A simple check of the TV revealed that it had just crashed.
A classic situation that occurs when cheap smart devices are used for too long—"Oh, I've been working continuously for two hours, my CPU is smoking/my memory has an error/my power supply is overheating/I just want to die for a bit…"
Yu Sheng couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for the sturdy and durable old-fashioned TVs from his memory. The home appliances of the past were not as delicate as today's smart devices. Although they had fewer functions, he didn't think the various smart functions now were that much better. All the artificial intelligences were like artificial idiots…
"Just turn off the power and wait two minutes to restart it," Yu Sheng感慨着 in his heart. He casually turned off the TV's power and said to Irene, "This thing is not of good quality. It will crash on its own if it's on for too long."
"Then do you want to get a new one?" Irene's eyes lit up at once. "Get one with voice control, then I can change the channel myself. I can watch TV even when you're not at home…"
"You really have the nerve to make requests?" Looking at this guy who didn't treat herself as an outsider at all, Yu Sheng was actually amused. "You're freeloading in my house and I haven't said anything yet. You still want a new TV? Did you contribute money or effort?"
"I…" Irene opened her mouth, her face actually turning a little red, and her speech became hesitant. "I, I have no money, but I've been helping you with your knowledge about Otherworlds! I'm at least a consultant…"
"And this consultant's memory is not very good, right? She's not even sure if the things she says are reliable," Yu Sheng pursed his lips. "If I hire you as a consultant, I'll have to hire another consultant to be your consultant."
Irene's face flushed, but she couldn't find a rebuttal for a long time. She could only lower her head and sulk. But she had a good mentality. After sulking for three seconds, she recovered and looked up at Yu Sheng. "Then when you get me out, no matter how you do it, I'll work to pay you back. And aren't you going to be dealing with Otherworlds in the future? I can be your helper! I can fight for you, that's fine, right…"
Yu Sheng hadn't really thought about this—in fact, he had never considered what would happen after Irene really came out of this painting. Hearing this, he raised his eyebrows. "You? Are you sure?"
"Hey, let me tell you, don't underestimate me! I am one of Alice's Dolls!" Irene stood up from the chair with her hands on her hips, looking extremely smug. "Living dolls are blessed. I'm much better at fighting in Otherworlds than those so-called investigators and spiritual detectives…"
"And then you were pressed into a painting, right?"
Irene's eyes instantly turned red (although her eyes were already red). "You… you, you, you… you'll know when I get out! Don't turn your head away!"
"Alright, alright, I believe you, I believe you," Yu Sheng said with a smile, turning around and waving his hand helplessly.
Actually, he had never been serious with this doll from the beginning. After all, she was just staying in the painting. Although she was freeloading in his house, she didn't eat his rice. The area she occupied was less than half a square meter even when she was placed flat on the floor, and she was not in the way at all when hung on the wall. Except for watching TV, she had almost no consumption. Bickering with her could also relieve boredom—not to mention, she had indeed helped him supplement a lot of knowledge about the "other world."
As for what she said about working to pay off her debt or being a sidekick after she came out of the painting… he would just take it as the truth for now.
The TV screen lit up again. Yu Sheng pressed the remote a few times and found a mindless urban drama.
Irene was not picky about TV programs at all—after all, even *Teletubbies* was more interesting than wallpaper.
But just then, Yu Sheng looked at the TV screen in front of him and suddenly thought of something he hadn't paid attention to before.
"Irene," he turned his head and looked at the doll girl in the oil painting.
"Hey?"
"I remember you said that you've been sealed in the oil painting for a long time, right?"
"That's right, for many, many years. I can't even remember when I came in…"
"Then how do you know so much about modern things?" Yu Sheng asked very seriously. "And you even know about smart TVs with voice control?"
He had found a loophole in Irene's words and actions.
But this was actually not a big problem. There were many explanations for this, such as she learned about the changes in the world by observing people's dreams nearby, or she had been hung in other modern people's homes before entering this house—Yu Sheng felt that Irene's answer would most likely be something like this.
But what Irene responded with was a dazed "huh?".
The doll in the painting seemed to be completely confused by this question, and she even looked as if she herself had just realized this for the first time. After staring blankly for a long time, she slowly turned her head. "I… don't know why?"
"You don't know why?" Yu Sheng was stunned.
"Yeah, I… have indeed been locked in this painting for a very, very long time, really, possibly for decades, but… but I just know what the world is like now, although I don't know how I learned about it, I…"
The doll in the painting stuttered, and in the end, she seemed to start doubting herself and hesitated to continue.
Yu Sheng stared intently at Irene's expression, trying to find a trace of a lie on her face.
"Then do you still remember how you were locked in this painting? And what happened before you were locked in, do you remember?" he asked again.
"I… just remember it was a curse," Irene said hesitantly. "This painting is also some kind of entity. I was supposed to solve it, but instead, I was locked in. But I can't remember the specific process, and what happened before I was locked in… what happened before I was locked in…"
The doll slowly stopped, as if her fragmented past memories had entangled her thoughts. She recalled in a daze. After an unknown amount of time, she spoke softly as if she were sleep-talking, "I am Irene from Alice's Cottage, a member of Alice's Dolls…"
She looked up, her expression uneasy.
"Yu Sheng, that's all I remember."
Yu Sheng frowned deeply.
In this instant, he had imagined so many things in his mind.
From the strange to the conspiratorial to the comical—but none of them were reliable.
After all, he had no evidence or clues to solve the mystery of Irene.
Irene, on the other hand, looked particularly uneasy. She hugged the teddy bear in her arms tightly, squeezing the stuffed toy until it was misshapen. "Am I losing my mind?"
Yu Sheng crossed out the conspiratorial ideas in his mind.
Then he looked up at Irene and added another ten percent to the weight of the comical direction.
"If you can't remember, don't force it. At least not for now," he let out a light breath and shook his head at Irene. "Maybe it's really because you've been locked up for too long, causing your memory and logic to be a bit chaotic."
"Is, is that so?" Irene nodded hesitantly, and then she seemed to be slightly relieved.
Yu Sheng: "…"
No, why was she relieved after knowing that her memory and logic might be messed up? Didn't this prove that her brain was really broken?! What part of what he just said was comforting to this girl?!
Yu Sheng instantly had a head full of question marks, but to be honest, Irene's current reaction did make him dismiss a lot of the doubts that had just popped into his head.
Seriously, if this doll in the painting had really found a perfect reason to explain the "source of her modern knowledge," Yu Sheng might have been more suspicious. Instead, when her heartfelt "huh?" came out, Yu Sheng felt that this girl's entire character became much clearer…
Thinking of this, he shook his head. As he walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor, he said casually, "You stay downstairs and watch TV. I'm going up to catch up on some sleep."
Irene waved her hand. "Hey, hey, you go ahead."
Yu Sheng then left the dining room and went upstairs. With the fatigue he had accumulated in that night-shrouded valley, he yawned and walked towards his bedroom.
He was indeed tired and sleepy, and the sleepiness was even stronger after he was full. At this time, he really needed to sleep well.
However, when he came to the bedroom door, he couldn't help but stop and look up at the end of the corridor.
The door that had once been sealed by an unknown force stood quietly in his sight.
The room at the end of the corridor, that was where he had found Irene.
Yu Sheng frowned, his heart moved, and he walked over.
When he came to the door, he noticed that the position of the doorknob had changed. The direction of the hinge and the handle had been swapped, changed to the "correct position" he had finally discovered that could successfully open the door.
After a moment of hesitation, he reached for the doorknob and turned it gently.
With a light click, the once-unopenable door was now as easily opened as any other room's door.
He pushed the door open, and the scene in the room came into Yu Sheng's eyes—
Simple and ordinary furnishings. On the left side of the door, against the wall, was a single bed and a bedside table. On the right side, against the wall, were a wardrobe, a desk, and a chair. The old floor was a little faded, and the walls were covered with light blue wallpaper.
Above the desk was a window, and bright sunlight poured in through the window, making the whole room bright and warm.
And on the wall directly opposite the door, where Irene's oil painting had once hung, there was now a mirror.
The mirror reflected Yu Sheng's gradually astonished expression.