Chapter 57 – Making Contact

“I don’t really understand much about the supernatural domain,” Yu Sheng said frankly, facing the three confused-looking people before him. “Especially the Otherworld, entities, and all that. In fact, I don’t know much about anything outside of Boundary City either—which is why I’ve been looking for ‘professionals’ like you, hoping you could answer my many questions.”

Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged glances, both looking thoroughly stunned after hearing Yu Sheng’s words. Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t help but look him up and down several times. “You… are you saying you’ve never had any contact with the Otherworld or entities before?! You only recently started dealing with this stuff?!”

“I lived a peaceful, ordinary life for over twenty years,” Yu Sheng spread his hands and spoke honestly. “It’s only recently that I started running into all this bizarre stuff. I’m a complete novice in this area.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Xu Jiali’s expression was already starting to crack—so he’d only recently started dealing with the Otherworld, and yet he could pin down and pummel a Hunger Entity rated danger level three or above, casually open a door to a Wasteland planet millions of light-years away, and stroll in and out of the Otherworld like he was going home… What kind of “novice” was this?

How was this even human?!

He and Li Lin beside him exchanged glances, their minds racing, having already weighed countless considerations in an instant.

First: they could now almost certainly confirm that the spatiotemporal displacement phenomenon that had thrown the entire Special Operations Bureau into chaos was absolutely connected to this person called “Yu Sheng.” The evidence was right there in the door he’d casually opened.

Yes, casually.

And second: they absolutely must not be misled by Yu Sheng’s self-proclaimed title of “novice.” Whether or not he truly had only just begun dealing with the Otherworld and entities, the power he wielded was nothing like that of an ordinary human who had only recently come under Otherworld influence.

Either the word “novice” was a lie, or the identity of “ordinary human” was a lie—or both were simply false.

Besides, no ordinary human could possibly live in a house this obviously abnormal.

“I’d like to confirm one thing first,” Li Lin hesitated for a moment before asking. “You’ve always lived here, right?”

“That’s right,” Yu Sheng nodded. He had no intention of telling outsiders that he’d come here from another “Boundary City,” so he simply acknowledged that he’d always lived in this house. After all, he even had an ID card to prove it. “I’ve always lived here.”

Li Lin: “Do you know that this house…”

“I know, it’s an Otherworld,” Yu Sheng cut in before the other could finish, his face the picture of candor and innocence. “Only found out recently. Never had any problems living here before.”

Li Lin was momentarily at a loss for words.

What did he mean he only recently found out! What did he mean he’d never had any problems! Could an ordinary person really be like this?

Then again, after all these years, how had the Special Operations Bureau never discovered that there was something this off in the Old City District?!

“So, uh, could I take a look at your ID?” Li Lin held back for a long moment before finally asking cautiously. Then he quickly rummaged through his own pocket, producing a small black booklet that he opened in front of Yu Sheng. “This is my service credential.”

Yu Sheng glanced at the booklet the other had produced, seeing Li Lin’s photo, name, and position information printed on it, along with serial numbers and identification codes he couldn’t make sense of—he couldn’t understand them anyway, and he’d never seen what other Special Operations Bureau credentials looked like, but at least this showed a proper “professional attitude.”

So he readily pulled out his own ID card and handed it over.

Li Lin took the card, and he and Xu Jiali quickly scanned the information on it.

Both their gazes simultaneously stopped on the “address” field, staring blankly at the black text on white background reading “No. 66 Wutong Road.”

“Is there a problem?” Yu Sheng asked curiously, seeing the two of them freeze up together.

Li Lin snapped back to awareness and slowly returned the ID card to Yu Sheng. He seemed to be deliberating something, hesitating several times before finally speaking: “Did you know that there is no No. 66 on Wutong Road?”

Yu Sheng: “…?”

Now he understood why none of the locksmiths he’d contacted before had ever managed to show up.

“We need to head back to the Bureau first,” Xu Jiali broke the silence. “Your situation here is… rather special. We need to report to our superiors and coordinate with the archives department to figure out what exactly is going on.”

Yu Sheng was taken aback. “You’re leaving already? But I still have a pile of questions…”

“We’ll leave our contact information, and we’ll be back soon for a formal ‘contact session,'” Xu Jiali said. “For humans who have recently come into contact with the Otherworld and undergone ‘changes,’ the Special Operations Bureau has a standardized contact and registration process. Rest assured, all your questions will be answered during the formal session afterward.”

As he spoke, he pulled out a small card and handed it to Yu Sheng. “My phone number is on this.”

“…Alright.” Yu Sheng thought it over. His primary goal had really just been to make contact with the “professionals” in the Borderland who specialized in handling Otherworld issues. As for his mountain of questions, those obviously weren’t things that could be sorted out with a casual chat between two people—all of that would need to come later through gradual contact and understanding. So he nodded readily and accepted the business card.

Then he left his own phone number as well.

This number had been his ever since he’d “arrived” here, but ordinarily almost no one contacted him, and he had no one to contact either.

Next, Yu Sheng turned his gaze to Little Red Riding Hood, who had been standing to the side without speaking. The girl, who looked like she could be a high school student, didn’t look well at the moment. Her exposed right arm appeared to be recovering, but many small black patterns were still visible on her skin, looking quite eerie.

“Are you alright?” Yu Sheng asked with some concern.

“Side effects of dealing with wolves. Not the first time—I just need to adjust and it’ll heal,” Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. “I’ll need to go see a doctor in a bit. Oh, let me leave my phone number too… hold on, I don’t have my phone on me, let me find a pen.”

As she spoke, she patted the small pouch at her waist, but suddenly, her movements froze in place.

The girl’s expression visibly stiffened, as if she had belatedly realized something terrible.

Yu Sheng took one look at her and was startled. “What’s wrong?”

Xu Jiali beside them let out a sigh. “The entity shredded her homework.”

Little Red Riding Hood turned her neck stiffly and saw expressions of sympathy on both Xu Jiali’s and Li Lin’s faces.

“We both noticed right at the start, but you didn’t realize it then,” Li Lin said in a low voice. “We didn’t have the heart to bring it up, figured we’d let you stay happy a little longer…”

“When exactly did you see me being happy?! Huh?! When I was being chased through the woods by monsters like a dog?” The red-clothed girl completely fell apart. The composure and maturity she’d maintained throughout instantly evaporated, leaving nothing but frantic distress. “Three days! I spent three days making up those math papers!!”

Yu Sheng watched from the side in stunned silence. He was increasingly getting the feeling that these “professionals'” mental state and daily lives were quite different from what he’d imagined, but the atmosphere wasn’t one where he felt comfortable speaking up—mainly because the girl in front of him did look genuinely heartbroken…

But regardless, Little Red Riding Hood still left him her phone number in the end—as the girl wrote the digits on a slip of paper, every stroke was made with tremendous force, as if she were channeling all her hatred into using the pen as a knife to carve the numbers into the bodies of those long-disintegrated Hunger Entities, making Yu Sheng watch in terrified fascination.

After that, the three of them said their goodbyes and prepared to leave.

Yu Sheng walked them to the front door and stood by the door frame after pushing it open. “I won’t see you out any further—I’ve still got a pile of things to deal with on my end.”

Hearing this, Li Lin glanced back at the living room. He saw the fox girl with a bunch of tails still sitting on the floor guarding a pile of food, while the little doll with both arms broken off sat on the sofa watching television without a care in the world.

A bizarre No. 66 Wutong Road, housing a bizarre “Yu Sheng” and his two equally bizarre “friends.”

Right under the Special Operations Bureau’s nose.

Li Lin knew he had stumbled into an enormous vortex, and all of this would appear in his and Xu Jiali’s report…

And be reflected in the overtime that would follow.

The young Special Operations Bureau agent let out a deep sigh and stepped wearily through the door.

The cool night breeze met him head-on, the quiet nightscape of the Old City District filling his vision, warm streetlights illuminating the road ahead.

He and Xu Jiali turned back simultaneously, only to see a bare wall behind them, covered in chaotic, abstract graffiti.

Xu Jiali stepped forward, felt around on the wall, then gave it a couple of taps.

“…It seems it’s not actually here,” the veteran deep-diver said softly. “This is merely an entrance, and one that only opens when an invitation is given.”

“Head back to the Bureau first?” Li Lin said. “Or should we leave someone here to keep watch?”

Xu Jiali looked up at Little Red Riding Hood.

The girl instantly turned her head away, indicating that she was in a terrible mood over her destroyed homework and had absolutely zero desire to work overtime right now.

“I need to go see Dr. Lin first to deal with the ‘aftereffects,'” she still offered a perfectly legitimate reason. “You two do what you want. Personally, I think it makes no difference whether someone stays here or not—that person’s abilities are bizarre. There’s no way to monitor him with what we currently have.”

“…Let’s head back to the Bureau first,” Xu Jiali sighed and took the lead walking ahead. “There are others on the periphery keeping watch anyway. Let’s report today’s situation first. Given that this involves the Twilight Angel, this matter… I’m afraid even Captain Song can’t make the call on this one.”

(End of Chapter)