Chapter 104 – Yu Sheng’s Alchemy Experiment

Sleep was impossible — and it wasn’t because Eileen was causing trouble beside him.

Perhaps it was the genuine excitement of experiencing his first real Otherworld exploration, or perhaps it was simply that he’d absorbed too much information recently, and now it was all bubbling up in his mind at once. Yu Sheng couldn’t stop his thoughts from racing, so after tossing and turning for a fitful two or three hours, he finally gave up and got out of bed, threw a jacket over his pajamas, and quietly prepared to leave the bedroom.

The moment he pushed open the bedroom door, the little doll on the bed suddenly sat bolt upright again, eyes still closed. “Going out? Where to?”

Yu Sheng froze. He was just about to answer when he saw Eileen flop back down with a thud, mumbling as she fell: “Don’t forget to bring your helmet when you buy money… you and that dumb fox both ate too much and didn’t even take me to play games…”

Incoherent sleep talk — wait, why did a doll not only need to sleep but could actually fall asleep and talk in her sleep?!

A strange urge to complain welled up inside Yu Sheng. After confirming that Eileen hadn’t actually woken up, he quietly pushed the door open and stepped out into the corridor.

The sun hadn’t risen yet. Beyond the house, endless darkness still reigned — it was the quietest moment before dawn. Everything inside and outside the house was perfectly still, making even the sound of slippers on the floor seem remarkably loud and conspicuous.

Yu Sheng looked left and right. First, he noticed the door at the far end of the corridor. He walked over, cautiously cracked it open just enough to peer inside, and saw that everything in the room was as it should be. Slightly relieved, he turned and headed toward the staircase at the other end of the corridor.

As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he spotted the clothes hanging on the banister post — the jacket he’d been wearing when he went out last night. He’d come back so late that he hadn’t bothered to put it away, just draped it there.

The jacket was still soaked with large patches of blood. Where the giant wolf had torn into it, there was a sizable rip. It looked quite frightening.

Yu Sheng picked up the jacket and examined it. He hadn’t looked closely when he’d come back, but now he decided the thing was beyond saving. The repair work would be considerable, the massive bloodstains might never wash out completely, and it wasn’t exactly an expensive piece of clothing to begin with. Better to just throw it away.

The only question was whether tossing a “bloody garment” that looked like it’d been recovered from a crime scene straight into the garbage would scare people. The neighbors would probably call the police.

Yu Sheng’s mind wandered through all sorts of idle thoughts — marveling at just how much blood he’d lost at the time, then regretting that he should have smeared all that blood around the exhibition halls while it was still wet, which might have earned him more control over the “museum” or unlocked something new, then wondering what exactly that giant wolf that had emerged from Little Red Riding Hood’s shadow actually was, worrying about the girl being hunted by the vicious wolf…

His gaze unconsciously lingered on the bloodstains on the jacket. Gradually, the scattered thoughts in his mind converged into a single curiosity.

Blood — his own blood… what exactly was it?

This question had been lurking in the back of his mind for a long time, but he’d never had the time or the means to verify or investigate it. Now, however, Yu Sheng suddenly had some new ideas. Since he couldn’t sleep anyway, after a moment’s hesitation, he turned and headed up the staircase leading to the attic.

Moonlight filtered through the windows. The attic was quietly suffused with a deep blue, almost ink-dark dimness. The large table that “Eileen” had designated as an “Alchemy Table” sat silently in the depths of the shadows, still bearing the crafting tools from when he’d last made the doll’s body. A few old books were stacked in the corner of the table, and beside them sat that old desk lamp.

Yu Sheng didn’t turn on the main light. Instead, he went over and switched on the old desk lamp. In the limited but focus-sharpening circle of light, he slowly sat down at the table and thought things over.

He had used two segments of lotus root to reshape Eileen’s arms. The little doll had become a little lotus-root doll, and Eileen had protested vehemently. But setting aside her fussing, there was actually something quite noteworthy about the whole affair.

According to Eileen’s knowledge as a “professional doll,” such a haphazard operation should never have succeeded. Clay, flour, even dirt dug up from the garden — all of these could serve as materials for making dolls. Lotus root, however, could not.

After a brief hesitation, Yu Sheng took a disposable mixing cup from the drawer, picked up the paper knife from the table, gritted his teeth, and drew a cut across the back of his hand, letting his blood drip into the cup.

He had no real knowledge of the mystical arts. Beyond the mechanical “operations” involved in doll-making, all Eileen had taught him were some rudimentary concepts about Spirit Infusion, guidance, and activation — and even those had been delivered in an offhand, casual manner.

But for Yu Sheng right now, that rudimentary knowledge was enough to satisfy his curiosity.

After completing an Otherworld exploration alongside Little Red Riding Hood, he was brimming with interest in all things mystical and felt an urgent desire to expand his experience and understanding in this area.

Following the method Eileen had taught him, which he’d committed to memory, Yu Sheng arranged the Spirit Infusion ritual candles on the table, then placed his blood at the “focal point” formed by several concentric circles and connecting lines. He began attempting to channel his “spirituality,” to pour that power into the blood that had left his body.

Eileen had said that “blood” was an exceptional “natural alchemical wonder.” The flow of blood symbolized “life” — the greatest miracle in the universe. It was the substance most easily reactive in alchemical rituals. Even the clumsiest novice could use it to complete many tests.

But Yu Sheng hit a wall at the very first step.

He didn’t know how to channel his “spirituality.” Although he’d been able to sense the existence of “spiritual intuition” with increasing clarity lately, he still couldn’t perceive or control this “spirituality” — said to originate from the essential nature of the human soul — as a concrete, controllable “element.” He couldn’t feel any supernatural “energy” manifesting within himself, and naturally couldn’t infuse it into the separated blood.

All he could do was exercise his imagination to the fullest — and he exercised it so thoroughly he nearly fell asleep. After fumbling around for ten minutes, he noticed the blood in the cup was already beginning to coagulate and gave up on this line of testing.

Perhaps he needed some “supplementary materials”?

Yu Sheng thought it over, then opened the drawer and took out a bag of clay.

He’d bought this after using up all the clay last time. Considering that Eileen might have future emergencies requiring limb repairs, he now kept a supply of these “materials” at home.

After all, he couldn’t use lotus root every time — though he was genuinely tempted to try, Eileen would probably lose her mind.

Clay sculpting — this was the only alchemical experiment Yu Sheng had managed to successfully “perform” to date.

He mixed the blood from the cup directly into the clay and kneaded it until it was evenly blended. Then, following the precise ratios Eileen had taught him, he added “supplementary ingredients” like tea powder and rose oil. After careful preparation, he began earnestly sculpting the clay into the shape of an arm.

Since he was going through all this effort anyway, he might as well use it as practice for his doll-making “craft.” That way, Eileen wouldn’t have reason to complain about his ugly work every time she recalled the “reshaping” process.

With that thought in mind, Yu Sheng applied twelve parts patience and meticulousness to complete the arm’s sculpting. He then used a scraper and a needle tool to fashion a small, delicate hand at the end of the clay form. After putting in considerable effort, he discovered… it was still ugly.

But at least it was better than last time. At the very least, the hand definitely had five fingers this time.

He’d never dared tell Eileen that the body he’d first sculpted for her had actually had two six-fingered hands… but after the doll completed her self-reshaping, everything had corrected itself, and she’d never noticed.

After finishing all this, Yu Sheng placed the arm at the center of the alchemical array. While imagining the connection between himself and the arm through his blood, he slowly moved his own right hand, trying to make the arm on the table move along with him.

But it didn’t move at all.

Yu Sheng frowned and poked the arm with the scraper. Finding it truly unresponsive, he could only resign himself to setting it aside for now.

The faint light of dawn had already begun filtering through the slanted roof windows into the attic. The surroundings were gradually brightening.

But Yu Sheng was so absorbed in what he was doing that he hadn’t even noticed the sky was slowly growing lighter.

He drew more blood and prepared more clay.

Handicrafts were the kind of thing that easily became addictive.

Since he’d already made one arm, he might as well go ahead and make a complete body. Whether the alchemy would work or not could wait — even if all he got out of it was improved sculpting skills, that would be worthwhile. He could think of it as preparing a spare body for Eileen. She’d said she wouldn’t be able to switch to a new body for several months, but that gave him plenty of time to practice.

He’d give the little doll a nice surprise when the time came.

With that thought, Yu Sheng’s enthusiasm gradually surged. The continuous bloodletting didn’t make him feel the slightest discomfort; if anything, his energy grew more abundant. He crafted a new torso, arms, and two legs, then opened a fresh package of clay and began attempting to make the doll’s head.

He felt he’d made significant progress. Compared to last time, at least the body he was making now could be called symmetrical, with all four limbs intact — arms that actually looked like arms, legs that actually looked like legs.

The doll’s head was far more demanding to make than the body. Not only did the facial features need to be sculpted with as much precision as possible, but there was also the more complex process of painting to consider. Yu Sheng wasn’t sure he could pull it off — when he’d first sculpted Eileen’s body, he’d skipped the “face painting” step entirely, and that face had ultimately grown in on its own. But this time, he wanted to challenge himself at a higher difficulty.

Besides, when he’d bought the clay last time, he’d also picked up a set of small-scale tools for painting dolls and figurines. It would be a waste not to use them.

Yu Sheng worked with deep concentration.

In fact, he was a little too absorbed — so much so that he failed to notice something.

The fingers of the arm he’d crafted first were beginning to tremble ever so slightly.

And the doll torso sitting at the edge of the table — its chest was rising and falling, so subtly as to be nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.

(End of Chapter)