Chapter 318: Between Life and Death

The female knight with golden long hair, clad in armor and holding a weapon, stood silently before Yu Sheng. In the distance lay an endless wilderness of wild grass, while beside them was the campfire that had once sheltered the children, now cold and extinguished.

But the female knight's gaze did not fall upon Yu Sheng—she simply stood still in place, like a statue that had been standing there long ago, her eyes fixed on the distance yet seeming not to focus on any single point at all.

After a moment of surprise, Yu Sheng curiously walked over, but the golden-haired girl showed no reaction whatsoever to his approach.

"... Hello?"

Yu Sheng tried to greet the other party and even reached out, waving his hand before her eyes, yet received no response.

Yu Sheng frowned, carefully observing the other's state, and finally detected a slight irregularity.

Although this "female knight's" body looked very real, the outline of her figure faintly shimmered with an illusory light, as if she were not entirely present here.

Yu Sheng circled the other twice and finally confirmed that what stood before him was merely some kind of phantom.

Yet he had a feeling that the other was not just a shadow—even though she showed no reaction to the outside world and remained motionless in place, he always felt... this shadow was "alive."

This feeling was very subtle.

Yu Sheng stopped, slightly calmed his mind, and attempted to perceive the situation inside that flying ship.

The "Holy Coffin" was still operating; the shell of the Artificial Saintess remained asleep within the Holy Coffin, showing no sign whatsoever of "resurrection."

However, her "soul"... had come to this Sheltered Wasteland.

Yu Sheng subconsciously pondered, attempting to analyze what was happening before him:

The Artificial Saintess had come into contact with his blood, and not just once. Although she had been trying to resist the power within the blood, in terms of results, she, like the children of the "Fairy Tale," had already undergone the complete "Blood Bestowal" process;

Those who have undergone "Blood Bestowal" have their minds protected. Once they encounter a fatal mental attack or contamination, their minds will be "transferred" to this mysterious wasteland. Since the Artificial Saintess possesses a human soul, after breaking through the mental shackles, it is quite reasonable for her to enter the Sheltered Wasteland just like a "human";

The Artificial Saintess's mind suffered tremendous trauma during the process of breaking through the shackles. Intense conflicts in memory and cognition could potentially trigger the "Shelter" effect...

Yu Sheng felt that the situation before him could all be explained; the only thing he couldn't figure out was the phantom-like, dazed state of the other party.

After standing there and pondering for a while, he decided to call in an expert.

"Eileen!!"

He shouted from the bottom of his heart, and after waiting no more than two seconds, he indeed heard the little doll's loud and hasty response: "Hey hey hey, I heard you! What's up, shouting suddenly while I was sleeping... Ah, what are you doing in the wasteland?"

As the last words fell, a ripple suddenly appeared in mid-air. Immediately after, Yu Sheng saw an oil painting frame emerge out of thin air. The little doll stared with wide eyes from within the painting, seemingly annoyed at being called over just after falling asleep.

Yu Sheng didn't waste words with her; he reached out, grabbed the painting frame, and turned it to a different angle: "Come take a look at this."

"Hey, don't be so rough! Can't you be gentle to a lady..." Eileen instantly started chattering, but just as she was halfway through, she saw the golden-haired, armored figure standing opposite. Her second half of the sentence choked in her throat. Two seconds later, she finally reacted, "Wait! Who is this? Where did you pick up this local specialty again?!"

Yu Sheng immediately had a forehead full of black lines: "Do you think such a big living person looks like a local specialty?"

Eileen shook the frame and turned around: "Then is this a decent family girl you kidnapped..."

Seeing that this fellow never had anything good to say, Yu Sheng cut her off directly: "This is that 'C-Type Clamp'."

Eileen's painting frame almost fell to the ground.

"What?!" The little doll directly lunged at Yu Sheng's face, jumping up even within the painting. "C-Type Clamp? She looks like this?!"

"Didn't I tell you before? She used to be a human," Yu Sheng reached out and pushed the painting frame aside, pointing to the golden-haired girl still standing motionless not far away. "This is what she looked like before. I found her here not long after I fell asleep, but she had no reaction to the outside world. I called you over just to see what was going on with her."

Eileen usually looked like she lacked a brain, but when it came to her own familiar field, her reaction was actually very fast. Hearing Yu Sheng halfway through, she already understood the reason for the "C-Type Clamp" appearing in this Sheltered Wasteland. She turned and floated over to the golden-haired girl: "Got it. The symptoms look like the brain is offline, right? Let me take a look."

As she spoke, she circled the golden-haired girl twice, then made a serious expression of deep thought within the painting frame, and finally raised both hands—

Dense, black threads, like hair, began to overflow from the bottom of the painting frame. Like churning mud, like the tentacles of living creatures, they swarmed and wriggled. Under Eileen's control, they spread beyond the Cursed Oil Painting, entangled with each other in the air, and wound their way toward the golden-haired girl's body.

Even though Yu Sheng had witnessed Eileen's abilities many times before, seeing these "threads" spread out from the Cursed Oil Painting still made his mouth twitch. He subconsciously frowned and muttered: "I say, can't you adjust the art style of these skills of yours? This looks a bit too sinister."

Eileen turned the painting frame, controlling the threads while glancing sideways at Yu Sheng: "Did I say anything to you when you sprayed blood all over whoever you caught?"

Yu Sheng fell silent.

Eileen continued to examine the "phantom" before her with the threads.

This process did not last long. Just a few minutes later, Yu Sheng saw all the threads begin to retract into the painting frame.

"Found the result?" he immediately stepped forward and asked. "What's her situation?"

"The mind is incomplete, torn apart severely," Eileen wiped her hands in the painting (though she didn't know what there was to wipe, but she probably felt it made her look professional). "Strictly speaking, what's standing here is just a fragment. There are still many parts... I couldn't find them."

Yu Sheng's eyebrows immediately furrowed tightly.

Although he was not an expert in this area, just from the little doll's few words, he could hear how serious the situation was.

But he still held a sliver of hope: "... Can it be cured?"

Eileen's eye twitched. She looked at Yu Sheng with some difficulty: "If your car is broken and missing a windshield, you take it to a repair shop; that can be fixed. But if you only have a windshield left, and you send the glass to the repair shop and ask them to try their best, then I suggest finding a mental Physician. The car can't be fixed, but maybe your illness can still be covered by medical insurance..."

Yu Sheng: "If you can't do it, just say you can't do it. There's no need to say it so..."

Just as he was halfway through these words, he saw a flash of Jin Guang "swish" in the corner of his eye.

The female knight raised the sharp sword in her hand at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, then flattened the blade and slapped down decisively. Only the sound of "clang" was heard. The blade, which should have been illusory, struck the painting frame solidly. Eileen let out an "Ai Ma!" and was directly slapped onto the ground.

Not to mention Eileen didn't react in time; Yu Sheng didn't react either. He was stunned for a moment, and when he looked up again, he found that the female knight had returned to her previous dazed, standing-in-place appearance, as if she hadn't moved at all.

Only Eileen, still embedded in the earth, could prove that the scene just now was not an illusion.

The next second, Eileen popped out of the ground with a "pop," shaking the painting frame to knock off the dirt while jumping up and down within the painting: "Who! Who swung that big hammer! Who ambushed me!"

Yu Sheng finally snapped out of his astonishment. With an expression of disbelief, he raised his hand and pointed to the golden-haired girl standing dazedly not far away: "Her."

Eileen froze instantly, turned the painting frame to look, then twisted her head to look at Yu Sheng: "... Are you kidding me?"

"It really was her. She suddenly attacked just now. I saw it clearly," Yu Sheng said with a sincere face. "She even held back. She didn't use the blade; she laid the sword flat and slapped."

"I... she..." Eileen stared with wide eyes, turned and rushed to the side of the golden-haired girl, circled and checked her twice, yet still wore the expression of "Are you f***ing kidding me?" "How is this possible! This is impossible... I already checked, and look, she's standing there dazed again now!"

Yu Sheng was actually just as confused as Eileen. Even though he had seen it with his own eyes just now, he was still confused. He also went to the girl's side, tried to converse with the other party, but received no response, just as before.

"No, my check was definitely fine. Her mind is absolutely torn apart. At least what's standing here is just a small part," Eileen floated by Yu Sheng's ear, muttering. "But according to what you said, she should have actually moved just now... This means she can actually think and act? But that doesn't make sense... Wait, could it be related to the part remaining in reality?"

Yu Sheng frowned: "What do you mean?"

"Isn't she still near death in reality?" Eileen said casually. "Strictly speaking, she has even died once. You've already gone through the process of talking to the dead with her. It's just that the life form of the 'Artificial Saintess' is too special, plus she came into contact with your blood, and you bestowed life upon her according to the standard of a 'doll'. Could it be because of this? She didn't quite die, but isn't quite alive either. Her shell is simultaneously in a state of life and death, causing her soul and mind to split in two. Half is here receiving the 'Near-Death Shelter', while the other part that didn't die is actually still over at the Holy Coffin?"

Yu Sheng's face gradually showed an expression of contemplation and surprise as he stared fixedly at the little doll before him.

Eileen: "Why are you looking at me? I was just saying it off the cuff..."

Yu Sheng was very honest: "I just didn't expect you to have a moment of sudden intelligence."

Erin thought for a while, then flew into a rage: "Yu Sheng, you damn bastard!"

But Yu Sheng paid no heed to the little doll's subsequent furious ranting—he reached out a hand, caught the picture frame drifting everywhere, casually tucked it under his armpit, and then gazed at the blonde girl standing in the wilderness, sinking into prolonged contemplation.

A state... of being simultaneously alive and dead?

(End of Chapter)