Chapter 33: A Delayed Reaction?
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Yu Sheng pondered the fact that his blood didn’t seem to affect Irene. Maybe the oil painting that served as her seal kept the blood from seeping through, or maybe Irene, being a doll, was simply immune. Most likely, Foxy was just the exception, the only one influenced.
After waiting quite a while with nothing happening, Irene grew impatient inside the painting. She looked up towards the top of the frame and grumbled, “Why don’t you just wipe the blood off already? This is where I live, you know. Having all that blood here isn’t exactly… auspicious.”
Yu Sheng sighed. “You’re a creepy doll sealed in an oil painting, and you’re worried about that? Just having you here is inauspicious enough, don’t you think?”
Irene huffed, indignant. “Who says I’m inauspicious? I’m good-looking—how could I bring bad luck? Some people cover their entire walls with plastic figurines. You’ve got an oil painting of a beautiful girl, and you’re calling it inauspicious?”
Yu Sheng blinked, momentarily speechless. He couldn’t fathom how she managed to string all that together in one breath.
Shaking his head, he muttered, “That’s not the same,” as he stood up and grabbed a wet wipe, intending to clean the blood off the frame.
But the blood wouldn’t come off.
He paused, puzzled. The wet wipe had no effect. He rubbed harder on the frame, being careful not to press too hard on the canvas itself, but the bloodstains remained stubbornly in place.
More concerning than the stubborn stains was the state of the wet wipe—it didn’t have a single trace of red on it.
No matter how tough a bloodstain might be, it shouldn’t be like this.
Irene couldn’t see the wet wipe from her vantage point. She tilted her head up to see Yu Sheng standing there, frozen. Unease crept into her voice. “Uh, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t wipe it off,” Yu Sheng said blankly, staring at the stains that now seemed a part of the frame itself. “It’s not that it’s soaked in—it’s like it’s part of the frame’s original color.”
Irene didn’t respond.
Puzzled, Yu Sheng glanced down, only to find the doll in the painting staring blankly at him, as if her mind had suddenly gone blank. A few seconds later, her expression changed from vacant to horrified. She raised a trembling finger, pointing at him, and let out a piercing scream. “Ah! Yu Sheng, y-you… you’re dead, dead, dead…”
Yu Sheng blinked once, and then he understood what was happening. Seeing Irene still screaming, he calmly sat back down in the chair opposite her. “Stop shouting ‘dead’ so many times; it’s bad luck—even if it’s true more times than it should be.”
Irene paused her screaming, shot him a glance, and then resumed.
Yu Sheng sighed, standing up and trying to soothe the terrified doll. She was far less composed than that fox.
But words did little to help. Maybe because the shock of seeing his “death” hit her so intensely, she was visibly agitated.
Fortunately, an idea came to Yu Sheng.
Without warning, he grabbed Irene’s painting and gave it a vigorous shake in the air, then tossed it spinning upwards, catching it deftly before shaking it a few more times. He placed it back on the table, watching as Miss Doll struggled to climb back onto her little red velvet chair.
Irene stopped screaming.
Instead, she started cursing—loudly, and in language that would make a sailor blush.
This time, Yu Sheng found it easier to calm her down. Eventually, she settled, and in between her grumbling, he explained exactly what was going on.
He confirmed that his blood did have an effect on Irene, even in her sealed state. The blood had only affected the frame, but for some reason, Irene was influenced just like Foxy—she had seen Yu Sheng’s death.
Yet, unlike Foxy, Yu Sheng hadn’t sensed Irene’s thoughts or memories.
He glanced at the doll, still fuming, and felt a little awkward. Maybe she just didn’t have any thoughts or memories to share…
“So you’re telling me… this isn’t the first time?” Irene asked, disbelief written all over her face.
“Yeah. Actually, it started before I met you,” Yu Sheng replied, thinking back to that time with the frog in the rain. “But don’t ask me how it works. Like that door earlier, I only know it happens—not why.”
“Are there any side effects? Any costs?” Irene pressed.
“Not that I’ve noticed,” Yu Sheng admitted, a rare hint of caution replacing his usual nonchalance. “Physically and mentally, I haven’t noticed anything wrong.”
Irene studied his eyes for a long moment. “Even so, you should avoid this kind of resurrection as much as you can.”
Yu Sheng sighed. “I know.”
“Side effects might show up in the future—the distant future. The cost could come in ways you can’t even imagine,” Irene insisted, her voice serious. “Everything seeks balance. Anything that exceeds reason and order will eventually face a backlash. Returning from the dead… that’s about as irrational as it gets. Even if you haven’t noticed anything yet, I find it hard to believe.”
She paused. “It’s not that I don’t believe you; I just don’t trust the way this looks on the surface.”
“I understand,” Yu Sheng nodded earnestly, then spread his hands helplessly. “But, think about it—do you think I wanted to die any of those times?”
Irene blinked, thrown off by the question. “…No, I guess not.”
“I’m just trying to stay positive. It’s all I can do,” Yu Sheng said with a sigh. “I get your concern. I’ll be careful.”
Irene eyed him for a moment longer before finally looking away. “Fine. As long as you keep that in mind… I’m still waiting for you to get me a body.”
Yu Sheng exhaled in relief.
He had to admit—this doll had a pretty impressive ability to accept things. Seeing someone return from the dead wasn’t something you came across every day, yet she just… rolled with it.
Then suddenly, Irene looked up again, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Wait a second, are you even human? Are you sure you were born and raised by your parents, eating normal food? Can’t you recall anything… peculiar from your childhood?”
Yu Sheng’s face fell. “…”
He took back what he’d thought earlier. Maybe her ability to accept things wasn’t that great after all.
He mumbled a few vague responses, not paying much attention to her continued mutterings. After confirming the strange effects of his blood, he remembered his original plan.
He needed to get better at opening doors—figuring out how it worked so he could recreate that passage and find his destination.
Until he could open the door that led back to the valley, where Foxy was still waiting for food.
Irene finally quieted down, watching as Yu Sheng grabbed the kitchen door handle. She hesitated before speaking. “Even if you manage to find the door to that valley, have you thought about how you’ll deal with ‘Hunger’ afterward?”
Yu Sheng slowly turned the handle, focusing on the subtle sensation deep within his “spiritual intuition.” He replied softly, “I’ll take it one step at a time.”
“That’s not a plan at all!” she snapped. Even without turning, Yu Sheng could tell she was glaring at him. “Are you delivering food to Foxy or that monster?”
“If I can beat that monster, I’ll fight it. Maybe getting rid of the physical form of ‘Hunger’ could help Foxy break free. If I can’t beat it, I’ll try bringing Foxy through the door, but there might be side effects—’Hunger’ might still target her. And if that doesn’t work, I can at least bring some food in for her. As long as I can reliably open the door, we can figure things out step by step.
“When I say ‘take it one step at a time,’ I mean I’ll pick whichever option seems best when I get there. But as for how to deal with that ‘entity’ specifically… I don’t have any ideas yet.”
“Well, if you’ve thought it through that much, it’s acceptable,” Irene said, sounding a bit more at ease. “As long as you’re not rushing in just to feed a monster.”
Yu Sheng considered mentioning that if the monster tried to eat him, it’d regret it—but decided against it. Who knew how much more she’d scold him if he said that…
He turned those thoughts over in his mind as he slowly pulled the kitchen door open.
An endless darkness greeted him, with faint stars flickering in the distant void. Beyond that… there seemed to be nothing else out there.
Yu Sheng stared, confused at the empty expanse beyond the doorway. After a moment, realization struck, and he slammed the door shut.
“What the—it’s outer space!”