Chapter 20: Irenes Intel and Advice
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The doll-like girl within the oil painting greeted Yu Sheng with joyful surprise. Her voice carried a hint of astonishment—but there wasn’t the slightest trace of shock or fear one might expect upon seeing someone presumed dead return to life.
Yu Sheng thought to himself that Irene’s lack of reaction wasn’t because she was thick-skinned.
No, the issue was with him. But considering he’d died and come back so many times in such a short period, no matter how bizarre things happened to him now, it didn’t seem all that strange anymore.
“Kind of stumbled my way back,” Yu Sheng replied casually, turning to close the slightly ajar door. Immediately, he looked down to inspect himself, confirming that not only was his body fully restored, but even his clothes had returned to their original state.
He frowned. Connecting this to Irene’s reaction, he felt that rather than being “resurrected,” it was as if the entire event of his “death” had vanished into thin air.
He stood there, dazed in the doorway, which didn’t escape Irene’s notice. The doll in the painting asked curiously, “Yu Sheng? Are you okay? Why do you look so out of it? Oh, and tell me how you managed to come back. I tried contacting you, but it kept cutting in and out. There were all sorts of weird noises on your end. I have no idea what strange things you ran into in that Otherworld… Hey, what’s that you’re holding?”
Her reminder made Yu Sheng realize he was still gripping something tightly—it was a bizarre, ugly severed tail covered in dark scales.
Yu Sheng’s mouth twitched. “Oh man, almost forgot about this… It’s still here.”