The girl in the painting who called herself "Erin" stared down Yu Sheng outside the painting with wide eyes, neither of them having established even the slightest bit of trust so far.
Yu Sheng couldn't even begin to confirm whether the figure before him, resembling some kind of cursed object, was speaking the truth or lies. The mention of Alice's Cottage and being sealed into a painting were things he'd never heard of before. Because of this, when Erin claimed she didn't know why she was in this house, Yu Sheng didn't believe a word of it.
On the other hand, Erin was convinced that this human named Yu Sheng was still scheming to use a lighter to set her ablaze—her gaze remained firmly fixed on the lighter, monitoring its movements...
"I think you probably bought this painting yourself, hung it up in your house, and then turned around and forgot all about it..." Erin repeated, "Doesn't it happen a lot? You humans see something unusual, want to collect it, bring it home, and let it gather dust..."
Yu Sheng felt a pang of guilt when he heard this. It was true; he couldn't confidently say where all the items in this house came from. After all, he'd only been "here" for two months. Not only was he unfamiliar with this world, but he wasn't even fully familiar with himself. Who knew what kind of state the house and its owner were in two months ago?
Could there have been another "Yu Sheng" before?
But these thoughts only flashed in his mind briefly. Facing Erin's scarlet, watchful eyes, Yu Sheng instinctively shook his head and replied, "That's impossible—this painting looks expensive. It doesn't seem like something I could afford."
"What if it was super cheap though!" Erin scooted forward while clutching her teddy bear. "These days there are fake bottles, fake fans, fake paintings everywhere. Maybe the last seller bought me from a crooked antique dealer who sold paintings by weight—two bucks fifty a pound, bundled with other calligraphy and paintings—or maybe some clueless reseller..."
Yu Sheng's expression turned odd. "Your frame there is made of solid old wood, and the edges are even inlaid with gold lines."
Erin thought for a moment. "Redwood veneer filled with resin! Wire covered in copper plating."
Yu Sheng: "…That cost would already surpass two bucks fifty a pound."
"Four bucks fifty max—higher than that and no one would buy it."
Yu Sheng: "..."
Erin glared at him with her scarlet eyes, "Hey, why aren't you saying anything?"
Yu Sheng squatted in front of Erin's painting frame and suddenly felt amused. Then he genuinely chuckled out loud, dropping onto the floor, leaning back against it, laughing so hard he almost reclined backward. Never in his life had he imagined he'd experience something like this: sitting in a barren room, arguing with a sentient doll sealed in a cursed oil painting about whether the frame was fake antique junk sold by weight.
And just a short while ago, a frog from freezing rain had "ripped his heart out."
This stuff was too freaking hilarious.
Erin, however, was a bit rattled by Yu Sheng's sudden burst of laughter. Her painting frame had been taken off the wall and left on the floor by him, giving her a clear view of the bare ceiling and letting her hear the laughter beside her. She finally couldn't resist shouting, "Hey, don't laugh! What's so funny about this?"
Yu Sheng gradually stopped laughing, scooted forward, and looked at Erin in the frame. His expression suddenly grew serious. "That weird dream I had before—was it your doing?"
He was referring to the dream where he hacked at a locked door with an axe, followed by eerie laughter coming from behind the door. Now it seemed clear that the bizarre Dream Realm was definitely linked to this girl in the painting.
Oh, right—he had also thrown his back out in that dream. It still hurt.
"No!" Erin immediately shook her head but then hesitated, her expression turning uncertain. "Well…not completely no."
"What do you mean?" Yu Sheng frowned. "You're talking in circles."
"You made that dream yourself, but I did sneak in," Erin explained patiently. "I sensed someone dreaming and thought of using that as a way to find someone to help. I didn't mean any harm! I didn't know you couldn't open that door, and that you'd throw such a fit and start chopping at it with an axe because you forgot the key..."
Listening to Erin's chatter, Yu Sheng gradually pieced things together. "So the door wasn't locked by you? The dream wasn't created by you? You just have the ability to enter other people's dreams?"
"Exactly—though I can do much more!" Erin nodded enthusiastically, her face lighting up with pride that quickly faded. "But now that I'm sealed in this painting, there's almost nothing left—I've only got this ability."
Yu Sheng remained skeptical of Erin's words, but he also began to gain more questions and insight about his own experience in that strange dream. Soon, he had another question. "You said you want to find someone through dreams for help. Help for what?"
"To get me out, of course!" Erin replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It'd be better if someone could get me out of this painting—if not, at least out of this room. It's so empty here, there's nothing. Even a TV on the opposite wall might do. Voice-controlled would be better—remote controls aren't very convenient for me, but there's this model with a cool display..."
Yu Sheng realized this girl in the painting had the classic "thinking loudly" personality. Without anyone reining her in, her train of thought always ran off on bizarre tangents—usually ending up somewhere between ridiculous and self-indulgent.
So, without hesitation, he interrupted her. "Why were you laughing in that dream then? When I was trying to 'Open Door,' what was with the mocking laughter inside?"
"That wasn't me!" Erin quickly waved her hands and thrust her brown plush teddy bear forward. "It was him laughing!"
Yu Sheng didn't respond but stared at her blankly, his eyes sending a clear message: "Do you take me for a fool?"
"I mean it!" Erin grew agitated, shaking the teddy bear hard. "He's been sealed in the painting with me, but he's probably a bit brainless after all this time. He mostly just laughs stupidly now. Most of the time if you poke him, he'll laugh. Sometimes he laughs out of the blue—it's scared me more than once."
Yu Sheng listened with a stiff expression while Erin earnestly explained. Suddenly, he found himself half-believing, his gaze landing doubtfully on the plush bear. After hesitating briefly, he nodded. "All right then, make him laugh—I want to hear it."
Erin immediately reached out and poked the teddy bear's head.
The bear did nothing.
Erin froze, poked it harder—and still, there was no reaction. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"S-Sometimes this happens," Erin said with a teary face. "I poke him and he doesn't laugh."
Yu Sheng's mouth twitched.
"So, you're saying sometimes you don't poke him and he laughs, sometimes you poke him and he doesn't laugh—in other words, whether or not you poke him has no bearing on whether he laughs or not?" He analyzed it like a tongue twister, arriving at a conclusion. "So does this bear's laughter have anything to do with you poking it at all?"
Erin froze for a moment, then sluggishly nodded. "Y-Yeah."
Yu Sheng wanted nothing more than to stop dealing with this obviously eccentric "cursed oil painting."
Besides, he was no longer concerned about the mocking laughter he'd heard in the dream.
His stomach rumbled—a reminder of the dinner he had skipped by falling straight asleep—making its presence known now. Yu Sheng chuckled, shaking his head, and slowly stood.
"Hey, you're leaving?" Erin's voice instantly grew anxious as she noticed his movement. "You're not going to leave me here on the floor, are you? At least hang me back on the wall! There's wallpaper on the far wall I can look at—there's nothing on the ceiling..."
Yu Sheng reached for Erin's painting frame and lifted it off the floor—wincing as his aching back protested fiercely.
"I'm taking you to the living room, so stop complaining," he said casually.
Erin's mood instantly brightened, and she sat back in her chair clutching the teddy bear. She watched as Yu Sheng dragged her frame toward the door. "That's good—you're actually pretty nice! Oh, right—is it mealtime now? What's for dinner tonight?"
Yu Sheng glanced down at her. "Can you eat?"
"I can watch!"
Yu Sheng felt like he was truly out of his mind for continuing this interaction with her.
Supporting his back, Yu Sheng struggled to carry Erin's painting frame toward the staircase, listening to her non-stop chatter the entire way—
"Wow, your place is pretty big! I didn't realize there was so much outside that room."
"What's in the room across? Your bedroom? Oh, are there other people here?"
"Should I say hi? Do you think they'd be scared? Ordinary people probably haven't seen many talking dolls and paintings like me..."
"By the way, I haven't asked your name yet! What is it? Yusheng? Sounds kinda weird…not like the edible sashimi type, right?"
"What happened to your back? Your waist is already going bad while you're still young? Let me tell you, you need to take care of that—it's not like human joints come apart easily…Wait, why are you glaring at me? Your stare's kinda scary..."
Yu Sheng finally reached the staircase, leaning cautiously as he eyed the steps below. Normally, he wouldn't have given them a second thought, but after throwing his back out and carrying a heavy painting frame, they now seemed unusually steep.
He initially planned to hold the frame with both hands and carry it down, but his physical state clearly wasn't up for the task.
Yu Sheng lowered his head, silently contemplating.
The verbose girl seemed to sense something, her voice gradually quieting and her expression turning nervous.
Yu Sheng lowered his gaze and looked at the endlessly chattering girl trapped in the painting. "Erin."
The painted girl twitched. "Y-Yeah?"
"I feel like your frame's pretty sturdy."
"Y-Yeah?"
Yu Sheng quietly placed Erin's frame at the top of the staircase.
"It might shake a bit—sit tight."
Erin finally realized what was about to happen, and her eyes widened instantly. "Hey, wait—"
"Off you go!"
The oil painting frame launched into a loud, chaotic adventure down the staircase.
Accompanied by Erin's shrill, heartfelt thanks: "Yu Sheng, you son of a—ahhhhhhhhhh waaaaaa ohhhhhh ahhhhhhh*&%￥#*—"