Chapter 11: Third Time’s the Charm
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Yu Sheng drifted toward the end of his life, and as that final moment drew close, he sensed something immense pressing in around him. It felt like a thick, syrupy darkness—something strangely solid and real. His body was breaking down, and he knew it. He could feel himself slipping away, his consciousness fading, his thoughts scattering like dust. It was only nature taking its course: his body had given up, and his mind, bound to that body, had nowhere else to go.
Yet, right on the edge of losing all awareness, Yu Sheng felt something spark—a flash of power or an intense, fiery thought that refused to let go. He remembered the frog that had swallowed his heart and how he had managed to return to life once before. That memory flared brightly in his mind. What had happened then? What was happening now? How had he survived that last time? The questions were like burning coals, fueling his spirit, keeping him awake on the threshold of complete darkness.
He clung to these questions, desperate to understand. He had to know the truth behind his strange return from death. His curiosity turned into an iron anchor, sinking into the black depths, holding him steady against the current that tried to wash him into oblivion.
The darkness still pressed down on him, as if he were buried under heaps of cold, damp earth. He felt his soul smothering beneath the weight. But then, suddenly, that crushing pressure vanished without a trace, as if torn away by an unseen hand. In that unexpected moment of clarity, a single, impossible thought sparked within him:
Death had come for him, but somehow, death itself had died first.
In that strange twist, Yu Sheng’s own death was undone. The dead Yu Sheng began rising back from the shadowy depths, racing upward, as though propelled by some invisible force. He felt his spirit lighten, speeding away from that endless void. As he soared toward the surface, he glimpsed something there in the darkness—some shape or presence—but he was moving too swiftly to grasp what it was.
Before he could get a better look, Yu Sheng opened his eyes.
He found himself sitting inside the ruined temple once more. The chill night wind blew through the gaping hole in the wall. Outside, the half-collapsed roof framed a sky that looked wild and chaotic, as though bruised by the night. The distant wind moaned across the valley, its low hum the only sound in the darkness.
Yu Sheng took in a shaky breath, leaning against a broken pillar in the temple’s corner. He felt dazed, a heavy fog in his mind, but it wasn’t unfamiliar. He remembered feeling like this not too long ago, after his first return to life. This time, however, the fog seemed to clear more quickly. Within a few steady breaths, his memories returned: every detail, including that terrible, crushing darkness.
He rose to his feet slowly, feeling his joints creak as if he had been asleep for years. His strength returned with surprising speed. He felt lighter, clearer, as though this strange new life suited him better than the last. He gazed out through the broken temple at the spot where his own blood had once stained the ground. There was no trace of it now. Whatever had attacked him was gone—or it might still be lurking somewhere close, waiting for another chance.
Yu Sheng stood there for a moment, silent, before speaking softly in his mind. “Irene…?” he called, hoping she would hear him.
Her voice leapt out at once, bursting into his thoughts like a frantic shout. “Yu Sheng! Oh my goodness, are you alright?! You went completely quiet earlier! I kept calling and calling, but you didn’t answer! I couldn’t even feel you! I thought you were dead, and I was terrified—who would fix the TV then? Are you really okay?”
Yu Sheng’s eye twitched at that. “So… your biggest worry was the TV?” he asked dryly.
Irene’s voice wavered. “Well… I mean… I was worried about you too, obviously,” she said, stumbling over her words.
He sighed, unimpressed. She’d actually hesitated before admitting she was worried about him. Still, he tried to stay calm. “What if I told you I really did die just now?” he asked, trying to gauge her reaction.
“Oh, stop joking,” Irene replied, sounding exasperated. “You’re clearly talking to me right now, aren’t you? How can you be dead?”
Yu Sheng decided not to press the point. “Sure, just kidding,” he said lightly. Then he asked more seriously, “Irene, how much time passed since I went silent until now?”
“How long…?” Irene seemed puzzled. “I’m not sure. I don’t have a watch, and my sense of time is pretty terrible since I’ve been trapped in this painting forever. Maybe half an hour? Could have been less, maybe a bit more. I can’t really tell. The sky still looks dark, and dawn hasn’t come yet, so it can’t have been the whole night.”
Yu Sheng groaned. “Half an hour or nearly a full night—those are not the same thing, Irene!”
She fell quiet, and in that moment of silence, Yu Sheng heard a low, raspy chuckle somewhere in the background of his mind.
“That’s the bear!” Irene cried defensively, as if trying to prove her innocence. “Don’t blame me! I’m not laughing!”
Yu Sheng sighed and waved a dismissive hand, even though she couldn’t see him. “I know, I know,” he said. Irene sounded pleased that he seemed to trust her, though he was simply too tired to argue about it. He realized that Irene’s constant chatter was actually more annoying than any half-heard laugh from the bear. If she wanted to annoy him, she didn’t need to blame the poor bear—she could manage that all on her own.
Brushing aside these silly thoughts, Yu Sheng stepped out of the temple once again. This time, he noticed that his body felt different. He felt stronger, quicker, as if his senses were sharper and his footsteps lighter. It was as if each death and return had changed him, helping him adjust to this strange world’s dangers.
Outside, the open ground stretched away into shadows. Beyond it lay the dark forest and the unknown depths of this “Otherworld.” Yu Sheng understood that he could die again at any moment. Maybe even the very next step would be his last.
But something in him had changed. He felt… driven.
“Irene,” he said quietly in his head.
Her voice answered at once. “What is it?”
“I’m fine now,” he told her. “Just a few scratches, nothing serious.”
“You sure?” she asked worriedly. “Maybe you should rest, or at least find a safer spot to hide. I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever heard about a valley like the one you mentioned, but my memory’s fuzzy. Let me think a bit more.”
“Go ahead and think,” Yu Sheng said, sounding calm, even casual. “I’m going to look around more.”
Irene gasped. “Wait, that sounds dangerous—”
“Irene,” Yu Sheng interrupted. He stood in the open field, taking a deep breath of the cold, metallic-tasting air. He stared at the jagged silhouettes of trees and mountains under the starless sky. “All this time, I’ve felt like I’ve been drifting without purpose,” he said, his voice quiet and steady.
She seemed confused. “Uh… I didn’t know that.”
He went on as if he hadn’t heard her. “You told me about people who fall into the Otherworld by accident, people who stumble in through the wrong door or step on the wrong board at just the wrong moment. You said if they’re lucky, they might find a way back, following some sort of pattern. Do you know how I felt hearing that?”
“How did you feel?” Irene asked softly.
“Happy,” Yu Sheng answered, and he could hear the surprise in her silence. “Yes, happy. You said that some unlucky folks end up here. But if they’re truly fortunate—and clever—they might just return to where they came from.” He paused, then added more quietly, “And I will do it, even if it takes a thousand tries. I’ll find a way home.”
Irene didn’t respond right away. When she did, her voice was cautious. “You might have misunderstood. Those are just stories and rumors. Even trained investigators find it hard to escape the Otherworld. Ordinary people almost never survive. I’m not sure how wise it is to be so confident—”
“Die enough times, and I’ll figure it out,” Yu Sheng murmured under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” he replied, his voice brighter than before. “I just finally have a purpose. I’ll start here and keep going. No matter how long it takes, I’ll find my way out.” He exhaled, imagining all the uncertainty and fear he had bottled up inside being released into the night air. It felt freeing.
Irene sounded a bit unsure, but also curious. “You certainly sound determined. Just… try not to die again, please? I still need you to fix that TV, and maybe get me a new body one day…”
Yu Sheng chuckled. “Alright. When I get back to my world, I’ll work something out. I did a bit of sculpting and model building once, so maybe I can craft something decent.”
Irene perked up, excited at the thought. “You can make dolls? Models? Why didn’t you say so before? How skilled are you? Could you make a lifelike doll body for me to live in?”
Yu Sheng hesitated, then sighed and admitted, “Well… I watched a bunch of tutorials online, and let’s just say I wasn’t very good at it. My hands didn’t do what I wanted them to.”
There was a heavy pause, and then Irene let out a string of curses inside his head. Yu Sheng imagined her tiny painted figure stomping its feet in frustration. Strangely, he found himself smiling at her reaction. The weirdness of it all made him feel oddly calm.
He took a few steps forward, glancing at the looming shapes of the mountains. It was a risk, he knew. At any second, something could leap out from the shadows and tear him apart. Still, he pressed onward.
Then he saw it—just by the road ahead: a massive creature several meters tall, a horrifying mix of mismatched animal parts twisted together into a single hulking form. It stood there, staring straight at him through the darkness.
Yu Sheng paused, swallowing hard. He thought for a moment, then spoke calmly in his mind. “Hey, Irene.”
“Yeah?” she answered, her voice curious and a bit nervous.
Yu Sheng kept his eyes fixed on the towering monster. “Just wanted to let you know… I’m probably about to die again.”
“What?! Wait—!” Irene yelped, panicked and confused, but Yu Sheng couldn’t hear the rest of her words.