Chapter 258: New Clothes
The moment she saw Yu Sheng's expression change, Ailin immediately stuck her head over. Her eyes swept across the screen, and she knew exactly what was going on. The little puppet looked up, her gaze full of the excitement of someone who loves watching chaos unfold: "Ooh—what'd they say? You won't go see your online friend, so your online friend comes to see you..."
Yu Sheng didn't have time to deal with the puppet's sarcastic remarks right now. He stared at the message on the screen, sucking on his teeth in frustration, looking as worried as could be: "I'm telling you, I've got a really bad feeling about this. Like, really bad..."
"Is your spiritual intuition jumping?"
"Not exactly, but maybe it's out of range," Yu Sheng said, his face serious and conflicted. "Or maybe I'm overthinking it. The world isn't always that coincidental, right..."
"I can only agree, since you're already this stressed," Ailin said, crossing her legs as she sat down on the table, looking at Yu Sheng with curiosity. "So how are you going to reply? Make an excuse not to meet? It's not like you're that close anyway—or you could just open a door and go do wilderness survival on some godforsaken planet for a few days. Say you went on a field trip. I mean, just in case it really is that coincidental, it'd be way too awkward."
"Easy for you to say. I'd rather face an online friend coming at me with a knife than do wilderness survival on some godforsaken planet," Yu Sheng shot a glare at the puppet, then steeled himself. "Ah screw it, we'll meet. What's the worst that could happen? Even if it is that coincidental, it'd actually be a good thing—then I won't have to worry about it anymore."
As he spoke, he sent a reply on the Border Comm: "Sure, it's always good to have someone knowledgeable to chat with. But where should we meet? Do you need an address? The place I live is pretty out of the way, hard to find..."
A moment later, Wicked Disciple Four Thousand replied: "No matter. I have some connections with the Special Operations Bureau. When my disciple arrives, I'll have them make arrangements. Just wait for news."
After a few more exchanges, Yu Sheng put down his phone and let out a long breath.
He felt like a weight had been lifted, like he'd seen through everything.
The little puppet leaned over, poking at Yu Sheng's face and looking left and right. After a long moment, she blurted out: "You're going to have a bloody disaster!"
"I'm covered in blood every other day. It's not even a disaster anymore," Yu Sheng said, reaching out to swat away Ailin's little paws. He picked up the small skirt he'd just finished sewing from the table and handed it to her. "Try it on. I loosened the back a bit and replaced the hot glue seams with thread. Now it should feel as comfortable as normal clothes, no irritation."
"Oh oh, nice!" Ailin lit up instantly, hugging the skirt and hopping off the table. "I'll change... change... ah, there's no place to change up in the attic. I'll have to go downstairs."
"Don't bother," Yu Sheng said, grabbing a big cardboard box that used to hold miscellaneous stuff. He stood it upright and placed it on the floor. "Just change in here. I'll leave an opening on the side, but there's no light inside."
"Oh, then you'd better not peek!"
Yu Sheng waved his hand dismissively.
The puppet ducked into the box to change clothes. After a rustling sound, Ailin stepped out beaming, wearing her new purple dress. She spun proudly in front of Yu Sheng: "Do I look good?"
"Yeah, yeah, you look good. I already saw it once last time. It suits you," Yu Sheng said casually. "Still itchy?"
"Not itchy anymore!" Ailin said happily, climbing up Yu Sheng's leg back onto the table. "You've got some skill, you know. Maybe one day you could become a professional puppeteer?"
"You're just making stuff up. I'm well aware of my own skill level. Being able to patch you up and make you a passable body now and then is already quite impressive," Yu Sheng said offhandedly. "If I actually tried to be a puppeteer, I'd starve."
Ailin thought for a moment, then immediately jumped to another topic: "By the way, did that Wicked Disciple or whatever say when his disciple is coming?"
"He said at least five or six days. Not just because it's a long way, but also because of paperwork and stuff," Yu Sheng said, waving his hand. "I've never traveled far myself, let alone lived outside the Borderlands, so I don't really get their procedures. But it sounds like it's quite a hassle for an 'outsider' to come to ."
"Well, it is the Borderlands after all... Probably the place with the highest security level in the entire universe."
Over the next two days, Yu Sheng finally had some peaceful days—at least days without any unexpected incidents.
His "online friend" from across the Star Sea was still en route dealing with procedures. The Special Operations Bureau had no new news for a while. The room at the end of the second-floor hallway stayed quiet. No random door from some alien realm opened in the middle of the street. No entity crashed into the kitchen at 66 Wutong Road.
Hu Li lived a leisurely life, eating until it was time for the next meal, and pestering Yu Sheng to brush her tail when bored. Ailin was locked in a cycle of "arguing with idiot netizens—account banned—account unbanned—arguing with idiot netizens," living each day with full fighting spirit. Occasionally, she'd binge on some stupid web dramas or low-budget variety shows, her life surprisingly fulfilling.
Yu Sheng finally finished writing a manuscript he'd owed for a long time—this time the protagonist no longer rode a motorcycle. Though motorcycles were cool, he reluctantly changed the male lead to ride an alpaca.
The editor who received it was obviously shocked, but even more shocking was the fact that he still approved it. This made Yu Sheng momentarily suspect that the saying "turning in late improves acceptance rate" might actually be true, and he decided that next time he'd try giving the male lead a three-wheeled scooter...
As for the other side, in that valley, the children of "Fairytale" were getting along fine. Everything was gradually falling into place.
The aid engineering team had already withdrawn, and Little Red Riding Hood had taken charge of the next phase of home-building with a group of super middle-schoolers.
Actually, Engineer Sun hadn't been too happy to leave. He felt that as an adult, he should see things through to the end and not leave "rebuilding their homeland" to a bunch of half-grown kids. But his simple idea was half-suppressed when he saw the "Royal Stonemason Guild" summoned by the King, and the remaining half was squashed when he witnessed the efficiency of the seven Thunder Titans with their earth-shattering strength in building houses.
After confirming that everything in the valley was on track, Yu Sheng prepared to complete something he'd planned earlier:
Open an additional stable portal to the outside world at the center of the "town."
After all, Little Red Riding Hood and the others couldn't stay in the valley forever. They'd need to go out from time to time. The council employees represented by Teacher Su also had to clock out at the end of the day. Currently, the only ways in and out were either letting Yu Sheng open a door for them or using the fixed channel on the portal platform that led out through the basement at 66 Wutong Road—neither of which was a long-term solution.
Early that morning, Yu Sheng arrived at the valley with Ailin and Hu Li.
Near the temporary buildings in the "town," they saw a bustling construction site.
A large new foundation had "grown" into place. A group of "Kingdom Craftsmen" who looked like they'd stepped out of a storybook—with stiff movements like puppets but flawless workmanship—were measuring the ground and marking lines. Snow White and a few "parents" seemed to be discussing future building plans at the edge of the site, while the summoned Thunder Titans were stacking huge building materials like building blocks in the spots where houses were to be built. Those materials included giant trees from the Black Forest, massive stones from distant castles, and large quantities of steel and concrete that the Special Operations Bureau had shipped in earlier.
Yu Sheng also saw a giant in steel armor sitting next to the construction site, holding a tree trunk in one hand while using a "short sword" he carried to casually carve on the tree, looking like he was sharpening a pencil. Yu Sheng watched for a while before realizing that the "stick" the giant was carving was actually a roof beam...
There were several finished beams lying next to the giant.
A voice sounded beside Yu Sheng: "I heard from the 'King' that these roughly processed timbers can't be used directly. They have to be dried and then surface-carbonized, which normally takes forever, so they're building a drying shed first. Among Snow White's summoned titans, there's one that can control fire, so it can go inside to speed things up, but it needs to be precise. Sounds like a headache... but he insists it gives a sense of accomplishment..."
Yu Sheng turned around and saw Rapunzel standing next to him, watching the construction site.
The girl turned back, her face breaking into a bright smile: "Bro, looking for Red?"
Yu Sheng was taken aback: "How did you know?"
"You've got this aura of 'here to do serious business' hanging around you..."
Yu Sheng: "?"
Rapunzel grinned, then turned toward the town and shouted: "Red—Sis Red—"
A figure ran out of the town, surrounded by faint, shadowy wolves. In the blink of an eye, she was nearby: "What are you wailing about! Can't you just send a message!"
Rapunzel pointed: "Bro is looking for you."
Yu Sheng smiled and greeted Little Red Riding Hood, then his expression froze.
The girl in front of him was wearing different clothes today.
She wasn't wearing her iconic red coat. Instead, she had on a thick blue-and-white jacket. The style was plain, the cut loose, with a line of text embroidered on the chest—XX High School...
Yu Sheng: "..."
Little Red Riding Hood noticed his gaze, looked down, then looked up with a bright smile: "What do you think? It's my school uniform~~~"
Yu Sheng thought for a moment and didn't say anything.
Ailin, however, was blunt: "Honestly? Pretty ugly."
"Yeah, it is pretty ugly, haha," Little Red Riding Hood laughed happily. "But sometimes I want to wear it. I used to have to wear that red coat almost every day. If I changed clothes for one day, my nails would start getting sharp the next... But now I don't have to worry about that anymore."
As she spoke, she spun around on the spot.
"Yep, still pretty ugly," she said cheerfully.