Chapter 37: The First Step in Preparing a Body

Hearing Irene’s request, Yusheng was a bit surprised. He didn’t understand why she would bring this up so solemnly at this moment.

They had indeed discussed making a body for the painted puppet more than once before, but it had never been settled. On one hand, it was because Yusheng and Irene still lacked trust and understanding of each other; on the other hand, there were simply too many chaotic things going on, and Yusheng hadn’t had time to consider Irene’s body issue.

But now, seeing the extremely serious expression on the puppet girl’s face, Yusheng realized she wasn’t bringing it up on a whim or out of momentary caprice.

He looked at Irene with a questioning gaze.

“I’m going with you,” Irene’s answer was also simple. “Consider it extra backup.”

“Are you sure?” Yusheng’s expression was a bit subtle. “Not that I doubt your abilities, but…”

“Listen,” Irene interrupted him. She leaned close to the frame of the painting, her face nearly occupying two-thirds of the picture, her tone unusually earnest. “I’m not joking with you. Although I don’t know exactly how you plan to deal with that ‘Entity,’ judging from the fact that you can bring back ‘souvenirs’ from it, you must have some skill. I won’t ask what kind of skill, but you need to know that when dealing with the Otherworld, relying solely on ‘being able to fight’ isn’t enough—at least not when dealing with a troublesome Entity like ‘Hunger.’”

She paused, then retreated a bit. “Make me a body, let me regain some freedom of movement. It doesn’t have to be refined; as long as I can break free from the shackles of this damned painting, I can do much more. Even though I can’t recover my full strength, I’m definitely stronger than ordinary investigators or so-called Spirit Realm Detectives or Otherworld Hunters. Even if I’ve forgotten a lot of knowledge, I still have the instincts of a living puppet.”

Yusheng stared fixedly at Irene, and Irene looked back at him with her scarlet eyes.

“I can help you, Yusheng,” Irene said very seriously. “We already cooperated once when we entered Hu Li’s dream.”

This time, Yusheng thought longer than ever before, and then he had to admit Irene had a point.

His mind was full of returning to that valley and dealing with the “Entity-Hunger” there, but he also knew that relying solely on charging in blindly wouldn’t give him a high chance of eliminating that monster. Of course, he wasn’t afraid of death, and he had gradually grown stronger during the process of devouring the “Entity-Hunger,” but this enhancement clearly had an upper limit, and “Hunger”… wasn’t easy to eliminate.

Relying on repeated deaths to “corpse-drag” the monster to death might be an option, but it was obviously a last resort. If he really could have a helper who was relatively capable in a fight and understood some supernatural powers, that would be good.

All he needed was to give Irene some trust and release her from this painting.

And that trust had already been established back when they fell into Hu Li’s dream together and woke up to see each other and vomited.

“Looks like I’ll need to go to the city center,” Yusheng let out a soft breath and leaned back in his chair. “Materials like clay and wigs need to be bought at specialized hobby stores. There aren’t any in this old district.”

The puppet girl in the painting blinked, and after realizing it, she immediately showed a surprised expression. “You… you agreed?!”

“If you don’t have high requirements for the body’s quality and trust my craftsmanship,” Yusheng waved his hand, “I can give it a try.”

“The requirements aren’t high. As long as it’s in human shape, I can reshape it myself—just don’t make a mistake during the ‘alchemy’ step,” Irene said hastily, as if afraid Yusheng would change his mind if she said it too late. After speaking, she thought for a moment, then turned her face aside with a subtle expression. “And… and if you really can’t find suitable materials…”

Yusheng looked curious. “What if you really can’t find suitable materials?”

“…You can use dough.”

Yusheng was stunned for two or three seconds, then finally revealed the most shocked expression since he had met Irene. “Huh?!”

Irene explained in a low voice. “Materials are just a medium. What really works is the alchemy part—your blood and my soul…”

Yusheng was completely dazed. “Hey, wait… I know you settle for second best, but this is way too second-rate?!”

Irene thought for a moment, then decided to give Yusheng a harmless smile to muddle through with cuteness.

She succeeded.

But Yusheng still decided to go out and buy things.

“I’d better go buy some proper clay. The amount needed to mold you a body should be quite a lot, so I shouldn’t waste food. Besides, I have some other things to buy,” Yusheng sighed, stood up, and said casually. “You stay home and watch TV obediently. If anything comes up, contact me remotely. If the TV freezes again, wait until I get back.”

With that, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV for Irene. The Irene in the frame nodded obediently. “Oh… come back soon.”

Yusheng responded, put on his jacket, and walked toward the entrance.

Holding the door handle, the first thing he did was steady himself. After confirming that there wouldn’t be a volcano crater, a meteor shower, a sulfur lake, a little green man holding a lightsaber, or an elf big sister with mechanical modifications outside the door, he took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and smoothly stepped onto the old street of Wutong Road.

Yusheng suddenly found this quite interesting.

It was very easy for him to go to the ends of the world (whether he could come back and whether he would die out there was another matter), but it was actually more difficult for him to push open the door and walk onto the main street now…

Walking toward the bus stop, Yusheng casually looked around.

At some point, his mindset when walking through this vast, unfamiliar city had changed. The oppressive anxiety of the past few days had quietly faded. Walking down this street that couldn’t be considered his “hometown,” what he felt was not only calmness but also a trace of… exhilaration and anticipation.

Even the sky, which had been so bright as to be a bit irritating, now looked like a cheerful, sunny blue.

There were vendors selling things at the intersection, sparse pedestrians passing by, and a kid who had caused who-knew-what trouble running past the street shouting, with an adult chasing after him, cursing all the way.

Yusheng wondered: could any of these be the “professionals” Irene mentioned? Those who protect this city in the shadows, fighting against the Otherworld. Had anyone noticed the little “wrongness” hidden in this peaceful old district?

His thoughts even wandered, and he started speculating which of the passersby looked unfamiliar, which looked like plainclothes agents, and which looked like Spirit Realm Detectives or investigators.

The uncle selling jianbing at the intersection seemed a bit possible; his skills were bad today. The auntie hanging clothes on the balcony across the street was also possible; he hadn’t seen her before. Could the brat who just ran past shouting be one? Irene said Spirit Realm Detectives had “tricks” to change their appearance, very magical…

Anyway, the spiky-haired youth wearing a vest, dyed yellow hair, with a phone playing music out loud while squatting on the ground definitely wasn’t one. It just didn’t fit.

Yusheng hummed a tune, passed through the old street, and brushed past Li Lin, who was wearing a vest, dyed yellow hair (a wig), with a phone playing music out loud, squatting on the ground.

After a while, Xu Jiali, nearly two meters tall (male), wandered onto the street, looked down at Li Lin who was keeping watch, then squatted down, lit a cigarette, and squatted together with him like a fellow scumbag.

“Is this outfit reliable?” asked Xu Jiali.

“Very reliable,” Li Lin said casually. “I used to wear this when I went on field surveillance. Those jianbing colleagues got exposed, but I never did. I also have a set of two-dimensional battle gear; that’s even more covert. Once, I pinned down a border smuggler, and he still didn’t believe a two-dimensional person was a special agent from the bureau.”

The burly man was stunned. “Two-dimensional battle gear? Sounds like a field-type power armor? Aren’t those not allowed in the Borderlands?”

“…You wouldn’t understand,” Li Lin said disdainfully, moving aside a bit. “Stay away from me. Your size is too big; don’t blow my cover.”

“Impossible. My vibe alone looks more jobless than yours,” the burly man scoffed. “But honestly, you haven’t found anything all morning, have you? Seriously, I doubt even if there’s something hidden here, it’s probably not a ‘person.’ It’s more likely a weird entity or an Otherworld erosion point—something that matches the clues you’ve found so far. Damn it, with all that commotion in the Boundary City last night, I don’t know what the situation is at the bureau now, and we have to squat here like idiots staring at God knows what…”

Li Lin couldn’t be bothered with this giant. He pulled out a large power bank and plugged it into his phone, then turned up the phone’s speaker volume even louder.

Two or three hours later, Yusheng had already bought everything he wanted at the mall in the city center.

Now, dragging his bags and bundles to an empty place, he began to ponder.

He had bought quite a lot—the weight wasn’t a problem for him now, but carrying it all back on the crowded bus would still be troublesome.

So, he had a bold idea.

He felt this was well worth trying.

Yusheng looked up, confirmed once more that no one was watching, then silently reached out his hand toward the air beside him—a door took shape in his hand.

Three seconds later, deep inside the Boundary City at a certain concealed “depth,” in the headquarters of the Special Affairs Bureau, countless agents, clerks, team leaders, and their director, Bai Liqing—who had already been working overtime until their wits were blurred—were launched from their chairs by the sudden alarm siren…

Yusheng carried several large plastic bags and went home.