Chapter 13: The Encounter

Ah, the familiar darkness, the familiar weight pressing down, and the familiar sensation of consciousness sinking deeper and deeper.

Yu Sheng’s thoughts drifted in the depths of chaotic darkness, accompanied by that oppressive pressure coming from all directions, along with an overwhelming sense of helplessness and exhaustion.

He had anticipated facing many hardships before leaving that “foreign realm,” even imagined that he might have to “die” more than once. He had predicted the beginning and the end, but not this process—in the time spent drifting and sinking in darkness, he couldn’t help but recall the last scene he saw before losing consciousness. In that fleeting, blurry moment, he remembered those golden-red eyes that met his gaze, the magnificent fox tails blooming in the night…

And that supersonic headbutt.

So, who was the girl who had knocked him to death with that headbutt? Where had she appeared from? And why was she in this foreign realm?

Moreover… what was the strange change that had occurred to his body during the fight with that monster? The sudden increase in strength, agility, and…

That hunger-driven impulse.

What exactly had happened to him?

Yu Sheng felt his chaotic and tangled thoughts whirl like a vortex in his mind. Freed from the constraints of a physical body, these uncontrollable “thoughts” even manifested before his “eyes” as bizarre and fantastical illusions, intertwined with countless memories rising from the depths—he saw the monster made of countless limbs piled together, then the sudden appearance of the “headbutt” girl with fox ears and tails. The next moment, he saw an oil painting: Irene shattered and fallen around a chair, puppet limbs connected by spiderweb-like threads, and a strange shadow vaguely standing deep within the picture…

Suddenly, Irene vanished again, and new scenes surfaced deep within Yu Sheng’s memory—the crimson clouds and sky, sunlight flowing like water, staining the familiar old streets and alleys.

Oh, that was the place where Yu Sheng was born and raised, his familiar “Boundary City,” an inconspicuous coastal town. He had left there two months ago… yet, for some reason, when that memory surfaced, it felt like a scene from a very distant past, as if it belonged to someone else, coldly presented before him.

All the images disappeared, leaving only the gentle darkness enveloping him.

Yu Sheng felt his mind clearing slightly. After a brief hesitation, he tried calling out quietly in his heart: “Irene.”

No response came from the darkness.

It seemed that in his “dead” state, the connection between him and Irene was severed.

Then Yu Sheng attempted to shift his “sight,” searching through the darkness for other objects, and to confirm whether his limbs still existed.

He saw nothing. The place was empty, and he seemed to be nothing more than a drifting “consciousness” without a body.

Silently, Yu Sheng tried more.

During his previous two “deaths,” he had no experience and had nearly stumbled back to the “living world” blindly. But this time, he consciously sensed the process, testing various hypotheses.

He knew he had been muddled all this time—an unfamiliar world, strange phenomena, the mystery within himself, death and resurrection… too many baffling things piled together, leaving him clueless.

But since Irene had told him about the concept of the “foreign realm,” he now had a goal—he wanted to return, to go back to the “normal” side.

When the portals to the foreign realm occasionally opened to people, ordinary individuals, upon glimpsing the scenes spilling from those portals, would cross the edge of rationality and reach the other side beyond normalcy. This process could happen because of getting off at the wrong bus stop, taking one step too many down the stairs, flipping one page too far in a book, misreading a character, or… opening the wrong door.

Regardless of the cause, the crucial point was that this process was not irreversible.

According to the information Irene had shared, some in this world studied the foreign realm; some had summarized its rules, and there were even experts dedicated to resolving foreign realm issues. Even ordinary people had chances to return after falling into the foreign realm.

This valley shrouded in night was a foreign realm, and the address where Yu Sheng currently lived—66 Wutong Road—was a foreign realm as well. But Yu Sheng believed his initial encounter with the foreign realm happened even earlier—

When he had pushed open his front door two months ago, he might have already fallen into a foreign realm centered around himself, called “Boundary City.”

Now, he had to explore as much as possible, understand these strange things, grasp the knowledge related to the foreign realm, and then… leave this unnatural world.

With that resolve, he opened his eyes.

The cold night wind blew through a large hole in the wall. Outside the half-collapsed roof loomed a murky sky.

He sat in a corner of a ruined temple but did not immediately rise. Instead, he remained motionless in his just-awakened posture, cautiously sensing everything around him while struggling to grasp the rapidly fading memories and “impressions” in his mind.

He tried to recall the sensation of awakening, pinpointing the boundary where he returned from darkness to the “living world.”

He felt this might be the key to understanding his process of “death and rebirth.”

At least, it would bring him a little closer to the truth of these mysteries.

Faintly, he began to recall some fleeting images he had “seen” just before awakening. He remembered rising from the darkness, crossing a hazy boundary, then sinking toward reality… but what happened afterward? Between “sinking toward reality” and “opening his eyes”? In that brief instant, what transpired?

He thought he caught glimpses of a few rapid, blurry scenes—somewhat clearer were the nearby small road by his home, the gate at 66 Wutong Road, and… this very corner deep within the ruined temple.

Yu Sheng’s eyelids drooped slightly, his thoughts gradually calming. He entertained some guesses but put them aside for the moment. Then he exhaled softly and began to move his hands and feet gently.

This body was pure and strong; he could feel the surging power coursing through his veins. His hearing was sharp, his sight clear, his limbs full of strength—though not long ago, he had been struck by a supersonic headbutt that had amputated him below the neck, now he was completely revitalized.

He rose from the corner, preparing to call out to Irene.

But in the next moment, he abruptly stopped.

Because rustling sounds came from outside the wall.

Upon hearing the noise, Yu Sheng’s first thought was—could that delightful-smelling monster have actually followed him into the ruined temple?!

But he quickly sensed something was wrong. That monster’s movements were always thunderous, not cautious like this.

Taking a gentle breath, Yu Sheng moved cautiously—about thirty percent alertness—toward the hole in the wall, peering outside.

The night was deep, but his eyes saw clearly.

He saw a girl, carefully walking among the ruins of the temple.

The girl wore a tattered robe that once must have been splendid, now reduced to filthy rags. Her long, unkempt white hair hung messily, obscuring much of her face. And atop her head… was a pair of fox ears.

But more than the furry ears, Yu Sheng’s gaze lingered on what trailed behind her—

Fox tails, more than one. Though from his viewpoint, it was hard to count exactly how many there were. Given the girl’s disheveled appearance, he even suspected it might be just one large tail, tangled from neglect…

By now, Yu Sheng certainly recognized her.

It was the girl who had delivered the supersonic headbutt.

Yet the headbutt girl seemed unaware that Yu Sheng was nearby. She moved cautiously through the ruins, occasionally twitching her nose as if sniffing and searching. After a while, she appeared to find something. Her eyes brightened, and she quickly ran somewhere.

Sounds of plastic rustling came through the night.

Yu Sheng’s eyes widened.

It was the bag of kitchen waste he had brought when he was “thrown” into this valley, which he had casually tossed into the ruins.

The bag contained discarded vegetable leaves and eggshells from dinner, as well as leftover food cleared from the fridge earlier.

He pressed against the wall and watched the fox-tailed girl excitedly but clumsily tear open the plastic bag, accidentally spilling its contents. Then he saw her, without hesitation, grab a handful of leftover food and shove it into her mouth—

As if she had been starving for many, many years.

Suddenly, Yu Sheng felt a suffocating sensation.

He didn’t know why, but he felt deeply uneasy. He thought… people should never be so hungry.

Even if she didn’t look much like a “human.”

Even if she had once headbutted him—but at the time, she had meant to save him.

Just then, the girl seemed to finally sense the presence of a “living person” inside the ruined temple.

She crouched on the ground, a rotten leaf clutched between her teeth, turning her head in shock and tension.

Yu Sheng stood in the corner of the collapsed temple wall, their eyes meeting across the ruins.