Chapter 117: Help and Difficulties

Song Cheng finally personally experienced the kind of thing Li Lin and Xu Jiali had mentioned in their report—when dealing with Yu Sheng, something suddenly happens that is perfectly logical yet feels wrong, and when you think about it, it seems reasonable, but then you think again and it still feels utterly insane—exactly what that means.

He glanced at the two subordinates beside him with the corner of his eye and saw Xu Jiali straining to keep a silent, stoic expression, while Li Lin was on the verge of cracking.

"... Well, I just want to confirm," after holding back for two or three seconds, Song Cheng finally broke the silence, "you mean delivery and takeout... are delivered to the door, right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty easy to understand, isn't it?" Yu Sheng, a bit confused by the other's reaction, instinctively scratched his head, "You know the special nature of this place of mine. Not only is it hard to find a specific address, but without sufficient spiritual aptitude or prior preparation, ordinary people can't even get within a hundred meters of the house without involuntarily veering away. It's even stronger than your nodes; no one can get close. If I order takeout, I have to leave an address at a nearby supermarket, and buying large items online means I have to figure out how to pick them up myself. It's quite troublesome."

Song Cheng fell silent.

He remembered they had just been discussing the "Dark Angels"—how did the conversation jump straight from "invaders from outside the world" to "deliveries can't be brought within a hundred meters of the doorstep"? Good heavens, where did one sentence send him...

But soon he came to his senses; after all, it was he himself who had brought up "if you encounter any difficulties, you can report them to the Special Operations Bureau." He just hadn't expected this "special entity" living in the Otherworld to actually quickly propose a specific problem, and one that was so down-to-earth; he was just momentarily stunned.

But thinking it over carefully, the issue of "deliveries and takeout to No. 66 Wutong Road can't be delivered to the door" was indeed related to both the Otherworld and the entity...

"I'll go back and study it to see how to solve this problem," the mature and experienced team leader quickly adjusted his expression, nodded with a serious face, and said, "If all else fails, we'll set up a dedicated collection point here just for you..."

As soon as he said this, Xu Jiali beside him reached out and patted Li Lin's shoulder—the latter hadn't yet figured out what was going on, just paused in confusion, looking at his colleague who had suddenly reached out to pat him.

Yu Sheng immediately felt a bit uneasy: "Well... is that appropriate? Won't it be too much special treatment?"

"Not special, not special at all," Song Cheng waved his hands repeatedly, "Providing convenience for 'special individuals' living in the Borderland is itself one of the Special Operations Bureau's responsibilities. In fact, 'countering the threats of the Otherworld and entities' accounts for only a small part of the bureau's daily work. For the vast majority of the time, we are more like the property management and butlers of the city's 'other side.' Handling everything is the norm."

His words were not at all polite; solving the equally bizarre problems of the various strange "residents" hidden among humans in this city is indeed one of the Special Operations Bureau's daily tasks. The only thing he didn't say was that an entity like Yu Sheng, even among the strange creatures of the entire Borderland... appeared far too extraordinary.

However, Director Bai Liqing's instructions before they left were still vivid in his mind, so Song Cheng suppressed all his complaints deep in his heart.

This is what the Director said—

"As long as he doesn't want to overthrow the Borderland, try to agree to whatever he asks—even if he really does want to try overthrowing it, do your best to explain why he can't. Just make sure he doesn't call me with a complaint."

Now recalling the Director's last sentence, Song Cheng felt cold air rising from the back of his neck.

Then he looked up and asked Yu Sheng another question: "Is there anything else?"

Yu Sheng thought carefully: "For now, it seems there's nothing else... Oh right, there is. I previously asked you to help check on Erin's situation and Hu Li's origins. Have there been any developments on these two matters?"

As soon as he asked this, the small doll on the coffee table and the demon fox girl sitting beside it both perked up their ears.

"Sorry, there's no news on that yet," Song Cheng shook his head, though he felt a sigh of relief inside—this was at least a task he was more familiar with, "We've sent a message to the Alice Cottage liaison station, but they haven't responded yet. The duty personnel might not be in the Borderland at the moment. As for this Miss Fox Demon..."

Song Cheng hesitated here, showing some doubt on his face.

Yu Sheng leaned forward: "Encountered some difficulties?"

"Not difficulties, but rather some trouble—because looking only at restrictions like 'fox demon' or 'beast transformed into human form,' the possible results are too numerous. There could be over a hundred races in this world somewhat similar to Miss Hu Li, but there isn't a single place matching the homeland world described by her," Song Cheng said, glanced at Hu Li, and spoke in a consultative tone, "so we were thinking if we could take some of her hair samples back. If all else fails, we can do a biological comparison to determine her race first."

Yu Sheng looked at Hu Li, and the latter immediately nodded.

"If she has no objection, then I have no objection either," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "Hair samples are fine, right? No quality requirements?"

As he spoke, he casually reached over and touched the sofa cushion beside him, then extended his hand toward Song Cheng: "Will this work?"

Song Cheng: "... Huh?"

"She usually sheds fur," Yu Sheng said expressionlessly, "It's getting cooler these days, so she's shedding more and more—you actually don't need to discuss it with me specifically; just picking some off your clothes after sitting on the sofa for a while will be enough."

Hu Li beside him immediately blushed, several large tails curling around to wrap herself into a ball of fur, her eyes looking at Yu Sheng through the gaps in the tails: "I'm sorry..."

"No big deal," Yu Sheng reached out with his other hand and patted the demon fox girl's tail (he had meant to pat her head, but she had wrapped herself up), "Just don't use your tail to wipe the dishes next time; I end up with a mouthful of fur."

A muffled voice came from inside the fluffy ball: "Oh."

Song Cheng stood there with a stiff expression for two or three seconds, finally reaching into his pocket to pull out a sample collection tube, carefully accepting the few silver-white downy feathers Yu Sheng handed over, and solemnly placing them into the glass tube.

Afterwards, he led the two Special Operations Bureau officers to take their leave.

After their figures disappeared around the corner, Yu Sheng, who had gone to open the door to see them off, returned to the living room and sat on the sofa, letting out a long sigh.

Then he immediately saw Hu Li still standing there beside the sofa, fluffy.

She had simply covered her eyes, leaving only two little feet exposed outside, a huge ball of tails standing there like an abstract sculpture.

Seeing this, Yu Sheng found it both amusing and helpless; he reached into the pile of tails, trying to "excavate" the demon fox girl: "Stop hiding; they're gone."

Only then did Hu Li show her head; a pile of tails slowly opened like a blooming flower, and she looked at Yu Sheng with a hint of apology: "I... I'll be responsible for cleaning the house from now on."

"Just clean up where you've been," Yu Sheng laughed, leaning back on the sofa, "Also, next time you wash your tail, don't forget to take out and clean the drain filter; I just saw the sewer clogged again this morning..."

Hu Li instantly curled herself into a ball of fur again.

This time, Yu Sheng didn't try to forcibly "excavate" the girl from her tails; he just laughed and patted one of her silver-white fox tails, then looked at Erin (x2), who was sitting on the coffee table in a daze: "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about those Dark Angels," Erin hesitated slightly, her expression very serious, "You say, knowing full well they are such dangerous things, why would anyone actively want to summon them? Although that 'Song Cheng' just now said that more than half of the Angel cultists were converted after contacting the 'Guidance' and can no longer be considered human, he also said that a small portion actively devoted themselves to those 'Angels' for so-called knowledge and power... Why do humans do such things?"

"Not necessarily all humans," Yu Sheng said, "Things like 'courting death' probably exist as oddities in every race."

Speaking, he paused, then looked at the doll with some curiosity: "As for you, who usually doesn't care much about things like 'world peace,' why are you suddenly so concerned about this matter?"

"... I'm not that heartless, okay!" Erin immediately widened her eyes, "I am a doll of Alice Cottage! We usually take the maintenance of world order very seriously, punishing evil and promoting good everywhere, helping others... Don't have a wrong impression of a honest, kind, gentle, polite, fair, and upright lady..."

Yu Sheng was stunned by this doll's string of words, and for a long time couldn't fit that long list of adjectives onto the short-tempered little dwarf standing before him.

This fellow really is small in size but big in face.

However, in the end, he didn't dare say that sentence out loud.

"I need to go up and catch up on some sleep," he waved his hand, saying to Hu Li and Erin, "I hardly slept last night, and I'm about to drop dead from exhaustion—wake me up before dinner; I'll cook for you."

Hu Li immediately poked her head out from the tails, with a brilliant smile: "Hey! Okay, Benefactor!"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He looked speechlessly at the two clowns in his house (one of whom had now multiplied into two), finally waved his hand, and walked toward the second floor, full of sleepiness.

(End of Chapter)