Chapter 58 – Yu Sheng’s Spirit of Exploration

The two Special Operations Bureau agents and the self-proclaimed “Little Red Riding Hood,” Spirit Detective (part-time), had left. Yu Sheng let out a soft breath at the front door before turning back to the living room.

Eileen, who had been watching TV, immediately turned her head. “I thought you’d be chatting for ages. Didn’t you have a bunch of things you wanted to ask them?”

“Mostly I just wanted to establish a connection with them—anyway, Hu Li’s already been brought out, so there’s no rush for the rest.” Yu Sheng said casually, his gaze drifting to the coffee table.

The foxgirl sitting on the floor guarding a pile of food sensed his gaze and looked up, flashing Yu Sheng a happy smile. “Benefactor!”

“You need a bath—mainly, you need a change of clothes.” Yu Sheng looked at the pitiful state of Hu Li and said with concern.

This unfortunate fox had been trapped in the Otherworld for years. She’d been just a child when she was first trapped, and the clothes she wore now had clearly been stripped from some long-dead person. One glance was enough to tell they didn’t fit at all, and by now they had deteriorated into little more than a pile of rags. Her body was filthy, caked in dirt. Although there had been water sources in that Otherworld and she must have had opportunities to wash herself, she had ultimately been living in the wilderness, far removed from civilization. Even her tail had become so matted that the fur was clumped together in tangled locks.

Hu Li lowered her head and looked down at herself.

She had more or less grown accustomed to the way she looked. She hadn’t even considered what would happen if she ever left that valley. Now, hearing Yu Sheng’s words, certain long-distant memories and basic knowledge began trickling back into her mind. She stood there in a daze for a long while, just as she had recently been relearning how to speak, word by word—finally beginning to mentally shed the state of a “wild beast.”

Right, she needed to clean herself. And she needed to change clothes—her benefactor’s dwelling was so clean, she couldn’t dirty it.

She nodded firmly.

Yu Sheng then looked toward Eileen.

The little doll’s two arms were still broken off, which honestly looked quite pitiful too, but she herself seemed completely unbothered. She was watching TV without a care in the world, cracking up at some mindless variety show.

Yu Sheng couldn’t quite stand the sight. “Should I fix your arms first?”

“Take the fox to bathe first—she definitely won’t know how to use anything in the bathroom.” Eileen waved her broken arms dismissively. “I’m in no hurry. You can fix me later.”

“Alright then, I’ll come help you as soon as I can.” Yu Sheng nodded, then extended his hand toward Hu Li. “Come with me.”

Hu Li stood up, but then hesitated, glancing down at the food on the floor as if she didn’t dare leave it for even a moment.

Yu Sheng couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry, the food isn’t going to grow legs and run away. You can eat more after your bath—Eileen’s here keeping an eye on things.”

But Hu Li still hesitated. She glanced uneasily at the doll watching TV on the sofa, then suddenly bent down and grabbed two cans of mixed congee and two packets of crackers from the plastic bag, casually stuffing them into her tail before turning to stand in front of Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng’s face still held the smile from moments ago, but his entire body had gone somewhat rigid, standing frozen in place. It took him a good two or three seconds before he stiffly turned his head to stare at Hu Li’s big tail behind her.

“…Where did you hide those?”

Hu Li pulled the crackers and congee cans back out of her tail, held them up for Yu Sheng to see, then immediately stuffed them back in. She blinked her big eyes at him.

Yu Sheng was stunned. “You can use it like that?!”

“Mm.” The foxgirl nodded, wearing that expression of having no idea what the fuss was about—as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Then something else occurred to Yu Sheng. “…Didn’t you also launch one of your tails earlier…”

“It’s already grown back.”

Yu Sheng: “…?”

His head was full of question marks—so this was what fox spirits were really like?

But nobody could answer his questions. Even Eileen didn’t know a second fox like Hu Li.

Yu Sheng kept a straight face and shook his head, temporarily tossing aside that headful of question marks. He grabbed the foxgirl and headed to the first-floor bathroom.

“This is the water heater—you don’t need to worry about it for now. Hot water comes from here. This valve controls the temperature: turn it left for hot, right for cold. Pull it up to start the water… The bathtub works the same way; the valve is right here. This bottle is body wash for cleaning yourself—you can use this sponge next to it to work up a lather. Don’t squeeze out too much. This bottle is shampoo for washing your hair… it should work for washing your tail too.”

Yu Sheng carefully and patiently introduced everything in the bathroom to Hu Li, speaking very slowly, making sure the foxgirl understood and nodded before moving on to the next item. Even so, he suspected she’d still be in a panic once she actually started bathing.

“Anyway, as long as you know how to use the water, you’ll be fine. You can soak in the tub for a while. Towels and bath towels are hanging here by the mirror cabinet. Remember to dry off before you come out so you don’t catch a cold.”

Hu Li nodded vigorously. “Mm-hmm.”

“Before you start bathing, remember to take out the stuff you hid in your tail… Actually, never mind, just do what you think is best. They’re all in packaging anyway.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I don’t have any girls’ clothes here. I’ll bring you a set of mine in a bit—make do with those for now. Tomorrow I’ll go to the mall and buy you new ones.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Hu Li seemed to have been reduced to nothing but nodding. Whatever Yu Sheng said, she nodded.

Yu Sheng was rather worried. At that moment, he suddenly found himself envying Eileen’s carefree attitude.

After giving a few more instructions and having Hu Li try turning on the shower by herself, he finally relaxed a little. He brought over a set of his own loose pajamas and pants, left them by the door, and then headed back to the living room.

Eileen was struggling to climb back onto the sofa using her broken arms.

Yu Sheng: “…What are you doing?”

“I was laughing too hard and fell off the sofa,” Eileen explained awkwardly as she climbed. “Hey, don’t just stand there watching—come help me up.”

Yu Sheng stepped forward and casually lifted Eileen along with her picture frame. “Alright, stop watching TV. I’m going to repair your body.”

Eileen blinked in surprise. “What about the fox?”

“She’s in the bathroom washing up on her own,” Yu Sheng said offhandedly. “I showed her how to use everything.”

“Can she manage? She just broke free from the Hunger’s influence—her mind probably hasn’t recovered yet, right?” Eileen hung from Yu Sheng’s arm, casting a dubious glance toward the bathroom. “She’s not going to blow up the bathroom, is she…”

Hearing this, Yu Sheng’s footsteps faltered. He looked toward the bathroom with some unease—the sound of running water could already be heard from that direction. “She… probably won’t, right? Unless she suddenly launches her tail in the middle of bathing.”

“Forget it, let’s not overthink this.” Eileen waved her arms, quickly returning to her carefree self. “She’s not stupid, after all. The girl survived in the wilderness for that long—she’ll adapt to her environment fast. Let’s go upstairs, upstairs! Fix my arms first. It’s really inconvenient like this—I can barely even change the channel.”

Yu Sheng gave an “oh” and carried Eileen up the stairs.

Reaching the attic, he flicked on the light and unfastened the picture frame from Eileen’s back, then carefully placed the little doll on the large worktable.

“You don’t need to be so cautious. I’m not made of porcelain,” Eileen laughed at Yu Sheng’s delicate handling. “You’re not going to accidentally crush me.”

Yu Sheng gave the white, porcelain-like fracture on Eileen’s arm a strange look. “Can you blame me for being careful? That break looks absolutely terrifying—it really doesn’t hurt?”

“Nope. It stung a tiny bit right when they snapped off,” Eileen raised her arms and examined them, “but looking at it now, it is pretty alarming… Hurry up and fix them.”

She paused, then began giving instructions. “The process is similar to when we made the body, but you won’t need to create a torso—just the arms. The Spirit Infusion procedure is the same as last time; I’ll guide you through it. After the arms, we’ll do the legs. I’ve got a few cracks in my legs, but they haven’t fully broken through. You’ll need to activate the alchemically treated clay for patching. That part requires precision—you should use a scraping tool to smooth things out properly. It’ll save me some effort too…”

Yu Sheng listened to the little doll’s explanation, and only after she finished did he speak up, somewhat hesitantly. “By the way, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…”

Eileen: “Huh?”

“We actually used up all the clay from last time.” Yu Sheng spread his hands. “And nothing’s going to be open at this hour.”

Eileen froze. “…Why didn’t you say so earlier! Then why did you bring me all the way up here?”

Yu Sheng pulled a lotus root out of the nearby drawer—the one he’d bought last time…

The little doll’s eyes went wide, nearly jumping to her feet (but her legs were cracked so she couldn’t quite manage it). “You really have it out for lotus roots, don’t you! Didn’t I already tell you… Wait, why did you put a lotus root in the alchemy workstation’s drawer?! You’ve been planning this all along, haven’t you?”

“I was just curious whether this thing could actually work,” Yu Sheng admitted there was perhaps a tiny bit of premeditation involved, but he chalked it up to the spirit of scientific inquiry—just like when he’d experimented with how best to stew the Hunger Entity’s meat. It was all in the name of research. “Just let me try. This lotus root wasn’t cheap, you know.”

“Try my ass!” Eileen glared with her scarlet eyes. “Setting everything else aside—before Spirit Infusion, you have to mix your blood into the material. You could knead it into a ball of dough, sure, but how are you going to get your blood into a lotus root…”

The little doll trailed off mid-sentence as she watched Yu Sheng pull a syringe out of the drawer.

Eileen: “…Are you out of your mind?!”

(End of Chapter)