The biggest ruckus inside No. 66 Wutong Road usually came mainly from Yu Sheng's fiery temper and the little doll's screeching and scratching——and now, there was also the noise of a fox girl watching the commotion while crunching on potato chips.

Ten minutes later, Yu Sheng successfully subdued and punished the jumping and biting doll, and hung her on the balcony drying rack in the living room.

"Damn you, Yu Sheng! Put me down!" Erin, with her arms spread, vigorously kicked in the air. The drying rod passed through her sleeves, hanging her from the back on the rack, swaying in the air like a wind-dried salted fish, "Temporary ban! Just a temporary ban! Just twelve hours; my account can still be saved, you're not really going to hang me for twelve hours, are you——doesn't your conscience hurt? At least hang me in a more comfortable position!"

"If I used clips, you'd definitely have wriggled free," Yu Sheng, seated on the nearby sofa, glanced sideways at the hang-drying doll lady, "I'm hanging you there so you remember not to mess with my stuff again, don't worry, I'll definitely let you down before dinner——but if there's a next time, I'll hang you in the basement."

The moment the doll lady heard this, she immediately started making a huge fuss, showing her indomitable spirit and resistance to violent threats: "I was wrong, I was wrong! I won't dare to do it again, let me down, let me down…"

Her main spirit of resistance was having no spirit of resistance at all. Despite being terrible at playing games, cursing filthily, being hot-tempered, and having a poor memory, she was quick to admit defeat.

Yu Sheng treated the commotion she caused as background noise and ignored her.

Hu Li cautiously approached, still holding a bag of potato chips. She looked up at the doll hanging on the drying rack, then at Yu Sheng, hesitating for two or three seconds before speaking softly, "Savior, Erin seems to really know she was wrong, why don't you let her down?"

As she spoke, she handed over the potato chips: "Eat something, and you won't be angry anymore."

Yu Sheng casually grabbed a few chips and tossed them in his mouth, then turned his head to glance at Erin before carelessly turning on the TV.

The little doll immediately quieted down and began to focus earnestly on the TV screen.

"See? She's just noisy, but if everyone ignores her, she'll just stop," Yu Sheng sighed, speaking to Hu Li with the attitude of someone experienced, "That's just how tough meat is."

"Oh," Hu Li nodded, apparently not quite comprehending the meaning of "tough meat."

And just then, a "bang" came from upstairs, diverting everyone's attention in the living room.

The hanging Erin immediately raised her head, looking up through the floorboards: "Hey, Yu Sheng, what fell upstairs? Did the ladder in the attic corner fall?"

Yu Sheng rose from the sofa, his brows furrowed as he looked toward the second floor.

"...No, the sound came from the end of the hallway on the second floor," he suddenly said in a low voice, "We need to go up and check."

Hu Li immediately stood up, her tail unsheathing with a "buzz": "I'll go with you!"

"Hey, let me down too! I'm coming as well!" Erin also shouted immediately, "I feel something sketchy about that noise, I need to protect you guys in case something happens!"

"Who's going to protect whom is still up for debate," Yu Sheng casually mocked her, but still went forward to unhinge the drying rod from the rack, tipping it downward to let the little doll slide off the rod onto the floor, "This time is overlooked, but next time you're really getting hung in the basement."

Erin steadied herself after stumbling on the floor and indignantly straightened her clothes, turning to Yu Sheng to make a face.

A face that said, "Although I admit defeat quickly, I still dare to do it next time and I dare to show you right now."

Yu Sheng, however, didn't care, simply stretched out his limbs and signaled Hu Li with a glance, leading the way to the stairs going to the second floor.

Arriving on the second floor, he walked straight to the end of the hallway, to the door of the room that once had Erin's oil painting hanging in it.

The door was closed tight, and everything was silent inside as if there were no irregularities.

But Yu Sheng was now more certain than ever that the loud "thud" they heard definitely came from this room's direction.

He still remembered, this room turned from an empty space into a usual room with simple furnishings, after being opened once before, and the only thing in the entire room that could make a sound of a heavy object falling would be a mirror hanging on the wall——but that mirror was firmly fixed, he couldn't pull it off even using great effort.

Moreover, if it really was the mirror falling, there should have been the accompanying sound of shattering glass.

Yu Sheng stepped forward and grasped the peculiar handle next to the door hinges, slowly turning it.

"Don't open it yet," Erin muttered in a low voice, spreading her hands at the same time, black "Spider Silk" extended from her fingertips, creeping through the crack under the door, little by little spreading into the room, "Let me scout out the situation first."

Seeing this, Hu Li also "pop" removed one of her ears, pressing her fluffy fox ear against the door, moving it slowly like a stethoscope, her expression extra serious.

Yu Sheng couldn't help but mumble, "Can't you two act a little more normal?"

"I'm perfectly normal!" Erin responded in her mind, "It's this silly fox that's not normal."

"Savior," just then, the fox girl whispered, breaking the silence as she pressed her ears back onto her head, "There's no activity inside."

"I don't sense any abnormal presence either," Erin retracted her black threads at this moment, "Let's open the door and take a look."

Yu Sheng nodded and slowly pushed the door open a crack.

In reality, he also felt that their precautions were a bit over the top; after all, they were at home, and it was odd that a mere noise from upstairs had the three of them on high alert at the door, investigating and preparing for defense. But he knew that this caution was also a necessity.

After all, No. 66 Wutong Road was an Exotic Realm, and this room at the end of the second-floor hallway had been off from the beginning.

As the door opened, a residual chill blew in.

Yu Sheng shivered from the strange cold air and was instantly on alert.

Why would there be such a cold wind inside a room? It felt... as if a cold gust from a snowy mountain, mingled with the breath of ice and snow, was blowing in!

However, when the door was fully opened, he found the room... to be that same ordinary room.

A simple bed, chairs and table, a mirror hanging on the wall, the old flooring, the faded and slightly peeling at the edges wallpaper, and plain curtains.

The room was unchanged, with no invaders from an Alternate Dimension, nor a big hole leading to another world torn apart.

Yu Sheng did not lower his guard but still cautiously watched his surroundings as he slowly entered the room.

Erin also stepped in, curiously looking around the room that was "supposedly hers."

The little doll suddenly noticed something: "Hey! Yu Sheng, look at the base of the wall! Near the door!"

Yu Sheng immediately turned in the direction of Erin's pointing finger.

He saw at the base of the wall on either side of the door, the floor was speckled with white flecks, and there were a few small puddles of water slowly disappearing on the floor.

"...Is this snow?" Yu Sheng leaned closer and incredulously discovered that the white accumulations were indeed snow, and because of the room's warmth, the snow was rapidly melting into water marks.

Erin looked puzzled: "...Snowing inside the house? How bizarre is that?"

"Judging by the shape of the accumulated snow, it seems as if it was blown against the wall by a strong wind and gradually built up," Yu Sheng frowned as he carefully observed the snow marks on the wall that had not yet completely melted, feeling even more puzzled.

Meanwhile, Hu Li squatted beside the wall, pressing her nose against it and sniffing intently.

"The scent of a living creature," the demon fox girl said seriously, "This snow comes from a place with living creatures."

Erin was shocked: "You can tell that from the smell?!"

Hu Li was quite proud: "Foxes have very keen noses."

"This is even more sensitive than a dog's nose…" Erin couldn't help but exclaim.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Yu Sheng suddenly caught sight of something.

He walked over to the nearby table and bent down to pick up a dark, palm-sized Metal Part from under the table.

It was a strange Metal Part whose purpose wasn't clear; it appeared to be a manifold device used to connect multiple pipes and valves, with several threaded openings and a hollow interior. It was light in his hand but seemed quite sturdy.

Erin also approached when she saw the odd device in Yu Sheng's hand, she paused in surprise: "Uh... I guess this thing isn't something that originally belonged in this room, right?"

"Of course not," Yu Sheng shook his head, "Just like it wouldn't normally snow in this room, there shouldn't be any such strange Part here that looks like it's been dismantled from some sort of machine."

While talking, he cautiously approached the mirror facing the door.

The mirror reflected the room.

But he suddenly furrowed his brow.

Because in that seemingly normal image of the room within the mirror's depths, there was a vague overlay of another scene—that seemed like a cave, not a big one, and outside its entrance, snow was swirling in the air.

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