Chapter 175: Old Matters Raise Doubts

Yu Sheng quickly shook his head, putting aside the chaotic speculations in his mind for the moment.

Whether this was a special consciousness space or truly his "dream," what he truly needed to think about now was why Xiao Xiao had appeared here.

Yu Sheng naturally thought of the other two people who had also appeared here: Little Red Riding Hood, and Hu Li.

If we really have to count, Erin must be included too—even though the small doll entered on her own via her "Dream Entry" ability.

... Was it because of the blood connection?

Xiao Xiao stood nearby, blinking her eyes and looking this way, appearing somewhat puzzled.

Yu Sheng reached out and rubbed the little one's head; he didn't know how to explain this place to a six-year-old, so he simply didn't explain: "You are dreaming."

"Then is Uncle someone you dreamed up?" the little one asked with a curious face.

Yu Sheng was stunned and could only grit his teeth: "... Yes, you dreamed me up."

"Then can Uncle turn into a Kamen Rider?"

Yu Sheng finally realized the conversation seemed to be heading in a direction different from what he imagined: "... No."

The little girl thought for a moment: "Turning into Ultraman works too."

Yu Sheng couldn't hold back; he squatted down to be eye-level with Xiao Xiao and said earnestly: "Although this is a dream, there are still things one cannot do in a dream..."

"Oh."

The little girl said "Oh," as if she had finally given up on this whimsical idea.

Then a few seconds passed.

"Then My Little Pony..."

"That's not possible either."

"Alright, then I won't transform."

Xiao Xiao sat down on the spot, pulled a few blades of grass from the side, and began seriously tying the grass leaves into knots.

Yu Sheng couldn't help but recall Little Red Riding Hood's complaint to him last time she was here; he squatted down beside Xiao Xiao: "Do you feel a bit bored here?"

The little girl nodded, but immediately shook her head vigorously.

"There are no wolves here," she said softly, "I feel this is better than other dreams."

Yu Sheng was stunned, then fell into thought.

But just as he was about to say something else, he suddenly faintly heard a sound.

He reacted for a moment before realizing it was a sound coming from the real world.

"Uncle is leaving," he thought quickly, then turned to Xiao Xiao and said, "You should stay here for a while longer; when lunch break ends, the teacher will wake you up. Don't be afraid, this place is very safe."

Xiao Xiao blinked her eyes and politely waved at Yu Sheng: "Goodbye, Uncle."

Yu Sheng then released control of his consciousness, letting his mind fall within this "dream," pulled back into reality by the sound coming from his head.

The next second, he suddenly felt pressure coming from various parts of his body; the heavy weight on his chest brought a discomfort that made it almost impossible to breathe. He opened his eyes and, sure enough, saw three dolls—two Ernins were pressing down on his arms and one leg, while another Erinn was sprawled out asleep on his chest...

Even though the three dolls looked exactly the same, he could instantly distinguish that the one lying on his chest was the Ribbed Steel Erinn...

"Get off, get off, you're about to crush me to death." Yu Sheng quickly used his hands and feet to push the Ernins off his body, feeling as if he were engaging in a battle of wits and strength with a pile of koalas; by the time he finally broke free, he felt as if half his body didn't belong to him, even suspecting he might have really been crushed to death by this thing and had just now revived—then he hurriedly stretched his body to reach the phone on the bedside table that was ringing continuously, picked it up, and saw it was a call from Little Red Riding Hood.

Ignoring the three dolls who were mumbling complaints in a half-asleep, half-awake state, Yu Sheng casually answered the call: "Hello?"

Little Red Riding Hood on the other end got straight to the point, but what she said surprised Yu Sheng greatly: "Do you remember that mission we had at the museum last time?"

Yu Sheng was momentarily stunned; he had been thinking about Xiao Xiao drilling into his "dream," and also assumed Little Red Riding Hood had contacted him because the orphanage had discovered some corresponding anomaly, but he didn't expect her to bring up the museum mission right off the bat; after a moment of reaction, he nodded: "Ah, I remember."

"Then do you remember that the 'reward' for that mission has never been paid out?"

"Ah, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten!" Yu Sheng reacted quickly, "The reward has never been paid... Did something happen? Did you go to collect the debt? Is the other party refusing to pay?"

As he spoke, he also felt a bit strange, because recently whenever he contacted Little Red Riding Hood they were always discussing the "Fairy Tale" Otherworld; the topics were either the Black Forest or the Big Bad Wolf, so suddenly bringing up the museum incident from quite some time ago made the topic jump feel quite uncomfortable for him.

But the next sentence from the other party instantly made Yu Sheng's sense of discomfort vanish—"My client is dead."

"... What?!"

"Because I never received the reward from the Strange Objects Association, I felt it was strange and went to contact them, but found that the several contact methods left by the client were unreachable," Little Red Riding Hood began to explain the situation to Yu Sheng in detail, "So today I contacted other acquaintances within the Strange Objects Association, and they told me that my client had an accident a few days ago and is already dead."

Yu Sheng didn't speak for a moment, but he had already sensed something was wrong with this matter from Little Red Riding Hood's words.

A moment later, he grasped exactly what this feeling of "something being wrong" was: "... Wait, what about that commission regarding the 'Weeping Statue'?"

"It seems you thought of it too," Little Red Riding Hood's tone carried gravity, "The Strange Objects Association is a very influential formal organization; for commissions they release to the outside, even if the executor meets with an accident, the organization should have a follow-up procedure to take over. It shouldn't happen that the contracting party dies and the subsequent reward is swallowed up. So I directly queried that commission according to their procedures... Guess what the result was?"

"No need to guess," Yu Sheng already knew the answer upon hearing this, "You said it yourself... The commission doesn't exist, right?"

"Correct, it doesn't exist. In the public commission information of the Strange Objects Association, there is no recovery commission regarding the 'Weeping Statue'," Little Red Riding Hood sighed, "But I don't know if this commission was fake from the very beginning, or if someone deleted its records recently."

Hearing the other party's last sentence, Yu Sheng's eyebrows unconsciously gradually furrowed.

Many days have passed since that museum mission; although there were many unexpected situations afterwards involving cult sacrifices and angel cultists, in Yu Sheng's view, this matter had at least been concluded on his and Little Red Riding Hood's side, yet now, this already concluded event has sprouted new, suspicious waves, making him faintly smell a hint of... "the scent of conspiracy."

If this commission was fake from the very beginning, then the matter would actually be simpler—perhaps it was just a rule-breaking member of the Strange Objects Association who wanted to bypass the association's supervision to privately hoard "exhibits" from the "Museum" for profit, but the item was obtained and the person was lost, and the whole matter could be contained within the scope of an "individual"; but if this commission was truly issued by the Strange Objects Association originally, yet all information about it was deleted by someone recently, then this matter... would be much more complicated.

This work is organized and uploaded by ~~

"I feel this matter is quite strange, and since the reward we originally agreed to split for you has now also disappeared without a trace, I thought I should contact you to explain the situation," Little Red Riding Hood's voice continued from the phone, sounding apologetic, "I'm sorry, you put in a lot of effort for this, it dragged on for so long, and now it has ended up like this..."

"Don't say that for now," Yu Sheng interrupted the other party, "What do you plan to do next? This needs to be investigated further, right?"

"... Hmm, at least I need to figure out how my client met his end," Little Red Riding Hood hesitated for a moment, then continued, "I have cooperated with him for several years; he was the one who initially helped me make connections within the Strange Objects Association, and even... the previous 'Little Red Riding Hood' also received his help. No matter how you look at it, I don't believe he would do such a thing for personal gain, and his death is really suspicious, it looks too much like..."

Yu Sheng spoke calmly: "Looks too much like being silenced, doesn't it?"

"... Hmm."

"Let's meet and talk," Yu Sheng exhaled lightly, "Should I come find you, or should you come find me?"

Little Red Riding Hood was instantly somewhat surprised; after being stunned for a moment, she quickly said: "Ah? I didn't plan to trouble you; I just wanted to tell you about the reward matter; for the subsequent investigation, I plan to do it myself..."

"Nonsense, you've already said so much, my curiosity is piqued," Yu Sheng interrupted the other party again, "And this matter is too despicable; even a child laborer's money is being cheated..."

Little Red Riding Hood: "..."

It could be heard that in that moment of silence she wanted to refute something, but she couldn't refute it.

Yu Sheng grumbled a few words in indignation, then suddenly remembered something: "Right, let me ask by the way, does the Special Affairs Bureau handle this?"

"Of course they do. After all, it's a commissioned operation registered on the 'Border Communications' platform. If there's a breach of contract or any concealment or transfer involving 'Strange Objects,' the authorities will naturally investigate. Besides, someone died this time. But their direction and methods of investigation will certainly differ from those of the 'Spirit Realm Detectives'."

"Then let them investigate their way, and we'll investigate ours," Yu Sheng waved his hand. "You haven't told me yet: will I come find you later, or will you come find me?"

Little Red Riding Hood fell silent for two seconds, then finally spoke: "... I'll come find you. I'm nearby right now; I'll be there in about half an hour."

"Alright, then I'll wait for you at home."

"Mm. And... thank you."

The call ended. Yu Sheng watched the screen gradually go black and let out a soft sigh.

Then, looking up, he saw three small dolls sitting neatly on the bed, staring straight at him.

"Some~thing~'s~happened~again~"

The three Irines spoke in unison, deliberately dragging out their tones.

Yu Sheng glared at them, raised his finger, and pointed at the one in the middle: "You, no more sleeping on the bed from now on."

"... Why?!"

"Why? Because you almost crushed me to death!" Yu Sheng's eyes widened. "Besides, rebar plus solid stone, dropping from one meter sixty-seven down to over sixty centimeters! I'm afraid if you just jump on the bed, you'll smash a hole in it. Get down quickly."

He shouldn't have said that. The moment he did, Irene's eyes instantly turned red (though they were already red to begin with), and with a "Aaaah!" she lunged at him...

(End of this chapter)