Chapter 244: Stealing Leisure

The illusory door opened silently, and Yu Sheng stepped into the living room.

As soon as he entered, he saw three Eirens squeezed neatly onto the sofa, a laptop placed before them as they studied something with intense focus.

Curious, he leaned over to take a look: "What are the three of you doing?"

"Our account got banned, and we're researching how to appeal," the Eiren carrying the picture frame (the host) said without looking up, only realizing what she'd said a moment later, "Wow! You're back?"

Yu Sheng casually patted the heads of the three Eirens, his eyes landing on the large account ban appeal interface on the laptop screen; the corner of his eye couldn't help but twitch: "Banned for insulting people in a match again?"

"I didn't insult anyone this time!" one of the Eirens instantly flushed red, "I just genuinely thought the xxx in our team had a problem with their intelligence, and the planners have a problem with their intelligence too—I really do think that!"

"That counts as insulting," Yu Sheng casually pushed one of the typing Eirens aside, "Especially when you insult someone and drag their entire family tree and neighbors into it, even barking at the dog across the street; your account being banned is no injustice—stop messing around, this account is useless for the next two days; with this time, you might as well seriously research how to improve your own skills."

He hadn't even finished speaking before the Eiren burst into a string of grievances: "How am I supposed to improve! I can't even press the W and Spacebar on your keyboard at the same time! After clicking the left mouse button, I have to do a flower hand wave just to reach the right button! The broken mouse sensitivity is hard to adjust; to turn the view, I have to do stretches on the table first..."

Before the other could finish, Yu Sheng threw a paper bag directly at them, knocking the chattering little doll onto the sofa.

All three Eirens immediately jumped up: "Hey, what are you doing? I was just complaining a bit, you person..."

But Yu Sheng cut the little doll off with a single sentence: "Alright, alright, first see what's in the bag, I bought it for you."

Hearing this, the three Eirens froze for a moment; then the one who had been knocked over finally reacted, peering into the paper bag, and immediately plunged almost their entire body inside.

The next second, the little doll's happy and noisy exclamations came from within the bag: "Ah! New clothes! It's new clothes!!"

Yu Sheng smiled, sitting proudly on the sofa: "On my way back from the Special Operations Bureau, I took a detour to a shopping mall and bought these for you at a doll shop—I said long ago I'd buy you new clothes, I didn't forget, I've just been too busy lately, and only today finally had the time."

The Eiren popped out of the paper bag, holding two tiny new dresses in her hands, her eyes shining: "Yu Sheng, you're so nice! But these complex doll clothes probably aren't cheap... the fabric looks really good..."

"You don't need to worry about that," Yu Sheng laughed even more upon hearing this, "I just scraped up a huge sum from the Special Operations Bureau; although the money hasn't hit the account yet, things are a bit more comfortable now..."

However, the little doll could no longer hear his last sentence—the moment he said the words "scraped up a huge sum," the Eiren who had burned the dress earlier was already rushing toward the bathroom with the new clothes, shouting loudly as she ran: "No peeking! I'm going to change!"

Yu Sheng sat on the sofa, half amused and half exasperated: "... Who would want to peek anyway."

No sooner had he spoken than a ball of silvery-white fluff swayed over from the side; Hu Li clung to the back of the sofa: "Benefactor, Benefactor, did you buy me something?"

Yu Sheng casually pulled a comb from his pocket and handed it over.

"Here, specifically for combing your tail; you kept saying the ordinary combs at home don't work well for tails; this one is extra-large, has many teeth, and I asked, it's especially suitable for large animals during molting season..."

Before he could finish the sentence, another Eiren popped out from under his elbow: "Wait, why is there a comb specifically suitable for molting season... did you buy it at a pet store?!"

"Obviously! If I went to a regular supermarket and asked people what comb a nine-tailed fox uses during molting, wouldn't they think I'm crazy?" Yu Sheng casually pushed the Eiren back down, "Besides, Hu Li has been using ordinary combs all along, and she said they don't work."

Hu Li didn't care at all about what Yu Sheng and the Eiren were saying; she was clearly very satisfied with the gift she received, happily holding the new comb against her tail a few times before flashing Yu Sheng a brilliant smile: "Thank you, Benefactor!"

Then she solemnly stuffed the new comb into her tail.

Immediately after, the Eiren who had changed clothes ran out of the bathroom, zooming through the living room like a small rocket, and leaped onto the coffee table opposite Yu Sheng: "Ta-da—new clothes!"

It was a Gothic-style long dress in alternating shades of light purple and deep red, matching Eiren's preferred colors and style; compared to the dark black long dress she had always worn, it appeared much more playful, and it actually looked quite pretty and fitting on her.

Yu Sheng did not withhold his praise.

"That's because I'm naturally beautiful," Eiren showed off without any modesty, happily spinning in circles on the coffee table, then stopping to move her body, even reaching up to touch her back, "It's just that the back is a bit itchy..."

"Itchy? Come here and let me see," Yu Sheng frowned, gesturing for the little doll to come over while muttering, "That shouldn't be; logically, doll clothes don't have tags on the back... I've already cut off the tags everywhere else for you too."

The Eiren jumped onto Yu Sheng's lap, still muttering: "Anyway, it's itchy, ticklish."

Yu Sheng checked the little doll, his expression showing a hint of subtlety: "... It seems a bit unsuitable; the back is too tight, and there are a few decorative ruffles; to save trouble, the closures were hidden at the lower back and fixed directly with hot melt adhesive." The Eiren froze, then couldn't help but complain: "What kind of craftsmanship is this? Do people make clothes like that?"

"Is there a possibility," Yu Sheng awkwardly scratched his chin, "that people who make clothes for dolls generally don't consider the wearer's comfort; they mainly just want it to look good in photos..."

Eiren: "... #$@#$##@ (Elegant language) (Birdsong and flowers) (Melodious sounds)!"

"It's fine, it's fine, I'll fix it for you later," Yu Sheng comforted the little doll, who was about to jump up, half amused and half exasperated, "There aren't many places to fix; I can handle it."

"You mean it?" Eiren stared with crimson eyes, looking skeptical.

Yu Sheng raised his hand: "Of course I mean it."

"Then okay..." Eiren muttered as she climbed down from the sofa again, turning to walk toward the bathroom, "Then I won't try the other one either; the structure seems the same; I'll wear it after you fix it for me~"

Watching the little doll mutter as she walked away, a smile involuntarily appeared on Yu Sheng's face; then he leaned back on the sofa and let out a long sigh.

He indeed still liked this—no major events, just Eiren making noise at home, Hu Li wandering around foraging nearby, some interludes happening in life, but nothing getting out of control; then he himself could just lie on the sofa like this, idle, emptying his mind to think of irrelevant things, while the corner of his eye could still watch the wall clock, watching the hands tick around...

Although he knew such peaceful time might only occupy a small part of his life—after hearing information about the "Old Apocalypse" and "Annihilation" from Bai Liqing, he felt as if he had already seen the turbulent days ahead.

No mistake, one sentence, one release, one content, one view!

But this did not prevent him from thoroughly enjoying these few minutes of comfort at this moment.

After a while, Yu Sheng got up from the sofa.

There was still some time before the "Festival" in the valley, but as the master of the valley and the biggest parent in "Fairy Tale," he definitely had to go there in advance.

"Hu Li! Eiren! Let's go, see if Little Red Riding Hood needs any help!"

"Oh oh, great!"

"Coming, Benefactor!"

In that valley which had already merged with "Fairy Tale," the makeshift "town" was already bustling; children and adults were busy preparing for the evening celebration.

On the square at the edge of the "town," the children had piled up a huge wood stack; they were going to light a grand bonfire here to celebrate the beginning of a new life.

The fuel for the wood stack consisted of dead wood collected from the Black Forest and thorns from beneath the corners of the sleeping ancient city walls; the warriors sent by the King had also brought the most beautiful fresh flowers from the wilderness of Oz—those flowers bloomed between already cooled trenches and machine gun bunkers, greenery covering every inch of the former battlefield—the children wove the flowers into garlands to decorate the square.

The engineering teams and caregivers dispatched by the Special Operations Bureau and the Council were preparing dinner, including meats for the barbecue; large basins of pickled meat were pushed directly onto the square on carts; smaller children were organized to skewer the meat, peel onions, and write various doodles on colorful cardstock.

When Yu Sheng led Hu Li and Eiren here, the entire square had already been set up quite properly.

Now the children were only worried about one problem.

"Brother, it won't work; the sky here simply won't get dark," Rapunzel said, wiping her hands on her apron as she came over to complain, "A bonfire party needs the atmosphere of night; your place is as bright as daytime even at midnight, so there's no 'party' vibe at all—and I was planning to set off fireworks too."

Yu Sheng blinked, looking at the children running around happily on the square and the huge wood stack not far away: "... Then why didn't you just choose a place over by the Black Forest? Or around Gao Ta? The edges of the valley where it merges with Fairy Tale have day-night cycles now; I was even planning to move the vegetable patch over there; at least the day-night cycle is normal there."

"... We were thinking about living in this 'town' from now on, so holding the celebration here has meaning," Rapunzel stuck out her tongue, "Of course, more importantly, we didn't think of it while piling the wood; by the time we remembered, everything was almost set up."

Yu Sheng: "..."

"Brother, think of a solution," Rapunzel approached with a dry laugh, "Make the sky dark; half-dark is fine."

Yu Sheng continued: "..."

(End of this chapter)