Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Irene’s Enhancement Plan

The hair dryer hummed steadily. Irene sat cross-legged on the coffee table, gripping the edge with both hands so she wouldn’t get blown away while Yu Sheng finished drying her hair.

Whenever the airflow hit her face, she would lift her head into it, open her mouth, and go, “Aaawawawawawa—” like she was having the time of her life.

Sometimes Yu Sheng truly wondered what this doll’s brain was made of.

“Stop playing,” he said. When Irene did the “aaawawa” routine for the third time, he pressed her head down by force. Then he sighed. “Just the last bit… Okay. That’s it. Pretty much dry.”

“Thanks~” Irene ran a hand through her hair, then watched him put the dryer away. “What happened? You seem distracted.”

Yu Sheng paused, then let out a soft breath. “Nothing much. I ran into Little Red Riding Hood in my dream and talked to her for a bit.”

“You met Little Red Riding Hood in a dream?” Irene looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened. “Ah! That weird dream of yours—the one where you met Foxy… Little Red Riding Hood went in too?!”

“Yeah. And unlike Foxy’s time, she was awake when she got in,” Yu Sheng said lightly. He didn’t mention what he’d seen in her memories. “…I’m planning to go back to the Black Forest tonight.”

Irene blinked, but didn’t interrupt. She just watched him.

“Little Red Riding Hood is already at the late stage,” Yu Sheng continued. “Basically, every time she enters a dream, she falls into the Black Forest. If I go, I should be able to help. And if I’m lucky, maybe I can catch the ‘Wolf Granny’ she’s facing, or see ‘Hunter’ again… She’ll be an adult next month. There isn’t much time.”

“Wow. You’re calling running into Wolf Granny ‘lucky.’ That’s so you,” Irene said with a heavy sigh. “Fine. You can open a door in anytime now… Are you bringing Foxy and me? If we go in, there’s probably going to be fighting.”

“Foxy’s coming,” Yu Sheng said, nodding. Then he hesitated. “As for you…”

The instant Irene caught that hesitation, she sprang to her feet on the coffee table. “What’s wrong with me?! How many times have I played a key role?! You—”

“I’m worried you can’t survive head-on and get one-shot by a wolf,” Yu Sheng sighed. “But you’re right. I need your support ability. Your silk threads might be really useful against those invisible wolf packs.”

Irene finally looked satisfied. “That’s more like it.”

Little Doll was always easy to placate.

Yu Sheng smiled, then pulled out his phone and opened Border Comms. He sent Little Red Riding Hood a DM: “Message me before you sleep tonight.”

Irene leaned in from the side to peek at the screen. After he sent it, she said, “That sounds weird. It looks like you’re harassing some young lady…”

“Can you not?” Yu Sheng immediately turned and glared at her. “And why did you wait until after I sent it to say that?”

Irene looked away. “I just realized…”

Yu Sheng didn’t believe her.

Right then, his phone buzzed. A DM popped up:

Little Red Riding Hood: “…???”

Two seconds later, another message arrived: “Why?”

Yu Sheng started forming a long explanation, but when he looked up he caught Irene staring straight at him. He swallowed the whole thing and replied with only three words:

“Black Forest.”

This time, it took a long while before Little Red Riding Hood responded. She seemed to be organizing her thoughts, but in the end she sent only a few words:

“Okay… and thanks.”

Yu Sheng put the phone away and leaned back on the couch, letting out a long breath.

Irene tilted her head. “What’s next? We just wait until night?”

Yu Sheng didn’t answer. He only stared thoughtfully at Little Doll until she started to squirm. “Hey, why are you looking at me? I didn’t say anything wrong, did I…”

“I need to buff you up,” Yu Sheng said suddenly.

Irene froze. “…Huh?”

“The Black Forest is dangerous. You haven’t dealt with the biggest ‘Big Bad Wolf,’ so you don’t know,” Yu Sheng said, his expression turning serious. When his tone went solemn, even Irene lost her usual carefree look. “In terms of direct threat, that thing might be even tougher than ‘Hunger’ was. Your silk threads might restrain it, but your body can’t take it. Foxy can fight, but she’s only one person. If you, the support, can’t hold your ground… then the Big Bad Wolf gets a whole lot harder to handle.”

Irene looked thoughtful.

Yu Sheng glanced at the daylight outside the window. “It’s still early. There’s time to prepare for tonight. We need to go out.”

“Where?” Irene asked automatically.

“The valley. It’s a good place,” Yu Sheng said. Then he turned to the demon fox girl who’d walked over. “Foxy, come upstairs with me first. We need to grab some things.”

“Okay!”

A moment later, a door opened, connecting the living room of Wu Tong Road No. 66 to the valley.

Yu Sheng led Foxy and Irene—the Irene with intact clothes—through it and onto the large central platform.

“Here’s fine,” Yu Sheng said, looking around. He picked a spot and pointed to the open ground beside them. “Foxy, put the stuff here.”

Foxy nodded and began rummaging through her tail, pulling items out onto the ground: ritual candles (ordinary ones from a small supermarket), rose oil that probably had no rose in it, some no-brand essential oil that looked like fragrance mixed with dye, tea powder that might or might not be expired, bottles and jars that might or might not be useful…

Finally, she plucked her tail free and shook it hard. The air twisted. A series of loud clanks rang out, and several rebar rods spilled onto the ground.

Irene stared. Then she stared at Yu Sheng like she was seeing him for the first time. “…You’re not seriously planning to use rebar and cement to make me a body, are you?!”

“Why not? I said I’m buffing you up,” Yu Sheng replied as if it were obvious. Then he added, “Of course rebar works. Cement, forget it for now. I tried once—cement isn’t like clay. If you want it to form properly, you need a mold to cast it. It’s hard to control. That’s why I picked this place. This valley has unlimited materials, and most importantly, the materials here are easy for me to ‘control.’”

Irene’s mouth twitched. “Is this really going to work?”

Yu Sheng nodded. “As long as the frame is solid, the durability should jump a lot. That’s how I understand it.”

“That’s not what I meant…” Irene muttered, but halfway through she could only sigh. “Whatever. Do what you want.”

She didn’t even need to say it. Yu Sheng was already moving.

He didn’t struggle to draw alchemical symbols and arrays on a table like he did at the bench in the attic. He simply stood on the open ground and reached out toward the flat earth.

A faint grinding sound rose from below. Thin etched lines spread from beneath Yu Sheng’s feet, weaving outward, crossing and closing in rapid patterns.

The formation needed to refine a doll took shape in only a few breaths.

Yu Sheng focused intently on the process, and a smile slowly appeared. Yes. This was how it should be used. This was how it always should have been used.

He lifted his head and met Irene’s stunned gaze.

“This is really convenient!” Little Doll couldn’t help exclaiming.

“Right? I should’ve been using this place long ago,” Yu Sheng said with a chuckle.

With Foxy’s help, he quickly set up the ritual candles. Then he raised a temporary wall around the open ground to keep the valley wind from blowing out the flames. Finally, he lifted Irene—frame and all—and placed her on a specific node of the formation.

The preparations went fast. Yu Sheng’s gaze dropped to the rebar.

“Next, we make it into the doll’s skeleton,” he said softly.

Irene looked up at him. “Yeah. Then start.”

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin, deadly serious. “…I forgot to buy a welding torch.”

Irene stared at him for two full seconds.

“….”

Then the doll sprang up and tried to fly over and bite him. “Then what the hell were you preparing all this for?! You brought the rebar and didn’t bring a welding torch?!”

Yu Sheng fended off the hopping attacks while scrambling to explain. “I just overlooked it! Who needs a welding torch to make a doll?!”

“Then who the hell uses rebar to make a doll?!” Irene yelled, furious. “You can think of making an alchemy doll out of rebar, but you can’t think of a welding torch?!”

The hotel’s boss and his second-in-command collapsed into internal conflict in the blink of an eye, fighting like a furnace on fire. Irene finally managed to clamp down hard on Yu Sheng’s hand—

And then a sudden flash of light beside them interrupted both of them.

Yu Sheng turned in shock.

Foxy sliced clean through a steel rod with a blinding, focused streak of fox fire. Then she brought two rods together and used the flame at the tip of her tail to fuse them with a sharp hiss.

A moment later, Foxy held up the welded rebar in one hand and hugged her tail with the other, looking up at Yu Sheng expectantly. “Benefactor, will this work?”

Yu Sheng stared at her. “…I can’t believe I’m watching argon fox welding.”