Chapter 74: Departure

Hearing Yu Sheng's muttering, Baili Qing's expression momentarily became strange, but she said nothing, merely continuing to observe the "man" opposite her with slight curiosity.

Whether answering a few questions or helping resolve some minor troubles, these were all secondary; the most important thing today was the "contact" itself.

She had contacted countless entities of all kinds; she had killed them, exiled them, conversed with those strange beings possessing reason, and even cooperated with them; she had deceived them, and had been deceived by them, yet never before had any entity—even one resembling humans so closely—conversed with her about such matters under such circumstances.

This "person" sitting before her even seemed quite interested in becoming a Spirit Realm detective or investigator.

Setting aside the thoughts swirling in her mind, Baili Qing broke the silence: "So, you wish to..."

"Can I register a team?" Yu Sheng looked at Baili Qing with a hint of expectation, "I'm not fighting alone here; there are two others with me."

"You mean that doll named Irene, and that 'Fox Demon' you brought out from the Otherworld?" As Baili Qing spoke, she suddenly frowned, "But they currently lack legal status in the Borderlands."

"Then let's get them ID cards first?" Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then immediately blurted out another sentence, "Ah, getting them ID cards wouldn't require having a job first, would it—and then registering a job requires an ID card, so we'd be stuck in a loop?"

This time Baili Qing was clearly stunned for a moment: "Of course not; why would you have such a worry?"

"Oh, then that's fine," Yu Sheng smiled awkwardly, "I overthought it."

"I will arrange it," Baili Qing did not dwell on it, merely silently adding a note reading "possesses a certain degree of humor" to her observation report on "Yu Sheng" in her heart, before raising her wrist to glance at her watch, "It is about time."

"Ah, you're leaving?" Yu Sheng stood up instinctively, "Then what about me..."

"Someone will come to find you soon to handle the necessary registration procedures for you and your two friends," Baili Qing stood up, "You only need to fill out a few forms; keep your mobile phone accessible these next couple of days."

Yu Sheng: "Oh... oh."

Baili Qing nodded, but just before departing, she seemed to suddenly remember something: "By the way, there is one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Regarding Nightfall Valley—that Otherworld region you contacted before—did you go back afterwards to confirm its situation?"

Yu Sheng looked slightly confused: "That valley? I haven't been back there since... Has something happened to it?"

"Precisely because the 'situation is unclear'," Baili Qing shook her head, "So if your 'Door' can still lead there, you might as well go take a look."

From Baili Qing's expression, Yu Sheng could not analyze anything useful, but he vaguely felt... this matter did not seem as lightly dismissed as this Bureau Chief was making it appear.

Her specifically mentioning this matter right before leaving seemed more like an emphasis on something.

After a brief moment of confusion and thought, Yu Sheng nodded gently.

He actually had no desire whatsoever to return to that eerie valley, nor any interest in dealing with "Hunger" again, but from Baili Qing's attitude, he realized that the valley might have encountered troubles beyond the "Entity-Hunger".

And in the blink of an eye, the coffee shop that extended infinitely forward and backward quietly collapsed before his eyes.

Baili Qing's figure vanished amidst the continuously collapsing background; in the blink of an eye, the coffee shop returned to its normal appearance, the various sounds of the real world returning to his ears, everything seeming like nothing more than a bizarre dream—only the faint lingering scent of perfume in the air could prove that someone had truly been here just now.

Yu Sheng stared blankly for a moment, turning to look around, and found that seemingly no one had noticed the anomaly here; Little Red Riding Hood's thick stack of exam papers still lay quietly on the table, waiting for him to continue his efforts.

"Truly coming and going just like that..."

Yu Sheng shook his head, muttered casually, and sat back down, preparing to continue doing homework for the high school student.

But this time, he simply could not calm his mind.

Many things discussed with that "Special Operations Bureau Chief" spun around in his mind like an uncontrollable whirlpool; vast amounts of new knowledge about this world were in turmoil, interspersed with many expectations and imaginations regarding the future and distant places; he felt he had not experienced this feeling of eager anticipation mixed with slight nervousness about tomorrow in many years.

Furthermore, there was the matter Baili Qing had specifically mentioned before leaving—Nightfall Valley; what had happened to that valley?

Just then, a voice suddenly came from not far away, interrupting Yu Sheng's thoughts.

"We're back!" Little Red Riding Hood's voice sounded very cheerful, "Yu Sheng, how much have you written?"

Yu Sheng immediately looked up at the sound, and the first thing he saw was the black-haired girl standing beside Little Red Riding Hood.

It was Hu Li, now dressed in new clothes.

The weather had turned cool, so Little Red Riding Hood had directly bought her a white coat and cotton skirt with thermal lining; the clothes themselves were actually very plain, yet surprisingly suited Hu Li perfectly, and the plush material at the collar of the top, serving both decorative and windproof purposes, even made one think of Hu Li's own fluffy ears and tail—all of the same silver-white color, elegant yet carrying a hint of soft charm.

The fox girl stood there somewhat constrained, her expression looking a bit dazed; she seemed unaccustomed to the feeling of wearing well-fitted clothes, or perhaps she had not yet recovered from wandering for so long in a place full of strangers; it was not until Yu Sheng waved at her that she blinked as if suddenly waking up, then hurriedly ran over carrying several large shopping bags.

"Um... Yu Sheng," Hu Li stood nervously on the opposite side of the table, barely remembering to address Yu Sheng by name in a place with many strangers, "New clothes, very suitable."

"Yes, very good-looking," Yu Sheng smiled; he could feel that the girl was happy, but his gaze fell upon her skirt again, "The temperature has dropped these past two days; isn't this outfit cold?"

"She's wearing long johns underneath," Little Red Riding Hood said as she sat directly beside Yu Sheng, leaning forward to look at the table, "Let me see how much you've written... uh, doesn't seem like much?"

"An unexpected situation arose just now, delaying things for quite a long time," Yu Sheng touched his nose awkwardly, then immediately looked curiously at Hu Li and Little Red Riding Hood, "Wait, where is Irene?"

"Oh, she's here!" Hu Li reacted instantly, reaching down to lift a large shopping bag from the floor to show Yu Sheng, "We bought too many things in between to carry her, so we put her inside the bag."

Yu Sheng leaned forward and saw the small doll lying inside the shopping bag—Irene lay on a pile of clothes with her eyes devoid of highlights, the entire bag filled with the doll's resentment.

The resentment was so strong that the shopping bag was nearly becoming a cursed object.

"Are you okay?" Yu Sheng leaned his head in and asked mentally.

Little Doll: "Okay my foot! Get me out! I watched the mall ceiling the whole way there, and now I'm still looking at the ceiling! In between, Little Red Riding Hood put her unfinished drink into the bag! She put the snacks she bought into the bag too! I even fell to the bottom of the bag in the middle, and neither of them noticed! I protested the whole way, but that silly fox got dizzy from shopping and ignored me completely!"

Yu Sheng quickly reached out to lift the resentment-filled Miss Doll out of the shopping bag and placed her on the chair beside him, comforting her extensively in his mind.

Little Red Riding Hood casually flipped through her homework, then turned her head to look at Yu Sheng with slight curiosity: "What unexpected situation did you encounter?"

Yu Sheng did not hide anything, merely lowering his voice: "A woman suddenly came looking for me; she said her name is Baili Qing, the Chief of the Special Operations Bureau."

Little Red Riding Hood, who was flipping through the math exam paper, instantly froze, taking two or three seconds before stiffly turning her head: "... Huh?"

Yu Sheng looked around and whispered to Little Red Riding Hood: "Is this really that rare?"

"The Chief! Baili Qing! That big shot!" Little Red Riding Hood's voice even changed slightly, not daring to speak loudly and attract attention, "No, why did she suddenly show up, and come to find you personally?! She..."

Little Red Riding Hood paused, her expression suddenly becoming somewhat nervous: "She wouldn't think you're a dangerous element and come to deal with you personally, would she?"

Probably because she had wandered around the mall with Hu Li for half a day, she now seemed much more familiar when speaking to Yu Sheng, unlike the obvious nervousness and caution she displayed when they first met.

Yu Sheng, however, paid no attention to this slight change in Little Red Riding Hood's attitude; he merely recalled the course of his conversation with Baili Qing, shook his head, and said: "That wasn't the case; she just came to understand the situation a bit; she asked me a few questions, and I asked her a whole bunch of questions—I feel she is quite reasonable to talk to."

Little Red Riding Hood wore a completely dazed expression, doubting her own hearing—

Baili Qing? Reasonable to talk to?

The combination of these two words was truly novel.

Inside a certain office at the Special Operations Bureau Headquarters, accompanied by a collapse and distortion of light and shadow, a pale human silhouette abruptly appeared behind the desk; subsequently, that pale silhouette rapidly took form, was endowed with faint colors, and transformed into the figure of Baili Qing.

She sat quietly behind the desk, motionless for a long time, seemingly lost in deep thought.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, she suddenly lifted her head, reached out, and pressed a button on the desk: "Notify Song Cheng of the Second Brigade and Luo Zheng of the Confidential Management Office to come to my office immediately."

(End of Chapter)