Chapter 6: The First Step to Friendly Communication

The girl in the painting, who called herself "Elin," was locked in a staring contest with Yu Sheng, who stood outside the frame. So far, the two of them had not established even a shred of mutual trust.

Yu Sheng had absolutely no way to confirm whether the words of this "person in the painting," who seemed like some kind of cursed object, were true or false. Everything she mentioned—Alice's Cottage, being sealed into the painting—he was hearing for the first time. For that reason, when Elin said she didn't know why she had appeared in this house, he didn't dare believe a single word either.

On the other hand, Elin felt that this human named Yu Sheng was definitely still planning to set her on fire with his lighter. Her gaze kept tracking the movements of that lighter...

"I'm pretty sure you bought the painting yourself and hung it at home, then just forgot about it," Elin repeated. "Doesn't that happen all the time? You humans see something weird and want to collect it, then you bring it home and let it gather dust..."

Her words actually made Yu Sheng's heart waver a little, because he really couldn't be certain about the origins of everything in this house. After all, he had only truly been "here" for two months. He wasn't even familiar with this world, let alone with himself. Who knew what state this house and its owner had been in two months ago?

Had that been another "Yu Sheng"?

But these thoughts only flashed through his mind. Facing the crimson-eyed gaze of the painting's occupant, Yu Sheng still shook his head subconsciously and replied, "No way—this painting of yours looks expensive, not like something I could afford..."

"Oh, but what if it was really cheap!" Elin scooted forward, hugging her teddy bear. "These days there are plenty of fake vases, fans, and calligraphy scrolls. Maybe the previous seller bought me wholesale from some counterfeit antique dealer along with other paintings for two-fifty a pound. Or maybe the middleman just didn't know their stuff..."

Yu Sheng's expression turned strange. "That frame of yours, when you lift it, is solid old wood, with gold thread inlaid along the edges..."

Elin thought for a moment. "Veneer over MDF filled with resin! Copper wire plated with gold."

Yu Sheng: "...Then the cost is already more than two-fifty a pound."

"Four-fifty, then. Can't go higher than that. Any more and nobody would buy it."

Yu Sheng: "..."

Elin stared with her crimson eyes. "Hey, why aren't you talking?"

Yu Sheng crouched in front of Elin's painting frame and suddenly found this amusing. Then he actually laughed out loud. He plopped down on the floor, still laughing, and tipped his head back to look at the ceiling, laughing so hard his whole upper body leaned back. He had never imagined in his life that he would experience a scene like this—crouching in an empty room, having a pointless argument with a doll sealed inside an oil painting, just to debate whether the frame holding the doll was a cheap counterfeit bought for two-fifty or four-fifty a pound...

And not long ago, a frog that had spawned in the freezing rain had ripped out his heart.

All of this was just too damn interesting.

But Elin, startled by Yu Sheng's sudden laughter, felt a little creeped out. He had taken her and her painting frame down from the wall and set them on the floor. Now she could see the bare ceiling and hear the laughter beside her, which finally made her unable to help herself. "Hey, don't laugh! What's so funny?"

Yu Sheng gradually stopped laughing. He scooted forward, looking at Elin inside the frame, and his expression suddenly turned serious. "Was the weird dream I had earlier your doing?"

He was referring to what had happened earlier—in his dream, he had been hacking at a locked door with an axe, and a strange laugh had come from behind it. Now it seemed obvious that this clearly eerie dream was connected to the girl in the painting before him.

Oh, right, he had also thrown out his back in that dream—and it still hurt.

"No!" Elin shook her head immediately, but then stopped, hesitating. "Well... not entirely... no."

"What do you mean?" Yu Sheng frowned. "That's pretty roundabout."

"That dream was your own doing, but I did slip into it," Elin explained patiently. "I just sensed that someone was dreaming, so I wanted to use that method to find someone to help me. I never meant any harm! I didn't know you couldn't open that door, and that you were so hot-tempered. When you forgot your keys, you just started hacking at the door with an axe..."

Listening to Elin's rambling, Yu Sheng gradually understood. "So you're saying... you didn't lock the door either? You didn't induce the dream? You just have the ability to enter other people's dreams?"

"Exactly! And I can do a lot more!" Elin nodded, her face proud, but that pride quickly faded. "But now that I'm sealed in the painting, that's almost the only ability I have left..."

Yu Sheng was only half-convinced by Elin's explanation, and he also had more questions and thoughts about what had happened in that strange dream. Then he had a second question. "You said you wanted to find someone to help through the dream? Help with what?"

"Naturally, to get me out of here!" Elin said, as if it were obvious. "If I can get out of this painting, that would be great. If not, at least get me out of this room. There's nothing here—it's completely empty. If only there was a TV on the opposite wall... a voice-controlled one would be even better. It's inconvenient for me to use a remote. There's this one brand that's pretty good..."

Yu Sheng realized that the girl in the painting was a classic free-associative personality. If left to her own devices, her train of thought would always diverge in directions he never expected—and usually toward being carried away with herself.

So he interrupted without hesitation. "Then why did you laugh creepily when you were trying to get help? When I was 'opening the door' out there, what was that mocking laugh from inside?"

"That wasn't me!" Elin quickly waved her hands, then thrust the brown plush bear she was holding forward. "It was him laughing!"

Yu Sheng didn't say anything. He just stared at her, expressionless, with a look that clearly said, "You're not taking me for a fool, are you?"

"Really!" Elin seemed a little anxious now, shaking the toy bear vigorously. "He was sealed into this painting along with me, but maybe it's been too long, and his mind isn't very sharp anymore. Now all he does is giggle dumbly. Usually, if you poke him, he'll laugh weirdly, but sometimes he'll suddenly start laughing even if you don't poke him. He even scares me sometimes..."

Yu Sheng listened with a stern face as Elin tried to explain, and despite himself, he began to waver a little, noticing the serious look on the girl's face. Finally, his gaze fell onto the plush bear. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. "Okay, make him laugh. Let me hear if that's how it sounds."

Elin immediately reached out and poked the toy bear's head.

The toy bear showed no reaction at all.

Elin was taken aback, then poked the toy bear's head again—still no response. She herself looked like she was about to cry.

"S-sometimes it's like this," the girl in the painting said, her face crumpling. "I poke it, and it doesn't laugh..."

The corner of Yu Sheng's mouth twitched.

"So sometimes it laughs even if you don't poke it, and sometimes it doesn't laugh even if you do. In short, whether you poke it or not, it might laugh or might not," he analyzed, sounding like a tongue twister, and came to a conclusion. "So is there any connection between the bear laughing and you poking it?"

Elin blinked, then nodded slowly. "R-right... right."

Yu Sheng kind of wanted to stop dealing with this "cursed painting" whose brain seemed a bit off.

And he had already stopped caring about that mocking laugh he'd heard in the dream earlier.

His stomach let out a growl. He had fallen asleep right after getting home and missed dinner, which was now making its presence known. Yu Sheng laughed, shook his head, and slowly got to his feet.

"Hey, are you leaving?" Elin's voice immediately filled with panic. "You're not just going to leave me on the floor, are you? At least hang me back on the wall. Across from the wall, there's wallpaper to look at. The ceiling has nothing..."

Yu Sheng reached down and lifted Elin's painting frame from the floor—then winced and grimaced from the pain in his back.

"I'm taking you to the living room, so stop yapping," he said casually.

Elin immediately cheered up, hugged her teddy bear, and sat back down in her chair, watching Yu Sheng drag her frame along. "That's good! You're not so bad after all. Oh, right, is it dinner time now? What's for dinner tonight?"

Yu Sheng looked down at her. "Can you eat?"

"I can watch!"

Yu Sheng felt that he must be really sick to keep bothering with this creature.

Holding his back, he struggled to lift Elin's painting frame and slowly walked toward the stairway that led to the living room. The chatter from inside the oil painting never stopped—

"Oh, your house is pretty big! There's a whole area outside that room?"

"What's that room across the way? Your bedroom? Hey, is there anyone else here?"

"Should I say hello to them? Will they be scared? Ordinary people usually haven't seen talking dolls and oil paintings, right..."

"Oh, I haven't asked your name yet! What is it? Yusheng? That's a weird name... Not the kind you eat, right?"

"What's wrong with your back? Your waist is already shot at your age? Let me tell you, you need to take care of your lower back. Your human joints are such a hassle, and you can't even just take them apart... Hey, why are you glaring at me? That expression is kind of scary..."

Yu Sheng finally, with difficulty, shuffled to the top of the stairs and looked down at the steps below. Normally, he never noticed it, but today, after throwing out his back and carrying a particularly heavy painting frame, the stairs looked especially steep.

He had initially planned to carry Elin's frame down with both hands, but now he suddenly realized his physical condition didn't seem to allow for that.

Yu Sheng lowered his head, silently thinking.

The chattering girl in the painting seemed to sense something. Her voice gradually quieted, and her expression slowly grew tense.

Yu Sheng lowered his eyelids and glanced at the girl in the painting, who had been babbling the whole way and whose topics were becoming increasingly irritating. "Elin."

The girl in the painting jolted. "Y-yes?"

"I feel like this frame of yours is pretty sturdy."

"Is... is it?"

Yu Sheng silently placed Elin's painting frame at the top of the stairs.

"It might get a little bumpy. Hold on tight."

Elin finally understood. Her eyes flew wide open. "Hey, wait—"

"Here we go!"

The oil painting frame embarked on a boisterous adventure down the stairs, clattering and banging all the way.

Accompanied by Elin's enthusiastic expressions of gratitude the whole way down: "Yu Sheng, you son of a... aaaahhh waaah awwwahh ooohh aaahh &%$#*—"