Chapter 19: Homecoming

Li Lin stared blankly at the empty corner, the sampling scraper still in his hand, his mind a hollow void as if he'd forgotten what he was doing.

The middle-aged man known as "Captain Song"—Song Cheng, head of Special Operations Unit Two—furrowed his brow the instant the bloodstain vanished.

Something had vanished from his memory and thoughts, yet residual impressions lingered, stirring his "spiritual sense" and alerting him to something amiss.

A flicker of chaotic light surfaced in Song Cheng's eyes; he immediately stabilized his mind, attempting to "solidify" the last lingering impression before it, too, dissolved with the lost memories—years of professional training kicked in. After hesitation, Li Lin raised his head, scraper still in hand: "Boss, I feel like I suddenly forgot what I was supposed to do—was there something here just now?"

"Thought interference!" Song Cheng reacted instantly, warning sharply, "Check the 'depth' here immediately!"

Without a word, Li Lin set down his sampling tool, swiftly pulled a palm-sized black box from his belt, tapped its surface a few times, then extracted a thin "tube" from its side, directly connecting its needle-like tip to his eyeball. Afterward, he raised his head and slowly scanned his surroundings with the eye linked to the tube.

A faint hum emanated from the black metal box; liquid seemed to flow slowly within the tube. Li Lin's eye gradually darkened to black, and in his spiritual vision, everything along the aging street began to take on shades of black and white.

"Depth L-0, no extradimensional response," Li Lin reported while observing, "No entities or residues emerging from the 'extradimensional' either."

Song Cheng frowned, glancing at the box in Li Lin's hand—it was a portable depth scanner, its range and sensitivity far inferior to standard suitcase-sized equipment, yet even portable units should detect depth fluctuations within their range.

He was certain something had just disrupted his memory and thought; the lingering "impression" still clung to his mind, forcibly held in place—something sinister was affecting him here, yet… the device detected nothing.

Just as he was about to instruct Li Lin to adjust the scanner's sensing mode, the latter suddenly seemed to notice something.

Li Lin fixed his gaze on a spot at the end of the alley.

His eye, connected to the tube, was ink-black, reflecting another layer of vision—he saw, amid the monochrome buildings and streets, a faint smear of color—vague and pale, indistinguishable in form, yet vast in scale. After straining to discern it for a long while, he roughly estimated its outline, judging its size to be roughly that of a house.

"Captain Song, there's something ahead, but it's blurry—looks like a building," he said, cautiously advancing, "Depth reading still L-0, no contamination response… I'm almost there—can you sense anything?"

Song Cheng followed behind Li Lin, fingers gripping a badge in his pocket, ready to intervene if needed, yet he shook his head, frowning: "No spiritual warning."

Li Lin stopped at a point, feeling he stood before the hazy patch of color. He hesitated, then slowly extended his hand forward—

The black metal box suddenly emitted a piercing hum, followed by sharp crackling sounds and a puff of blue smoke—the depth scanner shut down.

The tube connected to his eye instantly detached; thick, mud-like black substance oozed out and rapidly evaporated upon contact with air.

Sudden stinging, swelling pain in his eye made Li Lin cry out, "Fuck—!" He dropped the now scalding-hot black box and instinctively reached to rub the eye that had been connected. Song Cheng stepped forward immediately, pressing his palm against Li Lin's temple: "Don't rub! Wait—it'll pass!"

Li Lin froze in place, feeling heat radiating from his temple, while the discomfort in his eye rapidly subsided. Moments later, he recovered, seeing the depth scanner still smoking on the ground.

"…Report it to the Bureau?"

"Report it."

"Good, scared the hell out of me," Li Lin exhaled in relief, then turned, staring uncertainly at the direction where he'd just reached out.

But there was only a small patch of open ground, its end blocked by a wall—covered in random graffiti, painted in garish spray colors depicting doors, windows, houses, trees, and stones.

He waved his hand forward—nothing touched.

"There's definitely something here—the device detected it, but I hadn't confirmed it before it broke," Li Lin muttered, "Depth reading was still L-0 before it failed."

"…Head back to the Bureau," Song Cheng paused two seconds, then decided, "I'll file a report to the Council. This place needs monitoring—could be an unregistered 'extradimensional.' Probably requires heavy equipment and specialized 'Deep Divers' to handle. By the way, are your eyes okay?"

"…If they're damaged, can I get half a day off?"

"No. The Bureau is short-staffed."

"Then I'm fine—I'll just use some eye drops when I get back."

Song Cheng nodded. Li Lin bent down carefully to pick up the now smokeless remains of the depth scanner. The two walked back to where their electric scooters had been parked, one behind the other.

Li Lin turned the scooter's key. The LCD screen flickered once, then went dark.

He froze, looked up—and met Song Cheng's identical expression.

"My scooter's dead… yours too?" Song Cheng silently nodded.

"…You think it's coincidence?"

Song Cheng shook his head slightly, speaking low: "The 'Academy' has a specific term for this phenomenon."

Li Lin blinked, then recalled certain documents he'd once read—

"The Machine Soul is displeased." / "The Machine Soul is cowed."

They spoke the phrases simultaneously—but not in unison.

Then each fell silent for a moment—then spoke in perfect unison: "You're mistaken."

"We'll talk later," Song Cheng waved dismissively, pushing his scooter slowly backward, "Let's get out of here first."

Li Lin pushed his scooter behind Song Cheng: "…Boss, we're really walking all the way back?"

"What else? You leaving your scooter?"

"Doesn't the Bureau have a small cargo van? Or at least send down the electric tricycle from the basement logistics unit… pushing this thing back is going to kill me…"

!.

"Stop complaining—you're young, weaker than me?"

The two veteran Special Operations agents pushed their scooters farther away, their figures fading into the entrance of Wutong Road.

…

Yu Sheng was already familiar with the boundless, profound darkness around him—he'd been here often lately, and drifting in this chaotic void felt almost like coming home.

Aileen's scream still echoed in his ears.

He thought: the sight of him, drenched in blood, belly torn open, stumbling through the door to die inside must have frightened the doll—apparently, even Aileen, a "cursed item," had limited psychological resilience.

This made Yu Sheng even more eager to anticipate what would happen after his "return."

When he reappeared before Aileen once more… how would the doll react?

Would she… still remember him pushing through the door to die inside?

Floating in darkness, Yu Sheng's "vision" showed Hu Li's figure—he recalled the night in the valley, remembering how Hu Li, upon seeing him in the ruined temple, had completely forgotten the moment she'd smashed his skull with a headbutt—though later, for reasons unknown, she suddenly remembered again. At first, though, Hu Li had truly erased his "death" from memory.

Yu Sheng didn't know what caused this "forgetting," nor whether it stemmed from himself or Hu Li—after all, the fox girl's mind seemed already deeply chaotic; forgetting things suddenly was normal for her.

But if Aileen also forgot the scene of him dying through the door, then Yu Sheng could be certain… the problem lay with himself.

Time spent floating in darkness was impossible to judge, so after briefly organizing his experiences so far, Yu Sheng emptied his mind, allowing his tense nerves to rest, patiently awaiting the end of the darkness.

Then he felt the familiar sensation of falling, sensing himself rapidly "returning" to the mortal world.

Prepared in advance, Yu Sheng immediately focused his spirit, attempting to capture the perception of the instant he crossed the "boundary."

Scenes he knew well unfolded before his eyes, a faint, elusive sense of guidance urging him to "fall" toward a specific direction. He struggled to discern amidst the chaotic images surging in those fleeting moments, but before he could grasp anything, he "saw" one of those images rapidly enlarge before his very eyes—

No. 66 Wutong Road, the living room just inside the entrance.

Yu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes.

Familiar furnishings of his home came into view; in the dining room beside the living room, that antique and exquisite oil painting stood quietly on the dining table.

Irene in the oil painting broke the silence.

"Yu Sheng! You've finally returned!"

(End of this chapter)