Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 318: Between Life and Death

Chapter 318: Chapter 318: Between Life and Death

The golden-haired female knight, clad in armor, stood silently before Yu Sheng. In the distance lay the boundless grassy wilderness, and beside them was a fire that once sheltered the children, now cold and extinguished.

But the knight’s gaze did not fall upon Yu Sheng—she simply stood there quietly, like a statue that had been here for ages, her eyes fixed on the distant landscape as if not focusing on anything at all.

After a moment of surprise, Yu Sheng walked over curiously, yet the golden-haired girl showed no reaction to his approach.

"...Hello?"

Yu Sheng tried to greet her, waving his hand before her eyes, but received no response.

Yu Sheng furrowed his brow, observing carefully, and finally noticed something amiss.

Though the "female knight" appeared very real, her silhouette seemed to emit a faint, unreal glow, as if she wasn’t entirely present.

Yu Sheng circled her twice, finally confirming that what stood before him was merely a kind of phantom.

Yet, he felt that she was not just a shadow—even though she didn’t react to the outside world and stood dazedly, he had the feeling that this shadow was "alive."

This feeling was quite subtle.

Yu Sheng paused, settling his thoughts, attempting to perceive the situation inside the spaceship.

The "Holy Coffin" was still operating, the hull of the Artificial Saintess remained in slumber, showing no signs of "Resurrection."

However, her "soul"... had arrived in this Sanctuary Wilderness.

Yu Sheng instinctively pondered, attempting to analyze the situation before him:

The Artificial Saintess had contacted his blood multiple times, although she constantly resisted the power within it. As a result, she, like the children of the "Fairy Tales," had undergone a complete "Blood Transfer" process;

Those who experienced "Blood Transfer" would have their mind protected. Upon encountering a lethal mental attack or contamination, their consciousness would be "transferred" to this mysterious wilderness, and the Artificial Saintess, possessing a human soul, breaking the chains of the mind, could enter the Sanctuary Wilderness like a "human," which was quite reasonable;

The Artificial Saintess’s mind was severely traumatized during the process of breaking these chains, and severe conflicts in memory and perception might trigger the "Protection" effect...

Yu Sheng felt that the situation before him could be explained, yet the only thing he couldn’t figure out was the phantom’s dazed state.

After pondering for a moment, he decided to consult an expert.

"Erin!!"

He called out in his mind, and within seconds, heard the lively response of the little puppet: "Hey, hey, I heard you! What are you doing suddenly shouting while I’m asleep... Ah, why are you in the wilderness?"

With the last words echoing, a disturbance suddenly stirred in the air, and Yu Sheng saw an oil painting frame materialize out of thin air. Inside the painting, Erin stared with wide eyes, seemingly a bit annoyed for being summoned while asleep.

Yu Sheng didn’t waste time on pleasantries, grabbed the painting frame, and shifted its angle: "Come and see this."

"Hey, don’t be so rude. Can you show some gentleness..." Erin immediately started chattering, but midway through, she noticed the armored golden-haired figure standing opposite, and her words were cut short. After a two-second pause, she reacted, "Wait! Who’s that? Where did you pick up this native specialty?!"

Yu Sheng felt a headache immediately: "Do you think such a person looks like a native specialty?"

Erin shifted the painting frame: "Then you brought back a respectable..."

Yu Sheng, recognizing her words were going nowhere good, interrupted her directly: "That’s the ’C-type buckle.’

Erin almost dropped the painting frame.

"What?!" The little puppet lunged at Yu Sheng’s face, jumping inside the painting, "C-type buckle? Looks like this?!"

"I told you before, she used to be a person," Yu Sheng stretched a hand to push the painting frame aside, pointing to the golden-haired girl standing a short distance away, "This is her in previous form. I found her here just after sleep, without any external response. I summoned you to check her condition."

Though Erin usually seemed careless, her reactions were swift when in her familiar territory. She quickly understood the reason for "C-type buckle" appearing in this Sanctuary Wilderness, floating over to the golden-haired girl: "Got it, the symptoms seem like the brain went offline, let me take a look."

As she spoke, she circled the golden-haired girl twice, adopting a thoughtful expression inside the painting frame, then raised her hands—

Thick as hair, black threads started spilling out from the bottom of the frame, like churning mud, like the tentacles of a living creature, writhing and stretching under Erin’s control, spreading beyond the cursed oil painting, tangling in the air, and winding towards the body of the blonde girl.

Even though Yu Sheng had seen Erin’s abilities countless times before, watching the scene of these "threads" spreading out from the cursed oil painting still made the corner of his mouth twitch. He instinctively furrowed his brow, muttering to himself, "I mean, can’t you adjust the style of these skills? This looks a bit excessively creepy."

Erin turned the frame around, controlling the threads while giving Yu Sheng a sidelong glance, "Did I ever say anything when you splattered someone’s face with blood?"

Yu Sheng fell silent.

Erin continued to use the threads to examine the "illusion" in front of her.

This process didn’t last long. Just a few minutes later, Yu Sheng saw all the threads beginning to retract back into the frame.

"Did you find anything out?" he immediately stepped forward to ask, "What’s her situation?"

"Incomplete psyche, severely torn," Erin wiped her hands in the oil painting (though it’s unclear what there was to wipe, but she probably thought it looked professional), "Strictly speaking, what’s standing here is just a fragment, with many parts... I couldn’t find them."

Yu Sheng’s brows immediately furrowed tightly.

Although he wasn’t an expert in this field, from Erin’s few words, he could tell how severe the situation was.

But he still held some hope: "...Can it be healed?"

Erin’s eye twitched, looking at Yu Sheng a bit helplessly, "Your car is broken, missing a windshield; you take it to the repair shop, they can fix it, but if all you have is the windshield, and you ask the repair shop to give it a go, I’d suggest seeing a psychiatrist. While the car may not be fixable, this... might at least be covered by insurance..."

Yu Sheng: "If you can’t, just say you can’t, do you have to..."

His words had barely left his mouth when he caught a flash of golden light out of the corner of his eye.

The female knight lifted her sword with lightning speed, indiscernible even to the naked eye, then laid the blade flat and struck down decisively. With a loud "clunk," the supposedly illusory sword blade solidly struck the frame, causing Erin to cry out and get knocked to the ground.

Let alone Erin not reacting, even Yu Sheng was caught off guard. He stood there dumbstruck, and when he looked up again, he found the female knight had resumed her previous vacant stance as if she hadn’t moved at all.

Only Erin still embedded in the ground could prove that the earlier scene was not an illusion.

The next second, Erin "popped" out from the ground, shaking the frame to knock off the dirt while leaping up and down in the oil painting: "Who! Who hit with a huge hammer! Who ambushed me!"

Yu Sheng then awoke from his stupor, pointing incredulously at the blonde girl standing not far away: "Her."

Erin was momentarily dumbfounded, turned the frame to look, then turned to Yu Sheng: "...Are you kidding me?"

"It was really her, she suddenly moved, I clearly saw it," Yu Sheng was sincere, "She even held back, didn’t use the blade, just laid it flat to slap."

"I... she..." Erin’s eyes bulged, she rushed over to the blonde girl’s side, circled around her twice, but still wore a "you’re joking with me" expression, "How is this possible! It can’t be... I checked thoroughly, and look, she’s standing there dazed again now!"

Yu Sheng was just as stumped as Erin, even though he’d witnessed it moments ago, he was bewildered, joining the side of the girl, attempting to converse with her, but as before, he got no response.

"No, my check definitely wasn’t wrong, her psyche is undoubtedly torn, at least what stands here is a small part," Erin murmured in Yu Sheng’s ear, "But as you said, she indeed moved... this means she can still think and act? But it’s unreasonable... wait, could it be related to the part remaining in reality?"

Yu Sheng frowned: "What do you mean?"

"She’s still in a near-death state in reality, isn’t she?" Erin casually mentioned, "Strictly speaking, she’s already died once, even went through your Dead Communication procedure, but because the ’Artificial Saintess’ life form is so unique, combined with the fact she came in contact with your blood, given life under the ’Puppet’ standard, could it be because of this? Neither fully dead nor alive, her shell simultaneously in a state of life and death, causing her soul and psyche to split, one half receiving ’Near-Death Protection’ here, the other undying part still in the Holy Coffin over there?"

Yu Sheng’s face gradually showed a thoughtful and unexpected expression, staring intently at the little puppet before him.

Erin: "Why are you looking at me? I just said it offhandedly..."

Yu Sheng very candidly: "I just didn’t expect you to have a moment of sudden brilliance."

Erin thought for a moment, then exploded furiously: "Yu Sheng, you @$%&!"

But Yu Sheng ignored the little puppet’s subsequent furious tantrum—he extended one hand, grabbed the frame floating around wildly, tucked it under his arm, then gazed at the blonde girl standing in the wilderness, lost in deep thought.

Simultaneously in a state of life and death... could it be?