Chapter 201: Yu Shi's Fixed Door Experiment

The exchange at the Special Bureau and waiting for the lab to complete sampling the "Umbilical Cord" took longer than expected; by the time Yu Sheng returned home, the sky had turned completely dark—yet the moment he pushed the door open, he was met with a terrifying scene that nearly stopped his heart and lungs:

Hu Li and Erin were huddled at the kitchen doorway, discussing what to cook for dinner.

Erin's suggestion was to fry eggplant boxes and, while at it, stew the half-chicken in the fridge.

Hu Li's suggestion was to stew everything left in the fridge, including two newly bought jars of chili sauce.

When Yu Sheng pushed the door open, the two were raising their hands to vote—Erin, disregarding martial ethics, raised six hands.

But Hu Li raised two hands plus nine tails.

Fortunately, Yu Sheng once again timely and successfully averted a fox-in-the-kitchen incident, preventing an explosion in the Borderlands on this peaceful and harmonious winter night.

"Didn't I tell you not to enter the kitchen when I'm not home!" Yu Sheng said helplessly while tying on an apron, "Did you forget last time we had Iron Pot Stewed Erin, or last time the wok spatula got burnt and deformed?"

The fox and the doll sat side by side on the chairs at the kitchen doorway, looking pitifully down as they listened to Yu Sheng's nagging; then Erin lifted her head: "I, I didn't plan to go in this time, I was just remotely commanding Hu Li..."

"I can cook," Hu Li quickly lifted her eyes too, raising her hand cautiously, "Benefactor, did you forget the stew I made last time was quite delicious?"

Yu Sheng paused slightly, recalling the pot of mysterious substance the fox demon girl had stewed last time, and actually gave a slight nod of approval to the other's "culinary skills," but still quickly shook his head cautiously: "That still has to be when I'm home—you're too easily swayed by Erin; the risk of her giving you 'remote commands' is too high."

Hu Li immediately nodded: "Oh."

Erin: "Hey, why is only my commanding considered too risky!"

But Yu Sheng had already stopped paying attention to the little doll's protest.

He needed to hurry up and make some food to feed Hu Li, who had been waiting half a day with an empty stomach.

And just as he was busy, the protest from the doll at the kitchen doorway finally quieted down; after a few seconds, Erin strolled in as if nothing had happened, climbing onto his shoulder while seemingly casually saying: "Judging by your look, did the Special Bureau find anything?"

Yu Sheng didn't even look up: "They found 'Squirrel's' original name, and also confirmed the exact time the Dark Angel 'Ankaira' first descended—I have a piece of paper in my pants pocket, you can take a look."

So Erin quickly climbed down again, hanging on Yu Sheng's leg to rummage through the latter's pocket.

Yu Sheng couldn't help but look down at the little doll who had honed such good skills, thinking to himself that she looked even more like a squirrel...

"... Eighty-six years ago, Zhao Lele, missing at the age of eight and a half..." Erin quickly found the paper Yu Sheng mentioned; after unfolding it and taking a look, she couldn't help muttering in a somewhat strange tone, "Tsk, you really can't tell from the photo that it now looks like that neurotic, chain-smoking, street-cursing figure."

"Eighty-six years," Yu Sheng sighed lightly, "She is long gone from being that eight-and-a-half-year-old child."

"... Don't know what she'll turn out to be in the end," Erin mumbled, quickly folding the A4 paper and stuffing it back into Yu Sheng's pocket; then, seeing the other had finished stir-frying, she quickly climbed onto the other's shoulder, reached out, and turned off the range hood, "Any plans after dinner? Go straight to the orphanage and tell Little Red Riding Hood and the other 'parents' about the current situation? You'd better choose your words carefully, after all, the Dark Angel is quite scary..."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, placing the stir-fried dishes on plates while shaking his head: "No, the orphanage under Little Red Riding Hood's lights-out time is ten-thirty; I plan to wait until they are asleep and I enter the 'Wasteland' before telling them about this. By then, once we verify the 'Sanctuary' mechanism is effective and everyone has some confidence, bringing up the Dark Angel will prevent them from getting overly nervous. Before that, you and Hu Li come with me to the 'Valley' first."

"Valley? What for over there?"

"To complete an 'experiment' that was previously delayed; there should be enough time," Yu Sheng said casually, picking up the plate and walking toward the door, "Hu Li! Dinner's ready!"

After dinner, Yu Sheng tidied up briefly, then first took Erin and Hu Li to the basement.

The basement at 66 Wutong Road was very spacious; corresponding to the oversized attic atop the building, this underground structure also occupied nearly half the area of the first floor. A staircase in the living room led directly here, and except for a corner near one wall piled high with miscellaneous items, half of the basement was empty.

Yu Sheng visited this place even less often than the attic.

Turning on the light, Yu Sheng began rummaging through the large pile of miscellaneous items against the wall for what he needed, while Erin curiously widened her eyes beside him: "Hey, didn't you say we were going to the Valley?"

"Just doing some preparations," Yu Sheng busied himself without looking up, "I remember seeing it here... oh, found it."

As he spoke, he finally found what he wanted among the dust-covered miscellaneous items; before Erin's surprised and bewildered gaze, he happily bent down, exerted force, and lifted a wide object—

It was unmistakably a dilapidated wooden door still attached to its frame...

Erin stared in shock: "What do you want this thing for?!"

"Trying to see if I can build a Fixed Door," Yu Sheng said while carrying the door out from the pile of junk, "Didn't I say last time that entering and exiting the Valley currently relies on me opening the door, which is quite inconvenient? Now that I have time, I want to verify whether my previous idea works." As he spoke, he had already leaned the door against the blank wall at the end of the basement, then grabbed a rag to roughly clean the dust off the door, took out a pen, and began drawing and sketching on the ground nearby.

Erin immediately saw that Yu Sheng was drawing a simple soul-infusing alchemical array—that was the only alchemical formula he knew.

The little doll instantly understood the other's plan.

"You intend to use a physically existing door as a medium to 'solidify' the 'Teleportation Gate' you open as some kind of alchemical effect?!"

Yu Sheng nodded: "That is my plan."

The little doll opened her mouth, seemingly not knowing what to say for a moment; she instinctively turned her head to glance at Hu Li beside her, wanting to see what this "stupid fox" thought; the other's reaction indeed did not disappoint—upon hearing Yu Sheng's idea, Hu Li's eyes immediately sparkled as she clapped her hands: "Benefactor's path of artifact forging follows the heart at will, walking the path of simplifying the complex to directly pursue the source..."

"Really or fake?" Erin looked at the fox with full skepticism, "You don't understand alchemy."

Hu Li turned her head and retorted: "Do you understand Benefactor's Netherworld Passage?"

Erin: "..."

The little doll was choked by the fox demon girl's single sentence for a long time; finally, she could only wave her hand, turned her head to see Yu Sheng still drawing there, and finally couldn't help walking forward: "Hey, forget it, forget it, let me help. Just drawing like this won't work—an alchemical array of this size already counts as medium; simply enlarging the small array type I taught you won't do; each node needs extra amplification... let me teach you how to do it."

Yu Sheng hesitantly handed the pen to the doll, watching the other begin adding and adjusting on that rough, simple alchemical array, while also listening to the other mutter as she drew: "Actually, just drawing like this isn't enough either; proper alchemy requires special ink when drawing larger arrays, but with your blood as material, the effect of skipping this step shouldn't be too significant... pay attention to these runes; they are the nodes for amplification and enlargement. If the array complexity doubles, you must add patterns like this at every line intersection..."

Please... collect_(!)

Yu Sheng listened, stunned, watching Erin struggle to hold the pen shaft with both hands, which was a bit too thick for her; then he immediately heard dense footsteps coming from the staircase direction—the other two Erins also walked down from above, each holding a pen, and began helping together.

The three little dolls ran around on the ground surrounding Yu Sheng, and the huge, intricate alchemical array quickly took shape.

It felt like... this guy was actually quite happy.

Afterwards, Erin extended part of the runes onto the frame of the old door before finally completing the task.

"Done!" Erin, carrying the frame, turned around and said proudly to Yu Sheng, "The basic array is like this; remember it? Any radius exceeding one meter must be amplified this way in the future... why are you looking at me?"

"Uh, just feeling that you're suddenly quite reliable," Yu Sheng said truthfully, "Looking like an alchemy expert."

"I am an alchemy expert! And when have I ever been unreliable?!" Erin glared with scarlet eyes, her tone displeased, "Anyway, I've finished drawing the array for you, but I can't guarantee whether it will succeed in the end—after all, no one has ever tried your idea, and I don't know what the true nature of your 'Teleportation Gates' is; just don't blow this place up..."

Yu Sheng quickly waved his hands: "Rest assured, rest assured, I know my limits; I can precisely perceive the entire process of opening the door; if the feel is wrong, I can stop it at any time."

While saying this, he took out his mobile phone.

The first name in frequent contacts: Bai Li Qing.

Looking at that name, Yu Sheng curled his lips; after hesitating for two seconds, he made the call.

The other side answered very quickly.

"Ahem, ahem," Yu Sheng coughed dryly twice, "Director Bai Li..."

The moment these few words left his mouth, the receiver transmitted the other party's cold, calm voice: "Experiment?"

Yu Sheng: "... Mm-hmm."

"How long?"

Yu Sheng: "Probably two or three hours..."

"Alright, arrangements are done. Tell me when you're free."

Yu Sheng was stunned, instinctively blurting out: "Oh, thanks... wait, no, how did you know I was going to..."

"Ahem, formal address—you're not usually this polite when you open the door."

Yu Sheng: "..."

(End of this chapter)