Chapter 86 – The Novelty

The Special Operations Bureau clerk who called herself “Ren Wenwen” had left.

Eileen lay sprawled against the window watching her walk away, then turned to glance at Yu Sheng, who seemed a bit dazed. She asked with great curiosity, “What’s that ‘Blizzard Mystery’ she was talking about?”

Yu Sheng’s expression turned strange. “…A novel I wrote. It’s being serialized on a media account.”

“Then who’s this ‘Lin Qi’ she mentioned?”

“The male lead of the book.”

“And ‘Night Blade’?” Eileen blinked, but before Yu Sheng could answer, a look of realization crossed her face. “Oh, I get it—that’s the female lead, right?”

Yu Sheng fell silent, lifting his head to stare at the ceiling.

Eileen seemed to guess something from his reaction, and her tone immediately became cautious. “…Don’t tell me it’s another male lead?”

Yu Sheng sat back in his chair, leaning against the backrest. “I could at least understand it if it were another male lead.”

Eileen: “…Then, a male villain? I don’t remember a lot of things anymore, but I vaguely recall that kind of pairing exists in the world…”

Yu Sheng silently glanced at the little doll, thinking that her already threadbare memory really ought to save some space for useful things. Then he let out a long sigh. “It’s the male lead’s motorcycle.”

Eileen: “…”

The little doll was utterly shaken—more shaken than when she’d seen a giant eyeball covering the entire sky.

She hopped straight down from the windowsill, stood on the floor, and pointed up at Yu Sheng. “You actually write stuff that twisted!”

“I didn’t write anything like that in my book!” Yu Sheng was completely beside himself. “Maybe it’s because working at the Special Operations Bureau is so stressful that people’s worldviews get a little… off?”

Ren Wenwen had already left by now—but if she were still here, Yu Sheng really would have liked to say to her face: Girl, your tastes have taken a very narrow path!

Hu Li had been standing nearby listening the whole time, and finally couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer. She sidled over. “Benefactor, Eileen, what are you two talking about?”

“Good children shouldn’t listen to this—even bad children can’t handle this one.” Yu Sheng waved his hand, exhausted in body and soul, and his gaze fell on the laptop beside him.

His grand manuscript-writing plan hadn’t even started yet, but now there was no way he could write anything.

“So you’re not writing today?” Eileen looked eagerly at Yu Sheng’s computer and asked curiously.

“I’ll deal with it tomorrow,” Yu Sheng sighed, then immediately noticed Eileen’s expression. “What do you want?”

“Can I play on this for a bit?” Eileen pointed at Yu Sheng’s computer. “Just watching TV every day gets pretty boring.”

Yu Sheng didn’t respond right away, so the little doll hastily added, “I won’t look at your browser history!”

“That’s not what I’m worried about!” Yu Sheng’s eyes instantly went wide. “I’m afraid you’ll break it—do you even know how to use one?”

“Of course I do!” Eileen said with full confidence.

“…Where did you learn?”

“No idea, but I just know how. I can even type!”

Yu Sheng eyed the little doll suspiciously, and after much hesitation finally waved his hand. “Do whatever you want, just don’t break it. I’m going to check out this new phone first.”

With that, he stopped paying attention to Eileen, sat down nearby, and took out the new phone that Ren Wenwen had given him.

A “gift” from Bureau Chief Baili Qing, given in her personal capacity.

Yu Sheng examined it carefully and found that the thing looked pretty much like a regular phone on the outside. It was just slightly heavier in the hand—whether that was because of a bigger battery or some special feature hidden inside, he couldn’t tell. Ren Wenwen hadn’t included any special user manual when she handed it over, only saying that it powered on the same way as a normal phone. As for the specialized “guidance” meant for “anomalous individuals,” it was all integrated into the system.

He studied the exterior for a while, then unlocked the screen.

A large red diamond-shaped emblem appeared in the center of the screen, looking like a vertical, vigilant single eye—presumably the insignia of the Special Operations Bureau. The emblem then faded, and a clean desktop appeared on the screen. Since it was a brand-new device, there were very few icons, and the most prominent among them was “Frontier Communications,” positioned first at the top of the screen.

It bore the same red emblem, the same diamond logo. After tapping it, it launched quickly with almost no loading time, and Yu Sheng was greeted by its clean and intuitive user interface.

Communication tools, data lookup, a series of preset public channels, news feeds, and an emergency support option.

A strange sense of novelty stirred within him. Yu Sheng curiously explored this “comprehensive platform” that was said to have been built by the Special Operations Bureau, specifically opened for all registered Spirit Detectives and independent investigators in the Borderland. Before long, he discovered that the app was already logged in—and the username was “Yu Sheng.”

Registration time: this very morning.

Had the Bureau Chief set it up in advance? Or was the device pre-bound to its user, with registration info already written in by the time it reached the user’s hands, unable to be changed? A lot of classified devices with security features seemed to work that way…

Yu Sheng idly speculated as he found the chat function in Frontier Communications. A thought suddenly struck him, and he typed “Little Red Riding Hood” into the search bar.

A profile picture showing the back of a figure wearing a red cloak appeared on screen, showing as online.

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then sent his first message: “You there?”

Only two or three seconds passed before the profile picture suddenly flickered, and then a string of symbols popped up on screen: “???!”

“It’s Yu Sheng. The Special Operations Bureau just gave me a phone,” Yu Sheng typed in the chat box. “I’ve seen you use this app before. Now I have it too.”

This time, Little Red Riding Hood’s reply took a while to come through: “You actually went through with it?! I thought you were joking back then!”

After another moment, she sent a second message: “I’m in class right now.”

Yu Sheng: “Won’t the teacher catch you?”

“No way. I’ve got my wolf on the rooftop sending messages with the phone—using the wolf’s eyes and paws, plus sensory sharing. I’m sitting in the classroom looking super attentive.”

Reading Little Red Riding Hood’s message, Yu Sheng blanked for a moment. “…You can do that?”

“Practiced for over two years. At first I could only send back a simple emoji after getting an urgent message. Now I can share my wolf’s senses and duo-queue ranked matches with people.” Little Red Riding Hood fired off her messages rapidly, her tone carrying a hint of pride—as if only in these moments did the girl in the chat show some of that carefree nature befitting her age. “What about you? You really went and became a Spirit Detective… What about the two at your place? Did they register too?”

“Registered them both,” Yu Sheng glanced up at Eileen, who was clacking away at the keyboard doing who-knows-what, and at Hu Li, who was wandering around the room foraging for food. “But there’s only one phone…”

He paused at that, then sent another message: “And even though we’re registered, once the initial excitement wears off, I’m not sure what we’re actually supposed to be doing right now.”

“Talk it over with that doll of yours—Eileen, right? She seems to know quite a bit about the supernatural field.”

“She’d definitely just suggest I go plaster flyers on the street,” Yu Sheng replied immediately. “Better to ask you than her.”

“…That’s actually not a bad approach, honestly,” Little Red Riding Hood replied, though she quickly changed course. “But of course, for now don’t think about ‘building some grand enterprise’ or anything like that. If you have time, read through the materials—there’s a huge archive the Bureau shares with Spirit Detectives and investigators, including many special locations in the Borderland and intel on some Otherworlds that can be stably entered and exited. Or check the public channels for new posts—some Spirit Detectives and investigators share intelligence they’ve gathered from recent encounters. You might find it interesting. If you want to make money, you can also look for help-wanted postings. If you’re worried about getting scammed or aren’t sure about the pricing, you can ask me.”

Little Red Riding Hood sent an entire wall of text, the content patient and thorough.

Even through the phone screen, Yu Sheng could sense that the girl who always kept company with wolves was offering her help with genuine sincerity.

“Thanks, that’s really useful advice.” He thanked her earnestly.

“It’s nothing, just some offhand suggestions. Oh, since you registered as a Spirit Detective, you should have also registered a team, right? What’s it called?”

“The Lodge.”

Yu Sheng typed the name with great solemnity, then added, “But you probably can’t find any info on it by searching yet. The paperwork was only picked up this morning.”

“That sounds awesome,” Little Red Riding Hood quickly replied—whether out of genuine enthusiasm or politeness was hard to tell. “Maybe it’ll become a name that carries weight across the Borderland before long?”

“Ha, I’ll take the good omen,” Yu Sheng laughed and typed rapidly. “I won’t keep you from class any longer. I’m going to go explore that database.”

“Okay, bye~”

After ending his conversation with Little Red Riding Hood, Yu Sheng exhaled softly—then immediately noticed the clatter of Eileen hammering away at the keyboard.

He finally couldn’t help going over. “What are you doing over there? Making all that racket… Don’t break my keyboard.”

“Playing a game. Someone called me slow, so I’m cussing them out,” Eileen said, looking puffed up with anger. She sat cross-legged in front of the keyboard, and when she typed, her whole body swayed back and forth with her arms. “This keyboard is way too big—it’s such a pain to use!”

Yu Sheng curiously glanced at the screen and was stunned to discover that Eileen was single-handedly waging a war of words against the entire lobby. Teammates, opponents—every single person had been stripped of their parents. Even the game developers and the advertisers whose ads appeared on the battle map hadn’t managed to keep their families intact.

Her typing wasn’t slow at all!

Yu Sheng was instantly awestruck.

The little doll’s gaming skills were abysmal, but her trash-talking was genuinely impressive. Normally Yu Sheng could rein her in a bit when she ran her mouth, but once she got online, she was completely off the leash!

However, her reign of terror didn’t last long.

After just a few minutes, her account was banned. She was kicked straight out of the match, and a large temporary suspension warning popped up in the center of the screen.

“Serves you right,” Yu Sheng said, watching Eileen jump up from the desk in a fit of rage. He burst out laughing. “Got what was coming to you this time, huh?”

Eileen was right in the middle of her indignant tirade when she heard Yu Sheng’s words and suddenly froze. She turned her head hesitantly. “…So, um, that was your account.”

Yu Sheng: “…?”

(End of Chapter)