Chapter 57: Getting in Touch

"I don't fully understand those supernatural matters," Yu Sheng said quite openly to the three of them, Li Lin and the others, who wore puzzled expressions on their faces, "especially regarding the Otherworld and physical entities. In fact, I know very little about things beyond the Boundary City either—so I've been looking for 'professionals' like you, hoping you can answer many of my questions."

Li Lin and Xu Jiali exchanged glances, both looking extremely shocked after hearing Yu Sheng's words. Little Red Riding Hood couldn't help but look Yu Sheng up and down several times: "You... mean to say you've never had any contact with the Otherworld or physical entities before?! You only started dealing with these matters recently?!"

"I've lived a peaceful and ordinary life for the past twenty-plus years," Yu Sheng spread his hands and told the truth, "only recently have I started encountering all that messy stuff; I'm a complete novice in this area."

As soon as he finished speaking, the expression on Xu Jiali's face nearby began to crack: So you only recently started contacting the Otherworld, yet you were able to pin down and beat a hunger entity with a danger level above three, and casually open a door to a wasteland planet millions of light-years away, coming and going from the Otherworld as if returning home... What kind of "novice" is this?

Is this even human?!

He exchanged glances with Li Lin beside him; the two of them thought furiously, considering countless matters in an instant.

First and foremost, they could almost confirm that the spacetime displacement phenomenon causing chaos throughout the Special Operations Bureau was definitely related to the person standing before them named "Yu Sheng," the evidence being the door he casually opened.

Yes, casually.

And the second point was to absolutely not be fooled by the word "novice" that Yu Sheng claimed for himself; regardless of whether he had truly just started contacting matters related to the Otherworld and physical entities, the power he wielded did not seem like that of an ordinary human just beginning to be affected by the Otherworld.

Either the word "novice" is false, or the identity of "ordinary human" is false—or perhaps both are simply false.

Moreover, an ordinary human could not possibly live in such an obviously abnormal house.

"I'd like to confirm one thing first," Li Lin hesitated for a moment before asking, "Have you always lived here?"

"Yes," Yu Sheng nodded. He did not intend to mention to outsiders that he had come from another "Boundary City," so he simply admitted he had always lived in this house; after all, he even had an ID card. "I've always lived here."

Li Lin: "Then do you know that this house..."

"I know, it's an Otherworld," Yu Sheng spoke up before the other could finish, with a look of complete honesty and innocence, "I only found out recently; I lived here before without any problems."

Li Lin was once again rendered speechless.

What do you mean you only found out recently! What do you mean you lived here before without any problems! Could an ordinary person be like this?

Then again, it's been so many years; how has the Special Operations Bureau never discovered such an abnormal place in this old district?!

"Um, may I see your ID card?" Li Lin held back for a long while before finally asking cautiously, then quickly rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a small black booklet and unfolding it before Yu Sheng. "This is my duty badge."

Yu Sheng glanced at the small booklet the other produced, seeing Li Lin's photo, name, and position information printed on it, along with numbers and identification codes he couldn't understand—anyway, he couldn't read them, and he had never seen what a Special Operations Bureau ID card looked like, but at least this showed a proper "attitude toward handling affairs."

So he readily took out his own ID card and handed it to the other.

Li Lin took the ID card, and he and Xu Jiali quickly scanned the information on it.

Both of their gazes simultaneously stopped on the "Address" field on the ID card, staring blankly at the black characters on the white background reading "No. 66 Wutong Road."

"Is there a problem?" Yu Sheng asked curiously, seeing the two of them staring blankly together.

Li Lin snapped out of it, slowly returning the ID card to Yu Sheng. He seemed to be hesitating about something, pausing several times before finally speaking: "Do you know, there is no No. 66 on Wutong Road."

Yu Sheng: "……?"

Now he understood why none of the locksmiths he had previously found were able to successfully come to the door.

"We need to return to the Bureau first," Xu Jiali broke the silence. "Your situation here... is somewhat special. We need to report to the superiors and then coordinate with the Archives Department to figure out exactly what is going on."

Yu Sheng was stunned: "Leaving already? But I still have a bunch of questions..."

"We will leave our contact information, and we will come to conduct a formal 'contact' with you in the near future," Xu Jiali said. "For humans who have recently encountered the Otherworld and undergone 'changes,' the Special Operations Bureau has a standard procedure for contact and registration. Please rest assured that all your questions will be answered during the subsequent formal contact."

While speaking, he casually pulled out a small card from his pocket and handed it to Yu Sheng: "My phone number is on this."

"……Alright." Yu Sheng thought for a moment. His main goal was actually just to get in touch with the "professionals" in the Borderland who specialize in solving Otherworld problems. As for his huge pile of questions, it was obviously not something that could be sorted out immediately by chatting with these two for a few minutes; those would have to be addressed slowly through future contact and understanding, so he readily nodded and accepted the business card the other handed him.

Afterwards, he also left his phone number.

This number was one he had had since he "arrived" here, but almost no one contacted him in daily life, and he had no one to contact.

Then, Yu Sheng turned his gaze toward "Little Red Riding Hood," who had been standing nearby without speaking. The Gao Zhongsheng-looking Miss did not look well; her exposed right arm appeared to be recovering, but many small black patterns were still visible on her skin, looking quite eerie.

"Are you okay?" Yu Sheng asked with a hint of concern.

"Side effects of dealing with wolves; it's not the first time. I'll recover after adjusting a bit," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. "I need to go see a doctor first. By the way, I'll leave my phone number too... wait a moment, I didn't bring my phone, let me find a pen."

While speaking, she reached for the small bag at her waist, but suddenly, her movement froze in place.

The girl's expression stiffened visibly, as if she had just belatedly discovered something terrible.

Seeing the other's appearance, Yu Sheng was startled: "What's wrong?"

Xu Jiali beside him sighed: "Her homework was torn up by a physical entity."

Little Red Riding Hood stiffly turned her neck, seeing that both Xu Jiali and Li Lin wore expressions of sympathy on their faces.

"We saw it from the very beginning, but you didn't notice at the time," Li Lin said quietly. "We didn't want to bring it up, thinking it would let you be happy for a while longer..."

"When have you ever seen me happy! Huh!? When I was being chased by monsters through the woods like a dog?" The girl in red was completely undone; the calm and maturity she had maintained throughout the journey vanished instantly, leaving only panic. "I spent three days making up for it! I spent three days on math exam papers, ahhh!!"

!.

Yu Sheng stood nearby, completely bewildered. He began to feel even more that the mental state and daily life of these "professionals" were quite different from what he had previously imagined, but under this atmosphere, he didn't dare to speak up—mainly because the girl before him truly looked quite heartbroken...

But regardless, in the end, Little Red Riding Hood still left him her phone number—when the girl wrote the numbers on the notepad, every stroke was made with great force, filled with hatred as if she were using the pen as a knife to carve the characters onto the bodies of those "hunger entities" that had long since turned to ash, making Yu Sheng watch with a racing heart.

Afterwards, Li Lin and the other three bid farewell and prepared to leave.

Yu Sheng escorted them to the front door, pushed it open, and stood by the doorframe: "Then I won't see you off further—I still have a bunch of things to handle here."

Hearing this, Li Lin turned back to look at the living room, seeing the fox girl with a pile of tails guarding a pile of food while sitting on the floor, and the small doll with broken arms sitting on the sofa, watching television with no worries in the world.

An eerie No. 66 Wutong Road, inhabited by an eerie "Yu Sheng," and his two equally eerie "friends."

Right under the nose of the Special Operations Bureau.

Li Lin knew he had touched upon a huge vortex, and all of this would appear in his and Xu Jiali's report...

... and be reflected in the overtime work to come.

The young Special Operations Bureau agent sighed deeply and walked through that door with a weary step.

A cool night breeze blew against his face; the silent night of the old district came into view, and warm streetlights illuminated the road ahead.

He and Xu Jiali turned back simultaneously, seeing only a bare wall behind them, covered in chaotic and abstract graffiti.

Xu Jiali stepped forward two paces, touched that wall, and patted it twice.

"……It seems it's not here," the veteran deep diver said softly. "This is just an entrance, and it only opens when invited."

"Return to the Bureau first?" Li Lin asked. "Or leave someone here to keep watching?"

Xu Jiali looked up at Little Red Riding Hood.

The girl instantly turned her head away, indicating she was in a foul mood because her homework had been torn and had no desire to work overtime at all.

"I must go find Dr. Lin to deal with the 'aftereffects' first," she still gave a very legitimate reason, "You two do as you please; I feel it makes no difference whether anyone stays here or not—that person's ability is too bizarre, and the current conditions make monitoring impossible."

"... Let's return to the Bureau first," Xu Jiali sighed and walked forward ahead of them, "After all, there are others guarding the outer perimeter; let's report today's situation first. This concerns the Dark Angel, and this matter... I'm afraid even Captain Song cannot make the final decision."

(End of this chapter)