Chapter 41: The Free Doll

Yu Sheng was completely dazed.

The moment he saw Irene suddenly "disconnect" and fall out, he even thought the doll had died of sudden failure due to a low-quality shell—fortunately, a voice from behind interrupted his terrifying train of thought.

Holding Irene's shell in his hand, Yu Sheng raised his head stiffly and looked toward the large table used for processing clay.

The classical oil painting with its ornate frame leaned quietly against the edge of the table. Inside the painting, Irene was staring out with wide eyes, looking this way in a panic.

"I—I don't know what happened either!" Noticing Yu Sheng's gaze, Irene immediately waved her hands frantically. "One second I was running forward, and the next, I opened my eyes and I was back. What is going on? This is..."

A slightly piercing, low chuckle drifted from the frame, sounding as if it were mocking her, yet carrying a hint of sympathy.

It came from the plush teddy bear; this time, Yu Sheng finally saw it smiling with his own eyes.

With her temperament, Irene couldn't stand this. She immediately jumped up and rushed to the red velvet chair, grabbed the teddy bear, and shook it violently by the neck. "You think this is funny! You think this is funny! Was it you? Did you do this? I'm back again!"

However, a mindless toy could not respond; it simply continued to giggle in her hands, making the doll increasingly furious.

Seeing this, Yu Sheng hurried forward, intending to persuade the doll girl in the painting: "Hey, don't get so worked up, let's think of a way..."

He had only said half a sentence when the doll girl in the painting, who was currently holding the teddy bear in a chokehold while attempting an over-the-shoulder throw and an armbar, suddenly vanished. Immediately after, Yu Sheng felt the doll's body in his hands jerk violently. Before he could react, this 66.6cm tall little thing lunged onto his arm, performing a habitual sequence of a failed chokehold, a failed over-the-shoulder throw, and a failed armbar.

But she was quite strong, squeezing the flesh on Yu Sheng's arm until it ached.

Yu Sheng had to forcefully pry Irene off his arm and shake her in front of his eyes: "Wake up, wake up. It's me, Yu Sheng. You're out again."

Irene gradually regained her senses. She hung in the air in a daze for a moment, then lifted her head to look around, her gaze finally focusing on Yu Sheng's face. "...Huh?"

Then, both of them looked up at the nearby frame, simultaneously falling into a state of stupor and contemplation.

A moment later, Yu Sheng silently carried Irene backward, retreating all the way to where she had fallen earlier. As he took his final step, the doll's body in his hands instantly went limp, as if the power had been cut, and her life force dissipated.

Irene's figure abruptly reappeared in the oil painting. She scanned her surroundings, looked up blankly at Yu Sheng, and said, "I'm back again. So, as I thought..."

Yu Sheng casually lifted the doll's body toward the oil painting, bringing the two closer together.

The body suddenly sprang to life, as if the "power cut" had never happened. Irene's voice came from within, finishing the sentence she had left hanging in the painting: "...it's a matter of distance?"

"Seems so." Yu Sheng frowned slightly at the sight. He moved the doll a bit further away, only to see the body "lose power" again. Irene's voice drifted from nearby: "Then this is a bit..."

Yu Sheng pushed the doll forward again.

Irene: "...a bit troublesome... Can you stop playing around! You've disconnected me several times in the span of a single sentence!"

Yu Sheng sheepishly brought Irene closer to the oil painting, explaining in passing, "I mainly wanted to confirm exactly how far this 'signal' range goes."

"Is there a difference between five meters and six meters? It's at most two steps!" Being held by her collar, Irene flailed her limbs, then suddenly sensed something was wrong. She glared at Yu Sheng. "Put me down! Why do you keep carrying me around like this!"

Hearing this, Yu Sheng quickly set the increasingly disgruntled doll lady on the ground and stared back at her.

Only then did Irene realize she had to tilt her head back almost ninety degrees just to speak to Yu Sheng.

However, her dignity would not allow her to let Yu Sheng squat down to communicate with her—not to mention that even if Yu Sheng did squat, she would still have to look up.

"Stand there and don't move," the doll suddenly said.

Yu Sheng was stunned. "What are you doing?"

The next second, he knew what she intended—the doll grabbed his leg and began to climb. Like someone scaling a tree, she scrambled up in a few quick movements, as agile as a monkey, and sat directly on his shoulder.

Yu Sheng was a bit bewildered but didn't dare move, fearing he might knock her off. "I haven't agreed to this yet..."

Irene replied righteously, "You didn't ask for my permission when you were carrying me around to test the signal earlier, either."

Yu Sheng was instantly speechless.

The two returned to the large table and began studying the oil painting.

"I really am out. I can feel that my 'soul' is in this current body," Irene said, frowning as she looked at her former "prison" with a conflicted expression. "But..."

"But based on how it's behaving, this painting seems to still be your 'foundation.' Your current body is like it's being remote-controlled; once you move out of range, you disconnect," Yu Sheng stated his observation candidly.

Irene lowered her head, looking exceptionally dejected.

But she didn't cry this time—perhaps because the series of blows had been so heavy that she had developed a sort of brain-dead mental resistance in a short amount of time.

Seeing such a calm reaction from the doll, Yu Sheng actually panicked and rushed to comfort her: "Don't be too pessimistic. Maybe it's just that this body isn't working well? I'll work on my skills, and next time I reshape your body..."

"Tell me," Irene suddenly interrupted his rambling. The expression on the little doll's face was complex, making it impossible to tell what she was actually feeling. "If I run around everywhere carrying my own prison on my back, is that considered a prison break or not?"

Yu Sheng was taken aback. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I once saw someone who ran around carrying their own prison, and the ending was quite tragic. But he was 'inside' his prison. You, at least, are on the outside..."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Irene muttered. She jumped down from Yu Sheng's shoulder and onto the table. With a complicated expression, she approached the oil painting that sealed her. She reached out, grabbed the frame, lifted it slightly with some effort, put it back down, and then turned around to try and shoulder it.

However, the oil painting was large—while Yu Sheng could lift it easily with one hand, for Irene, it was almost as tall as she was.

"...Is there any rope at home?" the doll asked, looking up.

"Yes!" Yu Sheng nodded immediately. "Wait a moment, I'll go get it!"

Ten minutes later, Irene watched as Yu Sheng meticulously tied knots onto the frame and adjusted the position of the straps. Once the preparations were mostly complete, she stepped forward. "I think it's ready."

"Come, give it a try," Yu Sheng nodded, propping the frame upright. He watched as Irene somewhat clumsily slipped her arms through the shoulder straps. "How is it? Is the strap position right? Do you need it tighter?"

Irene tugged at the straps on her shoulders, walked two laps around the table with the frame on her back, and nodded with satisfaction. "No, it's perfect!"

"Is it heavy?"

"Not heavy at all! I'm very strong!" As she spoke, Irene even hopped in place on the table with the frame on her back, then began to jog in circles around the edge of the table.

A tiny doll (66.6cm) running around a table while carrying an oil painting nearly as tall as herself looked somewhat... peculiar.

But as Yu Sheng watched this, he gradually began to smile.

Because he saw that Irene was also smiling. The doll seemed to have shaken off her previous bad mood and was gradually becoming happy again.

She was even more optimistic than Yu Sheng had imagined.

"It's actually quite easy to carry!" Irene stopped at the edge of the table and said to Yu Sheng with a smile. "This way, I don't have to worry about the 'distance' restriction. I'm so smart!"

"You certainly are optimistic," Yu Sheng remarked sincerely. "I thought you'd be depressed for quite a while."

"One must look forward—dolls included," Irene said happily. She jumped down from the table and climbed up Yu Sheng's arm to his shoulder again. This time, she wasn't as agile as before because she had to be mindful of the frame on her back to avoid bumping into the chair or hitting Yu Sheng's head. "Compared to before, at least I can move freely. If I have to carry it, so be it. Besides, the fellow inside the painting doesn't seem to want me to be too far away... Come on, let's go downstairs. You haven't had dinner yet—I want to watch TV!"

Yu Sheng froze for a moment. He turned his head slightly, watching the doll out of the corner of his eye, who was smiling brightly and seemed full of anticipation for the future.

"Alright, I'll go cook," he said, reaching up to steady Irene as he rose from the chair. "And then, we'll start researching that passage back to the valley tonight."

"Mm!" Irene also seemed full of fighting spirit. With a bright smile on her face, she pointed forward high-spiritedly. "Giddy up!"

Yu Sheng instinctively picked the little doll up by her collar again. "I'm dropping you."

Irene immediately curled up. "No, no! The mood was just right just now..."

Yu Sheng shook his head, caught between laughter and tears, repositioned the doll securely on his shoulder, and stepped forward.

Outside, the night was deepening. The streetlights of the old district lit up one by one in the darkness, casting a hazy, warm glow through the old streets and alleys. Through the window, a sense of tranquility drifted in.

"Yu Sheng, it's completely dark outside."

"Yeah."

"Hehe, I'm looking forward to it..."

"Looking forward to what? The dark?"

"No, just... looking forward to it. It has nothing to do with the dark~"

"...I don't get you."

"Tch."

(End of Chapter)