Chapter 92: Accumulating Knowledge
The young girl in a crimson coat stood beneath the streetlamp. The light spilled across her slender frame while shadows wriggled at her feet and swirled around her. Hidden within those shadows were sharp, watchful eyes. One of those eyes caught sight of the approaching “outsiders,” and so Little Red Riding Hood immediately became aware of Yu Sheng and his companions.
“Sorry, the cab took a bit longer than expected,” Yu Sheng called out, raising a hand in greeting. “Have you been waiting long?”
“Just a few minutes,” Little Red Riding Hood replied casually, glancing off to the side. “I’ve already sent my Wolf to scout the area. No unusual activity detected. The ‘Museum’ looks stable today. Should be a good day for action. By the way, did you read through the material I gave you?”
“Yeah, I went through it,” Yu Sheng nodded, following her gaze toward a large structure looming silently in the night.
It was not truly a “Museum” but rather an Old Theater that had been closed to the public for many years. The so-called “Museum” had its entrance hidden within this very theater.
“Once the ‘Night at the Museum’ begins, don’t interact with any exhibits that make breathing sounds. Avoid prolonged eye contact with the human-like Paintings. Don’t enter the red rooms. If you see plastic mannequins dressed as guides, watch their hand gestures carefully. Never follow or enter any Door they indicate or hint at. That’s pretty much the core of it,” Little Red Riding Hood reminded them, still a bit uneasy. “The Museum is a relatively stable Otherworld, usually maintained at Depth L 2. As long as you stick to the rules, the danger is manageable, which is why it’s rated as a Level 2 threat…”
Listening to her cautious instructions, Yu Sheng couldn’t help but recall the entries he’d read in the encyclopedia from the Border Communication Platform when he registered with the Special Affairs Bureau.
That information had been one of the greatest benefits of registering—a comprehensive system of foundational intel on the supernatural world. It included concepts he’d heard Li Lin and Xu Jiali mention before but hadn’t fully grasped, such as the Depth and Danger Level of an Otherworld.
Depth, simply put, measures how far an Otherworld diverges from the real world, with the real world designated as Level 0. Depth ranges from Level 0 to Level 5. An L 1 Otherworld might appear just slightly odd, and a regular person could even wander out of it by accident. An L 5 Otherworld, on the other hand, is so extreme that survival is virtually unheard of. In fact, experts still can’t confirm if L 5 realms even have an exit.
Typically, an Otherworld’s Depth remains fairly stable, though certain conditions or time can cause fluctuations. Exploring during low-Depth phases is safest. Sudden changes in Depth are a leading cause of death for many Spirit Realm Detectives and Investigators.
Danger Level is another key parameter used to gauge how threatening an Otherworld is. While it often correlates with Depth—the deeper the Otherworld, the greater the danger—this isn’t always true. Some shallow realms produce extremely terrifying Entities, while certain L 3 Otherworlds may even have safe zones.
Because of these anomalies, Depth and Danger Level are treated as separate indicators. Moreover, Danger Level can also apply to an Entity alone, independent of the Otherworld it’s in.
The group approached the entrance of the Old Theater.
“To be honest, by the book, I shouldn’t be bringing a ‘newbie’ like you into an L 2 Otherworld like the Museum,” Little Red Riding Hood commented as they walked. “Spirit Realm Detectives and Investigators usually start off in L 1 zones since they’re more stable and easier to retreat from. But you guys don’t exactly count as ordinary rookies. I mean, you managed to handle Night Valley. Aside from lacking experience and knowledge, your actual strength is already beyond standard.”
“It’s not a big deal. We’re here to learn, after all,” Yu Sheng said nonchalantly, casting a curious glance at the girl beside him. “Say, I just realized—you seem kinda used to looking after people.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Normally you act all cool and mature, but once we’re in action, you start explaining a ton of things, especially with us newbies around. You’re like a team Guardian or something.”
Little Red Riding Hood paused for a few seconds. Her expression shifted subtly.
She didn’t say anything. Just curled her lip slightly and continued walking.
“You got the concepts of Depth and Danger Level down, right?” she asked again after a few more steps.
“Yeah, I get it. Depth is basically how ‘messed up’ the place is, and Danger Level is how ‘deadly’ the place—or whatever’s in it—might be,” Yu Sheng replied with a wave of his hand. “Pretty straightforward, honestly.”
“That’s a pretty vivid way to put it… crude, but effective,” said Little Red Riding Hood, nodding thoughtfully. “The Museum sits at Depth L-2—a ‘standard’ Otherworld depth. It’s already diverged quite heavily from the Civilized World. The environment itself twists and warps, dangerous for regular Humans, but still generally adheres to logic and perception as we know it. If you stick to protocol, you’ll stay alive…”
Yu Sheng didn’t wait for her to finish before stepping in, continuing with confidence, “And a Danger Level 2 classification means it’s not lethally aggressive, right? It won’t actively kill or lash out indiscriminately, but failure to follow the regulations could still result in serious injury—or death. Right?”
“Not bad. Looks like you’ve got it down. That puts my mind at ease.”
Little Red Riding Hood spoke casually, then came to a halt.
They had stepped through the great iron Door of the Old Theater. Beyond that creaking, half-open portal lay a hall paved in dark green tiles. Passageways branched off on either side, leading deeper into the theater’s haunted heart. Directly ahead stood several ticket counters—black, empty hollows in the wall.
But Yu Sheng’s gaze was drawn elsewhere first.
In the center of the hall stood a strange device: a four-sided metal obelisk, gunmetal gray and tapering as it rose to just above waist height. Soft, pulsing lights blinked near its top, and a deep, intermittent hum echoed from within—it was very much alive.
“That’s one of the Special Affairs Bureau’s installations,” Little Red Riding Hood explained, pointing to the obelisk. “We call it a Node Device, full name ‘Cognitive Interference Node Generator.’ It emits low-frequency mental interference that repels normal Humans from known danger zones inside the Borderland. Its effect is weak, but sufficient to keep those without a spiritual awakening at bay.”
“…There are a lot of these in the city?” Yu Sheng asked in surprise, staring at the device. “I’ve never noticed one…”
Little Red Riding Hood glanced at him. Her first instinct was to say, “Because you were just a regular Human before, you wouldn’t have sensed it.” But she caught herself, swallowing the words.
[I swear, even that Fox Girl over there has a higher spiritual quotient than this guy…]
“How effective is it, really? Can it actually keep normal folks out?” Yu Sheng asked again, curiosity unabated.
“It does its job. But no safety measure is flawless. Even if you sealed the place off with concrete and steel, someone would show up with bolt cutters and a drill to ‘explore’,” Little Red Riding Hood sighed. “There’s always someone stubborn—or gifted—who pushes past the nausea and the muscle cramps, driven by curiosity. Or worse, someone born with high spiritual sensitivity who’s immune to the Node Device. We always end up with some poor fool who tumbles into the Otherworld and waits for us to rescue them. Best case, they become payment for a Spirit Realm Detective or Investigator. Worst case, they make it into the Special Affairs Bureau’s internal death reports. In rare cases… after the tears and therapy, they become Detectives, Investigators, or Special Affairs Bureau Operatives themselves.”
“Why not just demolish the place?” asked Foxy, who’d been quiet until now.
“Demolish it? That’d be a riot,” said Little Red Riding Hood, giving a tired shrug. “You’d only be destroying a known entrance. The Otherworld doesn’t exist in the physical dimension. Take out this entrance, and who knows where the next one will open.”
Yu Sheng listened and couldn’t help but reflect. [Self-destruction really is the default Human setting… you can’t stop it, only hope to manage it.]
At that moment, Little Red Riding Hood stepped up to the Node Device and swiped her identification over the scanner.
“Logging entry,” she said, holding up the ID toward Yu Sheng. “If we die in there, at least someone knows where to start fishing for the corpses. Once inside the Otherworld, external contact gets severed. Registering at a node is the last trace Spirit Realm Detectives and Investigators can leave in the real world.”
Yu Sheng took the hint and led Irene and Foxy to register as well. As he operated the scanner, he muttered, “Good thing we got those two their IDs…”
A soft hum emitted from the Node Device.
Then Little Red Riding Hood led them past it, toward the far end of the hall.
She stopped in front of the abandoned ticket windows.
The Old Theater had long since ceased operations, and its ticket booths were no exception. Two of the four windows were sealed with crisscrossing plastic tape. One had been emptied out entirely, filled only with unwanted junk. But the last window still housed a dusty, ancient ticket printer.
Little Red Riding Hood stood in front of the functioning machine and checked the time on her phone.
After two or three minutes, she suddenly reached out and tapped the glass.
“Night screening. Night at the Museum. Four tickets.”
Light flickered to life behind the window—though the bulbs were shattered, a warm glow now filled the dusty enclosure.
As if a long-forgotten, invisible clerk still sat behind the glass, stuck in time and memory.
The antique printer whirred and clacked. Its empty paper feed spun again and again—then, one by one, the tickets began to emerge.