Yu Sheng was woken up early in the morning by a call from Little Red Riding Hood.

Blinking in a daze, he opened his eyes to find two Erins, one hanging off the foot of the bed and the other sprawled on the nightstand—no ordinary person could imagine how these two dolls managed to sleep in such positions—while his phone buzzed non-stop next to his pillow. Before he could even speak, he heard Little Red Riding Hood's voice from the other end, frantic, "Yu Sheng! You're dead!"

Yu Sheng jerked fully awake on the spot.

His first thought was that the standards of JKs these days really need to improve, and his second thought was to quickly puzzle out how he might have offended the girl—her early morning call contained more sand than the sandpit at the orphanage.

But the next second, Little Red Riding Hood on the other end came to her senses, hurriedly explaining in a flustered tone, "Ah sorry, that's not what I meant, my mind's a bit scrambled, what I meant to say is I saw you dead... no, wrong, I just remembered you dying... still wrong, ah this time it's right, I just remembered..."

One could tell the girl was truly confused, but her confusion helped Yu Sheng understand what was going on—after all, he had seen similar reactions from Erin, so he cleared his throat twice to interrupt her, "Ahem, hold on, hold on, no need to say more, I get it now. Man, you've really delayed things with a 'layer' of 'Evil Wolf' in the transmission process."

Little Red Riding Hood was suddenly dumbfounded on the other end, probably thrown off by Yu Sheng's calm response. It took several seconds before her voice came through again: "You... how can you be so calm?"

"Because I knew sooner or later you'd remember these things. People who have come into contact with my blood will sense my 'Resurrection.' Erin and Hu Li have both gone through a similar process," Yu Sheng sat up from the bed and briefly explained the situation to her, "...that's the gist of it, so no need to panic. The good news is that the next time you drop by No. 66 Wutong Road, you won't need me to open the door for you, as you'll be able to see my house on your own. The bad news is you might be quite shocked next time you see me drop dead in front of you, since the 'forgetting' mechanism won't work on you anymore.

"But that's not a big issue either. Erin and Hu Li are already accustomed to it, so am I, and you'll get used to it after seeing it a couple of times."

The other end of the phone was quiet for a moment, Little Red Riding Hood probably confused again, her worldview unable to keep up with her mind, which in turn couldn't keep up with her ears. Meanwhile, the two Erins hanging off the foot of the bed and sprawled on the nightstand were waking up due to the noise from the phone call, lifting their heads drowsily and greeting Yu Sheng, "Good morning... *yawn*."

Then both simultaneously fell to the floor—as they were already hanging precariously to begin with.

Yu Sheng reached over to pick up the Erin who had fallen from the nightstand. Still not fully awake, she rubbed her head and murmured complaints, "You and Hu Li went too far last night. Not only did I have to watch you eat barbecue without being able to have any, but you also propped me up next to the fire and roasted me with the meat..."

"That was to dry your clothes," Yu Sheng glanced at the doll, "whose fault was it for falling into the pot?"

"You still shouldn't have hung me on a rod!"

Yu Sheng pondered for a moment: "What happened yesterday is in the past, we should look ahead..."

Erin let out a loud cry and jumped up—but she was immediately pushed back down by Yu Sheng, who pressed her head down and shook the phone at her: "Little Red Riding Hood called, she's 'the same' as you and Hu Li now."

Erin blinked, not seeming to understand at first, but after just a few seconds, she guessed what had happened.

"...Just happened?" the doll asked cautiously.

"Just happened, and it seems it scared her," Yu Sheng muttered, "today's high schoolers really lack resilience."

Right after he finished speaking, Little Red Riding Hood's voice finally came through the phone again: "I don't think this is a matter of resilience—anyone dealing with you would react like this."

Yu Sheng laughed: "Sorted your thoughts out?"

"Somewhat," sighed Little Red Riding Hood before asking curiously, "How many people know your 'secret' now?"

"I don't really think it's a secret, but there's this strange 'retrospect' mechanism in place, what can I do?" Yu Sheng spoke casually, "Right now, it's just you, Erin, and Hu Li who know—you three. Theoretically, Xiao Xiao could also know since she shared my blood, but I haven't died in front of her yet so she still doesn't know..."

He hadn't finished speaking when Little Red Riding Hood on the phone started shouting: "Don't scare the child, okay?"

Yu Sheng couldn't help but laugh and cry: "Nonsense, I'm not crazy. Do you think I'd die in front of a kid on purpose just to scare her?"

Little Red Riding Hood sounded somewhat resentful: "What if you wanted to try it?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He now seriously doubted what kind of image he had in her mind—surely he wasn't already no longer perceived as a mature, reliable, steady, and responsible adult, was he?

And just as he thought this, he felt his phone vibrate again, followed by a notification about an incoming call.

"Alright, I can't talk now, Special Service Bureau is calling," Yu Sheng glanced at the name on the screen and quickly said to Little Red Riding Hood, "Anything else on your end?"

"That's it, the biggest news was suddenly finding out you died, go ahead with your business."

The way she put it sounded awkward to Yu Sheng, almost grammatically incorrect without proper context.

He muttered a complaint in his mind, then hung up the call with Little Red Riding Hood and answered the new call: "Hello, this is Yu Sheng."

The voice on the phone came from Baili Qing: "Calling so early, did I not disturb your sleep?"

Yu Sheng always felt that there might be a hint of retribution in her flat tone.

"No, I just woke up. Is everything ready in the laboratory?"

"Yes, the analysis lab is ready to go, an expert group is on standby, and all the materials you requested are prepared," Baili Qing's voice was calm and reliable, "if you're okay on your end, a car will pick you up in thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes? Okay, no problem."

Yu Sheng hung up the phone, checked the time, quickly got dressed, brushed his teeth, and then threw two small combs to the two animated dolls on the bed: "Hurry up and get ready to go out, we're visiting the Special Service Director today—and oh, wake Hu Li up, or there won't be time for breakfast."

The two Erins sat on the bed and began to comb each other's hair, not moving an inch upon hearing Yu Sheng's words: "No need to wake her, I think she's already eating, I heard noise from the kitchen downstairs just now…"

Yu Sheng spat out the toothpaste foam in his mouth, and after a moment of surprise following the dolls' words, he immediately reacted: "Oh no! The braised meat I left in the fridge!"

"Just see the bright side, it's definitely too late for you to go down now," Erin consoled while continuing to comb, "And honestly, you already put more than half of the remaining Evil Wolf corpse in her tail, the outcome was destined from the start."

Yu Sheng heaved a long sigh, forced to admit Erin was right...

By the time he and Erin got downstairs, Miss Hu Li was cuddling a pot next to the dining table, clearly dazed from overeating.

Next to the groggy Miss Hu Li, the dining table had a steaming hot meal laid out—it was leftovers from last night's "picnic", heated perfectly with Fox Fire.

"Savior, I've warmed up breakfast for you, hey," Hu Li turned to Yu Sheng with a smile, proud and happy.

Yu Sheng didn't know whether to feel touched—in one sense, this hungry creature had eaten most of the pot of braised meat; on the other hand, this girl who couldn't walk past food had even managed to leave a portion for him, and clearly the tastiest bits at that, which she hadn't touched at all...

Twenty minutes later, Yu Sheng, all spruced up along with Erin and the now fully awake demon fox, left their house and squat neatly on the curb in front of No. 66 Wutong Road.

Erin lifted her head, looked left and right at Yu Sheng and Hu Li: "Does this count as the whole organization mobilizing?"

"Not really, you're only half out," Yu Sheng said casually, "Didn't we leave another body at home watching TV?"

While saying this, he glanced at the demon fox girl beside him: "Hu Li, don't prop your hands on the ground, it's not very becoming."

"Squatting on the curb and you're talking about what's becoming or not?" Erin quirked her lips, "Besides, why do we have to squat, really..."

"How would I know, I just squatted to tie my shoelaces, and you two just squatted down with me."

Erin: "...?"

As they were talking, the racket of an old, battered engine rattling and wheezing came from the end of the street, interrupting their conversation.

Yu Sheng quickly stood up and looked towards the sound, seeing an at least seventh-handed Xiali car struggling in this direction...

His face subtly changed.

When the little car finally made its wheezing way to them, the window rolled down to reveal Xu Jiali's face, and Yu Sheng couldn't help but murmur, "Why is it you again?"

Erin was even more blunt: "Doesn't the Special Service Bureau have a more spacious car?"

Xu Jiali's face also held a hint of embarrassment, obviously aware of the condition of her vehicle: "Uh, actually it wasn't supposed to be me picking you up. The car that was coming for you broke down on the way, and since I was nearby, I was urgently rerouted here."

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched slightly, resigned to squeezing into the back seat of the broken Xiali with Hu Li and Erin (the passenger seat still being occupied by that mysterious big box), while muttering, "Your huge organization is so strapped, even the field cars break down halfway..."

Xu Jiali's face also lost some of its composure, letting out a long sigh: "Sigh, can't help it, the Mechanical Soul is weak..."

Yu Sheng: "Can't you guys use some high-end descriptions for the Mechanical Soul?"

"It makes it feel more personal, the styles and preferences of Mechanical Souls vary by region," Xu Jiali explained with a forced smile, "The Mechanical Souls at the academy are more Gothic, so when you deal with them you have to use phrases like 'the Mechanical Soul is displeased', 'the Mechanical Soul gives praise' and such. That might be more up to your expectations..."

Yu Sheng blinked, "Uh... So what about the Mechanical Souls in Boundary Land?"

"The Mechanical Souls in Boundary Land are more brotherly..."

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