Chapter 157 – All Strangers in a Strange Land

Floor N, the “rooftop” of the Borderland, the most unique observation deck of the Special Operations Bureau headquarters building — even after seeing so many incredible landscapes through those many doors, Yu Sheng was still deeply shaken by this small island floating in the void and the magnificent streams of light stretching across the sky above it. This void and the radiance at its edge even stirred certain associations in his mind, associations with… the edge of the world.

But perhaps those associations didn’t come from the scenery before him, but from the current topic of conversation.

Yu Sheng swirled the ice cubes in his glass, watching those crystalline fragments collide endlessly in the water. After a long while, he finally spoke: “I’ve heard that the world outside the Borderland is vast — and on the other side of those ‘doors,’ I’ve indeed seen many distant landscapes. Li Lin and the others told me that even with the Special Operations Bureau’s influence, they’re far from reaching the edge of the world. Beyond the Star River, no one knows how many more landscapes exist in the vast universe.”

“You’re not wrong. This world is indeed vast. Although the vast majority of people living in the Borderland have never considered such things, people like us always need a degree of ‘long-term’ thinking,” Baili Qing said unhurriedly. “But even so, we have over eighty percent confidence in determining that ‘Hu Li’ came from ‘outside’ rather than from some distant, undiscovered corner of this universe.”

Yu Sheng couldn’t help but furrow his brow. “Why?”

“The reasoning is comprehensive,” Baili Qing said patiently. “We analyzed samples of her fur. Some of the components exceeded our understanding. We evaluated the civilization level of the ‘homeland’ in her memories — if a civilization of that caliber truly existed, then this universe should be littered with traces they left behind. The ripples from their voyages through the stars would even show up in the background radiation, permeating all of spacetime. We also employed certain mystical methods… Would you like to hear about those?”

“That won’t be necessary. It’s enough for me to know that this conclusion was something you all carefully worked out.” Yu Sheng waved his hand, then fell silent, sinking into deep thought.

Hu Li’s homeland was far away — he’d known that from the start. But he hadn’t imagined it could be as far as beyond the world itself.

In truth, back in that room earlier, when Baili Qing had told him the current findings of the investigation and asked Hu Li that string of questions, he had already vaguely guessed this answer. For an ordinary person, such an answer might be hard to fathom, but for Yu Sheng, it wasn’t so unacceptable.

Because he knew that he, too, came from a “distant” place — in being a “stranger in a strange land,” he and Hu Li were actually quite alike.

Yu Sheng wondered: between his homeland and Hu Li’s homeland, which one was truly more distant? Which one was harder to return to?

Was that quiet seaside town in his memories really waiting behind one of those doors? Could Hu Li’s faraway home also be reached through some “rift”? Hu Li’s homeland was beyond the world — but what about his own? Was that little town truly part of this world at all?

When it came down to it… this “world” — this “world” that included the Borderland — was it really still what he understood it to be? Yu Sheng was honestly starting to lose clarity on that.

Baili Qing didn’t make a sound. She simply sat quietly across from Yu Sheng, those colorless eyes of hers fixed on the “person” before her, never shifting her gaze for even a moment.

And within her field of vision, a pair of ethereal eyes slowly opened in the distance. Those eyes, like hers, lacked color — illusory and gossamer, as if reflected upon the void itself — and were watching the contemplating Yu Sheng from another angle, alongside her.

A voice devoid of emotional fluctuation sounded in Baili Qing’s mind: “How incredible… I’m looking right at him, and I still can’t see through what he actually is. It’s as though he’s… not really here at all, yet he radiates an intense sense of presence. He really is a fascinating one, sister.”

Baili Qing’s expression didn’t change. She only responded within her mind: “Don’t do anything rash. Don’t cause a misunderstanding.”

“It’s fine. No one can see a ‘gaze,'” those eyes said indifferently. “I’m just satisfying my curiosity.”

Yu Sheng turned his head to glance behind him, then turned back to Baili Qing and pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “Friend of yours?”

Baili Qing: “…?!!”

Yu Sheng was instantly stunned — mainly because he had always assumed Baili Qing truly had a perpetual poker face. He hadn’t expected that this older sister could actually widen her eyes that much.

The next second, Baili Qing blurted out: “You can see her?!”

“Uh… am I not supposed to?” Hearing this, Yu Sheng was rather bewildered instead. He pointed at himself in astonishment, which at least confirmed that the pair of big eyes that had suddenly appeared behind him did indeed know Baili Qing. He then turned around and waved at those eyes floating in the void. “So, uh, my name’s Yu Sheng. And you…”

Those eyes vanished instantly.

Yu Sheng was quite surprised.

He had actually noticed the eyes appearing behind him from the very start. After all, they hadn’t tried to conceal themselves at all, and they took up quite a lot of space — a single glance from the corner of his eye was enough to spot them. And to be honest, Yu Sheng had felt a flash of alarm at first, but he quickly noticed that Baili Qing’s expression hadn’t changed at all, and from the direction of her gaze, he could tell she had also seen those “big eyes” — so he instantly calmed back down.

After all, he’d seen plenty of bizarre things in Boundary City, so his first instinct was to treat those big eyes as just another normal “phenomenon” around here — but now, seeing Baili Qing’s reaction, Yu Sheng felt his judgment might have been off…

Baili Qing was frozen for the longest she had ever been since becoming Bureau Chief of the Special Operations Bureau. It was quite a while before she managed to compose her expression, and then, directly ignoring the incessant noise in her mind, she said to Yu Sheng: “You’re the first person to see her — besides me.”

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, thinking to himself that there was no way he could’ve anticipated this, his expression rather awkward. “Well, how was I supposed to know? She was just floating there… She’s really your friend? An invisible friend? Who is she?”

Baili Qing looked deeply conflicted. After struggling with it for a long time, she finally let out a sigh: “She’s my younger sister.”

Now it was Yu Sheng’s turn to not know what to say. “…?”

He wanted to say something like “Your sister certainly has distinctive features,” but after deliberating for a while, he decided not to let those words leave his mouth.

He also noticed that Baili Qing didn’t seem to want to discuss this matter with outsiders, so he quickly cleared his throat twice and spoke up: “Ahem, it seems like there’s quite a story there, so I won’t pry. But what was she popping up just now for? And she left the moment I said hello… Did I scare her?”

Baili Qing sighed. “Yes.”

“…Then could you apologize to her on my behalf?”

“Alright.”

Yu Sheng had the feeling that the Bureau Chief before him seemed a little weary.

He shook his head, downed the ice water in his glass in one gulp, then let out a long breath and stood up from the sofa.

“I’m heading back.”

“You don’t want to ask anything else?” Baili Qing looked at him with a hint of puzzlement.

“Ask more? About what?” Yu Sheng spread his hands. “About Hu Li, or about your sister?”

He smiled, shaking his head gently. “I’ve learned everything I need to know. I won’t pry into your private affairs. As for Hu Li… unless you actually find her homeland and have a way to send her home, the rest doesn’t really concern me.”

With that, Yu Sheng was already walking toward the nearby “elevator.” But after only a few steps, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he stopped abruptly and turned to look at Baili Qing. “Wait, there is actually one more thing… According to what you said earlier, both Hu Li and those ‘Twilight Angels’ came from ‘outside,’ right?”

“Yes,” Baili Qing didn’t evade, and her follow-up was equally candid. “But all we know right now is that ‘existences’ lie beyond the world. As for what ‘outside’ actually looks like, we know nothing. Whether it’s the origin and purpose of the Twilight Angels or Hu Li’s homeland, we have no leads whatsoever.”

“Mm,” Yu Sheng seemed to pay little attention to the latter half of Baili Qing’s response. He simply nodded, then continued thoughtfully, “Then if there’s any intelligence related to the Twilight Angels in the future, could you let me know at the earliest opportunity?”

Baili Qing was somewhat surprised. She studied Yu Sheng and hesitated for two seconds. “You want to…”

“I promised to send her home. She keeps saying she doesn’t care, but… I think she should at least have the choice,” Yu Sheng said earnestly. “I don’t care where those Twilight Angels come from, and I don’t care what they’re after by worming their way in. But right now, I’m very interested in exactly how they bored their ‘hole.’ Also, if Hu Li and her parents really did crash in Night-shrouded Valley because of the Twilight Angels’ influence back then, I have a score to settle with them.”

Baili Qing gazed silently at the utterly serious Yu Sheng. No one could tell what she was thinking at that moment. But after a brief pause, she nodded.

“Very well. Since you’re requesting it yourself, the Special Operations Bureau will prioritize sharing this portion of intelligence with the ‘Inn.'”

“Thank you.”

“One more thing,” Baili Qing thought for a moment, then added, “You seem to care a great deal about the people around you. You should know that dealing with Twilight Angels… is very dangerous.”

“I know. Someone’s warned me several times already,” Yu Sheng laughed, though his smile carried a touch of helplessness. “But what can I do? She even calls me her benefactor — and in this world, she has no other family.”

“I understand.”

Baili Qing nodded and asked nothing more.

But whether it was just his imagination or not, Yu Sheng couldn’t help feeling that the female Bureau Chief before him seemed, after hearing his answer, somehow… a little more at ease.

(End of Chapter)