Chapter 43: Erin's Plan

Erin indeed possessed many miraculous abilities, a fact Yu Sheng had deeply realized when he followed this doll sinking into Hu Li's dream, but truth be told, this unlucky doll had so many shortcomings in daily life that people tended to ignore this point intentionally or unintentionally...

"So now only one thing remains, the most critical part," Yu Sheng sat on the sofa, saying to the small doll beside him with a serious face, "find a way to recreate that gate leading to the valley in the otherworld."

"You still plan to rely on the brute-force method?" Erin asked curiously, "trying each 'frequency' you think is close one by one?"

Yu Sheng sighed: "We have no choice, after all, when I first entered the valley, I hadn't truly mastered the technique of 'opening the door,' and I ignored too many details at that time."

Erin turned her head to look at Yu Sheng; the small doll seemed to be thinking hard, and after a moment, she hesitantly spoke: "Actually... I have an idea."

Yu Sheng immediately leaned forward: "Hmm? You have a way?!"

"It might not be feasible, because I don't understand how you 'open the door' exactly, nor do I understand what you keep mentioning by 'frequency,'" Erin spun around on the sofa cushion, "but according to my understanding, what you actually need is a 'feature' that can help you 'lock on' to the destination? Or some kind of navigation signal?"

"... That's roughly how to understand it?" Yu Sheng himself was also a bit uncertain, "Actually, I didn't quite figure it out either, after all, the whole process was something I fumbled through blindly, and many things were done based on 'feeling,' but your term 'navigation signal' is quite apt—when I open the door, the location pointed to on the other side is completely random, but if I can accurately 'memorize' a certain 'feature' on the other side of the door, the passage will collapse into a single one, that's roughly the process."

"So that means, if we can leave a navigation point over at 'Hu Li's' end, you can directly recreate the passage?"

"It should be," Yu Sheng nodded, but was still somewhat puzzled, "but where do we get such a navigation point? What I'm worried about now is not finding the road to the valley; if we could leave a navigation point over there, we wouldn't have to worry..."

"From within the dream?" Erin suddenly said.

Yu Sheng was stunned, and then vaguely understood what the doll meant.

Erin continued to explain in detail: "Last time when I sank into Hu Li's dream with you, I had already established a weak connection with her, and if this connection is further strengthened, perhaps I can link to her senses—I'll bring you along, and then you can directly contact the aura of that valley through Hu Li's perception; isn't that equivalent to establishing a 'navigation point'?"

Yu Sheng listened to Erin's plan with a stunned expression, and the more he listened, the more he felt that this doll's wild idea... actually seemed feasible?

"This process has two difficulties," Erin continued speaking, "first, Hu Li's own cooperation is required; she must be willing to open her mind to you, but this problem shouldn't be too big, just explain it clearly to her, she should trust you; the second difficulty is somewhat... dangerous."

Yu Sheng did not interrupt, only signaling with his eyes for Erin to continue.

"The second difficulty is that Hu Li's mind currently contains not only herself," Erin's expression became slightly more serious as she looked into Yu Sheng's eyes and said, "Entity-Hunger has already penetrated deep into the bottom layer of her mind, so once you establish a deep connection with Hu Li, it is equivalent to establishing the same connection with Entity-Hunger... I am not sure what will happen then. Although theoretically, you should be able to withstand short-term contact, I fear the power of Hunger will take root in your heart; when you really enter the valley and confront that monster, the part that has taken root in your heart may explode at any time..."

Yu Sheng fell into deep thought.

Seeing him go silent, Erin's eyes rolled twice, she immediately realized what he was thinking, stood up from the sofa, and put her hands on her hips (though still not as high as Yu Sheng sitting): "Don't think about dying first to see if you can clear the influence! I'm telling you, that tendency of yours is very dangerous; if you go through life and death and still can't shake it off, you'll have a big mess on your hands..."

Yu Sheng immediately adjusted his sitting posture, feeling a bit embarrassed: "I didn't say..."

"I can see it!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

Why is this doll's intuition so sharp at a time when her brain usually doesn't work well!

"I know, I know, I'll put the idea of 'dying a bit' on hold under any circumstances," Yu Sheng, feeling awkward under Erin's stare from her scarlet eyes, could only surrender and wave his hand, then forcibly dragged the topic back to the main track, "but I still decide to try your plan; the risk of direct contact with 'Entity-Hunger' does exist, but I think... it's worth the risk."

Erin's scarlet eyes continued to stare at Yu Sheng, and after watching for several more seconds, she finally spoke: "Alright, it seems you really want to save that fox; her situation indeed can't be delayed any longer, so let's go with this plan."

But just then, Yu Sheng suddenly remembered another thing: "However, there is still one problem."

"Ah?"

"I'm not necessarily going to dream the dream where Hu Li exists," Yu Sheng spread his hands, "last night I didn't even dream—I don't know how to control my own dreams."

Hearing this, Erin actually laughed, her smile carrying pride and show-off.

"I can," the small doll stood proudly on the sofa with her arms crossed (66.6cm), "you just go ahead and dream, leave the rest to me—I'm telling you, after breaking free from the constraints of that painting, I'm now terrifyingly strong! Even I'm afraid..."

Before she finished speaking, Yu Sheng adjusted his posture on the sofa; the sofa cushion deformed accordingly, and Erin, standing on the edge of the cushion, immediately stumbled, "Ai!" just as she shouted, she fell off the sofa—then got stuck between the sofa and the coffee table by the oil painting frame on her back, hanging entirely beneath the frame.

The doll hung beneath the frame, flailing her limbs as if trying to fly up and bite someone.

She cursed very badly.

Yu Sheng reached out and lifted the painting frame: "I see your constraints are quite severe."

"You laugh... if you laugh again, I won't help!" Erin's two arms were stuck between the back straps of the frame, hanging in a cross shape as Yu Sheng lifted the frame, "Put me down! Put me down... ai ai, arm, the joint on the arm is stuck! Break it for me..."

Yu Sheng looked at Erin speechlessly, casually took her off the frame, and began to endure the doll's noise while bending her stuck joints back into place.

Late at night, Yu Sheng had made all preparations for sleep. Erin, however, was still running around on his bed like a small rocket darting everywhere.

"I say, you, can't you be quiet for a moment at a time like this?" Yu Sheng, lying in bed, looked at Erin jumping up and down beside him, his face full of helplessness, "I'm going to sleep."

"Your bed is so big!" Erin happily ran to the head of the bed, then jumped onto the bedside table, shaking the lamp on the cabinet, as if she hadn't heard what Yu Sheng was saying at all, "Ai ai, this lamp is shorter than me! Yu Sheng look! This lamp is shorter than me!"

"Next time I'll buy a night light even shorter than you!" Yu Sheng rolled his eyes in annoyance, reached out and took Erin off his lamp, "Did you forget what you should be doing? If you keep this up, I'll lock you in the wardrobe!"

Erin finally quieted down, smiling sheepishly: "I'm just a bit excited... okay, okay, you sleep, you sleep, I won't cause trouble anymore."

Yu Sheng sighed, exhausted in body and mind, and put Erin down: "Go help turn off the light."

The doll spoke with righteous indignation: "Can't reach!"

"... Move a chair!"

"Oh."

The world finally fell silent.

!.

Yu Sheng let out a long breath, enjoying this moment of quiet in the darkened bedroom, and began to adjust his state, trying to fall asleep.

Then, turning his head, he saw two blood-red, glowing eyes staring at him from the bedside in the darkness.

Erin was hanging entirely on the edge of the bed, clutching the mattress like a koala, staring straight at Yu Sheng.

"... This makes it even harder for me to sleep," Yu Sheng said with a helpless face, "by the way, why did you have to come to my room? Didn't you used to be able to enter my dream while staying on the first floor? Was it necessary to follow?"

"Closer means better signal."

The doll spoke with righteous indignation, her words sounding as true as nonsense.

But she at least understood Yu Sheng's meaning, finally jumped down from the bed edge, and ran to sit on a chair not far away.

Yu Sheng sighed again.

He knew Erin was still watching him, and didn't know what exactly this doll was thinking in her brain (if she had one), but judging by appearances, she wouldn't be driven away tonight at least.

He could only try to ignore the scarlet gaze coming from the darkness, clear his mind as much as possible, and cultivate sleepiness.

He didn't know how long he had been tossing and turning in bed—perhaps an hour, perhaps longer.

When drowsiness accumulated to its peak, he finally fell into a misty darkness in a daze.

The dream descended, and in the thin mist of the dream, Erin's faint voice came: "You finally fell asleep... come, this way."

Yu Sheng instinctively turned toward the direction the sound came from, and the next second, the thin mist dispersed, and shadows of light emerged within the darkness.

He truly saw that dim, desolate wilderness once again—the gloomy sky hung over the earth, nameless hills lay in the distance, and the silver-white fox demon still slumbered within the wilderness.

Yu Sheng walked forward, and immediately after, he noticed the "Guide" floating beside him.

It was Eileen, who was guiding his dream.

Yu Sheng stopped in his tracks, his expression somewhat strange as he gazed at the oil painting suspended in midair.

Eileen in the painting stared back at him, wide-eyed.

Yu Sheng: "…Why do I feel like this painting is your true body!"

Eileen lowered her head to look, then raised it to glance around, and finally reacted belatedly.

"Ah—why am I inside the painting again?!"

(End of chapter)