First Step in preparing the body

Chapter 37 First Steps in Preparing the Body

　　Hearing Ayrin's request, Yu Sheng was a bit surprised, he didn't know why the other party had to raise this matter so solemnly at this time.

　　Regarding the matter of making a body for this painted idol, they did talk about it more than once before, but it was never finalized, partly because Yu Sheng and Irene still lacked trust and understanding of each other, and partly because there were just too many messy things going on right now, and Yu Sheng didn't have the time to think about Irene's body.

　　But now seeing the extremely solemn expression on Miss Doll's face, Yu Sheng realized that she hadn't brought this up on a whim or in a moment of caprice.

　　He looked at Erin with a questioning gaze.

　　"I'm going with you," was Erin's answer, also simple, "just as more than one caretaker."

　　"Are you sure?" Yu Sheng's expression was a bit subtle, "Of course I'm not doubting your strength ah ..."

　　"Listen," Erin interrupted Yu Sheng, she came to the edge of the frame, her face occupying almost two-thirds of the picture, her tone unusually serious, "I'm not joking with you - although I don't know exactly how you plan to deal with that 'entity', but just from the fact that you can bring back 'local specialties' from the other side, I won't ask exactly what kind of ability you have. plan to deal with that 'entity', but just from the fact that you can bring back 'local specialties' from the other side, you should be somewhat capable, I won't ask what kind of capability, but you should know that when dealing with the foreign realm, you can only rely on 'being able to fight'. 'being able to fight' isn't enough, at least not when dealing with tricky entities like 'Hunger'."

　　She said, stepping back a little, "Build me a body, let me regain some of my ability to move freely, It doesn't matter if it's rough, as long as it's free from the bondage of this damned oil painting, I can do a lot more, even though I can't regain my full strength, I'm definitely much stronger than an unusual investigator or so-called Spirit Realm Detectives or Otherworldly Hunters, even if a lot of my knowledge are forgotten, the instincts of a living doll I still have."

　　Yu Sheng looked at Irene fixedly, and Irene also gazed at Yu Sheng with scarlet eyes.

　　"I can help you, Yu Sheng," Erin said earnestly, "We've already worked together once when we traveled to the Beaver's Dreamland."

　　This time, Yu Sheng pondered longer than ever before, and then he had to admit Irene's reasoning.

　　He wanted to go back to the valley and take care of the "Entity-Hunger", but he also knew that the chances of eliminating the monster just by going in alone were not high - of course, he had no fear of death, and had gradually become stronger in the process of devouring the "Entity-Hunger", but this strengthening obviously had a limit, and it would not be easy to eliminate the "Hunger" . Of course, he is not afraid of death, and in the process of devouring the "entity-hunger" has gradually become stronger, but this kind of strengthening obviously has a ceiling, and "hunger"... is not easy to destroy.

　　Relying on constant deaths to "mop up" the monster might be a solution, but it was clearly the next best thing, and it would be nice to have a helper who could fight and knew something about extraordinary powers.

　　Just need to give Erin some credit for releasing her from this picture.

　　And that trust was built long after they fell into a beaver's dream together and awoke from it to meet and vomit on each other.

　　"Looks like I'll have to make a trip downtown," Yusei exhaled softly, leaning back in his chair, "You'll have to go to a specialized craft store for materials like clay wigs, they're not available in an old town like this."

　　The mannequin girl in the oil painting blinked and reacted with a look of surprise, "You ... you agree ah?!"

　　"If you don't require much in the way of body mass and trust my handiwork," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "I can try."

　　"The requirements are not high, it's just a human model, I can remake it myself - as long as you don't make any mistakes during the 'alchemy' session," Erin spoke in a panic, as if she was afraid that if she said it too late Yu Sheng would backtrack, after that she searched for another moment, her expression a little subtle as she turned her face sideways, "And ... And if you really can't buy the right materials ..."

　　Yu Sheng looked curious, "What if I really can't buy the right materials?"

　　"... You're fine with dough."

　　Yu Sheng froze for two or three seconds, finally revealing the most shocked look since he had known Erin: "Huh?!"

　　Erin explained in a whisper, "The materials are just a medium, it's the alchemy part that really takes effect, your blood and my soul ..."

　　Yu Sheng's entire body is confused, "Hey not ... retreating to the second best I know, but you this is also too second best right?!"

　　Erin thought about it and decided to budge out of it by showing a harmless le to the raw.

　　She passed.

　　Still, Yusheng decided to make a trip out to buy something.

　　"I'd better go buy some serious clay, the amount to make a body for you should be quite a lot, it's better not to wreak havoc with the food, and I've got some other things to buy," Yu Sheng exhaled, casually speaking as he got up, "Just stay home and watch the TV, and if there's a situation, call me remotely --The TV will wait for me to come back if it dies again."

　　With that, he picked up the remote control and turned on the TV for Erin, while Erin in the frame nodded honestly, "Oh ... come back soon then."

　　With a promise, Yusheng put on his jacket and stepped towards the entrance hall.

　　Gripping the door handle of his room, the first thing he did was to fix his mind, and only after confirming that there would be no little green men with lightsabers raised in craters meteorite rain sulfur lakes and big sisters of elves in full mechanical modifications appearing outside the door did he inhale deeply, push open the door of his room, and smoothly walk out onto the old streets of Sycamore Road.

　　Yusheng suddenly found this interesting.

　　It's easy for him to travel to the end of the world (whether or not he can come back and if he'll die out there first), instead it's much harder for him to push the door open and walk down the street now ...

　　Walking on his way to the bus stop, Yusheng casually looked around again.

　　I do not know when to start, he walked in this huge and unfamiliar city in the mentality of a slight change, the previous days of depression and anxiety quietly subsided, he walked in this can not be considered his "hometown" on the street, the heart felt in addition to calm, there is a hint of ... ... ...excitement and anticipation.

　　Even the sky, which was so bright that it was somewhat blinding, now looked a pleasantly sunny color.

　　There were vendors selling things at the intersection, sparse pedestrians passing by, and children who had gotten into some sort of trouble screaming and running down the street, followed by adults who ran and cursed all the way down the street.

　　Yu Sheng thought to himself, "Could there be those "professionals" mentioned by Irene? Those who were protecting the city in the shadows, fighting against the foreigners, had anyone noticed something a little "wrong" hidden in this calm and peaceful old city?

　　His mind even wandered and he began to speculate about which of the pedestrians on the side of the road looked unfamiliar, which looked like plainclothes, and which looked like spiritual detectives and investigators.

　　The uncle at the intersection of the pancake fruit stall is a bit like, today changed a very bad hand; opposite the balcony is drying the clothes of the aunt may also, I have not seen before; just shouted and ran over the bear child could be? I heard Irene say that spiritual detectives also have the "trick" of changing their appearance, it's very magical. ...

　　Anyway, the mental guy next to him squatting on the ground in a tank top with dyed yellow hair and a cell phone out is definitely not it, it's so unlike him.

　　Humming a little song, Yusheng passed through the old street, brushing shoulders with Li Lin, who was squatting on the ground in an undershirt with dyed yellow hair (wig) and a cell phone out.

　　After a while, Xu Jiali (male), who is close to two meters tall, wandered into the street, looked down at Li Lin, who was staring at him, and then squatted down and lit a cigarette, squatting with the other side like a big spiritual guy.

　　"Are you reliable in this outfit?" Xu Jia Li asked.

　　"Reliable," Li Lin said casually, "I used to go out in the field to stakeout are dressed like this, those pancake fruit colleagues are exposed I have not been exposed - I also have a set of the second element of the battle suit it, that is more covert, and once even a border smuggling held down that he did not believe that a second element is the Secret Service spies. I also have a second gen battle suit, that's even more covert, once I held down a border smuggler who didn't believe that a second gen was a secret service agent."

　　The burly man listened in awe, "What's a secondary battlesuit? Sounds like a force-field type of power armor? I thought you guys weren't allowed to use that stuff in the Junction?"

　　"... can't talk to you," Li Lin looked disgusted and moved to the side, "You stay away from me, you're too big, don't expose me."

　　"It's impossible, I'm more of a hobo than you are," the strong man bristled, "You're the one who hasn't found anything all morning, are you? Seriously, I suspect that even if there is something hiding in this place it's unlikely to be a 'person', it's more likely to be a bizarre entity or an exotic erosion point or something, and that would be more in line with the clues you've found so far in this place - hell, there was a lot of commotion in the city last night, and I don't know what it was. Last night, there was a big commotion in Boundary City, I don't know what's going on at the Bureau now, but we're still here staring at an unknown thing like idiots. ..."

　　Leylin lazily ignored the burly man, pulled out a large charger to dislike his phone, and then chose to turn up the external volume of his phone a bit more.

　　And after two or three hours, Yu Sheng had already bought everything he wanted at the mall downtown.

　　Now he dragged his large bag to a deserted place and began to fall into thought.

　　It was a bit much to buy - the weight wasn't a problem for him now, it would just still be a pain to carry it all the way back on the bus.

　　So he had a bold idea.

　　He thought it was well worth trying.

　　Yu Sheng raised his head, once again making sure that no one around him was paying attention, before silently reaching out and probing the air beside him - the door, taking shape in his hand.

　　Three seconds later, in a hidden "depth" in the depths of Boundary City, countless officers, clerks, captains, and their director, Baili Qing, who had already worked overtime to the point of fuzzy consciousness in the headquarters of the Secret Service, were catapulted out of their chairs at the sound of a sudden alarm. ...

　　Yusheng went home with several large plastic pockets.

Chapter 38 Shaping

　　The kitchen doorknob turned for a moment, then pushed open silently, and Yu Sheng stepped through the door carrying several large pockets, greeting the dazed Erin not far away, "I'm back."

　　Erin eyes wide, obviously did not react at once how it　　is: "You are not to go outside to buy things how from ..."

　　She stopped suddenly, as if in reaction.

　　"No way! You have to 'open the door' even when you go to the mall and come home!?"

　　"I've thought about it for a while, and since this gate doesn't just lead to the otherworldly realm, but also to some 'faraway place' in reality, it doesn't make sense that it can't go to a closer place instead," Yu Sheng said to Erin with a smug look on his face," By the way I also tested carrying items and living creatures through this gate, and it looks like as long as the stability of the gate is maintained they can all pass through the gate without any problems ..."

　　Irene was stunned to hear the word "living things" and was a bit curious: "Living things? Where did you get a living thing? Where?"

　　Yusheng held out his hand, "I caught a mosquito before coming back ..."

　　Erin: "...?"

　　Ms. Doll had a whole new appreciation for Raw's creativity, and then her attention couldn't help but fall on the several large shopping bags the other woman had brought back.

　　The first thing she saw was that there was a box of eight-pack congee in it.

　　Yu Sheng emptied the contents of the shopping bag outward, first put the box of eight treasure congee, and then showed the rest to Erin: "I got lightweight clay, because of the huge amount of purchase, the store also gave some tools, but these tools should not be used, these are for making small dolls, to make your body you have to use this - -I got a rolling pin ...

　　"Over here is the hair and paint, both bought well, not the most expensive I guess, but close.

　　"By the way, I didn't find any clothes that would fit you, you see it's ..."

　　"No need," Aileen waved her hand, she watched Yu Sheng pouring things out, her face was already full of anticipation and excitement by this time, "I can 'mold' the clothes myself, as I said, this body is mainly used as a medium and temporary container of ... Wow, there are really a lot of things hey, Yu Sheng you really put your heart into it ah?"

　　"Nonsense, well at least do it once, either don't do it or try to do it as well as you can," Yu Sheng said, but then frowned and shook his head, "But to be honest, it still shouldn't be all there is, I've heard there's a clay drying box and all sorts of patching clays, softening oils, primers, make-up building tools and whatnot, but I took a look at it and Either they're only for small dolls, or I won't be able to learn them anytime soon. And I have a problem, clay needs time to dry, without a drying box, half a day is not enough time to dry and harden large components ..."

　　"It's okay, none of it matters, as long as I can get the framework," Irene looked in an extremely good mood, even her tone of voice when she spoke to Yu Sheng was soft as hell, "What matters is the ritual part, yes, the ritual part-otherwise I'd would have just asked you to buy a ready-made doll and come back, where's the need for all this trouble."

　　"That's fine then," Yu Sheng exhaled and began to sort through the pile of stuff, "Let's get it in the attic then, there's plenty of room up there and a big table."

　　Erin huffed and nodded, but suddenly she noticed another bag of stuff next to her, and that stuff looked a little familiar.

　　"... What is this bag of roots for?" Ms. Mannequin had a questioning look on her face.

　　Yu Sheng's hand movements lurched, looked up at Erin, then down at the bag of lotus roots, and after two seconds he let out a dry laugh, "So what, this is the alternative in case my hand is too moist, that's how I understand it ..."

　　Erin cocked her head for half a day, finally catching up with Yu Sheng's train of thought, and jumped up from her red velvet carpet chair on the spot, "No way!"

　　"No?" Yu Sheng sniffed with a bit of disappointment, "I was saying that this lotus root is quite perfect in form, picking it for half a day."

　　"Of course not!" Erin's eyes were glazed over, "I'm telling you ah prefabricated dishes are already excessive enough you're serving me prefabricated pieces again I have a big problem with that ..."

　　"Alright, alright," Yu Sheng sighed, carrying the bag of lotus root to the kitchen, "Then turn around and bring it to the fried lotus root box."

　　Erin suddenly had a bit of a bad feeling, she felt that her journey　　out of trouble today might not develop as smoothly as she had imagined ...

　　But instead, Yu Sheng grew confident at this point, and after organizing the tools and materials he needed to shape the mannequin's body, he picked up his things with one hand, and with Irene's picture frame under his arm again, he reached out and took hold of the kitchen's doorknob.

　　Erin was quick to respond this time, "... Do you have to open the 'door' even if you just go to an attic!"

　　After thinking about it for a moment, Yu Sheng thought that it seemed like a bit of lazy overkill, so he smiled awkwardly and turned toward the stairs leading upstairs with the materials and Erin.

　　The house had a large attic, just above the second floor, which was more like a separate floor that had to be partitioned off because the height of the floor was left too high when the house was started, and it was about half the size of the second floor, and had two street-facing windows and a skylight-which was why, from the outside, one could see that this house There were three floors in total.

　　Yusheng actually seldom went to the attic except when he was cleaning.

　　Because there was almost nothing there, except for a large table that seemed to have been put there because there was no room for it, there were only two old chairs that creaked, and at night or on cloudy days when the light was not good, the over-empty attic always looked eerie and a little scary.

　　But for now, it's just right to serve as a "workshop" for Irene's body molding.

　　Yu Sheng ran twice, and from the second floor of the utility room to find some tools that may be useful and an old lamp, as well as Irene's request, the "ceremony" need to use a variety of strange things, all transported to the attic of the large table.

　　Irene's frame was placed in a corner of the table, leaning against a stack of old books that temporarily served as a stand, and she watched quietly as Yusheng ran around busying himself, appearing quieter than ever, and wondering what all was going on.

　　Yusheng sat down at the large table, the old chair creaking, and he fiddled with the clay and the spatula, trying to familiarize himself with their "properties".

　　Erin suddenly broke the silence, "Yu Sheng."

　　"Hmm?"

　　"I'm really going to come out of this picture."

　　"Yeah, if all goes well."

　　"... I didn't think it would actually happen," Erin muttered in a small voice, "In fact, I didn't expect it years ago ... "

　　"Suddenly remembering to lament about this now?" Yu Sheng raised his head and glanced at the painted idol who seemed to be suddenly a bit sentimental.

　　Erin sat down in a chair, cradling her teddy bear and slowly rocking her body, "Nothing, just wanted to thank you."

　　"Let's put the thanks after the success, then," Yusheng exhaled softly, as if to relieve a little of the tension in his heart, "Now tell me, what's the first step?"

　　"Candles, placed in each of the four corners of the table, and one more lit and placed next to my frame - the most basic part of the torso must be finished before the candles burn out."

　　Irene's expression became serious, and she began to guide Yu Sheng on how to use a bunch of everyday materials to complete the molding of the container for the "living doll".

　　This is the first time she has passed on the knowledge that belongs to "Alice's Cottage" to a ... "human being".

　　"Draw three concentric circles on the table, their range is your operating space, and then from each of the four corners of the candle extends a line, intersecting in the center of the concentric circles ... try to draw a little more round ... never mind, you do not draw a square Just don't draw a square one. ...

　　"Write my name in the center of the circle, Eileen, in the old world common language ... Ah, you don't know how to, so get a piece of paper and I'll tell you how to write it, and don't misspell this one.

　　"Also needed is your blood, just a little bit, mix it into the clay, then mix in the tea powder and rose oil prepared ahead of time, don't put too much of either, it will affect the molding - the prepared clay mass will be placed in front of me first, and I'll guide the first 'Spirit Injection' '."

　　Irene commanded one by one, Yu Sheng meticulously executed, a serene and focused atmosphere gradually lingered in the attic, there was no more usual bickering between the two, but only a gradual tacit understanding of cooperation.

　　... actually don't have much of a tacit understanding, Erin mainly relies on her heart being wide open, and Yu Sheng mainly relies on her confidence.

　　The process was even more tiring than Yu Sheng had imagined at first, not just physically exhausting, but also mentally draining.

　　He could feel that the "ritual" mentioned by Irene was gradually taking effect, and the arrangements that he could not understand were starting to operate with a certain "law" and "power" that he could not comprehend. As an ordinary person who was performing this "ritual" for the first time, even though most of the ritual was done by Irene, Yu Sheng felt a "loss of power" on a spiritual level.

　　However, this was all a situation that Irene had warned about before the ceremony began, so Yu Sheng did not panic, but rather stayed in form as long as possible, completing every step that Irene asked for with as much precision as possible.

　　The body of a mannequin gradually took shape in his hands.

　　Rough, rudimentary, crooked, even the two legs weren't the same length - the arm was broken once in the middle and given another splice with wire and water.

　　Yusheng thought he might not have the talent for it.

　　But anyway, everything is finally nearing its end.

　　"You may now extinguish the last candle," said Irene in the frame, gazing calmly at the torso on the table with an expression of unprecedented gravity and seriousness, "and then place me directly in front of the torso, where the head would be."

　　"Okay," Yusheng asked casually as he got up to complete the process, "and then what?"

　　"Then I need a minute to comfort myself as well as strengthen my faith ..."

　　Yusheng: "... for what?"

　　Erin looked at it and almost cried out, "It's too damn ugly ... Even if it can be remodeled, looking at it now is too damn ugly ah."

Chapter 39: Successful, but not quite.

　　Eileen's expression looks pretty sad.

　　Yu Sheng took a look at the "masterpiece" that he had kneaded for several hours, and put himself in his own shoes, thinking that if one day he had to be resurrected in such a shell even if his soul was out of his body, he would most likely be able to cry out...

　　However, this reaction of Irene still more or less made Yu Sheng a bit hurt, he held back his embarrassment and tensed his expression as he looked at the mannequin in the oil painting, trying to make his appearance look more serious: "I've already tried quite hard here, look, at least the left and right eyes are symmetrical ..."

　　Erin really cried out now, "But the heads aren't symmetrical ..."

　　Yu Sheng don't turn his face away, "Er ... indeed more or less a little unskilled, next time must get better, practice makes perfect, practice makes perfect ..."

　　"Better not have a next time," Erin waved her hand lifelessly, and then, probably thinking that she should be happy that today was the day she'd finally be able to get out of her predicament, she tugged hard at the corners of her mouth to try to put on a smile - but attempted to do so, and so a thousand words finally came together into A sigh, "Hey, at least it's a body, I can indeed feel the connection has been established, alright, it is what it is."

　　Taking a soft breath, she hopped off the chair in the painting and took two steps forward, then looked down at the stuffed bear she was clutching in her hand as if remembering something.

　　After standing in silence for a few seconds or so, she gave the bear a firm hug and turned to place it on the chair as if to say goodbye.

　　Yusheng was a bit curious, "The bear doesn't want it?"

　　"It can't be brought out, it ... is another individual sealed in this painting, even its sanity has long since dissipated, I don't even know where it came from," Erin shook her head gently and reached out to pat the teddy bear's head. "It'll have to stay in here, but I'm not going to lose the painting, which is the same as keeping it with me."

　　"Oh."

　　Yu Sheng nodded, and then focused on Erin's next move with a hint of nervousness and curiosity.

　　He was concerned about how the doll would eventually "come out" of the painting, and how she would "come to life" using the now ugly "shell" of the doll on the table as a vessel. The "body" on the table is the container for the "living" of the now ugly "doll".

　　Then he saw the oil painting of Irene begin to ... "dissolve."

　　The scene was bizarre and frightening, it was as if Irene had suddenly turned into a wax statue that was being roasted by flames, her whole body gradually took on a molten state and lost all the colors and details in almost the blink of an eye, and in just a few seconds she turned into an ever-so-softening pitch-black substance that collapsed down in the frame, and a little bit of it overflowed out from the lower edge of the frame and began to flow towards the tabletop!

　　The tabletop made a slight hissing sound, as if it was being corroded in some kind of strong acid rapidly, and the pitch black substance flowing out of the picture frame at first looked like sticky mud, and then it thinned out like water, and in the next second it turned into some kind of ... cohesive and indissoluble black fog, and began to flutter and undulate around the body of the mannequin on the table, and a little bit seeped into the lifeless clay.

　　Yu Sheng stared at this scene with wide eyes, I don t know if it was an illusion, he felt a ... gloomy coldness from the floating weird black fog.

　　If not personally watched this fog is changed by Erin, he will definitely feel that this thing is evil and dangerous, the whole scene of the painting style are evil very, but even if he knows, he still feel that this black fog is exceptionally bizarre, that kind of lingering sense of coldness like from the distant dark abyss penetrated into the world of malice, is really with Erin's usual that heartless and harmless look is not quite match. The actual fact is that the actual person's face is not as good as Irene's.

　　Yu Sheng shook his head, shaking the miscellaneous thoughts aside, and looking at the black mist that was speeding up to penetrate into the clay, he suddenly came up with some outrageous ideas-

　　What happens if you blow into the fog? Or what happens if you reach out and poke your hand into the fog?

　　Erin should be cursing hard ...

　　Yu Sheng eventually controlled the urge to bitch his hand a bit, and just then, the penetration of those fogs also quickly arrived at the end.

　　The mannequin　　on the table began to change with the naked eye - the clay humanoid, so rough that it could be described as ugly, seemed to be suddenly endowed with the characteristics of a living thing, the shoddy surface became smooth in the blink of an eye, and the originally crooked limbs quickly balanced and reorganized, it began to be tinted with the texture and color of the skin, and the crooked features were melted into the the head, and regenerated within the clay mass, and gradually surfaced on the face ...

　　Yusheng thought about it and felt that he should turn his back out of politeness and respect.

　　But before he had time to turn around, he saw a delicate black dress "grow" out of the doll like a part of flesh and blood, covering the surface of Irene's body.

　　Mimicry?

　　Yu Sheng subconsciously floated this word in his mind, and just then, he suddenly felt a certain ... connection between himself and Irene again.

　　The feeling was fleeting, and the connection fell into silence before he even had time to tell if that dreamy whisper was Erin's voice or not.

　　Yu Sheng frowned, remembering all that blood he had just added to the clay when he had molded the mannequin's body, and felt that the momentary connection might have something to do with that.

　　Suddenly, he was a bit worried: his blood seemed to be a bit special, would it affect Irene's "regeneration"?

 But soon, this worry of his was dispelled.

　　The mannequin that had been completely remodeled was lying quietly on the table, with skin like a human, hair like ink, and an exquisite face like a work of art.

Under Yusheng's somewhat nervous gaze, the doll's eyelashes suddenly fluttered gently.

　　And then, those eyes finally slowly opened.

　　Scarlet eyes gazed somewhat listlessly at the roof, but in the next instant they were re-colored, and Erin raised her hands somewhat awkwardly, looking at them with an incredulous gaze as she slowly clasped them together again before stretching them out, as if she were feeling the texture of the air.

　　Stunned for several seconds, the mannequin slowly smiled, a smile that nonetheless seemed to suppress the violent emotion of wanting to cry out.

　　Yusheng's voice sounded from the side, "Congratulations, Erin."

　　"Well," Erin reached out and pressed her hand against the tabletop, bracing herself with all her might and staggering to her feet on the table before she looked over at Yu Sheng, who was standing with a bright smile, and she opened her arms wide as if to deliver a hug, "I've come alive! Yu Sheng! Thanks ..."

　　The doll lady suddenly stopped, as if she realized something as an afterthought, and kept such an open-armed motion, staring blankly at Yu Sheng beside the table.

　　Yusheng: "...?"

　　Erin slowly tilted her head, "Why do you look ... so tall?"

　　Yusheng thought for a moment, "Could it be because you're shorter?"

　　Erin froze for a moment, snapping her head down to look at her body, then back up to the lamp that stood not far away - she suddenly sucked in a breath of cold air and snapped to a run, reaching out to compare heights between her head and the lamp before stiffening and turning her neck.

　　Yusheng began to feel something was wrong.

　　"Why ..." Erin mumbled　　with a dull gaze, "Why is it so short ..."

　　"Eh... size of the dolls ah, the large ones," Yu Sheng was actually starting to panic at this point, but his face was still taut, "I mean the kind of three-quarter dolls... . wait, mistake?!"

　　"... Three points your ass! Human, standard size human! Living dolls are the same as humans! I'm six-foot-seven!" Erin, a tiny doll only as tall as a table lamp, yelled as she jumped up and down on the table, "Where are my long legs! Huh? Ah? Why am I as tall as this lamp now! I ... can't even reach that chair next to me!"

　　Yu Sheng's whole body was confused, but immediately after that, he felt as if there was something wrong: "That's not right, just now when I pinched the body you also watched ah, the size of your own can be seen, that time how you do not say it?"

　　The little mannequin that was jumping up and down on the table froze at the words and seemed to react once again as an afterthought, "Hey, yeah, I'm looking at the ..."

　　She snapped to the center of the concentric circles where she had just made the mannequin's carapace, and glanced back at the painting she had previously perched herself on, her head searching hard for a moment, whereupon some vague memories popped back up out of her mind.

　　"Yeah ... yeah, there's nothing wrong with your operation ah, the clay carapace is just a medium to temporarily hold the soul ... even if the size is a little off, my soul should have adjusted when I remodeled my body ah ..."

　　Erin muttered to herself as she stood at the table, looking down in thought one moment and up at the ceremonial setup around her, and squeezing her current body every now and then, muttering and muttering.

　　"Because the size difference is too much? So the adjustment is limited? That's not right ... Even if it's limited it should change a little bit ... It can't be just a table lamp high anyways ..."

　　Erin reached up and compared her hand to her head, then jumped in place twice as hard as she could, as if trying to grow a little taller with this futile endeavor.

　　Thinking about it, I know for sure it didn't work out.

　　"So ... the ceremony still went wrong?" Yu Sheng watched nervously from the side and finally asked carefully, "The body wasn't adjusted properly when it was remodeled? Then this shouldn't be my pot ..."

　　Irene tilted her head back, and the look of grief and anger on her face startled Yu Sheng.

　　"Ruler."

　　The mannequin, only as tall as a table lamp, reached out to Yu Sheng, his voice gritted.

　　"What for?"

　　"Measure your height!"

　　Yusheng oh-so-quietly ran to the second floor to find a tape measure to come up.

　　He actually wanted to take a straightedge at first - but he didn't dare because he thought Erin would be afraid she'd fly up and bite when she saw it.

　　A few moments later, Erin straightened up and stood on the table with an old book on her head, while next to her, Yusheng pulled back a tape measure and measured the height of the little mannequin.

　　Erin sneaked the book askew a little, and was held down by a handful of Yu Sheng.

　　"How ... tall is it?" The little mannequin asked cautiously.

　　"...66.6 centimeters," Yu Sheng glanced at the ruler with sympathy in his tone, "I tried to count as high as I could, and I counted all the 0.6 centimeters after the decimal point for you."

　　Erin finally burst into real tears.

Chapter 40: Things are not what they seem.

　　Eileen can cry a lot.

　　Yu Sheng also did not persuade, mainly because the first really do not know how to persuade, the second ... he was afraid that this mannequin was too sad delirious to be persuaded by his own but stimulated and then jumped up to bite people.

　　She really had to jump now to get a bite.

　　Of course the good news is that she can bite now, whereas before she could only beep　　in the painting.

　　After a long while, Irene's sadness finally calmed down that much, Yu Sheng hurriedly moved two steps toward the table and hesitantly opened his mouth, "What ... you don't be sad, next time I'll make you a new body, the normal size kind, now this ... you just make do with it first? If it doesn't work, I'll get you another ... tomorrow."

　　"This, this can only be used for the time being," Erin said with a sad face as she sniffled twice, "Let's start with this, and you don't have to bother - that is, I can't get a new body for me tomorrow to change into for the time being. The souls of living dolls can't carry on changing containers all the time either, to, at least for a couple months ..."

　　As she spoke she was saddened again and looked ready to cry again.

　　Yusheng hurriedly took a small glass bottle and brought it up to Erin's face to follow.

　　"What are you doing?" Erin huffed while looking at Yu Sheng's inexplicable behavior.

　　"Tears of living dolls ah," Yu Sheng with a serious face, "Next time we make you a body we strive to use high-grade materials, these few months I collect collect materials, back to make you a bubbling golden ... "

　　Erin thought for a moment and let out a wow, "Yu Sheng you big ... ah--"

　　It took a few more moments before the doll's sadness finally calmed down again.

　　Erin climbed onto the pile of old books next to her and sat at the top of the pile fuming and thinking about life, while Yu Sheng sat next to the table and accompanied the mannequin, thinking about life along with her.

　　"Well, at least, at least it's better than before," Erin muttered in a small voice, not sure if she was speaking to Yusheng or to herself, "I can at least run around by myself now."

　　"And you can watch TV on your own," Yusheng hastened to agree, "It's much more convenient than before isn't it."

　　Erin let out a long sigh, as if trying to be heavy and solemn, but being so small (66.6cm), the sigh didn't show a hint of heaviness.

　　Yu Sheng, on the other hand, twisted his head to sneak a peek at the current Erin, his eyes falling on the other's exposed wrists and knees.

　　The doll's characteristic spherical joints look particularly striking.

　　"It's obvious that the clay dolls were used as containers, but they ended up with these puppet-like spherical joints." He said thoughtfully.

　　"Nonsense, movable dolls, how can they move without joints," Erin twisted her head and glanced at Yu Sheng, "This is the way it was recorded in my soul, so no matter what form the container was originally in, the body after the soul finishes remodeling will become like this- -If you don't like the spherical joints then I can't help it."

　　"Oh, that's not true," Yu Sheng said casually, "but speaking of what you look like in your soul records ... you still have a record in your soul that you were originally six-foot-seven... ..."

　　Irene instantly jumped from the pile of books to Yu Sheng's arm, holding his thumb upward with all her might: "Can you not which-pot-doesn't-open-raise-which-pot!!!"

　　Yu Sheng wailed a voice and jumped up, while vigorously pulling this very small (66.6cm) but strangely strong mannequins from the arm while hurriedly explaining: "I am curious, curious! Where exactly did you go wrong in this remodeling process, obviously there was no deviation in the appearance, how come the body shape shrunk so much ..."

　　"I don't know!" Erin was yanked off her arm by Yu Sheng, and at this time was carried in mid-air by her collar, "Obviously there shouldn't be any problems, and everything felt normal during the regeneration process, but on the contrary, the final body shape was out of whack ... Hey! Can you put me down first!"

　　"Then you have to promise me that you won't break my fingers." Yusheng said to the mannequin with a serious face as he picked up Erin by the collar, waiting for the other to nod before placing her back on the table.

　　"Ugh, never mind, no use thinking about it," Erin sighed again, shaking her head after taking a few steps back and forth across the table, "Still have to find a way to contact the sisters at Alice's cottage, if we can get home, surely the sisters have a way to do that... ..."

　　Yu Sheng sniffed with some curiosity, "You keep mentioning the Alice Cottage and the dolls ... Where are those sisters you mentioned normally? There are dolls other than you in this city? Speaking of which, what exactly does this 'organization' of yours ... normally do?"

　　He'd been meaning to ask these questions for a long time, but lately one tricky thing after another had been going on, and it was only now that he'd finally gotten the chance to speak up.

　　"Us? We're a clan created by the Ancestor of Dolls, the mission ... isn't really much of a mission, sometimes we go against the Otherworld, sometimes we help other organizations deal with tricky entities, but most of the time the dolls just do what they like," Erin reminisced, speaking up. "Most of my sisters don't operate in the human world, but there should indeed be a point of contact in the Boundary City ... But I don't remember exactly where it is, and after so many years, the contact and the contact person should have changed... ..."

　　She climbed back onto the pile of old books, propped her chin up with both hands, and slowly continued as she reminisced, "We all do some camouflage when we move around in the human world, and the living dolls look a lot like humans, so it's easy to blend in with the crowd, and with this city being so huge, if you don't have a specific method of contacting them or finding a specific contact, it's not easy to just find the hidden If you don't have a specific method of contact or find a specific contact person, it's not easy to find the living dolls that are hidden. ..."

　　Yu Sheng was listening on the side, and even though he had previously thought that there might be all sorts of strange and weird guys hidden in this city, he still felt a bit surprised at this time, "Unbelievable ... I used to think that the only inhabitants of this city were humans... ..."

　　"How can that be," Erin gave Yu Sheng a blank look, "This is the Junction."

　　"Junction land ah ..." Yusheng repeated the word softly.

　　"Anything can happen in this place, Junction, not to mention, isn't there a strange guy like you who thinks he's a human hiding in this old town," Erin waved her hand and jumped down from a stack of old books, "Let's go downstairs first, I've been here long enough, and it's not easy to have the ability to move freely, I want to take a nice walk around this big house~ ability to move around, I'm going to take a nice walk around　　this big house~"

　　"Also," Yu Sheng exhaled and patted his face to refresh himself, "It took most of the day just to pinch your body, I'm hungry here, go downstairs and make something to eat."

　　As he said that, he turned around and walked towards the exit of the attic, only to hear Erin yelling behind him just two steps out, "Hey you wait for me! I'm not down here yet!"

　　As soon as Yu Sheng turned around, he saw that Irene was boosting a few steps from the table, making a strong jump to the creaking old chair, then climbing to the edge of the chair, slowly sliding down the chair with her hands and feet grasping the chair's legs for a while before she finally came to the floor without any problems ...

　　Yusheng: "..."

　　Erin ran backwards with her short legs in an effort to reach Yu Sheng's feet, only then did she notice the line of sight that fell on her, and immediately tilted her head back, trying to cross her waist in an effort to make some dignified appearance, "What are you looking at me for?"

　　"Nothing," Yu Sheng shook his head, "it just feels kinda ... cute."

　　He almost said the word "coke".

　　Erin froze and didn't notice the suspicious pause in Yu Sheng's words, "Yes, yes oh?"

　　Then she followed Yu Sheng forward, and just two steps later reached out and tugged on Yu Sheng's pants, "Thanks, by the way."

　　Yusheng lowered his head and showed a puzzled look while tugging at the waist of his pants.

　　"Thank you for helping me prepare my body, the situation was so chaotic just now that I didn't even say thank you properly." Erin said with a serious face.

　　Yu Sheng couldn't help but look up and down at the mannequin at the moment (66.6cm), and after holding his tongue he finally couldn't hold it back, "You're like this, and you still want to thank me?"

　　"One size does not fit all, the size issue was something that went wrong when I remodeled myself somehow, but the body was indeed carefully prepared for me by you," Erin tilted her head, looking extraordinarily solemn (it didn't really show much), "although it is a bit ugly."

　　"... This last one can be left out."

　　"Anyway, anyway, what I promised you before still stands," Erin said hurriedly, "I'll help you in the future, whether it's to help with fights or if you need occult assistance, I'll be useful, and even if I find the other sisters in the future and go back to Alice's Lodge, I'll come back and help you, just ..."

　　She paused at that, thinking slightly.

　　"Just, just set a hundred years first?" She looked at Yu Sheng, cautiously confirming, "You should be dying of old age by then, right?"

　　Yusheng: "... I do my best."

　　"Let's settle for a hundred years, then," Erin laughed happily, suddenly in a good mood for some reason, before she turned around and ran backwards on her short legs towards the loft exit, "Let's get downstairs then ... "

　　Her voice came to a screeching halt and she fell forward violently, like a puppet whose strings had suddenly snapped, falling out a good distance in the inertia of her run until she crashed into the opposite wall.

　　The smile on Yu Sheng's face froze the moment Erin fell out.

　　"Crap ... Crap?!"

　　He was confused for a moment, then in a few steps he rushed over to Erin and bent down to pick the little figure up off the floor.

　　The mannequin's eyes were tightly closed, not a single part of its body exerted any force, and the limbs that had been warm a second ago were now as cold as ordinary clay, with only the skin remaining soft and active to the touch, but no sense of vitality could be felt.

　　Yu Sheng's entire body was confused.

　　And then he heard Irene's voice, coming from the large table not far away--the

　　"Yusheng! I'm, I'm back in here!"

Chapter 41: Free Mannequins

　　Yu Sheng's entire body was confused.

　　At the moment he saw Erin suddenly fall out of the room, he thought the doll had died a violent death due to the use of an inferior body - fortunately, he was interrupted by a voice from behind him in time to make this frightening association.

　　Yu Sheng carried Erin's carcass in his hand and raised his head somewhat stiffly to the large table that had just been used to process the clay.

　　The classical oil painting with an ornate frame was quietly leaning against the edge of the table, and Erin was staring into the painting with a panicked look on her face.

　　"I, I don't know what's going on!" Noticing Yu Sheng's gaze looking over, Erin immediately waved her hand vigorously, "A second ago I was still running forward, but as soon as I opened my eyes, I was already back, what's going on, this ..."

　　A slightly harsh, low mockery came from the frame, as if in mockery and with a hint of sympathy.

　　It was from that stuffed bear, and this time Yu Sheng finally saw it smiling with his own eyes.

　　Irene's character how to stand this, immediately jumped to the feet rushed to the red velvet carpet chair, picked up the top of the teddy bear neck shaking vigorously: "You are still happy! You are still happy! You're not the one who screwed up! I'm back now!"

　　However the thoughtless teddy bear could not respond, and just continued to heckle in Erin's hand, making the doll increasingly furious.

　　Yu Sheng saw the situation hurriedly went forward, ready to persuade the oil painting doll girl: "Hey you do not be so excited, let's think again to do ..."

　　He just said halfway, the oil painting is holding a teddy bear lock throat over the shoulder fall cross fixed doll girl suddenly disappeared, immediately after Yu Sheng will feel his hands of the doll torso violently bounced, he did not have time to react, this 66.6 cm tall small thing pounced on his arm, inertia to perform lock throat (attempted) over the shoulder fall (attempted) cross fixed (attempted) three sets.

　　But her strength was quite strong, strangling the flesh on Yu Sheng's arm with raw pain.

　　Yusheng had to make an effort to detach Irene from his arm, carry it to his eyes and shake it vigorously, "Wake up, wake up, I'm Yusheng, you're out again."

　　Erin also gradually reacted at this time, hanging in the air blankly for a moment, raising her head and looking around, her eyes finally focusing on Yusheng's face, "... ah?"

　　Then both of them looked up together at the picture frame not far away, and fell into a simultaneous stupor and reflection.

　　A moment later, without a word, Yu Sheng carried Eileen backwards, all the way back to the place where the other party had just fallen, and along with his final step, the mannequin's body in his hand instantly drooped like a power outage, and its vitality dissipated.

　　The oil painting suddenly appeared Irene's figure, she glanced around and looked up at Yu Sheng dumbfounded, "I'm back again, so it's true ..."

　　Yusheng casually lifted the body of the mannequin he was carrying in his hand in the direction of the painting, bringing the two a little closer together.

　　So the body snapped to life, as if the "power outage" had never happened, and Erin's voice came out of it, following up on the half of the sentence she had left unfinished in the painting: "... is it the distance? "

　　"Seems like it." Yu Sheng frowned slightly at the scene and held the doll a little farther away, then watched as the body of the doll in his hand "cut out" again, and Erin's voice came from a short distance away, "Then this can be ..."

　　Yusheng sent the　　mannequin forward again.

　　Erin: "... It's a bit of a pain in the ass ... Can you stop playing with it! You're taking apart several pieces for me in the space of one sentence!"

　　Yusheng resentfully brought Ayrin closer to the oil painting, and explained in passing, "I mainly wanted to confirm exactly how far away this 'signal' of yours is."

　　"Does five or six meters make a difference? It's just these two steps!" Irene was carried by the collar with her teeth and claws, then suddenly felt that something was wrong and raised her eyes to stare at Yu Sheng, "You put me down! Why do you keep carrying me!"

　　Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng hurriedly put the doll lady, who was in a worse and worse mood, on the ground, and then stared wide-eyed at her.

　　Irene then realized she had to tilt her head almost ninety degrees to talk to Yusheng.

　　However, her dignity did not allow for Yu Sheng to crouch down and communicate with herself - not to mention that even if Yu Sheng crouched down, she still had to tilt her head.

　　"Stand there and don't move." The mannequin suddenly said.

　　Yusheng froze, "What are you doing?"

　　The next second he knew what Erin was trying to do - the mannequin directly embraced his legs and began to climb upwards, like climbing a tree in three or two times, agile like a monkey, and then directly sat on his shoulders.

　　Yu Sheng was a bit fazed, but didn't dare to move around for fear of dropping Irene, "I haven't agreed yet ..."

　　Erin reasoned, "You didn't ask me if I agreed when you just carried me to test the signal."

　　Yusheng had nothing to say at once.

　　The two returned to the large table and began to study the painting.

　　"I did get out, and I can feel that my 'soul' is in this body right now," Erin frowned, looking at her former 'cell' with a torn face," "But ..."

　　"But from the manifestation, it seems that the painting is still your 'root', and this body of yours today is like being remotely controlled, disconnected from the distance." Yu Sheng spoke frankly about his opinion.

　　Erin hung her head, looking extraordinarily frustrated.

　　But there was no crying out this time - probably a series of blows that were all bigger and built up brain-dead-like mental resistance for a short time.

　　Yu Sheng was flustered after seeing such a calm reaction from this mannequin, and hurriedly consoled, "Don't be too pessimistic, maybe it's still this body that's not working well? I'll turn around and practice my craft, next time I remake the body ..."

　　"You said," Erin spoke up suddenly, interrupting Yusheng's ramblings, a complex expression on the little figure's face that made it impossible to tell what exactly her emotions were at this point, "running around with your own cell on your back, is that a jailbreak or not?"

　　Yu Sheng stunned, pondered for a moment and then said, "I've seen one before who carried his own cell around on his back, and ended up in a pretty bad place, but he was 'inside' his cell, and you're at least on the outside ... "

　　"I don't know what you're talking about." Erin muttered before jumping off of Yu Sheng's shoulder, she hopped onto the table and with a complicated expression went to the oil painting that sealed herself, reaching out with both hands and grabbing the frame, lifting it up with slight force before lowering it down again, turning around and trying to carry it on her back.

　　However the oil painting was large - while it was easy enough for Raw to carry in one hand, for Erin the thing was almost as tall as she was.

　　"Does ... have any rope at home?" The mannequin asked, looking up.

　　"Yes!" Yu Sheng immediately nodded his head, "Wait here, I'll go get it!"

　　Ten minutes later, Irene watched as Yu Sheng carefully tied knots in the oil painting frame and adjusted the position of the rope clasp, and when the preparations were almost done, she stepped forward, "I think it's ready."

　　"Here you try," Yusheng nodded, standing the frame up and watching Erin somewhat rustily put her arms through the backstring, "How's that? Is the buckle in the right place? Does it need to be any tighter?"

　　Erin tugged on the rope buckle over her shoulder and carried the frame around the table twice, nodding contentedly, "No, it fits!"

　　"Heavy?"

　　"It's not heavy at all, I'm very strong!" Erin said, and bounced in place on the table with the picture frame on her back, and immediately afterward began to trot around the edge of the table in a circle.

　　The scene of the tiny doll (66.6cm), running around the table carrying a framed oil painting almost as tall as she is, looks more or less ... odd.

　　But Yu Sheng watched the scene, and gradually but surely smiled.

　　Because he saw Erin smile back, the doll seemed to have shaken off the bad mood she had just been in and was getting happier.

　　She was more optimistic than Yu Sheng thought.

　　"It's still pretty light!" Erin stopped at the edge of the table and said to Sheng with a smile, "That way I don't have to worry about the 'distance' limitation, how clever of me!"

　　"It's true that you're optimistic," Yusheng said with heartfelt emotion, "I thought you'd have to be depressed for a while."

　　"People have to look forward - so do dolls," Irene happily jumped down from the table, and climbed along Yu Sheng's arm to the latter's shoulder - this time she was not as flexible as she was just now, because she also had to pay attention to the picture frame on her back to prevent bumping on the chair and bumping into Yu Sheng's head. This time she was not as flexible as just now, because she also had to keep an eye on the picture frame she was carrying on her back, preventing her from bumping into the chair as well as bumping into Yu Sheng's head, "Compared to before, it's good that I can at least move around freely, so I can carry it on my back, and it just so happens that the guy who stays in the painting doesn't seem to want me to be too far away from ... Let's go, let's go, let's go downstairs, you haven't eaten dinner yet. You haven't eaten dinner yet - I want to watch TV!"

　　Yu Sheng was stunned and slightly turned his face sideways, looking out of the corner of his eye at the mannequin that was beaming with smiles and seemed to be looking forward to the future.

　　"Well, cook away," he lifted his hand to help Erin, rising from her chair, "and then start working on that passage back to the valley tonight."

　　"Well," Erin looked combative too, with a big smile on her face and a spirited lift of her hand to point forward, "Hyah!"

　　Yu Sheng smoothly then lifted the little mannequin from his shoulder again, "I threw you down ah."

　　Erin instantly scrunched up, "Don't don't, it was just the atmosphere up to here ..."

　　Yu Sheng cried and laughed as he shook his head, putting the mannequin back on his shoulder to carry it, and stepped forward.

　　Outside the window has been the night is sinking, the old city street lights in the night order lit, hazy and warm light flow in the old streets and old alleys, through the window, diffuse a quiet.

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

　　"Right."

　　"Hey, kind of looking forward to ..."

　　"Looking forward to what? Darkness?"

　　"No, it's just something to look forward to, it has nothing to do with the darkness~"

　　"... doesn't get it."

　　"Ch."