Chapter 148 – A Chaotic Morning

Chapter 148 – A Chaotic Morning

Yu Sheng was woken up early in the morning by a phone call from Little Red Riding Hood.

He opened his eyes in a daze and saw two Eileens—one dangling from the foot of the bed and the other sprawled across the nightstand. No normal person could possibly imagine how these two dolls managed to sleep in such ridiculous positions. His phone was buzzing nonstop beside his pillow, and after he answered, before he could even get a word out, Little Red Riding Hood’s panicked voice came through from the other end: “Yu Sheng! You died!”

Yu Sheng jolted wide awake on the spot.

His first reaction was that the manners of high schoolers these days really needed improvement. His second reaction was to frantically wonder how on earth he’d offended her—calling this early in the morning with a greeting saltier than the sandbox at her orphanage.

But the very next second, Little Red Riding Hood on the other end realized what she’d said and hurriedly stammered out an explanation: “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant, my head’s a bit of a mess. What I mean is I saw you die… no, I remembered you dying… that’s not right either. Ah, okay this time it’s right—I just remembered…”

He could tell the girl was genuinely flustered, but her confusion actually helped Yu Sheng figure out what was going on. After all, a similar reaction had occurred with Eileen before, so he cleared his throat twice and cut her off: “Ahem, hold on, hold on. You don’t need to explain—I know what’s happening. Good grief, no wonder there’s a delay when the transmission has to pass through the ‘Wolf’ as an intermediary. The delayed activation really took its sweet time with you.”

Little Red Riding Hood went silent on the other end, probably thrown off by how nonchalant Yu Sheng was about all this. After a good few seconds, her voice came through again: “You… how can you be so calm about this?”

“Because I knew you’d remember sooner or later. Anyone who’s come into contact with my blood will become aware of my ‘resurrection.’ The same process already happened with Eileen and Hu Li.” Yu Sheng sat up in bed while giving her a rough explanation of the situation. “…So that’s basically how it works. No need to be nervous. The good news is that next time you come visit No. 66 Wutong Road, you won’t need me to open the door for you anymore—you’ll be able to see the house on your own. The bad news is that next time you witness me drop dead right in front of you, the impact might be a bit intense, since the ‘forgetting’ mechanism won’t work on you anymore.

“But that’s not a big deal either. Eileen and Hu Li are used to it by now, and I’m used to it too. Watch it happen a couple more times and you’ll get used to it as well.”

The other end of the phone went quiet for a moment. Little Red Riding Hood was probably confused again, stuck in a state where her worldview couldn’t keep up with her brain and her brain couldn’t keep up with her ears. Meanwhile, the two Eileens—one dangling from the foot of the bed and one sprawled on the nightstand—were also stirring awake from the commotion of the phone call. The two dolls lifted their heads groggily and greeted Yu Sheng: “Good morning… yawn.”

Then they both fell to the floor simultaneously—they’d been hanging on by a thread to begin with.

Yu Sheng reached out and picked up the Eileen that had fallen off the nightstand. She rubbed her little head, still not fully awake, and grumbled in a mumbling voice: “You and Hu Li were way too much yesterday. Not only could I just watch while you two ate barbecue, you even propped me up next to the fire and grilled me alongside the meat…”

“That was to dry your clothes,” Yu Sheng glanced at the doll. “Who told you to fall into the pot?”

“That still doesn’t mean you can skewer me on a stick!”

Yu Sheng thought about it. “What happened yesterday is in the past. We should look forward…”

Eileen let out a yelp and sprang up—but she’d barely gotten halfway before Yu Sheng pressed her back down by the head. At the same time, he held up the phone and waved it: “Little Red Riding Hood called. She’s now the ‘same’ as you and Hu Li.”

Eileen blinked, apparently not understanding at first, but just a few seconds later, she guessed what was going on.

“…It just took effect?” the doll asked cautiously.

“Just now, and it seems to have given her quite a scare,” Yu Sheng muttered. “High schoolers these days really can’t handle much.”

As his words trailed off, Little Red Riding Hood’s voice finally came through the phone again: “I don’t think this is about handling things—anyone who deals with you would end up like this.”

Yu Sheng immediately broke into a grin. “Got your thoughts sorted out?”

“More or less,” Little Red Riding Hood sighed, then asked curiously, “How many people know about your ‘secret’ now?”

“I don’t really consider it a secret, but there’s nothing I can do about that weird ‘reversion’ mechanism. Anyway,” Yu Sheng said casually, “right now it’s just you, Eileen, and Hu Li—you three know. In theory, Xiaoxiao should be able to know too, since she also shared my blood, but I haven’t died in front of her yet, so she doesn’t know for now…”

Before he could finish, Little Red Riding Hood was already exclaiming through the phone: “Don’t you dare scare that child!”

Yu Sheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Obviously! What, you think I’m some kind of psycho who’d deliberately drop dead in front of a kid just for kicks?”

Little Red Riding Hood’s voice carried a hint of resentment: “What if you wanted to try it?”

Yu Sheng: “…”

He was now seriously questioning what kind of image he had in her mind—surely he hadn’t already stopped being a mature, reliable, steady, and dependable adult?

Just then, he suddenly felt the phone vibrate again, and a notification for a new incoming call appeared on the screen.

“Alright, I’ve got to go. The Special Operations Bureau is calling,” Yu Sheng glanced at the name on the screen and said quickly to Little Red Riding Hood, “Anything else going on over there?”

“Nothing else. The biggest thing was suddenly finding out you died. Go ahead and take care of your stuff.”

Yu Sheng felt that sentence sounded awkward no matter how you heard it—strip away any context and it read like a grammatical disaster.

He mentally quipped about it, then hung up on Little Red Riding Hood and answered the new call: “Hello, this is Yu Sheng.”

The voice that came through was Baili Qing’s: “Calling this early—I hope I’m not disturbing your sleep?” Whether it was just his imagination or not, Yu Sheng couldn’t help feeling there was a subtle note of payback in that seemingly bland remark.

“No, I just happened to be awake. Is the lab all set up?”

“Yes, the analysis lab is ready. A team of specialists is standing by, and the materials you requested have been prepared as well,” Baili Qing’s voice was calm and dependable. “If there are no issues on your end, a car will be sent to pick you up in thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes? Sure, no problem.”

Yu Sheng hung up, double-checked the time, then quickly got up to get dressed and wash up. He grabbed two small combs and tossed them to the two little dolls on the bed: “Hurry up and get ready, we’re heading out. We’re going to the Special Operations Bureau today to broaden our horizons. Oh, and wake Hu Li up quick, or there won’t be time for breakfast.”

The two Eileens sat on the bed and started combing each other’s hair. After hearing Yu Sheng’s words, neither of them moved from their spot: “No need to wake her. I think she’s already eating. I heard noises from the kitchen downstairs earlier…”

Yu Sheng spat out his toothpaste foam. He paused for a moment when he heard the doll’s words, then it hit him in a flash: “Oh no! My stewed meat in the fridge!”

“Look on the bright side—even if you went down now, it’d definitely be too late,” Eileen consoled him from the side. “And honestly, you’re the one who stored the rest of that wolf carcass in her tail in the first place. The ending was sealed from the very beginning, you know.”

Yu Sheng let out a long sigh upon hearing this, having no choice but to admit Eileen was right…

By the time he and Eileen made it downstairs, Hu Li was hugging the pot at the dining table in a food coma, clearly having eaten too much and gone into a post-meal daze.

Beside the drowsy fox girl, the dining table also held a steaming spread of food—all leftovers from last night’s “picnic,” reheated to perfection with Fox Fire.

“Benefactor, I heated up breakfast for you, hehe.” Hu Li flashed Yu Sheng a smile, looking both proud and pleased.

Yu Sheng wasn’t sure whether to be moved or not. On one hand, this glutton had polished off more than half the pot of stewed meat. On the other hand, this girl who couldn’t control herself around food had actually thought to save him a portion—and it was clearly the tastiest selections at that, not a single bite touched…

Twenty minutes later, a tidied-up Yu Sheng left the house with Eileen and the finally-lucid fox. The three of them squatted in a neat row on the curb in front of No. 66 Wutong Road.

Eileen looked up and glanced left and right at Yu Sheng and Hu Li: “Does this count as our entire Organization deploying in full force?”

“Not quite. Only half of you came out,” Yu Sheng said casually. “Isn’t your other body still at home watching TV?”

As he spoke, he glanced at the Fox-Spirit Girl beside him: “Hu Li, don’t put your hands on the ground. It doesn’t look proper.”

“We’re already squatting on a curb—who cares about looking proper?” Eileen pursed her lips. “By the way, why do we have to squat anyway…”

“How should I know? I just squatted down to tie my shoe, and you two squatted down right along with me.”

Eileen: “…?”

Just then, the clatter and wheeze of an ancient engine sputtering and gasping suddenly echoed from the far end of the street, interrupting their conversation.

Yu Sheng quickly stood up and looked toward the sound, only to see an at-least-seventh-hand Xiali sedan wobbling its way toward them…

His expression immediately turned complicated.

When the little car finally wheezed and sputtered its way to a stop in front of them and the window rolled down to reveal Xu Jiali’s face, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but mutter: “Why is it you again?”

Eileen next to him was even more blunt: “Does your Special Operations Bureau not have a single car with more room?”

Xu Jiali’s expression was a bit embarrassed too, clearly aware of the state of her ride: “Um, actually I wasn’t originally assigned to pick you up. The car that was supposed to get you broke down halfway. I happened to be nearby, so I got called in as emergency backup.”

The corner of Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched, and he could only resignedly squeeze into the back seat of the beat-up Xiali with Hu Li and Eileen (the passenger seat was still occupied by that mysterious large crate), grumbling as he squeezed in: “Your Organization is this strapped for resources? Even the cars for field operations break down halfway…”

Xu Jiali looked a little sheepish too, and let out a long sigh: “Ah, nothing we can do—the Machine Spirit’s feeling out of sorts…”

Yu Sheng: “Can’t you people use a classier way to describe Machine Spirits?”

“It makes things feel more personal. Machine Spirits in different regions have different styles and preferences,” Xu Jiali explained with an awkward laugh. “The Machine Spirits over at the Academy are pretty gothic—when dealing with them, you have to use phrases like ‘the Machine Spirit is displeased’ or ‘praise be to the Machine Spirit.’ That’s probably more in line with what you’re imagining…”

Yu Sheng blinked: “Uh… so what about the Machine Spirits here in the Borderland?”

“The Machine Spirits here in the Borderland are more… bro-ish…”