Chapter 340: Not Going Out

"Immortal, this is the Cloud-Gazing Platform."

The little Daoist boy named Xuan Yun led Yu Sheng and his group to a spot in the back mountain, pointing at the open high platform ahead as he spoke.

Yu Sheng looked up and saw a stone path winding out from the mountains, following the terrain straight to the heights; the mountain body ahead seemed as if it had been cleaved by a giant blade, and at the severed spot stood a high platform. That platform was pure white like jade, surrounded by carved railings, and beyond it lay the vast sea of clouds almost at their feet, where the mist swirled, seemingly merging with the platform into one.

And at various points along the platform's carved railings, one could see jade plaques bearing inscriptions such as "Dangerous Railing, Do Not Approach," "Watch Your Step While Gazing at Clouds," and "Graffiti Will Be Fined One Hundred Spirit Stones" and other reminders.

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and felt this was simply too reasonable.

But Erin seemed to think it wasn't reasonable enough, pointing at the reminders on the railings and asking, "Hey, don't you immortals all know how to fly? Why are you still afraid of falling off the mountain?"

Little Xuan Yun was stunned for a moment; he probably rarely dealt with outsiders lacking common sense, and after a moment of reaction, he answered, "Ah, only senior brothers and sisters with profound cultivation can ride swords or fly on the wind. Someone like me hasn't reached that stage yet..."

Erin blinked, looking at Xuan Yun with a face full of curiosity (she was naturally friendlier toward smaller humans, like the doll-headed kids in "fairy tales"): "Oh, then what stage have you reached?"

"... I just learned sword gliding, which means sliding down the slope from here using the wind so I won't get hurt," Xuan Yun answered honestly, "but if Master catches me, I'll be beaten half to death."

Hu Li stroked his chin and commented from the side, "Your learning progress is quite slow. In my hometown, kids your age would already be flying on swords—those who start tutoring early are even faster; by the second half of the kindergarten transition period, they begin practicing children's flying swords..."

"Don't compare your hometown's weird situation with this place," Erin glanced at the fox girl, "your hometown even has planets running all over the world."

Xuan Yun, listening from the side, was dumbfounded, staring blankly: "Immortals, what are you talking about?"

"It's hard to explain to you," Yu Sheng smiled, waving his hand at the Daoist boy, "Alright, just drop us here and go back to report to your master."

"Oh, okay!"

Xuan Yun replied, turned, and ran toward the stone steps, disappearing in a flash.

Yu Sheng turned his head, looking at the vast sea of clouds in the distance and the few mountain peaks faintly visible within it, and couldn't help but sigh, "This place's scenery is awesome."

Erin poked Yu Sheng on the back of his head with her finger: "... You're a writer, and after stewing for so long, that's the only sentence you came up with!?"

"This is returning to simplicity!"

Yu Sheng said casually, set Erin down on the ground, then turned and walked to the side of the Cloud-Gazing Platform near the mountain wall. He paced back and forth a few steps, found the most suitable spot for a doorway, and reached his hand out toward the half-air.

"I'm going to open a room; you guys just wait here for me."

Having finished speaking, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

In an instant, Yu Sheng was back in the living room at 66 Wutong Road.

Standing in the familiar living room, he blinked; even though it was his own ability, he couldn't help but feel a slight sense of unreality for a moment.

Especially when he saw the familiar street and alley scenery outside the living room window, the low old houses nearby, the tall buildings rising in the city background in the distance, and the Special Affairs Bureau "outpost" disguised as a delivery station at the nearby intersection.

"Oh crap, I forgot to say hello to the duty personnel here again!"

Yu Sheng slapped his forehead, suddenly remembering what he had forgotten when he left earlier. He quickly turned and told Erin, who was watching TV in the living room, "I'll go first and tell the Special Affairs Bureau agents at the delivery station that we're temporarily moving. You tell Hu Li and Luna to wait for me!"

The small doll impatiently waving her hands while guarding the computer in the dining room and battling the heroes of the keyboard world said, "Got it, got it! I guessed you definitely didn't report it to them..."

Erin was just like that; take one out, and several remain at home. When talking to one, a response would come from the side. If you weren't careful, these little things would pop up everywhere, giving people the illusion that a bug had occurred in daily life.

Yu Sheng usually relied on his own open-mindedness to adapt to the various sense of dissonance brought about by Erin's constant increase.

He instructed the Erin in the house not to run around, then pushed the door open and went out, arriving at the delivery station established by the Special Affairs Bureau not far from the front door.

Then he saw two familiar people just walking out the door, apparently to clean up.

One was Li Lin, the other was Zheng Zhi.

He could at least imagine why the former would be here, but the latter was completely beyond his expectations.

"Why is it you two?!" Yu Sheng widened his eyes in surprise, looking at the two before him.

"Hey, Brother Yu," Li Lin, upon seeing Yu Sheng, immediately showed a smile and quickly explained, "The two people at this station before were temporarily assigned. Now they've gone back, and I will officially take over this liaison station from now on. Captain Song said I'm familiar with you and know the environment of the old city area well, so he gave me this job."

Yu Sheng blinked, and his gaze immediately fell on Zheng Zhi: "And you?"

"... I joined the Special Affairs Bureau," Zheng Zhi touched his nose, saying with a slightly awkward smile.

Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment, then was utterly shocked, widening his eyes as he looked at the high-sensitivity, low-stability team-initiator before him: "You? Joining the Special Affairs Bureau? You, with that constitution, joining the Special Affairs Bureau?!"

Zheng Zhi continued touching his nose and nodded: "Yes."

"Then what's your position?" Yu Sheng was shocked, "A detector?! Don't you know you have high sensitivity and low stability?"

"Sigh, it's precisely because of this," saying this, Zheng Zhi sighed and explained helplessly, "Didn't the Fog City incident happen before, plus the earlier Dark Angel incident? The Special Affairs Bureau noticed my situation. Two experts came and took me for a formal test, and the result was..."

He paused here, and Li Lin beside him continued for him: "Sensitivity is too high."

Yu Sheng: "..."

"Actually, even under normal circumstances, ordinary people involved in otherworldly incidents find it hard to fully return to being ordinary. One path is taking medicine plus training to try to maintain daily life; the other path is changing careers to become a Spirit World Detective or Investigator, or simply joining the Special Affairs Bureau," Li Lin continued, "Generally speaking, the more sensitive one's spiritual sense is, the more suitable they are for the second path. Zheng Zhi belongs to the second type. How to put it... to use an analogy, if placed in a horror movie, while the entire scene is still completely normal at the very beginning, he can already see the hidden fierce ghosts that only appear in the second part and the post-credits scene."

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched; he understood, then turned to look at his great-nephew, who was smiling helplessly, with a sympathetic gaze.

"Becoming an ordinary person is unlikely. According to the experts, spiritual sensitivity cannot be lowered; it can only get higher with contact with abnormal things. So we can only take the other path. Cultivating the ability to fight against strange things is also a method—after all, facing the strange is just this: either you can hide, or you can fight," Zheng Zhi sighed, "But I have no experience at all, and my combat talent is quite poor. The Special Affairs Bureau said that someone like me, a latecomer, would easily become a typical case by the end of the year if I directly became a Spirit World Detective or Investigator, so they let me follow Brother Li to learn while working."

Saying this, he paused and added, "Oh, before coming, I had already received basic training and underwent a few minor surgeries. They said some things were implanted into my brain, standard equipment for Special Affairs Bureau agents, which can enhance some resistance and such. Basic self-protection is okay. Assigning us two to guard this place was also considering my situation—they said your place is relatively safe."

Listening to the other person speak, Yu Sheng's expression became increasingly strange. Only after the other person finished did he hesitantly speak: "Well... I was just about to tell you about this. I have something to do, and I might not be here recently."

Li Lin heard this and was stunned: "Huh? You're going out?"

"... Not exactly going out," Yu Sheng tugged at the corner of his mouth, "66 Wutong Road has to leave for a while."

Li Lin & Zheng Zhi: "..."?

The two humans with normal worldviews stood there for a moment after hearing this sentence, and finally Li Lin was the first to react. He remembered the intelligence obtained during the previous work handover: "Ah, you mean the situation where 66 Wutong Road as a whole 'transfers', right? I did hear about it. Where are you going? To Fog City again?"

Yu Sheng: "To Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain."

Li Lin instantly froze there.

At this moment, he had a brand new understanding of "not going out" and "going out."

Yu Sheng didn't explain too much, just briefly mentioned that he was going to meet someone and investigate some matters related to cultists. Once this reason came out, Li Lin could only helplessly exchange a glance with Zheng Zhi and sigh together.

"Then there's no way about it; the situation caught up," Li Lin shook his head, "I'll tell the Bureau. But the two of us still have to guard here; after all, even if 66 Wutong Road leaves, this area is still a key defense point."

"About how long will you be back?" Zheng Zhi curiously asked a follow-up question.

"Hard to say," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "But anyway, I can return anytime. If anything happens in Border City, just call me directly."

"That's true," Li Lin gently exhaled, and a smile reappeared on his face, "Alright, you get on with your business—have a smooth journey."

Yu Sheng bid farewell to the two before him, turned around, and returned to 66 Wutong Road.

Erin was lying on the armrest of the living room sofa; hearing the sound of the door opening, she raised her head: "All settled?"

"All settled," Yu Sheng nodded, steadied himself, then casually gripped the doorknob of 66 Wutong Road again. "Let's go meet Hu Li and Luna."

"And me, and me! Why didn't you say 'meet up with me'?"

"... Don't glitch out here!"

(End of this chapter)