Chapter 21: Once a Stranger, Twice Familiar
From the moment Yu Sheng learned that the phenomenon known as the ‘Otherworld’ existed—a dangerous and pervasive anomaly—and that the immense ‘Boundary City’ was a special place called the ‘Borderland,’ he had speculated about the existence of people specifically designated to deal with such occurrences. Not solitary wanderers or lone adventurers—although those likely existed too—but structured, professional, and perhaps even officially sanctioned organizations.
Some of these might be governmental, while others could be private or independent.
However, as Irene had pointed out, such people would not typically interact with ordinary civilians. The ‘Otherworld’ lies beyond common sense, at the brink of rationality itself. It is like countless small and perilous holes riddled throughout the seemingly solid mountain of reality. Most ordinary people may live their entire lives without glimpsing even a flicker of the eerie phenomena that leak from these holes. But for the unlucky ones who catch a fleeting glimpse, there is no turning back.
This was the ‘knowledge’ Irene imparted to him at the start. From just those few descriptions, Yu Sheng could infer that people who routinely dealt with the ‘Otherworld’ would undoubtedly make every effort to keep ordinary people away from anything related to it, including the very knowledge of their own existence.
But if something truly did happen, they ought to have some form of response mechanism…
Yu Sheng lifted his head again, his gaze fixed on the cold, empty street outside the window.
“Honestly, how long do those ‘professionals’ you mentioned usually take to respond?” he asked, still uneasy.
“No idea… can’t quite remember… but as far as I recall, they’re pretty fast,” Irene said, hugging her teddy bear and swaying back and forth on the chair in a rather provoking manner. “They have all sorts of means to detect anomalies, and the entire Borderland is probably crawling with their surveillance. It was like that before I was sealed away—must be even more advanced now.”
Yu Sheng remained silent, just staring at the doll in the painting.
“Of course, professionals are still just people, and people can be unreliable sometimes,” Irene added, suddenly seeming a bit guilty. “Maybe they just haven’t noticed the anomaly here… even though the disturbance you’ve caused is already pretty big…”
“Sounds like they’re not as reliable as you made them out to be,” Yu Sheng muttered, frowning before letting out a sigh. “According to you, this entire building has become an ‘Otherworld,’ but nobody has shown up to investigate. I’m seriously doubting the ‘professionalism’ of those so-called experts… In the end, it looks like I’ll have to rely on myself.”
Irene blinked innocently. “Is that so?”
Curiosity sparked in her eyes as she asked, “What are you planning to do, then? Are you really thinking of confronting that Valley and the Entity within it?”
“It’s not that I want to confront it,” Yu Sheng replied with a wry smile, recalling the bizarre freezing rain and the frogs within it. “It’s just that I know it will eventually come looking for me again. I can feel it. Besides, didn’t you say that once you’ve encountered the ‘Otherworld,’ there’s no going back? I’ve been entangled with it for much longer than you might think.”
“I guess you have a point,” Irene conceded, mumbling under her breath. “A lot of people who start dealing with the ‘Otherworld’ were just unlucky ordinary folks who got dragged into it at first. I think around one-tenth of those who encounter the ‘Otherworld’ eventually become specialists—either by choice or circumstance. Being haunted by those things kind of forces you to learn…”
Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow at that. “Only one-tenth? What about the other nine-tenths? Do they just go back to their normal lives?”
Irene tilted her head back with a simple reply: “They die.”
Yu Sheng: “…”
“There are survivors too! We manage to save quite a few people every year,” Irene hastily added after noticing his expression, but then sheepishly admitted, “Though… yeah, more die than survive.”
“Irene.” Yu Sheng’s gaze remained fixed on the doll in the painting.
“Y-yeah?”
“If you don’t know how to put it nicely, sometimes it’s better to just stay quiet.”
“Oh… is that so?”
Sighing once more, Yu Sheng rose slowly from his seat by the dining table.
“Whether I live or die doesn’t really matter to me, but I definitely need to find out more about the ‘Otherworld.’ If those professionals aren’t coming to me, then I’ll have to seek them out myself,” he said thoughtfully. “After all, your knowledge and experience are… not exactly reliable.”
Irene didn’t seem to take offense at his remark, still looking quite cheerful. “If you really want to find them, why not check the nearby utility poles for ads? Maybe some ‘Otherworld Security Companies’ left a flyer.”
Yu Sheng looked helpless. ‘…I’m being serious.’
‘I’m serious too,’ Irene blinked. ‘They really do leave behind ways to contact them, meant for ordinary people like you who accidentally stumble into the Otherworld and somehow make it back alive. It’s just that these contact methods are hidden from normal perception—disguised by some kind of “technical means”. But for those who’ve touched the Otherworld, it’s different. There’s often a subtle awakening of “spiritual sensitivity,” making it much more likely to notice those otherwise concealed “secret imprint symbols.”‘
As she said this, Irene suddenly paused, scrutinizing Yu Sheng seriously from head to toe. ‘Have you not noticed any… changes in yourself?’
Changes after coming into contact with the Otherworld?!
Hearing Doll’s statement, Yu Sheng’s heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly spoke up: ‘Are you saying changes like becoming strong enough to crush stone with your bare hands, recovering from a slash wound after just a few breaths, being able to sense others’ thoughts and memories, or even… Resurrection?’
Irene stared at him, dumbfounded, as if she were looking at some bizarre alien creature. ‘What?’ she blurted out.
‘…Isn’t that normal?’ Yu Sheng asked cautiously.
‘At most, you might start seeing things that aren’t usually visible!’ Irene exclaimed. ‘The things you’re talking about—are you even human anymore? Did you switch species? Seriously, you need to cut back on reading too many novels and watching anime.’
Yu Sheng fell silent.
Seeing Irene’s reaction, he wisely decided not to continue the topic. It was becoming increasingly clear that his situation wasn’t normal—even by supernatural standards, it seemed overly bizarre.
Fortunately, Irene didn’t seem too hung up on it—probably because her brain hadn’t fully recovered after being sealed for so long.
Sighing, Yu Sheng looked towards the kitchen. A hint of hesitation flickered across his face before he smirked faintly and started walking in that direction.
The moment he moved, Irene hopped off her chair, holding a teddy bear in one hand. ‘Hey! Are you making breakfast?’ she asked, sounding unusually enthusiastic despite being unable to eat.
‘I’m going to process that “local specialty” I just brought back,’ Yu Sheng replied without turning his head.
Irene waved dismissively with her free hand. ‘Oh, go ahead…’
Suddenly, she froze, her previously sluggish mind finally catching onto something.
…Where in the Otherworld would you find a ‘local specialty’?!
‘Wait!’ Irene shrieked, her voice sharp enough to nearly make Yu Sheng jump as he reached the kitchen door. ‘What kind of “specialty” is that?!’
Turning his head back with a slight smile, Yu Sheng asked, ‘Guess?’
Irene stared at him, wide-eyed, with a growing expression of shock and a look that practically screamed, ‘Is this guy losing his mind?!’ ‘W-Wait! Are you telling me you actually got that thing from that Entity?! How did a normal human like you even manage that?! You’re not seriously going to…’
Yu Sheng decisively closed the kitchen door, shutting out Irene’s increasingly frantic shouts.
Moments later, muffled yelling could still be heard from the dining room. ‘Hey! Don’t just close the door! At least restart the TV first! It’s not working!’
Ignoring her, Yu Sheng moved to the sink and lifted the lid from the pot, revealing the severed tail inside. It had stopped twitching, lying unnaturally still, save for the occasional faint spasm at the muscle stump.
He gazed at the once-wriggling tail—the same one that had burrowed into his stomach not too long ago. That familiar, primal hunger surfaced again from within his bones. This time, however, the hunger wasn’t as violent as before—just a gentle, tantalizing pulse, tinged with a pleasant anticipation.
Can I really do this? Is this even normal? Am I still normal?
Yu Sheng thought through each question but didn’t let his hands falter. He prepared scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, then set out the cutting board and knife. Carefully, he cleaned the severed tail under running water, scraping off the scales before placing it on the board and cutting it down with a single motion.
It cut far easier than he expected—despite being hard as rock when attached to the monster, it now felt no tougher than dense beef. Surprisingly, there were no bones inside.
Reflecting on his transformation, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but recall that his physical changes first occurred after biting into that monster’s flesh. The second encounter, when he again tasted its blood and meat, brought a more subdued but noticeable boost in strength.
A bold—and somewhat delectable—idea had taken root in his mind.
What would happen if it were cooked?
His hands worked quickly as he chopped the meat, an odd sense of calm and contentment settling over him. Even Irene’s loud complaints outside the door faded into the background.
Maybe what he was doing wasn’t normal—probably not, considering even a Doll sealed inside a painting thought it was insane. But compared to Resurrection, eating some suspicious meat seemed like a minor indulgence.
‘I already ate it raw once,’ Yu Sheng muttered as he cut the meat, his voice barely above a whisper. ‘The first time is raw… the second time, cooked.’