Chapter 260: The Second Door

So the matter was settled.

Shortly after, the on-site staff quickly found the "carrier" Yu Sheng had requested: a large door salvaged from the orphanage ruins—iron, double-leaf, an inch and a half thick, with a frame three and a half meters wide, dead heavy; even an ordinary adult couldn't push it open in one go. It was hoisted over by a crane and propped up there like a wall...

Yu Sheng stared in shock and quickly explained to Li Lin that he just wanted a completely ordinary door, ordinary in the literal sense—the kind a primary school student could push open—not this heavy-duty security door that looked like the entrance to some big boss's secret base. It looked impressive standing there, but without a support structure, the kids wouldn't be able to push it open later...

"Ah, I misunderstood. When I heard it was a portal connecting the valley and reality, I immediately thought of the style of those customs gates at the Bureau," Li Lin said awkwardly, rubbing his nose. "I was even thinking that if this door wasn't big enough, I'd call the leader again and have Engineer Sun come over..."

Yu Sheng and Erin spoke in unison: "Just leave Engineer Sun alone!"

Li Lin waved his hand with an awkward smile, then had the crane drop that heavy triple-defense door, which had originally been underground at the orphanage, back into the ruins. Shortly after, a door that was at least normal was delivered to the open ground.

An iron door, old black-red in color, with ironwork decorations on the surface that clearly bore an aesthetic style from at least twenty years ago, along with some colorful stickers. It was delivered to the open ground together with its frame and then temporarily propped against that remaining brick wall.

"Hey, this is the door from the old East Building's main office!" Rapunzel instantly recognized it. "The sticker on the door was even put there by me!"

Yu Sheng nodded in satisfaction: "This will do. Next is setting up the alchemy. Erin, keep an eye on things for me; I'll try drawing the spell pattern with amplification nodes you taught me last time..."

As he spoke, he took a piece of chalk, placed Erin on the ground nearby, and began drawing an alchemical array with complex amplification nodes in front of that door.

By the way, the chalk was borrowed from Hu Li—this girl really had everything in her tail. Who knows why she stuffed a box of chalk in there? It couldn't possibly be for eating, could it?

Li Lin stood not far away, eyes wide with curiosity, watching the scene. After obtaining permission, he even took out his phone and turned on the recording function. He knew very well that what he was recording at this moment might even be sent directly to the Director's office later. Although Yu Sheng himself might not be aware of this, this portion of the data... could make the colleagues in the Technical Department work an extra week.

This was the first time the Special Operations Bureau had recorded the process of the "anthropomorphic entity Yu Sheng" activating and solidifying a portal onto a reality carrier up close and directly.

He glanced at the surroundings with the corner of his eye and saw that the Special Operations Bureau agents who had been patrolling the perimeter earlier had already consciously gathered nearby. Various detection equipment should be powered on by now, recording any subtle changes occurring on this patch of open ground.

Actually, Li Lin felt somewhat guilty. After all, although Yu Sheng had said he didn't mind people watching or even taking photos and videos, the spectacle of such a large group of Special Operations Bureau agents gathering together with various detection equipment performing on-site scans was somewhat offensive. He was afraid Yu Sheng would be displeased because of this. But after watching for a while, he understood why Yu Sheng didn't mind the Special Operations Bureau people watching at all.

Because he discovered that what Yu Sheng was drawing on the ground was just the most normal alchemical infusion spell pattern, even a simplified version.

He knew this stuff too—it was taught in basic classes during training. Not just the field agents, but even Ren Wenwen in the office knew it.

At this time, the "auxiliary materials" sent over by the Special Operations Bureau also arrived. Li Lin watched as Yu Sheng picked a few items from that huge pile of materials to use in the alchemical array, then threw the rest directly into the fox's tail.

Subsequently, candles were lit at several basic nodes of the rune array. The candle flames flickered uncertainly in the outdoor environment, but as various materials like crystal dust, essential oils, and tea powder were added, those flames quickly stabilized.

Hu Li squatted outside the alchemical array, watching her benefactor draw the array while eating a skewer of roasted mushrooms with great relish. Rapunzel, sitting nearby, found it looked too delicious, so she walked over: "Let me have a taste..."

Hu Li instantly hugged the roasted mushrooms to her chest, turned her head, bared her teeth at Rapunzel, and let out a threatening low growl of "woof-woof-woof" from her throat.

Rapunzel wasn't annoyed, because she had teased Hu Li like this at the barbecue party before. At this moment, she just walked away with a playful smile: "Tsk, if you won't give it, you won't give it."

"You guys step back, especially you stupid fox, don't drip oil on the lines," Erin said as she walked around inside the alchemical array checking things, occasionally pointing out a few things to Yu Sheng. "Hey, hey, Yu Sheng, you missed a line here... come on, fill it in, fill it in. Let me tell you, theoretically, this part shouldn't be filled in later, but since you never follow logic when doing alchemy anyway, it can be filled in..."

The scene had absolutely nothing to do with a "professional atmosphere."

Li Lin held it in for a long time beside them before finally bursting out. Although theoretically, no one should interrupt during such a large-scale alchemical ritual, seeing that these few people had already eaten a skewer of roasted meat without even interrupting, he decided to ignore all the theories he had learned back then: "So... so it's like this? Your portal is fixed in reality like this?"

Yu Sheng looked up: "This is just the first step."

Li Lin immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "I told you so. What I learned back then..."

"The second step is just adding the final auxiliary ingredient," Yu Sheng continued.

Then he took out his precious blade from his pocket and started sawing away at his own hand with a grinding sound...

Li Lin: "...?"

"Hu Li, come bite me," Yu Sheng helplessly put down the blade and looked up at the demon fox girl who had just finished her roasted mushrooms. "I really need to change this blade of mine." "Oh!" Hu Li immediately walked over happily, opened her mouth wide, and bit down on Yu Sheng's wrist. Her sharp teeth and claws went *crunch*...

She had finally gotten used to Yu Sheng's strange "characteristics"; by now, biting her benefactor's hand didn't even make her feel sorry.

Yu Sheng quickly channeled his blood into the great door, executing the truly important final step of the "ritual"—

Thinking.

Thinking hard.

Thinking of a corresponding door slowly taking shape in the valley.

Actually, he could have built the corresponding door over in the valley beforehand and then opened the door here; the effect would be the same when the two sides connected. But he was lazy. Since the valley side was under his remote control anyway, if he could save a trip, he naturally would.

A slight friction sound came from both sides of that simple iron door. The candle flames on the ground were suddenly pulled by an invisible force, and the flames instantly shot up.

Li Lin, who had been dazed just a moment ago, suddenly jolted—he saw that door growing and deforming.

Structures resembling biological tissue extended from both sides of the door, rapidly merging with that brick wall. The surface of the brick wall continued to writhe and undulate, and while completely fixing and embedding the great door, it also generated a surface layer that looked extremely tough, with a rock-like texture.

Suddenly, an idea... or rather, a "cognition," directly burst into his mind:

This door is alive.

No errors, one sentence, one release, one content, one look!

Those messy alchemical spells and auxiliary materials were actually useless. All the recorded images and detection data just now were meaningless. The only thing that mattered was the final step, yet also the step that could not be recorded or analyzed by any instrument at all—all the changes happened in those few seconds when Yu Sheng bestowed his blood upon that door and closed his eyes to think while holding the doorknob.

Yu Sheng turned the doorknob.

The newly born door let out a silent cheer in the real world, celebrating its life. Those structures resembling biological tissue, merged with the wall, pulsed powerfully and swelled in dimensions humans could not observe, emitting its first heartbeat.

And then, this door presented a landscape leading to a distant place to its creator.

Snow White and her seven Thunder Titans stood on the other side of the door, along with a girl with smooth long hair wearing a light blue long dress, curiously peering at the doorway—that was "Mermaid," with the arrogant King squatting on her head.

"Big Sister Red Hood! And Brother Yu!" Mermaid happily greeted the people on this side of the door. "Hey, the door really opened!"

"Human, you are impressive," the King said reservedly, nodding at Yu Sheng through the door, then stretching his head forward. "Come, quickly pet my head."

Yu Sheng smiled, reached out, and directly pulled the King over from the other side of the door, holding him in his arms and petting him thoroughly. The cat didn't get annoyed; after being petted obediently, it elegantly jumped to the ground and looked up at this place.

"Sigh, what a desolate scene," the tabby cat sighed in a very human-like manner, then raised a hand and waved. A bard wearing a short robe appeared beside it. "In such a scene, I must recite a poem—but I can't, so you do it."

The bard then took out a quill and parchment from his robe and began writing a poem with his head down.

After confirming that this newly born door could indeed continue to function normally even after he stopped maintaining it, Yu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. He turned and walked over to the still-dazed Li Lin and said cheerfully: "Alright, I'm considered finished. Did you understand?"

"... Forget me, even if the Director came, he probably wouldn't be able to 'see' clearly," Li Lin said with a bitter smile, shrugging his hands, his attitude quite open. "No wonder you didn't mind us watching from the side."

Speaking of which, he paused, then looked curiously at that door: "So, from now on, we can enter the interior of that valley directly through this door? Does this side need to set up a guard post or something? Besides the node, arrange some extra guards or something to prevent any unscrupulous people who can bypass the node from breaking in. Given your and the 'Fairy Tale' organization's special nature, the Director shouldn't mind allocating some personnel specifically."

"Guards aren't really necessary. Later, I'll have Little Red Hood and the others arrange a rotating guard post here to watch the door, mainly to prevent children from sneaking out," Yu Sheng said. "Don't worry about anyone breaking in. This door requires authorization. People without authorization can't walk into that passage even if the door is open."

Li Lin had a sudden realization: "Just like at 66 Wutong Road?"

Yu Sheng smiled: "Exactly, just like 66 Wutong Road."

(End of this chapter)