Chapter 72 – The World Behind the Veil

Yu Sheng’s question made Baili Qing immediately raise her eyebrows ever so slightly, though the movement was barely perceptible.

“There is of course only one Borderland,” Baili Qing said. “Something like a ‘world convergence point’ isn’t mass-produced.”

“I’m talking about ‘Boundary City,'” Yu Sheng said with a serious expression. “There’s only one Borderland, but what about Boundary City? This city situated in the Borderland—is it possible that another city similar to it exists somewhere in the world?”

He paused, looking into Baili Qing’s eyes, and said slowly, “Very similar, yet not quite the same. They share the same name, have some identically named locations, but unlike this place, it isn’t ‘extraordinary’—just an ordinary place… If this world has an observable scale of hundreds of billions of light-years or even wider, then within such a vast expanse, could a city matching my description possibly exist?”

Whether it was Yu Sheng’s imagination or not, when she heard this, Baili Qing’s expression took on an unusually serious cast.

The Bureau Chief was silent for several seconds before speaking carefully: “Regarding your ‘conjecture’—I’ll call it a conjecture for now—scholars actually have a hypothesis. The hypothesis goes like this:

“If the spatial and temporal scales of the entire universe are infinite, or at least, within the range that humans can imagine and hypothesize, are statistically near-infinite, then it’s possible for two identical or highly similar locations to appear in the universe—two planets with highly similar parameters, two comparable mountain peaks, or even… two remarkably similar stretches of history. The probability of such a ‘mirror’ appearing may not be high, but given sufficient scales of time and space, it is never zero.”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and nodded gently. “I think I’ve heard a similar theory before…”

“Then let me tell you about a restriction on this hypothesis—its classified portion,” Baili Qing said. “Even if the hypothesis holds true, even if any location and event in the universe could have a ‘mirror’ given infinite time and space, there are two exceptions. They cannot have mirrors.

“The first is a planet called ‘Terra.’ It lies deep among the stars, very far from here, but maintains certain hidden ‘connections’ with the Borderland.

“The second is this Borderland itself.

“In other words, there cannot be a second ‘Boundary City’ in this world, because this city is the primary component of the Borderland, and the Borderland itself… has no ‘mirror.’ Even if the universe’s space is boundless and time is infinite, from past to future, there will only ever be this one Borderland, one Boundary City.”

Yu Sheng’s eyes widened slightly, and he didn’t speak for a long time.

“Judging by your reaction…” Baili Qing adjusted her sitting posture. “You’re nearly certain that another ‘Boundary City’ exists in this world—or rather, you’ve seen it?”

Yu Sheng forcefully suppressed the surging thoughts in his mind. He took a deep breath and slowly tapped the table before him with his fingers.

“Yes, I’ve seen it. It’s a small seaside city. Driving from the southernmost end to the northernmost end takes only thirty minutes. There’s no ‘Otherworld’ there, no Special Operations Bureau. People live perfectly ordinary lives. The sunlight… the sunlight is always pleasant—gentle, never glaring—and the sunsets are beautiful too…”

Yu Sheng described the scenes from his memory to the woman before him.

He didn’t hide any of this. Given that she already knew the truth about No. 66 Wutong Road and was specifically responsible for managing Otherworld-related affairs, this Bureau Chief seemed to be the person most likely to help him among everyone he could currently reach.

Baili Qing listened quietly to these descriptions. Her colorless eyes seemed to forever conceal her truest emotions—no one could tell what she was thinking as she heard all this. Only after Yu Sheng finished did she suddenly speak: “May I see?”

Yu Sheng was startled. “See? How?”

The woman across from him reached out directly and pressed her hand against his temple.

Along with the cool touch came a momentary daze.

“This is my ability—if you don’t mind, open your imagination to me temporarily. Of course, if you’re uncomfortable with it, I certainly won’t insist.” Baili Qing spoke with genuine sincerity.

Yu Sheng frowned, quickly weighed his options, then gave a slight nod.

Closing his eyes gently, he recalled and imagined the appearance of his hometown—the “other Boundary City.”

That perfectly ordinary seaside town surfaced in his mind, and then he felt as though another pair of eyes was watching those imagined landscapes alongside his memories.

A moment later, Yu Sheng opened his eyes.

He found that Baili Qing across from him still had her eyes closed, and behind her, the infinitely extending café was silently collapsing from far to near. The neatly arranged, endlessly repeating tables and chairs were being rapidly swallowed by darkness, and the crumbling building structures seemed to be falling into an invisible abyss.

Yu Sheng was instantly stunned, having no idea what was happening. “Hey! This place is collapsing! Hey, wake up! This—”

He was only halfway through when Baili Qing finally opened her eyes. “It’s fine. Just a minor side effect of activating my ability.”

As she spoke, the collapsed buildings and furniture in the distance silently restored themselves to their original state. Yu Sheng immediately felt a bit embarrassed and let out a couple of awkward laughs. “Oh, your ability is pretty… flashy.”

Baili Qing said nothing, only gently rubbing her forehead, as if contemplating something.

“Did you see everything?” Yu Sheng asked curiously. “So, what do you think…”

“I saw it. It is indeed as you described—a… peaceful seaside town, with many places bearing the shadow of this city,” Baili Qing interrupted Yu Sheng. For some reason, she hesitated slightly when she began speaking, though she quickly masked it. “I now believe you’ve truly seen such a ‘Boundary City,’ but I’m curious—why are you so fixated on this ‘place’?”

“For personal reasons, I want to find it,” Yu Sheng said seriously. “But according to what you said…”

“Theory is, in the end, just theory,” Baili Qing shook her head. Her attitude was suddenly less definitive than before, her words leaving much more room for possibility. “In fact, I still don’t believe a second ‘Borderland’ exists in this world. But if some place merely happens to share a few architectural and layout similarities with this city… that’s not entirely impossible.”

Yu Sheng looked at the woman before him with some suspicion. “…Really?”

“Who knows?” Baili Qing exhaled. “Scholars have said that our universe is still very young—some new physical laws haven’t even had time to emerge yet. Therefore, all human-perspective knowledge about this world could be wrong, or could be overturned someday in the future. I’m now inclined to believe that the ‘Boundary City’ you showed me truly exists—it’s just… not recorded in even the Borderland’s archives.”

“Then if one day you find it…”

“You’ll be the first to know.” Baili Qing nodded earnestly.

Yu Sheng thanked her.

But he didn’t entirely believe her. Instinctively, he always felt that this woman wasn’t being completely “sincere” about this matter.

He didn’t know where this feeling came from, but he decided not to continue on this topic.

“I have another question,” Yu Sheng quickly shifted to a new subject. “I’m asking on behalf of a friend.”

Baili Qing nodded. “Go ahead. I have plenty of time today.”

Yu Sheng thought briefly and organized his words. “About ‘Alice’s Cottage’—does your Special Operations Bureau know about this organization?”

“Alice’s Cottage? Of course we do,” Baili Qing answered immediately. “Those ‘Living Dolls’ are active in the extraordinary domain. We’ve had quite a few dealings with them.”

Yu Sheng’s heart stirred, feeling he’d finally helped the Little Doll find her people. “You mean ‘Alice’s Dolls’? So this ‘Cottage’ is also registered with the Special Operations Bureau?”

“No, you’ve got something wrong,” Baili Qing shook her head. “Alice’s Cottage is hardly something ‘registered with the Special Operations Bureau’—it’s an independent force located outside the Borderland. Though they keep a low profile, their influence is actually no less than the Bureau’s.”

Yu Sheng: “…?”

“There isn’t only one special place like the Borderland in this world, so naturally there isn’t only one major organization like the Special Operations Bureau either. We’re merely one of many official organizations that deal with the Otherworld and entities. Besides us, there’s the ‘Barmosa Hermit Society’ established by the Barmosans, the ‘Academy’ and ‘Archaeological Society’ from Terra, the ‘Astrology Society’ of the Argladians, and so on. The ‘Alice’s Cottage’ you just mentioned is also a similar independent force—they follow an ancient holy spirit known as ‘Alice.’ They are ancient creations directly blessed by the holy spirit, and the era of their activity… predates even the Special Operations Bureau.”

Yu Sheng: “…”

Eileen’s background was that impressive?! So the Little Doll hadn’t been bragging all this time!

Yu Sheng didn’t hide the shift in his expression, and Baili Qing quickly caught on. “I recall the report mentioned that you also have a ‘Doll’ by your side?”

“That’s right. Her name is Eileen. She claims to be a member of ‘Alice’s Dolls,’ but was accidentally sealed away for a long time.”

“But I also recall the report mentioning that her height is only about this tall…”

As she spoke, Baili Qing raised her hand beside the table and gestured a height.

Yu Sheng awkwardly rubbed the tip of his nose. “Ah, well, that’s another accident entirely…”

(End of Chapter)