The sun had already risen, and the morning sunlight completely dispersed the dimness above the attic. Faintly from outside the window came the gradually increasing sounds of voices and vehicles on the streets, along with some unknown birds squawking on nearby rooftops, producing chirping noises.

But all of these did not interrupt Yu Sheng's concentration.

He held a doll's head that was nearly finished shaping — it was still a lump of rather hard clay — and was carefully pressing out the contours of the eyes and nose with a knitting needle, taking a long time to complete this step. He even had to redo it several times before finally reaching a relatively satisfactory condition before the clay became too hard to work with.

It still couldn't be considered perfect, definitely no match for models made by professionals, but Yu Sheng felt that at least this little head wouldn't be criticized by Erin as extraordinarily ugly anymore, at least... maybe the small doll wouldn't cry when entering it?

A slight, proud smile appeared on his face. He looked up at the several candles on the table and noticed that most of them had burned down.

It seemed that the "face makeup" step was doomed not to be completed before the candles burned out. For Yu Sheng now, just finishing the doll's body parts was already pretty good.

However, Yu Sheng wasn't too disappointed, after all, besides experimenting, this was also practice for him. To master the entire process several more times before making another official body for Erin was beneficial. Whether or not it had makeup, the doll itself didn't really care.

After all, Erin herself could "grow" her face into a very attractive appearance.

Yu Sheng softly exhaled, picked up the doll's torso that he just finished, ready to place it at the focus of the alchemy array in the center of the table — since it was a practice of the process, he needed to complete the whole set, even if Erin wasn't here, he wanted to fully execute this ritualistic feel.

But after placing the torso at the center of the table, he couldn't help but frown.

He wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but he felt that the lump of clay had a slight... eerie "elasticity" and a bit of warmth.

But when Yu Sheng looked at it closely again and touched it, that strange feeling disappeared, and it turned back into an ordinary clay creation, which had already become somewhat dry on the surface.

Was it because he slept too little last night, causing a sensation of daze?

The thought came to Yu Sheng's mind, but he didn't just dismiss his suspicions simply. Instead, he connected other parts of the doll to the torso using a small amount of clay mixed with softener and water, while carefully observing the changes in this "body."

He quickly completed the assembly process; a rough, unadorned doll's body lay quietly at the center of the "alchemy array" composed of concentric circles and connecting lines. The candles silently burned around it. Except for the missing painting of Erin as the "soul source," this doll-making ritual was complete.

Yu Sheng stared intently at the body in front of him, at some moment, he thought he saw a blur.

Then, he saw the doll's chest begin to rise and fall faintly.

Very subtle, but truly undulating, as if a tiny life was sleeping within the clay, not yet awakened, but already "existing."

Yu Sheng's eyes widened instantly, after a second or two of stupefaction, he finally realized what had happened and immediately leaned forward, gently touching the "breathing" doll's body: "Wake up, wake up… Are you really, alive?"

However, the doll's body did not respond as he had hoped. Although its chest movements had become obvious and stabilized, the entire "activation" process seemed to have stopped there, with no further signs of awakening.

It was as if it was just an empty shell still waiting for something to fill it.

Yu Sheng took a deep breath, then shook his head vehemently, and turned to shout towards the staircase leading downstairs: "Erin! Erin, are you awake? Come up and see what I've made…"

Yu Sheng stopped abruptly midway through his shout, because his peripheral vision caught movement on the table.

The moment he shouted the name "Erin," the doll's body suddenly changed, as if completing the most crucial step of the ritual. The body tensed up sharply, then its limbs quickly took on a skin tone representing vitality. It began to rapidly grow hair, facial features becoming vivid and dimensional, bright colors emerging, followed by that familiar black dress. It all took only a few seconds, and an "Erin" was lying in front of Yu Sheng, slowly opening her eyes.

Yu Sheng watched this scene, dumbfounded, and then, he saw "Erin," who had just been a lump of clay just moments ago, suddenly come out of her initial daze, the small doll suddenly sitting up, turning her head to look at Yu Sheng: "What are you yelling for! I was just asleep when you…"

She suddenly stopped, seeming to realize something was wrong. This "new body" stiffly turned its neck, looking around in a strange posture.

"Hey wait a minute, what did you make for me, wasn't I in the bedroom... wait, why does this body feel... I feel groggy…"

The little doll said blankly and somewhat frantically, instinctively trying to get up from the table and walk towards Yu Sheng, but as soon as she got up, she felt as if the world was spinning around, her body swayed twice and then slowly fell down from the edge of the table: "Ahh—I can't keep my balance! I see double vision! I now have two perspectives… pull me up, pull me up…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Yu Sheng had already reacted, quickly stepping forward to catch the falling doll, then before he could even catch his breath, he heard a loud "bang" from downstairs.

Two exclamations from Erin entered Yu Sheng's ears simultaneously: "Oh my god—"

One was clear and resonant, coming from the doll's body in front of him; one was distant and fuzzy, coming from downstairs.

"Yu Sheng, what's happening, why do I now have two perspectives? Am I in two places? No, no, why..." Yu Sheng heard the doll in his hands saying anxiously, "Why do I now have two bodies?!"

The situation was completely beyond Yu Sheng's expectations, but at this moment he also realized what had happened. After forcibly setting aside the disbelief in his heart, he quickly ran towards the stairs with the "new Erin" in his arms, clattering down to the second floor, and ran back to his own bedroom.

The little doll in his arms clung tightly to his arm, as if afraid of falling off.

As soon as he opened the door, Yu Sheng saw Erin, who was barely maintaining balance by leaning on the bedside table; the latter almost simultaneously raised her head.

The doll in his arms and the doll standing on the floor by the bedside table looked at each other.

"…Wow!"

Both mouths spoke in unison.

"I have two bodies!"

Still in unison.

At this point, Yu Sheng's head was spinning, he looked doubtfully at the two identical dolls, and after a long pause, he finally uttered, "Erin? Are you really both?"

"Yes." Both dolls nodded simultaneously.

"No, I mean, is there only one consciousness in you?" Yu Sheng felt this was ambiguous and quickly added, "One consciousness in two bodies? Or are there now two Erins?"

"One, yes," both dolls spoke simultaneously again, but this time Erin quickly realized, the one in Yu Sheng's arms suddenly shut her mouth; the one standing on the ground raised her hand and pointed at herself, "Just one, only… suddenly another body appeared."

As she spoke, she tried to let go of the bedside table, staggered and stood in place for a few seconds, clutching her head: "Oh dear, finally stabilized… I almost threw up earlier, you know? At first, I didn't realize what was happening, I just felt that I woke up in the attic, then immediately the perspective from this bed also opened its eyes, both visions and perceptions crashed onto me, and the moment I got up, I simultaneously fell from both the table and the bed, luckily you caught one..."

Erin once stabilized, began talking incessantly, and halfway through, she seemed to think of something, raising her head to look at Yu Sheng: "Wait, Yu Sheng, why are there two bodies appearing? And... I'm in both bodies simultaneously?"

Yu Sheng's face tightened instantly, a nameless embarrassment surged from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, he hadn't had time to think properly how to explain this miraculous phenomenon to the doll when he came rushing down, and after a long breath, he finally blurted out: "…Would you believe me if I said our attic is so damp that it's sprouting dolls?"

Erin looked at Yu Sheng blankly: "…Is that so?"

Yu Sheng: "…?"

Why did she actually believe it?!

Now that the doll reacted this way, Yu Sheng felt really embarrassed to actually fool her, so he just went to the bed, first put the "Erin No.2" on the bed, then tried to straighten his expression, and slowly began:

"It's like this, I couldn't sleep tonight, suddenly got inspired to do some scientific research, went upstairs and did a little experiment…"

Yu Sheng thoroughly explained to the "victim" in front of him the process of creating Erin's "backup body," even remembering to add what his mental process was while doing these things.

The doll's expression changed from confusion, to surprise, then back to confusion, and finally turned into frustration.

"Yu Sheng, dammit!!"

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