Not only was Irene's cursing foul, but the sound of her loud screams made one's head buzz.
Yu Sheng even suspected how this person could make such a loud noise through an oil painting—could the entire canvas be used as an amplifier?
"Don't ask me about the principle. I don't know the principle myself," Yu Sheng said as he cleaned his ears, spreading his hands helplessly at Irene. "What I can be sure of at the moment is that I can open 'doors,' and these doors can lead to various places, either Otherworlds or… a distant place like you just saw. Of course, I'm not sure if it's another world, another planet, or a parallel universe."
Speaking of this, he paused and continued, "Maybe I should ask the person on the other side of the door about the situation? But the female elf just now didn't seem to be in a good mood…"
Irene was half-dazed. She only reacted after Yu Sheng had rambled on for a long time. After thinking for a while, she said, "Then… what about the conditions for it to take effect? For example, under what circumstances can you open a door?"
"I'm not too sure yet. I feel like I can open it anytime," Yu Sheng thought for a moment and said according to his current feeling. "As for the way to open the door, it seems there are two ways. One is to directly open an existing, ordinary door in reality. This kind of opening is very easy. Sometimes I don't even realize what I've done, and the door opens directly to 'another place.' The second is what you just saw—"
As Yu Sheng spoke, he gestured in the air with his hand to open a door.
"A door created out of thin air. It's more laborious and requires concentration to perceive and imagine. And if I get distracted during the process of opening the door, the door may suddenly disappear. But the good thing is that I won't accidentally push the door and enter an Otherworld."
Irene stared at Yu Sheng's movements with her scarlet eyes. Her gaze followed his arm back and forth several times. After holding it in for a long time, she broke the silence. "…Are you a person?"
Yu Sheng was immediately a little dissatisfied. "What's that supposed to mean!"
"At a time like this, you still have the nerve to say that? That sentence you said to me not long ago," Irene muttered as she recalled, and then imitated Yu Sheng's tone and expression at that time, "—If I'm not a person, are you?"
She straightened up and looked straight into Yu Sheng's eyes.
"Some humans can master some supernatural powers, but I've never seen anyone like you."
"Maybe you've seen it but you forgot?" Yu Sheng was still being stubborn. "Your brain is not very reliable."
Irene was stunned for a moment. "…Is, is that so?"
This time, it was Yu Sheng's turn to be a little embarrassed. He was just being stubborn and habitually bickering with this doll. He never expected Irene to have a clear self-awareness and her first reaction was to admit it… she admitted it…
But he quickly adjusted his expression, coughed twice, and brought the topic back. "So it seems that my falling into that valley has nothing to do with the strange characteristics of this house. It should be a passage that I opened myself at the moment I opened the door. Therefore, as long as I can replicate the operation at that time, I can return to that Otherworld. In theory, that is."
When it came to serious business, Irene's expression also became serious. "Is this ability controllable?"
"…Half-controllable, I guess," Yu Sheng said with uncertainty, then explained, "I can basically control when to open a passage to 'another place' and when to push open a normal door now. But I can't be sure exactly where it will lead. I can't even rule out the possibility of opening a door and falling directly into a volcano. But… there's one thing I just confirmed."
Irene asked eagerly, "What is it?"
"The passage can indeed be replicated. Under specific circumstances, opening the door twice can lead to the same place," Yu Sheng said. "Just like the elf you saw just now. I've already met her for the second time."
Irene: "…Oh, no wonder she reacted like that just now."
Yu Sheng looked a little embarrassed. "I'm still not sure how this happened, but I vaguely remember the 'feeling.' I think that with more attempts and training, I should be able to stably open those 'doors' that I've connected to once. But the biggest problem now is… I was completely unprepared when I entered that valley. I've almost forgotten the feeling of opening the door at that time. This makes it very difficult to replicate that passage."
"But at least you finally have a clue now, don't you?" Irene immediately comforted him. "I thought it was wishful thinking that you wanted to go back and save that fox as soon as possible. Now it has become a feasible plan, right?"
Hearing this, Yu Sheng looked at the doll in the oil painting with some surprise. This gaze made the latter shrink uncomfortably in her chair. "What are you looking at me for? I told you, you have no future with a 2D character…"
This time, Yu Sheng didn't wait for the other party to finish her ridiculous words and interrupted, "This is the first time I've heard a few good words from you—I always thought you were full of trash talk. I never thought you also knew how to comfort people."
Irene: "…"
Irene's cursing was foul.
But Yu Sheng was in a good mood now, and he could even treat Irene's cursing as background music in his life.
He looked at his hands, waved them in the air, got up from the dining table, and walked around the dining room, looking full of energy.
Seeing this, Irene stopped her birdsong-and-flower-fragrance-like cursing, and her gaze followed Yu Sheng around. "You're not going to start… uh, 'training' now, are you?"
"The sooner the better. Anyway, I slept all day, and I'm full of energy now," Yu Sheng said as if it were a matter of course. "This exercise doesn't take up much space."
"Then you take it easy. If you open the door and see that elf again, maybe a big fireball will come over—and you'll splash blood all over me again."
This trash talk tasted right.
Yu Sheng waved his hand indifferently, and his gaze fell on the kitchen door next to him.
Opening a door out of thin air required extra energy consumption. For practice, of course, it was more appropriate to use a "solid door" that didn't consume much.
But before that, Yu Sheng suddenly thought of something else.
"What did you just say?" He turned his head and looked at the doll in the painting on the dining table.
Irene thought for a moment. "…Told you to take it easy? In case that elf throws a big fireball over?"
"I mean the more annoying one."
The corner of Irene's mouth twitched. "Don't splash blood all over me!"
"Yes, that's it. I want to test this first," Yu Sheng grinned, smiling as he came to the dining table. He picked up a small fruit knife that was on the table. "My blood."
Irene was visibly startled. She jumped up from the chair, hugging her teddy bear. "Hey, what are you doing! I was just saying it casually. Do you have to use a knife! I'm warning you, I'm very easy to mess with. You don't have to use a knife. Put that thing down. If you scratch the canvas, I might crack…"
This doll panicked and babbled a lot. Yu Sheng couldn't help but frown. "What are you nervous about? I didn't say I was going to cut you."
Before his voice fell, he had already pressed the small knife against his finger—but after a moment of hesitation, he moved it to the back of his hand. Then he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and with a "puchi," he made a cut.
It didn't even hurt much.
Irene watched this scene dumbfounded. Seeing Yu Sheng bring his bleeding hand towards her, she kept backing away, exclaiming as she retreated, "What are you doing! Wait… don't tell me you believe that stuff about dripping blood to claim ownership in novels? I told you to read less…"
"First, I'm a novelist myself. Although I'm not doing very well, I have a problem with you having a problem with novels," Yu Sheng glanced at the terrified doll in the painting. "Second, this has nothing to do with dripping blood to claim ownership. I just want to test some conjectures—when I was in that valley, Hu Li came into contact with my blood, and after that, both of us had some changes. I want to see if something similar will happen to you."
Yu Sheng was referring to the fact that after Hu Li came into contact with his blood, she suddenly became able to perceive his "death," and he was able to perceive part of Hu Li's thoughts and memories. In addition, he also suspected that the projection of the silver-white fox demon that appeared in his dream world was also related to this "blood connection."
Irene was slightly stunned when she heard Yu Sheng's words. Then she noticed his serious attitude. Although she didn't know what was going on, she gradually quieted down. Even though she still looked reluctant (mainly because she didn't trust Yu Sheng's suspicious operation process), she still cooperated.
Of course, the main reason for her cooperation was that she couldn't run away. After all, she was sealed in an oil painting. Usually, she couldn't do anything except babble loudly. And now Yu Sheng had basically gotten used to her loud babbles…
But to be honest, Irene was not a suitable "test partner."
After all, her "constitution" was a bit special.
Yu Sheng found it difficult to determine whether his blood was applied to Irene or to the oil painting that served as the sealing medium—he smeared his blood on the frame, and while the wound had not yet healed, he squeezed some blood drops onto the canvas. But no matter which operation, he couldn't make his blood directly contact the doll's main body in the oil painting like he did with Hu Li.
Irene looked up, and it was unknown what her perspective was in the oil painting—but she obviously sensed the contact of the blood.
But that was all.
The oil painting did not "absorb" Yu Sheng's blood like Hu Li had licked the blood.
"Do you feel anything?" Yu Sheng waited for a long time before he asked with some uncertainty.
Irene thought for a moment. "…Warm? But it's cold now."
Yu Sheng: "…Then it seems it's useless."