Chapter 151 – Sample Testing and Archival Records

Chapter 151 – Sample Testing and Archival Records

Yu Sheng felt a bit dazed. The solemnity and caution the laboratory staff displayed when receiving the samples far exceeded his expectations—taking the paper scrap had been relatively normal, but when they came to collect that iron lump, things were clearly off.

…Did items brought out of No. 66 Wutong Road really make the Special Operations Bureau treat them like a dire threat?

Many thoughts swirled through Yu Sheng’s mind, but he knew the Xu Jiali standing before him definitely wouldn’t reveal anything—and he figured that even if the man wanted to, there probably wasn’t much to reveal. After all, this tough guy was ultimately just a veteran combat operative and likely didn’t have access to too many core secrets.

So Yu Sheng didn’t say anything. After watching the lab personnel carry the items inside, he let out a breath and turned to look at Xu Jiali. “So we just hand it over to them and that’s it? I thought I’d get to observe the process…”

“Of course you can observe, but from the observation room next door,” Xu Jiali said with a laugh. “This is a high-security-grade laboratory after all. Getting inside is quite the hassle—changing clothes, static removal, Rationality-Blocker injections, the whole procedure takes at least half an hour minimum, and only specially trained personnel are allowed into the operating area. It’s not worth the trouble.”

As he spoke, he raised a hand and pointed to another door along the adjacent corridor. “Follow me. You can see inside the laboratory from this room. The materials you requested have already been sent there as well, and also… our Bureau Chief is waiting for you.”

“Your Bureau Chief? She came in person again?” Yu Sheng was somewhat surprised. He walked toward the neighboring room with Hu Li and Eileen while speaking. “How embarrassing, always bothering her…”

Xu Jiali just smiled without saying much. After leading Yu Sheng’s group to the entrance of the adjacent observation room, he reached out and knocked on the door. After announcing their arrival, he stepped back half a pace. “I won’t be going in. The Bureau Chief doesn’t like being disturbed when she’s receiving guests.”

Yu Sheng gave a brief acknowledgment, thanked him for his escort, then stood at the doorway and composed his expression before pushing the door open.

What met his eyes was a not particularly spacious rectangular room, with light brown flooring and pale blue wallpaper, bright lighting, and a comfortable temperature.

Since it was essentially just an observation room attached to the laboratory, the furnishings were simple and plain. Apart from some operational platforms and monitoring equipment of indeterminate purpose installed along the walls, there was only a single table and several chairs that appeared to have been temporarily moved in.

A figure wearing a white skirt suit, her entire being giving off an impression of muted, washed-out color, stood in the center of the room. Behind her was an enormous window that occupied nearly the entire wall—through this pane of unknown material that emitted a faint blue glow, Yu Sheng could see a considerably spacious laboratory on the other side, where many workers in protective suits bustled about. The focus of their activity was precisely the “samples” he had just delivered.

“Welcome to the Special Operations Bureau,” Baili Qing’s voice interrupted Yu Sheng’s curious observation of the laboratory. A trace of what might have been a smile appeared on the face of this cool-tempered female Bureau Chief. “I apologize that our first reception is in such a bare room—but I imagine that compared to a comfortable meeting room, you’re more interested in the analysis of the samples.”

“Indeed. I’m a practical person, and I am genuinely interested in these professionals’… ‘work.'”

As he spoke, Yu Sheng strode over to the wide window. He saw several technicians in protective suits placing the paper scrap that had fallen from the “Entity—Hunter” beneath an instrument, spraying some kind of liquid onto it. They appeared to be conducting the most preliminary processing.

Baili Qing, meanwhile, turned her gaze to Hu Li and Eileen.

Deep within her colorless eyes, a hint of curiosity and scrutiny seemed to flicker.

Eileen fearlessly climbed onto the nearest chair and, as she always did, stood with her hands on her hips in a triumphant pose, staring right back at the female Bureau Chief.

Hu Li came to Yu Sheng’s side somewhat nervously and nodded to Baili Qing. “H-hello.”

“Hello.” Baili Qing gave a mild nod.

“What about the other sample I brought?” Yu Sheng turned back curiously. “That iron lump whose purpose is anyone’s guess.”

“The two samples need to be processed in separate zones. It’s been sent to another operating compartment.”

As Baili Qing spoke, she casually operated a terminal device on the table a few times. The next second, Yu Sheng saw the “window” that occupied nearly the entire wall suddenly flicker, and then half of its area switched to display the situation in another operating zone.

Technicians in protective suits were placing the “iron lump” into a peculiar transparent tubular container, setting the container on the operating platform. They appeared to be preparing to irradiate or scan it with some kind of high-powered device.

Yu Sheng watched the changing scene beyond the “window” in surprise, then suddenly furrowed his brow. He turned to Baili Qing with a thoughtful expression. “…Is the laboratory on the ‘other side’ really on the other side?”

“Not entirely,” Baili Qing replied, a glimmer of amusement surfacing in her eyes. “It seems you’ve already learned about many of this building’s ‘peculiarities’ on your way here.”

“Is that ‘iron lump’ special somehow?” Yu Sheng finally voiced the doubt in his heart. “The way you’re all treating it like a dire threat… I even posted about it on Frontier Communications before, and nobody knew what it was…”

“After you mentioned it yesterday, I tracked down the inquiry you’d previously posted,” Baili Qing answered quite straightforwardly. “Honestly, we don’t know what it is either.”

“Uh… you don’t know either?” Yu Sheng was taken aback. “Then why all this fuss…”

“It’s precisely because we can’t determine what it is through any channel—even after employing some ‘unusual’ methods we still couldn’t find any corresponding clues or records—that we’re particularly interested in it,” Baili Qing said very seriously. “The appearance of a ‘foreign object’ in an Otherworld that has already reached a stable state is an extremely rare phenomenon. It warrants our close attention.”

Yu Sheng stared blankly, feeling that her reasoning did make sense. But then a thought suddenly struck him, and he spotted a blind spot. “Well, if you put it that way, No. 66 Wutong Road actually gets foreign objects pretty often…”

Then he watched as Baili Qing—who had been perfectly calm and composed just a second ago—suddenly widened her eyes, her gaze even turning sharp. “What did you say? Other ‘foreign objects’ have appeared there?!”

Yu Sheng was startled by her reaction. Though he didn’t know why this female Bureau Chief was reacting so strongly, he quickly explained. “Well, I mean, I still have to go out and buy things, right? Trips to the supermarket, the market, that sort of thing. You see that plastic bag on the counter in there? That’s one I brought back from the supermarket last time…”

Baili Qing: “…”

Yu Sheng: “…?”

The room suddenly fell silent. Yu Sheng and Baili Qing stared at each other without a word, neither speaking. Hu Li, seeing the situation, immediately bristled—even the fine fur behind her ears stood on end (she had reverted to her most comfortable fox demon form after arriving at the Special Operations Bureau). Eileen, meanwhile, calmly climbed down from her chair, muttering under her breath as she went, “Bet she’s gonna start cussing…”

“…I didn’t make myself clear,” Baili Qing suddenly took a light breath and explained to Yu Sheng with a perfectly composed expression. “I was referring to the phenomenon of unknown materials spontaneously generating or ‘appearing’ out of thin air inside No. 66 Wutong Road—your shopping trips don’t count.”

Yu Sheng thought it over, then turned and sat down in the chair beside him, doing his best to keep a straight face. “How about we talk about the Dark Forest matter first.”

“Very well.” Baili Qing immediately took a seat across from him, then pushed some pre-organized documents across the table toward Yu Sheng. “These are copies of materials retrieved from the archives—including the operation records from that time and basic personnel information. You can skim through them first. The materials cannot be taken out of this room; they will be destroyed after you leave. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me directly right now.”

Yu Sheng quickly composed his expression and cleared his mind, pushing irrelevant thoughts aside, then opened those paper files that had clearly been freshly copied or printed today, their covers still stamped with destruction deadlines.

Opening the first file, the first thing that caught his eye was several large, bold characters—

Operation Codename: Coming of Age.

Yu Sheng’s gaze shifted subtly in an instant.

Baili Qing’s voice then reached his ears:

“That operation was codenamed ‘Coming of Age.’ From the name alone, you should be able to understand what it means—from the perspective of those who came after, this operation had many immature, reckless, and even arrogant elements. You’ll likely notice those ‘mistakes’ that could have been avoided in the materials. But I must say: every single so-called ‘correct’ course of action we know today was tested and proven, bit by bit, with the lives of those pioneers who once made those mistakes.”

“I understand.” Yu Sheng let out a soft breath, his expression gradually growing solemn.

Baili Qing gave a slight nod.

“When ‘Fairy Tale’ was first discovered, we knew very little about it, and the characteristics it displayed were extremely deceptive,” she began slowly. “The Special Operations Bureau at the time believed its power was similar to some kind of mental confinement cage—a ‘consciousness trap’ specifically targeting minors—and that its intensity was limited and took effect slowly. Meanwhile, in the early stages of Fairy Tale’s outbreak, the destructive power exhibited by the affected children… wasn’t particularly strong. Many children simply had nightmares and nothing more. So the Bureau at the time made its first misjudgment about Fairy Tale—which was later proven to be the most severe misjudgment of all.

“We thought it… wasn’t very powerful. After all, judging purely from the surface-level cases, even children around ten years old could resist its mental contamination for a very long time…”

(End of Chapter)