Chapter 271: The Collection Point at Our Doorstep

Hu Li held a bowl and came to the living room, squatting beside Yu Sheng, and began shoveling rice from the bowl while curiously watching the three bodies of Erin huddled together, hugging their knees in a self-isolated circle; after a while, he couldn't help but ask, "Benefactor, what's wrong with Erin?"

"She's been shaken," Yu Sheng sighed. "She just learned that a type of stone has appeared in this world that serves absolutely no purpose except to target her, and she feels her fate is bad."

"Oh," Hu Li didn't know if he understood or not, but he held the bowl and nodded, then leaned over and patted one of the Erins on the shoulder with his tail. "The teacher at the school once said, 'Great talents are often envied by heaven...'"

The Erin who was squatting in the self-isolated circle lifted her head, and the three bodies spoke in unison: "What does that mean?"

Hu Li was an honest Miss: "I don't know, but the teacher said that when you meet someone who is particularly unlucky, you comfort them like this—even though they might still be very unlucky after being comforted."

All three Erins let out a long sigh in unison; two of them immediately lay down on the sofa, continuing to feel utterly hopeless, while the remaining one climbed up and ran to Yu Sheng: "Ah—Yu Sheng, I feel like this world is targeting me!"

Yu Sheng nodded: "Yes, I can see that."

"You even say 'yes'!" Erin was on the verge of tears right then and there. "No, why?! That thing knocked me over back then, and I thought it had detected some extraordinary characteristic... Turns out it doesn't block anything except me?! Did I offend Anka Ela?"

"You ask me, who should I ask?" Yu Sheng rolled his eyes, then thought for a moment and felt it necessary to comfort the small doll. "But try to look on the bright side. What if those crystals are actually targeting the 'Alice Dolls'? Contact the Alice House later and have your sisters try it too."

What Yu Sheng said had no basis at all, but Erin believed it in the blink of an eye, and the small doll's face visibly brightened: "Hey, you make sense! It must be that all us dolls are too powerful, naturally suppressing the 'outsider' Dark Angel, so even though Anka Ela is gone, she still targets us..."

Leaving aside other things, this little thing's optimistic spirit was quite admirable.

As they spoke, a burst of noisy commotion suddenly came from outside the window, interrupting the conversation between Yu Sheng and the small doll.

The fox, who had been shoveling rice, instantly perked up its ears.

Yu Sheng also immediately lifted his head and looked toward the living room window, his expression slightly surprised—Wutong Road No. 66 had always been extremely quiet; apart from the Special Affairs Bureau and the people of Fairy Tale, ordinary people found it difficult even to approach within a few dozen meters of the house. Where was this noise coming from?

A flicker of doubt crossed his mind, and Yu Sheng had already risen and gone to the window. Immediately, Erin followed from behind, squeezing under his arm from his clothes onto the windowsill. Then came the fox, still holding the bowl—the three heads, two big and one small, looked out together and saw a group of people busily working at the intersection closest to Wutong Road No. 66.

That place was roughly the edge of the "no-man's-land" at Yu Sheng's doorstep. Several commercial shops with rental or sale signs hanging all year round and empty houses with no residents stood there. For a long time, Yu Sheng even suspected that those few empty houses were part of the "anomalous zone" of Wutong Road No. 66. Later, he specifically asked the street office and found out they weren't—they just couldn't be rented out because they were too remote...

But now, one of those shops was obviously rented out. Yu Sheng saw a truck parked at the intersection, and several strong young men were skillfully unloading it, moving shelves, counters, computers, and other things inside.

Yu Sheng watched with a whistle of amazement: "... Wow, is this place finally going to become prosperous?"

"How is that possible! You know the special nature of your house," Erin pressed her whole body against the window, peering out through the glass while muttering, "A place where birds won't even poop, and even dogs go around it..."

Yu Sheng: "Although what you say is true, your way of speaking is quite provoking."

"Benefactor, shouldn't we go say hello?" Hu Li finally finished eating, wiping his mouth with his tail while casually asking, "Even though there's some distance, they count as new 'neighbors'?"

"Not exactly neighbors—but we can indeed go see what they're doing," Yu Sheng nodded. "I'll go over and say hello."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hu Li stuffed the bowl directly into his tail: "Benefactor, I'll go with you!"

Immediately, Erin jumped from the windowsill into Hu Li's arms: "I'm going too! I'll pretend to be dead right now!"

Before the words were fully out, the small doll let her limbs go limp, and the light instantly vanished from her eyes—practiced to perfection.

Hu Li casually removed his ears, and his tail "Bang!" retracted, not a bit slower than Erin.

Yu Sheng looked helplessly at these two shadow-followers and sighed: "Fine, let's go together."

After casually changing into clothes for going out, Yu Sheng led Hu Li (and the currently pretending-to-be-dead Erin) out of the house. Not far away, they arrived in front of that shop. But as soon as he curiously glanced around, his gaze was instantly drawn to a logo on the truck beside him—

Black background, red patterns, a diamond-shaped mark, resembling a vertical, vigilant cyclops eye.

The mark of the Special Affairs Bureau. In the split second of his daze, Yu Sheng heard a familiar voice enter his ears: "Teacher Yu!"

He lifted his head along the sound and saw Ren Wenwen, dressed in a black suit skirt and looking like an office elite, standing before him with a brilliant smile.

Several young people nearby who were busy moving shelves also lifted their heads at that cry; two of them were unmistakably the Special Affairs Bureau agents who had helped out in the valley not long ago...

Yu Sheng: "...?"

Seeing that the people on site were acquaintances, Erin instantly stopped pretending to be dead and immediately lifted her head from Hu Li's arms: "What? It's you guys? What are you doing here?!"

Yu Sheng also looked at Ren Wenwen with a face full of questions, and saw the latter smiling and pointing with her finger at a signboard at the shop entrance that hadn't been hung up yet—

"Star Express Wutong Road Collection Point".

Yu Sheng's expression changed subtly: "... A courier station?"

Ren Wenwen laughed: "Didn't you tell the Special Affairs Bureau before that it was very inconvenient for Wutong Road No. 66 to receive couriers and takeout? We decided to set up such a collection point as close to your home as possible. Don't let the unremarkable storefront fool you; from site selection to supporting personnel, the Bureau has repeatedly debated and tested it many times.

"This location is at the edge of the 'shielding zone' near your home, and also the limit distance ordinary humans can approach Wutong Road No. 66 without cognitive interference. It counts as a golden spot for setting up a collection point. In the future, two Special Affairs Bureau agents will be stationed here permanently, making it a special 'station' of the Bureau. I will be directly responsible for the liaison work of this station. You can also write the reception address of the 'Inn' as this from now on. It will be more convenient for you to accept detective commissions and such in the future; otherwise, it's a trouble if clients can't find your home..."

!

Ren Wenwen was speaking seriously point by point, while Yu Sheng kept the expression of "Huh? Oh, ah, huh?" throughout, carrying an atmosphere of sudden occurrence and not having reacted yet from start to finish—but if one had to say, this wasn't sudden at all. After all, he had mentioned this matter to Bai Liqing a long time ago; it was just that he had been too busy recently and had almost completely forgotten about it...

Ren Wenwen seemed to notice the subtlety in Yu Sheng's expression. After finishing, she lowered her head with an apologetic look: "Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. Mainly, don't let this small station fool you; quite a few departments are involved. Moreover, considering it might be needed in the future, we also integrated the channels of 'Star Express', which requires going through the Council's approval process again. Although every step was handled as a special case, running through all the procedures was quite a hassle."

Only at this moment did Yu Sheng react. Looking at the apologetic Young Lady clerk, he quickly waved his hands: "Ah, no problem, no problem. I just forgot about this matter because I've been too busy recently, so I'm a bit surprised now... Wait, what do you mean by the channels of Star Express? I wanted to ask as soon as I saw the signboard just now..."

"Oh, that's a shopping and courier platform directly invested in and controlled by the Borderland Council," Ren Wenwen said, pulling out a QR code from her side. "Scan this to download an app..."

Yu Sheng suddenly felt that the person opposite didn't look like a Special Affairs Bureau agent, but rather like a salesperson in a shopping mall who would chase you to follow their official account, register as a member, and get a prepaid card just to sell a bottle of shampoo...

Ren Wenwen, however, didn't notice the subtle change in Yu Sheng's expression and was still introducing it enthusiastically: "Ordinary people can't register on this platform; it implements a whitelist system. Mainly, many items on it are restricted in circulation in the Borderland, or require very strict purchasing qualifications. Of course, you don't need to worry too much; you were already on the whitelist, signed personally by our Director. You can register directly. Of course, if it truly involves restricted items, you won't be able to buy them; a warning will pop up when you place an order. Also, if you don't need to use this app, it doesn't matter. Star Express also undertakes ordinary logistics and courier services within the Borderland range, which is also very convenient for you..."

Yu Sheng didn't notice what Ren Wenwen mumbled at the very end. After downloading the app, he opened the page to take a look, then silently closed it, opened it again to look a few more times, and finally silently closed it again.

He roughly knew what this thing was.

The homepage recommendation was selling "Balgomo Delicious Alien Canned Food", and the first line of the product details was teaching users several practical fighting techniques after opening the alien can...

He felt he might not need this hardcore thing for the time being...

And immediately after, he heard Ren Wenwen change the topic: "By the way, Teacher Yu, I saw your newly published novel!"

To be honest, Yu Sheng really shivered.

Mainly because this Miss's weirdness when shipping couples had left too deep an impression on him.

But quickly, Yu Sheng remembered that he had already changed the male protagonist's mount to an alpaca last time. His heart immediately relaxed, and after exhaling a breath lightly, he smiled: "How does it feel?"

"A bit... thrilling," Ren Wenwen thought for a moment, looking very serious, her expression even carrying a sense of mission. "To be honest, it's quite difficult, but I'm working hard..."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He stayed dazed for a long time, his brain creaked as it turned a corner—and then he felt he would have been better off not turning it at all.

No, Miss, what exactly are you working hard at?!

(End of Chapter)