Delayed Reaction?

Yu Sheng thought that his blood apparently didn't work on Irene—perhaps because the oil painting acting as the medium for the seal prevented the blood from penetrating, or perhaps because Irene, being a doll, was simply unaffected by it. Or, more likely... Hu Li, who had been affected, was the special case. After waiting for ages with nothing happening, Irene lost her patience inside the oil painting. Looking up toward the top of the frame, she grumbled, "Then wipe the blood off, will you? This is where I live, after all. Having so much blood smeared on it is terrible luck..." Yu Sheng said, "...You're an eerie doll sealed inside an oil painting, and you still have the nerve to complain about that? Just standing there looking like you do is unlucky enough, all right!" Irene bristled at that. "Who says I'm unlucky! How could I be bad luck when I'm this pretty? People have whole walls of little plastic figures in their rooms, and here you are propping an oil painting of a pretty girl against the wall and complaining it's unlucky?!" Yu Sheng listened in a daze, at a total loss as to how she managed to pack all that into a single breath. Still, he waved a dismissive hand, muttered, "How is that even remotely the same?" and stood up to pull out a wet wipe, intending to clean the blood off the frame. It wouldn't wipe off. Yu Sheng blinked. Seeing that the wipe had no effect whatsoever, he rubbed hard against the frame again (not daring to scrub the canvas too violently for fear of damaging it), but the bloodstains remained completely unmoved. Yet more than the stubborn bloodstain on the frame, Yu Sheng noticed something else about the wipe—there wasn't even the faintest red trace on it. No matter how hard blood was to remove, it shouldn't be like this! Irene couldn't see the wipe. Looking up at Yu Sheng's sudden freeze, she grew uneasy. "Uh, what happened?" "It won't come off," Yu Sheng murmured in a daze, staring at the bloodstains that seemed to have become part of the frame itself. "It didn't seep in... It's like it was the frame's original color all along." Irene didn't answer. Puzzled, Yu Sheng looked down, only to see the doll in the painting staring blankly back at him, as if her mind had abruptly gone offline. Another two or three seconds passed before Irene's blank expression morphed into sheer terror. As if suddenly jolted by a memory, she pointed a finger straight at Yu Sheng and shrieked, "Aaaah! Yu Sheng, you—you died-died-died-died—" Yu Sheng paused for a second before instantly realizing what was happening. Seeing Irene still screaming her head off, he calmly pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. "Stop shouting 'died' so much. It's bad luck—though, admittedly, the actual count is a bit high." Irene stopped dead, gave Yu Sheng a wide-eyed look, and went right back to screaming. Yu Sheng had no choice but to get up and try to soothe the terrified doll—she was far less composed than that fox had been. Words, however, had little effect. Perhaps because the delayed reaction made the impact that much more violent, she remained utterly hysterical. Fortunately, a dark stroke of inspiration suddenly struck Yu Sheng, and an idea came to mind. The very next second, he grabbed Irene's oil painting and gave it a vigorous shake and swing in the air, finished by tossing it spinning into the air, catching it, swirling it twice more, and setting it back on the table. He watched the doll struggle with all her might to scramble back onto the chair draped in red velvet. Irene was no longer screaming. Now, Irene was swearing up a foul storm. This time, however, Yu Sheng calmed her down with practiced ease. He finally got the doll to settle, and amidst her lingering, indignant grumbling and cursing, he managed to make clear what had actually happened. At the same time, he also confirmed that his blood was indeed effective on Irene despite her sealed state. Even though the blood seemed to have merely acted on the frame, Irene had undeniably been affected by it for reasons unknown. The exact same thing that happened to Hu Li had occurred: she remembered the "incident" she had witnessed of Yu Sheng dying. It was just that so far, Yu Sheng hadn't perceived Irene's "thoughts" or "memories" the way he had with Hu Li. He glanced up at the doll, who was still fuming, too embarrassed to mention that he actually suspected she was sorely lacking in both... Irene was still puffing with indignation, but regardless, the shock of Yu Sheng's "return from the dead" ultimately outweighed the "roller coaster" ride she had just endured. Her focus returned to his "resurrection." "You're saying... this wasn't even the first time?" She stared at Yu Sheng, her tone still laden with disbelief. "Yeah. In fact, it started before I even met you," Yu Sheng said, his thoughts drifting back to that frog in the rain. "Don't ask me how it works, though. Just like with that door earlier, I only know it happens, not how or why..." "Are there any aftereffects or costs?" Irene pressed immediately. "None... that I've found so far," Yu Sheng replied cautiously after a hesitation, setting aside his carefree attitude on this topic. "Neither physical nor mental. Nothing seems wrong." Irene continued to stare fixedly into Yu Sheng's eyes. "Then you should still try to avoid this kind of 'resurrection' in the future." Yu Sheng let out a helpless sigh. "I know that, of course." "The aftereffects might lie in the distant future, and the cost might come in ways you can't even fathom," Irene explained tirelessly, as if terrified that Yu Sheng wouldn't take the warning to heart. "All things in this world tend toward balance. Things that defy reason and order will inevitably face a 'backlash' from reason and order. And coming back from the dead... is truly the most outrageous of all trans-rational phenomena. You might say you haven't found any issues, but I don't buy it." She paused, adding with a solemn look, "I'm not doubting you; I'm doubting the 'appearance' of how things seem." "I understand, I understand," Yu Sheng nodded seriously, but then spread his hands in exasperation. "Then again, do you think any of the times I died were voluntary?" Irene said, "...Oh, right." "I just have a good mindset about it. What else could I do? Under those conditions in the valley, staying positive was my only option," Yu Sheng sighed. "I understand your concern. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Irene stared at him for a long while before finally looking away with a mutter. "Fine, as long as you keep it in mind... I'm still waiting for you to find me a body." Yu Sheng let out a breath of relief. He had to admit, this doll's capacity for acceptance was remarkably high. Something so absurd, and in the end she accepted it so easily... Irene suddenly snapped her head up, looking like she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Wait, no, I seriously have to wonder—are you even human?! Are you absolutely sure you were born to human parents and grew up eating human food? Can't you think back to your childhood and see if there was anything like..." Yu Sheng said nothing. He took back his earlier thought. It turned out this doll wasn't so adaptable after all. Fobbing her off with a few casual words, Yu Sheng ignored her subsequent muttering. Having finished testing the matter with his "blood," he remembered his original plan. Continue familiarizing himself with his ability to "open doors" and its nuances, find a way to replicate the passage and pinpoint the "landing point," until he could open the door leading to that valley—and bring food to Hu Li. Irene finally quieted down. Watching Yu Sheng grasp the handle of the kitchen door, she hesitated again and again, unable to resist asking, "Even if you really find the 'door' back to that valley, have you thought about how to deal with 'Hunger' afterward?" Slowly turning the handle, Yu Sheng tuned into the subtle sensation radiating from the depths of his so-called "spiritual intuition," and answered slowly, "Take it one step at a time." "Doesn't that just mean you haven't thought it through at all?!" Without even turning around, he knew Irene was widening her eyes again. "Are you going there to bring food to Hu Li, or are you delivering a meal to that monster?!" "What I mean is, if we can beat the monster, we fight. Temporarily destroying the physical incarnation of 'Hunger' would be great, since there's a very high probability that it'll help Hu Li escape the influence of hunger. If we can't beat it, we find a way to bring Hu Li out through the 'door,' though that comes with side effects—Hu Li might still be targeted by 'Hunger.' And if the second option fails too, we at least deliver some food inside to give Hu Li some relief. As long as I have a reliable way to open doors, we can take our time and plan things out. "When I say take it one step at a time, I mean choosing between those three plans depending on the situation when the time comes. But as for specifically how to handle that 'entity'... I really don't have any ideas yet." "Well, if you've already thought it through that far, then that's fine," Irene sounded relieved. "As long as you're not blindly charging in just to deliver yourself as a meal to that monster." Yu Sheng thought about it, but chose not to voice the thought that after eating him, the monster's mouth and stomach wouldn't balance their accounts anyway. If he said that aloud, who knew how much more the doll would blabber on... With these frivolous thoughts turning in his head, he slowly pulled the kitchen door open. Boundless darkness met his eyes, with dim, distant stars twinkling in the void. Beyond that... there seemed to be nothing outside the door. Yu Sheng stared in bewilderment at the vast, empty expanse across the threshold. A split second later, realization struck him, and he slammed the door shut with a loud bang. "Holy crap, that's fucking outer space!"