Chapter 63: Investigation and Settlement

A leader's encouragement and empty promises may not soothe the physical and mental exhaustion brought on by working overtime in the Otherworld, but paid leave certainly will.

The two unlucky agents walked out of the office with smiles plastered on their faces, leaving Song Cheng sitting behind his desk, letting out a long sigh as he continued to stare gloomily at the computer screen.

Just then, he noticed an icon in the corner of the screen suddenly begin to flash, and the next second, a video window abruptly appeared on the display.

A young woman wearing a white skirt suit, her ash-gray hair tied in a single ponytail, appeared in the frame; her pale gray pupils, as if drained of color, looked through the screen directly into Song Cheng's eyes: "Finished?"

A bigger boss has arrived.

"Director," Song Cheng instantly sat up straight, his expression somewhat tense, "you haven't gotten off work yet?"

"I'm working overtime today," Baili Qing said lightly, her voice as devoid of fluctuation as her faded eyes, "I saw the data just transmitted by the Archives Department and want to hear your thoughts."

"Regarding that 'Yu Sheng'?" Song Cheng frowned slightly, pondered briefly, then shook his head, "I don't think we can make any judgments right now; we need to make formal contact with the other party before we can assess what kind of... individual he truly is. But the difficulty lies in whether to approach him by the standards of a 'human' or by the standards of an 'entity'..."

"By the standards of a human," Baili Qing said without hesitation.

Surprise flickered across Song Cheng's face.

"Because his self-perception is that of a 'human'," Baili Qing said calmly and patiently, "so regardless of whether he actually is human, we must ensure he continues to think so in the future."

"... Maintain the target's self-perception, is that it?" Song Cheng mused, seeming to understand the Director's thinking, "Do you mean... once this individual's self-perception shifts, there could be very serious consequences?"

"We cannot yet determine what abilities the target possesses or what impact he will have on the future of the Borderlands, but having one more standing on the side of 'humans' means one less standing on the side of the 'non-human'; Otherworld entities naturally friendly to humanity are not common—especially one who has 'lived' in the Borderlands since long ago; we should regard this as a stroke of luck."

Song Cheng nodded immediately: "Good, I understand your meaning, Director; I'll arrange a contact plan with 'Yu Sheng' right away... I'll go personally."

Baili Qing on the screen nodded slightly, then added: "Regarding the newly appeared 'Gloomy Angel,' the Council has been informed; it is now basically confirmed to be a new one."

Song Cheng's pupils contracted instantly.

"Not in the old records?" He unconsciously leaned forward, his expression exceptionally grave, "What about the records of other factions?"

"We have already inquired with the Algraded Astrology Society and the 'Academy'; neither of their official records contains reports of the huge eye-shaped Gloomy Angel capable of covering the sky mentioned in the report; there has been no response yet from the Bamosa Hermit Society, but if even the Academy's records lack it, the Bamosa people likely do not have it either," Baili Qing shook her head, "Although we cannot rule out the possibility that certain small factions may have encountered this Gloomy Angel, the... likelihood is low."

Song Cheng's brows knitted together so tightly they nearly formed a knot, looking quite anxious.

"This isn't good... a new 'Angel' with no data records, we didn't have time to collect any intelligence before it fled directly, and on such a massive scale," he muttered to himself, "Capable of covering the entire sky above Nightfall Valley... judging from the official data on Nightfall Valley, this thing probably parasitized that Otherworld region long ago..."

"Yes, high-level camouflage, deep parasitism, to the extent that investigators who entered that valley early on even believed the sky there was naturally like that; the name 'Nightfall Valley' originates from this," Baili said slowly, "Purely in terms of physical scale, this newly appeared 'Gloomy Angel' probably ranks among the top three of all known Angels."

Song Cheng couldn't help but fall into thought; after a brief pause, he spoke: "... According to the intelligence gathered by my two team members, the fox demon calling herself 'Hu Li' beside Yu Sheng seems to have been trapped in Nightfall Valley for a very long time; she might know something related to that 'Gloomy Angel'?"

"This is a breakthrough, but exercise caution during the investigation."

Song Cheng lowered his head slightly: "Understood."

Baili Qing hummed in acknowledgment, seemingly preparing to end the video call.

But Song Cheng suddenly spoke up: "By the way, Director, there's one more thing."

"Speak."

"... I plan to take a ride on the 'Train'," Song Cheng said with a serious expression, "to see if I can inquire about matters related to 'Yu Sheng' aboard the 'Train'."

"... Approved—but be cautious; even with entities that are relatively rational and friendly, contact must be handled with extreme care."

"Understood."

Yu Sheng, who was helping Hu Li make the bed, suddenly sneezed several times in succession, startling Eileen, who was walking a balance beam on the footboard with arms outstretched, nearly causing her to fall off.

"You scared me!" The little doll glared with wide eyes.

"My nose is itchy," Yu Sheng rubbed his nose, casually grabbed Eileen down and tossed her onto the bed, "Stop just watching and come help—sit in the middle of the bed while I stretch out the sheet."

Eileen let out an "Oh," happily ran to the middle of the bed, sat cross-legged, and looked up at Yu Sheng bustling about beside her.

Hu Li stood a bit further away, watching somewhat at a loss as her "Benefactor" made the bed for her.

"Benefactor... I can, help too," the fox demon girl rubbed her hands together, her tail swaying uneasily behind her, "Tidying a room is simple; I've learned how to do it just by watching!"

"Then you can tidy your own room in the future; for today, though, don't bother," Yu Sheng said without looking up, "I'm almost done here anyway."

Hu Li let out an "Oh," suppressing the unsettled feeling arising in her heart from being taken care of, and cautiously yet curiously surveyed her new room.

This was the room on the second floor that had originally been piled with quite a bit of miscellaneous goods, but now those cardboard boxes holding the clutter had all been cleared out to the basement; after a simple cleaning, the place had been restored to a habitable state—though saying it was habitable was an overstatement, as the furnishings inside remained very crude; aside from the bed that had originally been in the room but previously buried under stacked items, and a single table, the only formal "furniture" left in the room was a chair in the corner.

Because of this, Yu Sheng had just found a folding wardrobe in the basement and, together with Eileen, spent quite some time figuring out how to assemble those iron pipes and canvas, placing it in the corner to serve as the room's fourth piece of furniture.

But Hu Li currently had no clothes to put inside it anyway—she possessed almost no personal belongings, only the tattered "skirt" she had brought out from the valley, which was practically a bundle of rags; unwilling to throw it away, she had washed it clean, folded it as best she could, and placed it at the very bottom of that ugly folding wardrobe, marking it as her first piece of property in this "home."

Yet even such a simple, somewhat shabby little room made her incredibly happy.

She could sleep on a bed; having lain down for a moment earlier, she felt it was even softer and flatter than the best haystack; there was a complete roof overhead and walls to block the wind—the room was warm, unlike the valley where everything was cold everywhere; she didn't need to hug her tail to stay warm while sleeping; and there were bright electric lights, even brighter than fox fire.

And most importantly—no matter what she did here, it wouldn't attract that monster, and if she got hungry, she could find food anytime.

Right now, there was plenty of food right inside her tail.

Hu Li sat down on the floor, a happy smile on her face.

Yu Sheng finished spreading the sheet, turned his head, and saw the fox demon sitting on the ground grinning foolishly: "Why are you sitting on the floor again? There's a chair right there—and what are you grinning about so foolishly?"

Hu Li let out an "Oh," got up from the floor, and sat on the chair nearby: "Happy."

"Then you ought to be happy," Yu Sheng nodded, then straightened up, looking around with a slight sense of accomplishment.

The room's furnishings were crude, yet it had taken great effort to tidy up; at the very least, it was the fruit of over two hours of labor.

—But it was still a bit too crude.

"Tomorrow I'll go to the mall to buy you another set of replacement bedding, plus two sets of clothes; we can replace the curtains later, these have holes in them... let's use this wardrobe temporarily for now; buying a new one is quite expensive, and funds are tight recently," Yu Sheng planned aloud, "Hmm, in the future we can also get a nightstand and place a desk lamp on it."

"No need, no need for so many things," Hu Li hurriedly waved her hands, saying somewhat at a loss, "It's very good just like this."

"Don't worry about it; these are all daily necessities; you must have what you need," Yu Sheng waved his hand indifferently, "You are, after all, going to be my number one enforcer; your conditions cannot be poor."

Eileen, sitting in the middle of the bed, lifted her head at these words, glanced at Yu Sheng, and said: "Before you consider buying furniture, you should first consider how to get someone to deliver the furniture to you; with your address at '66 Wutong Road'—it seems we can't expect a new TV either; it definitely won't be delivered; or... do you plan to open a 'Big' Door and carry a pile of furniture home yourself?"

Hearing the little doll's nagging, Yu Sheng's enthusiastic "planning" suddenly cooled a bit.

His expression likewise became slightly serious.

Yu Sheng recalled the words those two "Special Duty Bureau agents" had said to him before leaving.

... Yes, delivery is still a problem, after all—

No. 66 Wutong Road does not exist.

(End of Chapter)