In the final second before death, Yu Sheng felt an boundless, incredibly heavy, and almost tangible "darkness," like some kind of viscous fluid.
He felt his consciousness rapidly dissipating. He knew that the body that supported this consciousness was quickly losing its vitality under the severe injuries—as his physiological functions ceased, the thoughts carried by the body also sank and dissipated. This was the law of nature.
However, on the verge of his consciousness dissipating, a force, or rather, a strong… "thought," a strange obsession, seemed to firmly bind Yu Sheng's mind. In a daze, he remembered the frog that had devoured his heart, and his last "resurrection."
What exactly happened then? What happened to him? Why was he still alive?
These questions turned into an obsession, making his consciousness hold on at the edge of the endless darkness. Even though he was on the verge of collapse, he never completely sank. He really wanted to know… what exactly had happened, and how did he "come back" after he died?
The darkness crushed down on him, the viscous texture gradually becoming cold and rough. He felt as if he was being covered in a thick layer of soil, and his soul was gradually suffocating under the heavy pressure… but suddenly, this heavy pressure disappeared.
In a moment of sudden enlightenment, a thought popped up in his wavering consciousness—
In his death, death died before him.
Yu Sheng's death died, so the dead Yu Sheng once again returned from that boundless darkness to the kingdom of the living—he felt his "body" suddenly become lighter and begin to rapidly escape from that endless darkness.
In this process, he vaguely saw that there seemed to be something on the surface of the darkness. He seemed to be rapidly passing through some "surface," but he had no time to see that scene clearly before he suddenly opened his eyes.
The cold night wind blew through the large hole in the wall. Outside the half-collapsed roof was a chaotic and turbid sky. In the depths of the night, the hollow wind in the valley howled.
Yu Sheng sat in the corner of the ruined temple, his mind in a daze. This feeling was very familiar to him—he had just experienced it not long ago.
But this time, he recovered faster. In just a few breaths, he remembered everything, including the feeling of being buried in darkness.
After adjusting his breathing, Yu Sheng slowly got up.
He felt the joints all over his body gradually waking up from their stiffness, as if a newly born body was quickly learning how to "live." His stamina quickly filled up, and his mind gradually became clear. Then he looked outside the ruined temple, at the place where his blood had been all over the ground.
There was nothing there now. The giant beast seemed to have left… or it might just be hiding, like before.
After a moment of silence, Yu Sheng tentatively spoke in his mind, "…Irene."
Almost as soon as his voice fell, Irene's boisterous voice exploded in his mind, "Yu Sheng! Damn, are you okay?!"
Then she began to ramble on quickly, "You suddenly stopped responding just now. I called you, but you didn't answer. I couldn't even sense your consciousness. I thought you were dead! You scared me to death. If you died, no one would be here to fix the TV—are you really okay?"
The muscles on Yu Sheng's face twitched for a moment. "So you were just worried that no one would be home to fix the TV?"
Irene thought for a moment. "…That's not it. I was also worried that you might really be dead…"
Yu Sheng: "…"
She actually hesitated!
After trying hard to calm down, Yu Sheng finally gritted his teeth and made his voice sound calm. "What if I told you that I really did die just now?"
Irene didn't believe him at all. "Don't be ridiculous. You sound alive and kicking right now…"
"…Yes, I was just joking with you," listening to Irene's reaction, Yu Sheng calmly brushed off the topic. Then he fell silent for a moment before speaking somewhat abruptly, "How long has it been?"
"Huh? How long has what been?"
"From the time I told you I was hanging up until now, how much time has passed?"
"Uh… I can't see the clock in the living room from my position… I estimate about half an hour? It's not necessarily accurate. I've been sealed in this painting for many years, and my sense of time is a bit slow. But I don't see any change in the sky outside. At least a whole night hasn't passed. It's not dawn yet…"
Yu Sheng: "…Isn't that a bit too inaccurate? Do you know how big the difference is between half an hour and a whole night?!"
Irene didn't say anything for a moment, but then a piercing and low mocking laughter came from her side.
Irene immediately explained, "It's not me! It's this bear!"
Yu Sheng waved his hand, physically and mentally exhausted. "I know."
Irene sounded quite happy. "Ah, so you finally believe me…"
Yu Sheng was too lazy to deal with this sealed doll anymore. He was too embarrassed to tell her that he didn't believe her words, but rather that—if she really wanted to be beaten, she didn't even need to laugh. Her words were already annoying enough.
It turned out that in the face of Irene's annoying mouth, the bear's mocking laughter at most only served to add fuel to the fire…
With useless thoughts swirling in his mind, Yu Sheng walked out of the ruined temple again.
Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt that his stamina was even better than before he had died. His steps were light, his movements were powerful, and even his eyesight… seemed to have improved a little.
He seemed to be adapting to this place, to its darkness, its rugged ruins, and its ubiquitous malice and hungry gaze.
He walked towards the open space in front of the ruined temple, towards the forest on the other side of the open space, towards the deeper parts of this "Otherworld."
He knew that he might die again, maybe even in the next step, the next second.
"Yu Sheng," Irene's voice sounded in his mind again. "Are you really okay just now?"
"I'm fine, just got a little injured. It's all healed now."
"Well, why don't you stay put for now, or find a safe place to hide? I'll try to remember. Maybe I've encountered the 'valley' you mentioned before…"
"Then you go ahead and remember. I'll continue to look around here," Yu Sheng said casually.
"Huh? That might be a bit dangerous…"
"Irene," Yu Sheng interrupted her directly. He had already reached the open space. At this moment, he took a deep breath of the cold and strangely fishy air in the valley, looked at the shadowy dense forest in the distance, and suddenly smiled, "Did you know that I've been living in a daze these days?"
Irene was obviously a little unable to keep up with Yu Sheng's train of thought. "Uh… ah, should I know…"
But Yu Sheng didn't care about Irene's reaction, just said to himself, "…When I heard you mention 'Otherworlds' and some incidents of accidentally entering them, do you know what my reaction was?"
"What reaction?"
"Happy."
"Huh?"
"Happy, I was very happy," Yu Sheng stood in the night, unable to suppress his smile. "You said that some people accidentally open a wrong door, or just step on a wrong floor at a certain time with a very low probability, and fall into a ghostly place called an 'Otherworld,' right? And you also said that people who fall into an Otherworld, if they are lucky enough to find its rules, actually have a chance to go back…"
"I did say that…" Irene said with some hesitation. "But it really depends on luck. Professional investigators are fine, but ordinary people who haven't been trained basically just wait to die if they fall into an Otherworld…"
Yu Sheng muttered softly, "It's fine. You can figure it out by dying and trying again…"
Irene: "…What?"
"Nothing, I just suddenly found something to do," Yu Sheng let out a light breath, as if to exhale all the turbid air he had been holding in for the past two months in this world. "Let's start from here. It might take a little more time, but I will definitely get out of this place."
"Although I don't know what's going on with you, I feel like you're… revitalized?" Irene said hesitantly. "Well, at least it's a good thing, right? Good luck? Try not to die… I'm still waiting for you to come back and fix the TV… and find me a body or something…"
"Alright, when I get back, I'll figure out how to solve the problem of your body," Yu Sheng said casually. "I've had some contact with sculpture and modeling before. I can give it a try."
This time, Irene was genuinely surprised. "Huh? You have experience as a doll maker?! Why didn't you say so earlier! How's your craftsmanship? What kind of dolls or models can you make?"
Yu Sheng hesitated for a moment, then confessed honestly, "About the level of watching a master knead clay in a video online, and after watching it, my brain tells my hands that I know how to do it, but my hands don't believe it."
Two seconds later, Irene's cursing was foul.
But Yu Sheng's mood had completely relaxed. A relaxed state of mind that he himself didn't know was right or wrong boosted his confidence. He walked forward, and in the night, he looked up, wanting to look at the high mountain on one side.
A several-meter-tall giant beast of flesh and blood, seemingly fused from countless twisted limbs of beasts, stared at him from the side of the road.
Yu Sheng stopped, thought for a moment, and greeted the doll in the painting who was still cursing in his mind, "Irene."
"What's up?"
"…If there's nothing else, I'm going to hang up again."
"Huh?"