Chapter 296

Chapter 296: Fog Again

Yu Sheng didn’t understand what Little Doll meant at first.

Then Irene stood in front of him, carefully cupped her hands together, and—using a scorching beam shooting from her fingertips—rubbed a dazzling, burning ball of light into existence between her palms.

Only then did he realize what “charged” meant.

He just stood there, completely dumbfounded.

To be honest, Yu Sheng thought his ability to accept the absurd was already pretty strong. He could accept Foxy’s stew greeting a cultivator. He could accept an immortal from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain refining grape-flavored pills. He could even accept that some of his readers shipped his male lead with a llama.

But right now… he was still stunned.

So chewing power cords really did work…?

Xuan Che and Foxy hurried in from the dining room to see what had happened. That added one more person to the circle of disbelief.

The dumbfounded one was Xuan Che.

Foxy wasn’t dumbfounded at all. She was still holding her bowl. She took one look at the lightning orb Irene was shaping, calmly sipped her soup, and commented, “So you’re a lightning cultivator.”

Yu Sheng nearly choked on the words in his throat. What the hell is a lightning cultivator?

“I-is that so?” Irene was easy to fool. She blinked up at Foxy. “Is a lightning cultivator like this?”

Xuan Che paused, actually thinking about it, then answered carefully, “Where I’m from, lightning cultivators aren’t like this.”

“In my hometown, anything that has to do with thunder counts as a lightning cultivator,” Foxy said, shoveling in another spoonful of rice. “Irene, you have a talent for drawing energy straight from electric shocks. Next time there’s thunder, you can try it too. Maybe you can become the thunder-smitten immortal.”

Irene instantly exploded, baring teeth and claws like she wanted to bite Foxy. Yu Sheng caught her mid-lunge, but she still flailed in the air, shrieking, “Silly Fox! You did that on purpose! You always call Yu Sheng an Engineering Immortal or a Cooking Immortal—why does it turn into thunder-smitten immortal when it’s me?!”

Yu Sheng had to pin her until she calmed down—if only because she was absurdly strong right now. At least that confirmed she’d fully recovered.

Once the chaos settled, Yu Sheng cleaned up the ruined power strip, checked that the TV was still fine, reset the tripped breaker, and restored power to the house.

Then he carried Irene into the washroom, washed the soot off her face, and spent far too long trying to smooth her exploded hair back into something presentable.

Even after combing, it stayed a bit fluffy—almost like Foxy’s winter tail. The ends had developed a slight natural curl, too. There was nothing to be done. She’d just have to wash it often for the next few days and let it recover.

When Yu Sheng finally came back out, Irene was the center of attention again.

“…So you really got fully charged from one shock?” Yu Sheng still couldn’t quite believe it. Watching Irene form another bright orb, he couldn’t help asking, “What’s the principle?”

“How would I know?” Irene said, casual as ever. “I just noticed my stamina was back when I came to. And it wasn’t that one zap that charged me up. I think I was already almost full over the last day and night, and that last shock just topped me off.”

“Okay. Sure.” Yu Sheng scratched his head. “Honestly, there’s already plenty of ridiculous stuff around me—”

Then Irene narrowed her focus, brightened the beam, and made the orb flare even hotter.

Yu Sheng’s scalp went cold. “Anyway, can you stop making light balls in here? If your hands shake, you’ll blow a hole in the house.”

“Fine.” Irene dispersed the light, looking a little regretful. “I finally recovered, so I wanted to practice a bit. Get the hang of it.”

Yu Sheng knew she was showing off, but considering how unlucky she’d been lately, he didn’t call her out.

“Forget the principle for now. The important part is we finally found a way to recharge you quickly. Now we just need to make it practical.”

Irene looked up. “Practical?”

“Obviously.” Yu Sheng rolled his eyes. “We can’t ruin an outlet every time, and we definitely can’t let you chew power cords. You saw it—breaker tripped, and you literally started smoking.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Irene blinked, still unsure. “So how do we make it practical? You’ll add a charging port to me?”

Yu Sheng stared. “…Can you even add a charging port to your body?”

“No!” Irene declared righteously. Then, after a beat, she added, “But I can try more times and adapt. Earlier I just didn’t react in time. Now that I think about it, if I’m prepared, maybe I can guide the charging process… But the premise is, you stop using these garbage outlets.”

For the sake of household electrical safety, Yu Sheng decided not to entertain that nonsense.

“Later I’ll make you a charger,” he said, suddenly all business. “I’ll build a circuit with a light bulb as a limiter, and add proper leakage protection. Then I’ll leave you two terminals on the end. When you run out of spiritual power, you go touch those terminals and recharge—safely.”

Irene’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”

Foxy nodded along with complete conviction, even though she probably didn’t understand a word. “Benefactor, this method is good.”

Xuan Che stayed quiet, watching Yu Sheng and Irene talk through the plan. His heart was calm, his gaze steady, and by the end he even felt a faint sense of enlightenment. He didn’t know what he was enlightened about—he just felt enlightened, and like nothing in the world could shake his Dao heart again.

Then he checked the time and excused himself.

Yu Sheng blinked. “You’re leaving already?”

“No. I’m staying in Boundary City for a few more days,” Xuan Che explained quickly. “My master arranged other errands for me, but if you need anything—if something happens again in that strange room—you can summon me anytime.”

“I thought you’d just stay here,” Yu Sheng said frankly. “I’ve got plenty of space. I can always clean up another room for you.”

Xuan Che looked around, remembering—vividly—how everything in this house felt wrong in ways he couldn’t name. He remembered the absurd pile of experiences he’d survived since stepping through the door.

From the standpoint of protecting his Dao heart, he decided he absolutely shouldn’t accept Yu Sheng’s invitation.

Even if he’d just had an “enlightenment” and felt rock-solid… who knew what else could pop out of this manor?

Yu Sheng heard the seriousness in his tone, and since Xuan Che still had tasks from his master, he didn’t insist. After a few polite words, he moved to walk him out.

Then he remembered something. “Ah, right. How do I contact you?”

Xuan Che rummaged in his robes and pulled out a small mirror glowing with purple-gold light.

The moment Yu Sheng saw it, his heart stirred. Another cultivator’s treasure. Some brilliant method of communication, surely. Maybe he could learn a flashy technique—

Then Xuan Che brushed a hand over the mirror, tapped twice, and a QR code appeared.

Xuan Che smiled modestly. “Scan this and add me on border comms.”

Yu Sheng: “…”

His excitement cooled instantly. In that moment, he finally understood how Four Thousand Wayward Disciples usually contacted him.

After they exchanged contact info, Yu Sheng walked the guest to the door. But just as he reached for the handle, Xuan Che suddenly frowned and looked toward a window in the living room.

“There’s such heavy fog outside,” he said in surprise.

Yu Sheng froze, then snapped his gaze to the glass.

Outside, thick fog rolled across the street, nearly solid, swallowing the block in a pale blur.

Irene hopped onto the nearest windowsill. “Holy crap, again?!”

Xuan Che had spoken casually, but their reaction made him wary. “This fog… is there something strange about it?”

“Boundary City hasn’t been very peaceful lately. It’s mainly because of this fog.” Yu Sheng watched the mist, expression tightening. “‘Mistbound City.’ That’s what the Special Operations Bureau calls this fog otherworld now. They’ve already issued danger warnings to the Spirit Realm Detective and Investigator across Borderland.

“Normally, this fog doesn’t appear in the real world. But my house is… kind of special. It attracts weird situations like this. Fog outside the windows isn’t the first time.”

Xuan Che listened with a stiff frown, as if trying very hard not to comment on Yu Sheng’s definition of “kind of special.”

Yu Sheng didn’t notice. He thought for a moment, then continued, “But you don’t need to worry. The fog only appears outside the windows. You can only truly enter it with special methods. As long as I open the door normally here, you can still leave normally.”

Xuan Che’s reply caught him off guard.

“If that’s the case… then I want to go into the fog and take a look.”