Chapter 244

Chapter 244: Stealing a Moment

The phantom door opened soundlessly, and Yu Sheng stepped into his living room.

The moment he walked in, he saw three Irenes packed neatly on the sofa, a laptop in front of them, staring at the screen like it owed them money.

He leaned closer. “What are you three doing?”

He patted all three heads casually, then his eyes landed on the screen. It was an enormous appeal form for an account ban. The corner of his eye twitched.

“Banned again for trash-talking in a match?”

“I didn’t trash-talk this time!” one Irene snapped, cheeks flushed. “I honestly just think that teammate’s IQ has issues, and the devs’ IQ has issues too. I genuinely think that!”

“That counts as trash-talking,” Yu Sheng said. He nudged aside the Irene who was typing. “Especially when you drag their entire extended family into it, plus the neighbors on both sides, and even the dog across the hall. Your ban is deserved. Stop struggling. The account’s dead for a couple days.”

That only made Irene explode. “How am I supposed to improve? I can’t even press W and Space together on your keyboard! After I click left mouse, I practically have to do a hand flourish to reach right click! And your stupid mouse sensitivity is impossible—if I want to turn my view, I have to do stretches on the desk first…”

Before she could finish, Yu Sheng tossed a paper bag at her, knocking the chattering Little Doll sideways onto the sofa.

All three Irenes jumped up at once. “Hey! What are you doing?!”

Yu Sheng cut them off. “All right, all right. Look in the bag first. I bought it for you.”

The Irenes froze. One of them grabbed the paper bag, peeked inside, and practically dove headfirst into it.

The next second, excited shrieks burst out. “Ah! New clothes! New clothes!!”

Yu Sheng leaned back with a proud grin. “On the way back from the Special Operations Bureau, I detoured to the mall and bought them at a doll shop. I told you I’d get you new clothes. I didn’t forget. I’ve just been too busy lately.”

Irene crawled out of the bag holding two tiny dresses, her eyes sparkling. “Yu Sheng, you’re so nice! But these complicated doll outfits can’t be cheap… the fabric looks really good…”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Yu Sheng said. “I just pulled a big chunk of money from the Special Operations Bureau. It hasn’t hit my account yet, but we can be a little more comfortable now—”

Little Doll wasn’t listening anymore. The moment she heard “pulled a big chunk,” the Irene who’d burned her dress was already hugging the new clothes and charging into the bathroom, yelling, “Don’t you dare peek! I’m changing!”

Yu Sheng was half amused, half speechless. “Like I care.”

A fluffy silver-white bundle waddled over and hooked its paws on the back of the sofa. “Benefactor, benefactor—did you buy something for me?”

Yu Sheng pulled a comb from his pocket and handed it over. “Here. It’s specifically for brushing your tail. You kept saying normal combs don’t work. This one’s bigger, has more teeth, and I asked—they said it’s especially good during shedding season for large—”

“Wait.” Another Irene popped up by his elbow, eyes wide. “A comb for shedding season… you bought it from the pet shop?!”

“Obviously,” Yu Sheng said, pushing her back down. “If I asked around a supermarket about what comb a nine-tailed fox uses during shedding season, they’d think I was insane. Besides, Foxy’s been using a normal comb. She told me it doesn’t work.”

Foxy accepted the new comb with solemn gratitude.

Then she tucked it straight into her tail like she was storing a sword.

Right after that, the Irene who had changed came out of the bathroom like a tiny missile. She zipped across the room and hopped onto the coffee table, striking a pose.

“Ta-da—new clothes!”

It was a gothic long dress in pale purple and deep red—exactly Irene’s style, but brighter and more playful than the gloomy black dress she usually wore. On her, it looked surprisingly pretty.

Yu Sheng didn’t hold back his praise.

“That’s because I’m pretty to begin with,” Irene said shamelessly. She spun in place, then stopped and stretched, reaching back with a frown. “But it’s kind of itchy back here…”

“Itchy?” Yu Sheng’s brows knit. “Come here. Let me see.” He beckoned her closer, muttering, “That shouldn’t happen. Doll clothes shouldn’t have tags on the back…”

Irene hopped onto his lap, still grumbling. “It’s itchy. Like… scratchy.”

Yu Sheng checked the back of her dress, and his expression turned complicated. “Bad fit. The back’s cinched too tight, and there’s decorative lace.” He sighed. “To save effort, they hid all the seams at the lower back and used hot-melt glue to fix it.”

Irene stared at him blankly for a second, then exploded. “What kind of craftsmanship is that?! Who makes clothes like this?!”

“Or maybe,” Yu Sheng said awkwardly, “the people who make doll clothes don’t really care about comfort. They mostly care about looking good in photos…”

Irene’s face contorted. “#$@%&!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Yu Sheng said quickly, soothing her before she could launch into a full meltdown. “I’ll alter it later. It’s not much. I can handle it.”

“You mean it?” Irene narrowed her blood-red eyes, suspicious.

Yu Sheng raised a hand. “I mean it.”

“Fine…” Irene muttered, climbing down. She headed back toward the bathroom, hugging the rest of the new clothes like treasure. “Then I’m not trying on the other one either. It looks like the same structure. Fix them first and I’ll wear them after.”

Yu Sheng watched her go, smiling without realizing it.

Then he leaned back into the sofa and let out a long breath.

He really did prefer this—nothing exploding, nothing spiraling out of control. Just Irene bickering at home, Foxy wandering around looking for food, and him sprawled on the sofa, letting his mind go blank while the wall clock ticked steadily in the corner.

He knew peaceful moments like this would probably only be a small part of his life. After what Bai Li Qing had told him—about the Old Apocalypse and Oblivion—he could already see turbulent days gathering ahead.

But that didn’t stop him from enjoying the calm while he had it.

After a while, Yu Sheng stood.

There was still time before the celebration in the Valley, but as the master of the Valley and Fairy Tale’s biggest guardian, he needed to go early.

“Foxy! Irene! Let’s go. We’re heading over to see if Little Red Riding Hood needs help!”

“Oh, okay! Yay!” Irene called.

“I’m coming, benefactor!” Foxy chirped.

In the Valley—now fused with Fairy Tale—the rough little town was already bursting with life. Children and lords rushed around, preparing for the evening celebration.

On the plaza at the edge of town, the children had stacked an enormous pile of firewood. They planned to light a grand bonfire there to celebrate the start of a new life.

They’d gathered fuel from deadwood collected in the Black Forest, and even thorns cut from the base of the Sleeping Ancient City’s walls. Warriors sent by the King had brought back the prettiest flowers from the wilds of the Kingdom of Oz—flowers blooming between cooled trenches and machine-gun bunkers, as green life reclaimed what had once been a battlefield. The children wove the flowers into garlands and decorated the plaza with them.

Engineering crews and caretakers stationed in the Valley by the Special Operations Bureau and the council were preparing dinner, including meat for barbecue. Huge basins of marinated meat rolled into the plaza on carts. Smaller children were organized into lines to skewer meat, peel onions, and draw doodles on colorful cardstock.

By the time Yu Sheng arrived with Foxy and Irene, the plaza looked almost ready.

The children were only worried about one thing.

“Bro, this won’t work,” Princess Rapunzel complained as she marched over, wiping her hands on her apron. “The sky here won’t get dark. A bonfire party needs nighttime to feel right! In your place, even at midnight it’s as bright as daytime. That’s not a night party at all—and I was planning to set off fireworks too.”

Yu Sheng blinked, looking from her to the cheerful chaos of the plaza and the towering stack of firewood. “Then why didn’t you pick the spot over by the Black Forest? Or around the High Tower? The area at the Valley’s edge where it fused with Fairy Tale has day and night now. I was even planning to move the vegetable patch over there. At least the cycle is normal.”

Rapunzel stuck out her tongue. “We were thinking we’ll be living in this little town from now on, so celebrating here means something.” Then she coughed and added, “And honestly, the bigger reason is we didn’t remember until after we finished stacking the firewood. By the time we remembered, we were basically done decorating.”

Yu Sheng stared at her.

Rapunzel leaned closer, grinning awkwardly. “Bro, think of something. Make the sky dark. Half-dark works too.”

Yu Sheng kept staring.