Dimensional Hotel

Walking through the door and back into the house, Wutong Road No. 66 still looked the same as ever—filled with cheap but practical items. The decor was a bit dated but spacious. The house was warm, bright, and inviting. The old television, surprisingly, hadn’t broken down yet. Irene was perched at the table, fully absorbed in some mindless variety show. Meanwhile, her other self had dashed into the living room as soon as they arrived, hopped onto the coffee table, grabbed the remote, and turned on another TV to catch up on her urban dramas.

To be honest, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but feel impressed. The stuff Irene watched—so brainless that just glancing at it made him feel his IQ dropping—yet she could split her attention across two shows at once without losing her sanity. No wonder she wasn’t too bright.

Meanwhile, Foxy obediently went to the kitchen to wash her hands. She returned, a half-eaten piece of sausage in her mouth, wandering into the living room while fiddling with the old phone Yu Sheng had given her, still trying to figure out how it worked.

After changing his clothes, Yu Sheng heard the sounds of the entertainment show blaring from the TV, Irene’s mocking comments about the ridiculous plotlines, and her occasional giggles. Foxy, in contrast, was grumbling about how loud Irene was. Watching the chaotic scene in the living room, Yu Sheng felt a strange sense of disbelief.@@novelbin@@

He had been living in this big manor for two or three months now. Most of that time, his thoughts were preoccupied with when he could leave this place and return to the home he remembered. But at this moment—these few minutes—he realized something surprising: he felt like he was already home.

This place was familiar and comforting.

Irene leaped from the coffee table to the sofa, twisting around to find a comfortable position among the cushions. After a moment, she suddenly raised an arm and turned to complain to Foxy, “When are you going to stop shedding? The sofa is covered in fur from your tail, and now it’s stuck in my joints!”

“Well, that’s just how we demon foxes are,” Foxy replied casually, still nibbling her sausage while tinkering with the phone. “Give it two months, and it’ll settle…”

Irene paused in her plucking of stray fur from her ball-jointed limbs, looking up curiously. “Two months and you’ll stop shedding?”

Irene immediately jumped to her feet, turning to shout, “Yu Sheng! Are you seriously going to let this dumb fox keep shedding all over the place?!”

Hearing Irene’s exasperated complaint, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but smile. Strangely enough, he felt that life like this wasn’t bad at all. He walked over and sat between the doll and the fox, enjoying the brief moment of peace while keeping the two apart.

Foxy gleefully scooted closer on the sofa and draped one of her tails over Yu Sheng’s lap. “Here, Benefactor, have my tail!”

And just like that, Yu Sheng felt a series of sharp, stinging sensations across his arms and legs, as though he’d been pricked by needles.

The dry winter air had turned Foxy’s tail into a static electricity generator. The blue sparks crackling between her tails were the season’s most vibrant blooms, their silent message: It’s time to get a humidifier.

Yu Sheng was stunned. He had barely come to terms with the fact that demon foxes shed fur. Now he was learning they also became static-charged in winter. None of the ancient tales about fox spirits had mentioned this!

Foxy seemed unfazed, her other tails still rubbing against the sofa. Occasionally, they sparked and emitted faint flashes of blue light, like a tiny storm brewing.

Yu Sheng shuddered from the shocks and reached out to press down on one of Foxy’s tails, his tone both incredulous and resigned. “Your tail… generates static electricity?” 𝑅ãꞐŎ𝐁Ёṥ

“Of course!” Foxy nodded enthusiastically. “It’s super pretty at night! Rub it hard enough, and it’ll crackle for a few minutes!”

Yu Sheng was genuinely amazed, though his voice grew hesitant. “I’m okay with the winter shedding, but don’t you demons have some kind of spell to stop static electricity?”

“We do,” Foxy said.

“And…?”

“I never learned it.”

Yu Sheng was at a loss for words. As he continued cautiously stroking her tail—occasionally getting zapped despite its incredibly soft texture—his thoughts wandered to practical solutions. He began considering everything from buying large humidifiers to making Foxy wear grounded slippers or even brushing her tail with a damp comb. Gradually, a wave of drowsiness overtook him.

He had woken up far too early today, and the past few weeks had been hectic, leaving his sleep restless. As he felt himself relax, his fatigue became impossible to ignore.

With drooping eyelids, Yu Sheng sighed softly. Amid the haze of his thoughts, memories of his conversations with Bai Li Qing surfaced—about Foxy’s origins and the mysteries beyond this world.

“Foxy,” he murmured, his voice drowsy, “are you happy living here?”

Foxy froze for a moment, looking at the sleepy Yu Sheng in surprise. She thought about it quietly before a pure, genuine smile blossomed on her face. “I’m happy.”

“Oh, that’s good… as long as you’re happy…” Yu Sheng yawned, adjusting his position on the sofa before lying down. “I’m a bit tired. I’ll nap for a bit, and then I’ll cook something for you.”

Foxy responded with a soft “Okay.” When she looked down again, she saw that Yu Sheng had already fallen asleep, using one of her tails as a pillow.

The television volume was instantly turned down to its lowest setting.

Irene leaned in from the side, glancing at the already-sleeping Yu Sheng and muttering, “Why doesn’t he ever think to ask me how I feel…”

Foxy pondered for a moment and then earnestly replied, “Probably because you always look too happy. Our Benefactor must think there’s no need to ask.”

Irene immediately bared her teeth at Foxy but then looked down at Yu Sheng again. “Fine, he’s had a rough couple of days. Humans are such troublesome creatures—stress keeps them awake, and then being awake stresses them out more. At least he’s able to eat and sleep. That’s better than insomnia.”

Foxy nodded in agreement, her gaze drifting to the clock on the wall. After a moment, her expression brightened with excitement. “Hey, it’s almost time to cook!”

Irene froze, her eyes widening. “All you think about is eating! He just fell asleep! Didn’t he say he’d cook when he wakes up—”

“I know that,” Foxy interrupted, waving her hand dismissively. “But what if we cooked instead? Our Benefactor works hard to prepare meals every day. Let’s give him a break.”

“I think the main reason cooking is hard for him is you,” Irene said, rolling her eyes. “And don’t act like you’re doing something noble. Do you even know how to cook?”

Foxy puffed out her chest confidently. “I’ve been watching him cook every day—I’ve learned everything!”

“All you’ve done is sneak food while he’s cooking. When have you ever learned anything?” Irene squinted at her, suspicion in her gaze. But deep down, her resolve was starting to waver. After a few seconds of feigned seriousness, she scooted forward. “Well… I guess it’s not impossible. Even if you’re unreliable, I’m still blessed by the Ancestor of Dolls. Dolls from Alice’s Little House naturally have enhanced culinary skills. I’ll cover for you.”

“Great!” Foxy beamed, preparing to leap to her feet. But she quickly realized one of her tails was being used as Yu Sheng’s pillow. Carefully, she pulled it out, then hesitated. Plucking two more tails, she spread them over Yu Sheng like a blanket.

Under the fluffy warmth of the tails came a series of sharp crackles. Yu Sheng twitched twice in his sleep but, miraculously, didn’t wake up.

Irene was dumbfounded, staring at the scene before exclaiming, “Wow, he must be really exhausted…”

Then she noticed Foxy pulling out even more tails and hurriedly waved her hands. “Stop, stop! Are you trying to take care of him or electrocute him?!”

“I was going to lay them on the floor,” Foxy replied matter-of-factly, continuing her task. “What if he rolls off the sofa in his sleep?”

Irene watched as the static-charged tails, now fully “charged” from rubbing against the sofa, were spread neatly on the floor. For a moment, she was unsure if falling to the floor would hurt Yu Sheng more than landing on this minefield of static-enhanced fox tails. After some thought, she concluded the floor might actually be kinder.

After all, she was a doll and didn’t conduct electricity.

And so, with unwavering confidence, the duo—a self-proclaimed culinary novice and a doll blessed with questionable expertise—marched off to the kitchen to cook.

Blissfully unaware of this, Yu Sheng remained asleep on the sofa.

His consciousness had long drifted into the realm of dreams, where he floated amid surreal visions and fragmented memories. It was as though his mind had emptied, and he now rode the gentle waves of a vast, rippling lake. Yu Sheng found the experience oddly pleasant, enjoying the rare sensation of letting his thoughts wander freely.

After an indeterminate amount of time, he felt his consciousness—like a small boat adrift on the lake—slowly reach a shore.

The chaotic imagery faded, and before his eyes appeared a stable scene.

He stood in an endless gray wasteland, veiled in dim, overcast light. Unfamiliar wild grass blanketed the expanse, swaying gently under a low-hanging sky. The silence was absolute, broken only by the hollow whispers of the occasional breeze. In the distance, a solitary hill stood at the edge of the plain. It didn’t seem far, but something about it felt… unreachable.

Yu Sheng stood in the middle of the field, stunned. It took him a moment to realize that he had seen this place before.

This was his dream—one he had entered more than once. In fact, there was even a time when he had encountered Foxy’s “dream projection” here.

His brow furrowed.

He didn’t know why he had returned to this peculiar dream, but the fact that the same imagery had appeared multiple times was undoubtedly suspicious. After all, lately, everything in his life seemed suspicious.

A breeze swept by, carrying with it that hollow sound, but Yu Sheng suddenly caught a faint, distant noise—one that absolutely didn’t belong here.

It was the low, echoing howl of a wolf.