Yu Sheng was completely flabbergasted.
At the moment he saw Erin suddenly "disconnect" and get thrown out, he even thought that the doll had exploded due to using a low-quality body shell—thankfully, a voice coming from behind interrupted his frightening association.
Yu Sheng, holding Erin's body shell in his hand, stiffly raised his head and looked towards the large table previously used for processing clay.
The classical oil painting with its ornate frame was quietly leaning against the edge of the table, and Erin, within the painting, was staring wide-eyed, looking over here in a panic.
"I, I don't know what happened either!" Noticing Yu Sheng's gaze, Erin immediately started waving her hands vigorously, "One second I was running forward, and the next thing I knew, my eyes opened and I was already back here, what's going on, this..."
A slightly grating, low-pitched chuckle came from the painting frame, as if mocking yet seemingly with a hint of sympathy.
It was that plush toy bear making the sound, and this time Yu Sheng finally saw it laughing with his own eyes.
Erin couldn't stand this; she immediately jumped up and rushed to the red velvet chair in front, grabbed the toy bear by the neck, and started shaking it vigorously: "You're still laughing! You're still laughing! Was it your doing? I'm back now!"
However, the non-thinking toy bear could not respond, and it continued to giggle in Erin's hands, driving the doll to greater rage.
Seeing this, Yu Sheng hurried forward, intending to calm the doll girl in the painting: "Hey, don't get so agitated, let's think of another solu..."
Before he could finish, the doll girl in the painting, who was performing an armlock and throwing the toy bear over her shoulder, suddenly disappeared; immediately afterward, Yu Sheng felt the doll's body shell in his hand bounce sharply. Before he could react, this 66.6 cm tall little thing pounced on his arm, attempting to execute an armlock (failed), over-the-shoulder throw (failed), and cross lock (failed) combo.
Yet her strength was quite significant; it painfully squeezed the flesh on Yu Sheng's arm.
Yu Sheng had no choice but to forcefully remove Erin from his arm and brought her up to his eyes, vigorously shaking her: "Wake up, wake up, it's Yu Sheng, you're out again."
Erin also gradually came to her senses, hanging in mid-air, she blinked, looked around, and finally focused her gaze on Yu Sheng's face: "…Ah?"
Then, both of them looked up towards the painting frame nearby, falling into a state of stasis and contemplation.
After a moment, Yu Sheng silently picked Erin up and walked backward to the spot where she had fallen before, and with his last step, the doll's body shell in his hands suddenly drooped down like it was out of power, its vitality dissipated.
Erin's figure abruptly appeared in the painting; she looked around, then dumbly looked up at Yu Sheng: "I'm back again, so it really is…"
Yu Sheng casually lifted the doll's body shell he was holding toward the direction of the painting, bringing the two a bit closer.
Suddenly, the body came alive again, as if the "power outage" had never happened. Erin's voice emerged from it, continuing the sentence she hadn't finished in the painting: "…is it the distance?"
"Seems so." Yu Sheng slightly frowned as he watched this scene, and then moved the doll further away, only to watch the doll's body shell "power off" again, Erin's voice coming from not far away: "Then this is…"
Yu Sheng pushed the doll forward again.
Erin: "…a bit troublesome… can you stop playing around! You've taken me apart several times in the span of one sentence!"
Yu Sheng ruefully moved Erin closer to the painting, while incidentally explaining: "I mainly wanted to confirm how far this 'signal' distance really is."
"Does it make a difference between five or six meters? At most it's just these two steps!" Erin, being held by the collar, thrashed about, then suddenly felt that something was wrong, raising her eyes to glare at Yu Sheng, "Put me down! Why keep holding me up!"
Hearing this, Yu Sheng quickly put the increasingly upset doll lady back on the ground, then they both stared at each other.
Only then did Erin realize she almost had to tilt her head at a ninety-degree angle to talk to Yu Sheng.
However, her dignity wouldn't allow Yu Sheng to squat down to communicate with her—besides, even if Yu Sheng did squat, she would still have to tilt her head up.
"Stay there, don't move." The doll suddenly spoke.
Yu Sheng was taken aback: "What are you doing?"
The next second he understood what Erin wanted to do—the doll directly clung to his legs and started climbing up like climbing a tree, swiftly scampering up, agile as a monkey, and then sat directly on his shoulder.
Yu Sheng was a bit stunned, but dared not move, fearing he might accidentally topple Erin: "I haven't agreed yet…"
Erin declared with righteousness: "You didn't ask for my consent either when you were testing the signal by holding me just now."
Yu Sheng was suddenly at a loss for words.
The two returned to the big table and began to study the painting.
"I indeed came out, I can feel that my 'soul' is in this current body," Erin frowned, her face troubled as she looked at her former "prison," "But…"
"But from what we can see, this painting still seems to be your 'foundation'. Your current body is like it's being remote-controlled, losing connection once it goes out of range," Yu Sheng frankly expressed his opinion.
Erin lowered her head, looking particularly dejected.
But this time she did not burst into tears—probably because a series of setbacks were quite significant, and she managed to build up something like brain-dead spiritual resistance within a short time.
Yu Sheng panicked a bit seeing such a calm reaction from the doll and hurriedly comforted her: "Don't be too pessimistic, maybe it's just that this body isn't working well? I'll practice my skills and try reshaping the body next time…"
"You say," Erin suddenly spoke up, interrupting Yu Sheng's rambling. The tiny doll's facial expression was complex, making it hard to discern her mood at the moment, "running around with one's own prison, has one really escaped from prison or not?"
Yu Sheng was taken aback and after pondering for a moment, he said, "I once saw someone running around with their own prison; the end was quite tragic, but he was inside his 'prison'. At least you are outside…"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Erin murmured, then jumped down from Yu Sheng's shoulder. She hopped onto the table, approached the oil painting that sealed her with a complex expression, stretched out her hands to grab the frame, slightly lifted it, then put it back, and turned around trying to carry it on her back.
However, the painting was very big—although it was easy for Yu Sheng to carry with one hand, for Erin, it was almost as tall as she was.
"…Do we have any rope at home?" the doll asked, looking up.
"Yes!" Yu Sheng immediately nodded, "Wait a moment, I'll go get it!"
A dozen minutes later, Erin watched as Yu Sheng carefully tied knots on the painting frame and adjusted the positions of the knots. Once the preparations were almost done, she stepped forward, "I think it's ready."
"Come and try," Yu Sheng nodded, stood the painting frame up, and watched Erin somewhat awkwardly pass her arms through the straps, "How is it? Is the position of the knots suitable? Should it be tightened a bit more?"
Erin tugged at the knots on her shoulders, carried the painting frame and walked around the table twice, nodding contentedly, "No need, it's very suitable!"
"Is it heavy?"
"Not at all heavy, I am very strong!" Erin said, and while still carrying the painting frame, she hopped in place on the table, then started jogging around the edge of the table.
The tiny doll (66.6cm), running around the table with a painting frame almost her height, looked somewhat… odd.
But watching this, Yu Sheng gradually began to smile.
Because he saw Erin smiling too—seemingly shaking off her bad mood earlier, she was gradually becoming happier.
She was more optimistic than Yu Sheng had imagined.
"It's quite handy!" Erin stopped by the edge of the table, smiling at Yu Sheng, "This way, I won't worry about the 'distance' limitation, I'm really smart!"
"You really are optimistic," Yu Sheng sincerely felt, "I thought you'd be upset for quite a while."
"People should look forward—dolls too," Erin cheerfully jumped down from the table and climbed from Yu Sheng's arm to his shoulder—this time less agile because she had to mind the painting frame on her back to avoid bumps on the chair and hitting Yu Sheng's head, "Compared to before, at least I can move freely, carrying it is just fine, it seems like the fellow inside the painting also doesn't want me to go too far… Let's go downstairs, you haven't had dinner yet—I want to watch TV!"
Yu Sheng paused, slightly turned his head, and with the corner of his eye, he watched the doll full of smiles, seemingly full of anticipation for the future.
"Alright, let's cook," he lifted his hand to support Erin as he got up from the chair, "and then tonight we'll start looking into the passage back to the valley."
"Yeah," Erin also seemed full of fighting spirit, her face radiant with a brilliant smile, spiritedly pointing forward, "Let's go!"
Yu Sheng casually lifted the tiny doll from his shoulder again: "I might just throw you down."
Erin immediately shrank, "No no, just got carried away with the mood just now…"
Yu Sheng shook his head, amused and bewildered, and properly placed the doll back on his shoulder and began to walk forward.
Outside, the night was gradually deepening, street lights in the old town district sequentially lighting up, creating a hazy and warm glow that flowed through the old streets and alleyways, filling the space visible through the window with tranquility.
"Yu Sheng, it's completely dark outside."
"Yeah."
"Hehe, kind of excited..."
"Excited about what? The darkness?"
"No, just feeling a bit excited, nothing to do with the darkness~"
"…Don't understand."
"Tch."