Chapter 060

Chapter 60: Foxy’s New Home

Irene looked down at her now whole right leg, twisted the joint left and right with care, then pulled on her sock and stood up bit by bit with Yu Sheng’s hand: “A, are my legs the same length?” She stared up at him and added, a little worried: “I didn’t guide a reshaping this time. I only did Spirit Infusion and fusion. Can you check for me?”

Yu Sheng rolled his eyes and said: “Of course they’re the same length. I only fixed the surface. I didn’t cut it off and sculpt it again.”

Relieved, Irene took a few quick steps back and forth on the table. A smile finally spread across her face as she hopped down: “I can run around again! Yu Sheng, your work is not bad this time. Maybe you’re gifted at making dolls?”

“Thanks for the praise,” Yu Sheng answered lazily, then watched as the newly mobile Irene slung on her picture frame, sprang from the table to the empty chair, and climbed down backward to the floor. She started sprinting circles on the attic’s Open Ground, a blur of little legs.

Before, whenever Irene tore around like this, Yu Sheng always felt it was too noisy. She would bang into things and leave the place a mess. But for some reason, watching her dash everywhere this time, the irritation was gone. In its place, a small, quiet pride rose inside him: [Huh. I actually did it.]

“Gifted at making dolls, huh,” he muttered, glancing at the scraper in his hand and the nearly empty putty jar, unsure whether Irene had been flattering him or truly meant it.

He wasn’t sure about any talent for crafting dolls. What popped into his head instead were those two lotus root segments he had messed with that somehow ended up receiving Spirit Infusion. [Looks like Irene has totally forgotten about that.]

Footsteps from the stairs cut off his wandering thoughts, and also stopped Irene mid-gallop.

Yu Sheng turned and saw a pair of fluffy white ears rise at the stairhead, then Foxy’s tense but curious face peeking around as she looked everywhere.

The fox maiden wore pajamas that were a size too big. Her silver hair was still damp. She had probably followed their scent here. The moment she saw Yu Sheng and Irene together, a bright smile bloomed: “Ah! Benefactor, and Irene, you’re both here!”

She noticed Irene’s “healed” limbs at once and lit up: “Irene, your hand grew back?”

“Yu Sheng fixed it for me!” Irene raised both hands to show her, then jumped in place twice and said: “My leg’s fixed too!”

“Benefactor, your immortal arts are amazing,” Foxy said, stunned as she looked from the healthy doll back to Yu Sheng with honest respect. “You can open a path through the netherworld, restore a body to life, and you even know how to craft puppets.”

Yu Sheng thought for a second. The “nether path” she meant was probably his Door Opening ability, and she had taken Irene for a puppet.

Irene sprang up at once and shouted: “What do you mean puppet! I’m a Living Doll from Alice’s Little House, under Blessing, got it! Don’t spout nonsense, you wild fox!”

Foxy listened to the little doll’s squawking, blinked, then lowered her head and said: “Oh. I don’t understand. I won’t say it.”

Irene froze mid-rant, stunned. She was used to bickering with Yu Sheng and had never met someone this meek who refused to fight back. Her mind went blank and she stood there, not sure what to do.

Yu Sheng suddenly noticed something and stared at Foxy’s back: “Uh… where’s your tail?”

Irene also realized it and only then noticed Foxy’s tails were gone.

“I put them away,” Foxy said with a smile. She turned slightly, and with a “vrrm” like a blade leaving its sheath, light flashed behind her. A whole fan of big fluffy tails burst open at once.

Standing beside her, Irene yelped and was launched by that sudden wave of fur, rolling across the floor for several meters.

Foxy cried out and rushed over, flustered, to pull the grumbling Irene to her feet.

Watching, Yu Sheng let out a breath of relief: “You scared me. I thought you fired your tails off like missiles.”

Then he asked, puzzled: “Why do they come out with a ‘vrrm’?”

Foxy thought and said: “It can also be ‘pop’.”

Irene, just hauled up and ready to keep cursing, went blank and stared at Foxy: “You added the sound yourself?!”

“Before a fox shows her tails, she must make a sound to warn people to move,” the fox maiden said as if this were perfectly normal. Her speech was much smoother than when they first met, though still with odd pauses. “But you didn’t dodge.”

Irene exploded: “How would I know this weird rule! What kind of fox even are you!”

Foxy tried to think, then shook her head, discouraged; her ears drooped: “I don’t remember.”

Irene’s face stalled too. She looked away and mumbled: “Don’t take it to heart. I was just talking.”

Yu Sheng stepped to Foxy’s side and spoke after a moment’s thought: “Don’t feel too down. It doesn’t mean you can’t go back. Maybe we’ll find your home someday.”

Foxy’s ears perked up at once: “Benefactor’s nether path can send me back?”

“His Door can go anywhere,” Irene said, hands on hips like it was her own power. “Sometimes when he yanks it open, it pops into someone’s Alchemy Furnace. Maybe one day he’ll open to a Door that leads to your hometown.”

She seemed to think of something and turned to Yu Sheng: “Hey, want to check that Alchemy Furnace again? There are immortals over there too. Maybe it’s Foxy’s home. Or at least they’ve heard of it. It all feels like the same system.”

Yu Sheng winced and said: “After what happened last time, they’ll probably attack on sight.”

“True. If I were the folks behind that Door, I’d want to beat you up too.”

Foxy watched the two go back and forth, eyes flicking between them, lost.

Yu Sheng coughed and said stiffly: “We’re talking about who to ask about your past. Don’t worry. I’ll look into it for you.”

“Benefactor, don’t trouble yourself,” Foxy said softly, this time understanding. She shook her head. “If it can be found, great. If not, it’s fine. I don’t remember what home looks like. Even if I went back, there would be no one I know.”

As she spoke, she reached into her tails and felt around, then pulled out the two sharp canines. A gentle, comforting smile warmed her face. “I already found father and mother. Not going back is okay.”

“It’s good you can think that way,” Yu Sheng said with a quiet breath and a nod to the fox maiden. “So what are your plans? Have you thought about what comes next?”

Foxy looked a bit blank. She hesitated for a long time, then shook her head: “I… don’t know.” Her voice grew small, uneasy like a cub leaving the den for the first time. “It’s my first time outside that valley. This place is good, but everything is strange. I don’t understand anything. I don’t even know where to find food. Mother said a fox must not forget kindness, but I don’t know how to help Benefactor.”

She was still a little mixed up when she talked, but Yu Sheng understood all of it.

He smiled to calm the anxious fox: “Then live here. I have empty rooms and plenty of food, so you won’t go hungry. As for what you can do… help me fight for now.”

Yu Sheng thought it through. He didn’t really know what this fox could do. People said a demon fox repays kindness and changes fate, but asking her to write C, draw illustrations, or make a slideshow probably wouldn’t work. Still, that missed Sonic Headbutt of hers, and the move where she launched her tails, both hit like a truck. When dealing with the Otherworld later, she’d be a rare high-tier fighter. Irene could lock enemies down, Foxy could charge in and hit them, and he could relax on the side and cheer. [I can just shout “6,” meaning “awesome.” Perfect.]

Foxy still looked doubtful and asked: “Fight?”

“In the future we’ll meet more Otherworlds, like that valley,” Yu Sheng said slowly. “There are many strange spaces like that in this world, filled with dangerous entities. Some people may be trapped inside like you were. Others may ask us for help for all kinds of reasons. And I have my own reasons to keep dealing with Otherworlds and entities. In short, I need teammates.”

Foxy listened, then tensed up: “Will we get trapped again?”

Yu Sheng blinked, then smiled at her very real worry: “Did you forget my ‘Nether Path’?”

Foxy stared a moment, then smiled too.

She nodded happily and said: “Okay. I will help Benefactor fight!”