The puppet girl in the oil painting greeted Yu Sheng with a mix of happiness and surprise in her voice, sounding somewhat unexpected—but showed none of the shock or panic one would expect upon seeing someone who has died come back to life.
Yu Sheng felt certain that it wasn't because Erin was insensitive.
Indeed, the problem lay with himself—but considering how many times he had died and come back to life in such a short period, it seemed that no matter how strange the events that befell him, they were no longer surprising.
"It's more like stumbling back by mistake, but at least I've returned," Yu Sheng casually replied as he turned to close the slightly ajar door. Then, he immediately bent down to check his body, confirming that not only was it fully restored, but even his clothes were back to their original state.
Yu Sheng furrowed his brow and, connecting this to Erin's current reaction, felt that instead of "Resurrection," it was more as if the entire "event" of "death" had somehow been erased...
Standing dumbfounded at the door, his figure caught Erin's attention in the painting. The puppet girl asked with confusion, "Yu Sheng? Are you okay? Why do you look so out of it? And tell me, how on earth did you make it back? I've had intermittent contact with you, and there were always all sorts of weird noises on your end. I have no idea what strange things you've encountered in the Exotic Realm... Huh? What's that you're holding in your hand?"
Only with this reminder did Yu Sheng notice that he was still firmly clutching something in his hand—it was shockingly a tail with dark scales, of a weird and ugly shape.
Yu Sheng's mouth twitched: "Damn, I almost forgot about this... It's still here."
Even now, the object was subtly shrinking and writhing in his hand, but clearly no longer as "vibrant" as at the beginning. It appeared that although the limb of the creature possessed an incredible life force, it was still gradually dying after being severed from the main body.
An odd feeling washed over him, and for a moment Yu Sheng didn't even know how to explain this thing to Erin. After a slight hesitation, he walked to the kitchen holding the severed tail, casually telling Erin as he walked, "...a bit of local produce."
The puppet in the painting paused, baffled: "...What?"
By this time, Yu Sheng had nonchalantly tossed the tail into the kitchen sink. After ensuring the thing lacked the strength to climb out, he poked it several times with a knife, just to be sure, then pressed a pot lid on top of it (this way, at least he'd hear the lid fall off if it really did crawl out), then returned to the dining room with a trace of fatigue. He sank heavily into a chair, his body tired.
His mind was a mess; there was so much to think about, and more importantly, he was really tired.
But he forced himself to stay awake; now was not the time to sleep.
Across the table, Erin looked over tentatively: "Yu Sheng, tell me about your experience in the Exotic Realm, and how you..."
"I was just about to talk to you about this," Yu Sheng interrupted before she could finish, gesturing with his hand and then adjusting his posture to look seriously at the figure in the painting, "I've accumulated a lot of questions—let's start with what I encountered there. I met a girl who, like me, was trapped in the Exotic Realm, but she might have been trapped for a very, very long time..."
Yu Sheng didn't hide anything, spilling all his experience in the Nightfall Valley to the puppet girl before him, including the information Hu Li shared with him, and that creature that looked very much like a flesh-and-blood amalgamation, very liberal in appearance.
Except for his "resurrection," which he hadn't figured out how to explain to her yet, so he left it out for the moment.
He knew he was still not very familiar with Erin, nor did they have much trust, but he had no other options—in this city, Erin was the only "Abnormal Individual" he had come into contact with so far who he could communicate with, the only person he knew who had some understanding of "things beyond common sense." Other than Erin, he really didn't know who else to discuss matters of the Exotic Realm with.
He felt he should trust this puppet girl a bit more; after all, her attitude so far had been friendly (aside from when she cursed, which was rather unpleasant).
Erin listened very carefully; her expression became particularly serious when Yu Sheng spoke about the flesh monster, and there were several times she seemed about to speak but held back, never interrupting his narration.
Only after Yu Sheng finished his story did the puppet girl finally adjust her position, sitting squarely in the chair covered with a red velvet cloth, speaking earnestly: "First of all, I still need to emphasize one thing, I don't remember much, the painting has eroded too many of my memories, so the help I can offer you is limited..."
Yu Sheng nodded: "I'm aware of that."
"Mmm," Erin hummed in acknowledgement, then her expression softened a bit, "Well, I'll do my best to supplement your knowledge about the Exotic Realm. You should already have some basic understanding of the Exotic Realm, knowing they are commonly referred to as 'zones' that deviate from order and contradict common sense. But do you know that in these Exotic Realms, an entity known as 'Substance' is also formed?"
"...Entity?" Yu Sheng expressed his confusion.
"In short, it refers to the 'indigenous people' or 'products' of the Exotic Realm. The form of an entity is not fixed; sometimes it could be a strangely-shaped humanoid, sometimes a wild beast or monster, and sometimes even a fireball, a gust of wind, or a moving stone. As long as it originates in the Exotic Realm and exhibits clear 'vitality' and can react to outsiders, it can be considered an 'entity'."
Yu Sheng nodded thoughtfully.
"Entities are varied and numerous," Erin continued, "Generally speaking, entities have very distinct 'abnormal' characteristics. They are born in the Exotic Realm, naturally possessing traits that defy common sense and are dangerously bizarre. Most entities lack intelligence, at least they don't demonstrate 'thoughtful behavior' that humans can comprehend, but it seems that a very few entities possess wisdom... I don't remember the specifics of that.
"Anyway, ninety percent of these entities are dangerous. Their threat levels vary, from simply causing a tickle in one's nose to posing a lethal danger to any human witness. There is a theory that suggests entities are a kind of rejection response of the Exotic Realm, a virus elimination program created to destroy invaders. This perspective views investigators and wanderers from the realm of order and common sense as incomprehensible monsters to the Exotic Realm..."
Yu Sheng listened silently, then suddenly realized, "...So, the 'monster' I encountered is an 'entity' generated within the valley?"
"That would be the case," Erin nodded.
"Can an entity be destroyed?" Yu Sheng quickly asked.
"Entities can be killed, but cannot be completely eradicated," Erin replied gravely, "Strictly speaking, entities are just 'creations.' Kill one, and a new 'copy' will emerge in the Exotic Realm. They are a manifestation of the functioning rules of the Exotic Realm. As long as the Exotic Realm exists, entities will continue to be produced—however, generally speaking, the creation of entities takes time. It seems there are ways to suppress the operation of certain Exotic Realms, delaying or even preventing the production of entities... I can't recall the details."
"Can be killed but not completely destroyed..." Yu Sheng repeated these words, suddenly feeling the situation might be more troublesome than he had thought.
He was not afraid of death.
It seemed the monster was even less afraid...
Without realizing it, Yu Sheng had already accepted that he would return to that valley and confront that monster again—he didn't know where this thought originated, but by the time he became aware, this idea, or perhaps some "intuition," had taken root in his heart.
"...Well, being able to temporarily kill it is still good," he exhaled lightly and looked up at Erin again, "Besides that, what else do you know about entities? Like their weaknesses, for example."
"Entities do not have an uniform weakness. Sometimes an entity's weakness isn't part of the entity itself but lies in the 'Exotic Realm,' or within the rules of the Exotic Realm itself. Additionally, some entities... might even alter their own weaknesses," Erin shook her head, "So exploring the Exotic Realm and contending with entities is a professional and dangerous matter. I advise that you'd better find professionals to help—not someone like me who is trapped in a painting."
Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng couldn't help but roll his eyes: "Easy for you to say. Where am I supposed to find professionals? They don't exactly advertise their services on utility poles..."
Erin: "They do, though."
Yu Sheng: "…?"
"They have their ways of contact—of course, it's not necessarily small ads on utility poles," Seeing Yu Sheng's dumbfounded expression, Erin further emphasized with a nod, "Since there are Exotic Realms everywhere, and they are very dangerous to ordinary people, it makes sense for there to be a multitude of professionals dealing with such matters. Not to mention, in such a big city, someone has to maintain order both openly and covertly, right? There's an official department in charge, and also various organizations among the public. Although I can't quite recall the specifics, these people are definitely active everywhere...
"Normally, they maintain a distance from the life of ordinary people and stay hidden in the shadows because many Exotic Realms have weird and bizarre properties, such as 'activating upon being acknowledged' or 'approaching those who fear them.' Therefore, it's crucial to minimize the exposure of ordinary people to information related to Exotic Realms. But once an unlucky individual has come into contact with an Exotic Realm, or a city experiences an Exotic Realm reaction, these professionals will naturally have a system in place to rapidly locate and reach out to the affected..."
Yu Sheng listened to Erin's explanation in a daze. After hesitating for a moment, he looked out the window.
"So you mean, since an 'Exotic Realm reaction' has already occurred here, all I have to do now is wait, and those 'professionals' you mentioned will reach out proactively, right?"
"...Should be... I guess?" For some reason, Erin's tone suddenly lost its certainty.
Yu Sheng, catching onto the lack of confidence, asked: "...So why haven't they shown up?"
"I've no idea, they should have come by now."