Starting with dissecting ghost stories

After packing his things, Shen Xing took a suitcase and went straight out to hail a taxi.

He needs to buy some things, but not too many eye-catching ones.

In particular, it's not appropriate to buy a few dolls as new carriers for the potentially abnormal dolls, and to parade around with a few dolls around.

Pick one that's usable and give it to the doll, while the others that aren't useful can be given to Shen Yuan. That way, even if someone finds out that Shen Xing bought dolls, Shen Xing will have an excuse.

Shen Xing couldn't explain what the wigs and printed photos were for.

Rather, no one would bother to find out what Shen Xing was going to buy or why he was buying it.

Shen Xing quickly printed out the photos; this was the simplest method.

Next, Shen Xing went to a shopping mall and bought a cheap set of children's clothes.

In the largest shopping mall in this small town, Shen Xing also found a toy store and bought a few popular dolls.

There's an arm-sized Hello Kitty plush toy, a larger Miffy plush toy, and a smaller cotton doll that resembles a child model.

What pained Shen Xing the most was that this nicely decorated but deserted toy store was selling only genuine dolls. If possible, Shen Xing would rather buy pirated ones to save money.

Moreover, in the most conspicuous place in the store, Shen Xing saw some more lifelike dolls. When the young shopkeeper heard that Shen Xing wanted to buy them for his sister, he vigorously promoted them.

This seems to be a BJD ball-jointed doll. There are no obvious mold lines at the joints, and even the skin is like solidified cream, giving it a high-end feel.

And judging by the price, it certainly looks high-end.

A nude doll without makeup, clothes, and a wig costs 5,000 RMB, while a fully equipped official version can cost tens of thousands of RMB.

As for the limited edition, it's completely sold out; one doll is worth as much as a car.

What kind of family bought this? You know, even apartments in the new district of the provincial capital only cost a little over two thousand yuan per square meter.

I asked around and found out that these were the shop owner's own collection, but he also sold them.

The reason Shen Xing lingered in front of these dolls for so long was because he thought they were perfect.

If the core of a doll could truly be surgically transplanted into something else and remain active, then BJD dolls would definitely be the most suitable.

The lifelike skin and movable joints give the doll greater flexibility and mobility, as well as better camouflage capabilities.

Shen Xing's thoughtfulness as he stood in front of the doll was mistaken by the shop owner for being short of money. She generously offered him a 10% discount, but Shen Xing thanked her, paid the bill, and left.

Using an authentic doll as a new body for an abnormal doll is already a huge investment; how could someone possibly spend almost half a year's salary to buy an authentic BJD doll?

As for wigs, BJD doll wigs are all on the smaller side, custom-made to fit the doll's head shape, and are very expensive. Shen Xing decided to go to a hair salon first.

This is where the real dilemma lies.

Ready-made hairpieces are available here.

But they were all brightly colored synthetic wigs, exuding a strong non-mainstream vibe.

It's hard to imagine how bizarre it would look to have this hair on a child's head.

but......

If those mycelium-like things were transplanted onto the Rascal or the white Hello Kitty, would they lose their human-like effect?

In the end, what others will see is just a rabbit or a cat walking around?

Shen Xing finally bought a few strands of unprocessed, natural braids, intending to glue them on or staple them directly into the doll's scalp.

Real hair isn't cheap either, costing 200 yuan per bunch, which is about 50cm long.

Carrying a suitcase full of luggage and a wealth of questions and curiosity, Shen Xing returned to the garage.

Aside from when he first rented this place, this was the first time he had come here during the day. However, it was unusually quiet during the day, and there were no old men and women chatting even next to the old exercise equipment in the community.

The relocation needs to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Shen Xing opened the rusty garage door, pulled his suitcase inside, and skillfully closed the door, turned on the lights, and turned on the exhaust fan.

Putting down his bag, Shen Xing looked into the depths of the garage and saw the still-standing doll.

Yesterday, due to time constraints, Shen Xing's experiment was only half completed before it had to be stopped. He also had to do a thorough cleaning afterwards, which wasted a lot of time.

This resulted in some of the experiments that Shen Xing originally wanted to conduct not being completed at all.

This time, Shen Xing brought more complete tools, and he had more than four hours, enough time for him to figure out more things.

This is the time that truly belongs to him, and Shen Xing cherishes it.

He put on two layers of gloves, turned on the DV camera, and pointed the phone screen at the abnormal doll.

Following yesterday's method, after altering his throat, Shen Xing opened his mouth.

"Come here." Shen Xing pointed to the stainless steel operating table. "Sit on it."

The screen on the DV camera flickered just like it had last night, but this time Shen Xing was used to it. He didn't keep staring at the screen, but instead looked straight at the abnormal doll.

A gray-white snowflake flashed by, and Shen Xing felt a blur before his eyes as the doll disappeared.

Just like before... even with all my attention, I couldn't catch the trajectory with the naked eye.

This might be the reason why his body has always been abnormal... Ordinary people can't see what he can see, and he can't see what ordinary people should see.

Shen Xing shifted his gaze to the right, looking at the control panel, where the puppet was now sitting quietly.

On the DV camera screen, there sat a bald child, just like yesterday, with blurred features and intricate black lines in his eye sockets, like tangled black mycelium.

Shen Xing mounted the DV camera on a tripod and took out a wig and printed photos from his black suitcase.

He took a photo of Shen Yuan when she was four or five years old and cut out the part of her face, except for her hair, starting from the edge of her face, just like the photo on the face of the doll named "Li Xiaohua" in his memory.

A more refined photo of the face, with smoother cuts, was cropped out by Shen Xing.

He used transparent tape to cover the forehead of the photo and simply stuck the photo on top.

Then he untied the several braids he had bought and piled them together.

How do I stick this on?

Just as Shen Xing was gesturing with the hair towards the doll, the hair stuck to the doll's scalp.

No, it doesn't look like it's glued on; it's more like those black mycelium scalp protruding and wrapping around the hair.

Is that all?

Shen Xing took two steps back and glanced at the control panel. The doll sitting on it, with a human face pasted on it, was just as eerie as Li Xiaohua, whom he had seen that night.

When he looked at the screen on the DV camera, Shen Xing was slightly taken aback.

The child's previously blurry features began to become clear.

Inside the DV camera, a four- or five-year-old, naked "Shen Yuan" sits on the control panel, her long black hair hanging over her shoulders. She is looking at Shen Xing with a gentle smile, looking exactly like an innocent and adorable child.

The previously blurred sexual characteristics have now appeared, and aside from occasional image distortion, it looks like...

Just like the filming right now, it really looks like my younger sister from ten years ago.

Even Shen Xing was momentarily taken aback.

Successful.

This doll can actually be customized in appearance... and the method is simpler than Shen Xing imagined. If it doesn't need memories or voice, it doesn't even need flesh and blood.

It was a mistake not to draw a vial of blood from Shen Yuan to see if she could speak.

It's okay, I'll try it on my face when I was 18 later.

I can still draw some of my own blood on the spot.