Things Aren't As Expected

Eileen was crying her heart out.

Yu Sheng didn't try to comfort her. Firstly, he genuinely had no idea how to. Secondly... he was afraid that if he tried to comfort this puppet, who was already overcome with grief, she might become disoriented, lash out, and bite him.

She really had to jump now to be able to bite him.

Of course, the good news was that she could bite now. Back when she was just a painting, all she could do was yap.

After a long while, Eileen's sadness finally subsided a little. Yu Sheng quickly leaned two steps closer to the table and hesitantly spoke, "Um... don't be sad anymore. I'll make you a new body next time, a normal-sized one. For now, this one... you'll just have to make do, okay? If not, I'll make you another one tomorrow..."

"This, this is all I can use for now," Eileen said, sniffling and speaking with a face full of indignation. "I'll just go with this. You don't need to bother anymore—even if you make me a new body tomorrow, I can't switch into it temporarily. Living puppets' souls can't withstand constant container changes, at, at least not for several months..."

As she spoke, her grief returned, and she looked like she was about to cry again.

Yu Sheng quickly grabbed a small glass bottle and held it up to Eileen's face.

"What are you doing?" Eileen asked, sniffling and looking at Yu Sheng's inexplicable action.

"Living puppet tears," Yu Sheng said with a serious expression. "Next time I make you a body, we'll aim for high-grade materials. I'll collect materials for a few months, and then I'll make you one that shines with golden light..."

Eileen thought about it for a moment, then wailed, "Yu Sheng, you bastard... Ah—"

After another long while, the puppet's sadness finally calmed down again.

Eileen climbed onto the pile of old books next to her and sat on top of the stack, staring blankly and contemplating life. Yu Sheng sat by the table, keeping the puppet company, contemplating life with her.

"At least, at least it's better than before," Eileen mumbled softly, unsure if she was speaking to Yu Sheng or herself. "At least I can move around on my own now."

"And you can watch TV by yourself now," Yu Sheng quickly chimed in. "This is much more convenient than before, right?"

Eileen let out a long sigh. She seemed to want to appear solemn and dignified, but because of her small stature (66.6cm), the sigh conveyed absolutely no gravitas.

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

The characteristic ball joints of a puppet were particularly striking.

"Even though a clay doll was used as the container, it still ended up with these wooden puppet-like ball joints," he mused.

"Nonsense, it's a movable doll. How can it move without joints?" Eileen turned her head and glanced at Yu Sheng. "This is the appearance recorded in my soul, so no matter what form the original container was, the body will become like this after the soul is reshaped—if you don't like ball joints, there's nothing I can do."

"Oh, that's not it," Yu Sheng said casually. "But speaking of the appearance recorded in your soul... your soul also recorded that you were originally one meter sixty-seven..."

Eileen instantly jumped from the pile of books onto Yu Sheng's arm, yanking his thumb upwards with all her might. "Can you please stop bringing up things that are sensitive!?"

Yu Sheng yelped and jumped up, struggling to pull the puppet—who was very small (66.6cm) but surprisingly strong—off his arm, while quickly explaining, "I'm just curious, curious! What went wrong with your reshaping process? Your appearance didn't deviate at all, so why did your physique shrink so much..."

"How should I know!" Eileen was pulled off Yu Sheng's arm. Now being held by the collar in mid-air, she exclaimed, "It shouldn't have gone wrong. The regeneration process felt normal, but the final physique was off... Hey! Can you put me down first!"

"Then you have to promise me you won't bend my fingers anymore," Yu Sheng said, holding Eileen by the collar and looking at the puppet sternly. Only after she nodded did he place her back on the table.

"Alas, forget it. Thinking too much is useless," Eileen sighed again. After walking back and forth on the table a few steps, she shook her head. "I still need to find a way to contact my sisters at Alice's Cabin. If I can go home, my sisters will definitely have a solution..."

Yu Sheng was a little curious upon hearing this. "You keep mentioning Alice's Cabin and the puppets... Where are these sisters you're talking about usually? Are there any other puppets in this city besides you? By the way, what does your 'organization' usually do?"

He had wanted to ask these questions for a long time, but one difficult matter after another had kept him busy, and only now did he finally get the chance to speak.

"Us? We are a race created by the Ancestor of Puppets. Our mission... we don't really have a mission. Sometimes we deal with entities from the Otherworld, sometimes we help other organizations handle tricky entities, but most of the time, puppets just do what they like," Eileen recalled as she spoke. "Most of my sisters don't operate in the human world, but there should be contact points in Boundary City... As for where exactly, I don't remember. And after so many years, the contact methods and people should have changed by now..."

She climbed back onto the pile of old books, propped her chin with her hands, and continued her recollection. "When we operate in the human world, we all use disguises. Living puppets look very much like humans, so it's easy to blend in with the crowd. This city is so huge; without specific contact methods or finding specific contact personnel, it's not easy to find hidden living puppets like this..."

Yu Sheng listened from the side. Although he had already thought that there might be all sorts of strange beings hidden in this city, he still felt a sense of wonder. "Incredible... I always thought the only residents in this city were humans..."

"How is that possible?" Eileen rolled her eyes at Yu Sheng. "This is The Crossroads."

"The Crossroads..." Yu Sheng softly repeated the words.

"Anything can happen in The Crossroads. Not to mention anything else, this old district alone hides a strange fellow like you who thinks he's human," Eileen waved her hand and jumped down from the pile of old books. "Let's go downstairs first. I've had enough of staying here. Now that I finally have the ability to move freely, I want to walk around this big house properly~"

"That's true," Yu Sheng exhaled and patted his face to wake himself up. "Just making your body took up most of the day, and I'm hungry now. Let's go downstairs and make something to eat."

As he spoke, he turned towards the attic exit. After taking just two steps, he heard Eileen shout from behind him, "Hey, wait for me! I haven't come down yet!"

Yu Sheng turned his head and saw Eileen taking a few running steps on the table, then jumping forcefully onto the creaking old chair. She then climbed to the edge of the chair and, using her hands and feet, slowly slid down the chair legs. After a while, she finally managed to reach the floor...

Yu Sheng: "..."

Eileen, trotting with her short legs, ran to Yu Sheng's feet. At this moment, she noticed his gaze on her, immediately tilted her head up, and tried to put on a stern expression with her hands on her hips. "What are you looking at me for?"

"Nothing," Yu Sheng shook his head. "I just think you're quite... cute."

He almost said "adorable."

Eileen froze for a moment, not noticing the suspicious pause in Yu Sheng's words. "Is, is that so?"

Then she followed Yu Sheng forward. After walking a couple of steps, she reached out and tugged at Yu Sheng's pants. "Oh, thank you."

Yu Sheng lowered his head, tugged at his waistband, and looked at her with confusion.

"Thank you for preparing a body for me. The situation was too chaotic earlier, so I didn't get to thank you properly," Eileen said with a serious expression.

Yu Sheng couldn't help but look up and down at the puppet (66.6cm) before finally blurting out, "You're like this, and you still want to thank me?"

"One thing is one thing. The issue with my size is something that happened during my reshaping process, but the body was indeed carefully prepared for me by you," Eileen said, tilting her head up, looking particularly solemn (though it didn't really show). "Even though it's a bit ugly."

"...You can leave out the last sentence."

"An, anyway, what I promised you before is still valid," Eileen said quickly. "I will help you in the future, whether it's fighting or needing arcane assistance, I will be very useful. Even if I find my other sisters in the future and return to Alice's Cabin, I will come back to help you, just..."

She paused here, thinking for a moment.

"So, let's set it at one hundred years for now?" she asked Yu Sheng, cautiously confirming, "You should be old and dead by then, right?"

Yu Sheng: "...I'll do my best."

"Then one hundred years it is," Eileen giggled happily, her mood inexplicably lifting. She then turned, her short legs carrying her towards the attic exit. "Let's hurry downstairs then..."

Her voice abruptly cut off. She stumbled forward as if a puppet whose strings had suddenly snapped, propelled by the momentum of her run until she slammed into the opposite wall.

The smile on Yu Sheng's face froze the moment Eileen fell.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

He was stunned for a moment, then rushed to Eileen's side in a few strides, bending down to pick up the little puppet from the ground.

The puppet's eyes were tightly shut, its body completely limp. Its limbs, warm just a second ago, were now as cold as ordinary clay. Only its skin retained a soft, active touch, but there was no sign of life.

Yu Sheng was utterly bewildered.

Then, he heard Eileen's voice coming from the large table not far away—

"Yu Sheng! I, I'm back inside!"

Thanks to Shang Nu for the Silver萌~