Chapter 62 – The Ghost Living in the Borderland

Chapter 62 – The Ghost Living in the Borderland

It was the first time Li Lin had ever seen the normally steady and dependable Captain Song wearing such a deeply furrowed brow, looking as though he were facing a formidable enemy.

“So… that eyeball-form Twilight Angel just silently left the Otherworld it had parasitized, without attempting to contaminate or control anyone, and without leaving behind any ‘offspring’?” Song Cheng spoke only after a long silence, having listened to the full report from the two Special Operations Bureau agents before him. “And throughout the entire process, neither of you heard any ‘higher-dimensional whispers’ or anything of that nature in your minds?”

“No,” Xu Jiali shook her head, her voice low. “But that thing definitely noticed us. For one instant, I could clearly feel that sense of being ‘watched’ — its focal point of vision fell right on where we were hiding. It was as if…”

Song Cheng furrowed his brow. “As if?”

Xu Jiali thought back for a moment, then said with some uncertainty, “As if it were searching for something.”

Song Cheng tapped the desk irritably with his fingers, saying nothing for the moment.

After another ten-odd seconds, he finally let out a long breath and turned to look at Li Lin. “When you made contact with this person who calls himself ‘Yu Sheng,’ did you sense any aura of ‘alienation’ about him? Going by instinct, would you say he seemed more like a human, or more like… something else?”

“Like a human. At the very least, his speech, mannerisms, and social awareness were all human. If he were an entity disguised as a person, then the disguise was simply too perfect — so perfect that you might as well just consider him an actual person.” Li Lin said this with certainty.

“But he’s been ‘living’ long-term at ‘No. 66 Wutong Road,’ a place that doesn’t even exist in the real world. It’s an Otherworld that appears in no official records whatsoever,” Song Cheng sighed. “Otherworlds only generate ‘entities.’ They don’t generate… humans.”

Xu Jiali, who had been silent beside them, spoke up at this point. “There are indeed some ‘entities’ in this world that possess rationality and are capable of communication. Some that are particularly friendly or have desires regarding the real world can even cooperate with humans — like ‘Story Person’ and ‘Passenger No. 22.’ They even appear to have certain human characteristics…”

“But they’re still on a completely different level from this ‘Yu Sheng’ you’ve described — in terms of ‘human resemblance,'” Song Cheng shook his head and looked at Xu Jiali. “Can you confirm he’s the same ‘Door Opener’ you saw on Aymein-IX?”

“Confirmed, but he completely failed to recognize me,” Xu Jiali nodded. “I was wearing a full set of Powered Armor and a mental shield at the time. It seems his perceptive abilities can’t penetrate that kind of equipment.”

“Limited perceptive abilities. Highly developed personality traits. The ability to open ‘Doors’ at will. Capable of combating Hunger Entities that have been greatly strengthened by Twilight Angel influence, though the specifics of how he killed them remain a mystery… He appears to be deliberately concealing his combat methods…” Song Cheng slowly summarized the intelligence they had gathered so far, thinking aloud as he spoke. “And there’s one more thing…”

“He’s very friendly toward humans,” Li Lin said from beside him.

“Yes, very friendly toward humans. He’s even willing to proactively make contact with Bureau agents.” Song Cheng nodded slightly. He seemed about to say something more, but the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor outside the door, cutting off his next words.

A knock sounded, and then a short girl with cropped hair pushed the door open and walked in, holding a file folder. “Captain Song, the Archives Department sent over the materials.”

Song Cheng’s eyes widened slightly in an instant. “…They actually found records on this ‘Yu Sheng’?!”

“Yes, but if you search directly through the system, it shows the identity as cancelled. The cancellation timestamp is the same day the current Borderland population records system was established — meaning from the very beginning, this person was already ‘gone.’ It was even before his recorded date of birth. Yet somehow, after the cancellation date, this person’s identity information has remained in an ‘active’ state the whole time. The word ‘cancelled’ is like some inconsequential watermark on the system display,” the short-haired girl placed the folder on Song Cheng’s desk, her face full of disbelief. “You can even find recent purchase records, social registrations, and transportation logs under this ID number — all conducted normally despite the system showing the identity as cancelled.”

Song Cheng picked up the folder while raising his head in surprise. “A bug this serious, and the system never flagged it?”

“Never. The Information Center is already arranging overtime for tonight. When I passed by, I saw Director Wu emitting piercing shrieks…”

“…Let him shriek. He does that a few times every month anyway.” Song Cheng shook his head and looked down at the materials in his hands.

From start to finish, it all appeared to be a perfectly ordinary resident’s file, with perfectly ordinary daily spending records — except for the glaringly red “CANCELLED” watermark on every page, and the address “No. 66 Wutong Road,” which should never have appeared in the records system at all.

Song Cheng swiveled his chair around and turned on the computer on his desk. He opened one of the Bureau’s internal applications, entered the keywords “No. 66 Wutong Road,” and hit enter — only to get an error message.

“A ghost… a ghost living in the Borderland, casting an indelible shadow within our complex population management system. He didn’t even appear recently — according to this ‘Yu Sheng’ himself, he’s been living in this city for over twenty years, which matches what the records show,” Song Cheng muttered quietly, his expression rather grim — though this was mainly due to his frequent overtime shifts lately. “Nobody ever noticed. Not even the Director’s eyes caught sight of him — until now, when he himself chose to step forward and make contact with us.”

Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged a glance, each seeing a trace of gravity in the other’s eyes.

— Fortunately, this “ghost” had no interest in causing destruction, and had even believed all along that he was just an “ordinary person.”

Just then, Song Cheng’s gaze caught on another entry in the file.

“…A writer?” He raised his eyebrows in some surprise. “This ghost even has a job?”

“Freelance writer. He contributes to some small magazines and media accounts, writing horror stories or third-rate screenplays. He’s not well-known, and he’s barely written anything recently.”

Song Cheng thought for a moment. “…A flop?”

The short-haired girl replied with a perfectly serious expression. “He can support himself. That’s not really a flop.”

“…What’s his writing like?”

“There’s a short story at the end of the file. I found it in a magazine from last year — I figured you might be interested.”

Song Cheng immediately flipped to the last page and quickly scanned it.

The short-haired girl watched Captain Song with a hint of anticipation. “What do you think?”

Song Cheng was silent for a moment, a pained expression crossing his face. “I… don’t really understand what young people are into these days.”

With that, he immediately cleared his throat twice, casually closed the folder, and straightened his expression. “But regardless, this is a lead very much worth following up on. Have someone collect everything this ‘Yu Sheng’ has ever written. Do a psychological profile and personality assessment. Also, keep a close eye on his future… uh, ‘creative output.'”

He paused, then added, “A ‘suspected entity’ that believes itself to be human — one that not only thinks like a human but can even create like one. His works will inevitably reveal his inner thought processes and emotions in their truest form. Something like this has never happened before. It must be taken seriously — but he must not be allowed to notice.”

“Understood, Captain Song.”

The short-haired girl left the office with the materials, and Song Cheng’s gaze returned to Xu Jiali and Li Lin.

“Regarding the ‘spatial rifts’ being generated in the Borderland — did you ask him what that was about?”

At this, Li Lin immediately looked a bit embarrassed and glanced at Xu Jiali beside him. Seeing that she had no intention of speaking up, he had no choice but to steel himself and say, “…I forgot to ask.”

“How could you forget that?!”

“We were under extreme mental strain at the time. It was probably an aftereffect of witnessing the Twilight Angel,” Xu Jiali finally spoke up, the seasoned veteran immediately coming to the rescue of Li Lin, the newcomer. “But although we didn’t ask directly, we did pick up some intelligence while retreating to the concealment point alongside Yu Sheng’s two companions.”

“You mean the puppet and the fox spirit?”

“Yes. Based on what they mentioned in conversation, the so-called ‘spatial rifts’ were apparently just… Yu Sheng trying to open a Door, in order to rescue the fox spirit who was trapped in an Otherworld.”

Song Cheng stared. “…That’s it?”

“That should be it.”

“…He threw the entire Borderland into upheaval just to find a path, opening and closing a few Doors?!”

Xu Jiali’s face twitched. “Actually, it only really shook the Bureau…”

Noticing the expression on the captain’s face, he immediately stopped talking.

Song Cheng sat behind his desk fuming, and only after quite a while did he wave his hand in exhaustion, both physically and mentally. “Alright, you two are dismissed for now. This matter is fairly significant — I need to discuss it further with the higher-ups.”

The two of them looked at each other, and Xu Jiali hesitated before speaking. “So when we formally make contact with this ‘Yu Sheng’ later… do we follow standard protocol?”

“Don’t worry about that for now. This will most likely have to go through the Director,” Song Cheng sighed. “If that Yu Sheng were really just an ‘ordinary person,’ I’d send the two of you over directly. But the situation now isn’t that simple. Go home and rest — oh, and don’t forget to stop by the ‘treatment room’ first. Get your checkups done and fill out the forms before you leave. Starting tomorrow, you’ve got three days off.”

(End of Chapter)