Chapter 41

Chapter 41: A Free Doll

Yu Sheng was still frozen.

The instant he’d seen Irene “disconnect” and go flying, he’d honestly thought she’d died in a shoddy body. Thank goodness the voice behind him cut that terrifying thought off in time.

He held Irene’s limp body in both hands and, stiffly, looked toward the worktable.

The classic painting, set in its gorgeous frame, leaned quietly against the edge. Inside it, Irene stared out at him with wide, panicked eyes.

“I… I don’t know what happened either!” she blurted, waving frantically when she noticed his gaze. “One second I was running, and the next time I opened my eyes, I was back in here. What’s going on? What is this—”

A low, grating chuckle came from inside the frame. It sounded like mockery, but there was something almost sympathetic in it.

It came from the plush teddy bear.

This time, Yu Sheng actually saw it laughing.

Irene’s temperament couldn’t tolerate that for even a heartbeat. She hopped over to the red velvet chair, grabbed the teddy bear by the neck, and shook it like she wanted to snap its head off.

“You’re laughing! You’re laughing! Was this your doing?! I’m back in here again!”

A mindless teddy bear couldn’t respond. It just kept giggling in her hands, which only made her angrier.

Yu Sheng hurried forward, trying to calm her down. “Hey, don’t get worked up. Let’s figure this out—”

He got halfway through the sentence before the doll girl in the painting—currently attempting what looked like a chokehold into an over-the-shoulder throw—vanished.

At the same moment, the doll body in Yu Sheng’s hands jerked to life.

Before he could react, the 66.6-centimeter menace pounced onto his arm and, by sheer momentum, tried a three-move combo: chokehold (failed), over-the-shoulder throw (failed), armbar (failed).

She did succeed at one thing—squeezing his arm hard enough to hurt.

Yu Sheng had no choice. He pried her off, lifted her directly in front of his face, and gave her a firm shake.

“Wake up. Wake up. I’m Yu Sheng. You’re out again.”

Irene blinked like a sleepwalker being yanked upright. She stared blankly for a moment, then looked around. Finally, her eyes locked onto Yu Sheng.

“…Huh?”

They both lifted their heads and looked toward the painting.

Silence.

After a beat, Yu Sheng said nothing. He carried Irene backward to the spot where she’d fallen earlier. The moment he crossed whatever invisible line marked it, the doll in his hands went limp again, like someone had cut the power.

Life vanished in an instant.

Irene reappeared inside the painting. She glanced around, then stared out at Yu Sheng in a daze.

“I’m back again,” she said slowly. “So that means…”

Yu Sheng raised the limp doll body toward the painting, bringing it closer.

The body revived immediately, as if nothing had happened.

Irene’s voice continued from the doll in his hands, finishing the thought she’d started inside the frame. “…it’s a distance thing?”

“Seems like it.” Yu Sheng frowned, then pulled the doll away again.

Irene “powered down” mid-sentence, and her voice came from the painting instead. “Then this is kind of—”

Yu Sheng pushed the doll forward again.

“—kind of a pain,” Irene snapped from the body. “Can you stop messing around? I can’t even finish one sentence before you split me into pieces!”

Yu Sheng sheepishly brought her closer again and tried to justify himself. “I wanted to confirm the range. Your… signal.”

“Does five meters or six meters even matter?” Irene flailed as he held her by the collar. “It’s two steps at most!”

Then she narrowed her eyes at him. “Put me down. Why are you holding me up this whole time?”

Yu Sheng immediately set her on the tabletop.

They stared at each other.

Only then did Irene realize she practically had to bend her head back ninety degrees just to look at him.

Her dignity wouldn’t allow Yu Sheng to squat down just to talk to her. Besides, even if he did, she’d still have to look up.

“Stand there and don’t move,” she ordered.

Yu Sheng blinked. “What are you doing?”

The next second he found out.

Irene hugged his leg and started climbing like she was scaling a tree. In two or three quick moves she scrambled up and planted herself on his shoulder.

Yu Sheng went rigid, not daring to move in case she fell. “I didn’t agree to this.”

“You didn’t ask whether I agreed when you held me up to test the signal either,” Irene said righteously.

Yu Sheng had no answer.

They returned to the worktable and studied the painting again.

“I really did come out,” Irene muttered, frowning at her former “cell.” “I can feel it. My soul is in that body now. But…”

“But this painting is still your foundation,” Yu Sheng said, calm and clinical. “Your body is basically being remote-controlled. Once you get too far away, the line cuts.”

Irene dropped her head, looking painfully dejected.

This time she didn’t cry—maybe she’d been hit with so many blows in such a short span that her brain had gone numb in self-defense.

Seeing her like that, Yu Sheng panicked instead. “Don’t get too pessimistic. Maybe it’s just the body. I’ll practice more, and next time I reshape a body—”

“Tell me,” Irene cut in, voice strange. Her expression was complicated, hard to read. “If you carry your own cell around everywhere… did you escape or not?”

Yu Sheng froze. He actually thought about it.

“I’ve seen someone carry his own cell around before,” he said at last. “He ended up pretty miserable. But he was technically ‘inside’ his cell. At least you’re outside… mostly.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Irene muttered, then hopped off his shoulder onto the table. She walked up to the painting, reached out with both hands, and lifted the frame a little. Then she set it down again, turned around, and tried to sling it onto her back.

The painting was big. For Yu Sheng it was light enough to hold with one hand. For Irene, it was nearly as tall as she was.

“…Do we have rope in the house?” she asked up at him.

“We do!” Yu Sheng nodded immediately. “Wait a second. I’ll get it.”

A dozen minutes later, Irene watched him tie knots around the frame and adjust makeshift straps. When he finished, she stepped forward.

“I think it’s good.”

“Try it,” Yu Sheng said, propping the frame upright as Irene awkwardly threaded her arms through the straps. “How is it? Are the straps in the right spot? Too tight?”

Irene tugged at the straps, then walked two circles across the tabletop with the frame on her back. She nodded, satisfied.

“No. It’s perfect.”

“Is it heavy?”

“Not heavy at all.” Irene puffed up proudly. “I’m really strong!”

To prove it, she bounced in place. Then she started jogging laps along the table’s edge.

A tiny doll, carrying an oil painting frame almost as tall as she was, sprinting in circles across a worktable…

It looked ridiculous.

But Yu Sheng watched, and a slow smile spread across his face.

Because Irene was smiling too.

Somehow, she’d shaken off her earlier gloom. She looked happy again—genuinely happy. More optimistic than he’d expected.

“It’s pretty light!” Irene said, stopping at the table’s edge and grinning down at him. “Now I don’t have to worry about the distance limit. I’m so smart!”

“You really are optimistic,” Yu Sheng said, honestly impressed. “I thought you’d be depressed for a while.”

“People have to look forward. Dolls too.” Irene hopped down and climbed up his arm to his shoulder again. This time she moved more carefully, minding the frame on her back and trying not to smack it into the chair—or his head. “Compared to before, at least I can move freely now. If I have to carry it, I’ll carry it. Besides, the guy left in the painting seems like he doesn’t want me going too far anyway…”

She patted his shoulder like she owned it. “Come on. Let’s go downstairs. You still haven’t eaten dinner. I want to watch TV!”

Yu Sheng paused, glancing sideways at her bright smile.

“All right.” He raised a hand to steady her as he stood. “Let’s cook. And tonight we’ll start studying that passage back to the valley.”

“Mm!” Irene looked fired up. She pointed ahead with gusto. “Giddyup!”

Yu Sheng casually reached up and plucked her off his shoulder. “I’ll throw you down, you know.”

Irene instantly curled up. “Don’t. Don’t. It was just the vibe…”

Half laughing, half helpless, Yu Sheng put her back on his shoulder, kept a steadying hand on her, and walked on.

Outside, night had already fallen. In the old quarter, streetlights blinked on one by one, casting hazy warmth through the narrow streets and alleys. A quiet peace drifted in through the window.

“Yu Sheng,” Irene said softly, “it’s completely dark outside now.”

“Yeah.”

“Hehe… I’m kind of looking forward to it…”

“Looking forward to what? Darkness?”

“No. I’m just looking forward to it. It has nothing to do with darkness.”

“…I don’t get it.”

“Tsk.”