"What do you mean that Baili Xue started to change noticeably after interacting with me? What do you mean that you suspect I gave her humanity?"Yu Sheng stared bewilderedly at Red and the council elder in front of him, feeling as flabbergasted as he did the first time he saw Hu Li shoot her tail like a projectile.
"It's literally what the words mean; all changes began after Baili Xue first observed No. 66 Wutong Road up close," Red said calmly, "but it seems that you aren't aware of this at all... though we weren't exactly surprised."
Yu Sheng scratched his head.
Perhaps due to having experienced too many weird things, although he was confused at this moment, he wasn't shocked, just found the whole thing... quite unbelievable.
"Well, regardless, it's a good thing, I suppose," he mused, "After all, according to your description, Baili Xue wasn't exactly normal nor safe before; but now she seems harmless. You glared at her, she'd bury herself in the ground..."
Red's lips seemed to twitch slightly, almost breaking his calm demeanor due to Yu Sheng's description.
"Is there anything else?" Yu Sheng looked at the two people before him and casually asked.
"No more," the council elder shook his head slowly, "We greatly appreciate your assistance, I'll have Red escort you back."
Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng hurriedly waved his hand politely: "No, no, I can go back by myself."
As he spoke, he casually opened a nearby door right in front of the elder, leading directly to the living room of No. 66 Wutong Road.
"I'll head back first then, call if anything comes up, goodbye."
The door closed and then silently dissipated into the air.
The council elder stood there stunned for a moment, only reacting after a few seconds: "... Just left like that?"
Red remained expressionless: "His door, it has mysterious powers."
The elder still looked bewildered: "... But this place is remodeled using fragments from the Sky Dome Temple..."
Red remained expressionless: "His door has mysterious powers—all the way through the World Bridge."
Elder: "... Very powerful."
When Yu Sheng returned home, it was already completely dark outside.
The dim streetlights illuminated the streets of the old district, faint car horn sounds could be heard from afar through the window, while the living room still had lights on, the house was silent without a sound.
The first thing Yu Sheng saw was a large lump of fluffy silver-white fur on the carpet beside the coffee table—the fox girl curled up there, hugging her large tail and sleeping soundly. Erin nestled between her tails, lightly snoring.
The Little Puppet held onto her phone watch, likely having fallen asleep while playing.
Yu Sheng decided not to wake them up, closing the door as he quietly tiptoed towards the kitchen, but just as he took two steps, the fox girl suddenly twitched her ears and within the next second opened her golden-red eyes.
"Savior is back!"
Hu Li exclaimed excitedly, then sprang up like a bouncing ball, her tail swinging to the side as she leaped over to hang onto Yu Sheng's arm.
Yu Sheng barely had time to react, only managing to utter half a sentence, "You have something in your tail..." before Erin was flung out from Hu Li's big tail, spinning seven or eight times in the air before landing with a soft thud, bewildered, as she rubbed her eyes and took two seconds to grasp the situation.
In the next second, this little thing shot back like a cannonball, head-first into Hu Li, "Silly fox, what's wrong with you!"
The fox girl fumbled to control the Little Puppet climbing all over her, apologizing and explaining while Yu Sheng took this opportunity to hastily put his dislocated arm back in place and mend the rib that had just cracked. Despite the pain that made him grit his teeth, he couldn't help but smile.
The eerie and oppressive atmosphere from the depth of the Fault gradually faded away, and the lively, almost noisy dynamics before him even gave him a sense... of returning to the mortal world.
A pair of scarlet eyes immediately zeroed in on him.
"Why are you giggling?" The Little Puppet swiftly leapt from Hu Li onto Yu Sheng, climbing onto his shoulder as she started to chatter away, "Going to the Council Tower in the middle of the night and coming back with the signal all messed up; I even thought you died over there, but waited all night without you dying..."
Yu Sheng: "... Can't you wish me well for once?"
Erin said nothing, just swinging her arm happily back and forth on Yu Sheng's shoulder, humming an out-of-tune tune, looking quite cheerful.
The fox girl tugged Yu Sheng's arm: "Savior, I made a stew for you! I tell you, this stew turned out great, halfway through I put two buns and half a pancake in it as it was getting hungry..."
Halfway through listening, Yu Sheng suddenly hesitated, pondering how the fox girl's stew could be even more bizarre. Yet, Hu Li was too strong; his slight hesitation in his steps had no effect, and within seconds, he found himself led to the dining table...
Erin hopped onto the table, sat cross-legged with her hands supporting her chin: "Hey, hey, tell us, what was it like down under the Fault? What did you see?"
Hu Li sat down next to him, propping her chin on her hand, smiling as she looked straight into Yu Sheng's eyes.
Even the purple-black blob in the stew pot was perched on the edge, posing seductively against the soup ladle, eagerly awaiting the gossip.
Yu Sheng: "..."
...
Boundary City Central District.
Baili Qing stood at the wide floor-to-ceiling window of the bedroom, silently gazing at the endless lights and bustling scene outside, her gaze tranquil, as if she was still submerged in distant memories.
A pair of light eyes reflected in the corner of the floor-to-ceiling window, eventually moving along the edge to another corner, fluttering at the periphery of Baili Qing's vision.
After a while, Baili Qing finally couldn't help asking, "What are you doing?"
The pair of wavering eyes finally stopped, hesitating for several seconds at the center of the window before speaking: "…I want to make you a little happier."
Baili Qing slightly frowned: "Do I look like I'm in a bad mood?"
"A little," the eyes moved up and down, "I can sense you have something on your mind, ever since… coming back from the Fault, you barely touched your dinner."
"Just not hungry," Baili Qing said casually, but after a few seconds of silence, she gently shook her head, "I just suddenly recalled many things from long ago, my thoughts are a bit chaotic."
Baili Xue was silent for a moment, only speaking suddenly after several minutes: "…I'm sorry."
"Hmm?"
"I used to cause a lot of trouble… well, worse than that, I caused a lot of disasters."
Baili Qing looked at the pair of eyes on the floor-to-ceiling window with a somewhat strange gaze, but the latter didn't continue and instead floated awkwardly to the side.
"What was she like?" Baili Xue suddenly asked, shifting the topic rather stiffly.
"Who?"
"Your sister, I mean the real Baili Xue."
"There is no real 'Baili Xue,'" Baili Qing was silent for two or three seconds, gently shaking her head, "Actually, you've known for a long time, our names were given by Red and the Chairman—they gave us these names. Our real names fell on the other side of the Fault, it's meaningless to speak of it now, and I can't remember… what 'she' originally looked like."
"Hmm."
Baili Qing quietly looked at the pair of eyes hiding again at the window's edge, suddenly realizing that since returning from the Fault, it's not only herself who seemed burdened with thoughts.
So she hesitated several times and finally spoke again: "Xue."
"Ah?"
"You are my sister, maybe not the old one, but you don't need to be the old one."
"…"
"Understand?"
"I understand!"
A smile crept onto Baili Qing's lips, a smile she hadn't even realized herself.
"Sister, you're smiling!"
Baili Qing waved her hand, turning away from the floor-to-ceiling window.
Baili Xue floated behind her like a shadow: "Sister, are you going to sleep? You can sleep early today."
Baili Qing instinctively paused, raising her hand to touch the crystal dragon horns on her head.
…It seems tonight's sleep will be another challenge.
Baili Xue's voice continued from the side: "Sister, like this, first, find a few neck pillows, stack them under your horns, and sleep on your side…"
Baili Qing's eye twitched, letting out a sigh: "Unreliable."
A few minutes later, Baili Qing, still with a pair of dragon horns on her head, lay on her side on the bed, with three neck pillows stacked under her head, expressionlessly watching the pair of eyes floating in front of her.
"See, this works, right!" Baili Xue's voice sounded particularly gleeful, "I've been thinking of this method for a long time, ever since leaving the Omen Divine Temple…"
Baili Qing: "Shut up, go to sleep."
"Oh," Baili Xue muttered, but still sounded delighted, "then I'll stay here beside you… I'm going to sleep, so you sleep too!"
Having just closed her eyes, Baili Qing felt a strange stir in her heart as she heard this, abruptly opening her eyes.
Baili Xue's eyes in her vision had already closed, gradually becoming transparent—she went "to sleep."
At the same time, deep in the valley, in the Puppet Town by the Black Forest.
The artificial night created by thick clouds had long since shrouded the sky, the small town was silent—though many places still had streetlights on, and quite a few shop windows along the street glowed warmly, the mass-produced puppets living in this town actually didn't have much concept of nightlife, apart from occasionally a couple of "sleepwalking" Little Puppets strolling the streets, almost no puppets would appear on the streets after nightfall.
…Except for the "sentinels" Erin deliberately left behind.
Beside the Antique Shop in a corner of the town, the towering Alice Tree stood quietly in the night, a slight luminescence flowed between the cables and pipes forming the canopy, with occasional gentle buzzing from the base of the tree.
Two mass-produced puppets kept watch here, one lounging against the tree's base, the other sitting by the road, staring blankly in the direction of the Antique Shop's door.
Just then, an unusual sound broke the silence of the night.
The mass-produced puppet leaning against the tree base snapped out of it, turning dully to look at the tree's canopy.
The canopy emitted light, the flowing glow began pulsing like a gathering of fireflies, and a gradually uplifting hum came from the tree base.
After another dozen or so seconds, the Alice Tree returned to its usual standby state, as if nothing had happened.