The Free Puppet

Yu Sheng was completely stunned.

The moment he saw Eileen suddenly "disconnect" and fall, he even thought the doll had died because of a shoddy shell—fortunately, a voice from behind interrupted his terrifying thought.

Yu Sheng, holding Eileen's shell, stiffly raised his head and looked at the large table used for processing clay.

The classical oil painting with the ornate frame leaned quietly against the edge of the table. Eileen, with wide eyes, was staring at them from within the painting, looking flustered.

"I, I don't know what happened either!" Noticing Yu Sheng's gaze, Eileen immediately waved her hands vigorously. "One second I was running forward, the next I opened my eyes and I was back. What's going on, this..."

A slightly jarring, low chuckle came from the frame, as if mocking, or perhaps with a hint of sympathy.

It came from the plush bear. This time, Yu Sheng finally saw it smiling with his own eyes.

Eileen, unable to tolerate this, immediately jumped up and rushed to the red velvet chair, picked up the plush bear, grabbed it by the neck, and shook it violently. "You're still laughing! You're still laughing! Is this your doing! I'm back again!"

However, a plush bear without a mind couldn't respond. It continued to giggle in Eileen's hands, making the doll increasingly furious.

Seeing this, Yu Sheng quickly walked forward, intending to persuade the doll girl in the painting, "Hey, don't get so agitated, let's think of another way..."

He had only spoken half of it when the doll girl, who was locking the plush bear in a chokehold, performing an over-the-shoulder throw and a crossface lock in the painting, suddenly vanished. Immediately after, Yu Sheng felt the doll body in his hands jolt. Before he could react, the 66.6 cm tall little thing lunged at his arm, instinctively executing a chokehold (unsuccessful), over-the-shoulder throw (unsuccessful), and crossface lock (unsuccessful) combo.

But she did have quite a bit of strength, making the flesh on Yu Sheng's arm ache painfully.

Yu Sheng had to forcefully pry Eileen off his arm, lift her to his eyes, and shake her vigorously. "Wake up, wake up, it's Yu Sheng, you're out again."

Eileen also gradually reacted, hanging in the air for a moment, confused. She raised her head and looked around, her gaze finally focusing on Yu Sheng's face. "...Huh?"

Then, they both looked up at the frame not far away, simultaneously falling into a daze and contemplation.

A moment later, Yu Sheng, without a word, carried Eileen backward, retreating all the way to where she had fallen. As he took his final step, the doll body in his hands instantly went limp as if the power had been cut, its vitality extinguished.

Eileen's figure abruptly appeared in the oil painting. She looked around, then stared blankly up at Yu Sheng. "I'm back again, so it really is..."

Yu Sheng casually held up the doll body in his hands towards the oil painting, bringing the two closer.

Then, the body suddenly came to life, as if the "disconnection" had never happened. Eileen's voice came from within, continuing the unfinished sentence from the painting: "...a matter of distance?"

"It seems so." Yu Sheng frowned slightly as he watched this scene, then moved the doll further away. He watched the doll body in his hands "disconnect" again, and Eileen's voice came from not far away: "Then this is..."

Yu Sheng pushed the doll forward again.

Eileen: "...a bit troublesome... Can you stop playing! You've taken me apart several times in the time it takes me to say one sentence!"

Yu Sheng sullenly brought Eileen to a spot closer to the oil painting, explaining as he went, "I mainly wanted to confirm the specific range of your 'signal'."

"Does it make a difference if it's five meters or six meters? At most, it's just these two steps!" Eileen, being held by the collar, flailed her arms. Then, she suddenly felt something was off and glared up at Yu Sheng. "Put me down! Why are you still holding me!"

Hearing this, Yu Sheng quickly put the increasingly grumpy doll lady on the ground, and then they stared at each other.

Eileen then realized she had to tilt her head back almost ninety degrees to talk to Yu Sheng.

However, her pride wouldn't allow Yu Sheng to squat down to communicate with her—besides, even if Yu Sheng squatted down, she would still have to look up.

"Stand there and don't move," the doll suddenly said.

Yu Sheng blinked. "What are you doing?"

The next second, he knew what Eileen wanted to do—the doll directly hugged his leg and started climbing up. It was like climbing a tree, and she shot up in a few moves, as agile as a monkey, then directly sat on his shoulder.

Yu Sheng was a little stunned but didn't dare to move, afraid of dropping Eileen. "I didn't agree to this..."

Eileen said righteously, "You didn't ask for my agreement when you were holding me to test the signal."

Yu Sheng was speechless.

The two returned to the large table and began to study the oil painting.

"I did come out, I can feel it, my 'soul' is in this current body," Eileen said, frowning and looking at her former 'prison' with a conflicted expression. "But..."

"But from the looks of it, this painting still seems to be your 'foundation.' Your current body is like it's being remotely controlled; it disconnects when it's out of range," Yu Sheng stated his opinion frankly.

Eileen lowered her head, looking particularly dejected.

But this time, she didn't cry—perhaps the series of blows was too great, and she had developed a mental resilience akin to brain death in a short period.

Seeing the doll's calm reaction, Yu Sheng panicked and quickly tried to comfort her. "Don't be too pessimistic. Maybe this body is just not working well? I'll practice my skills later, and when I reshape your body next time..."

"You say," Eileen suddenly spoke, interrupting Yu Sheng's rambling. The little doll's face held a complex expression, making it impossible to discern her emotions at that moment. "If you carry your prison around everywhere, are you breaking out of jail or not?"

Yu Sheng was taken aback. After a moment of thought, he said, "I saw someone carrying their prison around before, and they ended up in a pretty bad state, but he was 'inside' his prison. At least you're outside..."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Eileen mumbled, then jumped down from Yu Sheng's shoulder. She hopped onto the table, and with a complex expression, approached the oil painting that sealed her. She reached out with both hands, grabbed the frame, lifted it slightly with effort, then put it down. Turning around, she tried to carry it on her back.

However, the oil painting was large—although Yu Sheng could easily carry it with one hand, for Eileen, the thing was almost as tall as she was.

"...Do we have any rope at home?" the doll asked, looking up.

"Yes!" Yu Sheng nodded immediately. "Wait a moment, I'll go get it!"

More than ten minutes later, Eileen watched Yu Sheng meticulously tie knots onto the oil painting frame and adjust the position of the buckles. When the preparations were almost complete, she stepped forward. "I think it's ready."

"Here, you try," Yu Sheng nodded, propped the frame upright, and watched Eileen awkwardly slip her arms through the shoulder straps. "How is it? Is the buckle position right? Does it need to be tighter?"

Eileen tugged at the buckle on her shoulder, put the frame on her back, and walked around the table a couple of times. She nodded with satisfaction. "No, it's perfect!"

"Is it heavy?"

"Not at all, I'm very strong!" Eileen said, and then, still with the frame on her back, she hopped in place on the table before starting to jog in circles around the edge of the table.

The small doll (66.6cm) ran around on the table with a painting frame almost as tall as herself on her back. The scene looked a bit... odd.

But Yu Sheng watched this, and gradually, he started to smile.

Because he saw Eileen also start to smile. The doll seemed to have shaken off her earlier bad mood and was gradually becoming happy.

She was even more optimistic than Yu Sheng had imagined.

"It's actually quite light!" Eileen stopped at the edge of the table and said to Yu Sheng with a smile, "This way, I don't have to worry about the 'distance' restriction. I'm so smart!"

"You really are optimistic," Yu Sheng said with genuine emotion. "I thought you'd be down for quite a while."

"People have to look forward—dolls are the same," Eileen happily jumped off the table and then climbed up Yu Sheng's arm to his shoulder. This time, she didn't climb as nimbly as before because she still had to be careful of the painting frame on her back, preventing it from bumping into the chair or Yu Sheng's head. "Compared to before, at least I can move freely. It's fine to carry it, especially since the guy in the painting doesn't seem to want me to go too far... Let's go, let's go, we're going downstairs. You haven't had dinner yet—I want to watch TV!"

Yu Sheng blinked, tilted his head slightly, and looked at the doll, who was smiling broadly and seemed full of anticipation for the future, out of the corner of his eye.

"Okay, I'll go cook," he said, reaching up to steady Eileen as he stood up from the chair. "And tonight, we'll start researching the passage back to the valley."

"Mhm," Eileen also seemed full of fighting spirit, her face beaming with a bright smile as she confidently pointed forward with her hand. "Giddy up!"

Yu Sheng casually lifted the small doll off his shoulder again. "I'm going to drop you."

Eileen immediately cowered. "No, no, it was just the atmosphere at the time..."

Yu Sheng shook his head, a mix of amusement and exasperation on his face, and placed the doll back on his shoulder, carrying her properly. He then started walking forward.

Outside the window, night was falling. The streetlights in the old district lit up in sequence, casting a hazy, warm glow that flowed through the old streets and alleys. Through the window, a sense of tranquility permeated the room.

"Yu Sheng, it's completely dark outside now."

"Yeah."

"Hehe, I'm a little excited..."

"Excited about what? The dark?"

"No, I'm just a little excited, it has nothing to do with the dark~"

"...I don't get it."

"Tch."