Chapter 158: Contact, Assessment, Judgment

The elevator descended smoothly and silently, the cabin appearing very quiet.

Bai Liqing was the first to break the silence: "Regarding the possibility that Hu Li's 'hometown' is located in the 'outside world', it is best that no one speaks of it."

Yu Sheng did not speak, only looking at the other person with a slightly inquiring gaze.

"Due to the influence of the Dark Angel, people in this world are extremely tense about 'strangers from other lands'," Bai Liqing said directly without beating around the bush, "Official organizations like the Special Operations Bureau are fine; we can treat this issue cautiously and rationally, but there are other organizations... they are not so calm."

Yu Sheng nodded lightly: "Good, I understand."

When they returned to that small room, Erin and Hu Li were still inside waiting obediently.

As soon as she saw Yu Sheng enter, Hu Li immediately beamed, held up a plate of cake, and rushed forward, thrusting it at him with such fierce determination that it looked as if she were about to assassinate him: "Benefactor! This is for you to eat; it's delicious!"

Yu Sheng almost got poked down by the Miss's plate, quickly stepped back half a pace to steady himself, then looked at the things on the plate; he saw a cream cake no bigger than a palm that had been squeezed into a twisted and crooked shape, piled high with nuts on top. The amount of ingredients added obviously exceeded the normal quantity, and the nuts forcibly stuffed on looked even a size larger than the cake itself.

Looking at Hu Li again, he saw cream all over her face and hands, even a small patch smeared on her ear; he didn't know how she managed to get cream on her ears... did she shove her head into the cake?

The Fox Miss was still laughing happily, looking at Yu Sheng with full expectation. The latter hesitated for a moment, but still took the obviously "processed" cake. Seeing this, Erin on the side even explained: "Just eat it; the silly fox saved it especially for you. She said you love nuts and raisins, so she shoved half a jar of toppings into it for you."

Before Yu Sheng entered, his mind was full of Dark Angels, journeys from other lands, dark fairy tales, and deep grievances. At this moment, looking at Hu Li's warm and happy smile, instantly more than half of that headache of worries melted away, but he still looked at the cake in his hand with a difficult expression—fairly speaking, he was quite moved, it's just that this thing had been processed a bit awkwardly, and he felt just looking at it made his blood sugar rise...

But after all, it was the Fox Miss's kindness, and it was hard to refuse such hospitality. Plus, there was Bai Liqing standing nearby who, although expressionless, seemed to be watching the fun. Yu Sheng could only grit his teeth, say "thank you," and use a fork to scoop up some cake and take a bite.

Then half of his tooth almost got knocked out.

"What the heck is this?!" Yu Sheng, stunned, scooped around in that lump of cake a few times, pulled out a shiny, hard substance as solid as a stone, and looked up at Hu Li.

Hu Li laughed happily: "It's a raisin."

Yu Sheng: "……?"

"I really couldn't stuff any more in, so I just squeezed it."

Yu Sheng: "……?"

What the hell raisin, this lump had almost been squeezed into a brick by her—the silly girl didn't have much common sense, but her grip strength was quite strong!

Yu Sheng reluctantly ate two bites of the part that could be swallowed, then gave the rest of the cake back to the Fox Miss, indicating that he had already eaten snacks while out walking earlier and wasn't hungry now, but was still very thankful for the kindness. Hu Li didn't think much of it, happily took the cake back and started eating, making noises like a crusher when chewing that raisin brick.

Yu Sheng even felt like he saw sparks flying from her mouth.

"After we finish eating, let's go home," Yu Sheng said, taking out a tissue to wipe the cream off Hu Li's ear, "There are many things to do when we get back."

"Finished 'touring'?" Erin stood on the table, looking up at Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng smiled and patted the little doll's hair: "Finished touring."

"Alright then," Erin casually pushed Yu Sheng's arm aside, climbed onto the latter's shoulder with practiced ease, and asked a question on the side, "Ah, what about that 'iron lump' you brought over? No results yet? Just left it here?"

Yu Sheng turned his head to look at Bai Liqing.

"This will probably take some time," Bai Liqing said calmly, "We need to do some detailed scanning of its interior and microscopic structure; this cannot be completed in a day or two. If you trust us, you can leave it here."

"……That works too," Yu Sheng thought briefly, then nodded very readily, "Anyway, that thing was just sitting around in my place. If you guys reach a conclusion, remember to notify me in time... Hu Li! Don't wipe your mouth with your tail!"

Bai Liqing watched the scene before her.

Strange, incongruous, abstract—but a scene that made perfect sense for the few of them.

A faint, barely noticeable smile floated in her eyes.

"I will arrange for someone to send you home," she suddenly said.

"Ah, no need, we can go back ourselves," Yu Sheng, while using a tissue to wipe Hu Li's mouth, hands, face, and tail, turned back to look at Bai Liqing, then immediately added, "I won't use my phone to report to you in front of you."

Bai Liqing was stunned for a moment, but the next second she realized what was going on, quickly picked up her phone to send a notification to the monitoring department, then looked at Yu Sheng with a strange expression: "Now... is it okay?"

Yu Sheng smiled, reached out in front of Bai Liqing's eyes and pulled at the empty air; a translucent door shimmering with a faint light opened out of nowhere, and on the other side of the door was the living room at No. 66 Wutong Road.

"Want to come in for a sit?" Yu Sheng stood at the door, instinctively being polite to the female director before him, "Since we're already at the doorstep..."

Bai Liqing felt the words were awkward no matter how she heard them; she frowned and shook her head: "No, I still have work."

"Alright then, we'll be leaving first. Thanks for your hospitality, contact us later if there's anything," Yu Sheng nodded and said, then carried the doll, held the fox, turned around, and walked into the great door, "Bye."

"Mm, goodbye..."

As soon as the words fell, the illusory door vanished, the guests had departed, so suddenly yet so naturally, as if they had never come.

Bai Liqing stood quietly in the small room, looking at the spot where the illusory great door had disappeared. After a long while, she took a deep breath, and her eyes settled down.

She picked up her phone, dialed a number, and spoke calmly after it was answered: "How is the situation with the monitoring group?"

Song Cheng's voice came from the receiver: "We are tracking and recording it manually; the displacement phenomenon has just calmed down." "... The spatial stability device has been operating, right?"

"……Yes, running at full power."

"Are the internal calibration system and the spatial shielding network of the headquarters building also on?"

"These two systems never shut down; you know that."

"The jump interference device..."

Song Cheng's voice sounded a bit helpless: "It's on too. Today it was specially adjusted to maximum power with indiscriminate coverage; for this reason, the customs office and traffic station downstairs were temporarily closed due to the impact."

Bai Liqing was silent for two seconds.

"……He just opened the door and left right in front of me, without even showing a bit of confusion. I think he didn't even notice any 'obstacles' existed here."

A soft "click" sound came from the other end of the phone; that was the sound of a lighter igniting a cigarette.

"Director," Song Cheng's tone held a bit of exhaustion, "I must remind you, him opening the door and leaving right in front of you is the small matter—the fact that he can open the door and come over next time is what you need to be mentally prepared for."

"I know, it's an expected situation."

!.

"Is the risk a bit too high?" Song Cheng couldn't help but ask, "We directly invited him to the headquarters today... now he knows the coordinates here."

"Trust my judgment, Xiao Song," Bai Liqing exhaled lightly and said calmly, "Letting him regard the Special Operations Bureau as 'friends' brings far more benefits than those risks. Especially after deep contact with him today, I am even more firm in this judgment."

"……I understand. I believe in what your eyes have seen. Then I will continue to keep an eye on the monitoring group."

"Good."

Just before hanging up the phone, Song Cheng suddenly remembered something: "Ah, right, there's also news to tell you, good news."

"Speak."

"The technical department has made progress. The researchers on the assault team have successfully filtered out and integrated the characteristics of the 'door-opening' signals we've recorded so far. We should be able to add automatic filtering and automatic tagging functions to the spatial early warning system very soon," Song Cheng said with a hint of a smile in his voice. "If that thing can run normally, things will be much easier from now on."

"Annual Outstanding Employee, Outstanding Team, Star-Level Assault Specialist, Technical Star Medal, Commendation for Praise—if it works out."

"... Director, the year isn't even over yet..."

"Let's settle it this way for now," Bai Liqing said calmly, "unless someone really manages to save the world in the last month before year-end."

"Alright..."

The call ended. Bai Liqing casually tossed her phone onto the desk, let out a slightly weary sigh, leaned back in her chair to rest, and tilted her head slightly, looking at the wide window that offered a view of the laboratory opposite.

On the surface of the polymer barrier emitting a faint blue glow, a pair of indifferent, faded eyes had quietly appeared at some unknown moment.

Those eyes watched her in silence.

"... That person left?"

"Left."

"Oh."

"Will you still peek around from now on?"

"Still will."

Bai Liqing's expression didn't change at all; she only let out a sigh.

A slightly mechanical, stiff voice continued to sound in her mind: "Can't be helped. You should know, this is my instinct."

"Suit yourself," Bai Liqing said. Then she paused, and asked casually, "Did you make out anything worthwhile? Although you were reckless this time, no matter how you look at it, you did complete a close-range observation."

"He has humanity," those eyes said.

Bai Liqing said nothing, clearly unsurprised.

"Intense, genuine humanity—not mimicked," those eyes continued. "Moreover, he probably isn't an 'entity,' at least not one 'generated' by the so-called 66 Wutong Road."

A change finally came over Bai Liqing's eyes.

"How could you tell?"

"His shadow—the shadow he casts in the Spirit Realm—is far more vast than 66 Wutong Road itself. Rather than saying 66 Wutong Road generated him, it would be more accurate to say... it was he who generated 66 Wutong Road at the boundary, in order to be able to legitimately 'exist' in our world."

(End of this chapter)