Erin was crying so sadly.
Yu Sheng didn't try to console her, mainly because he really didn't know how to do it, and secondly... he was afraid that the living doll would become overly distraught and lose her senses, and if he tried to console her, he might actually trigger her and then she would jump up and bite someone.
She really needed to jump up now to bite someone.
Of course, the good news was she could now bite people; before, when she was in the painting, she could only mumble.
After a long while, Erin's sorrow finally eased a bit, and Yu Sheng hurriedly stepped towards the table and said hesitantly, "Well... don't be sad, I'll make you a new body next time, a normal-sized one, and for now... just make do with this one, okay? If not, I can make another one tomorrow..."
"I can only make do with this for this period of time," Erin sniffled a couple of times, speaking with a face full of sorrow and indignation, "Let's just settle for this for now, you don't have to trouble yourself— even if you make me a new body tomorrow, I can't just change into it right away anyways, a living doll's soul can't withstand changing containers all the time, at least not for a few months..."
As she spoke, she became overwhelmed with sadness again, and it looked like she was about to cry once more.
Yu Sheng hastily held a small glass bottle up to Erin's face to collect the tears.
"What are you doing?" Erin said between sobs, looking at Yu Sheng's inexplicable action.
"Living doll's tears," Yu Sheng said seriously, "next time when I make your body, let's strive to use high-quality materials. I'll collect some materials over these few months, and then I aim to make you one that glitters gold..."
After thinking for a moment, Erin burst out: "Yu Sheng, you bastard... ah—"
After a good while, the doll's sorrowful emotions finally calmed down again.
Erin climbed onto a stack of old books nearby, sat atop the pile of books, and started contemplating life in a daze, while Yu Sheng sat beside the table, keeping the living doll company as they both pondered life together.
"At least, at least it's better than before," Erin murmured softly, not really sure if she was speaking to Yu Sheng or to herself, "At least now, I can run around by myself."
"And you can watch TV by yourself too," Yu Sheng eagerly chimed in, "That's a lot more convenient than before, isn't it?"
Erin let out a long sigh, seemingly trying to appear somber and serious, but because of her small stature (66.6cm), the sigh didn't carry the slightest bit of weight.
Yu Sheng then turned his head and stealthily glanced at Erin, his eyes resting on her exposed wrists and knees.
The living doll's unique spherical joints seemed particularly conspicuous.
"Even though we used a clay doll as a container, it finally turned into this puppet-like spherical joint, huh," he pondered aloud.
"Nonsense, it's an articulated doll, how can it move without joints," Erin turned her head and glanced at Yu Sheng, "This is the shape recorded in my soul, so no matter what the original form of the container was, the body will turn into this after the soul completes the reconstruction— if you don't like the spherical joints, then there's nothing I can do."
"Oh, that's not really an issue," Yu Sheng said nonchalantly, "But speaking of the shape recorded in the soul... your soul still remembers you being one meter sixty-seven tall..."
Erin instantly bounced onto Yu Sheng's arm from the stack of books, gripping his thumb fiercely and twisting it upwards: "Can you not bring up what should not be mentioned!!"
Yu Sheng yelped and jumped up, trying forcefully to pry the small (66.6cm) yet unexpectedly strong living doll from his arm while hurriedly explaining: "I'm just curious, curious! I wonder where the reconstruction process went wrong, the appearance was accurate, so how come the size shrank by so much..."
"How would I know!" Erin was yanked down from his arm; she was now being held up by her collar mid-air, "There shouldn't have been any problem, the regeneration process felt normal, but the final size turned out wrong... Hey! Can you put me down first!"
"You need to promise me first, stop twisting my fingers," Yu Sheng held Erin's collar, speaking seriously to the doll, and only after she nodded did he put her back on the table.
"Sigh, forget it, no use thinking too much about it," Erin sighed again, paced back and forth on the table, then shook her head, "We still have to figure out how to contact the sisters at Alice's Cottage, if I can get back home, they will definitely have a way..."
Yu Sheng became curious upon hearing this: "You keep mentioning Alice's Cottage and the dolls... where do those sisters of yours usually hang out? Are there other dolls besides you in this city? And, what does your 'organization' actually do?"
He had always wanted to ask these questions, but with recent troubles piling up one after another, he finally found the opportunity to speak now.
"Us? We are a clan created by the Puppet Progenitor, and mission... well, there isn't really any mission. Sometimes we deal with the Exotic Realm, sometimes we help other organizations handle troublesome entities, but most of the time, dolls just do what they please," Erin reminisced and continued, "Most of my sisters do not operate in the human world, but there should indeed be contact points in Boundary City... but exactly where, I can't remember, and after so many years, the method and contact person must have changed..."
She climbed back onto the stack of old books, propping her chin with her hands while she slowly continued in her reminiscence: "Whenever we operate in the human world, we all disguise ourselves; living dolls look very similar to humans, so it's easy to blend into the crowd. This city is so vast; without a specific method of contact or finding a specific contact person, it's not going to be easy to locate living dolls who have gone into hiding..."
Yu Sheng listened on the side, although he had thought before that this city might be hiding all sorts of strange and bizarre fellows, he still felt somewhat surprised at this moment: "Incredible... I always thought that only humans lived in this city..."
"How could that be," Erin rolled her eyes at Yu Sheng, "this place is Boundary Land after all."
"Boundary Land, huh..." Yu Sheng quietly repeated the term.
"In a place like Boundary Land, anything can happen. Not to mention, isn't there a strange guy like you who considers himself human hiding in this old district," Erin waved her hand and hopped down from a stack of old books, "Let's go downstairs. I've had enough of being here, now that I finally have the ability to move freely, I want to roam around this big house~"
"That's true," Yu Sheng let out a breath, patted his face to energize himself, "I've spent most of the day shaping your body, I'm hungry now, let's go downstairs and make something to eat."
As he spoke, he turned around and headed towards the attic exit. Just two steps out, he heard Erin shouting from behind: "Hey, wait for me! I haven't come down yet!"
Yu Sheng turned around and saw Erin taking a few running steps from the table, trying hard to jump onto the creaky old chair, then she climbed to the edge of the chair, and slowly slid down using her hands and feet, finally making it to the floor after quite a while...
Yu Sheng: "..."
Erin, struggling with her short legs, hurried to Yu Sheng's feet, only then did she notice the gaze upon herself, and immediately she looked up, trying hard to strike a majestic pose with her hands on her hips: "What are you looking at me for?"
"Nothing," Yu Sheng shook his head, "just thought it was quite... cute."
He almost blurted out the word "amusing."
Erin was stunned for a moment, not noticing the suspicious pause in Yu Sheng's words: "Is, is that so?"
Then she followed Yu Sheng and moved forward. After taking just two steps, she stretched out her hand to tug at Yu Sheng's pants: "By the way, thank you."
Yu Sheng looked down, puzzled, as he adjusted his waistband.
"Thank you for preparing the body for me, things were too chaotic just now, I didn't have a chance to properly thank you," Erin said with sincere seriousness (though it didn't quite show).
Yu Sheng couldn't help but examine the living doll (66.6cm) up and down and finally couldn't resist saying: "Even like this, you still want to thank me?"
"One should return a favor for a favor. The problem with my size might be due to some issue when I was reshaping myself, but the body was indeed meticulously prepared by you," Erin looked up solemnly (though it didn't quite make an impact), "although it's a bit ugly."
"...You could have left out that last part."
"Anyway, my earlier promise to you stands," Erin hastened to say, "I'll help you in the future, whether it's fighting or you need magical assistance, I'll be very useful. Even if I find my sisters in the future and return to Alice's Cottage, I'll still come back to help you, just..."
She paused here, thinking for a moment.
"Let's say for a hundred years at first?" She looked at Yu Sheng, cautiously confirming, "You should be dead of old age by then, right?"
Yu Sheng: "...I'll do my best."
"Then let's settle on a hundred years," Erin smiled happily, her mood suddenly greatly improved. Then she turned and, with her short legs, ran towards the exit of the attic, "Now let's hurry downstairs..."
Her voice came to an abrupt halt, as she suddenly plummeted forward, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and skidded quite a distance due to the momentum of the run, until she hit the wall on the opposite side.
Yu Sheng's smile froze the moment Erin toppled over.
"Damn... what?!"
He was stunned for a moment, then rushed to Erin's side in a few steps, bending down to pick the little doll up from the floor.
The puppet had its eyes tightly shut, its body completely limp, without any sign of tension. A second ago the limbs were warm, now they were as cold as ordinary clay, only the skin still maintained the soft tactile sensation of life, yet it felt devoid of any breath.
Yu Sheng was completely dumbfounded.
Then, he heard Erin's voice, coming from not far away, from that large table—
"Yu Sheng! I, I'm back in here!"