Chapter 64 – A Future Worth Looking Forward To

Hu Li fell into a drowsy sleep almost immediately—despite having been chatting with Yu Sheng just moments before, full of curiosity and anticipation, seemingly too excited by her new surroundings to sleep. But in what felt like the blink of an eye, all Yu Sheng and Eileen could hear from the bed was the sound of soft, steady snoring.

Eileen sat at the edge of Hu Li’s bed, watching the fox spirit who had already drifted off to dreamland.

“She really does fall asleep instantly… She’s already dreaming. Hmm, not bad—it’s a peaceful dream.”

“She probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a very long time,” Yu Sheng unconsciously lowered his voice. “At first I was worried she wouldn’t be able to sleep here, since the environment changed so suddenly. The place she was in before didn’t even have a bed.”

Eileen rose from the edge of the bed and went over to tuck in Hu Li’s blanket, speaking in a very professional tone as she did: “She probably feels safe here—she told me before that a fox’s intuition is very accurate…”

The little doll was only halfway through her sentence when Hu Li rolled over in her sleep. In the next instant, Yu Sheng’s vision blurred—the tails that the foxgirl had tucked away before sleeping burst out with a pop. Eileen, who had been bending over to help with the blanket, let out a shriek of “Holy—” before the tails smacked her flying, sending both her and her painting slamming into the wall…

Yu Sheng immediately blurted “What the hell” and sprinted over to pick up Eileen, who had slid down the wall. The moment the doll opened her mouth, a torrent of extremely colorful language came pouring out…

But Hu Li on the bed didn’t wake up. The fox spirit merely mumbled incoherently a couple of times, then rolled over into a more comfortable position. She picked out two of her many tails to hug against her chest, and the rest replaced the blanket that had just been flung away, wrapping snugly around her body.

Within two seconds, she had bundled herself into a fluffy fox ball.

“That @#$% tail freak! I was %&*# trying to help her out of the goodness of my—” Eileen hung from Yu Sheng’s arm, cursing up a storm. Then she suddenly turned to look at him. “I’m telling you, you don’t need to buy her a blanket tomorrow. She clearly doesn’t need one!”

Yu Sheng hurriedly carried the swearing doll out of the room. Only when they reached the hallway outside did he let out a sigh of relief, glancing back somewhat helplessly. “Well, I guess it’ll take some time to adjust… Eileen, are you okay?”

“Does wounded pride count as not okay?” The doll rolled her eyes dramatically, then climbed from Yu Sheng’s arm up to his shoulder. “Ugh, if I still had my original body, you think I’d take this kind of abuse? You have no idea how powerful I used to be. I… anyway, I was super powerful!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re powerful, I believe you…” Yu Sheng responded half-heartedly while carrying Eileen back to his own room.

Yet the doll on his shoulder, unusually, didn’t bicker with him over his dismissive tone. Yu Sheng found this strange and glanced up, only to see Eileen with her head slightly lowered, apparently deep in thought about something.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about… what you said about having Hu Li help you fight,” Eileen said with unusual seriousness. “It seems like you’ve already decided to keep dealing with the Otherworld from now on, right? And I don’t mean the kind where you get dragged into incidents—I mean… you’re going to go looking for trouble on purpose?”

Yu Sheng didn’t respond for a moment, and the silence served as confirmation.

“Why?” Eileen asked, genuinely curious. “You’ve already rescued Hu Li. There shouldn’t be any reason you’d need to go actively seeking out other trouble—although it’s true that people who’ve had contact with the Otherworld are much more likely to encounter things from ‘the other side’ for the rest of their lives. But you could also choose to work with the Special Operations Bureau, learn some ‘systematic techniques’ for avoiding the Otherworld. Plenty of people make that choice, and they manage to live peacefully for many years… at least, more peacefully than those spirit detectives and investigators.”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then looked at Eileen with a half-joking expression. “What if I said it’s because of curiosity? The Otherworld is such a bizarre phenomenon that it’s sparked my curiosity, and I just want a little excitement…”

The little doll immediately mussed up Yu Sheng’s hair into a complete mess. “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

Yu Sheng raised his hand to pin down Eileen’s claws while blurting out: “Stop, stop, stop—don’t pull! A small part of that is serious.”

Eileen stopped clawing at his hair and stared at Yu Sheng with wide eyes.

“Curiosity—that really is part of the reason. I’m not joking,” Yu Sheng caught his breath, his expression turning solemn. “Do you remember that night when I carried you along, opening one door after another? Those… landscapes behind the doors—do you remember?”

“…I remember.”

“So do I. Vividly,” Yu Sheng said slowly, sitting in his chair. “So many ‘distant places’—we even had a serious discussion about that glowing mountain peak… Eileen, don’t you want to go see them? And that city floating in the sky, those birds flying over the rift valley…”

“And Senior Brother hanging from the roof beam.”

“…Right, and Senior Brother hanging from the roof beam,” Yu Sheng laughed and shook his head. “Eileen, whether they’re some ‘Distance’ or some ‘Otherworld,’ I was truly captivated by those sights. Think about it—I’ve opened so many doors, and I can open them again at any time. I already know there’s such a vast world beyond Boundary City. Can I really just obediently stay here in the Borderland like you said and live a ‘peaceful life’?”

Yu Sheng paused and let out a soft breath. “As long as I keep ‘opening doors,’ I’ll inevitably keep encountering those ‘landscapes’—and this door has already been opened.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Eileen said, hugging Yu Sheng’s head as she thought it over carefully, then began combing the hair she’d just messed up back into place. “If I were you, my head would be full of reckless ideas too at this point—I’d be even more reckless than you.”

Then the little doll paused and asked, “So what’s your other reason?”

Yu Sheng didn’t speak for a moment, only narrowing his eyes slightly.

Images from memory floated to the surface of his mind.

Sunlight flowing through old alleyways, a reddening sky, clouds like water—a “small seaside city” that wasn’t very big, but felt familiar and dear.

“There’s a place I want to find,” Yu Sheng said softly.

He felt the little hands that had been fussing with his hair suddenly go still.

“I have a feeling…” Eileen suddenly bent down, staring at Yu Sheng’s face with remarkable perceptiveness. “It’s like you’re planning to go somewhere and not come back?”

Yu Sheng opened his eyes to find those crimson pupils staring straight at him. The doll’s gaze was a bit unnerving.

“…Uh, I just want to find that place and go take a look. I’ll come back.”

“Really?” Eileen frowned suspiciously.

“Really,” Yu Sheng nodded. Then he paused, seeming to genuinely think something over, before repeating himself. “I mean it.”

“It seems like… you’re not lying to me,” Eileen tilted her head, tentatively accepting Yu Sheng’s words. But she quickly shook her head. “Whatever, even if you were lying to me there’s nothing I could do about it. The door-opening ability is in your hands… Anyway, forget about that. Since you’ve already decided to deal with all that crazy stuff from now on, have you thought about how to start? Are you going to become a spirit detective? Take commissions that might be related to the Otherworld? Or be a lone-wolf investigator? Actively search every nook and cranny for clues about the Otherworld and the Distance? Or… open a random door every day and jump through to court death?”

“Let’s put that last option aside for now,” Yu Sheng immediately waved his hand. “I’m not afraid of dying, but I’m not reckless enough for that. What if I actually provoke something I can’t beat and can’t run from? Then I’d really be done for…”

“Oh, good to know you haven’t completely lost your mind,” Eileen happily bobbed her head. “So that means you’d be a spirit detective or investigator then? The former mainly takes jobs—the upside is stable ‘work’ but with restrictions. The latter mainly relies on being tough and charging in headfirst—the upside is freedom of action, but you frequently run into big ‘surprises’…”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and asked, “Which one is Little Red Riding Hood?”

“Definitely a spirit detective. She takes outsourced jobs from the Special Operations Bureau, and she’s just a student working a part-time gig,” Eileen waved dismissively. “Though according to her, she’s got an organization behind her—called ‘Fairy Tale’ or something…”

Yu Sheng’s mind immediately started churning. “An organization… Do these kinds of organizations need to be registered?”

“…Probably?” Eileen scratched her head. “Don’t ask me, I don’t know either—I’ve forgotten everything~ But it most likely needs registration, right? After all, with the Special Operations Bureau serving as the official oversight agency, if you gathered a bunch of experts with specialized Otherworld skills and didn’t register, wouldn’t that make you an ‘enthusiastic but unlawful social organization’?”

At this, the little doll suddenly froze, looking at Yu Sheng with some bewilderment. “Wait, are you actually thinking of starting an organization? Counting the fox, we’ve only got three people total, and that fox doesn’t even have an ID card—of course, neither do I. Hey, come to think of it, you’re the only actual ‘person’ in this household?”

“I guess you’re right,” Yu Sheng awkwardly rubbed his nose, only now belatedly realizing the issue. “Oh crap, where am I supposed to get Hu Li an ID card…”

“Why not ask around the next time someone from the ‘Special Operations Bureau’ contacts you?” Eileen started offering suggestions. “A small favor like that—they probably wouldn’t mind helping, right?”

“…Is that even their department?”

“It doesn’t cost anything to ask.”

“Fair enough.”

Yu Sheng scratched his hair, and just then, he suddenly noticed another problem.

“Wait, Eileen—you’re crashing in my room again tonight?!”

“Obviously! My room is creepy as hell!”

“You’re creepy enough yourself—go back to your own room!”

“No!”

(End of Chapter)