Chapter 57 Making a Connection

"I don't know much about the supernatural," Yu Sheng said frankly, facing the confused expressions of Lilin and the other two. "Especially anomalous realms and entities. In fact, I don't know much about anything outside the Boundary City either—so I've been looking for 'professionals' like you, hoping you can answer many of my questions."

Lilin and Xu Jiali exchanged bewildered glances. Hearing Yu Sheng's words, they looked utterly dumbfounded, while Little Red Riding Hood couldn't help but look Yu Sheng up and down several times. "You... you mean you've never had any contact with anomalous realms or entities before?! You only started dealing with this sort of thing recently?!"

"I've lived a peaceful and ordinary life for the past twenty years," Yu Sheng spread his hands and told the truth. "I only started running into all these bizarre things recently. I'm a complete novice in this field."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Xu Jiali's expression began to crack. So he had only started encountering anomalous realms recently, and yet he could casually beat a Level 3 hazardous hunger entity into submission, open a door to a wasteland planet millions of light-years away with a wave of his hand, and wander in and out of anomalies as if returning home... What kind of "novice" was this?

Was·he·even·human?!

He exchanged a look with Lilin beside him. Their minds raced, instantly weighing countless possibilities.

First of all, they were practically certain that the spacetime dislocation phenomenon that had the entire Special Operations Bureau in an uproar was definitely related to this man named "Yu Sheng." The proof was right there in the doorway he had opened so casually.

Yes, casually.

Secondly, they must not be fooled by Yu Sheng calling himself a "novice." Regardless of whether he had truly just started encountering anomalous realms and entities, the power he wielded hardly resembled that of an ordinary human being who had just begun to be affected by them.

Either the word "novice" was false, or his identity as an "ordinary human" was false—or perhaps both were entirely fake.

Besides, an ordinary human could not possibly live in a house that was so obviously wrong.

"I'd like to confirm something first," Lilin hesitated for a moment before asking, "You've always lived here, haven't you?"

"That's right," Yu Sheng nodded. He had no intention of mentioning to outsiders that he had come to this place from another "Boundary City," so he simply acknowledged that he had always lived in this house. Besides, he even had a valid identity card. "I've always lived here."

Lilin asked, "Then do you know this house..."

"I know, it's an anomaly," Yu Sheng interrupted before the other could finish, wearing an expression of absolute frankness and innocence. "I only found out recently, though. Living here before never caused any problems."

Lilin was momentarily left speechless again.

What did he mean, he only found out recently?! What did he mean, living here before never caused any problems?! Could an ordinary person possibly act like this?

And come to think of it, how on earth had the Special Operations Bureau never noticed such a deeply abnormal place in this old residential district for all these years?!

"Um, could I take a look at your identification?" Lilin held back for a long time before finally asking cautiously. He hurriedly patted his pockets, pulled out a small black booklet, and opened it in front of Yu Sheng. "This is my duty credential."

Yu Sheng glanced at the booklet, seeing Lilin's photograph, name, and position details printed on it, along with incomprehensible serial numbers and identification codes. He couldn't make heads or tails of it anyway, and he had never seen other credentials from the Special Operations Bureau, but at least it looked like a proper "official procedure."

So he readily took out his own ID card and handed it over.

Lilin took the document, and he and Xu Jiali quickly scanned the information on it.

Both of their gazes simultaneously locked onto the "Address" field on the card, staring blankly at the black-and-white text that read: "No. 66 Wutong Road."

"Is there a problem?" Yu Sheng asked curiously, seeing the two of them frozen in place.

Lilin snapped out of it and slowly handed the ID card back to Yu Sheng. He seemed to hesitate over something, pausing several times before finally speaking. "Did you know there is no No. 66 on Wutong Road?"

Yu Sheng: "......?"

Now he finally understood why not a single locksmith he had called previously had been able to successfully find his address.

"We need to head back to the bureau first," Xu Jiali broke the silence. "Your situation... is somewhat special. We need to report this to our superiors and coordinate with the archives department to figure out what is actually going on."

Yu Sheng was slightly stunned. "Leaving already? But I still have a mountain of questions..."

"We'll leave our contact information, and we'll come back for a formal 'contact' procedure in the near future," Xu Jiali said. "The Special Operations Bureau has a standardized contact and registration protocol for humans who undergo 'changes' after recent exposure to anomalous realms. Rest assured, all your doubts will be answered during the subsequent formal engagement."

As he spoke, he slipped a small card out and handed it to Yu Sheng. "My phone number is on here."

"...Alright." Yu Sheng thought about it. His primary objective was to establish a connection with the "professionals" in the borderlands who specialized in resolving anomalous issues. As for his massive pile of questions, it was obviously not something that could be sorted out just by chatting with these two for a moment; it would all have to wait for future interactions and understanding. Thus, he readily nodded and accepted the business card handed to him.

Then, he left his own mobile phone number as well.

This number had belonged to him ever since he "arrived" here, but almost no one ever contacted him, and he had no one to call either.

Next, Yu Sheng turned his gaze to Little Red Riding Hood, who had been standing to the side without speaking.

The girl, who looked about the age of a high school student, did not look very well. Her exposed right arm seemed to be recovering, but many fine black patterns were still visible across her skin, looking rather eerie.

"Are you alright?" Yu Sheng asked with a hint of concern.

"A side effect of dealing with wolves. It's not the first time, I'll recover after resting," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. "I need to go see a doctor first. Right, let me leave my phone number too... Wait, I didn't bring my phone, let me find a pen."

As she spoke, she patted the small pouch at her waist, but suddenly, her movements froze completely.

The expression on the young girl's face stiffened visibly, as if she had belatedly realized something terrible.

Seeing her reaction, Yu Sheng was startled. "What's wrong?"

Xu Jiali sighed beside them. "Her homework was torn up by an entity."

Little Red Riding Hood stiffly turned her neck, only to see expressions of profound sympathy on the faces of Xu Jiali and Lilin.

"We saw it right from the start, but you didn't notice at the time," Lilin whispered. "We didn't bring it up because we figured we'd let you stay happy a little longer..."

"When did you ever see me happy?! Huh?! When I was being chased through the woods like a dog by a monster?!" The girl in red completely unraveled. The calm and maturity she had forced herself to maintain vanished in an instant, leaving only frantic despair. "I spent three days finishing those! I spent three days on those math worksheets, dammit!!"

Yu Sheng watched in a daze, beginning to feel more and more that the mental states and daily lives of these "professionals" differed quite a bit from what he had imagined. Still, in this atmosphere, he didn't dare to speak up—mostly because the girl in front of him genuinely looked heartbroken...

Regardless, Little Red Riding Hood ended up leaving her phone number with him anyway. When the young girl wrote the numbers down on the notepad, she pressed down hard with every single stroke, her hostility so intense as if she were using the pen as a blade to carve the characters into the bodies of those already vanished "hunger entities," giving Yu Sheng a fright.

Shortly after, the three of them bade farewell and prepared to leave.

Yu Sheng escorted them to the doorway, pushed the door open, and stood by the frame. "I won't see you out any further—I still have a bunch of things to deal with here."

Hearing this, Lilin looked back into the living room and saw the fox-girl with multiple tails still guarding a pile of food on the floor, while the armless little puppet sat on the sofa, watching television mindlessly.

A bizarre No. 66 Wutong Road, housing a bizarre "Yu Sheng," along with his two equally bizarre "friends."

Right under the nose of the Special Operations Bureau.

Lilin knew he had stumbled into a massive vortex, and all of this would appear in the report he and Xu Jiali were going to write...

As well as manifest as upcoming forced overtime.

The young Special Operations bureau agent let out a deep sigh and wearily stepped through the door.

A cool night breeze blew against his face. The quiet night scenery of the old district came into view, and the warm streetlights illuminated the road ahead.

He and Xu Jiali turned around simultaneously, only to see a bare, blank wall behind them, covered in chaotic and abstract graffiti.

Xu Jiali stepped forward twice, touched the wall, and patted it a couple of times.

"It seems it's no longer here," the veteran deep-diver said softly. "This was just an entrance, and it only opens when an invitation is granted."

"Should we head back to the bureau first?" Lilin asked. "Or leave someone here to keep watching?"

Xu Jiali looked up at Little Red Riding Hood.

The girl instantly averted her gaze, indicating that her mood was utterly ruined due to her homework being torn to shreds, and she had zero desire for overtime right now.

"I need to go find Dr. Lin to deal with the 'aftereffects' first," she offered a perfectly legitimate excuse. "The two of you can do as you please. Personally, I feel leaving people here or not makes no difference—that man's abilities are too bizarre, and our current conditions cannot monitor him."

"Let's head back to the bureau first," Xu Jiali sighed, taking the lead as she walked forward. "There are others guarding the outer perimeter anyway. Let's report today's situation first. Given that this concerns the Gloomy Angel, I'm afraid... even Captain Song won't be able to make the call on this one."