Chapter 42 - Excited Irene
In the old city, inside a certain rented private house deep in Sycamore Road, the burly man who was nearly two meters tall was nestled in the single sofa that seemed a bit cramped for him, his head bowed down as he meticulously maintained his equipment.
It was a beam dagger, its dark red hilt studded with tiny teardrop-shaped crystals that succeeded each other in a line that ran the entire length of the body, and the entire hilt was clearly tailored to the user, fitting comfortably in the burly man's wide palm.
The burly man flipped his palm over, spinning the dagger around in his hand a few times, and then casually activated it again, accompanied by a slight buzzing sound, a bright light blade of pale blue light suddenly lit up, cutting a searing arc through the air.
"You take it easy, don't scratch the coffee table - I'll have to report back to the bureau to pay for it," Li Lin took out a pocket watch and fiddled with it, looking up at Xu Jiali across the room, "... . this thing is pretty cool."
"Handsome, isn't it? Traded my life for it," the burly man hemmed and hawed, a smug look on his face, "I rescued an Algrad Star Realm noble from the 'Windmill Mill' in Depth L-3 - single-handedly - and after that He gave it to me. This thing is privately made, the best foundry craftsmen, the finest phyrexian crystals, and it even makes a knight's medal in Algradian territory."
Leylin was a bit curious, "What's the point?"
"... No lines for tickets for intra-atmospheric transportation, green lanes to hospitals, and free admission to zoos - holidays only."
Leylin listened to a little dumbfounded, "It's kinda ... practical, I thought that those godly Algrades had to do a bunch of rituals and symbolism for everything."
"It's true that they are usually quite godly, but even godly have to get by, don't they?" Xu Jiali shrugged, and then complained a little, "Hey, it's still a bit of a hassle to operate in the Junction, there's a lot of equipment that they won't allow to be brought over, and I still have a chainsaw sword, but as a result, it was rated as a hazardous hazard before I came here, and now it's still locked up in the customs locker ..."
Li Lin thought for a moment and was just about to open his mouth to speak, but he suddenly sensed something, and immediately afterward, he looked at the window of the rental house together with Xu Jiali, who also had a feeling in her heart.
A figure had appeared on the windowsill at some point in the darkening night - it was the petite young girl in the dark red jacket, leaning against the window frame in a rather dangerous position, with one leg still dangling off the sill.
She gave the two men in the room a curious look, "So, you two are the 'commissioners' in charge of this neighborhood these days?"
"You are ..." Li Lin frowned, vaguely guessing the identity of the other party.
"Just call me Little Red Riding Hood," the young girl sitting on the windowsill waved her hand, "from 'Fairy Tales', your bureau hired me to give you a hand in this area for a while."
"Oh, then I know you," Li Lin said to himself, and a polite smile ensued on his face, "I've heard our captain mention you a lot in the past two days, as well as your investigation of this area. My name is Li Lin, Council Special Service Bureau Second Brigade line operations officer."
On the other side, Xu Jiali looked the young girl on the windowsill up and down twice, and spoke in a muffled voice, "This place could be hiding the 'big guy', I thought you'd send Snow White, or the 'king'. Not that I'm questioning your wolves, of course."
Unlike the situation with Leylin, who was still a newcomer, Xu Jiali obviously wasn't meeting Little Red Riding Hood for the first time.
"Snow White's destructive power is a bit overkill here - we're not necessarily hitting a high-risk entity yet," Red Riding Hood said casually, "I've been moving around this part of town, and I've been investigating the anomalies on Sycamore Road lately, too. I'm a bit more familiar with it. It's fine, Snow White's going to be quick to get here anyway, and if we do run into the 'big guy', she's at her beck and call."
The young girl said as she got up from the windowsill and waved her hand at the two people in the room, "I came over just to say hi, you should all have my contact information, call if anything happens, bye~"
In the next instant, the young girl's figure suddenly transformed into a melting shadow, a shadow with the vague form of a wolf, which leapt off the windowsill and dissolved into the night in the blink of an eye.
Leaving Li Lin and Xu Jiali staring at each other in the rental house.
...
After dinner, Yu Sheng sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, listening to the sound of snapping sounds scurrying all over the place between the living room and the dining room, one moment to the right, one moment to the left, and then circling around the perimeter of the sofa in a circle.
He opened his eyes to see Erin running around the living room and dining room, the 66.6 centimeter tall mannequin carrying a framed oil painting that was almost as tall as he was, scurrying all over the floor as fast as a little rocket.
After Irene started circling the couch for the fourth time, Yu Sheng finally couldn't help himself, "Can't you take a break? Rest those shoes of yours too."
Erin flew to Yu Sheng, her face full of excitement, "I'm not going to! Can't stop at all! I can run around hey, run around! Look I can even climb up to the coffee table and jump down from it!"
The words did not fall, this mannequin has once again run away, first around the sofa ran half a circle, and then climbed on hands and knees to the coffee table in front of Yu Sheng, and then a few steps to help run from the coffee table desktop jumped to Yu Sheng's legs, the latter just wanted to raise his hand to catch this scurrying all over the ground, Irene has been flexible and scampered forward, and then jumped from the sofa to the floor ...
Immediately after that, she ran under the TV cabinet in the living room, climbed up to it with great effort, stood on tiptoe and reached up as hard as she could, and succeeded in pressing the switch to the TV.
Miss Doll cheered and turned her head to look at Yu Sheng with an excited expression, "I can also reach the TV switch! In the future, if you're not at home, I can also power down and restart the TV by myself!"
Yusheng rolled his eyes and tilted his head helplessly, "Well, well, congratulations, you're awesome."
The next second, he felt something flashing out of the corner of his eye - Irene ran back from the side of the TV cabinet again quickly, she grabbed the sofa cover with one hand and Yu Sheng's pants leg with the other, and in three or two times, she climbed onto the sofa and sat next to Yu Sheng.
The tiny dolls weren't even as big as a cushion after sitting cross-legged on the couch.
The painting was mortared behind her, almost like a wall in terms of scale.
But Erin had gotten used to the frame's presence with amazing adaptability, and it didn't bother her at all, whether she was running with it on her back or climbing up and down the stairs with it on her back, including sitting on the couch with it on her back - there was the occasional, inevitable bump, but the doll didn't seem to mind it in the slightest.
This made Yusheng feel surprised.
"You don't find it inconvenient to carry it around?" He couldn't help but ask curiously, "To be fair, if you were to ask me to carry a portmanteau around all day, I probably wouldn't have adapted to it as quickly as you did ..."
"I think it's okay," Erin said happily, wiggling her body on the couch, obviously unable to focus on the TV at all despite turning it on, "It was a little uncomfortable at first, but after two laps I'm totally used to the weight and size of it, and what's to say ..."
The mannequin suddenly paused, as if searching for the right words, and only after a few seconds did it speak hesitantly, "There is just a ... sense of solidity, and when you carry it on your back you feel that your back is safe and secure. Have you ever had that feeling? It's when you sleep you must have your back against a wall or against a quilt stack or something like that."
"I know what you mean by that now, but it still feels very ... unbelievable," Yu Sheng looked at the little figure beside him, "I thought you would be very resistant to this painting, after all, this thing has sealed you for so many years, and now you still have to carry it all the time."
"That's kind of true," Erin thought for a moment and nodded softly, but soon blossomed into a smile once more, "but what's the saying, what goes around comes around, and as long as I can be better today than I was yesterday, then there's nothing to complain about."
"It's 'both come and go ...'." Yusheng corrected.
"Almost the same thing," Erin waved her hand sagely, she seemed to have finally calmed down from the excitement of running around non-stop just now, and remembered the main thing at this time, "Well, my new body is almost adapted to it, so it's time to discuss the matter of that fox! ..."
Yu Sheng nodded, but soon frowned slightly as he looked at the little mannequin that was now only knee-high to him, "Are you still going to come with me?"
Erin looked rightful, "Go on, it's all agreed."
"In this state?" Yu Sheng tried hard to put words in a euphemistic way, but there was no way to think of a euphemism, so he had to be blunt, "Can you still fight? You'd have to jump up even if you kicked me in the knee now ..."
"I'll kick you to pieces! What's wrong with being small!" Erin exploded a little, "Who told you I couldn't fight now that I'm like this!"
Yu Sheng saw this and rushed to comfort him in a good way.
Fortunately, Erin's temper has always come and gone faster, she quickly quieted down, leaning towards the sofa, her hands clasped to her chest, "But you're right, I'm now like this ... frontal fights more or less suffer a little bit, and you can't count on a 60-odd centimeters tall mannequin to be able to block the gun for you is Right ..."
Speaking of this, she shook her head and suddenly changed her tone, "But don't worry, dolls have more than just frontal combat power, I'm capable of a lot more - even if I only have this level of 'freedom' right now, there's still quite a bit I can do There are still a lot of things I can do."
She lifted her hand and held it up in front of Yusei as if to show something.
Wisps of pitch-black silk threads spread from her fingertips, like eerie spider threads, as if they had independent lives, growing sinuously in the air and intertwining into a web.
"Mannequin's got it, big time!"
Erin looked smug.
Chapter 43 Irene's Program
Irene indeed has many magical abilities, this point Yu Sheng in following this doll sink into the beaver's dream deeply appreciate, but should not say, this unlucky doll usually pull crotch is too much, so that always let a person intentionally or unintentionally ignore this point ...
"So now there's just one thing left to do, the most crucial part," Yu Sheng said with a serious look on his face as he sat down on the couch and spoke to the little mannequin beside him, "Find a way to recreate the door that leads to the otherworldly valley."
"You're still going to rely on the exhaustive method?" Erin asked curiously, "Try the 'frequencies' you think are close one by one?"
Yu Sheng sighed, "It can only be this way, after all, I hadn't really mastered the technique of 'opening the door' when I first entered the valley, and I overlooked too many details at the time."
Erin twisted her head to look at Yu Sheng, the little mannequin seems to be trying to think, a moment later hesitantly spoke, "Actually ... I have an idea."
Yu Sheng immediately moved forward, "Huh? You have an idea?!"
"It's not necessarily feasible, because I don't understand exactly how you do this 'opening of the door', much less what you mean by the 'frequency' you keep bringing up," Erin said as the sofa cushions and turned around, "but from what I understand, you actually need a 'signature' that can help you 'lock' onto your destination? Or some sort of navigational signal?"
"... can probably understand it that way?" Yu Sheng himself was also a bit uncertain, "Actually, I didn't understand it too well, after all, the whole process was my own blind groping, and a lot of things were based on 'feeling', but this 'navigational signals' statement of yours is is more apt - the moment I open the door, the location pointed to on the opposite side of the door is completely random, but if I can accurately 'memorize' a certain 'feature' on the opposite side of the door, the passageway will collapses into uniqueness, presumably by a process like this."
"So that means if we can leave a navigation point on the 'Beaver' side, you can just reproduce the passage?"
"It should be," Yu Sheng nodded, but was a bit puzzled, "but where to get such a navigation point? The worry now is that we can't find the way to the valley, but if we can leave a navigation point over there then we don't have to worry ah ..."
"How about from a dream?" Erin said suddenly.
Yu Sheng froze, then vaguely understood what the mannequin meant.
Eileen then continued to explain in detail, "Last time when I sank into the Beaver's dreamland with you, I had already established a weak connection with her, and if that connection goes further, perhaps I'll be able to link to her senses - I'll then pull you in, and then you'll be able to directly contact the Beaver's senses through the the scent of that valley, wouldn't that be the equivalent of establishing a 'navigation point'?"
Yu Sheng froze and listened to this plan of Irene, and the more he listened, the more he felt that this mannequin brainstorming idea ... seemed really feasible?
"There are two difficulties with this process," Erin on the other hand was still going on, "the first is that it requires the cooperation of the Beaver herself, she must be willing to open her mind to you in order to do so, but this shouldn't be too much of a problem, just talk to her properly and understand, she should have trust in you, and the second difficulty is somewhat ... dangerous."
Yu Sheng didn't interrupt, but only signaled with his eyes for Irene to continue.
"The second difficulty, right now Hu Beaver is not the only one in her mind," Erin's expression became slightly more serious as she looked into Yu Sheng's eyes and said, "Entity-Hunger has already penetrated deep into the bottom layer of her mind, so once you have established a deep connection with Hu Beaver, it is equivalent to establishing the same connection with Entity-Hunger as well The same connection ... I'm not sure what will happen then. Although theoretically you should be able to resist the contact for a short period of time, but I'm afraid that the power of hunger has taken root in the bottom of your heart, and when the time comes to really enter the valley and confront that monster, the part of the influence that has taken root in the bottom of your heart may burst out at any time ..."
Yusheng was in deep thought.
Next to Irene a look at him did not say anything, eyes turned two times and reacted, immediately stood up from the sofa and crossed his waist (but still not as high as Yu Sheng sitting): "You do not think that when the time comes to die first to see if you can clear the influence ah! I tell you you this tendency is very dangerous, in case the dead and alive can not get rid of that you have a lot of fun ..."
Yusheng instantly adjusted his sitting position a bit awkwardly, "I didn't say ... either"
"I can see it all!"
Yusheng: "..."
This mannequin is usually not very cerebral what's with the sharp intuition at this time!
"I know I know, put the idea of 'dying a death' back in any situation," Yu Sheng was stared at by Ayrin's scarlet eyes and could only waved his hand in surrender before forcing the topic back on track. "But I still decided to try your program, the risk of direct contact with 'Entity-Hunger' does exist, but I think ... it's worth the risk."
Ayrin's scarlet eyes continued to stare at Yu Sheng for several more seconds before she spoke, "Alright, it looks like you really want to save that fox, and her situation really can't be delayed any longer, so this is the plan."
But just then, Yu Sheng suddenly remembered something else, "But there's still one more problem."
"Huh?"
"I don't always get to dream that dream with the beaver present," Yusheng spread his hands, "I didn't even dream last night - it's not like I know how to control my dreams."
Upon hearing this, Erin smiled instead, a smile of smugness and braggadocio.
"I can," the little mannequin stood proudly on the sofa with his arms wrapped around his chest (66.6cm), "just dream and leave the rest to me - I'm telling you, after I got rid of that painting, I'm now Simply strong and terrifying! I even hurt myself ..."
Before finishing his sentence, Yu Sheng adjusted his posture on the sofa, and the sofa cushion was deformed, and Irene, who was standing on the edge of the cushion, immediately followed by a wobble of her feet, "Ai" just shouted out and fell down from the sofa - and then she was stuck by the frame of the painting on her back between the sofa and the coffee table, and her whole body hung under the frame. The whole person was hanging underneath the frame.
The figures hang below the frame with their teeth and claws flailing as if they are about to fly up and bite.
That's a lot of cursing.
Yu Sheng reached out and picked up the frame, "I see you're pretty badly bound."
"You le ... I'm not going to help if you le ... any more!" Irene's two arms were stuck between the strap ropes of the picture frame, hanging into a cross as Yu Sheng picked up the frame, "You put me down! You give me ... hey hey, the arm, the joint on the arm is stuck! You give me a break ..."
Yu Sheng looked at Erin breathlessly and casually removed her from the frame and began to break her stuck joints back while enduring the staggering of the mannequin.
Late at night, Yusheng made all the preparations to go to sleep.
Erin, however, was still running around his bed as if she were a little rocket scurrying around.
"I say you, can't you even be quiet at this time?" Yu Sheng, who was lying on the bed, looked at Eileen, who was jumping up and down next to him, and was filled with helplessness, "I'm going to sleep."
"Your bed is so big!" Irene happily ran near the head of the bed, and then jumped onto the nightstand, hugging the table lamp on the cabinet for a while and shaking it, as if she hadn't heard what Yu Sheng was saying at all, "Ai ai, this table lamp is shorter than me! Yu Sheng you see! This lamp is shorter than me!"
"I'll get a nightlight next time that's shorter than you!" Yusheng rolled his eyes in dismay and reached out to remove Erin from her own lamp, "Have you forgotten what you're supposed to do? I'll lock you in the closet if you keep this up ah!"
It was only then that Irene finally quieted down and smiled sardonically, "I'm not just a little bit excited ... Well well well, you sleep you sleep, I won't make a mess."
Yu Sheng sighed physically and mentally and set Erin down, "Go help turn off a light."
The doll justified, "Can't reach it!"
"... Move a chair!"
"Oh."
The world is finally quiet.
Yusheng let out a long breath, enjoying the momentary silence in the darkened down bedroom, and began to work on adjusting to trying to fall asleep.
Then with a twist of his head, he saw two blood-red glowing eyes staring at him from the side of the bed in the darkness.
Erin's entire body was hanging on the edge of the bed, gripping the mattress like a wombat and just looking straight at Yu Sheng.
"... I can't sleep even more when you're like this," Yu Sheng had a helpless look on his face, "Say, why did you have to come to my room? Didn't you stay on the first floor before and were able to enter my dream world? Is it necessary to follow me here?"
"Good signal close by."
The mannequins are justified, and when they open their mouths, it's as true as bullshit.
But she at least understood what Yu Sheng meant, and finally jumped off the edge of the bed and ran to sit in a chair not far away.
Yusheng sighed again.
He knew Erin was still watching him, and wondered what exactly was going on in the mannequin's head (if there was one), but visually there was no getting rid of it tonight at least.
It was all he could do to try and ignore the scarlet gaze coming from the darkness, to hold out as many distractions as he could and to brew sleep.
He didn't know exactly how long he'd been tossing and turning in bed - maybe an hour, maybe more.
It was only when the sleepiness built up that he finally drifted off into a foggy darkness.
The dream descended, and in the mist of the dream came the soft, thin voice of Erin: "You've finally fallen asleep ... Come on, go this way."
Yu Sheng subconsciously turned to the direction from which the voice came, so the next second, the mist dissipated, while light emerged from the darkness.
He really did see the dark, dreary wilderness once more, the overcast sky looming over the land, the nameless knolls in the distance, and the silver-white demon fox still slumbering in the wilderness.
Yusheng walked forward, and immediately afterward, he noticed the "guide" floating beside him.
It was Erin who was channeling his dreams.
Yu Sheng stopped and looked at the oil painting in mid-air with a somewhat strange expression.
Erin in the oil painting is wide-eyed with him.
Yusheng: "... Why do I think this painting is your true form!"
Erin looked down, then up and around, finally reacting as an afterthought.
"Hey how did I get into the painting again?!"
Chapter 44: Swallowing
Antique black oil painting frames floated in a dark and dreary dream world, and the doll girl sealed in the oil painting had a head full of questions about the current situation.
"It shouldn't! I'm out of this thing's control and have a body in the real world!" Erin circled around the painting, "When I was 'out there' I admitted that I had to carry this painting on my back, as if I had more luggage with me, but how come it's even worse in the dream world ... Theoretically, shouldn't it be more free after you enter the dream? Shouldn't you be more free afterward?"
She raised her head and looked straight at Yu Sheng.
"Who am I going to ask if you ask me, I also think you should have been more free after you entered the dream," Yu Sheng spread his hands, "I still want to see what you look like at six-foot-seven, but it turns out that you're still a paperweight."
Irene looked so annoyed that she lost all interest in fighting with Yu Sheng, and after circling around the chair in the painting for an unknown number of times, she finally resigned herself to sitting back down on the chair, and then grabbed the furry teddy bear in her hand and rubbed it vigorously in her arms for a while.
"Now we're locked up with this guy again ... But it's okay, well at least we do have the ability to move freely in the real world, and the dream world isn't that important, well, not that important."
"... I kinda envy your optimism sometimes." Yu Sheng heartily lamented.
Erin immediately showed him her teeth, but in reality or in the dream world, these threats of hers showing her teeth were never much of a deterrent.
Instead, Yu Sheng took a step around the oil painting floating in the air and came to the sleeping silver fox.
"What next? Same as last time, me lying on her tail? And then we both 'sink' together?"
"It's still the same as last time, but this time, the connection will be more 'direct', I'll find a way to keep the Beaver's consciousness in a state close to waking up, so that it's convenient for you to communicate with her, as well as to sense the situation around her afterward," Erin said, floating to Yu Sheng's beside him, "But at the same time, the 'Hunger' will also notice you, and it will come to you ... What happens after this thing, I won't be able to help you, the contact and fight on the level of consciousness can only rely on yourself. "
Saying this, she paused, as if to reassure Yu Sheng, and added, "But I can be the last insurance policy, once I perceive that your spirit is drastically destabilized, I will forcibly 'yank' you out of the room, it's still as difficult as the last time you woke up violently, so you'd better be psychologically prepared for it. "
"... Seriously, really don't want to do it all over again," Yu Sheng sighed at once, but still quickly nodded, his previous determination not wavering in the slightest, "Alright then, let's get started. "
He once again found a secure depression between the beaver's large tails, and then caught Erin, who had jumped straight down from mid-air, and one man and one painting, leaning against the fox-tail, sank once more downward in this drowsy dream world.
I don't know if it was because of the connection base from last time, this second sinking process was even faster and smoother than Yu Sheng imagined, he almost only felt a trance in front of his eyes, and by the time his perspective stabilized, he had already seen the Demon Fox Maiden's silhouette.
She was crouching silently between a patch of rubble, staring blankly at something in front of her.
Yusheng's perspective came behind Beaver, following the other's line of sight forward-
He saw a huge piece of wreckage, like some kind of large craft after it had crashed, its former grandeur still vaguely visible between the twisted metal skeleton and the broken deck, and a faint glow, like an unbroken aura, slowly moving between the fragmented wreckage.
The entire wreckage crashed down to the base of the mountain, and after it collapsed and then the molten mountain rock almost swallowed and fused it into a part of the mountain, so that even a quick look at it showed what an amazing impact it had been back then.
If all the people who had traveled on it in the first place had been ordinary humans, there might not have been any survivors at all.
Yu Sheng glanced at the crash site in shock, but not forgetting his original purpose for being here, he moved closer to the demon fox girl and spoke softly in case he startled the other party, "Hu Beaver."
The ears on the beaver's head instantly stirred and branched out, then jerked up and looked around, as if trying to see the source of the sound, searching unsuccessfully before responding hesitantly, "... Eunuch?"
"It's me, stop looking, I'm in direct contact with your consciousness."
"Eungyo! You're really in! I thought, I misheard you last time ... Eunuch? This is, what's going on?" Hu Beaver's face showed surprise, she still subconsciously searched her surroundings with her eyes, "I, I was dazed in the valley, but suddenly, I came to this place, I'm, dreaming? Is it a dream?"
"Yes, I ... used some means on my side to forcefully guide your dream, only in this case can I contact you - but this is not the time to explain the details," Yu Sheng quickly said, "Listen, Hu Beaver, I'm going to save you, and for that I need to open a special door, which requires your cooperation - do you trust me?"
"Come, save me?" Hu Beaver was stunned for a moment, and suddenly reacted, immediately shaking his head, "Don't, don't come over, Enkong, you've had a hard time getting out, this valley is weird as hell, it'll be hard to escape if you come in! You, don't come! Never ..."
Yu Sheng interrupted the somewhat flustered young girl, "I have a way! Hu Beaver, listen, I have a way, I've already found a way to stabilize the way in and out of that valley, now I just need you to help cooperate to open that door, don't worry about that monster, I can deal with it-get it? I'm awesome, and I've found help this time, and it's ... well, awesome too."
Yu Sheng tried to find a way to pacify Hu Beaver, trying hard to get the other party to let go of her heart, while a trace of confusion surfaced on Hu Beaver's face, her thinking was sluggish, it seemed like she had to struggle to keep up with Yu Sheng's words, and after a while, and not knowing how much she had understood, she spoke up doubtfully, "So, Enkong is an Immortal as well?"
Yusheng had no idea how the beaver's mind had jumped to this point.
But he could be.
"Very powerful immortal." He tried to sound reliable.
Then the demon fox girl laughed.
"What do you want me to, Enron?"
"You don't have to do anything, just sense your surroundings with your mind for the next few moments, you'll feel someone peering in your mind, even feel someone looking around through your eyes - don't resist, it's me."
"Uh, yeah."
Yu Sheng s heart was slightly relieved, and the dealings with Hu Beaver were easier than imagined, then next ... he only needed to face the second problem.
"Erin," he called softly in his mind, "begin."
In the next second, along with a slight trance, Yu Sheng felt an unspeakable ... pull.
A new "connection" appeared, established between him and the beaver, unlike the previous implicit connection established through blood, he could clearly feel that the newly established connection was stronger and ... rougher.
A portion of his consciousness went right out of control, and was fused into a whole new set of perceptions, as if nerves had suddenly been connected to a whole set of extra limbs, and though the sensations that came through were somewhat vague and sluggish, he still ... began to feel the breath around the beaver.
Cold, decaying, with a putrid odor of all decay, the wind moved through the valley, blowing through the dark woods.
The night is eternal, and hunger lives on.
The demon fox girl stood in the middle of the woods, her eyes wide as she strained to look around.
She didn't really understand what Eunuch was doing at all, and she didn't know if it was right or wrong to just stare and observe the surrounding area, she was just following her own understanding to try and accomplish what Yu Sheng had commanded her to do.
And then she felt the "connection" that Eungyo had mentioned.
She was startled, but she felt no malice.
Beavers had always been keenly aware of even the slightest hint of malice, but this time, there was none coming from them.
She only felt slightly relieved, and even ... her stomach didn't seem so hungry.
...
The moment the overwhelming hunger and the tide of madness that had been suppressed in the depths of hunger surged towards him, it was as if Yu Sheng had sensed a huge wave that had smashed into him - like a mountain collapsing in the darkness of the night, the hunger and the madness were like substance, like huge shadows, like solidified darkness, and almost instantly flooded every inch of his senses. every inch of his perception.
Yu Sheng didn't even have time to call out Irene's name, but just tried to memorize the "characteristics" of the valley from the beaver in the nick of time, and then he was completely drowned by the wild black tide.
Yet deep in the black tide, he found himself maintaining his lucidity.
His soul withered and died as hunger gnawed at it, and Yu Sheng watched "himself" being swallowed up in the blink of an eye in the tide of darkness, while his perspective was that of an indifferent bystander.
As the hunger subsided and the withered and dead soul awoke once again, Yu Sheng opened his eyes in the darkness, and for a moment he was not even sure if he was experiencing "death" again, or if he was just having the illusion of being swallowed up for a moment.
He wandered through the depths of darkness, unable to feel time pass or the end of space, not even sure he was actually moving.
He could only feel ... that there were sights always falling on him.
Not one stream of sight, but this whole dark chaos, was part of that sight.
He was like a grain of sand so small that it was only the size of a pinprick, watched and drowned by the rambling, hungry gaze.
And then after an unknown length of time, he finally glimpsed the depths of that darkness ... with floating massive limbs, or shadows.
Chapter 45 Contact, Rooted
Yu Sheng's mind was immersed in a huge and unnamable tide of darkness, and the shadow cast by the "body" of hunger was even more astonishing in scale than he had ever imagined, and this huge scale was exactly what "hunger" should be! --That is the most enormous and primal terror that is suspended above the heads of all living beings, and buried deep in the hearts of all living beings.
And then he perceived in the depths of this shadow the ... "entity" that was slowly floating and writhing.
It was hard for him to say exactly what it was, it seemed to have countless tentacles and bloated and proliferating clumps of flesh and blood, and every part of its body was constantly changing form, even as if it were collapsing into new structures or gaps in real time as Yu Sheng gazed at it, and its surface was pitch-black, and yet in the depths of those intertwined tentacles it seemed to be concealing ever-changing colors with a disorienting quality that made one's mind gradually get lost.
And the moment Yu Sheng perceived the thing, the thing also perceived Yu Sheng's presence.
There was no time to react, countless new tentacles and branching structures spread out from within the thing in the blink of an eye, tentacles full of malice instantly arriving and violently wrapping around Yu Sheng's mind.
Yu Sheng felt 10,000 voices exploding in his "mind", and he had no way to resist or dodge them. His mind had already established an irrevocable connection with something even bigger, which was hissing in the depths of his consciousness, transmitting wild and terrifying thoughts, but the next moment, Yu Sheng realized that it didn't seem to have any real reason or thought. have no real reasoning or thinking-
It was just some kind of huge and wild "instinct", and the wild thoughts and compulsions he felt were just the tools that this huge instinct had mimicked in order to "hunt".
It came from those creatures it had devoured, their madness and despair at the end of their hunger, the remnants of the dying wails of those victims, all of which together converged into the monster's entire malice, allowing this thing that was originally just an aggregation of instincts to gradually grow to the present day, and even turn into a powerful "entity" that would actively "forage for food", actively compel and force its prey. and forcing its prey to become a powerful "entity".
It is still growing rapidly, and what was once only a mimetic ability to think is now gradually becoming its real "mind"!
Now, it began to try to dismantle Yu Sheng's mind, trying to turn the uninvited guest in front of it into its new "nourishment" as well.
The feeling of his mind gradually "dissolving" came to him, and Yu Sheng felt that he was being rapidly "digested", becoming part of the monster. He tried his best to break free from the tentacles that were entangled around him, but found that the stronger he struggled, the stronger the tentacles became! But he realized that the stronger he struggled, the stronger the tentacles became!
And just then, Yu Sheng suddenly felt something.
He looked furiously at the huge entity that was writhing in the darkness, and in the next instant he saw countless pairs of eyes of various shapes and sizes suddenly emerge from the mottled colors in the depths of that darkness, and one of those eyes ... was his.
He felt another shaking in his vision, and in the darkness he again saw countless tentacles stretching forward, at the end of which was entwined a humanoid silhouette that was constantly struggling.
He felt the creature digesting and absorbing itself.
He felt like he was devouring something.
He's eating.
He's eating.
Just at the moment when Yusheng could barely distinguish where exactly his perspective was, and could no longer tell where the boundaries between himself and the creature lay, Irene's alarmed voice suddenly came faintly from the depths of the darkness-
"Crap?!"
In the next second, Yu Sheng felt a violent fall.
The last time he had that uncomfortable to the point of violent awakening experience, he instantly did it again.
Yu Sheng snapped his eyes open, the intense tingling and roaring in his mind as well as the pain coming from all over his body drowned out all his senses in the blink of an eye, he rolled over and held onto the bedside table to dry-heave violently, even trying to vomit his own heart out but nothing came out, and it had been a long dozen of seconds before the horrible aftereffects of the situation finally faded away.
Yu Sheng held onto the bedside table and supported himself up with great difficulty, seeing the dim morning light was pouring into the room through the curtains, and seeing that the mannequin with the picture frame on its back was sitting on its own bed, with great uneasiness and nervousness on its tiny face.
"Are you okay? Or are you?" Erin scrabbled over on her hands and knees, grabbing Yusheng's arm and shaking it vigorously, "Remember who I am?"
"Don't shake, don't shake, still dizzy ... Crap, why does my whole body hurt ... " Yu Sheng hurriedly interrupted the mannequin, "I'm awake, Erin, I'm fine ."
Irene stared blankly at Yu Sheng for several seconds before she finally let go of her hand, "You scared me to death you! You you ... you suddenly acted as if you were dead, and your mental reactions all disappeared! And then suddenly came to life again, the whole mind was in a mess, I didn't even know what the hell I was waking up! You scared the hell out of me! Scared me to death!"
Irene said "scared me to death" several times in a row, obviously really frightened, but it was hard for Yu Sheng to find the energy to calm down this little mannequin, the huge impact of establishing a deep link with "hunger" still remained in the bottom of his heart, and even seemed to still remain a huge shadow, Yu Sheng tried to get rid of its influence, leaning against the bed for a long time to catch his breath before he finally came to his senses. A huge shadow, Yu Sheng tried to get rid of its influence, leaning against the bed for a long time to catch his breath, before finally letting his mind completely clear.
"Erin, that thing is dangerous." He said.
The little mannequin stood on Yusheng's stomach, "Of course I knew about the danger! I told you from the beginning that it was dangerous!"
"No, I'm saying that thing is more dangerous than you know - it's close to actually learning to think."
Erin froze with her eyes wide open.
"It originally only had instincts, it was after devouring countless minds that it learned the means to force and compel," Yu Sheng leaned against the bed, gazing into Irene's eyes, "Simple and rough hunting can only get limited 'nourishment ', forcing and compelling a mind to the point of insanity is able to obtain a staggering amount of 'nourishment', that thing didn't know all of this from the start, it learned it gradually, and now ... it's almost about to emerge as a real thinking activity ."
A hint of horror finally faded on Erin's face, but immediately afterward, she suddenly reacted to something else.
"How did you know?!" The mannequin snapped over, his face almost pressed against the tip of Yusheng's nose, "You ..."
"... I established a deep link with that thing, deeper than we had planned at the beginning," Yu Sheng didn't hide it, "For a moment, I felt that I even became a part of that monster ... So in the depths of the darkness, I saw its most primitive form, and the secret of its continuous growth."
"Crap ... Crap!" Erin nearly jumped out of her entire body, followed by a blistering version of a bleep, "I told you this wouldn't work! It's dangerous! Who knows what's going to happen, and you had to try it, what to do what to do what to do what to do ... It's over ah! Definitely rooted ah! You're not even being watched, you're being gnawed on by it ah! 'Hunger' has definitely taken root in your mind ah ah ah ah ah - finished! It's over!"
The little mannequin's staggering movements grew louder and louder, crawling all over the bed and on Yusheng's stomach, and Yusheng tried to interrupt several times unsuccessfully, to the point where he finally had to forcibly lift her up in mid-air to quiet her down, "Calm down, Eileen, you calm down."
"Calm down X oh! The 'hunger' has already taken root in your heart! Don't you even bring yourself to be nervous at all?!" Erin wobbled in mid-air, "It's going to grow in your mind, bigger and bigger, and then 'bam'! You're done for! Even if you hide in the real world! Do you even realize the state you're in ... Don't say you'll be resurrected! This stuff is rooted in your mind! If your body can be renewed, can your mind be too? Are you sure you can get rid of this 'rootedness' by dying and living again?"
Of course, Yu Sheng knew all this, but he also did not know why he did not have any sense of urgency that his life was counting down, and even his "spiritual intuition", which had become more and more spiritual lately, did not alert him.
He knew on a rational level only that the situation was dangerous, and a perverse calm filled his heart.
But he knew he couldn't show this calmness too much, then Erin would freak out even more.
"As long as the 'hunger'... I mean, killing that 'instance of the entity' that's having an effect on me is eliminated before that happens, there won't be a problem,... Right?" Yu Sheng tried to divert Erin's attention, "The 'rooted' part will take some time to burst out, we still have time."
"Time ... Yes, there's still time, hurry, be quick!" Erin was indeed instantly distracted, and at the same time noticed with hindsight that she was being grabbed in mid-air, "You put me down! Quickly put me down, let's leave immediately to take out that 'entity instance', yes, yes, yes, right away, while you still don't feel anything ..."
Yusheng exhaled softly and put Erin on the bed, ready to get up and get off the floor.
But as soon as his movements zoomed in, he immediately felt a burst of soreness coming from all his limbs and bones, and immediately sucked in a mouthful of cold air.
"Hiss! How does it hurt so much ..." Yu Sheng looked down at himself in dismay, "I clearly remember that the aftereffects disappeared soon after the last 'fierce awakening' ah... ...And it didn't hurt on my body at that time, how do I feel like I've been beaten up ..."
He said this side, next to the previous second was anxious and panicked dolls but suddenly quiet, and then Erin while not moving sound crawling towards the end of the bed while muttering in a low voice: "There ... are sometimes 'wake up violently' is also produce some physical aftereffects. ..."
"No!" Yusheng reacted at once, peeling back his own sleeve, "I was just hit - I still have teeth marks on my arm!"
Erin had crawled to the end of the bed by this time, "You sleep grind your teeth and chew on them yourself."
"Such small teeth marks you say I chewed them myself?"
"I'm just trying to get you up! If you can't be woken up by conventional means, then you have to use something unconventional?"
Erin stood at the end of the bed with her arms crossed in justification, then twisted her head and jumped to the floor, scampering out the door!
Chapter 46: The Door is Wide Open
Erin's decision to turn her head and run was a bit unexpected, and the little mannequin's two short legs were also quite fast when she was backing up - but unfortunately, she was now only 66.6cm tall in total.
A sixty-odd centimeter tall mannequin with two short legs pouring out stumps was just like that, and before she could run to the door, the picture frame on her back got stuck on the leg of the chair next to her - she had wanted to drill through under the chair, but she had forgotten that she was carrying something behind her back.
Yu Sheng took two slow steps before grabbing Erin, who was still in mid-air making a backward motion.
"Don't hold a grudge like that!" Erin waved her arms vigorously and punched and kicked at the air, "And wasn't that my way of waking you up! Though I admit the method was a bit too creative, but didn't you wake up in the end! Hey you put me on ..."
"I didn't say anything about that," Yu Sheng interrupted Erin with a smile, casually placing the little figure on the ground, "I just want to tell you, next time don't bite so hard, with my recovery power it still hurts after such a long time of recovery, and this is more or less a bit of retaliation from you- -Of course if you can not bite that would be better."
Erin froze and was quite surprised, "Ah, you're not angry?"
"Nonsense, it's not like I'm uneducated," Yu Sheng bristled, carrying Erin and heading for the door, "Now go get ready, it's time for us to set off for that valley."
Irene stood on the ground a bit stunned, seeing Yu Sheng walk away before rushing backwards to catch up, "Have you memorized all the 'characteristics' over there?"
"Clearly."
...
"I now feel that this place is actually quite peaceful," Xu Jiali sat behind the window, nibbling on the pancake fruit that Li Lin had bought back in the morning, her eyes looking at the street outside, quite emotional, "It's so nice, much more peaceful than the Unlawful Star District, and there are no angelic congregations on the street ..."
"That compared to the intensity of the battle when you were out in the field this side must be peaceful," Li Lin sat next to Xu Jiali, holding a cup of hot soybean milk and sucking, "as half a vacation, anyway, the mission is just to keep an eye on, really appeared any extraordinary contraption, the Bureau will naturally send support over. "
"But I see 'Little Red Riding Hood' is always tense," Xu Jiali looked up and glanced out the window, "just how old is she, tense as a tensioned spring- -I was just like her when I first came out of the 'station'."
Not far from the window, on the roof of a neighboring building, a young girl in a dark red coat was hidden in a corner keeping an eye on the movements in the street, a ham sausage in her mouth, while the shadows of wolves appeared and disappeared in the air around her.
Seems to be aware of the line of sight falling on his body, "Little Red Riding Hood" vigilantly looked up towards the window where Li Lin and Xu Jiali were, after confirming that there was nothing going on she nodded gently, and after looking at the street, she drew out a few books and pens from the book bag placed next to her, and began to bury her head in her homework.
The wolves continued to watch the streets in her place.
Li Lin looked at the dark red figure on the roof not far away and couldn't help but mutter, "I've often heard of the name 'Fairy Tale', but I've personally seen the members of the organization on this one ... This is still underage, right? Just run out to do such a dangerous job ah?"
"More than half of the members of 'Fairytale' are about her age and pretty much from the same place," Seo Jia Li sighed, "all unlucky kids."
Lilin was surprised when he heard, "All of them? For what ..."
"It's because it's easy for children to fall into 'fairy tales', and it's often hard for members of the organization to survive 'fairy tales' when they're adults," Seo Jia Li waved her hand. "If you're really interested go back to the archive room and look up the information yourself, you don't want to pry into this with her in front of her."
Li Lin perceived something in his colleague's attitude, and with a thoughtful oh, he tentatively returned his attention to the peaceful and calm old streets and alleys outside.
"It doesn't look like it's going to be much of a day." He exhaled slightly and continued to suck on the soy milk.
Xu Jia Li: "I'm not full, where's your instant noodles? I'll take a pack."
"Under the bed in the back room - boil your own water, the kettle's in the kitchen, that water dispenser in the living room doesn't work well, it doesn't produce hot water. By the way, make me a packet too."
...
Yu Sheng looked at Irene standing in the doorway with a skeptical expression, "Is this what you're preparing for?"
Erin stood on the shoeshine bench on the inside of the foyer, trying to puff out her chest so she could look a little more powerful, while in her hand she grasped a kitchen knife from the kitchen - it was large, and the grip didn't really fit in the little mannequin's hands, so she had to use both hands to cradle the handle to hold it steady.
"I'm not prepared for it, more body armor a little more solid, really fight you just look at my super strong magic power on the line."
Listening to the mannequin's confident bragging, Yu Sheng's face shook, "Then you might as well take a fruit knife, it's a bit better for you to grab."
"Fruit knives have no air."
"With your height, you don't have any momentum even if you carry a dragon slayer's knife!" Yu Sheng looked helpless, "I'm telling you don't break it after you go over there, I kinda like this knife, it's especially good at cutting meat."
"Okay, okay, rambling, which so much to worry about," Irene two hands carrying a kitchen knife, impatiently white Yu Sheng a glance, "hurry up and open the door, how to say also first confirm the opposite side of what is the situation."
Seeing this, Yu Sheng said nothing more, but turned around and gripped the handle of the gate, at the same time confirming another glance at the things piled up at his feet.
That's food for the beavers.
When he had previously entered the foreign realm, the things he carried with him as well as the garbage bag he carried in his hand had also been brought through the gate, but this time he was going to try to carry a lot more - in addition to a large pile of food there was also an additional Irene, and with so many more "loads "In fact, he had no idea whether it would work or not.
Of course, the test is tested, but only in the home short distance door test, and travel to the "foreign" ... This is not the same as the real world in a small area of movement.
So he could only make more preparations, and if it didn't work out, this time would be treated as a test as well.
Yusheng wore an unusually wide jacket, and the pockets inside and outside were already stuffed with compressed cookies, bread and several cans of eight-precious congee, while when he opened the door later, he would "hold it as long as he could", first sending the supplies at his feet, and then going through the passageway together with Irene.
To do this, he also needs to open the door as wide as possible.
Still not knowing what the principle of the process was, he was left to his senses.
Yu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling the characteristics of that valley that he had previously recorded through the beaver's perception.
Memories of the cold night winds, the putrid smells, and the gnawing hunger that filled the entire foreign land.
And most importantly, the "breath" required for spiritual guidance.
All of this is translated into the "frequency" of the door opening, and into the view he imagines on the other side of the door.
Next, he tried to give his full attention to opening the door this time, to opening a door that was big enough, stable enough, to be big enough to bring Erin through, to be big enough to bring everything through, and to arrive exactly at the beaver's side ...
The doorknob turned slightly, and chilly air entered and exited the foyer through the slowly opening doorway ...
A passageway on a scale far greater than the previous ones was established.
As for the exact size of the corridor?
Enough to make Director Hyakuri Haru of the Secret Service and all the Operations Brigade Leaders let out shrill explosions in their offices, anyway.
Buzz--
A strange, low humming sound suddenly echoed throughout the Sycamore Road neighborhood, yet it was so far beyond the limits of ordinary human hearing that only those trained to perceive the power of the Other Side could hear the constant tremor it produced in the depths of their spirituality.
Is carrying two bowls of instant noodles from the kitchen out of the XuJiaLi instantly feel something, he looked up at the window in dismay, but see the window of the sky is rapidly darkening, as if a layer of heavy curtain is gradually shrouded in the whole world city over, and in the curtain, all the buildings outside the window are gradually become transparent, disappearing, a hazy like a valley like a strange scenery in the original neighborhoods from the "growth" out. "A strange, hazy, valley-like landscape is growing out of the original neighborhood.
Little Red Riding Hood, who was busy catching up on her homework on the roof outside the window, also jerked her head up as the wolves whimpered uneasily in the shadows, and a cold wind blew out of nowhere, swirling her math problem book.
Li Lin, who was still lamenting the peace and tranquility of the streets a moment ago, jumped up with a cry of "Crap": "Crap! There's a situation outside!
Xu Jiali took three or two steps and ran behind Li Lin with the instant noodles, and then immediately reacted, "That's not right! It's not the outside that's in trouble!"
Leylin jerked his head back, "What do you mean?"
"It's us who are 'observing' the change - we're falling into an alien realm!" As a senior deep diver, Xu Jiali instantly judged the situation, and immediately after casually shoving the instant noodles into Li Lin's hands, she first rushed to her equipment box, removing the beam dagger and protective equipment from it, "Quickly contact the bureau, while the signal is still ... "
However the sinking into the foreign realm was faster than Xu Jia Li had imagined.
Some kind of "pulling" force far beyond his experience dragged his and Leylin's perceptions past the boundaries of common sense and reason almost instantly, and he only felt a flash of light in front of his eyes, and just as he had the time to pick up his equipment, he heard the sound of hollow winds whistling.
All the scenery in front of him changed, the rented house dissipated like a phantom dream, and a valley shrouded in night appeared before him.
Leylin also only had time to see the cell phone screen on the table in front of him suddenly light up, and the Director's phone number flashed on it for a split second - and after that, all that was left in front of him was the dark and dreary rocks, and the dark and dreary woods.
The two Secret Service agents looked up in bewilderment, and after glancing at each other, they heard the low growl of a wolf from beside them again.
They turned their heads to see the young girl in the dark red jacket standing next to them with a serious face.
"We've fallen into a foreign realm." Xu Jiali was silent for a moment and spoke in a deep voice.
Little Red Riding Hood nodded softly, "I know, judging by the size and features, it would be the 'wilderness' category."
Li Lin looked at Xu Jiali and then at the girl in red and felt that he should say something as well.
He looked down and lifted his hand, "Want some noodles?"