Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Economic Pressure

Foxy did as told. Without asking anything, she stuffed Irene’s oil painting into her tail, turned, and ran for the attic.

Irene still held onto hope as she sat on the bed: “Hey, Yu Sheng, do you think a miracle might…”

Before she finished, both dolls’ eyes went dark like a power cut, and they flopped backward on the bed.

Yu Sheng watched with a straight face, then stared up at the ceiling at a forty five degree angle: “Looks like no.”

A few seconds later, he called toward the hall: “Foxy! You can come back!”

Footsteps hurried up outside. Foxy ran down from the attic, came in, and pulled the oil painting frame out of her tail: “Benefactor, here.”

Both dolls on the bed popped upright at once, both dazed.

Yu Sheng casually hung the painting on one of them, making her P1 Irene.

The moment Irene “woke,” she didn’t sigh about the lack of miracles. She stared straight at Foxy instead: “Can you please tidy up inside your tail?”

Yu Sheng blinked, curious: “Huh? You saw inside her tail? What’s it like in there?”

As soon as he said that, he felt it sounded strange. [If I said this anywhere else, it would sound broken.] But he truly couldn’t find the problem. The nine tailed rocket raccoon tail was so odd that even describing its functions made you sound unhinged.

“It’s pitch black. I don’t know how big it really is. I couldn’t see the edges. There’s a mountain of stuff piled in the middle like a trash heap. Food is all on top, along with leftovers,” said Irene as she gestured the scene she saw. “I opened my eyes in the painting and there was half a box of instant noodles in my face, and a half eaten roast chicken sitting in the box.”

“I didn’t steal it,” said Foxy fast, looking nervous. “I told benefactor. The leftovers too. It’s a waste to throw them away, so I took them. Things don’t spoil in my tail.”

“Then at least organize it. Who piles it like a garbage hill? Next time we go out, buy two shelves and stick them in your tail. The supermarket kind for stocking goods. They’re cheap.”

Yu Sheng felt the topic getting weirder and finally cut in: “Let’s talk about Irene.”

The doll and the fox stopped debating whether “mixed passenger and cargo storage inside a tail” and “mixing raw and cooked food” met food safety rules, and whether they should install two store shelves inside a fox demon’s tail. They turned back to Irene’s two bodies.

“Ahem. We’ve confirmed that at least one doll shell must stay within five meters of the painting. If not, both disconnect and Irene’s soul returns to the painting,” said Yu Sheng, clearing his throat and planning the tests. “Next we test how far the secondary body can go when the main body is carrying the painting.”

“How do we test that? The apartment might be too small,” said Irene. “Go outside? Into the city? But we have to hide from normal people. That sounds troublesome.”

“There’s a better place than the city,” said Yu Sheng with a small smile.

Before he could say more, Irene reacted. Both dolls spoke in sync: “Valley!”

“It’s huge. From one end of the Valley to the other is far enough, and no one will bother us,” said Yu Sheng, nodding. “But before we go there, we should head out first. I need to buy some things.”

At the word buy, Irene got oddly excited. Both dolls scooted to the bed’s edge: “Shopping? What are we buying? Clothes? Food? Are you finally going to get me something? I kind of want a new outfit. The clothes I change on my own are fine, but I want variety. Hey, did you know I can change outfits? It’s only because I have nothing else to wear. You should buy a new coat too. The one from yesterday is covered in blood and has a huge rip. It’s done.”

At first Yu Sheng didn’t think much, but as Irene went from speaking in unison to each body saying different things, he felt something was off. The little doll was adapting to two bodies at high speed. She started alternating between two mouths. Moments later, both mouths spoke at once about different topics.

Yu Sheng finally realized that his “research spirit” might have caused trouble. Now there were two chatterboxes.

“Use one body to talk. Don’t babble with both,” said Yu Sheng as he stopped the noise. “My head hurts. Same for later. Don’t be that noisy.”

“I just found out it’s super efficient to talk like this,” said the Irene with the painting as she pouted, then blinked up at him. “So what are we buying?”

“Food first. A couple boxes of instant noodles and vacuum packed drumsticks as ‘reserves’ for Foxy. Then some vegetable seeds. That means we also need farm tools,” said Yu Sheng as he listed and did fast math in his head. “Oh, we should visit the building materials market… Maybe we hold off. This might be expensive.”

His face fell. Another big shop and his savings would hit bottom. His new manuscript had no buyer yet. The “hotel” had no real business. He and Little Red Riding Hood had completed a commission yesterday, but who knew when the payment would come through. They said the earliest was today, but also stressed the word earliest.

These days, his spending was greater than his income. In fact, he had no income at all. Only spending.

Most of the cost was Foxy’s food. Clothes and daily items were one time costs for now. Feeding her every day was the heavy part. But Yu Sheng had to admit, every cent on Foxy’s meals wasn’t wasted. Twenty drumsticks for one tail sounded like a lot, but put differently, where else could you get cruise missile firepower for the cost of twenty drumsticks?

Give him a chicken farm and he felt like he could have Miss Fox cover the entire old district with fire.

On the other hand, Irene’s cost at home was almost zero. Besides materials for reshaping her body, which were the cheap kind, he hadn’t bought her clothes or food. In all this time, he had only bought her a little red hair clip, and even that was purchased by Little Red Riding Hood while taking her shopping. It was a toy store trinket, and the doll had been happy all day.

Thinking about it, Yu Sheng felt guilty toward the doll. She made a fuss, had a bad temper, chattered, pushed her luck, and was clumsy but jumpy. Yet when things got serious, she always stepped up.

“If it really doesn’t work, I’ll dip into the disaster fund. If we run dry, I’ll talk to the Special Affairs Bureau and sell them that ‘iron lump’ we found last time,” he muttered.

“What are you saying?” asked Irene, curious.

“Nothing. Pack up and get ready to head out,” said Yu Sheng as he stood. “We won’t go far. The farmers’ market on the edge of the old district should have everything. Also, let Foxy carry you outside so we have a disguise. Bring the painting. Don’t disconnect on the road.”

“Got it,” said Irene as she leaned her other body against the headboard and kept it still. She then awkwardly moved the main body with the painting, climbed off the bed, and walked a few steps on the floor. She let out a breath. “Okay. If the other body stays still, controlling just this one is much easier. How are we getting there? Taking a cab?”

“There’s no saved coordinate over there. Otherwise I’d open a Door and save the fare,” said Yu Sheng with a sigh. “We have to take a cab.”

Ten minutes later, Yu Sheng stood with Foxy, who had shapeshifted into a long haired black haired girl, at the nearest intersection, waiting for the ride.

“When we have money, we should buy a car,” said Irene in his mind, hopeful about the future. “We can’t ride-share forever.”

Yu Sheng looked at Irene lying limp in Foxy’s arms and raised a brow: “What if it’s another Special Affairs Bureau car?”

“…Then ride-share is better.”

Yu Sheng grinned and let his mind wander: “Honestly, an e-bike would do. A big one that can carry a person. Foxy sits on the back. In the city we ride normal. Outside, she opens her tail, nine tail rocket boost on the little e-bike. One hundred kilometers for a few cents of electricity and three steamed buns. If the bike has energy recovery, we could even make back the electric bill.”

“You have quite the imagination,” muttered Irene, then she realized something. “Hey, where would I sit?”

“In the front basket,” said Yu Sheng.

“…You jerk,” said Irene.

Just then, a sleek silver gray compact car rolled into view. Irene, who had been ready to bite someone the second no one was around, went limp again and kept her disguise in Foxy’s arms.

With a soft squeal, the car stopped in front of them. Foxy leaned close and whispered: “Benefactor, is this the car you called? That was fast.”

Yu Sheng blinked, checked the ride app, and compared the license plates: “No. The one I called is two intersections away at a red light.”

While he frowned, the driver’s window rolled down.

Good news, it wasn’t Xu Jiali’s shaky old taxi.

Bad news, the person at the wheel was still someone Yu Sheng knew, and she gave him headaches.

Ren Wen Wen smiled bright: “It’s you guys. Heading out?”