Chapter 40: The Situation Was Different from Expected

Erin was crying her heart out.

Yu Sheng didn't try to comfort her. For one thing, he really had no idea how to, and for another... he was worried that if this doll got too worked up and lost her mind from grief, she might snap and start biting people if he pushed her.

She'd have to jump to bite anyone now.

The good news was that she could actually bite people now, unlike before when she was stuck in the painting and could only yap.

After a long while, Erin's sorrow finally settled down just a little. Yu Sheng quickly shuffled a couple of steps closer to the table, hesitated, then said, "Um... don't be sad. Next time I'll make you a new body, normal size. For now... just make do with this one, okay? If not, I'll make you another one tomorrow..."

"Th-this is what I'll have to use for now," Erin said, sniffing twice, her face full of grief and indignation. "We'll just go with this for now—you don't need to bother. Even if you make me a new body tomorrow, I can't switch into it right away anyway. A living doll's soul can't keep swapping vessels. At, at least a few months..."

As she spoke, her sorrow welled up again, and she looked like she was about to cry.

Yu Sheng quickly grabbed a small glass bottle and held it up to Erin's face.

"What are you doing?" Erin asked, sniffling as she watched his inexplicable behavior.

"Living doll tears," Yu Sheng said seriously. "Next time I make you a body, I want to use premium materials. I'll spend the next few months collecting ingredients and make you one that glows with golden light..."

Erin thought it over, then wailed, "Yu Sheng, go to hell! Ahhh..."

Another long moment passed before the doll's grief finally settled again.

Erin climbed onto the stack of old books nearby, sat on top, and stared blankly, pondering life. Yu Sheng sat by the table, keeping her company, pondering life too.

"At, at least it's better than before," Erin muttered to herself, as if convincing him or herself. "At least I can run around on my own now."

"And you can watch TV on your own," Yu Sheng quickly chimed in. "Way more convenient than before, right?"

Erin let out a long sigh, as if trying to appear solemn and serious, but because she was so small (66.6 cm), the sigh didn't convey even a hint of heaviness.

Yu Sheng turned to sneak a look at the current Erin, his gaze landing on her exposed wrists and knees.

The ball joints unique to dolls were especially conspicuous.

"So even when using a clay doll as the vessel, you still end up with those ball joints like a puppet," he said thoughtfully.

"Duh, it's an articulated doll. Without joints, how would it move?" Erin shot him a glance. "This is the form recorded in my soul, so no matter what shape the vessel originally takes, after the soul finishes reshaping the body, it turns into this—if you don't like ball joints, too bad."

"Oh, no, that's not it," Yu Sheng said casually. "But speaking of what's recorded in your soul... doesn't it also record that you were 167 centimeters tall originally..."

Erin immediately leaped from the stack of books onto Yu Sheng's arm, holding his thumb with all her strength and trying to pull it back: "Can you not *bring up something that doesn't need to be brought up*!!"

Yu Sheng yelped and jumped up, trying to pull the tiny (66.6 cm) but surprisingly strong doll off his arm while quickly explaining, "I'm just curious, curious! What went wrong in your reshaping process? Your face didn't change at all, so why did your body shrink so much..."

"How should I know!" Erin was yanked off his arm and now dangled by her collar in midair. "It shouldn't have been a problem. Everything felt normal during the regeneration, but the final size came out wrong... Hey! Can you put me down first?!"

"Promise you won't bend my fingers." Yu Sheng held her by the collar, looking serious, and only set her down on the table after she nodded.

"Ah, forget it. Overthinking won't help," Erin sighed again, pacing a few steps on the table before shaking her head. "I still need to find a way to contact the sisters at Alice's Cottage. If I can go home, they'll definitely have a way..."

Yu Sheng was curious. "You keep mentioning Alice's Cottage and the dolls... where do those sisters of yours usually stay? Are there other dolls in this city besides you? And what exactly does your... 'organization' do on a day-to-day basis?"

He'd wanted to ask these questions for a while, but one tricky thing after another kept happening, and only now did he have the chance.

"Us? We're a race created by the Mother of Dolls. As for our mission... actually, we don't really have one. Sometimes we deal with the Otherworld, sometimes we help other organizations handle some troublesome entities, but most of the time, the dolls just do what they like," Erin recalled, speaking slowly. "Most of my sisters don't operate in the human world, but there should be a contact point in the Borderland... But I can't remember where, and after all these years, the contact methods and people have probably changed..."

She climbed back onto the stack of old books, rested her chin on her hands, and continued in a more thoughtful tone: "When we move around the human world, we disguise ourselves. Living dolls look a lot like humans, so it's easy to blend in. A city this huge—without a specific method or a specific contact person, finding hidden dolls won't be easy..."

Yu Sheng listened, and though he'd already suspected that all sorts of strange creatures might be hidden in this city, he still felt amazed. "Unbelievable... I always thought only humans lived here..."

"How could that be?" Erin rolled her eyes at him. "This is the Borderland."

"The Borderland..." Yu Sheng repeated the word softly.

"In a place like the Borderland, anything is possible. Not to mention, even in this old district, there's someone like you, who thinks he's human," Erin waved her hand and jumped off the stack of books. "Let's go downstairs. I've had enough of this attic. Now that I can move freely for the first time, I want to explore this big house!"

"True," Yu Sheng exhaled and patted his own face to wake himself up. "Spending most of the day just making your body made me hungry. I'll go downstairs and cook something."

He turned and walked toward the attic exit, but after just two steps, he heard Erin shouting behind him, "Hey! Wait for me! I haven't come down yet!"

Yu Sheng looked back and saw Erin running from the table, taking a few strides, then leaping onto the creaky old chair, climbing to its edge, and slowly sliding down by grabbing the chair leg with her hands and feet. After a long time, she finally reached the floor...

Yu Sheng: "..."

Erin scurried on her short little legs, running to Yu Sheng's feet, and then noticed his gaze on her. She immediately looked up, trying to put on a dignified pose with her hands on her hips: "What are you looking at me for?"

"Nothing," Yu Sheng shook his head. "Just think it's kind of... cute."

He almost said "funny."

Erin froze for a moment, not catching the suspicious pause in his words. "Re-really?"

Then she followed him forward, and after two steps, she tugged at his pants. "Hey, thanks."

Yu Sheng looked down, pulling at his waistband, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Thanks for preparing a body for me. Things were so chaotic just now that I didn't get a chance to thank you properly," Erin said seriously.

Yu Sheng couldn't help but look her up and down (66.6 cm). After a long pause, he finally couldn't hold it in: "You're like this and still thanking me?"

"One thing at a time. The size issue is something I messed up during my own reshaping, but the body itself—you made it with care," Erin looked up, trying to appear exceedingly solemn (though it didn't really show). "Even if it is a little ugly."

"...You could have left that last part off."

"An-anyway, what I promised you before still stands," Erin said quickly. "I'll help you from now on. Whether it's fighting or providing mystical assistance, I'll be useful. Even if I find my sisters and return to Alice's Cottage one day, I'll come back to help you. So..."

She paused, thinking for a moment.

"Just, let's say a hundred years?" She looked at Yu Sheng, carefully confirming. "You should be dead by old age by then, right?"

Yu Sheng: "...I'll do my best."

"Then a hundred years it is," Erin smiled happily. For some reason, her mood suddenly lifted. Then she turned and scurried on her little legs toward the attic exit. "Let's go downstairs fast..."

Her voice cut off abruptly. She pitched forward, falling like a puppet whose strings had been cut, tumbling far across the floor from the momentum of her run until she hit the opposite wall.

The smile froze on Yu Sheng's face the moment Erin fell.

"Ho... holy shit?!"

He stood stunned for a second, then rushed over to Erin, bending down to pick up the tiny doll from the floor.

The doll's eyes were tightly shut, her limbs completely limp. The limbs that had been warm just a second ago felt cold like ordinary clay now, the skin still soft and alive to the touch but utterly devoid of life.

Yu Sheng was completely dumbfounded.

Then he heard Erin's voice—coming from the big table not far away.

"Yu Sheng! I-I'm back inside this thing!"

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