Hu Li soon sank into a dazed sleep—despite the fact that a moment before she had been chatting with Yu Sheng with curiosity and anticipation, so excited by the new environment that she seemed unable to sleep, almost in the blink of an eye, Yu Sheng and Irene heard only soft, even snores coming from the bed.
Irene sat on the edge of Hu Li's bed, watching the fox spirit who had already fallen into dreamland.
"She really can fall asleep in a second... She's already dreaming. Well, all right. It's a calm dream."
"She probably hasn't had a good sleep in a long time," Yu Sheng unconsciously lowered his voice. "At first, I was worried she wouldn't be able to sleep here. After all, her environment suddenly changed, and the place she used to stay didn't even have a bed."
Irene got up from the bed's edge and walked over to tuck the quilt around Hu Li, saying quite professionally, "She must feel safe here—she told me that a fox's instincts are very accurate..."
Just as the little doll was halfway through speaking, Hu Li turned over in her sleep. The next thing Yu Sheng saw was a blur—the tails the fox spirit girl had tucked away before sleeping burst out with a bang. Irene, who was bending over to help tuck her in, cried out, "Mommy—!" and was flung away by the oncoming tail, slamming into the wall along with her painting...
Yu Sheng immediately let out a "Holy sh—!" and rushed over to lift Irene, who was sliding down the wall, by the scruff. Then he heard the doll lady open her mouth and begin cursing up a storm...
But Hu Li on the bed still didn't wake. The fox spirit only mumbled incoherently, then turned over into a more comfortable position. She picked two tails from among her tails and hugged them to her chest, while the rest replaced the quilt that had been knocked away, wrapping tightly around her.
Within two seconds, she had wrapped herself into a fluffy fox ball.
"You damned tail monster! I—! I was so kind to help her, and this happens?!" Irene hung from Yu Sheng's arm, spewing curses. Then she suddenly twisted her head to look at him. "I'm telling you, you don't have to buy her a quilt tomorrow. She obviously doesn't need one!"
Yu Sheng hurriedly carried the cursing doll out of the room, and only let out a breath of relief once they reached the hallway. He glanced back somewhat helplessly. "All right. Looks like we still need some time to adjust... Irene, are you okay?"
"Does wounded pride count as being hurt?" The doll rolled her eyes as hard as she could, then crawled up Yu Sheng's arm to his shoulder. "Hey, if I still had my old body, would I have to put up with this? You have no idea how powerful I used to be. I... well, I was just incredibly powerful!"
"All right, all right, you're powerful. I believe you..." Yu Sheng humored her absentmindedly while carrying Irene back to his room.
But the doll on his shoulder, unusually, did not retort because of this perfunctory answer. Yu Sheng found it strange and looked up, only to see Irene with her head slightly lowered, apparently thinking seriously about something.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about... what you said about having Hu Li help you fight," Irene said, unusually serious. "It looks like you've already decided to keep dealing with foreign domains from now on, right? Not the kind of dealing you get dragged into by incidents, but... you're going to go looking for trouble yourself?"
Yu Sheng did not answer for a moment, and his silence was tantamount to an admission.
"Why?" Irene asked curiously. "You've already rescued Hu Li. There shouldn't be any reason for you to actively go looking for more trouble, right? Although people who have ever encountered a foreign domain really are more likely to run into things from the 'other side' for the rest of their lives, you could still choose to cooperate with the Special Affairs Bureau and learn some systematic techniques for avoiding foreign domains. A lot of people choose that path, and they can live peacefully for many years... At least more peacefully than those spirit realm detectives and investigators."
Yu Sheng thought for a moment and looked at Irene half-jokingly. "What if I say it's curiosity? Phenomena like foreign domains piqued my curiosity, and I just want a little excitement..."
The little doll immediately grabbed Yu Sheng's hair and made a mess of it. "Are you serious? Are you serious?"
Yu Sheng raised a hand to press down on Irene's paws while quickly speaking. "Stop, stop, stop. Don't pull—only a small part of it is serious."
Irene stopped messing with his hair and stared at Yu Sheng with wide eyes.
"Curiosity is indeed part of the reason. I'm not joking," Yu Sheng took a breath, his expression becoming solemn. "Do you remember the night I took you with me and opened one door after another? Those... the scenery behind those doors, do you remember?"
"...I remember."
"I remember too. Vividly," Yu Sheng said slowly as he sat down in a chair. "There were so many 'distant lands.' We even seriously discussed that glowing mountain peak... Irene, don't you want to go see them? And that city floating in the sky, and those birds flying over the rift..."
"And the senior brother hung from the roof beam."
"...Right, and the senior brother hung from the roof beam," Yu Sheng shook his head with a smile. "Irene, whether they were some 'distant land' or some 'foreign domain,' I really was attracted by those sights. You tell me, I've opened so many doors, and I can open them again at any time. Now that I know how vast the world is beyond Jiecheng, can I still meekly stay in this boundary zone and live a 'peaceful life' like you say?"
Yu Sheng let out a soft breath at that. "As long as I keep 'opening doors,' I'll inevitably keep dealing with those 'sights'—and this door has already been opened."
"That does sound reasonable," Irene hugged Yu Sheng's head and thought seriously for a moment, then began combing back the hair she had messed up earlier. "If I were you, my head would be full of ideas about courting death right now—I'd be even worse than you."
Then the little doll paused and asked again, "What about the other part of your reason?"
Yu Sheng did not speak for a while, only slightly narrowing his eyes.
Scenes from his memory floated to the surface of his heart.
The sunlight flowing through the old alley, the sky tinged red, the clouds glowing like water—that not very large but familiar and dear "little seaside town."
"There's a place I want to find," Yu Sheng said softly.
He felt the small hands rummaging through his hair suddenly stop.
"How do I put this..." Irene suddenly bent down and stared at Yu Sheng's face very sharply. "It feels like you're going somewhere and don't plan to come back?"
Yu Sheng opened his eyes and saw those crimson pupils staring straight at him. The doll's gaze made him feel a little uneasy.
"...Uh, I just want to find that place and take a look. I'll come back."
"Really?" Irene frowned suspiciously.
"Really," Yu Sheng nodded. Then he paused, as if he had genuinely thought something over, and repeated himself. "Really."
"I guess... you're not lying to me," Irene tilted her head, seemingly taking Yu Sheng at his word for now, but then she shook her head. "Forget it. Even if you do lie to me, there's nothing I can do. The ability to open doors is in your hands... Let's not talk about that. Since you've decided to deal with all those troublesome things from now on, have you thought about how you'll start? Are you going to become a spirit realm detective? Take commissions that might be related to foreign domains? Or become a lone investigator? Actively search for clues about foreign domains and distant lands in every nook and cranny? Or... open a random door every day and jump through it to court death..."
"The last one is off the table for now," Yu Sheng immediately waved his hand. "I'm not afraid of dying, but I'm not suicidal to that extent. If I really provoke something I can't beat and can't escape from, that'll truly be the end for me..."
"Oh, that's good. You haven't lost your mind," Irene shook her head happily. "So that means you're going to be a spirit realm detective or an investigator? The former is mainly about taking commissions; its trait is stable 'work' but restricted. The latter is mainly about being hard to kill and reckless; its trait is freedom of action, but you often run into big 'surprises'..."
Yu Sheng thought for a moment and asked, "What type is that 'Little Red Riding Hood'?"
"She must be a spirit realm detective. She takes outsourced work from the Special Affairs Bureau, and she's a student working a part-time holiday job," Irene waved her hand. "But according to what she said, she also has an organization behind her, called something like 'Fairytale'..."
Yu Sheng's mind immediately began to churn. "An organization... Do organizations like that need to register?"
"...Probably?" Irene scratched her head. "You're asking me, but I don't know either. I've forgotten it all~ But it probably does need to be registered? After all, with an official regulatory body like the Special Affairs Bureau around, if you gather a bunch of foreign domain experts with specialized skills and don't register and file, wouldn't that make you an 'energetic and illegal social organization'?"
At this point, the doll lady suddenly froze and looked at Yu Sheng with some doubt. "What, you're thinking of founding an organization too? Counting that fox, there are only three of us now, and that fox doesn't have an ID card—of course, neither do I. Hey, if you put it that way, you're the only one in this house who counts as a 'person,' aren't you?"
"That does seem to be the case," Yu Sheng awkwardly rubbed his nose, only then realizing belatedly. "Oh no, where am I supposed to get Hu Li an ID card..."
"Why not ask around the next time someone from the Special Affairs Bureau comes to contact you?" Irene began offering ideas. "They shouldn't mind helping with such a small favor, right?"
"...Is that even something they handle?"
"Asking doesn't cost anything."
"All right, that's true."
Yu Sheng scratched his hair, and just then he suddenly noticed another problem.
"Wait a second, Irene. Are you still going to freeload in my room today?!"
"Duh! My room is way too creepy!"
"You're creepy enough yourself. Go back to your own room!"
"No!"
Chapter 64