Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Irene’s Plan

Irene really did have a lot of frightening, impressive abilities. Yu Sheng had experienced that firsthand when he’d followed her into Foxy’s dream.

But to be fair, the way she behaved in daily life made it alarmingly easy to forget.

“So there’s only one thing left,” Yu Sheng said, sitting on the sofa and forcing himself into seriousness. “The most important part. We need a way to recreate the door that leads to the Otherworld valley.”

“You’re still planning brute force?” Irene asked, curious. “Try every ‘frequency’ you think might be close, one by one?”

Yu Sheng sighed. “That’s the only method I have. The first time I entered the valley, I hadn’t really mastered the door-opening skill. I missed too many details.”

Irene turned to him, frowning as she thought. After a moment, she spoke carefully.

“Actually… I have an idea.”

Yu Sheng leaned forward immediately. “You do? You have a way?”

“It might not work,” Irene said, scooting on the cushion. “I don’t really understand how your door-opening works, or what you mean by ‘frequency.’ But in my understanding… what you need is some kind of feature that helps you lock onto a destination.”

She tilted her head. “Or some kind of navigation signal.”

“I guess… you could put it that way,” Yu Sheng said, not entirely sure. “I don’t even understand it myself. I’ve been feeling my way through, and a lot of it is instinct. But ‘navigation signal’ isn’t a bad description. When I open a door, the place on the other side is totally random—unless I can clearly remember something from that side. Then the passage collapses into a single possibility. Something like that.”

“Then if we can leave a navigation point on Foxy’s side,” Irene said, eyes brightening, “you can recreate the passage directly, right?”

“Probably.” Yu Sheng nodded, then frowned. “But where do we get a navigation point? We can’t even find the road to the valley. If we could leave a marker there, we wouldn’t be stuck.”

Irene’s smile turned mischievous.

“How about from a dream?”

Yu Sheng froze—and then the idea clicked into place.

Irene leaned forward, explaining in a rush. “When I sank into Foxy’s dream with you last time, I already formed a faint connection with her. If I can push that connection further, I might be able to link into her senses. And if I pull you along too, you can use Foxy’s perception to touch the aura of that valley.”

She spread her hands. “Wouldn’t that be the same as setting up a navigation point?”

Yu Sheng listened in a daze.

The longer she spoke, the more this wild plan sounded like it might actually work.

“This has two hard parts,” Irene continued. “First, we need Foxy’s cooperation. She has to be willing to open her mind to you. That shouldn’t be too hard—just explain it properly. She should trust you.”

Her expression turned serious.

“The second hard part is… dangerous.”

Yu Sheng didn’t interrupt. He just waited.

“The second hard part is that Foxy’s mind isn’t just hers anymore.” Irene met his eyes. “Entity-Hunger has already sunk deep into the foundation of her mind. Once you form a deep connection with Foxy, it’s the same as forming the same connection with Entity-Hunger. I don’t know what will happen then.”

She drew in a breath. “In theory, you should be able to withstand short contact. But I’m worried the hunger will take root in your heart. Then, when you enter the valley and face that monster, the part of its influence rooted inside you could explode at any moment.”

Yu Sheng fell silent, thinking.

Irene watched him for two seconds, then suddenly bristled as if she’d read his mind.

“Don’t you dare think you can just die once and see if it clears the influence!” she snapped, standing on the cushion with hands on hips—still not as tall as Yu Sheng sitting down. “I’m telling you, that tendency is dangerous. If you die and come back and you still can’t shake it off, you’re in for a world of pain.”

Yu Sheng shifted awkwardly. “I didn’t say—”

“I can tell!”

Yu Sheng: “…”

This doll was usually not very bright, so why was her intuition this sharp right now?

“All right, all right.” Under the pressure of her blood-red stare, Yu Sheng surrendered and raised both hands. “No matter what happens, I’ll put the ‘die once’ idea on the back burner.”

Then he forced himself back to the point. “But I’m still going to try your plan. The risk of touching Entity-Hunger directly is real, but… I think it’s worth it.”

Irene stared at him for several more seconds. Finally, she exhaled.

“Fine. You really do want to save that fox, and her situation can’t wait anymore.” She crossed her arms. “We’ll use this plan.”

Yu Sheng remembered something else. “There’s one more problem.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not sure I can dream the dream that has Foxy in it.” He spread his hands. “Last night I didn’t even dream. I don’t know how to control my dreams.”

Instead of worrying, Irene laughed—bright, smug, and full of herself.

“I can.” She puffed up, arms crossed, standing proudly on the cushion like a commander despite being 66.6 centimeters tall. “You just sleep. Leave the rest to me. I’m telling you, after breaking free of that painting’s restraints, I’m so strong it’s scary! Even I’m af—”

She didn’t finish.

Yu Sheng shifted on the sofa. The cushion dipped.

Irene, standing on the edge of it, wobbled, let out a tiny yelp, and toppled off the sofa—only to get wedged between the sofa and the coffee table by the oil painting frame on her back.

She dangled beneath the frame, flailing like she was about to fly up and bite someone.

The cursing was impressive.

Yu Sheng reached over and lifted the frame. “Looks like you’re still pretty restrained.”

“You’re laughing!” Irene snapped, arms trapped in the straps, stretched into a miserable little cross. “If you laugh again, I’m not helping! Put me down! Put me—hey, hey, my arm, my arm joint is stuck! Bend it for me…”

Yu Sheng stared at her wordlessly.

He plucked her out of the straps and, ignoring her continued shouting, started bending the stuck joint back into place.

Late at night, Yu Sheng finally finished everything he needed to do before bed.

Irene was still running around on his mattress like a tiny rocket.

“Seriously,” Yu Sheng said, lying there and watching her bounce, completely helpless. “You can’t be quiet for even a minute? I’m going to sleep.”

“Your bed is so big!” Irene chirped, sprinting near the headboard. Then she hopped onto the nightstand, grabbed the lamp, and shook it like she hadn’t heard a word he said. “Hey, hey! This lamp is shorter than me! Yu Sheng, look! The lamp is shorter than me!”

“Next time I’ll buy a night light that’s even shorter than you!” Yu Sheng rolled his eyes and pulled her off the lamp. “Did you forget what you’re supposed to do? Keep this up and I’ll lock you in the closet.”

Only then did Irene finally settle down. She smiled sheepishly. “I’m just… a little excited. Okay, okay. You sleep. I won’t mess around.”

Yu Sheng sighed, exhausted in body and mind. He set her down.

“Go help turn off the light.”

“I can’t reach,” Irene said righteously.

“…Move a chair.”

“Oh.”

At last, the world went quiet.

Yu Sheng let out a long breath and enjoyed the rare tranquility in the dark. He tried to relax, to clear his mind, to coax sleep—

Then he turned his head and saw two blood-red glowing eyes staring at him from beside the bed.

Irene was hanging off the mattress edge, clinging like a koala, staring straight at him.

“With you like that, I can’t fall asleep,” Yu Sheng said, rubbing his eyes. “Why do you have to come to my room? You were able to enter my dream even when you stayed on the first floor before. Do you really need to follow me in here?”

“Closer signal,” Irene replied righteously, as if that made perfect sense.

It was nonsense… and yet, in an irritating way, it sounded convincing.

At least she’d understood what he meant. She finally dropped to the floor and ran to sit on a chair not far away.

Yu Sheng sighed again.

He could still feel her watching him in the dark. He had no idea what went on inside her head—if she even had one—but it didn’t look like he was going to chase her away tonight.

So he tried to ignore the crimson stare and force himself to sleep.

He didn’t know how long he tossed and turned—maybe an hour, maybe longer.

Only when exhaustion piled high enough did he finally sink into foggy darkness.

The dream descended.

In the thin mist of it, Irene’s soft voice came through. “You finally fell asleep… come on. This way.”

Yu Sheng turned toward the voice on instinct.

The next second, the mist dispersed. Light and shadow formed in the darkness.

He saw that dim wilderness again—the gloomy sky pressed down on the earth, nameless hills in the distance, and the silver-white demon fox still asleep in the wilds.

Yu Sheng took a step forward.

Then he noticed the “guide” floating beside him.

It was Irene… guiding his dream.

Yu Sheng stopped, staring at the painting hovering in midair with a strange look.

Irene, trapped inside, stared back.

Yu Sheng: “…Why do I feel like this painting is your real body?”

Irene looked down, then looked around.

A beat later, realization hit her like a slap.

“Hey! Why am I back in the painting again?!”