Chapter 148: A Chaotic Morning

Yu Sheng was woken up early in the morning by a phone call from Little Red Riding Hood.

He opened his eyes groggily and saw two Eilins—one hanging from the foot of the bed, the other sprawled on the bedside table—anyway, no normal person could imagine how these two dolls managed to sleep in such a state—while the phone buzzed incessantly beside the pillow. As soon as he answered, before he could even speak, Little Red Riding Hood's voice came through in a panic: "Yu Sheng! You're dead!"

Yu Sheng instantly jolted awake.

His first reaction was that the quality of JKs these days needed improvement; his second reaction was to quickly wonder how exactly he had offended that Miss—this early-morning call carried a sand content far greater than the sandbox in their orphanage.

But the next second, Little Red Riding Hood on the other end of the phone realized her mistake and hurriedly explained: "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean that, my mind is a bit confused. I mean, I saw you die... no, I remembered you died... still no, ah, this time it's right, I just remembered..."

It was clear the Miss was truly a bit confused, but her confusion actually made Yu Sheng understand what was happening—after all, similar reactions had occurred with Eilin, so he simply coughed twice to interrupt her: "Cough, stop, stop, you don't need to say it, I know what's going on. Good heavens, truly, with a layer of 'Evil Wolf' in between during the transmission process, the delayed effect on you is really quite delayed."

Little Red Riding Hood froze instantly on her end; Yu Sheng's calm reaction probably left her somewhat at a loss. After several seconds, her voice came through again: "You... why are you so calm?"

"Because I knew all along you would eventually remember these things. Anyone who has come into contact with my blood will detect my 'resurrection.' A similar process happened with Eilin and Hu Lizheng," Yu Sheng sat up from the bed while briefly explaining the situation to the other person, "... in short, that's how it is. You don't need to be nervous. The good news is that next time you come to visit at 66 Wutong Road, you won't need me to open the door for you; you'll be able to see this house of mine yourself. The bad news is that next time you see me die violently right before your eyes, the shock might be a bit intense, after all, the 'forgetting' mechanism won't work on you anymore."

"But this isn't a big problem either. Eilin and Hu Lizheng are very adapted to it now, and I'm quite adapted too. You'll get used to it after seeing it a couple more times."

Silence fell on the other end of the phone for a moment; Little Red Riding Hood might be confused again, currently in a state where her worldview couldn't keep up with her brain, and her brain couldn't keep up with her ears. At this moment, the two Eilins hanging from the foot of the bed and sprawled on the bedside table also slowly woke up due to the noise of the phone call. The two dolls lifted their heads groggily and greeted Yu Sheng: "Good morning... yawn."

Then both of them fell to the ground simultaneously—after all, they were already hanging precariously.

Yu Sheng reached out and picked up the Eilin who had fallen from the bedside table. The latter rubbed her head, still not fully awake, and muttered complaints: "You and Hu Lizheng were too much yesterday. You ate barbecue, I could only watch without saying anything, and you even propped me up next to the fire pit and roasted me along with the meat..."

"That was to dry your clothes," Yu Sheng glanced at the doll, "Who told you to fall into the pot."

"Then you shouldn't have put me on a stick!"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment: "What happened yesterday is in the past; we should look forward..."

Eilin let out a shriek and jumped up—but before she could even reach the halfway point, Yu Sheng pressed her head down, while the latter waved the phone: "Little Red Riding Hood called. She is now 'the same' as you and Hu Lizheng."

Eilin blinked her eyes, not seeming to understand at first, but just a few seconds later, she guessed what was going on.

"... It just took effect?" the doll asked cautiously.

"It just took effect, and it seems she was scared," Yu Sheng muttered, "High schoolers these days really can't handle things."

As soon as he finished speaking, Little Red Riding Hood's voice finally came through the phone again: "I don't think this is a problem of handling ability—even someone with the strongest ability would react like this when dealing with you."

Yu Sheng immediately laughed: "Got your thoughts straightened out?"

"I guess so," Little Red Riding Hood sighed, then asked curiously, "How many people know your 'secret' now?"

"Actually, I don't think this is much of a secret, but there's no way around this strange 'rewind' mechanism," Yu Sheng said casually, "Currently, only you, Eilin, and Hu Lizheng know—theoretically, Xiao Xiao could know too, because she also shared my blood, but I haven't died in front of her yet, so she still doesn't know..."

Before he finished speaking, Little Red Riding Hood on the phone shouted: "Don't scare the child!"

Yu Sheng was speechless: "Nonsense, I'm not sick. Would I idly go die violently in front of a child just to scare her?"

Little Red Riding Hood's voice carried a bit of resentment: "What if you wanted to try?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He now seriously doubted what image he held in the other person's mind—could it be that he was no longer a mature, reliable, steady, and proper my lord?

Just then, he suddenly felt his phone vibrate again, and immediately a notification for a new call appeared on the screen.

"Alright, I can't talk to you anymore, the Special Operations Bureau is calling," Yu Sheng glanced at the name on the screen and quickly said to Little Red Riding Hood, "Is there any other situation on your end?"

"No, the biggest situation is suddenly knowing you're dead. You go ahead and get busy."

Yu Sheng felt that no matter how he heard it, this sentence sounded awkward; lacking any context, it sounded like a grammatical error.

He muttered a complaint in his heart, then hung up the call with Little Red Riding Hood and answered the new incoming call: "Hello, this is Yu Sheng."

The voice of Bai Liqing came through the phone: "Calling so early, did I disturb your sleep?"

Whether it was an illusion or not, Yu Sheng always felt there was a hint of revenge in that plain and simple sentence.

"No, I just happened to wake up. Is the laboratory arrangement settled?"

"Yes, the analysis laboratory is ready, a team of experts is on standby, and the materials you requested are also prepared," Bai Liqing's voice was calm and reliable, "If there are no problems on your end, a car will come to pick you up in thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes? Alright, no problem."

Yu Sheng hung up the phone, checked the time, then quickly got up to dress and wash. He grabbed two small combs and threw them to the two little dolls on the bed: "Hurry up and get ready to go out. We're going to the Special Operations Bureau today to broaden our horizons—by the way, hurry up and wake Hu Lizheng, or there won't be time for breakfast."

The two Eilins sat on the bed and started combing each other's hair. Hearing Yu Sheng's words, they didn't move: "No need to call her. I think she's already eating. I just heard some noise in the kitchen downstairs..."

Yu Sheng spat out the toothpaste foam from his mouth, paused for a moment upon hearing the little doll's words, then instantly reacted: "Not good! The stewed meat I put in the refrigerator!"

"Think positively. You're definitely too late if you go down now," Eilin comforted from the side, "And honestly, you even stored the remaining half of the wolf corpse in her tail. From the very beginning, the ending was destined, you know."

Yu Sheng let out a long sigh, hearing this, and had to admit Eilin was right...

By the time he and Eilin went downstairs, Hu Lizheng was holding a pot and looking dazed by the dining table, clearly having eaten so much she was suffering from food coma.

And beside the dazed Miss Fox, a steaming hot meal was still placed on the dining table—all leftovers from last night's "picnic," heated perfectly with fox fire.

"Benefactor, I've heated up breakfast for you, hey." Hu Lizheng showed Yu Sheng a smile, proud and happy.

Yu Sheng didn't know whether to be moved or not—on one hand, this glutton ate almost the entire pot of stewed meat; on the other hand, this Miss who couldn't walk when she saw food even knew to save a meal for him, and what's more, it was clearly the best dishes, which she hadn't dared to touch a single bite of...

Twenty minutes later, Yu Sheng, fully dressed, left home with Eilin and the finally-awake fox. The three of them squatted neatly on the curb in front of 66 Wutong Road.

Eilin looked up, glancing left and right at Yu Sheng and Hu Lizheng: "Doesn't this count as the entire organization going out in full force?"

"No, you're only half out," Yu Sheng said casually, "Didn't you leave a body at home to watch TV?"

While speaking, he glanced at the demon fox girl beside him: "Hu Lizheng, don't prop your hands on the ground; it doesn't look elegant."

"We're already squatting on the curb, what elegance are we talking about?" Eilin pouted, "By the way, why do we have to squat..."

"How would I know? I just squatted down to tie my shoelaces, and you guys followed me and squatted down too."

Eilin: "..."

As they spoke, the sound of an old, broken engine clattering and wheezing suddenly came from the end of the street, interrupting their conversation.

Yu Sheng quickly stood up and looked toward the sound, seeing a Xia Li car, at least seven owners old, swaying its way over here...

His expression instantly became subtle.

When the small car finally wheezed and puffed its way to the front, the window rolled down to reveal Xu Jiali's face, and Yu Sheng couldn't help but mutter: "Why is it still you?"

Eilin on the side was even more blunt: "Doesn't the Special Operations Bureau have a more spacious car?"

Xu Jiali's expression on her face was also a bit awkward; she obviously knew the situation of her vehicle: "Uh, actually, I wasn't originally assigned to pick you up. The car assigned to pick you up broke down halfway, and since I happened to be nearby, I was urgently transferred over."

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched; he could only helplessly squeeze into the back seat of the dilapidated Xia Li with Hu Li and Erin (the front passenger seat was still occupied by that mysterious large box), and while squeezing in, he couldn't help muttering: "Is your organization so strapped for cash that even the field operation vehicle breaks down halfway?"

Xu Jiali's face also felt a bit embarrassed; hearing this, she let out a long sigh: "Sigh, there's no way around it, the machine soul isn't feeling well..."

Yu Sheng: "Can't you use some more high-end adjectives for the machine soul?"

"This makes it feel more intimate; machine souls in different regions have different styles and preferences," Xu Jiali explained with a dry laugh, "The machine souls at the Academy are more Gothic; when dealing with them, you have to use phrases like 'the machine soul is displeased' or 'praise the machine soul,' which might better match your impression..."

Yu Sheng paused: "Uh... then what about the machine souls in the Borderlands?"

"The machine souls in the Borderlands are more like buddies..."

(End of this chapter)