Chapter 23 Doubts
After a quick check of the TV, Yu Sheng discovered that it was simply frozen.
The classic situation that will occur after using cheap smart devices for a long time - oops, I have been working for two hours straight and my CPU is smoking/the memory reports an error/the power supply is overheated/nothing, I just want to die...
Yu Sheng couldn't help but miss those sturdy and durable antique TVs in his memory. The household appliances back then were not as pretentious as the smart devices today. Although they had fewer functions, he felt that the various smart functions now were not very useful. Each artificial intelligence was like an artificial retard...
"Just turn off the power and wait two minutes before turning it back on," Yu Sheng sighed, turning off the TV and saying to Irene, "This thing isn't very good. It will freeze if it's on for too long."
"Then do you want to get a new one?" Irene's eyes lit up immediately. "Why not get one with voice control? Then I can change channels by myself. I can watch TV even when you're not at home..."
"How dare you make such a request?" Seeing this guy who didn't treat him as an outsider at all, Yu Sheng was actually amused. "You stayed at my house and I didn't say anything. You still want a new TV. Did you pay for it or contribute to it?"
"I..." Irene opened her mouth, her face actually turned red, and she stammered, "I, I, I don't have any money, but I have been helping you learn about foreign lands! I am more or less a consultant..."
"This consultant's memory is not that good, right? He is not even sure if what he said is reliable or not," Yu Sheng curled his lips, "If I want you to be my consultant, I have to find another consultant to be your consultant."
Irene's face flushed red, but she couldn't find any reason to refute after blushing for a long time. She could only lower her head and sulk to herself. However, she had a good attitude and recovered after three seconds. She looked up at Yu Sheng and said, "Then wait until you get me out, no matter how you get me out, I will work hard to pay you back. Besides, won't you be dealing with foreign lands in the future? I can be your helper! It should be okay to fight for you..."
Yu Sheng had never really thought about this - in fact, he had never considered what would happen if Irene really came out of this painting one day. Hearing this, he raised his eyebrows: "You? Are you sure?"
"Hey, I'm telling you, don't underestimate me! I'm Alice's puppet!" Irene stood up from the chair with her hands on her hips, and she was so proud of herself. "Living puppets are blessed. I can fight much better than those so-called investigators and spirit detectives in other worlds..."
"And then someone pressed you into the painting, right?"
Irene's eyes instantly turned red (although her eyes were originally red): "You...you you you...you'll know when I come out! Don't turn your head away!"
"Okay, okay, I believe it, I believe it." Yu Sheng turned around with a smile and waved his hands helplessly.
In fact, he had never taken this doll seriously from the beginning. After all, she just stayed in the painting. Although she stayed at home, she didn't eat his rice. Even if she was placed flat on the ground, she took up less than half a square meter of space. If she was hung on the wall, she would not get in the way. Apart from watching TV, she hardly consumed any energy, and arguing with him could help relieve boredom. What's more, she did help him gain a lot of knowledge about "another world".
As for what this guy said about working to pay off debts or being a thug after coming out of the painting...he might as well take it seriously.
The TV screen lit up again. Yu Sheng pressed a few buttons on the remote control and found a meaningless urban drama.
Erin isn't picky about TV shows - after all, Teletubbies are more interesting than wallpaper.
But at this moment, Yu Sheng looked at the TV screen in front of him and suddenly thought of something he had never cared about before.
"Erin." He turned around and looked at the doll girl in the oil painting.
"Why?"
"I remember you said that you have been sealed in the painting for a long time, right?"
"Yes, it's been many, many years. I can't even remember when I came in..."
"Then how come you know so much about modern things?" Yu Sheng asked seriously, "and you even know about smart TVs that can be controlled by voice?"
He found a loophole in Irene's words and actions.
But this is actually not a big problem. There are many explanations that can answer this question, such as she learned about the changes in the world by observing the dreams of people nearby, or she was also hung in other modern people's homes before entering this house - Yu Sheng felt that Irene's answer would most likely be like this.
But Irene responded with a dull "Huh?"
The doll in the painting seemed completely confused by this question. It even seemed like she herself was realizing this for the first time. After staring blankly for a long time, she slowly turned her head and said, "I... don't know why?"
"You don't know why?" Yu Sheng looked stunned.
"Yeah, I... was indeed trapped in this painting for a very long time. Really, it could have been decades, but... but I just know what the world is like now. Although I don't know how I know it, I..."
The puppet in the painting hesitated, and at the end seemed to begin to doubt itself, and hesitated to continue.
Yu Sheng stared at Irene's expression, trying to find any sign of lying on her face.
"Then do you remember how you were locked in this painting? And do you remember what happened before you were locked in?" he asked.
"I... just remember it was a curse," Irene said hesitantly, "This painting is also some kind of entity. I should have been there to deal with it, but I was locked in instead. I can't remember the specific process, and what happened before I was locked in... what happened before I was locked in..."
The puppet slowly stopped, as if the fragmented memories of the past had entangled her thoughts. She recalled in a daze. After an unknown amount of time, she spoke softly as if in a dream: "I am Irene from Alice's cabin, one of Alice's puppets..."
She looked up, her expression uneasy.
"Yusheng, this is all I remember."
Yu Sheng frowned deeply.
At this moment, there were so many things in his mind.
They range from weird to conspiracy to funny - but nothing is believable.
After all, he had no evidence or clues to solve the mystery of Irene.
Irene looked particularly uneasy. She hugged the teddy bear tightly in her arms, squeezing the stuffed animal so tightly that it was deformed. "Am I crazy?"
Yu Sheng crossed out the ideas in his mind about the direction of the conspiracy.
Then he looked up at Irene and added another 10% weight to the funny direction.
"If you can't remember, don't try to think about it, at least not now," he exhaled softly and shook his head at Irene, "Maybe it's because you've been locked up for too long that your memory logic is a little confused."
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"Yes, really?" Irene nodded hesitantly, and then seemed to be relieved.
Yu Sheng: “…”
No, how could she feel relieved after knowing that her memory and logic might be wrong? Doesn't this prove that her brain is really broken? ! Did what I just said comfort this guy? !
Yu Sheng's mind was instantly filled with question marks, but he had to say that Irene's reaction really dispelled a lot of the doubts that had just arisen in his mind.
Honestly, if this doll in the painting really found a perfect reason to explain her "source of modern knowledge", Yu Sheng might have been more suspicious. Instead, when she just said "Huh?" from the bottom of her heart, Yu Sheng felt that this guy's entire personality became clearer...
Thinking of this, he shook his head and walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor while casually saying, "You watch TV downstairs. I'll go upstairs and catch up on some sleep."
Irene waved her hands: "Hey, go ahead."
Yu Sheng left the restaurant and went upstairs. With the fatigue accumulated in the night valley, he yawned and walked towards his bedroom.
He was indeed tired and sleepy, and he felt even sleepier after eating and drinking. He really needed a good sleep at this time.
However, when he arrived at the bedroom door, he stopped involuntarily and looked up at the end of the corridor.
The door that was once blocked by an unknown force stood quietly in his sight.
The room at the end of the corridor was where he found Irene.
Yu Sheng frowned, something moved his mind, and walked towards that side.
When he arrived at the door, he noticed that the position of the door handle had changed. The direction of the door axis and the handle were swapped, and they were replaced with the "correct position" that he finally discovered and could successfully open the door.
After hesitating for a moment, he reached out, grasped the door handle and turned it gently.
With a slight click, the door that had once been unopenable was now opened easily like the door of every other room.
Pushing open the door, the scene in the room came into Yusheng's eyes——
The furnishings are simple and ordinary. There is a single bed and a bedside table against the wall on the left side of the door, and a wardrobe, a desk and a chair against the wall on the right side. The old floor looks a little faded, and the wall is covered with light blue wallpaper.
There is a window above the desk. Bright sunlight shines in through the window, making the whole room look bright and warm.
And on the wall facing the door, where Irene's painting used to be hung, there is now a mirror.
The mirror reflected Yu Sheng's gradually shocked expression.
(End of this chapter)
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