Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Excited Irene

In the old quarter, deep on Wu Tong Road, inside a rented house, a big man nearly two meters tall was curled into a sofa that looked painfully cramped for him. Head lowered, he carefully maintained his gear.

It was the beam dagger.

The dark red hilt was inlaid with tiny, teardrop-shaped crystals, linked in a line that ran the length of the weapon. The whole thing was clearly custom-made for its owner, fitting perfectly in the man’s broad palm.

He flipped the dagger in his hand, spun it a few times, and casually activated it. With a faint hum, a bright, pale-blue blade flared to life, cutting a scorching arc through the air.

“Take it easy,” Li Lin said, fiddling with a pocket watch as he looked up at Xu Jiali across from him. “Don’t scratch up the coffee table. I’ll still have to file a report with the bureau and pay for it. This thing is pretty cool.”

“Cool, right?” Xu Jiali chuckled, pride clear in his voice. “Paid for it with my life. I went into the windmill at depth L-3 and saved an alglade star region noble—all by myself. After that, he gave it to me.”

He held the dagger up as if showing off a trophy. “Custom-made. Best forgemaster. Best brightgold crystal. On alglade turf, it can even count as a knight medal.”

Li Lin leaned forward, curious. “What does it do?”

Xu Jiali’s expression went flat.

“…When you buy tickets for travel within the atmosphere, you don’t have to wait in line. At the hospital, you get the green channel. Free entry to the zoo—holidays only.”

Li Lin stared. “That’s… surprisingly practical. I thought those alglade people had to do rituals and symbolism for everything.”

“They’re mystical most of the time,” Xu Jiali said with a shrug, “but no matter how mystical you are, you still have to live, right?”

Then he sighed and complained, “Operating in the Borderland is a pain. A lot of gear isn’t allowed in here. I even have the chainsaw sword, but before I came, it got rated as a hazard risk. It’s still locked in a customs cabinet.”

Li Lin opened his mouth to respond, then abruptly paused.

He’d sensed something.

Across from him, Xu Jiali had sensed it too. Both men turned toward the window.

Under the dimming night sky, a figure sat on the windowsill—a petite girl in a dark red coat, leaning against the frame in a posture that looked one slip away from a fall. One leg still hung outside.

She glanced at the two men inside with open curiosity. “So you two are the commissioners in charge of this neighborhood lately?”

“You are…” Li Lin frowned, already guessing.

“Just call me Little Red Riding Hood.” The girl waved breezily. “I’m from fairy tale. Your bureau hired me. I’ll be helping you in this area for a while.”

“Oh, then I know who you are.” Li Lin’s frown eased into a polite smile. “I’ve heard our captain mention you a lot these past two days—also your investigation in this area. My name is Li Lin, an agent from the Councilor Council’s Special Operations Bureau, Second Unit.”

On the other side, Xu Jiali looked the girl up and down, voice low. “This place might be hiding a big one. I thought you’d send Snow White princess over, or King. Of course, I’m not questioning your wolf pack.”

Unlike Li Lin, Xu Jiali clearly wasn’t meeting Little Red Riding Hood for the first time.

“Snow White princess would be overkill,” Little Red Riding Hood said lightly. “We might not even run into a high-risk entity. I’ve been active in this part of the city, and I’ve been investigating the abnormal situation on Wu Tong Road lately. I’m more familiar with it.”

She straightened, still balanced on the sill. “It’s fine. Even if Snow White princess has to come over, it’s fast. If we really do run into a big one, she’s on call anytime.”

With that, she stood, waved at them, and grinned. “I just came to say hi. You should already have my contact info. If anything happens, give me a call. Bye!”

The next second, her figure melted into a shadowspawn—vaguely wolf-shaped—then leaped down from the sill and dissolved into the night in a blink.

Li Lin and Xu Jiali stared at each other in silence.

…

After dinner, Yu Sheng sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, resting. He listened to the patter of little footsteps darting between the living room and dining room—right, left, right again—circling the sofa over and over.

He opened his eyes.

Irene was racing back and forth like she had infinite energy. The 66.6-centimeter doll had an oil painting frame almost as tall as she was strapped to her back, and she was zooming across the floor like a tiny rocket.

By the time she’d circled the sofa for the fourth time, Yu Sheng couldn’t take it anymore.

“Can you take a break?” he groaned. “Give your shoes a rest.”

“No way!” Irene skidded to a stop in front of him, face bright with excitement. “I can’t stop! I can run around now—run around! Look, I can climb onto the coffee table, and I can jump down from it!”

Before she even finished, she bolted again. She looped around the sofa, scrambled onto the coffee table with hands and feet, took a few running steps, then jumped off the tabletop straight onto Yu Sheng’s leg. Yu Sheng raised a hand to catch her, but she was already gone again—darting forward, leaping from the sofa back to the floor.

Next she zipped under the TV stand, struggled up onto it, rose onto tiptoe, and reached high enough to smack the power button.

She cheered, spun around, and beamed at Yu Sheng. “I can even reach the TV switch! From now on, when you’re not home, I can cut the power and reboot it myself!”

Yu Sheng rolled his eyes and leaned his head back. “All right, all right. Congrats. You’re amazing.”

Something flashed in his peripheral vision.

Irene sprinted back from the TV stand, planted one hand on the sofa cover and one on Yu Sheng’s pant leg, and climbed up in two quick moves. She sat down next to him, cross-legged.

The tiny doll on the cushion wasn’t even as big as a throw pillow.

The painting stood behind her. By comparison, it looked like a wall.

And yet Irene already treated the frame on her back like it had always been there. Running with it, climbing with it, even sitting with it—it barely slowed her down. There were the occasional bumps and knocks, but she didn’t seem to care.

Yu Sheng found it genuinely surprising.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” he couldn’t help asking. “Honestly, if you made me carry a door panel around all day, I don’t think I’d adapt that fast.”

“I think it’s fine.” Irene swayed happily, even though the TV had already turned on and she couldn’t focus on it for more than a second. “At first it was awkward, but after a couple laps I adjusted to the weight and size. And also…”

She hesitated, searching for the right word.

“It’s like… a sense of security,” she said slowly. “When I carry it, I feel like my back is safe, like I can relax. You know that feeling? Like when you sleep, you have to have your back against a wall—or wedge yourself against a pile of blankets.”

“I get it,” Yu Sheng said, still watching her. “But it still feels… unbelievable. I thought you’d hate that painting. It sealed you for so many years, and now you have to carry it everywhere.”

“A little.” Irene nodded, expression thoughtful. Then her smile bloomed again. “But there’s a saying, right? Since you’re here, you might as well be at ease. As long as today is better than yesterday, there’s nothing to complain about.”

“It’s ‘since you’re here, make the best of it,’” Yu Sheng corrected.

“Same idea.” Irene waved it off. Then her expression sharpened as she remembered something. “All right. I’m basically used to my new body now. We should talk about that fox…”

Yu Sheng nodded, then frowned as he looked at her—barely knee-high to him.

“You still plan to go with me?” he asked carefully.

Irene stared like the answer was obvious. “Of course. We already said we would.”

“In this state?” Yu Sheng tried to soften it, failed, and went blunt. “Can you still fight? If you want to kick my knee, you have to jump.”

“I’ll kick it to pieces!” Irene bristled instantly. “So what if I’m short? Who told you I can’t fight like this?!”

Yu Sheng hurried to calm her down.

Luckily, her temper always came fast and left faster. After a moment she leaned back and crossed her arms.

“But you’re not wrong,” she admitted. “Like this… it does affect me in a straight fight. You can’t expect a doll that’s sixty-something centimeters tall to block bullets for you, right…”

She shook her head, and her tone shifted.

“But don’t worry. Dolls aren’t only about frontline combat. I’ve got plenty of tricks. Even with only this level of ‘freedom,’ there’s still a lot I can do.”

She raised a hand in front of him.

Pitch-black silk threads spilled from her fingertips—like eerie spiderweb, like something alive. They twisted through the air and wove into a net.

“Dolls have plenty of tricks,” Irene said smugly.