Chapter 20: Irene’s Intel and Advice
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation.
The doll-like girl in the oil painting greeted Yu Sheng with joyful surprise. Her voice held a hint of amazement, but there was none of the shock or fear you’d expect when someone presumed dead suddenly returned to life.
Yu Sheng thought to himself that Irene’s calm reaction wasn’t because she was unflappable. No, the problem lay with him. After all, he’d died and come back so many times recently that even the strangest events no longer seemed all that strange.
“I sort of stumbled my way back,” Yu Sheng said casually, turning to close the slightly ajar door. He looked down to check himself over and confirmed that not only was his body fully restored, but even his clothes were back to their original state.
He frowned. Connecting the dots with Irene’s reaction, it felt as though his “death” had never happened at all—as if the entire event had just vanished into thin air.
He stood there in the doorway, looking dazed. Irene didn’t miss his hesitation. The doll in the painting asked curiously, “Yu Sheng? Are you okay? You look completely out of it. And tell me, how did you manage to come back? I tried contacting you, but it kept cutting in and out—weird noises, static, all kinds of strange stuff. I have no idea what kind of trouble you got yourself into in that Otherworld… Hey, what’s that you’re holding?”
Her reminder made Yu Sheng look down at his hand. He was still holding something—a bizarre, ugly severed tail covered in dark scales.
Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched. “Oh man, I almost forgot about this… It’s still here.”
The thing twitched slightly in his hand, though not as energetically as before. It seemed that despite the tail’s vitality, it would gradually die once separated from its main body.
A strange feeling rose in his chest. For a moment, Yu Sheng wasn’t even sure how to explain this to Irene. After a brief hesitation, he headed toward the kitchen, casually calling back, “…Just a souvenir.”
The doll in the painting blinked. “…Huh?”
By then, Yu Sheng had already tossed the severed tail into the kitchen sink. He checked to see if it had the strength to crawl out. Satisfied it didn’t, he poked it a couple of times before placing a pot lid over it—just in case. If it crawled out, at least he’d hear the lid falling. With that settled, he returned to the dining room, dragging his weary body and plopping heavily onto a chair.
His mind was a mess; there were so many things he needed to think about. More importantly, he was exhausted. 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. He adjusted his position, leaning forward to look at the doll in the painting. “I’ve got a ton of questions bottled up, so let me first tell you what I encountered over there. I met a girl who was also trapped in the Otherworld, but she’d been stuck there for a very, very long time…”
Yu Sheng didn’t hold anything back. He told her everything—the night-shrouded valley, the information Foxy had revealed, and the monstrous creature that looked like an abstract horror brought to life.
The only part he left out was his own death and resurrection. He still hadn’t figured out how to explain that one, so he decided to keep it to himself for now.
He knew that he and Irene weren’t exactly close. Trust was still a work in progress, but he had no other choice. In this strange city, Irene was the only “abnormal entity” he had met who could communicate with him, the only one who seemed to understand “things beyond common sense.” Besides her, he really didn’t know anyone else he could discuss the Otherworld with.
So he chose to trust her a bit more. After all, she had been friendly so far—except when she swore at him.
Irene listened intently. When Yu Sheng mentioned the flesh monster, her expression grew serious. She seemed to want to speak several times but held back, never interrupting his story.
When Yu Sheng finally finished, the doll-like girl adjusted her posture, sitting upright on the chair with the red velvet cushion. She 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 slightly. “I’ll do my best to fill you in on what I know about the Otherworld. First, you should already understand that Otherworlds are places that deviate from order and violate common sense. We call them ‘Otherworlds.’ Did you know that within these realms, 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 look like strange humanoids, sometimes they’re 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 generated in the Otherworld, shows signs of 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 obvious abnormal characteristics. They’re born in the Otherworld and naturally possess traits that defy common sense—bizarre and dangerous. Most entities lack rationality, or at least they don’t think in ways we understand. But a very small number might be intelligent… 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 kill you just by being seen. People theorize that entities are a rejection response from the Otherworld—like an antivirus program created to eliminate intruders. In this sense, we, the outsiders from the world of order and common sense, are the real monsters to the Otherworld.”
Yu Sheng listened quietly, then 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 version to appear in the Otherworld. They’re manifestations of the Otherworld’s rules. As long as the Otherworld exists, entities will continue to appear. 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 not eradicated…” Yu Sheng repeated, feeling that this was even more troublesome than he’d imagined.
He wasn’t afraid of death.
It seemed that monster wasn’t either.
Without realizing it, Yu Sheng had already assumed he would return to that valley and face that monster again. He wasn’t sure why, but the thought—or perhaps a kind of intuition—had taken root in his heart.
“Well, at least being able to kill it temporarily is something,” he sighed softly, then looked at Irene. “Besides that, what else do you know about entities? For example, their weaknesses.”
“Entities don’t have a universal weakness. Sometimes an entity’s weak spot isn’t even part of it—it might lie within the Otherworld or be tied to 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 job. I suggest you find professional help—someone other than me, who’s stuck in a painting.”
Yu Sheng rolled his eyes. “Easy for you to say. Where am I supposed to find professionals? It’s not like they advertise on lampposts…”
Irene smirked. “Actually, they do.”
Yu Sheng blinked. “…What?”
“They have ways of making contact—not literally ads on lampposts,” Irene said, seeing his bewildered look. “Since Otherworlds are everywhere and dangerous to ordinary people, there have to be professionals who handle these situations. In a big city like this, someone has to maintain order, both in the open and in the shadows, right? Officially, there are specialized departments. Privately, there are various organizations, big and small. Though I can’t remember all the details, these people are definitely active everywhere.
“Of course, they usually keep their distance from ordinary people, staying hidden. Many Otherworlds have weird characteristics—like becoming active when they’re known or approaching those who fear them. So it’s important to prevent regular folks 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 locate and get in touch quickly.”
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 faltering.
Yu Sheng noticed her uncertainty. “…Then why haven’t they come?”
“I don’t know. Logically, they should have come by now.”