Chapter 218 – After the Overflow Subsides

Yu Sheng stood motionless at the doorway, one hand still maintaining the passage to the valley, but his eyes were locked on the depths of the Great Hall—fixed on the stairway leading underground.

He was certain he had truly seen the Hunter’s figure just now—the weathered hunting garb, the thick hood, nothing but emptiness beneath it. The figure had simply stood there quietly in his line of sight. Though it lasted only the blink of an eye, the Hunter… had definitely been staring in this direction.

Why had the Hunter appeared? Was it because Little Red Riding Hood was the last to leave, meaning the “Black Forest” subset hadn’t fully dissipated yet? Was it because something still lingered in this building? Or was it because… An-Ka-Ai-La’s activity was intensifying further?

Moreover, Yu Sheng was certain the figure had been looking at him. That mysterious Hunter… was it trying to communicate something?

He furrowed his brows tightly, and just then, he noticed a figure shifting beside the door he had opened. Ailin had leaned over, peering curiously through the doorway: “Hm? Yu Sheng, why aren’t you coming over?”

“Take Little Red Riding Hood and the others to get the children settled first,” Yu Sheng said quickly. “I need to check things over here. I’ll come back shortly.”

“Oh,” Little Doll nodded, not asking any further questions. “Well, hurry up. There’s a whole bunch of kids over here, and I’m afraid once they get comfortable they’ll start chasing me. I won’t be able to hold out…”

Yu Sheng mumbled an agreement and released his grip on the door handle.

The passage to the valley closed in the blink of an eye. The scenery that had materialized within the door frame vanished into thin air, leaving only the empty courtyard outside the East Building soaking in the darkness of night.

With an inexplicable sense of caution and vigilance in his heart, Yu Sheng first inspected the first floor, then climbed to the second floor, slowly making his way along the corridor.

The lights were on throughout the building, and all the doors were open. Inside the rooms, traces of the children’s hurried evacuation were still visible—beds left unmade, things they hadn’t had time to take sitting on tables or at the foot of beds, toppled chairs left unattended, lying quietly on the floor.

In the empty, silent hallway, only Yu Sheng’s footsteps echoed.

No strange sounds, no lights suddenly appearing outside the windows, no bizarre shadows materializing from the air or walls—Yu Sheng checked the second and third floors without seeing any unnatural phenomena.

It seemed that with the children’s transfer, the Fairy Tale “overflow” had indeed stopped. The Hunter’s earlier appearance was likely just some kind of “aftershock” phenomenon.

…Was that really all it was?

A thread of doubt still lingered in Yu Sheng’s mind, and then his phone rang.

The caller was Song Cheng—the children’s early transfer had prompted notifications to the engineering personnel at the valley, and naturally the news would have reached the Special Operations Bureau as well.

Answering the call, Yu Sheng spoke first before the other party could: “The children have been emergency evacuated. The ‘overflow’ phenomenon at the orphanage has stopped, and all the phantoms that entered the real world have dissipated. I’m currently patrolling the hallways. I’m the only one left here.”

“Good,” came a voice tinged with relief from the other end. “It’s good that the overflow has stopped… A squad is already heading your way, about ten minutes out. They’ll be responsible for monitoring that location afterward.”

“Alright, I’ll wait then,” Yu Sheng said, glancing up through the corridor window at the sky outside—the area that had previously been illuminated by the “Prince’s” anti-aircraft fire. “This place was full of overflowing phantoms earlier. Some of them looked like they extended beyond the orphanage walls, or even up into the sky… Did it cause too much impact on the surrounding area?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to talk about—so far, we haven’t received any sighting reports in that regard. The sensing equipment the Bureau placed around the orphanage also hasn’t detected any anomalous signals,” Song Cheng’s tone sounded somewhat grave. “The Bureau is rushing to verify data from sensors at other locations and from the nearest ‘nodes,’ but from what we can tell so far… I’m afraid none of our equipment captured any of the ‘overflow phantoms’ you described.”

Yu Sheng stopped in his tracks, his expression one of stunned disbelief.

Those phantoms that had overflowed from the nightmare had been so spectacular in scale—there had even been booming artillery fire and flashes lighting up the sky—and yet there hadn’t been a single disturbance outside the orphanage?!

The lack of eyewitness reports was somewhat understandable—after all, it was already the small hours of the morning, and the orphanage’s surroundings were already equipped with “node” devices that screened out ordinary people. But the fact that even the Bureau’s monitoring equipment nearby hadn’t captured any anomalies—that was a bit off.

…Could it be that the phantoms overflowing from the nightmare were only “visible” within the orphanage’s boundaries?

Puzzled, Yu Sheng shared his hypothesis with Song Cheng on the other end of the line. After hearing him out, the other man was silent for two or three seconds before speaking: “…Very possible. Those ‘overflowing’ phantoms are still essentially the ‘nightmares’ of the Fairy Tale members—they’re not truly physical entities that have invaded reality. You also mentioned that after those phantoms dissipated, they left no traces in the real world. This suggests that their ‘visibility’ is still heavily restricted.”

“Then we should feel relieved that we managed to contain the ‘overflow’ while those phantoms were still just phantoms.” Yu Sheng let out a soft breath.

Just then, through the window, he spotted several lights appearing beyond the orphanage walls—headlights coming from the direction of the intersection.

Song Cheng’s voice came through the phone: “Our people have arrived. They’re at the main gate.”

“I see them—I’ll go down to meet them.”

Yu Sheng came to the orphanage’s main gate. The moment he stepped outside, he saw several black vans bearing the Special Operations Bureau’s badge parked along the wall. The doors opened and over a dozen figures clad in full Bureau tactical gear jumped out—armed to the teeth, looking like futuristic agents straight out of a movie. They looked thoroughly professional, and among them was a particularly familiar face.

Li Lin.

Yu Sheng’s first reaction upon seeing the young Bureau agent was a moment of stunned blankness—he almost didn’t recognize him. The man was wearing a full set of tactical equipment and armor, carrying a gun. That look would fit right into an FPS game as an NPC who could tank at least one full magazine from the protagonist’s squad. But Yu Sheng’s most vivid impression of this young man was still the image of him buying discount instant noodles at the neighborhood convenience store and squatting by the roadside looking like a slacker…

The mental image of the slacker and the elite agent before him overlapped for a long time without merging. It wasn’t until Li Lin walked over on his own initiative that Yu Sheng belatedly raised his hand in greeting: “Uh, it’s you?”

“That’s right,” Li Lin nodded, then snapped to attention with a crisp clap of his heels. In a well-trained, thoroughly by-the-book manner, he announced: “Special Operations Bureau Second Action Squadron, Fairy Tale Emergency Response Unit—Li Lin, presently serving as on-site commander, assuming control of area monitoring and garrison duties!”

Yu Sheng blinked in bewilderment, unable to help blurting out: “…You’re the on-site commander?”

“I got temporarily reassigned here too,” Li Lin said, his expression turning somewhat pained. He lowered his voice and leaned in: “Bro, I’m freaking out right now…”

Yu Sheng had been feeling a bit thrown off by Li Lin’s current appearance, but the moment the man opened his mouth, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but grin. Then, out of curiosity, he casually asked: “Where’s Xu Jiali?”

“He’s a Deep-Dive Agent, on standby at headquarters. He’d only be deployed if the Otherworld actually spiraled out of control,” Li Lin explained quietly. “Our unit’s main mission is to keep watch here—so what’s the situation inside right now?”

“Ahem, right now there’s nothing going on inside. Earlier though, it was quite the scene.” Yu Sheng cleared his throat twice, then gave him a rough rundown of what had happened at the orphanage. “…That’s basically it. After the children were evacuated, the overflow phenomena here stopped. But since we can’t be sure whether the orphanage itself has any ‘anomalous’ factors, someone still needs to keep an eye on it. I’m heading out next—I need to go check on things at the relocation site. I’ll leave this place to you all.”

“Copy that, leave this to us and don’t worry,” Li Lin nodded immediately. In that moment, he genuinely showed a few shades of a reliable elite agent. “Go on, rest easy.”

Yu Sheng couldn’t help feeling like something about those words sounded increasingly off—though it might just be that he’d been around too much death lately, making him sensitive to such things, like a professional funeral—

But he didn’t dwell on it. After briefing the young agent on the orphanage’s situation, the characteristics of the overflow phantoms, precautions, and other relevant details, Yu Sheng waved goodbye to Li Lin, casually pulled out his phone to log a report, pushed open the door, and headed to the valley.

Then, the very first second after stepping through the portal, he heard Ailin’s frantic commotion—

“AHHH Yu Sheng!! Help!! Will someone please control these little brats!!”

Yu Sheng flinched in surprise, then saw several little heads running in circles across the nearby grassy spot, chasing Ailin like she was a rabbit, her tiny legs pumping so fast they were practically shooting sparks…

And further away, he saw several Fairy Tale Organization “Guardians” leading groups of children to rest on the grassy spot and the platform, Little Red Riding Hood near the relocation site’s construction area exchanging words with a person in charge, and the foxgirl running toward him.

Good—the children were happy and adapting here, with no incidents. A sense of relief washed over him.

A smile spread across Yu Sheng’s face as he walked toward the foxgirl, who was running over in high spirits, shouting as she came: “Benefactor, Benefactor! Human cubs are so fun!”

Yu Sheng chuckled happily, but halfway there he suddenly stopped. His peripheral vision finally caught what was happening on the other side of the platform—several fox tails blazing with blue fire were zooming back and forth through the air above the grass, and dangling from each tail was a gleefully shrieking child…

Cold sweat practically burst from his pores on the spot: “…Holy shit! You can’t play like that!”

Ailin continued running in circles on the nearby grass, yelling even louder than Yu Sheng: “YOU DEFINITELY CAN’T PLAY LIKE THAT EITHER!! IS ANYONE GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?!”

(End of Chapter)