning, or if someone recently deleted the record.”
Upon hearing her last sentence, Yu Sheng’s brows furrowed involuntarily.
It had been many days since the Museum incident. While there had been a lot of unexpected events afterwards—cultist sacrifices, Angel Cultists, and other mishaps—Yu Sheng had thought that this matter was at an end for him and Little Red Riding Hood. But now, the case that seemed finished had suddenly taken a strange new turn, and Yu Sheng couldn’t help but feel a hint of… “the scent of a conspiracy”.
If the commission had been fake from the start, it would have been simpler—perhaps an irresponsible member of the Association of Strange Objects wanted to bypass their regulations to privately keep an artifact from the ‘Museum’ for profit. The item was obtained, but the person disappeared, and the whole thing could be contained within a ‘personal’ scope. But if the commission was legitimate when it was issued by the Association and recently had its record erased… Then this situation was much more complicated.
“I felt something was off about this, and since the reward that was originally agreed upon for you is now nowhere to be found, I thought I should contact you to explain the situation,” Little Red Riding Hood’s voice came through the phone, tinged with regret. “Sorry, you’ve worked so hard, and it’s taken so long… and now it’s turned out like this…”
“Don’t apologize yet,” Yu Sheng interrupted. “What do you plan to do next? This investigation has to continue, right?”
“…Yeah, at least I need to figure out what happened to my Client,” Little Red Riding Hood hesitated, then continued, “I’ve worked with him for years. He was the one who first connected me with the Association of Strange Objects, and even… the previous ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ received his help. No matter what, I don’t believe he would do such a thing for personal gain, and the way he died was really suspicious. It seems like…”
Yu Sheng spoke calmly, “It seems like he was silenced, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“We should meet up and talk,” Yu Sheng exhaled softly. “Do you want me to come to you, or should I wait for you here?”
Little Red Riding Hood was surprised for a moment. After a brief pause, she quickly responded, “Huh? I didn’t plan to trouble you… I was just going to let you know about the reward, but I’ll handle the investigation from here on…”
“Don’t be silly, you’ve said so much already, and now my curiosity is piqued,” Yu Sheng cut her off again. “Besides, this is a pretty rotten situation. Even the child laborer’s pay got scammed…”
Little Red Riding Hood: “…”
From the brief silence on her side, it was clear she wanted to argue but had no retort.
Yu Sheng grumbled indignantly, then suddenly remembered something. “By the way, does the Special Affairs Bureau handle this kind of thing?”
“Of course they do. After all, it’s a commission filed on the ‘Frontier Communications’ platform. If there’s a breach of contract or any attempt to hide or transfer strange objects, the authorities would investigate. Especially since this time someone died. But their investigation methods and direction will definitely be different from the ‘Spirit Realm Detective’.”
“Let them do their thing. We’ll handle our part,” Yu Sheng waved his hand dismissively. “You still haven’t answered me—am I coming to you, or are you coming to me?”
After two seconds of silence, Little Red Riding Hood finally spoke, “…I’ll come to you. I’m nearby, so I should be there in about half an hour.”
“Alright, I’ll wait for you at home.”
“Mm, and… thank you.”
The call ended, and Yu Sheng looked at the screen as it slowly darkened, letting out a soft sigh.
When he looked up, he saw three little dolls sitting neatly on the bed, staring at him with wide eyes.
“Trouble again”
The three Irenes spoke in unison, stretching their words deliberately.
Yu Sheng shot them a glare and pointed at the one in the middle, “You, no more sleeping on the bed.”
“…Why not?”
“Why not? Because you almost crushed me!” Yu Sheng glared at her. “Plus, with the steel rebar and solid stone, you went from being one meter sixty-seven down to just over sixty centimeters. I’m afraid if you bounce on the bed, you’ll make a hole in it. Get down now.”
He only had to say this for Irene’s eyes to turn red (though they were originally red). With a yell, she lunged at him…”?5†source?