Chapter 84: Registration

Handling identity registration for two young ladies who might not even qualify as "humans" was something quite novel for Yu Sheng, but after he sat down before Hu Li's form, he realized this novelty was only for him—in the eyes of the Special Operations Bureau, it was probably nothing unusual at all.

Because the first line of that form read:

If the filler is of a long-lived species (average lifespan of 1K or above, inclusive), fill the age column directly with a percentage and write the species' average lifespan after the space; if the filler's race lacks the concept of gender, black out the gender column; if the filler cannot use pen-like tools for writing, or relies on pheromones or other special secretions as primary identification features, staff shall assist in sampling or filling. Other special circumstances may be explained in the appendix and reviewed and signed by staff.

Immediately following was a string of disclaimers, the main content of which could be summarized in one sentence: The Special Operations Bureau knows this place has all sorts of strange and bizarre things; we have considered everyone's myriad life forms and racial taboos as much as possible; if you still feel offended, go find the Council.

Yu Sheng sat before the table, staring at that long string of disclaimers and filling instructions for a long time, only turning to the second page to see the place for formally registering name, gender, age, and address...

He raised his head and glanced at Ren Wenwen sitting beside him: "... The ID registration form for ordinary people in Border City surely isn't this kind of form, right?"

"Of course not," the young Special Operations Bureau clerk nodded immediately, "The form for ordinary people is much simpler; this one is specifically prepared for those 'guests' who need to reside long-term in the Borderlands but are not human. The ID cards prepared for the two Young Ladies afterward also belong to a special version—outwardly they look much like ordinary ID cards, but inside they will register data that only specific equipment in specific departments can read. If you encounter any trouble in the future, this also serves as a channel for assistance and preferential treatment prepared for 'special residents'."

"Do you often register this kind of 'business'?" Yu Sheng asked with some curiosity.

"Definitely far fewer than the number of ordinary resident file registrations, but there are still a few thousand to ten thousand new files added each year," Ren Wenwen had no intention of hiding anything, "This place, the Borderlands, will always have 'travelers' from all over applying to stay for various reasons."

Yu Sheng listened very seriously, and a nameless... touch gradually arose in his heart.

This form with its many strange contents suddenly gave him a sense of reality regarding this bizarre and colorful Borderlands, and the world beyond the everyday.

Nearby, Erin had already grabbed the ballpoint pen, which appeared exceptionally thick to her, and was leaning over the form, filling it out with great effort—for her, this was a rather difficult task, especially since the pen was almost as long as her arm, and an A4 paper form was nearly half her height, but this time she had no intention of asking for help; instead, she was writing very seriously, appearing even quite enthusiastic.

Yu Sheng also lowered his head and very seriously filled in the name "Hu Li" on the form before him.

Then he got stuck on the next item.

"Benefactor?" the fox young lady also noticed Yu Sheng's movement and asked curiously.

"... How old are you this year?" Yu Sheng looked at the fox demon girl before him with a somewhat strange expression, but as soon as he finished speaking, he felt something was wrong, "Uh... no, I should ask first what the average lifespan of your race is... still wrong, is the 'one year' in your age converted to 'one year' in the Borderlands?"

Hu Li tilted her head, her silver-white furry large ears twitching in the air, as if she hadn't quite reacted.

After two or three seconds, she hesitantly spoke: "Probably, over two hundred years old? We reach adulthood at one hundred and eighty, but I don't know how long we can live. Mom and Dad said that when you live until you don't want to live anymore, you 'return to the Great Dao', but they said that isn't death, it's becoming a member of the Sky People..."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He looked helplessly at the clerk young lady nearby.

Ren Wenwen raised her hand and pointed to the age column: "Just fill in 'Very Long-Lived'."

Yu Sheng: "... This is allowed!?"

"If you feel this isn't formal enough, you can just fill in 'Don't Know'," Ren Wenwen said very seriously, "Many people fill it in this way every year, because some races are just particularly long-lived and lack a clear concept of lifespan, and other races undergo rapid life-death iterations in cycles of a few years; their age is simply not marked by 'years and months', but by 'generations', and they themselves can't figure it out."

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, then looked at the next column: "... As for the native place here, I don't know where it is, how should I fill it?"

Ren Wenwen still wore a serious expression: "Then write 'Outsider'; those from outside the Borderlands with unknown origins can be uniformly archived."

Yu Sheng's expression was a bit dazed: "... And here for race?"

Ren Wenwen pointed with her finger: "Check the box in the 'Appendix' there, then turn to the last page; there is an appendix, see if there is one that feels suitable."

Yu Sheng turned to the last page of that stack of forms, and a dense crowd of options waiting to be checked crashed into his line of sight.

At first glance, he saw the last column of the form written with "Remarks": If your race possesses variable characteristics, please select "Mimicry Family"; if your race is not within any selectable category, please fill in "Pending Supplement", and we will open a separate family for you as soon as possible.

A trace of amazement appeared in Yu Sheng's expression; when he raised his head to look at Ren Wenwen, there was even some admiration in his eyes: "Your daily work must be quite... complex, right?"

"It's okay; I'm actually from the logistics department; the Special Archives Department is directly responsible for managing these things. They are indeed very busy; regardless of male or female colleagues, they don't have much hair," Ren Wenwen said, raising her hand to point at a certain item in the selection area, "Choose this one, 'Beast Spirit or Humanoid Transformation Species'."

Yu Sheng glanced over, frowning slightly: "Why not select 'Immortal Spirit and Strange Humans'? I think that fits quite well..."

"There are group privileges; you can get half-price subway tickets," Ren Wenwen said casually, "And her tail looks a bit more inclined towards the 'Beast Spirit' direction. But this has no real impact; if you feel it's unsuitable, you can fill in something else, just select within the major category of 'Humanoid'; generally, no one investigates deeply."

Yu Sheng became more and more amazed as he wrote, and secretly stretched his neck to glance at Erin's side, seeing the little doll seriously checking the box for "High-Grade Doll or Alchemical Humanoid", and also writing a note in the remarks section specifically stating "From Alice's Cottage".

After quite a while, the form was finally filled out.

To be honest, this wasn't even easier than doing homework for Little Red Riding Hood—the form had too many messy and bizarre contents; there were many items that if Yu Sheng hadn't seen them with his own eyes and heard Ren Wenwen's explanations, he couldn't even imagine those words could be used for "identity registration"; no wonder it required Special Operations Bureau staff to assist on-site when writing this; if no one helped, just the two items "Thinking Type" and "Neural Evolution Classification" inside would be enough for Yu Sheng to fiddle with for a whole day...

But on the other hand, many contents in these two forms were so loose it was unbelievable; for many items that simply couldn't be filled, Yu Sheng just followed Ren Wenwen's instructions and filled in words like "Don't Know", "Random", "Any", and by the end, he even began to doubt the professionalism of the Special Operations Bureau...

"Actually, you don't need to worry; this form is designed according to the principle of maximum adaptability. Generally speaking, when an 'outsider' registers their identity in the Borderlands, being able to fill in one-quarter of the content on the form is already sufficient to accurately describe their origin, purpose, and personal characteristics," Ren Wenwen answered Yu Sheng's doubts very patiently, "We cannot expect a registration form to exert sufficient binding force on outsiders; the Borderlands have been able to run smoothly until now because there is an extremely vast and effective management system cooperating with it."

While speaking, she took out a small device and placed it on the table: "Next, collect biological information; since both of you are of the humanoid attribute, shall we collect fingerprints?"

Erin raised her finger: "I don't have fingerprints."

Ren Wenwen was stunned: "... Then blood... dolls don't have blood either... then collect hair? Uh, dolls seem very resistant to that, how about scraping some body surface debris? From the arm is fine."

Erin let out a sigh: "If I scrape it off, it will become lotus root powder."

Ren Wenwen: "...?"

"This is a long story," Yu Sheng covered his forehead, "Her current body is temporary; you'd better not collect it anyway, since nothing useful can be collected... those are all materials bought from the supermarket."

"Then... that's fine too; the Director instructed that we can be a bit more lenient," Ren Wenwen said with a somewhat subtle expression, picked up the two forms and glanced over them roughly, then sighed, looking at Erin, "Miss Erin, the 'Regular Form or External Characteristics' column cannot be filled with 'Good-Looking'; it should be filled with 'Humanoid'... never mind, I'll rewrite this page for you; finally, you need to sign to confirm. Also, you two get ready; I'm going to take a picture of you in a moment. Miss Hu Li, can you hide your ears?"

Hu Li casually took off her ears and threw them into her tail.

Ren Wenwen: "... Ah?!"

The next second, this young clerk young lady suddenly realized what ridiculous thing she had just seen, turned her head to look at Yu Sheng: "Mr. Yu, she she she she just took off her her her..."

"Calm down," Yu Sheng had long expected this scene, and at this moment he actually started guiding the other party, "You work at the Special Operations Bureau; your thinking should be more open."

Ren Wenwen: "..."

After struggling to calm down for a long time, the clerk young lady finally controlled her expression, then pulled out another stack of forms and handed them to Yu Sheng.

"Uh, these are the registration documents you requested; before the ID cards for the two Young Ladies take effect, you can fill this out first."

Yu Sheng's heart immediately stirred, and he immediately took the printed papers.

"General Registration Form for Independent Operating Organizations/Groups/Offices in the Borderlands"

A smile appeared on Yu Sheng's face.

Finally, it was its turn.

(End of Chapter)