Eileen’s insults were not just sharp; her loud screams made everyone feel like their heads were buzzing.
Yu Sheng could hardly believe how someone could make so much noise from a mere painting—was the entire canvas acting like a loudspeaker?
"Don't ask me how it works; I don’t know the principle myself," Yu Sheng said, scratching his ear in frustration as he spoke to Eileen.
"The only thing I can confirm is that I can open ‘doors’ that lead to various places. It could be another realm or some distant place you just saw... Of course, I can't say for sure if it’s another world, another planet, or some parallel timeline."
After a brief pause, he continued, "Maybe I should ask the person on the other side of the door for information? But that elf looked pretty upset earlier..."
Eileen seemed dazed.
After listening to Yu Sheng ramble on, she processed what he said and finally asked, “What about the conditions for it to work? Like, under what circumstances can the door be opened?”
“I’m not completely sure. I feel like I can open it at any time,” Yu Sheng thought aloud, explaining based on his current feelings. “As for how to open it, it seems there are two ways. One is to simply open an ordinary door that exists in reality. This is very easy; sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it. Once the door opens, it leads directly to ‘somewhere else.’ The second way is like what you just saw—”
As he spoke, Yu Sheng raised a hand and mimicked the motion of pulling open a door in the air.
“A door created out of thin air. This is more demanding; you need to focus and imagine it. If you lose concentration while opening it, the door might suddenly vanish. But the upside is that you won’t accidentally stumble into another realm.”
Eileen stared at Yu Sheng’s movements with wide, crimson eyes, tracking the motion of his arm back and forth a few times before breaking the silence. “... Are you even human?”
Yu Sheng suddenly looked displeased. “What kind of question is that!”
“At a time like this, you still dare to say that? You just said it not long ago,” Eileen countered, recalling his earlier words and mimicking his tone as she added, “—if I’m not human, are you?”
She turned to face Yu Sheng, staring directly into his eyes.
“Some humans can wield certain supernatural powers, but I’ve never seen someone like you.”
“Maybe you have seen me, but you've just forgotten?” Yu Sheng insisted stubbornly. “Your memory isn’t that reliable.”
Eileen blinked in surprise. “... Oh, is that so?”
Now it was Yu Sheng’s turn to feel a bit embarrassed.
He had intended to be a bit stubborn and engage in playful banter, never expecting that Eileen would have such a clear self-awareness, with her first reaction being an acknowledgment… she acknowledged it…
But he quickly regained his composure, coughing a couple of times to shift the topic back. “So, it seems that my fall into that valley has nothing to do with the quirky nature of this house. It should be that I opened a passage on my own at that moment. Therefore, as long as I can replicate what I did back then, I should be able to return to that realm. Theoretically, that is.”
As the serious topic was brought up, Eileen’s expression turned solemn. “Is this ability controllable?”
“... It’s somewhat controllable,” Yu Sheng replied hesitantly, then explained, “I can more or less control when to open passages to ‘elsewhere’ or when to just push open a normal door, but the exact destination remains uncertain. I might even end up falling straight into a volcano. However… there’s one thing I just confirmed.”
Eileen quickly asked, “What is it?”
“Passages can indeed be replicated. Under specific conditions, opening the door twice can lead to the same place,” Yu Sheng said. “Like that elf you saw earlier; I’ve met her a second time now.”
Eileen responded, “... Oh, that explains her reaction earlier.”
Yu Sheng looked a little awkward. “I’m still not sure how this happened, but I vaguely remember that ‘feeling.’ I think that if I try and train a few more times, I should be able to consistently open those ‘doors’ I’ve only passed through once, but the biggest issue now is… I was completely unprepared when I entered that valley, and I’ve almost forgotten the feeling from when I opened the door, which makes reproducing that passage quite difficult.”
“But at least you finally have a direction now, right?” Eileen quickly comforted him. “I used to think you were crazy wanting to rush back to save that fox, but now it’s turned into a feasible plan, right?”
Hearing that, Yu Sheng looked at the puppet in the painting with surprise, studying it with keen eyes.
This made the latter feel a bit awkward and shrink back in her chair. “What are you looking at? I told you that you and that paper cutout wouldn’t…”
Before Eileen could finish, Yu Sheng interrupted her, “This is the first time I've heard you say something nice. I always thought you only spouted nonsense and didn’t think you could even comfort someone.”
Eileen: “...”
Her insults were indeed harsh.
Yet Yu Sheng felt incredibly good, so much so that even Eileen’s rude remarks served as background music to his life.
He looked at his own hands, waved them in the air, then got up from the dining table, pacing around the room with enthusiasm.
Seeing this, Eileen stopped her singing and turned her gaze back and forth to follow Yu Sheng’s movements. “You’re not really planning to… uh, ‘train’ right now, are you?”
“It’s better to start early than late. Anyway, I slept all day; I’m full of energy now,” Yu Sheng declared matter-of-factly. “This practice doesn’t take up much space either.”
“Just be careful. If you open the door again and that elf shows up, she might throw a fireball your way—don’t splash blood all over me again,” Eileen warned.
That banter hit home.
Yu Sheng waved a dismissive hand and shifted his focus to the kitchen door nearby.
Opening a door out of thin air required extra energy, so for practice, it was certainly better to use a “real door” that wouldn't consume much.
But before he could proceed, Yu Sheng suddenly thought of something. “What did you just say?” He turned around to look at the puppet on the table.
Eileen thought for a moment. “... I said to be careful? To prevent that elf from throwing a fireball at you?”
“I mean the more annoying part,” Yu Sheng pressed.
Eileen’s mouth twitched. “Don’t splash blood all over me!”
“Yes, that’s it. I want to test that first.” Yu Sheng grinned, approaching the table and picking up a small fruit knife that had been resting there. “My blood.”
Eileen’s eyes widened in visible shock, and she jumped up from her chair, hugging a teddy bear. “Hey, what are you doing? You don’t need to be so dramatic! I’m warning you; I’m really easy to deal with! You don’t have to pull out a knife; just put that down! If you scratch the canvas, it might tear...”
In a flurry, the puppet babbled nervously, causing Yu Sheng to furrow his brows. “What’s the panic for? I’m not going to cut you.”
Before he finished his sentence, he pressed the small knife against his fingertip—but after a moment of hesitation, he switched to his hand’s back.
Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes, he made a quick cut.
It hardly hurt at all.
Eileen stared in disbelief as Yu Sheng brought his bleeding hand closer to her.
She kept retreating, calling out in alarm, “What are you doing? Wait… you’re not actually believing in that blood-bond nonsense from novels, are you? I told you to read less of that stuff…”
“First, I write novels myself, though I’m not doing well, but I have a lot of opinions about your opinions on novels,” Yu Sheng shot her a sidelong glance, his expression mildly annoyed. “Second, this has nothing to do with blood bonding; I just want to test a few hypotheses. When I was in that valley, Fox Li made contact with my blood, and afterward, we both experienced some changes. I want to see if something similar will happen with you.”
He referred to how Fox Li could suddenly sense his “death” and how he could perceive parts of her thoughts and memories.
He also suspected that the silver-white fox appearing in his dream world was related to this “blood connection.”
Upon hearing Yu Sheng's words, Eileen hesitated for a moment before sensing his seriousness.
Though she didn’t fully understand, she gradually quieted down.
Even if she looked reluctant (mainly because she didn't trust Yu Sheng's dubious actions), she still put on a cooperative attitude.
Of course, her cooperation was mainly because she had no way to escape.
After all, she was sealed in the painting and couldn’t do much except loudly complain.
Now that Yu Sheng had basically grown accustomed to her loud complaints…
However, to be honest, Eileen wasn’t exactly the right “test partner.”
After all, her “physique” was a bit special.
Yu Sheng found it challenging to determine whether his blood was affecting Eileen or the painting as the sealing medium.
He spread his blood on the frame and, while his wound had yet to heal, squeezed a few drops onto the canvas.
But either way, he couldn’t make the blood come into direct contact with the puppet’s body, like when Fox Li had licked his blood before.
Eileen looked up, though it was unclear how she perceived the situation within the painting—she seemed to sense the blood contact, but that was about it.
The painting didn’t absorb his blood like it did when Fox Li licked it.
“Do you feel anything?” After waiting a while, Yu Sheng asked uncertainly.
Eileen thought for a moment. “... It felt warm? But now it’s cool.”
Yu Sheng sighed. “... So it seems that didn’t work.”
(End of Chapter)