Chapter 31: Brushing Past

Opening the supermarket door and walking inside.

It was such a simple and normal process, yet Yu Sheng felt a sense of disbelief. The impact of the previous few times he had opened doors was so great that he still suffered from a lingering trauma; even seeing the shelves and the shopkeeper before him made bizarre thoughts involuntarily pop into his mind—

Could this be an extradimensional lair, disguised as a small supermarket from his memories, but actually some wicked, mimetic entity? The shelves looked normal, but perhaps the bottles and jars were filled with eyeballs soaking in formalin. Maybe the shopkeeper, after greeting him, would suddenly whip a chainsword out of his pocket and charge to slash him down at the register...

Fortunately, these absurd thoughts only flickered through his mind for a moment. Yu Sheng quickly calmed down, first confirming that he had truly entered a normal supermarket and roughly understanding the conditions under which he could "open a door normally and correctly." He then nodded to the young shopkeeper. "I'm here to buy some things—do you have whole cases of instant noodles and compressed biscuits?"

"I've got instant noodles. The unopened cases are stacked under the stairs leading to the second floor. Take a look and see which kind you want," the young shopkeeper said. Although he found Yu Sheng's dazed state upon entering a bit strange, he quickly brushed it off and pointed toward the iron ladder nearby. "I don't have any whole cases of compressed biscuits left. That row in the middle of the shelf on the left—see it? That's all of them. People don't usually buy much of that stuff, so I don't stock many."

"Alright, help me bag all those biscuits. I'll go grab a case of noodles... and throw in two packs of ham sausages, the large ones."

"Sure."

The young shopkeeper replied, turned to grab a large shopping bag, and began gathering the items. While working, he casually asked, "Buying so many instant noodles and compressed biscuits all of a sudden? It's not good to live off these; my wife nags me about it every day."

"Just stocking up at home," Yu Sheng said dismissively.

The shopkeeper didn't say anything more. He filled a large bag as requested and headed to the register. Just then, the supermarket's glass door was pushed open again—both panels swung open, one of the hinges letting out a teeth-gritting screech.

The shopkeeper, busy counting the biscuits, looked up immediately. "Hey, that door is broken, there's a note on it."

"Oh, I didn't notice." The person who walked in was a young man with black hair, wearing casual clothes and a generic face. He looked back awkwardly at the glass door that seemed unable to close automatically, then turned his head. "Do you have whole cases of instant noodles?"

Yu Sheng was walking between the aisles carrying a case of noodles. He looked up at the commotion at the register, then quickly looked away.

"Oh, this kind is fine," the black-haired young man said, pointing to the case in Yu Sheng's arms. "I'll take a case too."

The shopkeeper didn't look up. "Under the stairs on the front right. Grab one yourself, I'm busy ringing this up."

Yu Sheng brushed past the young man, paid at the counter, and walked out into the darkening night with a large shopping bag in one hand and the case of noodles hoisted on his shoulder.

Li Lin found the noodles he needed under the stairs. Just as he bent down to pick them up, his pocket vibrated. He pulled out his phone to find a message from his team leader.

He glanced toward the register, then looked down at his screen and replied, "I've settled in. I'm out buying some supplies."

The phone buzzed twice, and a new message popped up: "Any abnormalities detected?"

Li Lin typed back, "None. I'll walk around the streets tomorrow and make contact with the local residents."

After sending the message, the young Special Investigation Bureau agent hesitated for a moment before editing his next reply: "When is the team's 'Deep Diver' arriving? Who is being assigned?"

It took a while before the phone vibrated again: "Xu Jiali. Arriving tomorrow."

Li Lin stared at the screen, stunned. Just as he was about to ask something, his superior sent another message: "He just returned from Amein-IX. There were some complications there, so his mission ended early. He's currently at the bureau filing reports and undergoing a full medical screening. He'll be sent to your location tomorrow."

Li Lin’s mouth twitched as he read the message. He typed rapidly, "Sending him on duty right after he gets back from a field mission? No half-day break?"

"Xu Jiali requested it himself. The situation he encountered was a bit special, and he's experiencing some 'deep-dive aftereffects.' He needs to wear a stabilizer for the next few days, so he decided to shift his post-mission leave to next week. There shouldn't be any activity on your end in the short term, so consider it a rest for him. You two can discuss the details when you meet tomorrow."

Li Lin curled his lip, replied with a simple "Understood," and stood up, carrying the case of noodles toward the register.

The shopkeeper behind the counter glanced up, reached for the scanner, and muttered again, "It's not good to live off these; my wife nags me about it every day..."

Li Lin chuckled. "Then maybe I shouldn't buy them?"

"That'll be 62.80."

...

Ailin heard the movement at the front door—someone had opened it from the outside. However, even as she craned her neck from the edge of her painting frame to look toward the entryway, she didn't see Yu Sheng for a long time.

After a while, she finally saw Yu Sheng cautiously poke his head in, peering around the room for a good while before stepping inside like a thief. He set the pile of goods on the floor and turned to close the door.

Ailin watched this scene quietly. Only after Yu Sheng had locked the door did she speak. "Yu Sheng, what are you doing? Why are you acting like a thief just coming home?"

Yu Sheng sighed. As he changed his shoes, he muttered, "Don't even mention it. I have severe psychological trauma regarding 'opening doors' now. I don't dare take a step forward without checking three times."

Ailin listened, her gaze falling on the pile of goods at the door.

"You bought quite a lot," the young doll lady remarked with some surprise. "You should have taken a cart—one of those camping wagons. They're very useful."

Yu Sheng didn't reply at first, just staring down at the instant noodles, ham, and compressed biscuits. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he slapped his forehead hard. "I should have bought some liquid food! She's been hungry for too long; she can't eat this stuff directly... No, I'll go buy some Eight-Treasure Porridge tomorrow morning... or should I go now?"

Ailin listened silently. Seeing Yu Sheng actually about to head back out the door, she finally spoke up. "Better wait until tomorrow."

Yu Sheng, already having changed his shoes, gripped the door handle and looked back. "But she's still hungry..."

"Even if you buy it now, do you have a way to get it to that fox immediately?" Ailin looked straight at him. "And... I'm serious, I wanted to say this before: even if you do get it to her, it will only temporarily alleviate her condition. The biggest problem there isn't the lack of food, but the entity known as 'Hunger'."

Yu Sheng stopped what he was doing.

After a moment of thought, he changed his shoes back and walked to the dining table, sitting down across from Ailin.

"You're right. The biggest problem is 'Hunger.' Although filling her stomach temporarily is good... let's leave it for tomorrow. There's no rush; I still need to figure out how to enter that valley stably."

Ailin noticed the solemn, thoughtful expression on Yu Sheng's face as he spoke the second half of his sentence. Combined with the fragments of information he had revealed earlier, she sensed something keenly.

"...What exactly happened?" she tried to ask. "Do you... have an idea on how to enter that valley?"

"Strictly speaking, it's not an idea for entering the valley, but rather..."

As he spoke, Yu Sheng reached out and grabbed at the air in front of Ailin.

He grasped a door handle, and a door abruptly manifested in the air. The door itself looked perfectly ordinary, yet its edges vibrated and shuddered like a phantom. Then, to Ailin's shock, Yu Sheng yanked the door open.

The illusory door swung wide. Yu Sheng saw a female elf standing on the other side. She looked like a "grease-monkey," with a large array of mechanical limbs on her back and a wheeled lower body, while her upper body wore silver-white robes.

She was standing in front of some large machining equipment, looking back at him in utter shock.

The mechanical limbs behind the elven grease-monkey were still rapidly and precisely adjusting a large device on the platform that emitted flowing light. Her eyes widened as if they were about to pop out of her head. She stared at Yu Sheng for two seconds before screaming, "So who the hell are you—"

Yu Sheng slammed the door shut.

"...I didn't expect to be able to connect to the same place twice in a row," Yu Sheng said, a trace of surprise and contemplation on his face. "Wait, this might be... let me try to replicate this in a moment..."

He was halfway through muttering to himself when Ailin, sitting across from him, finally couldn't hold back. The doll lady looked as if she were about to fly out of her painting to bite him. "What was that just now?! What was that?! Huh?!"

"As you can see," Yu Sheng exhaled, "it's a door."

"I know it's a door, but the point is—" Ailin took a deep breath and jumped up from her chair. "What... in the world... was... that?!"