NOVPUBA faint, illusory Door swung open without a sound, and Yu Sheng stepped into the living room.
The moment he entered, he saw three Irenes squeezed neatly together on the sofa. In front of them was a laptop, and they were studying something with intense focus.
Curious, he leaned in for a closer look. “What are you three doing?”
“Our account got banned, so we’re trying to figure out how to appeal,” said Irene (the main host), the one carrying the picture frame, without even lifting her head. Then she suddenly realized who was speaking. “Oh! You’re back already?”
Yu Sheng casually patted the heads of all three Irenes, his gaze landing on the giant ban-appeal screen on the laptop. The corner of his eye twitched. “Was it because you started cursing people in the game again?”
“I did not curse them this time!” Irene (one of the trio) immediately flushed red. “I just truly believe that that teammate was lacking intelligence, and so was the developer—[I really do think that]!”
“That’s still called cursing,” Yu Sheng said as he gently pushed aside one Irene who was typing. “Especially since when you curse, you pull in their entire family tree and even their neighbors’ pets. Honestly, you have no grounds to complain that your account got banned. Stop messing around; it’ll be locked for a couple of days anyway. You might as well spend that time figuring out how to improve your own skills.”
He barely finished speaking when Irene unleashed a barrage of grievances. “How am I supposed to improve? You see this keyboard? I can’t even press ‘W’ and the space bar at the same time! After I click the left mouse button, I practically have to do a fancy hand flourish to reach the right one! And that mouse sensitivity—don’t even get me started. I have to stretch my arms across the entire desk just to turn the camera…”
Before she could finish, Yu Sheng tossed a paper bag right at the chattering little doll, knocking her flat on the sofa.
All three Irenes jumped up at once. “Hey, what was that for? I was just complaining a little, and you—”
But Yu Sheng cut her off with a single sentence that made the little doll fall silent. “Enough, enough. Take a look inside the bag. I got it for you.”
The three Irenes froze. Then the one who had been toppled over finally came to her senses. She dug through the paper bag, and practically dived inside.
A second later, a delighted squeal echoed from within. “Aaah! New clothes! They’re new clothes!”
Yu Sheng grinned, plopping himself down on the sofa with satisfaction. “I swung by the Shopping Mall on my way back from the Special Affairs Bureau. I dropped into the doll store to get these for you—I’ve been meaning to buy you new outfits for a while. I didn’t forget; I’ve just been too busy lately. But today, I finally got the chance.”
Irene popped her head out of the bag, clutching two tiny new dresses in her arms. Her eyes gleamed. “Yu Sheng, you’re so nice! But aren’t fancy doll clothes expensive? The fabric looks really high-quality…”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Yu Sheng said with a laugh. “I just got a big payout from the Special Affairs Bureau. The money hasn’t hit my account yet, but things are a bit looser now—”
He didn’t get to finish. The moment he said [a big payout], the Irene who’d burned her last dress went racing toward the bathroom with the new outfits. She was shouting as she ran, “No peeking! I’m gonna go change!”
Yu Sheng sat there on the sofa, half-exasperated, half-amused. “[Who wants to peek anyway?]”
Just as he said this, a fluffy silver-white shape appeared beside him. Foxy leaned over the sofa back. “Benefactor, Benefactor, did you buy something for me too?”
Without skipping a beat, Yu Sheng pulled a comb from his pocket and handed it over. “Here you go, a special brush just for your tail. Didn’t you say the ones at home weren’t working well? This one’s bigger, has more teeth, and from what I heard, it’s perfect for large breeds during molting season—”
He was halfway through his explanation when another Irene popped up under his elbow, suspicious. “Wait, a special brush for shedding season? Did you buy this from a pet store?!”
“Obviously!” Yu Sheng gently pushed her back down. “If I asked about what kind of comb a Nine-Tailed Fox needs at a normal store, they’d think I was nuts. Besides, Foxy’s been using a regular brush, and she already said it doesn’t help.”
Foxy didn’t care one bit about their conversation. She was just thrilled to have her new gift. She tried it out on her tail, then gave Yu Sheng a bright smile. “Thank you, Benefactor!”
She carefully tucked the brush away into her bushy tail, as though it were some treasured item.
By then, Irene had finished changing and dashed back from the bathroom like a rocket, leaping onto the coffee table across from Yu Sheng. “Ta-da! My new dress!”
It was a long gown of pale purple and deep red in a gothic style that Irene loved. It was far more playful than the dark outfit she usually wore, and it fit her surprisingly well.
Yu Sheng didn’t hold back on his praise.
“That’s because I’m already gorgeous,” Irene said proudly, spinning around on the table. Then she paused, twisting around to scratch her back. “But this part in the back feels a little itchy…”
“Itchy? Come here, let me have a look.” Yu Sheng frowned slightly and beckoned the little doll over. “It shouldn’t be. Normally doll clothes don’t have tags in the back… And I cut off any tags on the rest of it.”
Irene hopped onto Yu Sheng’s lap, muttering under her breath. “Well, something’s itching me.”
After a quick inspection, Yu Sheng’s expression turned a bit strange. “…It’s a bit tight at the back. There are these decorative ruffles, and they just fused the seams at the waist with some hot glue. Didn’t bother finishing them properly.”
Irene stared, then started griping, “What kind of sewing is that? Who makes clothes that way?”
“Is it possible,” Yu Sheng scratched his chin awkwardly, “that the people who design doll clothes only care about how it looks in photos, not how it feels to wear?”
Irene: “…#?@?##@ (elegant speech) (birdsong and blooms) (melodious tones)!”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll fix it for you,” Yu Sheng said, trying to calm the now-indignant little doll. “There aren’t many spots to fix. I can handle it.”
“Really?” Irene looked up with her crimson eyes, still skeptical.
Yu Sheng raised his hand. “Absolutely.”
“Fine…” Irene grumbled as she hopped off the sofa and turned toward the bathroom again. “Then I won’t bother trying on the other one yet. It looks like it’s built the same way, so I’ll wait till you fix it first~”
Yu Sheng watched her wander off, still muttering to herself, and couldn’t help but smile. Then he leaned back on the sofa and released a long breath.
He truly preferred this kind of life—no major disasters, just Irene’s chatter at home, Foxy prowling around, always on the hunt for snacks. Little hiccups happened, but nothing spun out of control. And he could let himself sink into the couch, letting his mind drift while he stared at the clock on the wall, listening to the ticking of its hands.
He knew, of course, that peaceful times like this might only make up a small part of his life. After hearing from Bai Li Qing about the “Old Apocalypse” and “Annihilation,” he had a strong feeling that the future would be anything but calm.
Still, that didn’t stop him from enjoying these few minutes of comfort.
After a while, Yu Sheng rose from the sofa.
The celebration in the Valley was coming up, and as the master of that Valley—also the largest Guardian in “Fairy Tale”—he really needed to go over early.
“Foxy! Irene! Let’s go! We should check if Little Red Riding Hood needs a hand!”
“Ooh, yes!”
“Coming, Benefactor!”
Inside that Valley, now merged with the realm of “Fairy Tale,” the makeshift Town was alive with excitement. Adults and children were busy preparing for the evening festivities.
On a broad square at the edge of Town, the Cursed Children had piled up a massive stack of kindling. They planned to light a great bonfire there to mark the beginning of a new life.
The wood for this bonfire came from the Black Forest’s dead branches and from the thorny vines once found at the base of the ancient city walls. Warriors sent by the King had gathered the prettiest flowers from the plains of Oz—where vibrant green was already covering old trenches and machine-gun bunkers. Now the Cursed Children wove those flowers into garlands to hang around the square.
Engineers and caregivers from the Special Affairs Bureau and the Council, also stationed in the Valley, were preparing dinner. Entire carts of marinated meat were wheeled to the square for a giant barbecue. The smaller children formed little groups to help skewer the meat, peel onions, and draw pictures on colorful paper.
By the time Yu Sheng led Foxy and Irene over, the square was already taking shape.
The Cursed Children had just one concern. 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝒐𝒎
“Brother, this isn’t good,” said the Long-Haired Girl princess as she wiped her hands on her apron. She walked over and complained, “A bonfire party needs proper nightfall for the atmosphere. But this part of your place never gets dark. Even at midnight, it’s bright as day! That completely ruins the ‘night’ vibe. Plus, I want to set off fireworks.”
Yu Sheng blinked, looking around at the lively children dashing about and at the massive stack of wood. “…Then why not host it in the Black Forest or around the Tower? The areas on the edges of the Valley that merged with Fairy Tale do have a normal day-night cycle. I was even thinking of moving the vegetable garden there since it has proper nights.”
“…We didn’t think of that until we’d nearly finished building the bonfire,” said the Long-Haired Girl princess with a sheepish grin. “We wanted to celebrate right in this Town because we’ll be living here soon, and it’s meaningful. But mostly, we just forgot until it was too late.”
Yu Sheng: “…”
“Brother, come on, help us out,” she said, sidling up to him with an awkward smile. “Can you make the sky go dark? Even if it’s only half-dark, that would work.”
Yu Sheng: “…”
He said nothing, but the wheels in his mind were already turning.
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
