Erin's reaction didn't seem fake at all.
In fact, since Yu Sheng had come into contact with this puppet up to now, he had never found her to be insincere. Her every word and deed revealed a crystal-clear sincerity, as if her head was solid inside — either her acting skills were incredibly good, or her head was truly solid inside.
Yu Sheng cautiously maintained his first guess but was more inclined towards the second possibility.
Then, he described to Erin the appearance of the deceased puppet, as well as the massive "Shadow Monster" that seemed to have perished alongside the puppet, only to get "I don't know" as her answer.
Yu Sheng frowned, sinking into deep thought.
Erin couldn't help but become curious: "Hey, why did you suddenly come to ask me these things? Didn't you go upstairs to sleep?"
Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to tell the doll before him about the changes in that room — it didn't involve his secrets, and it might even be related to Erin herself, so speaking out might actually help to unravel the mystery.
"There's been some trouble with the room upstairs..."
Yu Sheng recounted in detail to Erin what he had just seen when he went upstairs, and this time, unusually, she didn't make any beeps, only to widen her eyes as she listened, and after hearing the whole story, she stayed stunned for a long while before finally drawing out a long "wow—"
Yu Sheng suddenly felt that even after telling this creature, the mystery wouldn't be unraveled.
"It looks like you don't know what's going on either," Yu Sheng sighed, "You definitely haven't seen that mirror before, right?"
"I haven't seen it, I don't know," Erin nodded with conviction, quickly adding another sentence, "But I think your house is getting weirder and weirder."
"I feel the same without you saying it," Yu Sheng sighed upon hearing her words, "Opening a door might lead to who knows where, some room might suddenly change its decor, and mirrors might reflect scenery from who knows when and where. I used to think this place was quite liveable, alas..."
Erin, with her scarlet eyes, watched without blinking the expression on Yu Sheng's face. After listening to his rambling, she hesitated for a while, "So... are you planning to move? Not going to live here anymore?"
Yu Sheng didn't utter a word for a moment, but he had indeed contemplated this matter.
After all, he could tolerate the random haunted mirrors, furniture with unknown provenance, suspicious appliances, or Beeper sealed in the painting occasionally popping up in the house, thinking of them as adding a bit of fun to his life, since he wasn't even afraid of death. But a door that could drop him into any Exotic Realm at a push was a real nuisance, something that couldn't just be endured.
For Yu Sheng, the scariest part about going into an Exotic Realm wasn't the danger itself, but the uncertainty of whether he could return. That alone indeed made him consider moving elsewhere.
Erin noticed that Yu Sheng remained silent; after a quiet moment, she continued to speak on her own accord: "If you've got your eye on a place, let me know first, okay? If you can get me into their complex, I can help you drive down their house prices..."
Yu Sheng was taken aback: "I was just kidding at the time... don't you find this insulting to the Puppet Progenitor and your sisters?"
"I thought about it carefully, and I feel that what you said makes sense," Erin said earnestly, "Plus, after I've helped you drive down the house prices, that should somewhat count for the favor of me staying at your place, right?"
Yu Sheng suddenly realized that this creature was probably just worried about being left behind if he moved.
But he didn't point this out and just shook his head: "Let's not talk about this for now, I'm just pondering the idea, I'm not planning to move yet — don't worry, if I really do move, I'll take you with me. A painting doesn't take up much space."
"Oh, that's fine then!" Erin immediately perked up.
However, her face quickly showed a trace of sorrow: "That... the puppet you saw in the mirror, who had died, were her eyes closed?"
"…I don't think so," Yu Sheng recalled, "Why do you ask?"
Erin opened her mouth, seemingly sad, "After a living doll is damaged, if their eyes are closed, then their soul has returned to the garden at Alice's Cottage, where we will be reborn. But if their eyes are still open... it means she's still 'there'."
Yu Sheng was stunned, suddenly regretting his response without giving it further thought; he should have asked first.
"We don't know exactly what the mirror is reflecting," he said softly after a moment of silence, "but since she appeared in the mirror, maybe she's connected to this house. Perhaps one day we will find her. For now, don't think too much about it, you're still trapped here."
"Alright, you're right," Erin sighed, "Sometimes sisters go out and lose contact... it happens, yeah, it happens."
Yu Sheng suddenly felt that this puppet wasn't as heartless as he had imagined.
He then chatted with Erin for a while longer before returning to the second floor.
He checked the room at the end of the corridor once more, confirming that it was still as he had seen it before, then stopped paying attention to it and turned to enter his own bedroom.
Pulling the curtains shut, he lay in bed tossing and turning for a long time. Exhausted and sleepy, his mind was too cluttered to fall asleep. Thoughts and recent events swirled chaotically in his head—Erin's situation, the valley under the night sky, knowledge from the Exotic Realm, the fox girl who strived to stay rational until the very end urging him to run, and... his own resurrection.
After struggling for who knows how long, Yu Sheng gradually fell into a deep slumber.
He felt as if his consciousness were slowly sinking into a gentle yet chaotic pool of water. Even in sleep, the disordered "currents" of thoughts continued to encircle him. Through the hazy fog, he observed fragments of his memory and thoughts, hearing many vague voices around him, until his consciousness hit the bottom of the "pool," and quietude gradually took over.
Yu Sheng wandered in his dream, wandering through the dim daylight. He saw himself walking across a wilderness, with what appeared to be a small hill far away.
It felt as though he had been wandering around this small hill for ages without purpose, no longer knowing who he was.
But a glimpse of an unusual color in the corner of his eye made him stop in his tracks.
Between the dim chaos of sky and earth, Yu Sheng saw a spot of brightness. Instinctively, he moved toward the silver-white light. Then, with a flash before his eyes, he found himself directly in front of it.
He saw a silver-haired demon fox—its body two to three meters tall even when lying down—peacefully asleep on the wilderness.
Beautiful, elegant, tranquil.
The breeze blew from afar, stirring the slender wild grass and the silver-white fur of the demon fox. She showed no signs of awakening, simply curled up quietly. Many thick tails coiled from behind her—some held in her embrace, others covering her body like a blanket.
Yu Sheng stared in shock at the fox that appeared in his dream—somehow, he had become lucidly aware that he was dreaming.
Hesitating for a moment, he stepped forward and tentatively touched the large fox's paw: "...Hu Li, is it you?"
The White Fox continued to sleep, unresponsive to Yu Sheng's touch and calls.
Yu Sheng called out a few more times, even trying to pull on her tail, but he couldn't wake Hu Li.
It felt as though she wasn't just sleeping, but as if something had shielded her perception.
Yu Sheng frowned and took a few steps back.
Why would this fox appear in his dreams?
He admitted that before falling asleep, his mind was a mess, and he did think of the fox trapped in the Exotic Realm. But the situation now clearly wasn't the typical case of "daytime thoughts becoming nighttime dreams." He could feel it—Hu Li was truly "right here."
Musing over it, Yu Sheng suddenly sensed something and immediately looked down at his right hand.
Small beads of blood emerged from his finger, surrounded by a faint ring of teeth marks.
This was from when he had snatched the chocolate from Hu Li's hands, causing her to instinctively bite and leave the marks.
Yu Sheng stared at the scene, and suddenly, he remembered the moment in the valley when he suddenly "saw" fragments of Hu Li's memory and perceived some of her thoughts.
"Because of blood?"
He realized something, speculating that her presence here might also be related to the fact that she had inadvertently "eaten" some of his blood.
But then new doubts arose in his mind—why didn't the frog in the rain or the abstract flesh monster, who also ingested his blood, appear here? That flesh monster ate several meals of his blood, much more than Hu Li...
As Yu Sheng's thoughts began to wander in bizarre directions, he suddenly felt something and immediately heard a low, mocking chuckle from the grass behind him.
It sounded somewhat familiar.
Yu Sheng swiftly turned to look in the direction of the sound, and the next second, he heard an exasperated complaint from Erin emerging from the grass: "I told you not to laugh, you couldn't hold it in, could you? Now we've been spotted..."
Yu Sheng expressionlessly watched the oil painting frame poking out from the grass, and Erin inside the frame, hugging a teddy bear and foolishly smiling, trying to charm her way through.
"Got bored watching TV, so I came to see your dream..."