Chapter 46 – The Door Opened Too Wide

Eileen’s decisive turn-and-run actually caught Yu Sheng a little off guard, and the little doll’s two short legs moved surprisingly fast — but unfortunately, she was only 66.6 cm tall.

A doll barely over sixty centimeters tall, no matter how fast her little legs moved, could only do so much, and before she even made it to the doorway, the picture frame on her back caught on the leg of a nearby chair — she had intended to crawl underneath the chair, but forgot she was carrying something on her back.

Yu Sheng strolled over in two leisurely steps and plucked Eileen out of the air, where she was still furiously kicking and flailing.

“That’s no way to hold a grudge!” Eileen swung her arms wildly, punching and kicking at nothing. “And I was trying to wake you up! I’ll admit the method was a bit too creative, but you did end up waking up, didn’t you?! Hey, put me down…”

“I never said I was going to do anything to you,” Yu Sheng said with a smile, cutting Eileen off and casually setting the little doll down on the floor. “I just wanted to tell you — next time, don’t bite so hard. Even with my recovery speed, it’s still been hurting for this long. That’s bordering on petty revenge — though of course, it’d be even better if you didn’t bite at all.”

Eileen blinked, genuinely surprised. “Oh, you’re not angry?”

“Of course not. I’m not ungrateful,” Yu Sheng said, waving a hand dismissively and turning to head out the door. “Now go get ready. We need to set out for that valley.”

Eileen stood there for a moment in a daze, and only when Yu Sheng had walked some distance away did she hurriedly scurry after him. “You’ve got all the ‘characteristics’ of that place memorized clearly?”

“Crystal clear.”

……

“I actually think this place is pretty peaceful,” Xu Jiali said, sitting by the window, munching on the jianbing guozi that Li Lin had bought that morning, gazing out at the street with a sense of quiet appreciation. “It’s really nice — so much more comfortable than the Lawless Star District. No Angelic cultists on the streets either…”

“Compared to the combat intensity of your usual fieldwork, this place is definitely more comfortable,” Li Lin said, sitting beside Xu Jiali, cradling a cup of hot soy milk and slurping it. “Just treat it like half a vacation. The mission is only surveillance anyway — if anything truly serious shows up, the Bureau will naturally send backup.”

“But I can see ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is constantly on edge,” Xu Jiali glanced out the window. “She’s so young — wound up tight as a spring — I was just like her when I first came out of the ‘Platform.'”

Not far outside the window, on the rooftop of a nearby building, the girl in the dark red coat was hidden in a corner, keeping watch over the street’s movements. She had a sausage stick in her mouth, and ghostly wolf shapes flickered in and out of the air around her.

As if sensing the gaze resting on her, Little Red Riding Hood alertly looked up toward the window where Li Lin and Xu Jiali were sitting. After confirming there was nothing unusual, she gave a small nod, glanced once more at the street below, then pulled several notebooks and some pens and paper from the school bag beside her and buried herself in doing homework.

The wolf pack continued monitoring the street in her stead.

Li Lin watched the dark red figure on the rooftop not far away, and couldn’t help muttering: “I’ve often heard the name ‘Fairy Tale,’ but this is the only member I’ve actually seen in person… she looks like she hasn’t even come of age yet, right? And she’s out here doing work this dangerous?”

“More than half the members of ‘Fairy Tale’ are around her age, and most of them came from the same place,” Xu Jiali sighed. “They’re all unlucky children.”

Li Lin was immediately surprised. “All of them? Why…”

“Because it’s easier for children to fall into ‘Fairy Tale,’ and adult members rarely survive long within it,” Xu Jiali waved a hand. “If you’re genuinely curious, go check the archives yourself when we’re back. Don’t ask her about this to her face.”

Li Lin sensed something from his colleague’s tone. He let out a thoughtful “hmm” and turned his attention back to the calm, peaceful old streets and alleyways outside.

“Looks like nothing’s going to happen today either.” He breathed out softly and went back to slurping his soy milk.

Xu Jiali said, “I didn’t eat enough. Where are your instant noodles? I’m grabbing a pack.”

“Under the bed in the lodgeer room — boil the water yourself. The kettle’s in the kitchen. The water dispenser in the living room doesn’t work, it won’t put out hot water. Oh, while you’re at it, make a pack for me too.”

……

Yu Sheng looked at Eileen standing in the doorway with a skeptical expression. “This is your preparation?”

Eileen stood on the shoe-changing bench just inside the entryway, doing her best to puff out her chest to appear more capable. In her hands she clutched a kitchen cleaver taken from the kitchen — the cleaver was large, its handle not at all suited for a little doll’s palms, so she had to hold the handle with both arms to keep it steady.

“I’m just being prepared, aren’t I? Having a weapon for self-defense puts my mind at ease. If a real fight breaks out, just watch my incredibly powerful magical abilities.”

Listening to the doll’s confident boasting, Yu Sheng’s face twitched slightly. “You’d be better off with a fruit knife — it’d be easier for you to grip.”

“A fruit knife has no presence.”

“At your height, you could carry a dragon-slaying sword and it still wouldn’t have any presence!” Yu Sheng said helplessly. “I’m telling you, don’t go and break it over there — I actually quite like that cleaver. It’s excellent for cutting meat.”

“Alright, alright, you’re so long-winded — what is there to worry about?” Eileen hoisted the cleaver with both hands and gave Yu Sheng an impatient look. “Just hurry up and open the door. No matter what, we should at least check out the situation on the other side first.”

Seeing this, Yu Sheng said nothing more. Instead, he turned and gripped the door handle, and at the same time, cast one more confirming glance at the items piled at his feet.

They were food to be sent to Hu Li.

The last time he had entered the Otherworld, the things he’d been carrying — including the garbage bag in his hand — had all been brought through with him. But this time, what he was trying to carry through was far more: in addition to a large pile of food, there was also Eileen. With so much more “load” to carry, he honestly wasn’t very confident it would work.

He had of course done tests — but only short-distance door-opening tests inside the house. Going to the “Otherworld” was a completely different matter from short-range movement within the real world.

So he could only prepare as thoroughly as possible. If it didn’t work, then this trip would simply serve as another test.

Yu Sheng had put on an especially oversized coat; the lodgeer and outer pockets were already stuffed with compressed biscuits, bread, and several cans of eight-treasure congee. When he opened the door, he would try to hold it open as wide as possible, first sending the supplies through, then crossing through the passage together with Eileen.

For this, he would also need to open the door as “wide” as possible.

He still didn’t know the underlying principle behind this process, so he could only go by feel.

Yu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling the characteristics of that valley which he had recorded through Hu Li’s senses.

He recalled the cold night wind, the putrid smell, and the gnawing, marrow-deep hunger that permeated the entire Otherworld.

And most importantly, the “aura” needed for Spiritual Guidance.

All of this became the “frequency” of the door-opening, became the scenery on the other side of the door in his mind’s eye.

Next, he tried to focus all of his attention on this single act of opening the door. He needed to open a door large enough, stable enough — large enough to bring Eileen through, large enough to bring everything through, accurate enough to arrive right beside Hu Li…

The door handle turned slightly, and a cool breath seeped through the slowly widening crack in the door into the entryway…

A passage far greater in scale than any of the previous ones came into being.

Just how large was this passage?

Well — large enough to cause Director Baili Qing of the Special Operations Bureau and all the field squad leaders to let out sharp, piercing shrieks in their offices.

Wuuuung —

A strange and deep droning sound suddenly reverberated throughout the entire Wutong Road district. Yet this droning was far beyond the limits of ordinary human hearing; only those who had undergone training, those with extraordinary sensitivity to the power of “the other world,” could feel its sustained vibration resonating in the depths of their spirit.

Xu Jiali, who had just walked out of the kitchen carrying two bowls of instant noodles, instantly felt something. He looked up in alarm at the window outside, only to see the daylight beyond rapidly darkening, as though a heavy curtain was slowly descending to envelop all of Boundary City. And beneath that curtain, every building visible outside the window was gradually turning transparent and vanishing, while a hazy, otherworldly landscape — like a valley — began to “grow” out of where the neighborhood had been.

Little Red Riding Hood, who had been busy catching up on her homework on the rooftop outside, also suddenly raised her head. The wolf pack let out uneasy whimpers in the shadows. A cold wind blew from nowhere, sending her mathematics worksheet fluttering.

Li Lin, who just a moment ago had been marveling at how peaceful and serene the street was, leaped to his feet in an instant, the words coming out loud and clear: “What the hell! Something’s happened outside!!”

Xu Jiali dashed to Li Lin’s side in a few quick strides, bowl of noodles still in hand, then immediately corrected himself: “No! It’s not outside!”

Li Lin spun around. “What do you mean?”

“We’re observing the change — we’re falling into the Otherworld!” As a seasoned deep-diver, Xu Jiali assessed the situation in an instant. He immediately shoved the bowl of noodles into Li Lin’s hands and rushed to his equipment case, pulling out his Beam Dagger and protective gear. “Quickly, contact the Bureau — before the signal…”

But the speed at which they sank into the Otherworld was faster than Xu Jiali had imagined.

A “pull” far beyond his experience almost instantaneously dragged both his and Li Lin’s senses completely past the boundary of common sense and reason. He felt his vision blur, barely managed to grab hold of his equipment, and then heard a hollow howling of wind rush toward him.

Every sight before his eyes changed. The rented apartment dissolved like a dream, and a valley shrouded in night appeared before him.

Li Lin only had time to see the screen of the phone on the table in front of him suddenly light up, with the Director’s phone number flashing on it for a brief instant — and then, all that remained before his eyes were dark, heavy stones and a dark, heavy forest.

The two Special Operations Bureau agents raised their heads in bewilderment and exchanged a glance, then heard the low growl of a wolf come from beside them.

They turned around and saw the girl in the dark red coat standing nearby with a solemn expression.

“We’ve fallen into the Otherworld,” Xu Jiali said after a brief silence, his voice low and steady.

Little Red Riding Hood gave a small nod. “I know. Judging by the scale and characteristics, it should be of the ‘open wilderness’ type.”

Li Lin looked at Xu Jiali, then looked at the girl in red, and felt he ought to say something too.

He looked down at what he was holding, then raised his hand. “Want some instant noodles?”