Chapter 31: Brushing Past

Open the supermarket door, then walk inside.

Though this was such a simple and normal process, Yu Sheng now felt he could hardly believe it; the shock of opening the door several times just now had been too great, leaving him with a sort of aftereffect from opening doors, so that even seeing the shelves and the shopkeeper before him made his mind involuntarily conjure up some absurd thoughts—

Could this be an alien space nest mimicking a small supermarket that looks exactly like the one in his memory, but is actually some sinister thing? Those shelves look just like usual, but maybe all the bottles and jars on them are filled with eyeballs soaking in formalin; the shopkeeper across from him, after greeting, might suddenly pull a chainsword from his pants pocket, charge forward, and cut him down beneath the checkout counter...

Fortunately, these absurd thoughts only flickered through his mind for a moment; Yu Sheng quickly calmed down, first confirming he had truly entered a normal supermarket, while roughly figuring out under what circumstances he could "open a door normally and correctly," then nodded to the young shopkeeper opposite: "I'm here to buy some things—do you have cases of instant noodles and compressed biscuits?"

"We have instant noodles; the unopened cases are stacked under the stairs leading to the second floor. Tell me what kind you want," the young shopkeeper said, though he found Yu Sheng's dazed look upon entering a bit strange, he quickly ignored it, pointing with a finger at the iron ladder not far away, "We don't have cases of compressed biscuits left; they're all on the middle row of the left shelf, see? That's the entire stock. People generally don't buy much of this, so I stock very little."

"Alright, pack all the biscuits for me; I'll go move a case of noodles... and get two packs of ham sausages, the large ones."

"Okay."

The young shopkeeper replied, then turned to grab a large shopping bag to load items from the shelves, and while busy, casually asked, "Suddenly buying so many instant noodles and compressed biscuits? It's not good to eat only these; my wife nags me about it every day."

"Just keeping them at home for emergencies," Yu Sheng replied offhandedly.

The supermarket owner said nothing more, packed a large bag of items according to Yu Sheng's request, and headed toward the checkout counter; just then, the supermarket's glass door was pushed open again—both doors swung open together, and the hinge of one emitted a grating, teeth-aching squeak of noise.

The shopkeeper, who had been counting compressed biscuits and calculating the bill, quickly looked up upon hearing the sound: "Hey, that door is broken; there's a notice stuck on it."

"Uh, I didn't notice," said the young man who had pushed the door open; he had black hair, wore casual clothes, and possessed an unremarkable face. He glanced back awkwardly at the half-glass door that seemed unable to swing back automatically, then turned his face around, "Do you have cases of instant noodles?"

Yu Sheng, at that moment, was carrying a case of instant noodles, walking between two rows of shelves; hearing the commotion from the checkout counter, he looked up briefly, but quickly shifted his gaze away.

"Oh, this kind is fine," the young man with short black hair pointed at the instant noodles Yu Sheng was holding, "I'll take a case too."

The supermarket owner didn't look up: "Under the stairs on the right side ahead, help yourself; I'll calculate the bill first."

Yu Sheng brushed past that young man, settled the bill at the checkout counter, then carried a large shopping bag in one hand and hoisted the noodle case onto his shoulder with the other, walking out into the gradually darkening night outside the supermarket.

Li Lin found the instant noodles he wanted to buy under the stairs the supermarket owner had mentioned; just as he bent down to move the items, he felt a vibration in his pocket. Pulling out his phone, he discovered it was a message from the team captain.

He glanced toward the checkout counter, looked down at the phone screen, and casually replied with a message: "I've settled in; I'm just out buying things."

The phone buzzed twice, and a new message popped up on the screen: "Have you discovered anything abnormal?"

Li Lin typed: "No. I'll wander the streets tomorrow and interact with the residents here."

After sending the message, this young Special Operations Bureau agent hesitated for a moment, then edited the next one: "When will the 'Deep Diver' from the team arrive? Who is being assigned?"

This time, it took quite a while before the phone vibrated again: "Xu Jiali. Arrives tomorrow."

Li Lin stared at the message on the screen, stunned; just as he was about to send a message asking something, he saw the leader send another new message: "He just returned from Aimein-IX; some situation arose there, his mission ended early. He is currently at the bureau giving a report and undergoing a full checkup. He will be dispatched to your location tomorrow."

After reading the message on the screen, Li Lin's mouth twitched; he typed rapidly: "Dispatching him for duty right after an external mission? Not even giving him half a day off?"

"Xu Jiali requested it himself. The situation he encountered there was somewhat special; he currently has some aftereffects from deep diving and needs to wear a stabilizer continuously for these few days. So, his post-mission leave has simply been moved to next week. Your location shouldn't have any incidents in the short term; consider it rest for him while he's with you. You can discuss specifics when you meet tomorrow."

Li Lin pouted, replied with "Okay," then stood up, carrying the noodle case toward the checkout counter.

The supermarket owner behind the counter lifted his eyelids for a glance, and while taking out the scanner, muttered again: "It's not good to eat only these; my wife nags me about it every day..."

Li Lin chuckled: "Then I won't buy them?"

"Total is 62.8 yuan."

... Ailin heard the commotion from the main door—the door had been opened from outside—but when she peeked from the edge of the painting frame toward the entrance, she didn't see Yu Sheng's figure for a long time.

After quite a while longer, she finally saw Yu Sheng cautiously poke his head in from the doorway, looking around inside for a long time before stepping into the room stealthily like a thief, placing the large pile of purchased items on the floor, then turning to close the door.

Ailin watched this scene silently; only after Yu Sheng had securely closed the door did she finally speak: "Yu Sheng, what are you doing? Why does coming home feel like you're breaking in?"

Yu Sheng sighed, changing his shoes while muttering, "Don't even ask. I now have serious psychological trauma regarding 'opening doors'; I won't take a step forward without confirming three times."

Ailin listened, her gaze falling once more on the pile of items by the door.

"You bought quite a lot," the Young Lady doll remarked with some awe, "You should have brought a small cart; those camping carts work really well."

Yu Sheng said nothing for a moment, simply looking down at the instant noodles, ham, and compressed biscuits piled by the door; then, as if suddenly remembering something, he forcefully slapped his forehead: "I should have bought some liquid food! She hasn't eaten in so long; she can't eat this directly... No, I'll go buy another case of eight-treasure porridge tomorrow morning... Or should I go right now?"

Ailin listened silently; seeing that Yu Sheng was truly about to open the door and go out again, she suddenly spoke: "Tomorrow is better."

Yu Sheng had already changed his shoes again; holding the doorknob, he turned back: "She's still hungry..."

"Even if you buy it now, do you have a way to deliver it to that fox immediately?" Ailin looked straight at Yu Sheng. "And... I'm being serious; I wanted to say this before. Even if you deliver these, it can only temporarily alleviate her situation. The biggest problem over there isn't the lack of food, but that entity named 'Hunger'."

!.

Yu Sheng stopped his hand's movement.

After a moment of thought, he changed his shoes back, walked to the dining table, and sat down opposite Ailin.

"You're right; the biggest problem is 'Hunger'. Although temporarily filling the stomach is good... but let's wait until tomorrow; it's indeed not urgent for this moment. We still need to figure out how to enter that valley stably first."

Ailin noticed the serious, thoughtful expression on Yu Sheng's face as he spoke the latter half of the sentence; simultaneously recalling the few words he had revealed when contacting her just now, she immediately sensed something.

"... What exactly happened?" she asked tentatively, "Do you... perhaps have a way to enter that valley?"

"Strictly speaking, it's not a way to enter that valley, but rather..."

As Yu Sheng spoke, he raised his hand before Ailin's eyes and grabbed at the air.

He grasped a doorknob, and suddenly a door materialized in the air. The door itself was ordinary in form, but its edges trembled and shook like a phantom; immediately, under Ailin's shocked gaze, Yu Sheng yanked the door open violently.

The illusory door suddenly swung open; Yu Sheng saw a female elf standing on the other side, resembling a mechanic, with a large cluster of mechanical limbs and a wheel-based lower body on her back, while wearing a silver-white robe-skirt on her upper body.

She was standing before some large machining equipment, her head turned in shock toward this side.

The mechanical limbs behind the Elf-Mechanic were still adjusting rapidly and precisely the large equipment on the platform that was continuously emitting flowing light; her eyes were wide as if about to pop out, staring at Yu Sheng for two seconds before she let out a loud cry: "So what the hell are you..."

Yu Sheng slammed the door shut with a bang.

"... I didn't expect to be able to connect to the same place twice in a row," Yu Sheng said, a hint of surprise and a hint of contemplation on his face, "Wait, this might be... let me try to reproduce it later..."

Before he could finish muttering, Ailin on the other side of the table finally couldn't hold back; the Young Lady doll seemed ready to fly out of the oil painting and bite someone: "What was that just now!? What was it?! Huh?!"

"As you can see," Yu Sheng exhaled, "it's a door."

"Of course I know it's a door, but the key point is—" Ailin took a deep breath and jumped up from her chair, "W-H-A-T E-X-A-C-T-L-Y W-A-S I-T?!"

(End of Chapter)