Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Irene’s Reinforcement Plan

The hair dryer hummed. Irene sat cross-legged on the coffee table, holding the edge with both hands so she would not get blown away, while Yu Sheng dried her hair.

When the nozzle turned toward her face, she suddenly lifted her head, opened her mouth into the wind, and went: “Ah wah wah wah wah,” having a blast.

Yu Sheng sometimes really wondered what was inside this doll’s head.

“Stop fooling around,” he said, pressing her head still the third time she shouted into the dryer. He sighed: “Last bit and we are done. Okay. That is it.”

“Thanks,” Irene said. She ruffled her hair, watched Yu Sheng put away the dryer, then suddenly asked: “What happened? You look distracted.”

Yu Sheng paused and let out a slow breath: “Nothing much. I met Little Red Riding Hood in a dream and talked with her for a bit.”

“Met Little Red Riding Hood in a dream?” Irene looked confused, then remembered: “Ah, that weird dream of yours. The one where you met Foxy last time. Little Red Riding Hood went in too?”

“Yes, and it was different from Foxy’s time. She was awake when she went in,” Yu Sheng said. He did not mention what he saw in Little Red Riding Hood’s memories: “…I plan to go to the Black Forest again tonight.”

Irene blinked and said nothing. She just watched him.

“Her condition is already at a late stage. Almost every time she dreams, she falls into the Black Forest,” Yu Sheng went on: “I should be able to help. If I am lucky, I might catch the ‘Wolf Granny’ she faces, or meet the hunter again. She becomes an adult next month. There is not much time.”

“You even call running into Wolf Granny ‘lucky.’ That is so you,” Irene sighed: “Fine. You can open a Door anytime now. Are you taking me and Foxy? We will probably have to fight in there.”

“I will take Foxy,” Yu Sheng nodded, then hesitated: “As for you…”

Hearing that, Irene stood up on the coffee table: “What about me? I have saved the day many times.”

“I am worried your front-line survival is not enough. The wolf might drop you in one hit,” Yu Sheng said with a helpless sigh. He thought for a moment, then nodded: “You are right though. I need your support. Your silk threads might work well against the invisible Wolf Pack.”

Irene finally looked satisfied: “That is more like it.”

The little doll was always easy to coax.

Yu Sheng smiled and took out his phone. On Border Chat, he wrote a private message to Little Red Riding Hood: “Send me a message before you sleep tonight.”

Irene peeked from the side and waited until he sent it. Then she said: “That line sounds weird. It reads like you are bothering a young lady.”

“How can you say that?” Yu Sheng glared at the doll: “And why did you wait until I sent it?”

“I just realized,” Irene turned her face away.

Yu Sheng did not buy it. Right then, the phone buzzed. A private message popped up.

Little Red Riding Hood: “…???”

Two seconds later came another: “Why?”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, looked up, and saw Irene staring at him. He held back a long, neat explanation and typed only three words: “Black Forest.”

This time, Little Red Riding Hood took a while to answer. She seemed to spend a long time trying to organize her words, but in the end she sent just a short line: “Okay… and thank you.”

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

Irene asked: “What now? Do we just wait for night?”

Yu Sheng said nothing. He stared at the little doll until she felt uneasy: “Why are you looking at me? Did I say something wrong?”

“I need to upgrade you,” Yu Sheng said.

“…Huh?” Irene blinked.

“The Black Forest is dangerous. You have never faced the biggest Evil Wolf. You do not know. In direct threat, that thing might hit harder than Hunger did. Your silk threads might hold it, but your body will not,” Yu Sheng said, his face serious. Even Irene put away her usual carefree look: “Foxy can fight, but there is only one Foxy. If the support cannot stand, the Evil Wolf will be much harder.”

Irene showed a thoughtful look. Yu Sheng raised his head and glanced at the light outside the window.

“It is still early. We have time to prepare for tonight’s action. We need to go out,” he said.

“Where?” Irene asked.

“The Valley. It is a good place,” Yu Sheng said. He looked at the fox maiden who was already walking over: “Foxy, come upstairs with me first. We need to grab some things.”

“Okay.”

A moment later, a Door linked the living room at 66 Wutong Road with the Valley. Yu Sheng walked through with Foxy and Irene, the one whose clothes were intact, and reached the big platform at the center.

“Here is fine,” Yu Sheng said after a look around. He pointed at the nearby Open Ground: “Foxy, set the stuff there.”

The fox maiden nodded. She reached into her tail and started pulling things out onto the ground: ritual candles from the corner store, rose oil that probably did not contain roses, unbranded essential oil that might be dye mixed with fragrance, tea powder that might be expired, bottles and jars of unknown use.

Last, she pulled off her tail and flicked it in the air. The air twisted, and with a harsh clatter, several lengths of rebar fell out.

Irene’s eyes went wide. She looked at Yu Sheng and said: “…You are not really going to make me a body out of rebar and cement, right?”

“Why not? I said I would upgrade you,” Yu Sheng answered, then added: “Rebar is fine. We will skip cement for now. I tried before. Cement is not like clay. You need a shell to cast it so it holds shape, and it is hard to control. That is why I chose this place. The Valley has enough material, and most importantly, I can control it easily.”

Irene’s mouth twitched: “Will this really work?”

Yu Sheng nodded: “As long as the frame is solid, the strength will go up a lot. That is how I see it.”

“I did not mean that…” Irene muttered, sighed, and gave up: “Fine. Do whatever.”

Yu Sheng was already moving.

He did not draw alchemy symbols and arrays on the worktable like at the attic Alchemy Bench.

He simply stood on the Open Ground and reached toward the flat ground.

A soft grinding came from the earth. Lines carved themselves from under his feet and spread, wove, and closed.

The array for refining a doll formed in a few breaths.

Yu Sheng focused and smiled.

[Yes. This is how it should be used. I should have used it like this long ago.]

He lowered his head and met Irene’s stunned eyes.

“This is really handy,” the little doll said.

“Of course. I should have made use of this place earlier,” Yu Sheng said with a grin. He told Foxy what to do. Together they set the ritual candles. He raised a temporary wall around the Open Ground to keep the Valley wind from blowing them out. Then he picked up the Irene who wore the picture frame on her back and placed her on a specific node of the array.

The prep was done. Yu Sheng looked at the rebar.

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

Irene looked up: “Right. Start.”

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin and said very seriously: “…I forgot to buy a welding torch.”

Irene stared for two seconds.

Then the doll jumped up to bite him: “Then what did all this prep even do? You brought rebar but not a torch?”

Yu Sheng blocked her flurry and hurried to explain: “I slipped up. Who needs a welding torch to make a doll?”

“Who uses rebar to make an alchemy doll?” Irene yelled.

The Hotel’s boss and his second in command fell into fierce infighting on the spot. The two of them fought like a blazing kiln. Just as Irene finally managed to chomp down on Yu Sheng’s hand, a sudden flash beside them stopped them both.

Yu Sheng turned in shock. Foxy had just used a tight, blinding beam of Fox Fire to cut through a bar. Then she put two rods together and used the flame at her tail tip to “sizzle” them into one.

Moments later, Foxy held up the welded steel in one hand and hugged her tail with the other. She looked up at Yu Sheng with hopeful eyes and said: “Benefactor, is this okay?”

“I swear, argon fox welding,” Yu Sheng said.