Chapter 282: Going Home Means Driving the House Back

The whole system of things Bai Liqing said left Yu Sheng staring in stunned disbelief.

After listening, his greatest feeling was that an organization with a theoretical framework is indeed formidable; that bunch from the "Saint-Worshipping Hidden Cult" is far superior to those mad angel cultists. No wonder they could create such an outrageous thing as an "Artificial Saintess" and occupy their own territory, while the angel cultists could only kill themselves and hope to startle some Dark Angel, making their "Lord" glance their way—their execution power isn't even on the same level.

Of course, as for whether the Saint-Worshipping Hidden Cult's theory of "repairing mortals and the entire world through sanctification" actually makes sense, he had no interest in analyzing it in detail.

It's just heretic stuff; it definitely has to be inflammatory to the ears. Even if the core is twisted logic, they must have a way to package it until it looks perfectly smooth, otherwise where would they recruit members from?

After all, people who genuinely want to retaliate against society from the very beginning are ultimately a minority. If you run a vibrant folk club and directly advertise that your goal is to make the world burn with Xiong Xiong, you'll only attract failures who have already been beaten up by the world and are full of complaints. But if you say, "Our organization's goal is to bring warmth to the whole world through scientific innovation," the cultural level sounds immediately high...

Yu Sheng let this string of wild thoughts run through his mind, but it didn't take a few seconds. Afterwards, he asked another question: "Does the Saint-Worshipping Hidden Cult cause much trouble for the Borderlands? Have they ever caused incidents here before?"

"Due to the special nature of the Borderlands, we have dealt with almost all heretics and major illegal forces, including the Saint-Worshipping Hidden Cult, of course. However, conflicts mainly occurred at those remote border outposts or colonized planets. They rarely dare to cause trouble on the Borderlands' home territory; the few operations they did were merely for smuggling, rescuing members, or similar activities—but this time, the situation is different."

As Bai Liqing spoke these words, her tone inevitably became somewhat heavy.

"An Artificial Saintess is not something that can be dispatched casually... The combat power of these killing machines is one aspect; more importantly, 'they' hold special symbolic significance within the Saint-Worshipping Hidden Cult. An Artificial Saintess often serves as the core of an important 'Sanctification' operation. 'Her' appearance is not only to protect the Hidden Cult's important assets but also to symbolize the guidance and protection of the 'Saint'... You understand what I mean."

Yu Sheng fell silent for a moment, frowning in thought. After a long while, he broke the silence with a thoughtful tone: "Could it be related to the appearance of this thick fog?"

"... I am suspecting that too," Bai Liqing nodded gently. "This 'fog' is very unusual. Such a large-scale 'Otherworld' could not have gone unnoticed for so long if it had been in Border City from the start. Moreover, the timing of its appearance is very sensitive, occurring shortly after the Angel Fall... At this time, anyone causing small disturbances in the Borderlands would be particularly suspicious."

Just then, the personnel from the Identification Section returned.

They brought back that black veil, as well as the few blade fragments Yu Sheng had requested.

"We have inspected it. It is an n-12 type Artificial Saintess; this unit's service time should be less than five years. The n-12 belongs to a new model, and there is little data in the database," the Special Operations Bureau agent who came to return part of the sample reported to Bai Liqing. "The shell uses military-grade Class II armor-level Orton alloy. Traces of carbon nanotube crystal clusters were detected, which should be produced in the Great Cross Star Sector. The blade is a unidirectional crystallized alloy edge, a technology already mature on the previous n-11 model. The origin cannot be determined; it is suspected to be produced in the Saint-Worshipping Hidden Cult's secret forge."

The technical personnel responsible for the report paused slightly while speaking, then pointed to the veil: "This has also been inspected. The style is ceremonial, a local brand, but it circulates through the Council's trade network to over twenty external channels. Moreover, since it is very popular in some areas 'outside,' there are many counterfeits and many brands using the name. The genuine product's anti-counterfeiting work is done very poorly, making traceability very difficult."

Yu Sheng, listening from the side, stared in stunned disbelief, thinking that professionals are indeed professionals—even though he didn't understand a word about the shell material or the place of origin.

But for Bai Liqing, this intelligence was obviously very valuable.

"n-12... Dispatching such a cutting-edge model should not be a decision a branch office can make; at least it must be an order from a 'Sage' of the Hidden Cult at the middle management level or above," she said thoughtfully. After a moment of thought, she nodded to the reporting personnel. "Good, go back first."

"Yes, Director."

The personnel from the Identification Section left.

Bai Liqing's gaze then fell on Yu Sheng.

"That arm, we would like to keep it for analysis. Samples of Artificial Saintess bodies are rare, especially for this new model. We need them very much—the Special Operations Bureau will purchase it according to the standard for high-grade oddities. Do you think that's okay?"

"That's easy to discuss," Yu Sheng said with a smile, waving his hand. "I just said I only want these 'long knives.' You can do whatever you want with the rest; anyway, I don't really understand the market prices... So I'll take these things back first."

While speaking, he carefully picked up those few exceptionally sharp and sturdy "knives" and handed them to Hu Li for her to store in her tail. Then, after hesitating for a moment, he picked up the black veil to look at it, turned his head to look at Erin, and asked: "Should I take this thing back and have you make a skirt out of it?"

"I don't want it!" Erin immediately showed a face full of disgust. "It's creepy and weird, and who knows how many cruel things that C-type buckle wearer did while wearing it? I find it unlucky."

Hearing this, Yu Sheng laughed: "Usually, I see you playing games, killing monsters, skinning them bloody, picking off scales, and modifying equipment, and you seem quite happy about it."

Erin stood on Bai Liqing's desk, hands on her hips: "How can that be the same! A game is a game, reality is reality..."

Yu Sheng casually tossed the veil to Hu Li: "Fine, if you don't want it, then don't. Let Hu Li keep it for now; anyway, there's plenty of space in her tail."

By the time the discussion about the Saint-Worshipping Hidden Cult was finished, it was almost three o'clock.

Considering that the investigation of this matter could not be completed overnight, Yu Sheng decided to go home first—Hu Li was already yawning so much that her ears had drooped down.

Moreover, he had to drive the house back to the real world first. Although No. 66 Wutong Road comes with cognitive interference, theoretically, even if he flew the house all over Border City, it shouldn't attract ordinary people's attention. But after all, he has now parked the house in the Otherworld; if it stays there for too long, he always worries something might go wrong.

"Then we'll be leaving first," Yu Sheng said, already casually pulling open the large door leading to the living room. "No. 66 Wutong Road will soon return to its original position. There might be some 'commotion' at that time, so you should be prepared in advance. Also, record the new 'signature code' and update it into your automatic system."

"Okay," Bai Liqing stood up from behind her desk. "I will personally follow up on the search work of the Deep Dive Team. Once any new clues are discovered in the 'City in the Fog,' I will contact you."

Yu Sheng nodded, and then, taking Hu Li and Erin with him, he stepped across the threshold of the door.

Watching the illusory door silently close before her eyes, Bai Liqing stood quietly for a few seconds before letting out a soft sigh.

Then she picked up the phone on the desk and casually dialed an internal number. "Who is on duty in the Technical Department right now... Okay, there's a request..."

"Home is still the most comfortable," as soon as they got home, Erin jumped down from Hu Li's arms, stretching vigorously while muttering, "In that steel-faced stoic's office, I always feel cold everywhere, and the air feels oppressive."

Hu Li let out a huge yawn, and the several large tails behind her drooped listlessly: "Benefactor, sleepy."

Seeing this, Yu Sheng smiled and rubbed the downy fur behind the fox girl's ears: "You go upstairs and sleep first; I'll get the house back."

"Okay~"

Hu Li agreed in a muddled way, then stepped towards the second floor. Halfway there, she simply turned into a four-legged stance and slowly crawled up.

Yu Sheng watched from behind, finding it both amusing and helpless.

He felt that this fox Miss was becoming more and more relaxed lately—of course, he felt this wasn't a bad thing either...

Shaking his head to temporarily shake off the slight drowsiness, Yu Sheng came to the entrance door, placed his hand on the doorknob, and began the process of sending No. 66 Wutong Road back to the real world.

!

This was his first time executing a "reverse operation"; to be honest, he was quite nervous.

When a person gets nervous, they tend to come up with strange and bizarre ideas.

The moment he felt the connection established with the "door," a bold idea suddenly popped into Yu Sheng's mind: Since his house can move back and forth between the Borderlands and the "City in the Fog," is it feasible to move it to other places as well?

If he assigned values to the entire No. 66 Wutong Road using the method of "transferring" to the City in the Fog, what would happen if he drove the house to a much farther place? For example, to an alien planet, or to those bizarre and colorful places he had seen when practicing opening doors before...

Would No. 66 Wutong Road also "naturally" appear in those distant places? If it landed in another city, if there were also crowds of people living there...

Seeing Yu Sheng suddenly stand still, and then a strange smile begin to appear on his face, Erin on the side immediately guessed what was happening. The little doll quickly spoke up: "Hey hey hey, don't suddenly want to try something out at a time like this—it's already past three in the morning, so just calm down!"

"Ahem," Yu Sheng quickly put away those bold ideas from his mind, eyes on his nose, nose on his mouth, mouth on his heart, asking himself. "I'm just conceptualizing, you understand? I won't mess around this time."

While speaking, he calmly settled his heart, following the previous method. Treating No. 66 Wutong Road and the entrance door as a whole, he completed the value assignment and preparation for opening the "door."

The doorknob turned gently, and the latch clicked open.

Yu Sheng slowly pushed open the large door before him.

The street outside was calm in the night, with no fog; everything was normal.

Two unfamiliar Special Operations Bureau agents were standing in the empty space at the door, each holding something like a recorder, staring blankly in this direction.

After a long while, the two said in unison: "Uh, you're back?"

Yu Sheng: "Yes, I'm back."

"Welcome back..."

"Stay for a while?"

"No, no, our instant noodles are ready..."

"Oh, then I'll close the door first."

"You close it, you close it."

Yu Sheng closed the door and stared face-to-face with the small doll at his feet.

"Feels like these two aren't very smart."

"I think so too, they're silly."

(End of this chapter)