Erin has the ability to enter other people's dreams—and as she claims, she can not only enter human dreams but also influence the direction of the dreams to a certain extent, such as summoning a cement truck by pressing the alarm bell in the dream.
Indeed, if used properly, it seems like a powerful skill, potentially capable of mentally parasitic suggestions and high-end operations such as reshaping memories.
However, Yu Sheng is skeptical about how reliable this doll is in boasting about her abilities—at least for now, she seems utterly useless even in dreams, she can't even hide properly in the bushes.
Moreover, even in the Dream Realm, she is still stuck in that painting.
Erin's painting floats in front of Yu Sheng, with the doll girl in the frame seeming a bit awkward, while Yu Sheng feels uncomfortable looking at her floating state—it's better off hung on the wall.
"Can you only stay in the painting even in the Dream Realm?" Yu Sheng finally asked with a twist of his mouth, expressing his doubts, "I thought in the spiritual realm, you could at least come out and run around…"
"What did I tell you about this being a curse," Erin said helplessly, "Stuck in the painting in reality, the same in the spiritual world, no matter where I run, I can't escape from this painting unless I find a suitable vessel—freedom? There's none in dreams."
"That is indeed quite tragic," Yu Sheng sincerely remarked.
"Ah, but there's still a bit of a difference in the Dream Realm compared to the real world!" Erin hurriedly added, probably feeling embarrassed by Yu Sheng's sympathetic reaction, "I have a bit more freedom here; look, I can float around… don't laugh, there's more!"
Yu Sheng raised his eyebrows, getting genuinely curious, "More than this?"
Erin thought for a moment, struck a pose like activating power in 'KOF 98', and began making a strenuous appearance in the painting, seemingly ready to unleash some power. Yu Sheng was so fooled that he paid close attention to the changes in the doll, and in the next second, the surface of the painting really shimmered with mesmerizing light and shadows!
As Yu Sheng's eyes widened, the painting finally "bang"—transformed into a poster from the 80s style.
Erin shifted the color tone to that of an old movie, standing in the poster staring at Yu Sheng.
Erin: "I can change the painting style."
Yu Sheng: "…"
"You laughed out loud!!"
Yu Sheng, forcing a straight face: "I didn't."
"Inner voice!"
Yu Sheng didn't want to continue interacting with this doll, that large fox was still lying nearby, and he hadn't figured out her situation yet.
Erin felt a bit hurt when Yu Sheng ignored her and began to mutter to herself, "I can change into other things as well, like prints, scrolls… I'm also studying how to become a relief, by then I'll have thickness, you won't be able to say my character is insubstantial…"
Yu Sheng couldn't stand her incessant talking, suddenly turned his head and said: "First, when did I ever say your character was insubstantial? Second, that term isn't used this way—similarly, even if you turn into marble, it wouldn't make your character any more substantial."
Erin opened her mouth to say something, but before she could speak, "bang," she was back in the form of a painting—her transformation time had ended, lasting less than three minutes in total.
Yu Sheng was dumbfounded: he knew this doll was quite useless even in dreams, but he hadn't expected her to be that poor...
But this time, Erin didn't seem dejected; she finally noticed the White Fox lying on the nearby grass—or rather, she finally realized that this large fox seemed out of place in the surrounding Dream Realm environment, prompting her curiosity to shift focus: "By the way, what's up with this fox? Why does it look different from the surroundings?"
Noticing a puzzled expression on Yu Sheng's face, she explained further: "Things in normal people's dreams generally tend towards a uniform color tone, even if the dreamer might not notice it, I can see it as an observer. Like in your dream, the sky and the grass are all a murky grey, which is 'the base color tone' of this dream, but this fox... it looks like it wandered onto the wrong film set."
Pausing there, she looked at Yu Sheng suspiciously: "How could such a strange phenomenon appear in your dream?"
Yu Sheng was silent for a moment, then turned to look at the White Fox who was still sleeping, and slowly spoke: "Her name is Hu Li."
"I know, obviously it's a fox…"
"I mean her name is Hu Li," Yu Sheng corrected helplessly, then reminded, "Do you remember when I was trapped in the 'Exotic Realm' and told you about it? I met a fox, white fur, red eyes, lots of tails…"
Erin was dazed for a moment, and her not-so-effective memory finally started to kick in, recalling the things Yu Sheng had mentioned to her earlier.
Her expression became animated as she stared at the massive demon fox, opening and closing her mouth several times before she finally managed to choke out, "What?! How did you bring her into your own Dream Realm... Wait, no, how do you have the power to imprison a person in..."
"This was not my doing, and I also don't feel that she is truly 'imprisoned' here. This seems to be something like a shadow? I can't really explain it well," Yu Sheng had to explain, "I had just fallen asleep not long ago when I saw her, but no matter what, I couldn't wake her up."
Erin looked at Yu Sheng and then turned back to examine the demon fox. Her eyes traveled back and forth between the two "people", seemingly trying to make sense of the logic behind what was happening, but this was obviously not easy.
"I've never heard of such a thing..." she muttered in surprise, then suddenly turned to stare intently into Yu Sheng's eyes, "Are you really a human?"
Yu Sheng immediately furrowed his brows, "What kind of question is that! If I'm not human, then what are you?"
Erin still stared at him, her facial expression more serious than ever, "Okay, a human, an ordinary person, unknowingly living in the Exotic Realm for a long time, entering another Exotic Realm by accident, encountering a malicious entity, managing to escape alive, even slicing off a 'local specialty' from that entity and frying it for a meal, after eating it still bouncing around, and now even able to store another consciousness in his own Dream Realm—the consciousness's original body is even trapped elsewhere.
"With so many unbelievable things happening to you, and then you say—you are human? Just an ordinary person?"
Yu Sheng felt increasingly awkward under Erin's penetrating scarlet eyes. He unconsciously shifted his gaze and thought to himself that 'resurrection from the dead' was still missing; all those bizarre events paled in comparison to this last possibility...
"Indeed, a lot of strange and bizarre things have happened. I myself am a bit confused, but if I must say, even you are one of the 'strange and bizarre things' that have happened to me recently," Yu Sheng said helplessly, "Stop looking at me, I don't know what is going on. I can't even wake Hu Li up; if only I could awaken her, we might ask her for details."
Erin stared at Yu Sheng for a while, seeming to confirm that he wasn't joking, then slowly shifted her gaze back to the Silver White Demon Fox.
She thought for a long time.
"I have an idea."
Erin suddenly said.
"An idea?" Yu Sheng curiously asked, "Let's hear it?"
"I'll try to delve into this fox's Dream Realm again. If she happens to be dreaming at this time," Erin raised her finger pointing at the demon fox, "her current state seems like her consciousness is sealed, but no matter how well-sealed a consciousness is, it's hard to defend against in dreams. Maybe I can 'see' something, and it would be even better if I could use this chance to wake her up here."
Yu Sheng was genuinely surprised; he hadn't expected her to come up with such a high-end plan after just lamenting about how unreliable this person seemed, and suddenly he couldn't hide his astonishment, "Is such a thing even possible?"
"It's not difficult, as long as she is also dreaming... Even if she isn't, your consciousnesses are clearly connected right now, and I have a way to 'squeeze' through to take a look, but... there are some risks involved, and I'll need your help."
Yu Sheng's expression turned serious in an instant, "No problem, just tell me what to do."
"Because it involves jumping between consciousnesses, it's like 'submerging' in unstable waters. If there's a problem with the 'connection' in the middle, I might get stuck at 'the other end'," Erin looked very seriously at Yu Sheng and said, "So, I need a 'rope', and you'll be that rope.
"You'll 'submerge' with me, sinking from your own Dream Realm into the depths of this big fox's consciousness. You need to share some of the pressure with me, to free my mind to look for directions. And if something really goes wrong... I will use a bit more drastic measures to 'wake' you up.
"Your awakening in this chain of Dream Realms has the highest priority, and it will also pull my consciousness back. This way, we both can return safely to the real world. However, I must warn you first, my 'waking' process might not be so comfortable."
"How uncomfortable can it be?"
"...It's probably like dreaming of taking a college entrance exam and then the bell rings before you even write your name, and you haven't had a chance to realize what's going on when a dump truck crashes into the exam room, hitting you and your most memorable high school crush, turning you both into paper-thin characters, particularly flat ones..."
Yu Sheng couldn't make heads or tails of Erin's bizarre metaphor.
But he thought it couldn't be that big of a deal—just a wake-up call, and how could it be more uncomfortable than death?
Compared to this slight hesitation, he was more eager to find out what exactly was going on with Hu Li and what the actual situation with his Dream Realm was.
"No problem, let's start," Yu Sheng took a deep breath and nodded solemnly at Erin, "What's the first step?"
"You go over there, get as close as possible to that big fox...just lie on her tail.
"Then, holding my picture frame, close your eyes, and we'll leap in the Dream Realm."