Erin indeed possessed many magical abilities, which Yu Sheng deeply realized as he followed the puppet sinking into Hu Li's Dream Realm. Whether or not to say it, this unfortunate puppet usually underperformed in so many areas that people often inadvertently overlooked this fact...
"So now there's only one thing left, the most critical part," Yu Sheng sat on the sofa, speaking seriously to the little puppet beside him, "Figure out a way to reproduce the great door leading to the Exotic Realm Valley."
"Are you still planning to rely on the exhaustive method?" Erin asked curiously, "Testing one by one what you consider close 'frequencies'?"
Yu Sheng sighed, "It has to be this way, after all, I hadn't truly mastered the skill of 'opening the door' when I first entered the valley, and I overlooked too many details at that time."
Erin turned her head to look at Yu Sheng, the puppet seemed to be deep in thought, and after a moment of hesitation, she spoke, "Actually... I have an idea."
Yu Sheng immediately leaned forward, "Hmm? You have a solution?!"
"It might not work, because I don't even understand how you 'open the door', let alone understand the 'frequency' you keep mentioning," Erin turned her body on the sofa cushion, "But according to my understanding, you actually need something that can help you 'lock onto' your destination? Or some kind of Guiding Signal?"
"...Perhaps that's one way to understand it?" Yu Sheng himself became a bit uncertain, "Actually, I haven't fully figured it out; the whole process was me blindly groping my way through, and much of it was based on 'feeling', but your idea of a 'Guiding Signal' is quite apt—I, at the moment of opening the door, the location directed by the door is completely random, but if I can accurately 'remember' some 'feature' of the location on the opposite side of the door, the passage will collapse into a unique path, approximately like that."
"That means, if we could leave a Guiding Signal on Hu Li's side, you could directly recreate the passage?"
"It should be," Yu Sheng nodded, but then hesitated, "But where can we get such a Guiding Signal? The problem now is not finding the way to the valley; if we could leave a Guiding Signal there, we wouldn't need to worry anymore…"
"From the dream?" Erin suddenly said.
Yu Sheng was stunned, then vaguely understood the puppet's idea.
Erin continued to elaborate: "The last time I sank into Hu Li's Dream Realm with you, I had already established a weak connection with her, and if this connection could go further, perhaps I could link to her senses—I'll pull you in with me, and at that time, you can directly contact the valley's essence through Hu Li's perception. Wouldn't that be like establishing a 'Guiding Signal'?"
Yu Sheng listened to Erin's plan, gradually thinking this wildly imaginative idea... might actually work?
"There are two difficulties in this process," Erin continued, "First, it requires Hu Li's own cooperation, she must be willing to open her mind to you, but that shouldn't be a big problem, just clearly explain it to her, she should trust you. The second difficulty is a bit... dangerous."
Yu Sheng did not interrupt, only indicated with his eyes for Erin to continue.
"The second difficulty, there's more than just Hu Li herself in her mind now," Erin's expression grew a bit more serious, looking into Yu Sheng's eyes, "Entity-Hunger has already deeply infiltrated into the depths of her psyche, so once you establish a deep connection with Hu Li, it means you've also established the same connection with Entity-Hunger... I'm not sure what will happen then. Although theoretically, a short contact should be bearable for you, I'm worried that Hunger's power might take root in your heart, and once you actually enter the valley and confront that creature, the influence that has taken root inside you could erupt at any moment…"
Yu Sheng fell into deep thought.
Seeing him silent, Erin's eyes darted around before she quickly realized something and immediately stood up from the sofa, hands on hips (though still not as tall as Yu Sheng sitting), "Don't think about dying once to see if you can clear the effects! Let me tell you, this tendency is very dangerous, what if you can't shake it off after dying and coming back to life, then you'll be in big trouble…"
Yu Sheng adjusted his sitting position somewhat embarrassedly, "I didn't say…"
"I can see it!"
Yu Sheng: "…"
Why is this puppet normally so slow but now so sharp?
"I got it, I got it, in any case, push the idea of 'dying once' back," Yu Sheng, feeling awkward under Erin's crimson eyes, could only surrender with a wave of his hand and then forcefully steer the topic back on track, "But I still decide to try your plan; the risk of direct contact with 'Entity-Hunger' indeed exists, but I think... it's worth the risk."
Erin's crimson eyes continued to stare at Yu Sheng, and after a few more seconds, she finally spoke: "Fine, it seems you really want to rescue that fox, and her situation really can't be delayed any further, so let's go with this plan."
But just then, Yu Sheng suddenly remembered something else, "However, there's another problem."
"Ah?"
"I might not dream of that dream involving Hu Li," Yu Sheng spread his hands, "Last night I didn't even dream—I don't know how to control my own dreams."
Hearing this, Erin instead started laughing, her smile filled with pride and show-off.
"I can," the little puppet bragged, arms crossed standing on the sofa (66.6cm), "You just dream, leave the rest to me—that's right, ever since I got rid of the shackles of that painting, I've become unbelievably strong! I'm even scared of…"
Before she could finish, Yu Sheng adjusted his position on the sofa, and the sofa cushion deformed. Standing on the edge of the cushion, Erin immediately wobbled and cried out "Ah" as she tumbled down from the sofa—then got caught between the sofa and the coffee table by the frame of the painting on her back, hanging below the frame.
The puppet hanging from the frame waved its claws as if to bite someone.
Cursing badly.
Yu Sheng reached out to pick up the frame: "I see your bondage is still quite severe."
"You're happy now... If you keep being happy, I won't help anymore!" Erin's arms were stuck between the straps of the painting frame, and as Yu Sheng lifted the frame, she hung like a cross, "Put me down! You put me... hey hey, my arm, the joint is stuck! Help me fix it..."
Yu Sheng looked at Erin silently, casually taking her down from the frame and starting to deal with the stuck joint amidst the doll's clamor.
Late at night, Yu Sheng had made all the preparations to go to sleep.
But Erin was still running around on his bed, like a little rocket darting everywhere.
"I'm telling you, can't you stay calm for a moment?" Yu Sheng lay in bed and watched Erin jumping up and down next to him, his face full of helplessness, "I want to sleep now."
"Your bed is so big!" Erin happily ran near the head of the bed, then jumped onto the bedside table, shaking the lamp on it as if she hadn't heard Yu Sheng at all, "Hey hey, this lamp is shorter than me! Yu Sheng, look! This lamp is shorter than me!"
"I'll buy a smaller nightlight next time, even shorter than you!" Yu Sheng rolled his eyes in annoyance, and took Erin down from his lamp, "Do you forget what you're supposed to be doing? Keep this up and I'll lock you in the closet!"
Erin finally quieted down, giggling sheepishly: "I'm just a bit excited... alright, alright, you sleep, I won't make trouble."
Yu Sheng sighed tiredly, putting Erin down: "Go help turn off the light."
The doll asserted proudly, "I can't reach!"
"... Get a chair!"
"Oh."
The world finally quieted down.
Yu Sheng took a deep breath, enjoying the moment of tranquility in the darkened bedroom, and began to try to adjust his state to fall asleep.
Then he turned his head and saw two blood-red glowing eyes staring at him in the dark.
Erin was hanging over the edge of the bed, clutching the mattress like a koala, just staring straight at Yu Sheng.
"... You're making it even harder for me to fall asleep," Yu Sheng said helplessly, "Besides, why do you need to be in my room? Couldn't you enter my dreams from the first floor before? Did you really need to follow me here?"
"The signal is better when I'm closer."
The doll spoke as if what she said was perfectly reasonable, though it sounded like nonsense.
Finally understanding what Yu Sheng meant, she hopped off the edge of the bed and sat down on a nearby chair.
Yu Sheng sighed again.
He knew Erin was still watching him, and wondered what was going through the doll's mind (if she had one), but it seemed like he wouldn't be able to send her away tonight.
He could only try to ignore the crimson stare coming from the darkness, trying his best to filter out distractions and coax his sleepiness.
He didn't know how long he struggled in bed—maybe an hour, maybe more.
Only when his drowsiness peaked did he finally sink into a dim, foggy darkness.
The Dream Realm descended, and in the mist of the dream, Erin's soft voice emerged, "You finally fell asleep... come, this way."
Yu Sheng instinctively turned towards the direction of the voice, and the next second, the mist cleared, and light and shadow emerged in the darkness.
He really saw it again—the dark wilderness, the gloomy sky looming over the earth, the unnamed hills in the distance, and the silver demon fox still sleeping in the wilderness.
Yu Sheng walked forward, and soon noticed the "Guide" floating beside him.
It was Erin guiding his dream.
Yu Sheng halted, looking somewhat strangely at the painting in midair.
Erin in the painting stared eye to eye with him.
Yu Sheng: "... I feel like this painting is actually your real form!"
Erin looked down, then looked up again, and finally reacted with a slow realization.
"Hey, how did I get into the painting again?!"