Dimensional Hotel

Irene was sobbing her heart out.

Yu Sheng didn’t try to comfort her. First, he had no idea how to; second… he was afraid that if he did, this puppet might get even more upset, lose her senses, and then jump up to bite him.

Now, she really did have to jump to bite him.

Of course, the good news was that she could bite people now. Back when she was in the painting, all she could do was beep.

After what felt like ages, Irene’s sorrow finally eased a little. Yu Sheng took a couple of hesitant steps toward the table and began tentatively, “Um… don’t be sad. Next time, I’ll make you a new body—a normal-sized one. For now… could you make do with this one? If it’s not okay, I can make you another one tomorrow…”

“I—I have to use this one for now,” Irene sniffled, looking both aggrieved and indignant. “Let’s just leave it at that. You don’t need to trouble yourself—Even if you make me a new body tomorrow, I can’t transfer into it right away. A living puppet’s soul can’t handle constant container changes. It’ll take at least a few months…”

As she spoke, sorrow welled up again, and it looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Quickly, Yu Sheng grabbed a small glass bottle and held it under her face.

“Collecting the tears of a living puppet,” Yu Sheng replied earnestly. “Next time I make you a body, we’ll try to use high-grade materials. I’ll gather supplies over these months and make you one that glows…”

Irene considered this for a moment, then wailed loudly, “Yu Sheng, you… you jerk! Ah~”

It took another good while before her grief finally settled down again.

Irene climbed onto a nearby stack of old books, sat atop them, and stared blankly into space, contemplating life. Yu Sheng sat by the table, accompanying her in silent thought.

“At least… at least it’s better than before,” Irene muttered softly, not sure if she was talking to Yu Sheng or herself. “Now I can run around on my own.”

“You can even watch TV by yourself,” Yu Sheng quickly added. “It’s much more convenient than before, right?”

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Irene let out a long sigh, seemingly trying to appear solemn and serious, but because she was so tiny—only ten centimeters tall—the sigh didn’t convey any gravity at all.

Yu Sheng turned his head and secretly observed her. His gaze fell on her exposed wrists and knees.

The puppet’s distinctive ball joints were particularly noticeable.

“Even though we used a clay doll as the container, it still ended up as a puppet with ball joints,” he mused.

“Well, duh! It’s a movable puppet. How can it move without joints?” Irene shot him a glance. “This is how my soul is recorded, so no matter what the original form of the container is, the body will become like this after the soul reshapes it. If you don’t like ball joints, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Oh, it’s not that,” Yu Sheng said casually. “But speaking of the form recorded in your soul… your soul still remembers that you’re one meter sixty-seven tall…”

In an instant, Irene leaped from the stack of books onto Yu Sheng’s arm, grabbing his thumb and trying hard to bend it backward. “Can’t you stop bringing up things you shouldn’t!”

“Ow!” Yu Sheng yelped, jumping up as he struggled to pry off the tiny but incredibly strong puppet from his arm. “I was just curious! Where exactly did your reshaping process go wrong? Clearly, your appearance didn’t change, so why did your body size shrink so much…”

“How should I know!” Irene was pulled off his arm, now dangling in mid-air as he held her by the collar. “There shouldn’t have been any problem. Everything felt normal during the regeneration process, but the body size deviated in the end… Hey! Can you put me down first!”

“Promise you won’t bend my fingers again,” Yu Sheng said sternly, holding her up. After she nodded, he set her back on the table.

“Sigh, forget it. Thinking too much is useless,” Irene sighed again, pacing back and forth on the table before shaking her head. “I still have to find a way to contact my sisters at Alice’s Little House. If I can go home, they will surely have a solution…”

Yu Sheng’s curiosity was piqued. “You’ve mentioned Alice’s Little House and the other puppets before… Where are these sisters of yours usually? Are there other puppets besides you in this city? By the way, your ‘organization’… what exactly does it do?”

He had always wanted to ask these questions, but with one tricky situation after another recently, he finally had the opportunity now.

“We? We’re a race created by the Ancestor of Puppets. Our mission… actually, we don’t really have one. Sometimes we deal with Otherworlds, sometimes we help other organizations handle tricky entities, but most of the time, we puppets just do what we like,” Irene recalled thoughtfully. “Most of my sisters don’t operate in the human world, but there should be a contact point in this Boundary City… But I don’t remember exactly where, and after so many years, the contact methods and people might have changed…”

She climbed back onto the stack of old books, propping her chin with both hands, and continued slowly, lost in thought. “When we operate in the human world, we always disguise ourselves. Living puppets look very similar to humans, so it’s easy to blend into the crowd. This city is so huge; without specific contact methods or finding specific contacts, it’s not easy to find hidden living puppets…”

Yu Sheng listened attentively. Although he had previously thought that this city might be hiding all sorts of strange beings, he was still amazed. “Incredible… I always thought that the residents of this city were only humans…”

“How could that be?” Irene rolled her eyes at him. “This is the Boundary Land.”

“The Boundary Land…” Yu Sheng echoed softly.

“In this place, anything can appear. Not to mention, isn’t there a strange guy like you in this old town who thinks he’s human?” Irene waved her hand dismissively, jumping down from the pile of old books. “Let’s go downstairs. I’ve had enough of this place. Now that I finally have the ability to move freely, I want to explore this big house!”

“True,” Yu Sheng agreed, exhaling and patting his face to perk himself up. “Just making your body took more than half a day. I’m hungry now; let’s go downstairs and make something to eat.”

As he spoke, he turned and headed toward the attic exit. After taking just two steps, he heard Irene calling behind him, “Hey, wait for me! I haven’t gotten down yet!”

Turning around, Yu Sheng saw Irene taking a few steps on the table to gain momentum, then jumping onto the creaky old chair. She climbed to the edge of the chair, gripping the leg with both hands and feet, slowly sliding down. It took quite a while before she finally reached the floor.

Yu Sheng couldn’t help but stare.

Irene hustled her little legs to run to his feet. Only then did she notice his gaze upon her. She immediately looked up, trying hard to put her hands on her hips to appear imposing. “What are you looking at me for?”

“Nothing,” Yu Sheng shook his head. “Just thinking that you’re quite… cute.”

He almost said “comical” instead.

Irene blinked, not noticing the hesitation in his words. “Really?”

Then she followed him forward. After a few steps, she reached out and tugged at his pant leg. “By the way, thank you.”

Yu Sheng looked down, adjusting his waistband while giving her a puzzled look.

“Thank you for preparing the body for me. Things were too chaotic just now; I didn’t properly thank you,” Irene said earnestly.

Yu Sheng couldn’t help but look her over—the tiny puppet standing at his feet. After holding back for a moment, he couldn’t help but say, “You’re like this, and you still want to thank me?”

“Let’s keep things separate. The size issue was due to some unknown problem during my own reshaping, but the body was indeed carefully prepared by you,” Irene looked up, trying to appear particularly solemn—though it didn’t really show. “Although it’s a bit ugly.”

“…You could’ve left out that last part.”

“Anyway, what I promised you before still holds,” Irene hurriedly said. “I will help you in the future. Whether it’s assisting in fights or providing occult support, I’ll be very useful. Even if I find my sisters and return to Alice’s Little House, I’ll come back to help you. Just…”

She paused, thinking for a moment.

“Shall we set it for a hundred years?” She looked at Yu Sheng cautiously. “You should be old and… well, gone by then, right?”

“I’ll… do my best,” Yu Sheng replied.

“Then let’s set it at a hundred years,” Irene smiled happily, her mood suddenly lifted. She turned around, hustling her little legs toward the attic exit. “Let’s go downstairs quickly…”

Her voice cut off abruptly as she suddenly fell forward, like a puppet whose strings had been severed. She tumbled a considerable distance due to her momentum, finally crashing into the opposite wall.

The smile froze on Yu Sheng’s face the moment Irene fell.

“What the…?!”

He was stunned for a second, then rushed over, bending down to pick up the tiny puppet from the floor.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her body limp. The limbs that had warmth just moments ago now felt cold like ordinary clay. Only her skin retained a soft, lifelike texture, but there was no sign of vitality.

Yu Sheng was completely bewildered.

Then, he heard Irene’s voice, coming from the large table not far away.

“Yu Sheng! I… I’m back in here!”