Chapter 76: The Strange People Living in the Otherworld

"Can you two see that house ahead?"

Standing before the gate at No. 66 Wutong Road, Yu Sheng raised a hand to point at the old, dilapidated small building, speaking to Hu Li beside him and Erin held in Hu Li's arms.

"Yes," Hu Li nodded naturally, "It's right before our eyes. We can see it when we go out, and we can see it when we come back."

Yu Sheng nodded, then looked at Little Red Riding Hood who had come along: "Can you see it?"

Little Red Riding Hood opened her eyes wide, looking at the empty space ahead and the low wall at the end of the lot, then turned her head to look suspiciously at Hu Li and Erin: "Can you two really see it?"

"It seems you can't see it," Yu Sheng understood the situation immediately, "Even though I issued an 'invitation' to you, standing here, you still can't see it."

Little Red Riding Hood shrugged.

Yu Sheng began to think.

He was now curious about many things: those concerning himself, the Otherworld, the Special Affairs Bureau, and that Night Valley—of course, including this strange mansion he had lived in for the past two months, and out of a bit of "necessary research spirit," when he went home today, he invited Little Red Riding Hood, wanting to test just how many oddities the "non-existent No. 66 Wutong Road" actually possessed.

Now he had obtained preliminary test results.

Hu Li and Erin could see No. 66 Wutong Road, but Little Red Riding Hood could not; even after receiving an invitation from the "house owner," she could not observe its existence.

Yu Sheng pondered briefly and found the biggest difference between Hu Li, Erin, and Little Red Riding Hood.

"So... it should be a matter of 'blood'?" He looked up thoughtfully, his gaze shifting between Little Red Riding Hood, Hu Li, and Erin.

Both Hu Li and Erin had "accepted" his blood, which established a subtle "connection" between him and them; it was precisely through this connection that the two of them could still perceive his "resurrection"—Little Red Riding Hood had never had such an experience.

This was the most likely reason Yu Sheng could think of right now.

Little Red Riding Hood, however, did not notice the change in Yu Sheng's expression; at this moment, she was curiously looking around.

The sunset was gradually sinking; in the shadows of the roadside buildings, the silhouettes of wolves appeared and disappeared intermittently, the wolf pack watching the movements of the entire block, serving as the girl's eyes and ears.

She discovered one thing: from the moment she entered Wutong Road, the closer she got to this deep-lying empty lot, the fewer pedestrians there were around, and by the time she reached the lot where "No. 66 Wutong Road" was located, there were completely no passersby visible around.

It was as if an invisible dispelling force was preventing ordinary people from approaching this mansion.

Yet even her wolf pack could not perceive how this force operated; the "environment" of this entire block was so "clean" that, under the vision of supernatural power, it was clean as a vacuum.

Just then, Little Red Riding Hood suddenly noticed the gaze falling upon her; she immediately turned her head and saw Yu Sheng looking over here with a serious expression.

The girl immediately felt a bit awkward: "Uh... is something wrong?"

Then she saw Yu Sheng reach his hand directly towards her: "Want a bite?"

Little Red Riding Hood: "... Huh?"

"Blood. Erin and Hu Li have both come into contact with my blood, and after that, some changes occurred, and now they can still see No. 66 Wutong Road," Yu Sheng explained very seriously, "so I was thinking, maybe you should try it too, just as an experiment..."

Little Red Riding Hood's expression became visibly strange; she even took half a step back, her eyes like a bristling wolf-dog. After confirming that Yu Sheng was truly acting out of pure "research spirit," she relaxed slightly, but still refused with a look: "No!"

"It won't hurt your stomach," Yu Sheng had actually anticipated such a reaction from the other party; after all, inviting someone to take a bite out of him right off the bat did sound a bit sudden, but he still wanted to try again, "Don't you want to see what No. 66 Wutong Road looks like from the outside?"

"I'm not a cat, why should I have such great curiosity!" Little Red Riding Hood took another half step back, turning her head to look at Hu Li and Erin, "Why does he come up with one thing after another?"

Erin, who was in Hu Li's arms, moved slightly; confirming no one else was around, she finally had a chance to speak: "He's just like that, coming up with one thing after another, and even calls it some kind of 'research spirit.' Don't pay attention to him."

"How can you say that," Yu Sheng heard this and felt dissatisfied, "Am I that bad?"

Erin didn't speak, simply emitting a lotus fragrance quietly in Hu Li's arms.

Yu Sheng: "..."

"If you're not willing, then forget it," after an awkward silence of two or three seconds, Yu Sheng waved his hand at Little Red Riding Hood with a dry laugh, then stepped up to the front door. But just as he unlocked it and prepared to go inside, he remembered something, moved aside, and beckoned to the fox Miss following behind him, "Come over and see if you can open this door."

"Ah? Okay." Hu Li was stunned for a moment, but still nodded, stepping forward to grab the door handle.

Click. The unlocked entry door was pushed open easily.

But in Little Red Riding Hood's eyes, a door appeared out of thin air in the empty lot, floating near the low wall covered in many abstract graffiti.

"Good, this way at least you and Erin can come and go easily, without needing me to open the door every time." Seeing this, Yu Sheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief. After learning that No. 66 Wutong Road was an "Otherworld" that outsiders could neither observe nor enter, he had developed many concerns regarding details, including but not limited to food delivery not being able to reach the door, appliances not being able to be delivered home, online shopping not being able to leave an address, and the two residents in the house being unable to come and go freely, and so on and so forth, but now he felt relieved—at least one of the troubles was gone.

"Come, come in and sit," Yu Sheng smiled, extending his hand to Little Red Riding Hood, "I'll cook later, we'll have dinner at home, as a thank you for you accompanying Hu Li and Erin for a day today."

"It's nothing, you've already helped me write half of my homework." Little Red Riding Hood said this, but still accepted the invitation and walked into this mansion that did not exist in the real world.

Yu Sheng turned on the living room lights; the bright light dispersed the dusk gloom and quickly warmed up the cold atmosphere inside the house.

Afterwards, he quickly tidied up the things he had bought, took out the ingredients needed for that night from the shopping bag, told Little Red Riding Hood to find a place to sit, and then turned to walk towards the kitchen.

Little Red Riding Hood, with a hint of unease and curiosity, cautiously looked around.

This was her second time coming to this place, and this time as a "guest who had received an invitation."

She rarely visited other people's homes; the number of times she went to various Otherworlds even far exceeded the number of times she stepped into someone else's door, but on the other hand, she clearly knew that this seemingly ordinary residential house was actually an "Otherworld," and today's "visit"... was essentially an Otherworld exploration.

This was truly the strangest "exploration" experience she had had since becoming a Spirit World Detective; there were no eerie and twisted landscapes, no pervasive pollution, no illusions disguised as teammates, only bright lights and a warm environment, a gentle and friendly fox spirit standing beside her, a joyful doll running to turn on the TV, and the entity in the Otherworld... that powerful entity capable of swallowing "Hunger" whole, was cooking in the kitchen.

She could even go to the dining table to do some homework for a while, waiting for the meal to be ready.

There were simply too many things that felt out of place; she didn't even know which one to complain about first.

However, the noisy Erin soon left her no time to think too much—the little doll's loud commotion came from the living room: "Come watch TV! The TV in the living room is bigger than the one in the dining room!"

"I need to catch up on my homework," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, replying casually while walking towards the table, "I still have half a book left!"

"Hey, you humans are really tired," Erin, who had already climbed onto the sofa, immediately exclaimed loudly, "Fox, do you want to come?"

Hu Li waved her hand and strolled towards the kitchen: "I want to see if the Benefactor needs any help..."

She just walked into the kitchen, and then two minutes later pushed the door open and walked out again, holding a braised chicken leg in her hand, eating as she walked.

Little Red Riding Hood, who had just started her homework, saw this scene with a look of surprise: "... Why did you come out again?"

"I was kicked out. The Benefactor said I was stealing the spices; if I eat them all, there won't be any left to stew the meat," Hu Li said with a simple expression, then proudly held up the chicken leg in her hand, "But the Benefactor gave me a chicken leg. Do you want to eat it?"

Little Red Riding Hood hesitated: "Uh... I just..."

Hu Li instantly took the chicken leg back: "If you don't eat it, I'll eat it all."

Little Red Riding Hood: "..."

A scent of stir-fried dishes had by then drifted out from the kitchen, stirring people's appetites.

Little Red Riding Hood thought for a moment, reached into her bag to take out her phone, and dialed a number.

"It's me. I'm not coming home for dinner tonight; I'm eating at a friend's house—hey, a new acquaintance, safe, safe. I'll tell you when I get back. I'll definitely be home before ten. Hanging up, hanging up..."

Hanging up the phone, Little Red Riding Hood turned her head and saw Hu Lizheng staring straight at her—while never stopping her action of gnawing on a chicken leg.

"You can't eat this," Little Red Riding Hood said instinctively, covering her mobile phone with her hand.

She didn't know why such a sentence had popped into her mind.

Hu Lizheng, however, paid no attention to this and simply asked curiously, "Were you just contacting your family?"

"Yes."

"Is it your father and mother?"

Little Red Riding Hood's expression became slightly unnatural: "Uh... my parents passed away early; it was with someone else in the family."

"Oh," Hu Lizheng nodded. Little Red Riding Hood had no idea what thoughts had crossed the fox demon girl's mind in those few seconds before she suddenly extended the nearly finished chicken leg toward her again. "Want a bite? Just a small one."

Little Red Riding Hood: "...?"

She felt that indeed, she still found it very difficult to understand these "eccentrics" living in foreign lands.

(End of Chapter)